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: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Just Cause 3, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, more
Just like this week’s PlayStation Store update, Ubisoft and Square Enix are sitting at the top of the Xbox Games Store update with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege and Just Cause 3.
Ubisoft counter-terrorism shooter for the Xbox One is the first new entry in the series in seven years and promises a new 5v5 “Fortify Versus Defend” mechanic that focuses on environmental destruction (or protection if you’re the defending team). And speaking of destruction, Just Cause 3 will let players tear it up on the Xbox One as players will once again step into Rico Rodriguez’s wingsuit as he flings himself off cliffs in search of another dictator on another island paradise. Don’t forget your grapple gun!
Also available this week is The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, a Diablo-like action RPG that stars the famed vampire hunter. But you’ll have to fight more than a few bloodsuckers as mad science run amok “threatens the fragile peace between monster and mortal.” If that sounds like your kind of thing, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is available as a free download all month as part of Microsoft’s Games With Gold program.
More information on all three of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Just Cause 3, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Harmonix will release Amplitude for PS4 on January 5
Harmonix has announced that Amplitude will be available to download for the PS4 on January 5. But wait, it gets better! If you backed the game’s Kickstarter campaign at the $40 tier (or above), you’ll receive your download code for Amplitude on December 23, two weeks earlier than everyone else. A new trailer has been embedded above too.
In addition to unveiling a release date, Harmonix has also revealed Amplitude’s complete soundtrack, which includes music from Darren Korb (Bastion, Transistor), C418 (Minecraft), Danny B (Crypt of the Necrodancer), Jim Guthrie (Below), and game development studios Insomniac Games (Ratchet & Clank) and Lab Zero (Skullgirls). The complete soundtrack has been posted after the break.
If you’re in San Francisco for the PlayStation Experience this weekend, you’ll be able to get your hands on Amplitude at Harmonix’s booth. You’ll receive an exclusive dynamic theme for your PS4 and an Amplitude trading card. Finally, no mention was made of the PS3 version of the game, but its expected to be available soon. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Amplitude, PlayStation Experience 2015
Rive pushed back to 2016 by Two Tribes
Netherlands-based Two Tribes has announced that their side-scrolling shooter, Rive, will miss its planned 2015 release date. Instead, the game will launch sometime in 2016 for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One. Designer Collin Van Ginkel gave a very direct explanation for the delay on the company’s website: “The reason why we’re moving it to 2016 is simple… we’re not done yet.”
Ginkel added:
Since moving to a three man team early last year we had to rediscover how to handle things with less man-power. This means a lot of tasks have to be handled sequentially, instead of spread throughout the team. If we need a new trailer, the level designs stall for two weeks. If we decide to attend PAX or EGX with a booth, the entire project is paused for several weeks. It’s frustrating, especially since it means we can’t let you play the final game yet, but it’s our current reality and we are adamant to make Rive the absolute best game we’ve ever created.
Two Tribes has also released a trio of new screenshots for Rive. You can find them at their website.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, Just Cause 3, GTA San Andreas, more added to PS Store
We’re getting closer to the end of the year, but there’s still plenty of life left in Sony’s weekly PlayStation Store updates.
Ubisoft leads off this week with the release of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege for the PS4. The counter-terrorism shooter is the first new entry in the series in seven years and promises a new 5v5 “Fortify Versus Defend” mechanic that focuses on environmental destruction (or protection if you’re the defending team).
Speaking of destruction, Just Cause 3 is also available for the PS4 from Square Enix and Avalanche Studios this week. Players will once again step into Rico Rodriguez’s wingsuit as he flings himself off cliffs in search of another dictator on another island paradise. And don’t forget your grapple gun!
Rockstar makes a surprise appearance on the PlayStation Store this week with a PS3 re-release for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This re-release is no doubt similar to the Xbox-to-Xbox 360 upgrade the game received last year.
Finally this week, The Legend of Kage is now available to download on the PS4 as part of the Arcade Archives series. Kage is one of the best side-scrollers from the 80s, so don’t let it sneak up on you!
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Just Cause 3, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
SteamWorld Heist will be released for 3DS on December 10; Other platforms to follow in 2016
Image & Form has announced that SteamWorld Heist, their turn-based space adventure starring sentient robots, will be released for the 3DS on December 10. SteamWorld Heist will be regularly priced at $19.99, but Image & Form is slashing the price by $3 (to $16.99) for its first three weeks of availability. The developer also revealed that a brand new trailer for the game will be available just ahead of the launch date, on December 8.
SteamWorld Heist will also be released for the PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One, and mobile devices sometime in 2016.
WB Games Montreal is STILL working on multiple unannounced DC Comics games
Way back in 2011, the head of WB Games Montreal told the world that his team was currently working on multiple unannounced games based on characters from the DC Comics Universe. Fast forward to 2013, and we found out that one of those games was Batman: Arkham Origins, a prequel to Rocksteady’s revolutionary take on The Batman.
So what has WB Games Montreal been up to in the mean time? Making more games based on DC Comics character, of course! The developer recently announced a number of new job openings for two “AAA projects” set within the DC Comics Universe. If you’ve got the skills, you should head over to their Jobs Page and have a look.
It’s probably safe to assume that WB Games has at least one more Batman game in the works, but the comic company’s stable of superheroes will be getting the cinematic treatment next year in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. So a high profile new game starring Superman, Wonder Woman, or even the Suicide Squad is always a possibility at this point.
Posted in News
Beck, Cold War Kids, X Ambassadors, more go “Off the Charts” in today’s Rock Band 4 update
Harmonix is scouring the Alternative Rock chart for today’s Rock Band 4 DLC Update. New songs from Beck, Cold War Kids, X Ambassadors, Borns, and Catfish and The Bottlemen are all now available to download from the Rock Band Music Store:
- Beck – “Dreams”
- Borns – “Electric Love”
- Catfish and The Bottlemen – “Cocoon”
- Cold War Kids – “First”
- X Ambassadors – “Renegades”
These songs can be acquired for $1.99 apiece or bundled together for $8.49 as part of the Off the Charts 01 Pack. A video preview of all five tracks has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
This Mighty No. 9 “Features Trailer” is mighty retro
Because Mighty No. 9 is developer Keiji Inafune’s loving homage to the Mega Man series, it features many hallmarks of the wildly popular franchise. You want a side-scrolling platformer? You got it. You want a robotic main character who can absorb abilities from enemy robots? Yup, that’s here too. So it should come as no surprise that the announcer in this “Features Trailer” is bombastic and a little ridiculous… just like he would have been in the carefree 90s.
So learn a little more about Mighty No. 9’s Boss Rush Mode, Challenge Mode, Online Challenge Mode (Competitive and Co-Op), and One-Hit Death Maniac Mode, and get yourself ready for the game’s release on February 9, 2016.