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 on PS3 and Xbox 360 won’t include the Campaign
Cross-generation releases are becoming increasingly rare, but the planned PS3/Xbox 360 launch for this November’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III was expected to keep the practice alive for at least one more year. However, yesterday, Activision announced that the game PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will receive will be considerably different from the one in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Just how different is it? According to an update on the official Call of Duty website, the PS3/Xbox 360 version of the game won’t include the Campaign.
“The ambitious scope of the 1-4 player coop Campaign design of the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions could not be faithfully recreated on old generation hardware,” wrote a spokesman from Acitivision, which likely means the Campaign story mode was axed due to the complicated nature of its four-player co-op option. This means that Call of Duty: Black Ops III on the PS3 and Xbox 360 will only include the competitive multiplayer mode and “Shadows of Evil,” its noir-inspired Zombies Mode. The Weapon Paint Shop and Black Ops III’s new suite of eSports tools will also only be included in the game on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
In development at Beenox and Mercenary Technology, the PS3 and Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III is still expected to be released on November 6 in spite of this setback. Activision has also decided to discount the game’s regular price to $49.99 and include a download code for a digital copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops to make up for the missing features.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Xbox Store Today: Guns Gore & Cannoli, Fermi’s Path
If you’ve been browsing the Xbox Games Store recently, you might have noticed that two new Xbox One games were added to the virtual shelves today.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli is a side-scrolling shooter set in the fictional city of Thugtown, circa 1925. Thugtown has a serious organized crime problem, but godfather and goon alike are about to discover the city’s serious zombie problem. Just give ’em the “Moe Green Special” and everything will work out, capisce?
Also available this week is Fermi’s Path, a game that lets players take control of a subatomic particle forced to navigate a neural connection. That’s a very science-y way of saying that Fermi’s Path mashes together a rhythm game with the ring-collecting from Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Special Stages.
More information on both of these games can be found right here:
Xbox One Games
Guns, Gore & Cannoli ($9.99)
The game tells the story of Vinnie Cannoli and his mob family, set in the fictional Thugtown circa 1925, the height of prohibition. Beneath the city overrun by zombies, there’s a dark story of conspiracy and betrayal. Unravel the sneaky mafia ways and government conspiracy while you try to look for your lost pal and for answers about the zombie-outbreak. Lose yourself in an exciting, elaborate tale of the underground and underworld. Experience friendship, betrayal, vengeance, and witness first hand the rise and fall of a criminal mastermind.Fermi’s Path ($9.99)
In this action-loaded arcade game you play the role of Fermi, a particle on a terrific trip through subatomic space. Driven by the music you have to avoid obstacles and eliminate incoming particles on ever-accelerating levels to crack the top score! After mastering each level you can play it in infinity mode in an open-end highscore.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Guns Gore & Cannoli
Launch date for PS4 re-release of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls will be revealed soon
During this year’s E3 Expo, Sony quietly confirmed that Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls would be re-released for the PS4 sometime in the near future.
Not much was mentioned about either re-release, though Sony did say that the games would be sold on store shelves (in a two-game bundle) and through the PlayStation Store (as individual downloads). A “Chronological Mode” will be added to Beyond, and both games will also receive a graphical overhaul.
And yesterday, we learned that a release date for the re-releases will be announced soon:
Hi everyone, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls PS4 release dates will be revealed soon now. Thank you for your patience!
— QUANTIC DREAM (@QUANTIC_DREAM) September 23, 2015
How soon is soon? Nobody’s quite sure. But Quantic Dream is also working on a brand new game for the PS4, which isn’t connected in any way to the brilliant tech demos (Kara and The Dark Sorcerer) they’ve showcased for the public in recent years. I’m sure we’ll hear more about that project “soon” too.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain
Nintendo Download: Animal Crossing: Home Designer, Extreme Exorcism, Beatbuddy, more
The Animal Crossing crew is back as the highlight of this week’s Nintendo Download is Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, which will be available to download through the 3DS eShop beginning tomorrow.
In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, you’re the village’s best interior decorator and all your favorite Animal Crossing villagers have asked you to create new looks for the homes. If that’s not enough of a hook for you, Nintendo has also released a set of Amiibo Cards for Happy Home Designer that can be used to add new characters to the game. “Gotta catch ’em all” certainly takes on a new meaning with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.
Over on the Wii U, a number of “Nindies” can now be purchased through the Wii U eShop. Players can dig in to Extreme Exorcism, a supernatural single-screen arena fighter; Beatbuddy, an underwater musical platformer; Starwhal, a multiplayer game starring marine mammals in outer space; and Nova-111, a turn-based strategy game that uses “SCIENCE” as its hook.
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, Extreme Exorcism, Starwhal
Pre-order Rock Band 4 through Xbox Live to get bonus songs from Weird Al + 11 other acts
A few weeks back, Harmonix and Sony offered PlayStation Plus subscribers the chance to pre-order Rock Band 4 through the PlayStation Store. Everyone who jumped on this offer would receive a special Bonus Pack of ten additional tracks featuring Duran Duran, Janis Joplin, Pantera, and others. Yesterday, Microsoft revealed that a similar deal will be extended to Xbox Live users who pre-order the game through the Xbox Games Store… but their Bonus Pack goes up to 12.
Highlights from the Xbox-exclusive Bonus Pack include songs from Marilyn Manson, Mastodon, and My Morning Jacket. But the biggest coup for Microsoft is the inclusion of Weird Al Yankovic’s “My Own Eyes,” which is a style parody of David Letterman’s favorite band, Foo Fighters (“Wherever they go, they’re fighting foo”).
Here’s the complete list of songs available in the Bonus Pack:
- All That Remains – “What If I Was Nothing”
- Babymetal – “Gimme Chocolate!!”
- Earth, Wind & Fire – “September”
- Interpol – “All The Rage Back Home”
- Jefferson Starship – “Jane”
- Linkin Park (featuring Daron Malakian) – “Rebellion”
- Marilyn Manson – “The Mephistopheles Of Los Angeles”
- Mastodon – “High Road”
- My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday”
- Pierce The Veil (featuring Kellin Quinn) – “King For A Day”
- Weird Al Yankovic – “My Own Eyes”
- The Wild Feathers – “Backwoods Company”
However, it’s important for Xbox One owners to remember that Rock Band 4 requires a special Legacy Game Controller Adapter to make instruments originally released for the Xbox 360 compatible with Microsoft’s newest console. Harmonix understands the hassle this is for gamers and they’ve partnered with Amazon to offer a $15 discount on the dongle with the “RB4ADAPTER” coupon code. Standalone Xbox One instrument will be available in early 2016.
Rock Band 4 will be available for the Xbox One (and the PS4) on October 6.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Endure the latest video in Fallout 4’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. series… E for Endurance
“Following total atomic annihilation, the rebuilding of this great nation of ours may fall to you. Study these materials carefully to ensure your survival and to discover what makes you S.P.E.C.I.A.L.”
Betehsda is back with another educational look at the traits necessary to survive in Fallout 4‘s harsh Wasteland. This time, the publisher has decided to focus on the benefits of Endurance… which apparently leads to a lot of cannibalism and a few run-ins with rampaging mutant crabs.
Fallout 4 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 10. And tune in next week… Same Vault-Time, Same Vault-Channel… for Charisma, the next entry in the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. video series.
Explore the extensive timeline of the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise in this video
Beginning with the birth of Victor Reznov in 1913, the Black Ops saga spans more than 100 years of history… most of which has been redacted. Thankfully, developer Treyarch has compiled this primer to help players read through the lines before the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Black Ops III. If you’ve got ten minutes to spare, I highly recommend you spend it reacquainting yourself with the events behind Black Ops and Black Ops II.
And if you skip to the end, you’ll even find out which of Black Ops II’s multiple endings is considered the true ending by Treyarch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be released for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 6.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops III
IO Interactive delays Hitman’s debut to March 2016
It looks like IO Interactive’s ambitious release plan for the next Hitman game, simply titled Hitman, has proven to be a bit too ambitious. The developer confirmed earlier this week (via the Hitman Development Blog) that the game will no longer be released this December as originally planned. Instead, Hitman will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in March 2016.
IO Interactive is positioning Hitman as an episodic game… but with a twist. Instead of giving players the option purchase individual episodes at regular intervals, the developer wants to sell Hitman for full price upfront and release a number of free updates throughout the year. Part of the reason for the game’s delay is to ensure that more content is available at launch:
[W]e’re going for a new release model where we put out a good chunk of the game when it begins and then release the remaining locations over time. We want to make absolutely sure you all get the best possible experience when you join, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move the initial release date to March 2016. These few extra months will mean we can add more to the launch content of the game, more than we had originally planned, and then follow with a tighter frequency of updates, which ultimately will create a better game for everyone. And in the end, that’s what we’re all looking for.
To help fans visualize the scope of their latest project, IO Interactive also created an impressive infographic to better show off the size of Agent 47’s new playground. The gray layer in the infographic represents “Street of Hope,” the largest level in Hitman: Absolution. Meanwhile, the red layer directly underneath shows “Paris: The Showstopper”, a Hitman locale that’s roughly six times larger. This mission will also give players the option of 300 potential Targets (versus 50 in Absolution), and more than 25 unique areas to explore.
IO Interactive will announce more details about how the size of Hitman’s world will affect Agent 47 next week. The team also plans to reveal more details about the game’s episodic release schedule at the same time.