Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Author: John Scalzo
New Releases: Quantum Break, Dirt Rally, RBI Baseball 16, More
Remedy Entertainment ends their hiatus this week with the release of the time-bending Quantum Break on the PC and Xbox One. The game, which also includes a series of live-action interludes starring Shawn Ashmore, Dominic Monaghan, and Aidan Gillen, will also be available as part of the Quantum Break + Xbox One 500GB Console Bundle. And all versions of Quantum Break will come packaged with a digital download of Remedy’s previous game, Alan Wake.
Also available this week is Dirt Rally, the latest entry in Codemasters’s popular offroad rally racing franchise. Available for the PC since December, Dirt Rally’s launch on the PS4 and Xbox One adds a number of new features including Classic Mini and Super 1600 series races, 21 Advanced Rally Driving Video Guides, the Pikes Peak course, and more.
Athletes of a different sort will compete in another of this week’s new releases, RBI Baseball 16. The rebooted baseball sim will get its first-ever retail release this week on the PS4 and Xbox One.
Finally this week, first-person adventure Ether One will launch for the PS4, and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Chronicles series of side-scrolling spinoffs will come to the Vita.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita, Xbox One
Tagged Dirt Rally, Quantum Break, RBI Baseball 2016
Xbox Store Today: Organic Panic, Adam’s Venture: Origins
Gamemakers are keeping the April Fool’s Day jokes to a minimum this year, and Microsoft is following suit with an uncharacteristically small update to the Xbox Games Store. Just two games were released on the digital storefront today… players can try out the “super-kooky” platformer Organic Panic or the tomb-raiding antics of Adam’s Venture: Origins.
More information on each title can be found below and both are now available to download for the Xbox One.
Xbox One Games
Orgnaic Panic ($14.99)
Organic Panic is a super-kooky platformer with totally destructible environments and dynamic fluids. The incredible physics uses the “DAFT Engine” (Destructible And Fluid Technology) making for unique and diverse gameplay: wood floats and burns, lightning conducts, ice is slippery and melts, water douses fire, rubber is bouncy, acid disintegrates… Master the four elementally powered heroes and swap between them to overcome Baby Cheese’s evil technological empire. Smash through earth, create and turn into water, control gravity, and set it all on fire as you battle and puzzle your way through over 200 Single-Player, Co-Op, and Versus levels.Adam’s Venture: Origins ($49.99)
Adam’s Venture: Origins is a reimagining of the Adam’s Venture franchise. Streamlined and replotted to forge an engaging narrative, Adam’s Venture: Origins reimagines the events of the first exploits of Adam Venture. Embark on a bold adventure in Adam’s Venture: Origins. Set in the roaring 20s, in Adam’s Venture: Origins you will explore ancient ruins, and recover mysterious artifacts. Together with your trusted accomplice Evelyn, you will have to outsmart the evil Clairvaux company.
Graceful Explosion Machine is a dreamy shooter with a great name
Vertex Pop’s first game, We Are Doomed, was a dreamy take on Geometry Wars. Yesterday, the developer announced their second game, Graceful Explosion Machine… a dreamy take on Defender.
In addition to being a great name for a starship, Graceful Explosion Machine is a game that asks players to dash back and forth across a 2D field, blasting baddies along the way with a number of different weapons.
Graceful Explosion Machine will be released for PC and consoles in early 2017, but Vertex Pop plans to bring a playable demo of the game to this month’s PAX East convention (April 22-24) as part of the Indie Megabooth area.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Graceful Explosion Machine, PAX East 2016
Hitman: Episode Two will be available on April 26
IO Interactive has revealed (via Twitter) that the second chapter in their episodic Hitman series will be released on April 26:
Episode Two.
Sapienza.
April 26. pic.twitter.com/8I3qYVcDCu— HITMAN (@Hitman) March 31, 2016
Agent 47’s second mission will take him to Sapienza, a fictional coastal town in Italy. Further details on the famed assassin’s Italian trip are currently pretty scarce, but we did enjoy the Intro Pack quite a bit. However, IO’s marketing tactics haven’t gotten any better over the years.
Axiom Verge will be released for the Vita on April 19
Axiom Verge made its PlayStation 4 debut exactly one year ago today. To celebrate, developer Tom Happ has announced that the award-winning Metroidvania will be released for the Vita on April 19. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Happ described some of the difficulties in bringing Axiom Verge to the Vita:
Tom Spilman from Sickhead Games was in charge of the porting process. Porting an engine to a new platform is an incredibly complicated task, yet he was able to pull it off easily for PlayStation 4. After the PlayStation 4 version was done, however, porting it to Vita turned out to be a lot more challenging. Optimizing an engine is slow and painstaking work.
One analogy that I like to use when describing getting Axiom Verge working on PS Vita is that of a lightbulb. For months, Tom Spilman was putting in all of the wiring, but until it was fully connected, the light bulb just couldn’t turn on. And finally, about a month ago, Tom Spilman was able to make the final connection. The build went from not running at all on Vita to running almost perfectly. There were a few bugs here and there that needed to be tweaked, but most of that was fairly minor and easily handled.
Axiom Verge will be Cross-Buy compatible between the two platforms, so if you already own the PS4 version, the Vita version will be available as a free download. And if you’re new to the world of Axiom Verge, you’ll be happy to know the game will receive a 10% discount for a week after the launch of the Vita version.
Earlier this month, Happ confirmed that Axiom Verge is also in the works for the Xbox One and Wii U, and it should be available on those platforms sometime this year.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge
This live-action Doom trailer will prepare you to “Fight Like Hell”
Doom‘s Closed Beta kicks off tonight, and publisher Bethesda wants to prepare everyone for the carnage to come with a brand new live-action trailer for the game. Joe Kosinski (who also directed Oblivion and Tron: Legacy populates Mars with Imps, Cacodemons, Barons of Hell, and all the rest of Doom’s demonic forces. It might be a slightly less-than-typical trip to the Red Planet, but don’t worry, Doomguy’s got this.
Doom will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 13. And if nothing else, this trailer gives me hope that some Hollywood types could eventually produce an amazing film adaptation of id Software’s seminal shooter.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016)
Nintendo Download: Lovely Planet, Mario Super Sluggers, Pokken Tournament demo, more
After launching Miitomo, the Nintendo Account service, and the My Nintendo rewards program, this week’s Nintendo Download is a bit on the slim side. But 3DS and Wii U owners will be able to browse a completely revamped Nintendo eShop through Nintendo.com starting this week, so I guess that’s something.
Leading things off this week is Lovely Planet, a speedrunning first person shooter for the Wii U that takes place in a colorful world that bears a slight resemblence to the Katamari Damacy franchise. Developed by QuickTequila, Lovely Planet may look cute and cuddly, but it’s said to include a “brutal” interior that players may be surprised to discover.
Also available this week, just in time for Opening Day, is Mario Super Sluggers. Originally released for the Wii back in 2008, Wii U owners will be able to download it now and play the grand old game with Mario and all his friends.
Finally this week, Wii U owners who haven’t tried Pokken Tournament yet can grab a downloadable demo of the game from the Wii U eShop.
A few other games were added to the Nintendo eShop this week and a complete look at all of them can be found after the break. (more…)
Second Call of Duty: Black Ops III DLC Pack, Eclipse, will launch for PS4 on April 19
Activision and Treyarch have announced the second downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops III will launch next month. The Eclipse DLC Pack will include four new multiplayer maps (including one based on CoD: World At War‘s “Banzai”) and a new chapter in the Zombies saga:
- Spire: Spire takes Multiplayer combat to a futuristic sub-orbital airport terminal set high in the clouds. Multiple levels and open areas promote intense, mid-range combat around a clean, high-tech civilian environment. Watch your step, because one wrong move could send you plummeting back through the stratosphere.
- Rift: Head to the core of a harsh futuristic military complex, set high above an active caldera. Rift funnels and forces tight, intense engagements, where the only way through is forward. Utilize the unique core movement opportunities to outsmart and outplay enemies as you traverse the suspended rail system.
- Knockout: Housed in a traditional Shaolin Temple with a retro twist, Knockout sets the stage for a bloody Kung Fu tournament. This mid-sized map showcases a sharp contrast between the mid-range engagements of the traditional exterior architecture and the tight close-quarters of an eclectic 1970’s styled interior.
- Verge: In this re-imagination of the classic Call of Duty: World At War map, “Banzai,” Verge drops Multiplayer combat into the center of a distant post-apocalyptic future, where two warring factions are entrenched in constant battle. Take control of the key bridge, fortresses, tunnel systems and waterfalls as you engage in high-speed action through this medium-sized map.
Eclipse also sets the stage for “Zetsubou No Shima,” the highly-anticipated, all-new entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies storyline that spans the four DLC Map Packs for Black Ops III this year. The Origins characters continue on their mission to stop the zombie apocalypse not only in this universe but in all universes. Our heroes find themselves stranded on a remote Pacific island which is home to the Division 9 facility: a secret biological research lab whose experiments with Element 115 and its effects on human, animal, and plant biology has created horrors beyond belief. “Zetsubou No Shima” features a foliage rich island map including new terrifying zombie enemies, a variety of innovative transport mechanics, more devastating traps and classic Zombies side quests.
The Eclipse DLC Pack will be available for PS4 owners on April 19 as part of the Black Ops III Season Pass or as a standalone download. And if Activision follows their standard operating procedure for Call of Duty DLC, PC and Xbox One owners should be able to download the new maps sometime in late May.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III