Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Author: John Scalzo
New Releases: Toy Soldiers: War Chest, XBlaze Lost: Memories
If history is any guide, we’ll see a big uptick in new releases towards the end of August. However, since we’re still in the middle of the month, only four new games will be available on store shelves this week…
Toy Soldiers: War Chest is the third Toy Soldiers game from developer Signal Studios and the first to be published by Ubisoft. The special “Hall of Fame Edition” of the strategy game will feature four fictional toy armies doing battle with iconic characters from He-Man: Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and Assassin’s Creed II. Toy Soldiers: War Chest will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Also available this week is XBlaze Lost: Memories, which will be released for the PS3 and Vita. Published by Aksys, XBlaze Lost was developed by Arc System Works and is the second prequel to the BlazBlue series of fighting games. Not only that, but the publisher and developer consider XBlaze Lost the first “RPG-style visual novel.” So I guess that’s something.
Finally, a pair of children’s games, Garfield Kart and Paddington: Adventures in London, will be released for the 3DS.
Several other new releases will be available this week through the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, Steam, and Xbox Games Store.
Activision adds 16 songs to Guitar Hero Live to bring its total to 100 (and counting)
Earlier this week, Activision announced another batch of songs that will be included in Guitar Hero Live, bringing the total number of tracks to 100. That triple-digit number means that Guitar Hero Live will have the largest selection of on-disc of any music game when its released this Fall. The previous record holder, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, topped out at 93.
And Activision isn’t looking to beat the Babe by a single home run like Roger Maris in 1961. They want to really push the disc capacity of the new-generation systems and the publisher plans to announce even more songs for Guitar Hero Live in the future. But for now, here’s a list of all 16 songs that are part of this announcement:
- Blink-182 – “The Rock Show”
- Boston – “More Than a Feeling”
- Charlie XCX – “Famous”
- Dream Theater – “The Looking Glass”
- Echosmith – “Cool Kids”
- In Flames – “Deliver Us”
- James Bay – “Hold Back The River”
- Kasabian – “Club Foot”
- Kings of Leon – “Sex on Fire”
- Megadeth – “Hangar 18”
- MGMT – “Time to Pretend”
- Panic! At the Disco – “Girls Girls Boys”
- Passion Pit – “Take a Walk”
- Royal Blood – “Come on Over”
- Rush – “Limelight”
- You Me at Six – “Lived a Lie”
Guitar Hero Live, and its brand new six-button controller, will be released for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 20.
Posted in Mobile, News, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2015, Guitar Hero Live
Star Wars: Battlefront is crowned Best of Gamescom at Gamescom 2015
Heeding the words of Yoda (“Do… or do not. There is no try.”), Electronic Arts and DICE pulled out all the stops to win to five awards for Star Wars: Battlefront at Gamescom 2015, including the coveted “Best of Gamescom” title. The game also took home “Best Console Game – PS4,” “Best PC Games,” “Best Online Multiplayer Game,” and the “Most Wanted Consumer Award.” Strangely, Germany’s Digital Gaming Culture Foundation (Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur) didn’t even nominate it in the “Best Console Game – Xbox One” category.
Other multi-award winners at the 2015 Gamescom Awards include Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (“Best Console Game – Xbox One” and “Best Action Game”), FM6 (“Best Racing Game” and “Best Simulation Game”), and Super Mario Maker (“Best Console Game – Wii U” and “Best Social / Casual / Online Game”).
Not to be forgotten, the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, produced in conjunction with Valve, won for “Best Hardware / Peripheral.”
The full list of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
New Final Fantasy XV trailer is all about fathers and sons… and a 2016 release date is teased
Square Enix released a new trailer for Final Fantasy XV at the 2015 Gamescom expo that is all about fathers and sons. Specifically, about the “strong bond” that exists between King Regis and his son, the Crown Prince Noctis. It is Noctis who ventures out into the world with his comrades after the Niflheim army attacks his homeland of Lucis. Can he save the world? Probably, as this trailer tells us, he is the chosen one after all.
I gotta say, I really enjoy the traffic jam with its bizarre mix of coupes from the 1930s sitting alongside modern supercars, all being directed by knights in full plate armor carrying machine guns.
If you were hoping that Square Enix would announce a release date for Final Fantasy XV, you’re unfortunately out of luck. But GameSpot did have a sitdown with Director Hajime Tabata during the show, who said that the game won’t be released this year, but “It’s going to be before [2017].” So if it’s not out this year and 2017 is too late, that means we’ll probably be playing Final Fantasy XV sometime in 2016.
However, Tabata also said an official release date announcement would likely take place during this year’s PAX Prime expo.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV, Gamescom 2015, PAX Prime 2015
Bandai Namco has released a gameplay trailer for Dark Souls III
The Dark Souls franchise will make its PS4 and Xbox One debut early next year (or rather, the first original entry in the series will) and now we’ve gotten our first look at it as Bandai Namco released the first gameplay trailer for Dark Souls III during this week’s Gamescom expo.
If you prefer your action games to be gothic and gruesome, Dark Souls III is the game for you:
Dark Souls III continues to push the boundaries with the latest, ambitious chapter in the critically-acclaimed and genre-defining series. As fires fade and only embers remain, journey once more into a world filled with more daunting and colossal enemies and environments. Players will be immersed into a world of epic atmosphere and darkness through faster gameplay and amplified combat intensity. New to the series are the Battle Arts attacks as each weapon will be equipped with its own unique Battle Art to deliver powerful attacks that will break through enemy defenses.
Dark Souls III will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in early 2016.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Dark Souls III, Gamescom 2015
Spectra Review: Chiptunes, Racing, and 80s Arcade Style Aren’t a Bad Combination
It’s a rare game that credits the composer as a co-developer, but that’s what you get with Spectra, an overhead racing game that’s set to a chiptune soundtrack created by Niamh “Chipzel” Houston (best known for her work on Super Hexagon). British developer Gateway Interactive took her bleeps and bloops and laid them over a procedurally-generated raceway that expands out into space using arcade-style wireframe graphics. The music and visuals complement each other nicely, but Spectra’s “keep it simple” style goes a bit too far. (more…)
Xbox Store Today: Beatbuddy, Submerged, The Swindle
Three new Xbox One games are available to download from the Xbox Games Store today…
- Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is a side-scroller where players take control of the titular Beatbuddy as they swim through the world and interact with it through music and sound.
- Submerged also has an underwater theme as it asks players to explore a “mysterious flooded city” in order to save their dying sibling. Heavy stuff.
- But The Swindle is not so heavy as the “steampunk cybercrime caper” is all about breaking into building, hacking systems, and stealing cash. Getaway airships are just the start of the wackiness.
More information on all of these games is available after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Blizzard reveals World of Warcraft: Legion expansion at Gamescom 2015
Announced yesterday at Gamescom, the next expansion to World of Warcraft will be known as Legion. With Legion, players of Blizzard’s massively popular MMO will gain access to a new Hero Class (Demon Hunter), a new continent (The Broken Isles), and an increased Level Cap (110). The expansion will also include powerful “Artifact Weapons” to use against the demonic Burning Legion, a new “Order Hall” to recruit a regiment of NPCs, and a new PvP Honor System.
Will players need all these features to take on the Burning Legion? Probably, because they sound like bad dudes…
In this dire new chapter of the Warcraft saga, the demonic Burning Legion has returned, seeking to call forth their fallen leader—the dark titan Sargeras, Ravager of Worlds. As destruction rains across Azeroth, its heroes must seek salvation among the ruins of the Broken Isles, doomed center of ancient night elf civilization and birthplace of myths dating back to the world’s creation. In the face of hopeless odds, they must learn to master mighty Artifacts—legendary weapons that hold the potential to bring down the corrupted armies of the Legion—and strike an infernal pact with the dread Demon Hunters of the Illidari… accursed followers of the infamous Illidan the Betrayer.
We don’t yet know when World of Warcraft: Legion will be available, but a more complete rundown of the game’s features (including a very informative trailer) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Gamescom 2015, World of Warcraft