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
Fallout 4, Super Dodge Ball, Superbeat: Xonic, more added to PS Store
It’s definitely not the Summertime, but rival game publishers have decided to treat Fallout 4 like a Hollywood-style blockbuster that needs to be avoided on the release calendar. Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic adventure makes its PS4 debut as part of this week’s PlayStation Store update and it’s practically the only new game available.
But players who aren’t interested in battling Deathclaws in the vicinity of Vault 111 still have a handful of options to choose from:
- Super Dodge Ball is a PS4 re-release of the 1987 arcade game that served as the source for the classic NES game.
- Kromaia Ω is a “bullet hell” shooter for the PS4 with “21st century” touches.
- SkyScrappers is a vertically-scrolling platform fighter for the PS4 that takes place on a teetering skyscraper.
- Spelunker World is a free-to-play platformer for the PS4 that looks an awful lot like Spelunky.
- Phineas and Ferb: Day of Doofenshmirtz is another game based on the popular Disney show, now available for the Vita.
- Superbeat: Xonic is a rhythm game for the Vita with more than 50 songs.
More information on all of these games is available after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Black Friday 2015 Video Game Deals: Target
Black Friday is coming, is your wish list (and your wallet) ready? Here’s what you can expect to find at one retailer on November 27th…
Target is offering deep discounts on games in the “toys-to-life” genre like Skylanders SuperChargers, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, and Lego Dimensions this holiday season. They also plan to mark down big new titles like Guitar Hero Live, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Finally, if you’re in the market for a Wii U, the retailer will have a great bundle that includes digital download codes for Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.
Target will open their doors for Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, at 6:00 PM. You can view their full ad at BlackFriday.com or check out all the game deals after the break. (more…)
Harmonix spins up some hard rock from Linkin Park, Audioslave, Godsmack for today’s Rock Band 4 DLC Update
Harmonix is taking a trip to the 2000s with this week’s Rock Band 4 DLC Update. A trio of hard rock songs from the first half of the decade are now available to download through the Rock Band Music Store including “Like A Stone,” which appeared on Audioslave’s debut album; “Awake,” the title track from Godsmack’s second album; and “Lying From You,” a song from Linkin Park’s album Meteora.
All three songs can be previewed in the trailer embedded above, and they can be purchased for $1.99 apiece.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Xbox One Backwards Compatibility for Xbox 360 games begins November 12; Here’s the full list of supported titles
Microsoft surprised everyone this past Summer when they announced that the Xbox One would soon offer Backwards Compatibility for Xbox 360 games. Today, they announced that Backwards Compatibility support will be available on November 12 as part of the New Xbox One Experience update.
Gamers who play Xbox 360 games through their Xbox One will have access to many of the new-gen system’s many features including Screenshot Capture, Game DVR, and streaming through Twitch. Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb and Richard Irving discuss exactly how these features will work in the video embedded above.
Backwards Compatibility support for 104 Xbox 360 titles will be available on November 12, though most of them are Xbox Live Arcade games. However, Microsoft plans regularly update the Backwards Compatibility list and plans to add support for Halo: Reach, Halo Wars, Call of Duty: Black Ops, BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, and Skate 3 soon.
The full list of titles with Backwards Compatibility support on November 12 can be found after the break. (more…)
Everybody get ready… Overwatch is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One in Spring 2016
Before this weekend, everyone assumed that Blizzard’s Overwatch would be available exclusively for the PC sometime this year as a free-to-play game. But all of that changed during the developer’s annual BlizzCon convention. As part of the weekend’s festivities, Blizzard announced that Overwatch will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Spring 2016 in a full-priced “Origins Edition.” A 6v6 “hero shooter,” Overwatch will come packed with 21 heroes, including three that were announced at BlizzCon:
- Genji, a cybernetic ninja, is an expert assassin capable of extraordinary feats of agility, including reflecting enemy attacks with his blade.
- D.Va is a former pro-gaming superstar who pilots an experimental military mech in defense of her home country.
- Mei travels the globe applying her scientific expertise to protect the natural world; in battle, her arsenal of climate-manipulating technology has the power to put the opposition on ice.
“We’re building Overwatch to be the first-person shooter we’ve always wanted to play, with a vibrant world, awesome heroes, and an emphasis on tightly focused cooperative gameplay,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re excited to welcome console and PC gamers to the fight for the future, and we can’t wait to see all the incredible things teams are able to accomplish on the battlefield this upcoming spring.”
Players who pre-order Overwatch will receive five alternate character skins: Blackwatch Reyes (Reaper), Strike-Commander Morrison (Soldier: 76), Overgrown Bastion, Security Chief Pharah, and Slipstream Tracer. A Collector’s Edition (Retail Price: $129.99), which will contain the pre-order skins, a full-color art book, the Overwatch soundtrack, and a statue of Soldier: 76, will also be available.
Blizzard released a handful of new Overwatch trailers this weekend, including the brand new gameplay trailer embedded above. You can also check out overview trailers for Genji, D.Va, and Mei, along with a closer look at the pre-order skins.
Weekly Warp-Up: Hollywood Edition
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…
Overture, curtains, lights,
This is it, you’ll hit the heights
And oh what heights we’ll hit
On with the show this is it
OK, I’m not Bugs Bunny, and this is not the start of the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, but Hollywood came calling for video games in a big way this week. Or rather, the gamemakers are calling Hollywood. Activision started things off by opening Activision Blizzard Studios, a film and television production company that plans to create a Call of Duty cinematic universe and a Skylanders animated series. But they’re going to have to come out swinging if they want to create something as memorable as Metroid: The Sky Calls, a fan film that pays homage to the 60s and 70s cinema that inspired the original Metroid. Oh, and we also got a glimpse at the upcoming Warcraft film.
Finally this week, the Warp Zoned staff got together to talk about What We Played in October 2015 and The Games of November 2015.
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Here’s the first trailer for the Warcraft movie
Blizzard’s annual BlizzCon convention seems like the perfect place to finally give fans their first look at the upcoming Warcraft movie. And even if you’re unfamiliar with the franchise’s expansive lore (watch as I sheepishly raise my hand), the trailer has a distinct Lords of the Rings vibe that should appeal to fantasy fans everywhere.
Warcraft was directed by Duncan Jones, a director best known for his work on Moon and Source Code. The film stars Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, and many others. The Legendary Pictures production is expected to open in theaters on June 10, 2016.
New Releases: Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, More
It is time. Bethesda is ready to open the Vault and unleash Fallout 4 on the world. The first-person RPG will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’ll let players explore a post-apocalyptic New England and craft a new world to their heart’s content. And if that kind of openness and epicness doesn’t appeal to you, there’s always Super Mutants to shoot.
Bethesda has also partnered with Microsoft to offer a 1TB Xbox One + Fallout 4 Bundle in case you haven’t made your new-generation console decision yet.
Speaking of Microsoft, the consolemaker will also partner with Square Enix this week to exclusively launch Rise of the Tomb Raider for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Lara Croft’s next adventure will eventually make its debut on the PC and PS4 in 2016, but for now, you’ll need to raid tombs and make insane archaeological discoveries on a Microsoft platform.
Stepping out of the past and rocketing into the future, this week will also see the release of Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, the finale to Blizzard’s StarCraft II trilogy. Focusing on the Protoss, the standalone game will actually “unite the three races in the ultimate battle for survival against an ancient evil threatening all life in the universe.”
Finally this week, a pair of Wii U exclusives prove that Nintendo’s little corner of video gaming is still an interesting place to be. Nintendo themselves will publish Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, a board game that is changed and shaped as Amiibo figures and Amiibo Cards are dropped into play. And NIS America will release Rodea: The Sky Soldier, another skybound adventure from Yuji Naka, the creator of Nights Into Dreams.
The complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rodea: The Sky Soldier, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void