Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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
Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious standalone expansion announced
I will never understand why the Fast and the Furious film franchise hasn’t been the subject of more video game adaptations. You’d think it’s ridiculous action setpieces and even more ridiculous car stunts would it perfect fodder for the adaptation machine. But aside from 2004’s Tokyo Drift game, 2013’s Fast & Furious: Showdown, and a handful of arcade cabinets, the series has been largely absent from the video game space.
That number will expand by one next month when Universal Studios, Microsoft, and the team behind Forza Horizon 2 team up to release Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious.
Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious will serve as a “standalone” expansion to Forza Horizon 2, so even if you don’t own the original game, you’ll be able to experience all the Fast & Furious content on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Best of all, from March 27 through April 10, the game will be available as a free download to help promote the April 3rd theatrical debut of Furious 7.
So what can Fast and the Furious fans expect? According to a post on the Xbox Wire, players will have to reach ludicrous speeds:
In Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, you’ll be recruited by Fast & Furious expert mechanic Tej Parker, voiced by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, to source cars for the Fast & Furious crew’s next big mission. You’ll take part in a series of thrilling car challenges set in the idyllic south of France, and inspired by both the “Fast & Furious” movies and Forza’s awesome, pulse-pounding gameplay. As you complete game challenges, you’ll unlock new cars that you can drive throughout the open world in free roam play.
Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious will be priced at $10 after the promotional period ends.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious
Resident Evil Revelations 2, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Starwhal, more added to PS Store
The first episode in the first episodic entry in the Resident Evil series is available now on the PlayStation Store today as Capcom launched Resident Evil Revelations 2 today. “Episode 1: Penal Colony” stars fan favorite Claire Redfield and it can be purchased now on the PS3 or PS4.
Also new this week is a variety of new games including…
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse (PS3, PS4) the latest Dragon Ball game from Bandai Namco.
- Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PS3, PS4), the latest entry in Koei Tecmo’s strategic spinoff series.
- Starwhal (PS3 + PS4 Cross-Buy), a multiplayer game featuring battle space whales.
- Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (PS3), the ultimate edition of the fifth fighting game in Koei Tecmo’s franchise.
More details about these games (and a few more new releases) can be found after the break. A full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Dead or Alive 5, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, Resident Evil Revelations 2, Starwhal
Latest Mortal Kombat X trailer includes all you ever wanted to know about Kitana
Steve Brownback is a Quality Assurance Analyst at NetherRealm Studios and he hosts this latest trailer for Mortal Kombat X. But before Mr. Brownback took a job at the Chicago-based developer, he was a professional gamer on the tournament fighting circuit with an expertise in 2011’s Mortal Kombat and the character of Kitana. And now as a developer, he’s directly influencing Kitana’s design including her three style variations (the defensive “Royal Storm,” the offensive “Assassin,” and the Jade-like “Mournful”). All that and more can be found in this trailer showcasing everyone’s favorite Edenian princess… wait, does Mileena count? Because that would shake up the rankings.
Mortal Kombat X will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
New Street Fighter V trailer teases Nash, M. Bison, PC/PS4 beta
Capcom has released a new trailer for Street Fighter V and it confirmed what we’ve all long suspected… Guile’s buddy Charlie Nash is back! This Charlie looks a bit different than he did in the Street Fighter Alpha series, but his Sonic Boom is just as deadly as ever.
Stick around until the end of the trailer for quick M. Bison tease as well. It’s hard to imagine a Street Fighter game without him, so the announcement feels rather fitting, especially since today is Tuesday.
Finally, Capcom also announced that Street Fighter V will receive an online beta test sometime in the not-so-distant future. How can you get involved? According to Capcom-Unity, everyone who pre-orders the game will be eligible to join the beta. More details on the beta will be announced at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Rumor: A new Guitar Hero game will be released this Fall for PS4, Xbox One
Last week, an anonymous source revealed to Bloomberg that Harmonix is looking to revive the Rock Band franchise. Right on cue, another round of rumors have revealed that Activision might bring back the Guitar Hero franchise as well.
Two separate sources recently spoke to Kotaku UK and both are saying the same thing: Guitar Hero 7 (or whatever it ends up being called) is in development for a Fall release on the PS4 and Xbox One. Though before that happens, Activision plans to publicly unveil the game during the 2015 E3 Expo alongside “new guitar peripherals” and a “more realistic” graphical style.
Kotaku UK’s sources also said that Guitar Hero 7 is in development at a west coast studio, which rules out the New York-based Vicarious Visions, the previous home of the franchise. However, Infinity Ward, which absorbed Guitar Hero III developer Neversoft in 2014, is located in California. Interesting… very interesting.
Activision would not confirm the rumors, but they did tell Kotaku UK: “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation, but have previously said, that as one of the most beloved entertainment franchises, we would only bring Guitar Hero back if we developed the right innovations to usher the franchise into the new generation of gaming.”
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Guitar Hero Live
Lionsgate will collaborate with Telltale on game/TV crossover for their original IP
Telltale Games has continued their collaborative ways by announcing a new partnership with Lionsgate. Under the terms of the deal, Lionsgate will make a “significant investment” in Telltale, giving both companies the opportunity to collaborate on future games, television shows, and films.
A major part of this agreement involves Telltale’s mysterious “original IP,” which was first announced more than a month ago. Telltale will continue its work on the game while Lionsgate will explore the possibility of adapting the game into a television series.
Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner said: “Lionsgate has a great track record in developing and marketing feature films as well as platform-defining premium scripted television. This partnership will accelerate Telltale’s ability to create not only original games, but episodic television series based on our game properties – an area at the cutting edge of industry growth.”
On the other side of the coin, this deal also gives Telltale the chance to adapt some of Liongate’s film and television properties into games. No one said the words “Twilight: A Telltale Game Series” or “The Hunger Games: A Telltale Game Series,” but you know that executives from both companies are thinking about them.
“Telltale is one of the premier storytellers in the gaming world today,” said Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer. “Their leadership in narrative-driven episodic games, together with our investment and the potential opportunities created by our premium content expertise, will continue to strengthen their ability to offer exciting new avenues of storytelling to their next generation audiences across a broad range of platforms.”
Whatever happens, Telltale’s “original IP” is probably still quite a ways off as the developer currently has a lot on their plate including Game of Thrones, Tales From the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode, and The Walking Dead: Season 3.
Posted in News
GTA5 PC release slips again as Rockstar synchronizes a March 10 launch for Heists
Just when you thought Grand Theft Auto V was ready to come out for the PC… Rockstar pulls it back in.
Today, the publisher announced that Grand Theft Auto V’s PC edition will miss its previously announced March 24 release date and will launch on April 14 instead. According to Rockstar, the delay is due to the fact that “a bit more time is needed to ensure that the game is as polished as possible, and to make certain that both Heists and the GTA Online experience are ready to roll out on day one for PC.”
But speaking of Heists, Rockstar has also announced that the Heat-inspired multiplayer mode will be ready to go for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on March 10. You can steal a glance at some new screenshots from GTA5’s Heists mode at the Rockstar Newswire.
The ESRB has slapped Batman: Arkham Knight with a Mature rating
IGN is reporting that Rocksteady Studios has informed them that Batman: Arkham Knight has received a Mature rating from the ESRB. I wonder if this means he’ll tell someone that he’s “the goddamn Batman.”
Arkham Knight’s Director, Sefton Hill, told IGN that he was surprised by the ESRB’s ruling, especially after a Teen rating was granted to both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Hill added that the team never specifically added content to the game in an effort to earn a Mature rating, but that he’s aware of how it may hurt the game at retail:
“I’m not blind to the fact that [the M rating] does mean some fans will miss out… I don’t want to be oblivious to that fact. It would have been wrong to water down the game and deliver a story we didn’t believe in to keep the game ‘mass market’ or enable it for more people. We feel that’s the wrong way to go about it. We said we love the story and we don’t want to jepoardize that.”
As of this writing (10:00 AM Eastern Time), the ESRB has yet to make the Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Rating Summary” available to the public.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight