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
Xbox Store Today: Thumper, Magician Lord
It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for more end-of-the-week additions to the Xbox Games Store.
Today, Xbox One owners will be able to download Thumper, Drool’s “rhythm violence” game. Players will take control of a space beetle that hurtles down a track in a “hellish void” to battle a “maniacal giant head.” Yikes. Also available to download today is Magician Lord, a side-scrolling beat ’em up that was originally released in 1990 for the NeoGeo.
More information about both games is available right here:
Xbox One Games
Thumper
Thumper is rhythm violence: classic rhythm-action, blistering speed, and brutal physicality. You are a space beetle. Brave the hellish void and confront your nemesis: a maniacal giant head. Scream down the endless track and crash through punishing obstacles with simple, airtight controls. Hurtle forward, master new moves, reach overwhelming velocities, and survive epic boss battles. Every crushing impact is interwoven with a pounding original soundtrack. To reach synesthetic bliss, you must conquer rhythm hell.Magician Lord
Magician Lord is a side-scrolling action game released by SNK in 1990. This fantasy action game was one of the launch titles on NeoGeo. Control the magician Elta on a journey to save the world from Gal-Agiese, who came back to life once again.
Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite’s “Full Story Trailer” promises a colorful and chaotic crossover
With a week to go before Gamescom opens its door in Germany, Capcom has released the “Full Story Trailer” for Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite. With appearances from Iron Man, Captain America, Ghost Rider, Mega Man, and many others, it looks like fans will get to experience a colorful and chaotic crossover next month:
Ultron Sigma has obtained two Infinity Stones and fused the Marvel and Capcom universes. Jedah has conspired with other villains to create a ravenous Symbiote beast. Can our heroes trust Thanos to lead them to the remaining Infinity Stones and beat back these threats? The clock is ticking, and all reality is at stake.
Capcom is taking Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite on a whirlwind tour before its launch, and the fighter will be playable at Gamescom (August 22-26), GameStop Expo (August 27), Toronto Fan Expo (August 31-September 3), PAX West (September 1-4), and upcoming PlayStation Road to Greatness events.
Everyone else will get the chance to try out Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite when it comes home for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 19.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2017, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, PAX West 2017
Microsoft delays launch of Crackdown 3 to Spring 2018
Earlier this week, Volition released their futuristic story of high-flying secret agents, Agents of Mayhem, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Since its announcement during E3 2014, Microsoft has been hard at work on a similar take on the genre, Crackdown 3. Sadly, it looks like Crackdown 3 won’t join Agents of Mayhem on store shelves this Fall as originally planned.
In a statement to Polygon, the consolemaker has confirmed that Crackdown 3 will now be released in Spring 2018:
“We’re very excited about Crackdown 3, and so are many fans, and so it’s a difficult call to move the release date,” [Shannon Loftis, the General Manager of Microsoft Studios Publishing] said in an email interview with Polygon. “However, we want to make sure to deliver the right game, with the right quality, and at the right time. Crackdown 3 is a hugely ambitious game and we want to ensure we deliver the right experiences all the way through every part of the game, whether that’s campaign, co-op multiplayer or our competitive multiplayer mode, Wrecking Zone. Getting the balance right between the three modes is important, and we are going to take the extra development time to ensure that. Gamers can expect Crackdown 3 in Spring of 2018.”
In addition to a desire to deliver the best game possible, Loftis specifically said that Crackdown 3’s visuals needed further work, so players could “feel completely immersed” in the game’s world:
“What we showed at E3 was a preview of the game, and is a great indicator of the level of mayhem and vertical platforming action you can expect from Crackdown 3,” Loftis said. “Among other items, we are taking the extra time to focus on the visual polish so gamers can feel completely immersed in a living world. We want them to really feel the larger-than life enemies as they’re exploring the expansive open world, combatting crime and collecting orbs.”
Crackdown 3 is currently in development for the PC and Xbox One, and we’ll keep you posted on its progress as we move throughout the year and into 2018.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Crackdown 3
NetherRealm will unveil Injustice 2’s Fighter Pack 2 at Gamescom 2017
NetherRealm Studios launched Injustice 2 for the PS4 and Xbox One a few months ago, and the developer has already added three new characters to the game’s roster as part of the Fighter Pack 1 add-on.
Six more characters will be added to Injustice 2 through future downloadable add-ons, and fans will get their first look at the next three during this month’s Gamescom expo. The characters planned for Fighter Pack 2 (which will be released roughly one-per-month this Fall) will be unveiled during a special “Celebrity Charity Competition” on August 23 at 5:00 PM (Eastern Time).
DJs Steve Aoki and Don Diablo will battle it out in the fighting game in a best-of-five series, and fans in attendance at Gamescom will be able to grab a ringside seat in Hall 9. If you can’t make it to Cologne, Germany, the matchup will also be livestreamed on NetherRealm’s Twitch channel.
The “Celebrity Charity Competition” will support the Aoki Foundation, a charitable group founded by Steve Aoki that supports advances in brain science, as well as disaster relief, developmental disabilities, and animal rights.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2017, Injustice 2
Xbox Store Today: Agents of Mayhem, Conan Exiles, Sonic Mania, more
The future and the past collide in today’s Xbox Games Store update with three new games for the Xbox One…
First up is Volition’s Agents of Mayhem, an open world parody of the superhero boom. Players will protect the city of Seoul and do battle with the evil LEGION. Along the way they’ll crack jokes in Volition’s signature style and playfully mock Saturday morning cartoons as well.
Looking back to the past, yet another developer has taken a crack at a video game based on Conan the Barbarian this week. Funcom’s Conan Exiles is now available through the Xbox Game Preview program, and players will be able to fight for survival in an open world based on Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age.
Also available to download today is Sonic Mania, the character’s first 2D side-scroller in over five years. Developed by an outside group of indie developers, Sega’s latest Sonic game includes remixed classic levels and new locales for fans to speed through.
You can learn more about all of these games (and the rest of today’s new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Agents of Mayhem, Sonic Mania
Meet the “Twisted, Deadly Photographer” in the latest trailer for The Evil Within 2
Bethesda unveiled a new trailer for The Evil Within 2 today that introduces fans to another character that populates game’s monstrous underbelly. This time, the publisher has put the spotlight on “The Twisted, Deadly Photographer,” a serial killer who uses his victims to create sickening “art”:
Not only will Sebastian have to contend with the myriad horrific creatures waiting for him in The Evil Within 2, he’ll also have to deal with the human “monsters” who have made their way into the new STEM world.
Wretched creatures like Stefano Valentini, an artist with dark proclivities and unbounded imagination. You’ll see examples of his work scattered throughout Union – from grisly photographs of his victims, to the “moment of death” tableaus he creates, capturing the last seconds of a person’s life in a tangible, looping scene.
The Evil Within 2 will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this October… on Friday the 13th.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged The Evil Within 2
Rumor: Okami HD is in the works for the PS4 and Xbox One
Okami began life in 2006 as one of the last major releases on the PS2, and has since grown to become one of the most acclaimed video games of all time alongside re-releases on the Wii (in 2008) and PS3 (in 2012). But after talking to apair of retail contacts, Kotaku UK is reporting the game will likely come to the PS4 and Xbox One in December:
The evidence we’ve seen shows that two different European retail chains have recently added Okami HD to their internal upcoming physical releases calendar. Both retail chains are in different parts of the EU, and both list the game as releasing on 12th December 2017. The detail of the physical release is especially interesting, as the 2012 HD release on PS3 was only available as a download in the west (despite the Japanese boxed release featuring multi-region language support).
It’s easy to discount placeholder dates from retailers, but Capcom has shown a particular fondness for remastered re-releases in 2017. The publisher has re-released Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and Mega Man 7-10 on new platforms this year, with Dragon’s Dogma and Resident Evil Revelations still to come. I have no trouble believing an Okami HD re-release is also in the works.
Sega releases Opening Animation and Launch Trailer for Sonic Mania ahead of tomorrow’s release
Sonic the Hedgehog is going 16-bit in his next adventure, Sonic Mania, and the retro-inspired platformer will be available to download for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on August 15. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Sega has unveiled the game’s Opening Animation (directed by Tyson Hesse) and a brand-new Launch Trailer.
Unfortunately, the publisher also announced (via Twitter) that Sonic Mania’s PC release has been pushed back to August 29 for “polish”:
Hi everyone,
In Sonic Mania, quality and attention to detail are some of the most important things for our team. We accept nothing but the best for Sonic Mania, and that’s why we want to spend a little more time to polish the PC version of the game’s release, which we plan to complete by August 29th. All other platforms (PS4, XB1, Switch) will still on August 15th as planned.
We know you’re all super excited to play the game on PC, and as a thank you to everyone has purchased the PC Collector’s Editon, pre-purchased the game on Steam, we will be unlocking Sonic 1 for free on your Steam accounts on August 15th. If you already own Sonic 1 on Steam, you’ll be given a gitable version that you can trade or send to a friend.
On behalf of everyone involved with Sonic Mania – thank you very much for your patience. We can’t wait for you to get your hands on Sonic Mania soon, and we hope you enjoy playing it as much as our teams enjoyed making it!
– Aaron
But in the meantime, be sure to check out Sonic Mania’s Opening Animation and Launch Trailer after the break. (more…)