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
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege pushed back to December 1
Ubisoft has alerted us (via the UbiBlog) to the fact that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege will miss its originally planned October 13 release date. Instead, the game will now be available on store shelves for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on December 1:
[W]e’ve decided to push the release date of Rainbow Six Siege to December 1, 2015 for all regions. This wasn’t an easy decision, but based on the feedback we’ve received, and based on our own internal tests, we felt there are adjustments and improvements we can make, including improving the co-op experience across all game modes, weapon and gadget balancing, as well as menu and interface navigation. We’re taking a little more time to make these changes, and we think it’s the right call.
The development team plans to go ahead with the game’s closed beta, which is still scheduled to begin on September 24. They believe that the extended development time, and the valuable feedback they’ll obtain from the beta, will allow them to make Rainbow Six: Siege the best game it can be.
A spokesman for Ubisoft Montreal reiterated that they believe this is the right move: “That extra testing and added polish will make [Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege] a higher-quality experience at launch.”
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Activision will launch Skylanders BattleCast mobile card game in 2016
Having captured the hearts and minds of mobile gamers everywhere with Hearthstone, Activision is looking to do it again in 2016 with Skylanders BattleCast.
Like Hearthstone, Skylanders BattleCast will be a free-to-play collectible card game for mobile devices. But unlike Hearthstone, Activision plans to print physical cards for Skylanders BattleCast that players will need to scan to add to their digital collection. These physical cards can be collected and traded outside the app, and digital packs can be purchased to further augment your card collection.
Writing on the Activision Games Blog, the publisher also revealed they are consulting pro card players and experts in physical card game design to make sure they get it right:
Alongside the talented development teams behind the Skylanders franchise, we’ve assembled a team of experts across physical card game design, pro card players, and the top card artists to help create an authentic card battle experience with Skylanders BattleCast.
We don’t know exactly how Skylanders BattleCast will work just yet, but this commitment is an encouraging sign. Even though the full game won’t be available until 2016, players will get a chance to try out Skylanders BattleCast beginning September 20 by downloading a special preview app through their iOS or Android device.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Skylanders BattleCast
Splatoon Global Testfire returns on August 21-23
Are you a Wii U owner that still hasn’t experienced the unparalleled joy of Splatoon? Well good news, Nintendo is bringing back the “Splatoon Global Testfire” and everyone can give the game a shot this weekend.
To join the fun, you’ll need to download the “Splatoon Global Testfire” demo from the Wii U eShop. Then get yourself prepared to trade some ink this weekend, August 21-23, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) every night.
Splatoon’s “2.0 Update” has been available since August 5, so players who haven’t visited Inkopolis since the first “Global Testfire” will get a glimpse at a very different (and much improved) game.
Van Halen’s “Panama” added to Rock Band 4; More VH tracks available as DLC post-launch
Yesterday, Harmonix announced that Van Halen will be part of the Rock Band franchise for the first time in Rock Band 4. Originally released in 1984, “Panama” could easily be considered the band’s signature song (though “Jump” and “Hot For Teacher” might give it a run for its money).
If it seems surprising that its taken this long for Van Halen to collaborate with Harmonix, there’s a good reason behind it. Back in 2009, the band signed a deal with Activision to created Guitar Hero: Van Halen, the final band-specific produced before the series went on hiatus in 2010.
“For years we’ve wanted to bring Van Halen’s music to Rock Band,” said Harmonix CEO Steve Janiak. “Not only are the songs incredible in their own right, but they’re amazingly fun to play and perform, whether you’re on guitar, bass, drums, or vocals.”
If you need more Van Halen in your Rock Band, don’t worry, Harmonix plans to add more songs from the band’s catalog to the Rock Band Music Store after Rock Band 4 launches for the PS4 and Xbox One on October 6.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Telltale has released a launch trailer for Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 4
If you’ve been following along with Telltale’s Tales From the Borderlands, you’ll definitely want to watch the launch trailer embedded above. And if you haven’t been playing it, you have two options. You can either avoid the trailer like the plague, or you can use it to catch up with what you missed and pretend that you’ve played the first three episodes:
In this penultimate episode of the season, captured by Vallory and her goons, Rhys and Fiona are forced to continue the search for the Vault beacon – at gunpoint. The beacon is on the Hyperion moon base – Helios – while our heroes are on Pandora… so there’s the pesky cold void of death known as “space” to overcome. Even with assistance from a familiar face, and with a worryingly helpful Handsome Jack hitching a ride in Rhys’ head, getting on board the ominous “H” is going to take every drop of guile, and quite possibly all the spunk you’ve got. Sacrifices will be made – can you make the tough choices needed to succeed?
Whatever your choice, Tales From the Borderlands: Escape Plan Bravo will be available to download through all the major digital storefronts this week:
- Tuesday, August 18: PC, PS3, and PS4
- Wednesday, August 19: Xbox One and Xbox 360
- Thursday, August 20: iOS and Android
And don’t forget, developers from Telltale will make the trip to this year’s PAX Prime expo to host a special “Crowd Play” presentation of Tales From the Borderlands: Escape Plan Bravo on Saturday, August 29 at 8:30 PM. There will be plenty of giveaways and the entire crowd is expected to help steer the events of the episode.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged PAX Prime 2015, Tales From the Borderlands
Limited Edition “Darth Vader PS4” goes on sale this Fall in two different bundles
“I felt a great disturbance in The Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in joy, and were suddenly silenced (in awe). I fear something terrible (to our wallets) has happened.”
With Lucasfilm and the rest of the Star Wars family now firmly ensconced in Disney’s bosom, the biennial D23 Expo is now home to plenty of reveals related to a galaxy far, far away. But the announcement of a Darth Vader-branded PS4 bundle might do more to empty the wallets of fanboys everywhere than a billion Blu-ray re-releases.
The Limited Edition system will include a profile image of the Dark Lord of the Sith and a standard 500GB hard drive. The included DualShock 4 controller will feature a red-and-black design inspired by Darth Vader’s chest panel. Each Limited Edition will also include a download code for four classic Star Wars games (Super Star Wars, Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter), all remade for the PS4 with enhanced graphics and Trophy support.
However, rather than limit this system to just one bundle, players will also receive one of this Fall’s new Star Wars titles: Star Wars: Battlefront and Disney Infinity: Star Wars. The Battlefront bundle will be available at retailers everywhere, while the Disney Infinity package (which also includes a Disney Infinity Base, the Rise Against the Empire Play Set Pack, a Luke Skywalker figure, a Leia Organa figure, and a Boba Fett figure) will be released exclusively through Walmart.
Both versions of the Darth Vader Limited Edition Bundle will be available on November 17. A third bundle, which includes Star Wars: Battlefront, the four classic Star Wars games, and a PS4 system and DualShock 4 in Jet Black, will also be available on November 17.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Disney Infinity: Star Wars, Star Wars: Battlefront, Super Star Wars
More details about the Retro VGS console revealed
Retro Media, the people behind the Retro VGS console, have updated their online FAQ and confirmed a few more details about the cartridge-based system.
On the hardware side, the Retro Media plans to eschew the use of Secure Digital (SD) cards or USB flash memory drives in the Retro VGS. Instead, the company has opted for an archival type of EEPROM cartridge that is rated to retain data for 100 years. This attempt to create a timeless console even bleeds into the system’s firmware, which will be locked and update free.
Developers will have the ability to take a Retro VGS cartridges and add additional functionality to them, similar to Nintendo’s use of the Super FX chip, to produce games not possible by the base system. This process will also allow developers to rewrite the console’s hardware configuration to more closely resemble a series of classic consoles:
The Retro VGS will have its own cool configurations (ways to make a game), and it can also be hardware-configured to be other old-school architectures that a lot of developers are used to developing for. Specifically, and at this current time, it’s an FPGA and ARM system. If a developer wants to make a Neo Geo game, they would include an HDL (Hardware Description Language) file that configures the FPGA to operate like a Neo Geo. The developer would code their game to run against the Neo Geo platform. This HDL code along with the actual Neo Geo game will be on the cartridge. Once that cartridge is placed in the Retro VGS, it will become a Neo Geo and play that game. So in this case, the language is: 68000 and Z80 code.
If you wanted to do a new Atari 2600 styled game, you’d include a 2600 HDL file that configures the FPGA to replicate the logic of the original 2600 hardware and then you’d include your new 2600 game on that cartridge too. These two files are then paired up on the cartridge and when plugged into the RETRO VGS, will turn the console into a 2600.
Finally, Retro Media confirmed that the system will come bundled with a pack-in game. Adventures of Tiny Knight, developed by CollectorVision, will be a RPG platformer that’s heavily inspired by Westone’s Wonder Boy series.
A retail price for the Retro VGS has yet to be determined, but the Kickstarter campaign to help fund the creation of the console will begin on September 14.
Sony will host PlayStation Experience 2015 in San Francisco this December
Sony packed the inaugural PlayStation Experience with a ton of announcements and gave attendees of the two-day convention a chance to play dozens of upcoming PS3, PS4, and Vita games for the first time. While many assumed the event would be a one-time thing to celebrate the platform’s 20th anniversary, Sony has other plans. Earlier this week, the consolemaker announced that PlayStation Experience 2015 will be held in San Francisco on December 5 and December 6.
The convention will be held at the Moscone West, a tri-level exhibition hall that’s about a mile from the Bay Bridge. So it’s safe to assume that a huge number of titles will once again be on display this year.
While Sony isn’t ready to talk about which game will be on display, they have begun selling tickets to the event at the official PlayStation Experience website. Two-day passes have been priced at $75 (discounted to $60 if you buy before September 20) while single-day passes are $45 (Saturday) and $40 (Sunday). A “Capcom Cup VIP Package Add-On” is also available for $75 if you’d like front row seats for the finale of the Capcom Pro Tour.
More information about this year’s PlayStation Experience can be found at the PlayStation Blog.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged PlayStation Experience 2015