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
New Releases: Lego Dimensions, FIFA 16, NBA 2K16, More
Sport fans should gather up their foam fingers and beer hats once more as the soccer shenanigans of FIFA 16 and the raucous roundball of NBA 2K16 will both arrive on store shelves this week for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Blood Bowl II, and its fantastical version of football, will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
But if you’re a Lego fan, the release of Lego Dimensions is likely a much bigger deal this week. Mashing together more than a dozen media franchises, Lego Dimensions could very well be the ultimate Lego game. Developer TT Games has clearly come a long way since 2005’s Lego Star Wars. Sadly, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker won’t be part of the magic, but characters from DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings, Scooby-Doo, The Simpsons, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Doctor Who, and many, many others will appear in the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One game.
Finally this week, 3DS owners will get to play decorator as Nintendo will release Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for the handheld system. It will launch alongside a new range of Amiibo-powered cards and a New 3DS + Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer Bundle.
All of this week’s new releases are available in a handy list format after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Blood Bowl 2, FIFA 16, Lego Dimensions, NBA 2K16
Xbox Store Today: Plague Inc: Evolved, Inside My Radio, Book of Unwritten Tales 2, more
Ndemic Creations unleashed a “viral” sensation on the world in 2012 with their mobile hit, Plague Inc. Today, the developer is bringing their disease simulator to the Xbox One through the Xbox Games Store. PS4 and Wii U owners are no doubt green with envy… of course, that could also be the result of the game’s signature pathogens infecting another host. It’s a wild premise for a strategy game, but if Plague Inc: Evolved is half as good as its mobile forebear, then killing billions of people with a horrible disease will be the most fun you have on your Xbox One in a long time.
Three other games are also available to download for the Xbox One today including Inside My Radio, a musical side-scroller; The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, a fantasy spoof that promises hours of point-and-click fun; and Pumped BMX +, a BMX stunt racer. And if you haven’t upgraded to an Xbox One just yet, The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 is also available for the Xbox 360.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Plague Inc: Evolved
Atlus has delayed the release of Persona 5 to second half of 2016
2015 loses another major new game as Atlus has announced that Persona 5 will not be released by the end of the year as originally planned. Instead, the PS4 and PS3 RPG will be available sometime in the latter half of 2016.
A year-long delay is never a welcome announcement, but Atlus did release a new Persona 5 trailer this week as part of their Tokyo Game Show presentation. As you might have guessed, it’s entirely in Japanese, but an English translation was published by Siliconera.
Atlus had this to say about the delay: “[We realize] the frustration and disappointment that this must cause for the JRPG-loving public, please know that we are delaying the game in order to make sure the next iteration of the Persona series lives up to the expectations of fans.”
Nintendo delays Star Fox Zero as the game’s release date takes off for 2016
Aside from a pretty impressive E3 2015 trailer, Nintendo has been relatively quiet on the day-to-day status of Star Fox Zero since announcing it last year. Late last night, the reason behind that silence was revealed as a message from Shigeru Miyamoto on Nintendo’s Facebook Page confirmed that the game has been delayed.
Originally scheduled to launch on November 20, Star Fox Zero will now fly into stores sometime during the first three months of 2016. So while its not a lengthy delay, the game will miss the all-important holiday season.
According to Mr. Miyamoto, Star Fox Zero is “[at] the stage where it would be technically possible to release the title in time for the year-end holiday season.” However, the developer and his team felt that it needed just a bit more time for polishing, specifically “the level designs and perfecting the tone of the cut scenes.” Nintendo will also devote additional resources to smoothing out the dual-screen control scheme so that it’s easier for players to grasp.
While Miyamoto believes the delay will make Star Fox Zero a better game, he also apologized to everyone disappointed by this news: “To the people looking forward to the launch of the game this holiday season, I am very sorry.”
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Star Fox Zero
Downton Abbey: Mysteries of the Manor, a hidden object game, is now available for mobile devices
Clutch your pearls and hang on to your monocles… Downton Abbey is getting a video game. Published by Activision, Downton Abbey: Mysteries of the Manor is a free-to-play hidden object game that is now available to download for iOS and Android devices.
Downton Abbey: Mysteries of the Manor is an adventure of exploration and discovery, featuring characters and locations from the series. When an unknown intruder ransacks the mansion, putting the Crawley family’s fortune in jeopardy, players must discreetly search every room to find the missing treasures and unravel the mystery behind the break-in. But in a place where everyone has something to hide, no one is above suspicion. Throughout the journey, players can find and return missing items to their rightful owners, earning the trust of the estate’s residents and unlocking new areas to advance the story. They can also compete with friends on social leaderboards to see who can restore more of the Abbey’s most prized possessions to their former glory.
The sixth and final season of Downton Abbey premieres this weekend in the United Kingdom, while PBS will import it for American audiences beginning in January.
Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: Battlefront Deluxe Edition comes with a mini fridge depicting Han Solo frozen in Carbonite
“They’ve encased him in Carbonite. He should be quite well protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is.”
Star Wars: Battlefront is exactly two months away, and I’m sure that more than a few people will spend a number of all-nighters partaking in its multiplayer battles. But how are you planning to stay alert after Darth Vader cuts you down with his Lightsaber at three in the morning? Are you going to march down to your kitchen for a store brand cola like some scruffy-looking nerf herder? Or are you going to reach over and pull out a genuine can of Coca-Cola from this beautiful Han Solo Mini Fridge? Don’t you love it? What am I saying… I know you love it.
The Mini Fridge will be available at Walmart exclusively as part of their Star Wars: Battlefront Deluxe Edition for the PS4 or Xbox One. It’s priced at $129.98 and can hold six cans of soda. For some reason, the Mini Fridge also includes a warming function… so insert your own “I’ll bet Han wishes his Carbonite fridge had a warming function” joke right here.
Star Wars: Battlefront is in development at DICE LA and it’ll be released on November 17. And if the game doesn’t interest you for some reason, but you’re now in the market for a “Han Solo Frozen in Carbonite” fridge, ThinkGeek currently offers one with an 18-can capacity for $149.99.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront
Nintendo Download: Year Walk, Skylanders SuperChargers, Senran Kagura 2, more
I’m dedicating this story about this week’s Nintendo Download update to all the Skylanders fans out there, as Activision is almost ready to release the next entry in the popular franchise. Beginning September 20, Skylanders SuperChargers will be available to download for the Wii U through the Wii U eShop. Players will need to own a Portal of Power, but as long as they do, they’ll gain access to the full game and digital versions of the Instant Spitfire and Instant Hot Streak. Also available this week for the Wii U is Year Walk, Simogo’s artistic and dreamy adventure game that was originally a smash hit on iOS devices in 2013.
There’s only one new release this week over on the 3DS half of the store, and it’s Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson. The latest Senran Kagura game is a 2.5D side-scrolling brawler that features all the “high-flying, clothes-ripping battle mechanics” the series is known for. In a first for the franchise, Deep Crimson will also include two-player co-op.
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases such as overhead racer Rock ‘N Racing Off Road DX and RTS/tower defense hybrid Zombie Defense can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Skylanders SuperChargers
Dark Souls III will be released in April 2016
Bandai Namco and From Software have narrowed down that “Early 2016” release window for Dark Souls III… but it might not be as early as you’d hoped.
As part of this year’s Tokyo Game Show, the publisher and developer announced that Dark Souls III will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in North America in April 2016. They also confirmed that the game will have a “deeper sense of role-playing” than previous games in the series:
Dark Souls III pushes a deeper sense of role-playing than previous iterations of the series with key additions that provide players with a set of tools and in-game options to customize their gameplay experience. Skills, a new addition to the Dark Souls combat mechanics, adds attack modifiers to each weapon type, allowing players an increased tactical advantage in combat. Increase an axe’s attack power with War Cry or break an enemy’s guard with a quick upward swing from Ready Stance. The choice of if and when players use these added abilities is up to them. Players will also be able to equip their character with a wide variety of armor sets, medieval weaponry, as well as come across powerful sorceries and miracles as they develop their own personal style of play.
From Software must really love the Springtime as the developer will launch a major new title during the season for the third year in a row after this year’s Bloodborne and last year’s Dark Souls II.