Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Xbox One
Microsoft will allow indie developers to self-publish games on Xbox One
UPDATE: Major Nelson has confirmed that independent developers will be able to self-publish games on the Xbox One. He also promised that more details would be revealed at this year’s Gamescom event.
ORIGINAL STORY: It looks like another of Microsoft’s big Xbox One policy mistakes is going bye bye. According to a report on Game Informer, independent developers will have the ability to self-publish their games on Microsoft’s next-gen console.
This brings the Xbox One’s policy towards indie developers more in line with Sony’s PS4, which highlighted self-published games from Supergiant Games (Transistor), Klei Entertainment (Don’t Starve), Switchblade Monkeys (Secret Ponchos), and others at this year’s E3 Expo. Another indie title, Jonathan Blow’s The Witness, was at the center of the Sony’s PS4 press conference in February.
In addition to allowing developers to self-publish their titles, Microsoft is revamping the certification process for game updates. According to GI, the process will be similar to Apple’s iTunes policy and will strive to have a 14-day turnaround for an approvals.
I wonder what outspoken Microsoft critic Phil Fish (the creator of Fez) thinks of that.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2013
Capcom announces new Strider game for current, next-gen consoles, PC
Capcom announced today at Comic-Con that they are bringing one of their classic franchises, Strider, back to consoles. The franchise, which hasn’t seen a new entry since Strider 2 released for the original PlayStation in 2000 (unless you count his appearance in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, will be released on the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One in early 2014. This new entry is in development at Double Helix Games, the same company behind Microsoft’s Killer Instinct reboot.
Judging by the trailer, the new Strider appears to retain the classic 2D feel, albeit with a fresh coat of HD paint. Enjoy!
EA Sports WILL release a College Football game in 2014
Yesterday, the NCAA announced the end of their licensing agreement with EA Sports. The end of this agreement means that if the publisher wants to release a college football game in 2014, its title cannot be NCAA Football 15.
A few hours later, Andrew Wilson, the Executive Vice President of EA Sports, confirmed that the company is working on an unnamed college football game for release in 2014. The currently untitled “College Football 15” is in development for next-generation consoles and it sounds like it will look very similar to this year’s offering:
EA Sports will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks. Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game for next generation consoles which will launch next year and feature the college teams, conferences and all the innovation fans expect from EA Sports.
So far, the lack of NCAA branding seems to be the only real major difference between NCAA Football 14 and the in-development “College Football 15.”
[Source: The Beat – EA’s Blog]
The Lego Movie will also be a video game developed by TT Games
The Lego Movie will open in theaters on February 7, 2014 and after the success of Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, and Lego Lord of the Rings, a tie-in game developed by TT Games was an inevitability. Sadly, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has decided against calling it “Lego The Lego Movie.” Instead, let’s all give a big welcome to The Lego Movie Videogame.
In a scenario drawn from the film, The Lego Movie Videogame puts Lego kids into the role of Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average Lego minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. Players guide him as he is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.
The Lego Movie Videogame will be released in early 2014 for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Mad Max gameplay trailer asks “What is the Soul of a Man?”
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Avalanche Studios have released the first gameplay trailer for their game adaptation of Mad Max. If you look real close, you can certainly see a few moments of pure gameplay, but the trailer is just as heavy with cinematic cutscenes and views of the ominous Wasteland. Still pretty impressive, though.
Mad Max is due out sometime in 2014 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Rockstar Toronto is hiring for a next-gen game
Rockstar Games has been very quiet about their post-Grand Theft Auto V plans. But it looks like at least one of their studios is making the jump into next-generation game development.
Rockstar Toronto is currently hiring for an Environment Artist who will be tasked with “designing, building and texturing the world” of a new game in development for “next-gen consoles.” The PS4 and Xbox One were not specifically mentioned by name, so any speculation about platforms at this point would just be guesswork. Similarly, asking whether the game will be part of an existing Rockstar franchise (including the hope that it’s a next-gen port of GTA5) or an original property is equally speculative.
Max Payne 3 is the most recent game on Rockstar Toronto’s resume. The team was part of the “Rockstar Studios” collective (alongside Rockstar London, Rockstar New England, and the now defunct Rockstar Vancouver) that developed the title.
Square Enix wants to add Star Wars-themed world to Kingdom Hearts III
Tetsuya Nomura has the world’s biggest toychest at his disposal. As the Director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Nomura is able to mix and match Disney’s biggest properties in the most expansive crossover ever. But I have a good feeling about his plans for Kingdom Hearts III…
Nomura wants to add Star Wars characters to the mix.
Speaking to Finaland, Nomura confirmed that he wants to include a galaxy far, far away in the next Kingdom Hearts game, but that the decision ultimately lies with Disney:
“[W]e’ve been talking about Star Wars itself since it became Disney’s content recently. When I [heard] the news I was like ‘Wow ! Wow !’ Yeah obviously it’s gonna be great if we could add it, but like I said there are a lot of restrictions and rules by Disney so we don’t know what’s gonna happen but yeah, we’ll see.”
I hope Disney goes for it. Who doesn’t want to see a Keyblade/Lightsaber battle between Sora and Darth Vader?
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Kingdom Hearts III
Here’s the 12-minute gameplay video of Destiny from E3 2013
In case you missed it in all the chaos that was this year’s E3, Bungie has released the extended gameplay demo of Destiny, their upcoming sci-fi shooter, that was shown at Sony’s Press Conference.
The game is set in the distant future after the collapse of a Golden Age of exploration, with players taking on the role of a Guardian of the last city on Earth. Destiny is planned for a 2014 release on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.