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)
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Weekly Warp-Up: Nintendo Will Fully Unveil the Switch in One Month…
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
We’re just 32 days away from Nintendo’s big Switch presentation, and with the rest of the industry shutting down for the holidays, it’s a great time to talk about everything that’s been happening with the upcoming console.
The biggest news from this past week is that the consolemaker brought the Nintendo Switch (and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Run) to The Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon got to grope the coveted console for a few minutes, and it was our first “live” look at the machine operating in the wild.
But perhaps more interesting is all the rumors surrounding the Switch, including a fairly credible report that states From Software will release a Dark Souls Trilogy collection next year. Fans of classic gaming might also be interested in the rumored inclusion of GameCube games in the Switch’s Virtual Console.
Indie developers are wholeheartedly embracing the Switch and two new games were announced this week: a dreamy exploration game known as Seasons of Heaven, and an adventurous RPG known as The Sacred Hero.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, the staff got together to discuss What We Played in November and The Games of December.
More news from the previous seven days can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Bandai Namco adds Kuma and Panda to Tekken 7
People often joke about the ridiculousness of some of the characters that Capcom and NetherRealm have trotted out for Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat over the years. But neither franchise can compete with Bandai Namco’s Tekken, especially since the developer recently confirmed that Kuma and Panda will be included in the upcoming Tekken 7.
In Tekken lore, Kuma is the super-intelligent ursine bodyguard of Heihachi Mishima, the franchise’s big bad. Meanwhile, Panda serves the same role for Ling Xiaoyu, Mishima’s adopted granddaughter.
Tekken 7 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in the first few months of 2017. You can get your first look at Kuma and Panda in the trailer embedded above.
Conan O’Brien and Terry Crews play Battlefield 1 while petting bunnies
Things I learned in this episode of Clueless Gamer… Conan O’Brien is a huge World War I nerd and Terry Crews suffers from excitement urination.
That last one was probably a joke, but Conan really does geek out over history and he was having a blast playing DICE’s Battlefield 1. The host was also overcome with emotion as the game highlighted the true horrors of war and eventually needed to calm his nerves by petting a bunny. That is not a euphemism, by the way.
Battlefield 1 is now available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1
Xbox Store Today: Gigantic, Westerado, Sky Force Anniversary, more
The Xbox Games Store is closing out the week with a “huge” new addition to the Xbox One Game Preview program.
Motiga has been hard at work on Gigantic for several years now, and the developer is finally ready to unleash an Open Beta on unsuspecting Xbox One owners. Part MOBA and part third-person shooter, Gigantic is a 5v5 battle between teams of unique heroes with “fantastical spells, weapons, and abilities.” It’s available now as a free download, but purchasing the Founder’s Pack ($39.99) will unlock all 16 characters.
Also available to download for the Xbox One today is Westerado: Double Barreled, a retro-styled open world western from Adult Swim Games. Players can become “an outlaw or a saint” as they attempt to avenge the murder of their family.
Finally today, Infinite Dreams will release Sky Force Anniversary, a remake of an overhead shooter that was originally released for mobile devices back in 2004. The Xbox One version retains all the shooting action of the original Sky Force, but adds “3D graphics, intuitive controls, and a powerful upgrade system.”
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Gigantic, Westerado: Double Barreled
Daily Scoop: December 9, 2016 – Capcom Sale at Humble
It’s Friday! While I’m sad all my plans got cancelled this weekend, I’m also excited, because it means I can spend as much time with Trico as I want! And also, you know, get a lot of work done. I mean, I am going to do work. For sure! Really…
There’s a Capcom sale happening over at Humble! Bionic Commando and Dark Void are $1.99, Dead Rising is $15.99, Duck Tales Remastered is $4.94, and Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen is $11.99, among many others!
There are lots of great deals happening at Steam right now. The deals include Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter for $19.99, Rocket League for $11.99, H1Z1: King of the Kill for $9.99, Shadow Warrior for $29.99, and many more.
Hit the jump to see today’s shirts! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Activision will add six maps (plus “Winter Crash” bonus map) to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered on December 13
Back in September, Activision promised that every mutliplayer map from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would be available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered by the end of the year. Yesterday, they made good on their promise by confirming that the remaining six maps (“Bloc,” “Countdown,” “Pipeline,” “Showdown,” “Strike,” and “Wet Work”) will be released on December 13.
Modern Warfare Remastered’s December Update will also include the holiday-themed “Winter Crash” map as a bonus, as well as the Gun Game and Hardpoint game modes.
As of today, Activision hasn’t announced any plans to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered as a standalone download, and the game is currently only available as part of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Legacy Edition.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Blizzard Publishing book-publishing label launches with World of Warcraft Coloring Book
The “Fantasy” section at your local Barnes & Noble is probably overflowing with adaptations of Blizzard’s biggest franchises. Yesterday, the developer announced their intention to get into the book-publishing business with the launch of their own label, Blizzard Publishing.
“Great stories and inspiring artwork have always been at the heart of everything we do,” said Lydia Bottegoni, the Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment. “The creation of Blizzard Publishing gives us new opportunities to celebrate the art and stories of our games with Blizzard gamers as well as fantasy and sci-fi fans around the world.”
Blizzard is launching their new venture with World of Warcraft: An Adult Coloring Book, an “epic volume of more than 80 pieces of concept art, sketches, and more.”
The Blizzard Publishing label will also be used to retell some of the expanded universe stories from years part, including a line of reprinted “Blizzard Legends” titles. The first three book in the “Blizzard Legends” line will be Warcraft: The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb, Warcraft: Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden, and World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden. Blizzard will also reprint a series of manga collections, starting with Warcraft Legends: Volume One and Warcraft Legends: Volume Two.
Blizzard Publishing has plans to release a number of additional titles in 2017 including Art of Hearthstone, Cinematic Art of StarCraft, as well as additional novel and manga reissues. All Blizzard Publishing titles can be purchased from the Blizzard Gear online storefront, and many will also be available at your local bookstore.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC
Tagged World of Warcraft
DICE will partner with Motive to give Star Wars: Battlefront 2 a single-player campaign
With millions of copies sold and fans clamoring for a sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront has been an extremely successful gamble for EA and DICE. But while players are eager to experience a followup, they’ve also pestered DICE to add a single-player campaign to the multiplayer shooter. Yesterday, the developer strongly hinted at some progress on that front in a new sit-down with Eurogamer.
DICE Producer Paul Keslin revealed that DICE has used the Death Star and Rogue One expansions to inject “a bit of narrative” into the first Battlefront, and that people are responding well to it:
The other big request, of course, was for a campaign – something that’s already been locked in for Battlefront 2, and something that DICE has been making motions towards in its DLC for the first game. “Myself as a Star Wars fan, I want story, I want narrative, I want something I can play that immerses me in that world but gives me something to follow and chase,” says Keslin. “That’s actually what inspired us with the Death Star DLC and [the Rogue One DLC] – how we do add a bit of narrative to the multiplayer game? We know that players want that, we’re not able to give them a full-fledged campaign post-launch for Battlefront, but how can we scratch that itch a bit? It’s been received okay – I think some people appreciate it. We’re trying to address as many things as we can.”
Keslin went on to admit that DICE is currently working with Jade Raymond’s Motive Studios to ensure the single-player campaign in Battlefront 2 is up to par with the multiplayer portions:
“That’s a lot of what we’ve talked about in terms of DICE’s identity and how we approach games,” says Keslin. “We’re partnering up with some folks from Motive – they have their own take on how things are – but we have a very close relationship with them, and we want everything to feel like a coherent experience. We don’t want it where single player isn’t that great but multiplayer has this great thing and isn’t connected.”
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will be released in Fall 2017, just ahead of the theatrical debut of Star Wars Episode VIII.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront II