Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: Wii U
Here’s an E3 2016 trailer for Yooka-Laylee… but Playtonic pushed it back to Early 2017
Playtonic Games is hard at work on Yooka-Laylee, their loving tribute to the “Collect-Em-Ups” of the late 90s/early 2000s like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. But it looks like that hard work is going to take a little more time, as Playtonic has confirmed Yooka-Laylee won’t be released this October as originally planned. Instead, the developer revealed (on their official website) that it’ll be released for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One early next year:
While we felt confident we could ship the game in October as originally projected in our Kickstarter, the Playtonic team has decided that it would prefer to add a few extra months’ polish to the game schedule.
Ultimately, this will allow us to deliver a better game to the tens-of-thousands of you who’ve supported us throughout development. And that’s what we all want, right?
While Yooka-Laylee is a bit further away now than it was before, Playtonic plans to bring their work-in-progress game to next week’s E3 Expo, so we should learn more about it soon. In the meantime, you can check out the game’s E3 trailer, which has been embedded above.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night backers will get access to the E3 demo… and everybody else gets a new trailer
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is still almost a year away, but Koji “IGA” Igarashi is ready to give fans and friends a look at the game’s first level in a new trailer. Here’s what he had to say about the video in Bloodstained’s latest Kickstarter update (which also includes some new screenshots):
For this month’s update, the team has put together a video and some screenshots of an actual stage in Bloodstained. This is the game’s first stage, where we find Miriam on a ship, the Galleon Minerva, headed toward the castle. It’s a setting filled with anticipation.
Igarashi, and his team at Inti Creates, are planning to debut the first demo for Bloodstained at next week’s E3 Expo. But you won’t need to sneak into Los Angeles Convention Center to get your hands on it… everyone who pledged at least $60 during the game’s Kickstarter campaign will receive access to the demo through Steam.
If all continues to go well for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the side-scrolling MetroidVania should be released for the PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One sometime next Spring.
New Retail Releases: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Kirby Planet Robobot, Odin Sphere HD, More
You’ve gotta have Faith in this week’s new retail releases, because the star of Mirror’s Edge is back.
Eight years after her first adventure, Faith is back in Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, a prequel/reboot for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will return to the city of Glass and use their first-person freerunning skills to climb skyscrapers and battle the oppressive government.
Another underdog is back on store shelves this week as Nintendo plans to release Kirby: Planet Robobot for the 3DS. Standing up to an alien invasion, Kirby will pilot a battle mech and blast his way through dozens of stages to take back Dream Land.
Also this week, Atlus and Vanillaware have teamed up to produce Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, an HD remake of 2007’s Odin Sphere, for the PS4, PS3, and Vita. The side-scrolling action RPG includes five playable characters and a unique take on Norse mythology.
Finally this week, Koei Tecmo will release Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, the 17th game in the Atelier series of RPGs, for the PS4, and Arc System Works will launch Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator, the latest game in the 2D fighting series, for the PS4 and PS3.
A few other games will also make their way onto store shelves this week, and you can find the complete list after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Kirby: Planet Robobot, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, Odin Sphere
Yacht Club reveals a short snippet from Shovel Knight’s King Knight add-on
Yacht Club Games launched the beefy “Plague of Shadows” expansion for Shovel Knight late last year, but they’re not done updating their 2013 debut. The developer is also in the midst of creating add-on campaigns for King Knight and Specter Knight, and the current plan is to release both by the end of the year.
There’s still no ETA on when the King Knight or Specter Knight campaigns will be completed, but Yacht Club recently released this quick glimpse at King Knight in action:
We're creating two new Shovel Knight campaign updates! Specter is cool and King Knight rules. Here he is in action! pic.twitter.com/tkIwxcA2Xy
— Yacht Club Games (@YachtClubGames) June 2, 2016
I love the regal flourishes that have been added to the status bar.
Minecraft continues its quest for world domination after selling 100 million copies
Two years ago, Microsoft spent $2.5 billion to acquire Mojang and all rights to Minecraft. I think it was a wise investment… as Mojang announced today that more than 100 million copies of Minecraft (106,859,714 to be exact) have been sold since the game’s original release.
According to a nifty infographic on Mojang’s blog, the mobile version of Minecraft appears to be the most popular around the world. But over on the game’s official website, we can see that exactly 23,540,997 have been sold for the PC. That leaves console editions for the PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One to pick up the rest of the slack.
All told, more than 40 million people play Minecraft at least once a month, and that number probably won’t slow down anytime soon… more than 53,000 copies of the game are still sold each and every month.
Nintendo Download: Metroid Prime Hunters, Kick & Fennick, Donkey Kong Country 3, more
It’s Thursday, so Nintendo is back with another update to the Nintendo eShop.
This week, platforming fans will get to try out Kick & Fennick on the Wii U. According to the developers, Kick & Fennick is an “action-filled adventure” where the titular duo “blast, bounce, and bound their way through 45 challenging levels.”
Also available for the Wii U this week is Metroid Prime Hunters, a multiplayer shooter that was originally released for the DS in 2006. Taking control of one of six bounty hunters, players will challenge Samus Aran in the search for relics from a “once-powerful warrior culture.” The Star Wars and Indiana Jones comparisons practically write themselves.
Nintendo will also bring another classic title to the New 3DS this week through the handheld’s Virtual Console service. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie’s Double Trouble was originally released for the Super NES and serves as the capper to the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Fans of classic platforming should definitely give it a look.
More information on all of these games (as well as a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
BB-8 stars in the latest Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer
The time has come… the latest Character Trailer for Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is an epic showcase for none other than BB-8. The breakout star of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, BB-8 certainly holds his own in the 30-second clip, and he looks like he’ll be a major part of the game.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is less than a month away now, as the game will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 28.
Skylanders Imaginators will let players create their own Skylanders when it launches in October
The sixth Skylanders game is a secret no more as Activision announced that Skylanders Imaginators will be available this October. Developed by Toys For Bob, Skylanders Imaginators will finally give players the opportunity to create their very own Skylanders characters.
“Since we launched the very first Skylanders game, we have received countless letters and drawings from kids all over the world sharing their vision for their own Skylanders. No matter how in touch with our ‘inner kids’ we might think we are as adults, nothing comes close to the endless creativity that springs from the mind of an inspired kid,” said Eric Hirshberg, the CEO of Activision Publishing. “We’ve turned this year’s game into the ultimate blank canvas for kids’ imaginations so they can create and play their own Skylanders.”
According to Activision, the creation tool in Skylanders Imaginators will include a huge number of customizable options, such as appearance, powers, abilities, names, catchphrases, musical themes, and more. But every hero needs a mentor, and Skylanders Imaginators has that covered too. Nearly three dozen Senseis, sorted into 10 “Battle Classes,” will offer guidance and training for your Skylanders creation, as well as “unlocking super-cool Imaginator weapons, providing access to special areas in the game, as well as bestowing Secret Techniques.” But if you’d rather stick with the heroes you know and love, Skylanders Imaginators will also be compatible with all previously-released Skylanders figures.
Skylanders Imaginators is in development for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. It’s scheduled to be released on October 16, but you can check out the debut trailer right now.