Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: PC
Geoff Keighley launches The Game Festival to make limited-time demos of upcoming games available through Steam
Way back in 2006, Microsoft gave Xbox 360 fans a chance to try a limited-time demo of one of their E3 offerings, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, as part of their “Bringing It Home” marketing campaign. The campaign was such a success that the consolemaker repeated it in 2007 and in 2008. Now, more than a decade later, Geoff Keighley is bringing the concept back to coincide with this year’s Game Awards.
Dubbed “The Game Festival,” Steam users will be able to download more than a dozen limited-time demos this week, including highly-anticipated upcoming releases such as System Shock, SkateBird, Carrion, and more:
Demos Available During The Game Festival
- Acid Knife (Powerhoof)
- Carrion (Phobia / Devolver Digital)
- Chicory (Greg Lobanov)
- The Drifter (Powerhoof)
- Eastward (Pixpil / Chucklefish)
- Haven (The Game Bakers)
- Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
- Moving Out (SMG Studio / Devm Games / Team17)
- Röki (Polygon Treehouse / United Label)
- SkateBird (Glass Bottom Games)
- Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus)
- System Shock (Nightdive Studios)
- Wooden Nickel (Brain&Brain)
“Six years ago I bet everything I had to create The Game Awards as a way to celebrate our passion for gaming,” Keighley said. “Now feels like the right time to take the next step with The Game Festival, a completely digital approach to the consumer event space. Let’s face it: Not everyone can attend a physical trade show or consumer event. The Game Festival is designed from the ground-up as an event without barriers, extending the benefits of a physical event to the global gaming community that watches The Game Awards.”
The demos included as part of The Game Festival will be available to play through Steam beginning on Thursday, December 12, at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time). The demo period will end two days later on Saturday at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time).
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Game Awards 2019
Jamestown+ Review: Get Your Bum to Mars
Final Form Games is a small developer based out of Philadelphia, and they originally released Jamestown, a vertically-scrolling “neoclassical” shooter, for the PC in 2011. Three years later, they brought their game to the PS4 as Jamestown+, adding a pair of bonus levels and several new ships.
But here we are in 2019 and it looks like the game is finally ready to reach its “final form” (or rather, how the developer “originally intended” to release it). That’s because the development team will bring Jamestown+ to the Switch this week with even more updates and improvements. (more…)
NetEase will unveil Naraka: Bladepoint at the 2019 Game Awards
We’re getting closer and closer to the 2019 Game Awards, and host Geoff Keighley continues to tease the World Premiere Trailers he has lined up for this year’s show.
Last night, he revealed that Naraka: Bladepoint, a new game from publisher NetEase Games and developer 24 Entertainment, will be announced during the ceremony.
Where cold steel collides and blood runs dry, Souls BLOSSOM.
Tune in for the World Premiere at #TheGameAwards to witness the Soulbloom in #NARAKATHEGAME pic.twitter.com/NtaX3fE2O4— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 10, 2019
Naraka: Bladepoint is still shrouded in mystery, but artwork found on the game’s official Twitter account points to a game about warring groups in Ancient China. And though publisher NetEase is famously known for working in the mobile space, they’ve recently provided funding to console developers such as Quantic Dream and Bungie, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about Naraka’s destination just yet.
Thankfully, we won’t have much longer to wait, as the 2019 Game Awards will be held this Thursday, December 12.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Game Awards 2019
Super Crush KO will bring pastel punches to the PC and Switch on January 16, 2020
Vertex Pop has announced that Super Crush KO, their upcoming ultra-colorful brawler, will be released for the PC and Switch on January 16, 2020. If you’re unfamiliar with Super Crush KO, the development team also sent over this handy primer for the game’s pastel post-apocalypse:
Combining beat ’em up and run and gun action, Super Crush KO, has players take control of Karen, a tough and fashionable brawler in a colorful world overrun by frantic robot enemies. Karen must wipe them out using punches, kicks and long-range combat in fluid combos on the way to save her cat Chubbz and (while she’s at it) humanity. Featuring delightful hand-drawn graphics, a pastel color palette and a catchy soundtrack, this is a feel-good action game complemented with bright and stylish aesthetics.
“We are very excited to announce that Super Crush KO will soon be available on Nintendo Switch and Steam, packing fast-paced thrilling fights, intuitive controls and colorful aesthetic,” said Game Designer Mobeen Fikree. ”Super Crush KO is easy to pick up yet hard to master, but no matter the player level, everyone will have a great time smashing hordes of robot enemies in style.”
To celebrate the release date announcement, Vertex Pop also unveiled a brand new Gameplay Trailer, which has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, Switch
Tagged Super Crush KO
Cloud Chamber is 2K’s newest internal studio and their first project is BioShock 4
The best news to arrive in our inbox this morning is that 2K Games has finally confirmed that BioShock 4 is officially in development. However, the bad news is that the project is just getting off the ground and that it’ll likely be in development “for the next several years.”
While we didn’t learn anything substantial about the next entry in the BioShock franchise today, 2K did share that the game is currently in the works at a brand new internal studio known as Cloud Chamber. The Cloud Chamber team will be split across two locations, San Francisco and Montreal, and Kelley Gilmore (formerly of Firaxis) will head up the joint effort from her home base in California.
“We founded Cloud Chamber to create yet-to-be-discovered worlds – and their stories within – that push the boundaries of what is possible in the video game medium,” said Gilmore. “Our team believes in the beauty and strength of diversity, in both the makeup of the studio and the nature of its thinking. We are a deeply experienced group of game makers, including many responsible for BioShock’s principal creation, advancement, and longstanding notoriety, and honored to be part of the 2K family as stewards of this iconic franchise.”
“As we continue growing our product portfolio, we remain inspired by opportunities to invest further in our valuable IP, great people and their collective, long-term potential,” added 2K’s President, David Ismailer. “BioShock is one of the most beloved, critically praised and highest-rated franchises of the last console generation*. We can’t wait to see where its powerful narrative and iconic, first-person shooter gameplay head in the future with our new studio team at Cloud Chamber leading the charge.”
With a multi-year development schedule ahead of it, BioShock 4 is most likely in development for the PC and one or both of the next-generation console platforms.
Posted in News, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
Tagged BioShock 4
Kickstart This! Radical Chess, Guinea Pig Parkour, and Endless Memories
Kickstarter is like a devil’s playground of goodies just waiting to be funded. I’m currently toying with the idea of spending $1,000 on the Raine One Electric Scooter, if only for its glowing wheels and similar name to my own.
But the crowdfunding site is also one of the best ways for solo developers and small indie studios to present their project to an audience directly, which is what I love about it. Make a trailer that oozes passion and originality for a game that also looks cool, and I will throw my money at you like I’m in a strip joint.
So which games have caught my eye recently? In this edition of Kickstart This!, I will face off with Radical Chess, roll and jump in the 2D platformer Guinea Pig Parkour, and battle my way through the 2D action adventure Endless Memories. (more…)
Kickstart This! The Sad Tale of Knite and the Ghost Lights
Long time readers of Kickstart This! may recall Knite and the Ghost Lights by Mobot Studios. The gorgeous side-scroller was one of the first games we featured in this column and one of the first Kickstarter projects that I backed personally.
Even now, I have fond memories of discovering the game on the crowdfunding site way back in October of 2013. It was pitched as a stop-motion RPG built with a strong sense of early Tim Burton. Knite and the Ghost Lights was going to be delivered by July 2014 on the PC and Wii U (Nintendo’s previous console is another thing I have fond memories of).
However, the delivery deadline was missed, and that’s when things started to go wrong for the game, which has been limping along and languishing in development hell ever since. At the time, Lex Plotnikoff, the lead artist and creative force on Knite and the Ghost Lights, found himself unable to return to America. The Russian national was mired in red tape, which threw a proverbial spanner into the works, and brought development on the game grinding to a halt. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, Wii U
Tagged Knite and the Ghost Lights
Valve officially unveils Half-Life: Alyx… and a March 2020 release date
Rise and shine, Valve, rise and shine.
The operators of Steam have finally returned to large-scale game development… and to the Half-Life franchise. The developer unveiled the first trailer for Half-Life: Alyx earlier today, along with confirmation that we won’t have to wait very long to play the VR-focused title. According to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx will launch in March of 2020, making an already-packed month for new releases even more crowded.
Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Half-Life: Alyx puts players into the literal gloves of Alyx Vance as she searches for something known as “The Vault”:
Valve’s return to the Half-Life universe that started it all was built from the ground up for virtual reality. VR was built to enable the gameplay that sits at the heart of Half-Life.
Immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat.
Lean to aim around a broken wall and under a Barnacle to make an impossible shot. Rummage through shelves to find a healing syringe and some shotgun shells. Manipulate tools to hack alien interfaces. Toss a bottle through a window to distract an enemy. Rip a Headcrab off your face and throw it out the window.
Half-Life: Alyx will be compatible with all major VR headsets, including the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality. But all Valve Index owners will receive a copy of the game for free when it’s ready.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Half-Life: Alyx