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
Xbox One will get Xbox 360 backwards compatibility update this Fall
Do you miss your old Xbox 360 games now that you’ve upgraded to the Xbox One? Well then, I’ve got some good news for you! Microsoft will begin offering backwards compatibility for select Xbox 360 (and Xbox Live Arcade) games this Fall. But how will it work? Glad you asked…
Players won’t have to pay anything for the privilege as backwards compatibility will be included as part of a free update to the Xbox One. However, Microsoft has to have permission from the original publisher to enable backwards compatibility. As such, only 100 Xbox 360 games will work when backwards compatibility goes live this Fall. Once backwards compatibility is enabled for a game, players will have the option to use them with all the Xbox One’s new features, including in-game screenshots, Twitch broadcasting, and the GameDVR.
If you’re part of the Xbox Preview program, you’ll be able to test out Xbox 360 backwards compatibility starting today with a limited number of titles. Microsoft plans to add more games to the list all the time and the consolemaker is even accepting suggestions through the Xbox Feedback forum.
Forza Motorsport 6 will be released on September 15
Microsoft unveiled the first gameplay trailer for Forza Motorsport 6 today during their 2015 E3 Press Conference. In addition to some of the prettiest car racing you’ll ever see, the trailer ends with confirmation that Forza Motorsport 6 will be released exclusively for the Xbox One on September 15:
Experience unrelenting action in the most beautiful and comprehensive racing game of this generation, available exclusively on Xbox One beginning September 15, 2015. Collect, customize, and race over 450 Forzavista cars, all with working cockpits, opening doors, and full damage, including the all-new Ford GT. Compete in epic 24-player races across 26 world-famous locales. Master wet weather and night racing on your road to victory.
As always, Forza Motorsport 6 will be developed by Turn 10… a group of developers who clearly love their cars.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Forza Motorsport 6
Bandai Namco confirms Dark Souls III will launch in early 2016 for PC, PS4, Xbox One
After last week’s accidental reveal, fans knew to expect a Dark Souls III announcement sometime during this year’s E3 Expo. Bandai Namco didn’t disappoint and Microsoft got to do the honors during their E3 Press Conference, unveiling a teaser trailer for the medieval action RPG.
Dark Souls III is the latest chapter in the critically acclaimed Dark Souls series with its trademark sword and sorcery combat and rewarding action RPG gameplay. Players will travel across a wide variety of locations in an interconnected world of unrelenting challenge and deep RPG gameplay as they search for a way to survive the coming apocalypse.
Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in early 2016, Dark Souls III will once again be developed by From Software with Hidetaka Miyazaki at the helm.
Get your first look at Gears of War 4, which will be available Fall 2016
Microsoft gave fans their first look at Gears of War 4 during their E3 Press Conference. In development at The Coalition under the guidance of Rod Fergusson, the nearly seven-minute gameplay trailer embedded above introduces us to two new characters, JD and his unnamed female partner. They’re looking for something… before they’re attacked by something… and then they find something (which turns out to be slimy pods)… before the something from before comes back to bite them with its many teeth.
Aside from all the somethings, what we do know is that Gears of War 4 will feature incredible graphics and an arsenal brimming with fan-favorites (the chainsaw-equipped Lancer, the Snub Pistol, and the Gnasher Shotgun).
I wish I could say more, but the trailer is very dark and very mysterious. Which makes sense when you realize that Gears of War 4’s Fall 2016 release is still a year-and-a-half away.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Gears of War 4
Rare Replay collects 30 classic games including Battletoads, Perfect Dark, a lot more
Rare has produced a huge number of classics over the years, beginning with their first game, Jetpac, in 1983. That title lead to dozens of others over the next 30 years including R.C. Pro Am, Battletoads, Killer Instinct Gold, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, and many others. Rare has developed for it all, but now, nearly their entire history will be collected in one place.
Rare Replay, which will be released exclusively for the Xbox One on August 4, will compile 30 games developed by Rare for the low, low price of $30. It won’t include games that Rare created while under contract with Nintendo such as GoldenEye and Donkey Kong Country, but the number of games it will include is pretty staggering. Even Rare’s Xbox 360 games will be part of Rare Replay.
Boasting more than “700 hours of gameplay” (clearly, this number doesn’t take the Battletoads “Turbo Tunnel” into account) and Achievements worth 10,000 Gamerscore, Rare Replay will keep any gamer busy for a long time.
So just what will the collection include? A complete list can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Rare Replay
New trailer confirms Gigantic beta for PC/Xbox One will begin in August
Motiga has announced that a multiplayer beta test for Gigantic will take place this August. Gigantic is in development for Windows 10 PCs and the Xbox One and the team is looking for testers on both platforms. You can sign up for a chance to join the closed beta test at GoGigantic.com.
Motiga also released a new trailer, during Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference, that shows off many of the unique personalities available in their 5v5 team-based action game (Motiga hates it when you call it a MOBA). And with 16 different characters to choose from, Motiga is hoping to create enough options to fit every player’s style. If you prefer to go in guns blazing, you can. But if you’d rather hang back and set traps, you can do that too. The developer wants players to feel like the choice is theirs.
The full version of Gigantic should be available for the PC and Xbox One sometime later this year.
Fullbright’s followup to Gone Home, Tacoma, is coming to the Xbox One
Fullbright has announced that Tacoma, their followup to the critically-acclaimed Gone Home, will be released for the PC and Xbox One in 2016. Like Gone Home, Tacoma is all about exploration. But instead of a Clinton-era suburban home, Tacoma takes place 200,000 miles from Earth inside a massive space station:
Discovery. Exploration. Isolation. What is life like 200,000 miles from Earth? Uncover the mysteries held by Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma and its crew, living at the edge of humanity’s reach.
According to Microsoft, Tacoma will be released for the Xbox One “first,” implying it’ll come to other platforms later. So don’t despair if you don’t own a capable gaming PC or an Xbox One, you’ll eventually get your chance to play it.
The Walking Dead: Michonne continues the story of Season 2 this Fall
During today’s Pre-E3 festivities, Telltale Games announced that The Walking Dead Season 2 isn’t over. Players will be able to continue their adventures within Robert Kirkman’s zombie-plagued world with The Walking Dead: Michonne, a three-episode miniseries that will begin this Fall:
The Walking Dead: Michonne stars the iconic character from the comic book series haunted by her past and coping with unimaginable loss and regret. The story explores her untold journey during the time between issues #126 and #139. Through this Telltale Games mini-series of 3 episodes, players will discover what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of her trusted group… and what brought her back.
“In many ways, Michonne herself is a reflection of the world of The Walking Dead. She is brutal and cold on the outside, but deep beneath what is broken, she remains hopeful, trying to claw her way out of the darkness that surrounds her,” said Kirkman. “In our effort to bring the world of the comic and the world of the Telltale series closer together, there is no greater character than Michonne to help bridge that gap.”
The Walking Dead: Michonne will serve as an expansion to The Walking Season 2, so players will have to own the first episode of Season 2 to play Michonne. But if that’s not too big a hurdle, you’ll be able to purchase the first episode this Fall for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, or compatible mobile devices (iOS and Android).
And don’t forget, Telltale is hard at work on The Walking Dead Season 3, but it likely won’t be released for a long time.