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
Xbox Store Today: Zheros, Oxenfree
A pair of new Xbox One games are now available to download through the Xbox Games Store, so let’s get right to it…
Zheros is a colorful beat ’em up from Rimlight Studios that asks players to join the Zheros Squad and defend the universe from crime. The intergalactic action title is also the newest member of Microsoft’s Games With Gold promotion, and Xbox One owners who have an Xbox Live Gold subscription will be able to download for free until February 15.
Also available this week is Oxenfree, a supernatural adventure from Night School Studio that Entertainment Weekly called a cross between Twin Peaks and Lost with dialogue reminiscent of a Joss Whedon production.
More information on both of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the best-selling game of 2015; CoD franchise sells more than 250 million copies since 2003
The numbers have been tabulated and the Call of Duty franchise once again reigns supreme over all other video games.
According to The NPD Group’s yearly report of retail releases, Call of Duty: Black Ops III was the best-selling game in 2015, besting EA’s Madden NFL 16 (#2) and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (#3). The Call of Duty franchise also controlled the back end of the list with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare taking the #10 spot. Activision’s Scott Lowe added (by way of the Activision Games Blog) that the entire franchise has sold more than 250 million copies since the release of Call of Duty in 2003.
Believe it or not, games outside the Call of Duty franchise found success in 2015 as well, though most of them were released after July 1st including Star Wars: Battlefront (#4), NBA 2K16 (#6), and FIFA 16 (#9). The only game to break that trend (aside from a few 2014 stragglers like Advanced Warfare) was Mortal Kombat X (#8), which was released in April. The game-playing public may not always like it, but this does explain why publishers constantly strive to release their games in the back half of the year.
On the hardware side, console sales surged in 2015, as the PS4 and Xbox One continued to outpace the PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS4 was the overall winner in 2015, but NPD analyst Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz that both platforms did well: “After 26 months of sales, the combined cumulative sales of Xbox One and PS4 exceeds the 26 month total of the PS3 and Xbox 360 by 47 percent,”
The NPD’s list of the top ten best-selling games for 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Fallout 4, FIFA 16, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 16, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K16, NPD, Star Wars: Battlefront
Pokken Tournament will be released for the Wii U on March 18
Nintendo has announced that Pokken Tournament, a Tekken-styled Pokemon fighting game produced by Bandai Namco, will be released for the Wii U on March 18. The publisher also revealed the first print run of the game will come packed with an Amiibo Card of Shadow Mewtwo, which can be tapped on the Wii U GamePad to unlock the character in the game.
Finally, an official website for Pokken Tournament is now online at PokkenTournament.com. It’s pretty bare at the moment, but additional information on “Games Modes,” “How to Play,” the “Amiibo Card,” and “My Town” will be available soon.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Pokken Tournament
CoD: Black Ops III does a repeat of November as the best-selling game of December 2015 too
While financial folks continue to claim that the Call of Duty franchise is in freefall, the latest game in the series still managed to top the sales charts in December. Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which also topped the list in November, beat out several other strong contenders for the public’s Christmas dollars including Star Wars: Battlefront (#2) and Fallout 4 (#3). There weren’t too many new releases available in December, but one, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (#7), managed to crack the top ten.
However, the the biggest surprise in the NPD Group’s December report might be that Minecraft: Story Mode landed at #9… even though the game disc available in stores only contains the first episode. Interestingly, it placed just behind the original Minecraft, which was firmly locked in at #8.
Even with a dearth of new releases, December 2015 was a good one from a financial perspective, which NPD analyst Liam Callahan shared with GamesIndustry.biz: “December 2015 was the best month on record for PS4 and Xbox One, and the second-best for the Wii U in terms of new physical software unit sales. This also meant that it was the best month of total eighth generation new physical software sales.”
The full top ten list for December 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Lego Avengers will get bonus Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man content on PS4/PS3
WB Games and TT Games will release Lego Avengers in less than two weeks, but they’re still packing the game full of extra content for all the true believers out there… but you’ll need to own a PS4 or PS3. PlayStation players who purchase Lego Avengers for the PS4 or PS3 will receive two bonus DLC packs featuring characters and locations from Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man.
The Captain America: Civil War Character Pack will be available to download on January 26 and it’ll include nine characters from the upcoming film (Captain America, Iron Man [Mark 46], Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Crossbones, and Agent 13). Meanwhile, the Ant-Man Character & Level Pack will contain a brand new level based on the blockbuster film and 11 additional characters (Ant-Man [Scott Lang], Ant-Man [Hank Pym], Ant-Thony [Flying Ant], Cassie Lang, Darren Cross, Scott Lang, Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, Luis, The Wasp [Janet Van Dyne], and Yellowjacket) when it’s released sometime this Spring. And don’t worry, every character from both packs will be compatible with the levels in the main game.
Arthur Parsons of TT Games recently dropped by the PlayStation Blog to talk a little bit more about both DLC packs, which will be available as a free download for PS4 and PS3 owners for a limited time. It’s likely that players on other platforms will be able to purchase them at a later date, but we don’t know that for sure right now.
Lego Avengers will also be available on January 26 for the 3DS, PC, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Lego Avengers
Nintendo Download: Metroid Zero Mission, Lionel City Builder 3D, Space Hulk, more
Wii U owners will get a chance to try one of Samus Aran’s earliest missions in this week’s Nintendo Download. That’s because Metroid: Zero Mission, an enhanced remake of the first Metroid game for the NES, is now available to download through the Wii U eShop. Originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004, Nintendo added improved graphics and several bonus areas to Zero Mission, as well as animated cinematics to help propel the game’s story forward.
Also available on the Wii U eShop this week is Space Hulk, a digital rendition of Games Workshop’s two-player strategy board game. Players will explore the Warhammer 40,000 universe from a new angle as they take control of a small squad of Space Marine Terminators that’s planning to mount an assault against a group of vicious Genestealers. A single-player mode has also been included.
Finally this week, Lionel City Builder 3D: Rise of the Rails will give 3DS owners the opportunity to create their own model railroad and the entire world around it. Choo choo!
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Bayonetta 2 gets a price cut on February 19 but Bayonetta 1 will be removed from the box
If you’re a Wii U owner, you know that it’s been difficult to find a retail copy of Bayonetta 2 during the last 12 months. But Nintendo is about to make your search a bit easier as the consolemaker will re-release the game in stores this February at a discount ($29.99)… but without the previously bundled bonus disc that contained the original Bayonetta:
Get familiar with Bayonetta before taking her on in #SmashBros! Bayonetta 2 launches as a standalone game on 2/19. pic.twitter.com/T3tUrjYK7o
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 14, 2016
As you can see, Bayonetta 2 is getting a budget-priced re-release on February 19 to get gamers ready for the character’s upcoming appearance in Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U. While it doesn’t look like the original Bayonetta is in line to receive a retail release, it’s currently available to download through the Wii U eShop for $29.99.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2
Capcom Vancouver will use Unreal Engine 4 for multiple upcoming projects
Capcom’s Vancouver studio, and the team behind three of the four games in the Dead Rising series, has announced they’ve got multiple unannounced projects currently in development. But rather than continue to use their in-house Forge Engine, all of these projects will employ Epic’s Unreal Engine 4.
“We have some ambitious visions for where we want to take our next games and while our previous proprietary engine served the needs for the projects at the time, shifting to Unreal Engine 4 delivers the right tools for our future direction,” said Joe Nickolls the Studio Director at Capcom Game Studio Vancouver. “Not only will we be developing on a powerful and versatile platform, we’ll also work closely with the team at Epic to maximize the capabilities of the latest and greatest technology. Using this industry leading engine also allows us to quickly integrate new talent onto our projects so that we can focus on pioneering new world class entertainment.”
No further details about these games were announced, but the developer did say they have several open positions on their team and that interested potential employees should visit CapcomVancouver.com to apply.
Posted in News