Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Fight Club, The Game David Fincher Didn’t Want You To Play – Time Extension (2025)
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
- Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality – Uncanny Magazine (2025)
Most Recent: Articles
Turtle Rock unveils Evolve’s third Monster, Wraith, and beta test details
If the Monster you’re unveiling is an invisible she-beast that can kill you without being seen, can it really be called an unveiling? That’s the question we’ll have to grapple with as Turtle Rock Studios has released a trailer showcasing Evolve‘s third monster design, Wraith. Writing on the game’s official website, Turtle Rock laid out the four attacks that make Wraith more of a deadly assassin than an out-and-out brawler:
- Warp Blast allows Wraith to travel almost instantly to a target and create an explosion wherever she lands, dealing damage to everything around her.
- Her Decoy ability spawns a dangerous clone of herself that attacks targets while distracting the Hunters. With the Decoy deployed, Wraith becomes invisible and the Decoy can be used strategically to escape from combat or allow the player to re-position themselves for surprise attacks.
- Abduction steals hunters away from their teammates. During an abduction attack, Wraith travels large distances, grabs the target, and returns to her original location all within the blink of an eye.
- Supernova creates a large arena for Wraith to fight in. Inside the Supernova, Wraith becomes a frenzied melee beast of pure energy as her scythe-like blades cut down just about anything in their path. If Wraith leaves the Supernova area, she returns to her normal state.
For an even more in-depth look at Wraith, Turtle Rock has released an extended Interactive Trailer featuring a full battle between four Hunters and a Wraith. You can find it after the break.
In other Evolve news, the developer has announced that Xbox One owners will be able to take part in an open beta test on January 15. PC players will be able to jump into the test on January 16 with PS4 players following a day later on the 17th. However, neither of these platforms will have an open test. On the PS4, participants will be limited to those that played Evolve’s “Big Alpha.” “Big Alpha” players will also get in on the beta on the PC and they’ll be joined by owners of Left 4 Dead or BioShock Infinite, who will also receive invites. More details about each platform’s beta test can be found at Evolve’s official website.
Evolve will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 10. (more…)
Shovel Knight will be available on PlayStation platforms “early next year”
In a new update to their Kickstarter backers, Yacht Club Games has revealed that Shovel Knight will be released for the PS3, PS4, and Vita in early 2015:
Maybe you haven’t heard the exciting news, but Shovel Knight is branching out on to other platforms for adventure. Early next year, Shovel Knight will make his debut on Playstation platforms: PS3, PS4, and PSVita! Along with this extremely exciting development in the legend of Shovel Knight, a guest character that you are all familiar with will be meeting our stalwart, blue knight: Kratos from the God of War series!
Yes, that’s right. Steel will strike against steel as Shovel Knight’s Shovel Blade challenges Kratos’ Blades of Chaos in a battle for the ages. The team is also hard at work on the Plague Knight campaign, which will be available to all owners of the game as a free downloadable update:
The pedal is to the proverbial metal on Plague Knight! We are working full time on update content (Plague Knight, Body Swap Mode, and Battle Mode!), and it’s shaping up to be amazing. The Plague Knight campaign will be the first content released, and it’s feeling like a whole new adventure already! A new relic system! New characters and bosses! Remixed content! On that subject, we’re going to share a little detail. Mona, who runs the potion minigame in the village, will have a vastly expanded role…
There’s no ETA on when the Plague Knight campaign will be released, but you can head over to Kickstarter for a peek at a few design sketches featuring Mona.
Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will be released for the PS4 in Fall 2015
NIS America has been busy with a lot of announcements! The most recent one, and definitely my favorite, is that Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will be coming to the PlayStation 4 in Fall 2015 in North America and Europe. Here’s what players can expect, according to the PlayStation Blog:
As a new and terrible Overlord named Void Dark seeks to enslave the countless Netherworlds, one young demon has stood to end his reign — Killia. In Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance, you will lead Killia and his tenacious army of rebels in their struggle against Dark Void. Along their dark path to vengeance, you will encounter more hilarious writing, over-the-top animations, and absurd damage numbers than anyone has seen in a Disgaea game. Ever.
It’s a tale of revenge and rebellion that is sure to be chock-full of that trademark Disgaea hilarity. There are some new features, including Alliance Attacks, which depend on relationships between characters; and Revenge Mode, which boosts your character stats based on – you guessed it – revenge. There’s also the ability to explore the Netherworlds in more detail.
Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will be out in North America and Europe in the Fall of 2015 for the PlayStation 4.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse will be released for Wii U on December 25
For those of you who like to spend Christmas Day gaming, if you have a Wii U, you’ll be getting an extra special treat. WayForward Technologies has announced via their Twitter feed that Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse will be available on Christmas Day in North America. The game will cost $19.99 on the Wii U eShop.
I’m sure some of you will agree with the hashtag WayForward added to their tweet: #BestPresentEver!
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Dontnod’s Life Is Strange Episode 1 will be available on January 30
Dontnod’s upcoming episodic game series, Life Is Strange, could easily be described as Gone Home meets Heavy Rain. Hey, look at that, that’s just what a variety of critics say in the trailer above. But in Life Is Strange, you can rewind time and change the past, which can have disastrous consequences.
The first episode of Life Is Strange will be released on January 30 on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Like most episodic titles, there will be five episodes in all.
Check out this 30-minute gameplay video of Zeboyd’s Cosmic Star Heroine
Zeboyd Games brought their ultra-retro Kickstarted game, Cosmic Star Heroine, to the PlayStation Experience earlier this month. This video shows half an hour of alpha gameplay, which the developer warns is a very early demo.
“Many things are missing from the demo shown, including sound effects, items in treasure chests, several gameplay mechanics, and a lot of polish (graphics, text, writing, etc.),” they wrote in the description of the video. “These things will be added in due time!”
The game has some great humor, and the combat is definitely a throwback to retro hits like Chrono Trigger. Cosmic Star Heroine is scheduled to be released in 2015 on PC (Windows, Mac), PlayStation 4, and Vita.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita
Tagged Cosmic Star Heroine, PlayStation Experience 2014
Kickstart This! Aviary Attorney, Curse of the Darkness, Spectrum
Finding original games, especially from the bigger game developers, is becoming something of a chore. WWhile Ubisoft and Activision continue to produce annualized franchises that fans don’t seem to want as much anymore, truly original titles can always be found on Kickstarter. Designers and developers on the crowdfunding site are creating new experiences and approaching tired genres from a different angle, holding their begging bowl out to the masses to drum up enough cash to keep the lights on long enough to finish the game. So as we enter the season of giving, here are three projects that could use a helping hand. This time we looked at French-inspired animal courtroom drama Aviary Attorney, haunted house FPS Curse of the Darkness, and comic-book inspired side-scrolling adventure Spectrum. (more…)
Square Enix will offer Collector’s Edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Square Enix has announced the Collector’s Edition of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, which costs $99.99 and comes with a golden steelbook case, a soundtrack by the composer, a manga giving details on the characters and world, an art book, five life-size replica copies of Ace’s Cards, and a code to play the demo for Final Fantasy XV.
Regardless of which version of the game you pre-order, you are automatically entered into the Collector’s Edition Sweepstakes to win “exciting prizes,” including a custom next-gen console, Ace and Noctis art, a Vermilion Bird lapel pin, and more, according to the PlayStation Blog. Square Enix also announced that Director Hajime Tabata will be doing a Reddit AMA on January 23, 2015 at 10:00 AM (Pacific Time).
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be released on March 17, 2015 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy XV