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
Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s launch trailer asks us to “Paint It Black”
Activision and Treyarch have more or less adopted “Paint It Black” as the official theme song of the Black Ops series. So it’s not a surprise to hear the Rolling Stones classic blasting in the background of the Call of Duty: Black Ops III launch trailer. The quick cuts and big action setpieces are worthy of any Summer blockbuster and it should keep fans of the franchise happy for another year.
While you can watch the launch trailer now, we’re still two weeks away from Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s actual release. Players will be able to get their hands on the game on November 6 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It’ll also be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, however, last-gen players will have to make due with only competitive multiplayer and the “Shadows of Evil” Zombies Mode.
PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight will be re-released on October 28
It’s been four long months, but PC players will finally get the chance to purchase (or patch) Batman: Arkham Knight very soon. In a statement on the game’s Steam Community page, WB Games has confirmed that Arkham Knight will officially be available for sale on October 28 at 10:00 AM (Pacific Time). A patch that will fix the game’s many problems will also be available at the same time.
The publisher also confirmed that all currently-available Season Pass content (including Photo Mode, Big Head Mode, three Crime Fighter Challenge Packs, six Batmobile Race Tracks, and four Story Packs) will also be ready to download on Wednesday.
In closing, WB Games offered thanks to players for who provided feedback to developer Rocksteady Studios during the patching process: “We want to give particular thanks to the members of the PC community who took the time to give us clear, detailed feedback and bug reporting.”
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Weekly Warp-Up: Nostalgia 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…
Gather round children as I regale you with tales from what I like to call Nostalgia Week. It all started on Monday when Sony released the PlayStation’s “Official Holiday 2015” commercial for Star Wars: Battlefront. If you’ve ever swung around a plastic Lightsaber while making “whuh whuh” noises, this commercial will hit you right in the heart. With the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer following soon after, it’s a good time to love the galaxy far, far away.
After that it was time to pay a visit to the 8-Bit Cinema guys to witness their adaptation of Mad Max: Fury Road as a side-scrolling brawler. It’s very possible The Force Awakens will unseat Fury Road as my favorite movie of the year, but nothing can take away the sheer inventiveness of a movie-long chase… on the big screen or in eight bits.
October 21, 2015 was “Back to the Future Day” (the day Marty traveled to in 1989’s Back to the Future Part II) and things did not turn out as well for the Cubs in real life as it did in the film. Sorry Bleacher Bums, maybe you’ll get a shot in another 30 years. Elsewhere on Wednesday, we learned that the Super Mario Bros. world record had been shattered… by 0.063 seconds. Hey, a record’s a record.
Finally, our own Mike Ryan closed out the week with a review of I Am Bread. I don’t know if anyone is particularly nostalgic about bread, but you never know.
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Halo 5: Guardians, WWE 2K16, Minecraft: Story Mode, More
After last week’s soft launch, Microsoft is finally ready to unleash the highly-anticipated Halo 5: Guardians onto the Xbox One audience. Microsoft has been building towards the return of the Master Chief ever since the platform’s launch back in 2013. Will it live up to the hype? I don’t know, but it’ll certainly move a few Xbox One bundles this holiday season.
For players looking for an edge in Halo 5 (or any action-heavy Xbox One game), Microsoft will also release the Xbox One Elite Controller this week. Featuring a slew of swappable components and the powerful Xbox Accessories app to help customize the controller, Microsoft is hoping to establish the Elite Controller as the input option of choice for hardcore gamers.
If you prefer your battle royales to be a bit more Earth-based, you might be interested to know that 2K Games will release WWE 2K16 for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 this week. Starring “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the latest WWE game includes the biggest roster of wrestlers ever, as well as a redesigned Create-A-Wrestler mode.
Rounding out this week’s new releases is a trio of re-releases including the debut of Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition on the PS4 and Xbox One. It’s joined by the coming apocalypse of Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (PS4, Xbox One) and the dirt track racing of MX vs ATV: Supercross Encore (PC, PS4).
Finally this week, Telltale Games is offering a “Season Pass Disc” for Minecraft: Story Mode on the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360. Players who purchase the Season Pass will receive the first episode of the game on the disc, along with downloadable access to all subsequent episodes as they’re released.
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Darksiders II, Halo 5: Guardians, Minecraft: Story Mode, WWE 2K16
Xbox Store Today: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Layers of Fear (Preview), Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations
We’re going back in time with today’s Xbox Games Store update as Ubisoft added Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (Xbox One) to the online storefront earlier today. Syndicate brings the long-running Assassin’s Creed series to Victorian England, and drops players into the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Living on the streets of London, players will follow Jacob and Evie Frye as they build their underworld organization and take on the evil Templars.
Xbox One owners can also take a trip to the future today as Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations is also available for the Xbox One. Based on the colorful cartoon currently airing on the Cartoon Network, Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations employs the titular duo as private detectives in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo. According to the publisher, “strange stuff is happening,” but strange stuff should be pretty familiar to regular viewers of Adventure Time.
Finally this week, Xbox One owners will be able to explore the haunted house at the center of Layers of Fear. Currently available through the Game Preview program, Layers of Fear stars a “madness-engulfed insane painter” as he searches for items of significance to him.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
Sony confirms a partial list of AAA publishers and indies coming to PS Experience 2015
Sony’s 2015 PlayStation Experience is fast approaching, so the consolemaker has decided to give us our first sneak peek at what we can expect to find on the show floor. In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony has confirmed that more than two dozen publishers and developers will erect a booth at the San Francisco event:
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In addition to this already impressive list, Sony also published a partial list of indie titles that’ll be playable on the show floor. Nearly 50 titles (so far) will make the trek to San Francisco including Amplitude, Cosmic Star Heroine, Kerbal Space Program, and many more. The full list is available after the break, and don’t forget, there’s still plenty of tickets available for the 2015 PlayStation Experience, which will held on December 5 and 6 at the Moscone West. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged PlayStation Experience 2015
Get a sneak peek at the Doom closed alpha test with this new gameplay trailer
Bethesda and id Software will host the Doom closed alpha test this weekend. For those lucky few who got in, you’ll get a chance to bust some heads in 6v6 Deathmatch battles on the “Heatwave” map. The rest of us will have to make do with a brand new gameplay trailer that Bethesda released late last night.
Players will descend on what is essentially a big foundry and blow it (and each other) to pieces with Rocket Launchers, Plasma Rifles, Super Shotguns, Repeaters, Vortex Rifles, and Static Cannons. Players will also have to contend with the Revenant, a demon with a jetpack and twin Rocket Launchers. I have to admit, it looks pretty epic.
More details about the closed alpha test are available at Doom’s official website. If you didn’t get in this time, it looks like Bethesda plans to hold at least one more alpha test before the game’s beta period, which will be open to everyone who pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order.
And don’t forget, Doom (it’s so hard not to call it Doom 4) will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Spring 2016.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016)
Nintendo Download: The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, Just Dance 2016, more
This week’s Nintendo Download features a batch of scary adventures, a pair of licensed games, and a new entry in one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises.
Available tomorrow for the 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is another multiplayer Zelda game. Taking place in the aftermath of A Link Between Worlds, players will have to guide three heroes through “inventive dungeons” as the build a “Link Totem” to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.
A pair of licensed games are also new available for the 3DS this week. Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations turns the adventurous duo into detectives, searching the Land of Ooo for strange cases to solve (sounds a bit like The X-Files with a talking dog…). 3DS players will also have the chance to download Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden this week. The anime adaptation features “bone-crushing blows” and more than 100 characters.
Over on the Wii U, players will get the chance to download three games that bring the scares just in time for Halloween. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water brings the Camera Obscura to the console for the first time, and asks players to hunts ghosts in the haunted woods atop the mysterious Mount Hikami. Slender: The Arrival also sets much of its action in a forest as players avoid the dreaded Slenderman. Finally, Super Ghouls ’N Ghosts is a Virtual Console re-released of the Game Boy Advance remake of the classic Super NES side-scroller. That’s a mouthful, so remember to keep your pants on Arthur!
Finally this week, if you’d rather dance, Ubisoft will release two new games in their long-running Just Dance series for the Wii U. Just Dance 2016 features songs from Mark Ronson, Meghan Trainor, and many others while Just Dance: Disney Party 2 lets the whole family dance along to the most popular shows and movies on the Disney Channel.
You can find more information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)