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
Rock Band 3 DLC returns with tracks from Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold
Harmonix closed the curtain on updates to the Rock Band Music Store in 2013, fittingly, with Don Mclean’s “American Pie.” But today, the famed developer announced that they drove their Chevy to the levy and discovered that it wasn’t dry. These three songs will be added to the store on January 13 (hey, that’s tomorrow):
- Arctic Monkeys – “R U Mine?”
- Avenged Sevenfold – “Shepherd Of Fire”
- Foo Fighters – “Something From Nothing”
All three songs will be available to download for $1.99 apiece through the PlayStation Store and Xbox Games Store for Rock Band 3 and Rock Band Blitz. Even though Harmonix stopped updating the Rock Band Music Store, it never really went away as more than 3,500 songs are currently available to expand your Rock Band experience.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Rock Band 3, Rock Band Blitz
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor leads the pack with 5 nominations at 2015 GDC Awards
The nominees for this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced and, unsurprisingly, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor leads the way with five nominations, including “Game of the Year.”
Shadow of Mordor will compete for the top prize with other four multi-category nominees including Alien: Isolation, Bayonetta 2, Destiny, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Believe it or not, the next-most-nominated game, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, was actually shut out of the “Game of the Year” category. The Astronauts’ mystery title was nominated for “Best Narrative,” “Best Audio,” the “Innovation Award,” and “Best Debut.”
Alien: Isolation (“Best Visual Art” and “Best Audio”), Destiny (“Best Audio” and “Best Technology”), and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Best Design” and “Best Handheld/Mobile Game”) are each up for two additional awards while Bayonetta 2 is also up for “Best Visual Art.”
A complete list of the nominees for this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards can be found after the break. And be sure to check back for a look at the winners, which will be announced on March 4 during the Game Developers Conference.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz] (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Bayonetta 2, Destiny, GDC 2015, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Iron Galaxy has released first video of Killer Instinct’s next character, Omen
Iron Galaxy, the developer behind the second season of Killer Instinct, has unveiled the first video footage of the game’s next playable character during their latest liverstream. Omen is known as “The Herald of Gargos” and is a henchman for Killer Instinct 2‘s end boss. He is also Season 2’s “bonus character” and will only be available to players who have purchased the Ultra Edition or Combo Breaker Pack. Like Season 1’s Shadow Jago, there are currently no plans to sell Omen as a separate download.
Iron Galaxy will release a trailer featuring Omen sometime this week and the character should be available to download through the Xbox Games Store a few days after that.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Killer Instinct
Weekly Warp-Up: One… Two… Three… Four… Edition
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
Welcome to another week of the Weekly Warp-Up and welcome to the beginning of Warp Zoned’s fifth year of operation. Running this site for the last four years has been pretty fun, so we’re definitely not stopping now.
Instead, we’re going to look forward. Forward at all the Games of January 2015 that we’re excited for. They’re aren’t many, as the entire release calendar is pretty bare, so maybe we’ll have to replay some of What We Played in December 2014.
One of the games we’re definitely looking forward to playing again is The Walking Dead Season 2: No Going Back, the thrilling conclusion to Telltale’s second Walking Dead adaptation. Warp Zoned Staff Writer Mike Ryan loved it quite a bit and you can read why in his review.
You can also read more of our ramblings from this past week after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Xbox Store Today: Funk of Titans
Pop Quiz! If someone told you that they were playing a game called Funk of Titans, you’d think it had something to do with giant people who smell bad, wouldn’t you? Well, you (and I) would be wrong. Funk of Titans is actually a side-scrolling platformer (now available for the Xbox One) that stars Perseus, Son of Zeus. And as the title implies, Perseus is bringing the funk… uh, the musical kind.
More details about Funk of Titans can be found right here:
Funk of Titans ($12.49)
Funk of Titans is a thrilling and addictive game, simple and fun to play but hard to master. You will control Perseus, the son of Zeus and protector of the legendary holy music: the Funk. Run across the ancient greek mythology, risk your life jumping over crazy platforms, collect funk vinyls, beat enemies, wear epic costumes, ride the legendary Pegasus and smash the rap, the pop and the rock of the evil Musical Titans in fierce dance battles. Only one music can survive and the Funk is the music of the gods.
Beamdog announces Baldur’s Gate interquel set between BG1 and BG2
Beamdog, the developer behind Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, has announced they will return to the franchise one more time with an interquel that will bridge the story of both games.
The currently untitled Baldur’s Gate Interquel will use the same Infinity Engine that powered the Enhanced Editions of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II. According to a post on the Beamblog, more information about the game (including a release date) will be announced in the Spring. The game is “something bigger than we’ve ever done before,” but the developer did stress that this shouldn’t be considered “Baldur’s Gate III.”
That said, Beamdog is already in the planning stage for their next project and will announce more details about Adventure Z (clearly a codename, as are Project: Beartrap and Project: Sharktrap) this Summer. Whatever you call it, the developer says it is a “departure” for the team and they’re looking forward to telling us all about it.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Baldur's Gate
Friday the 13th: The Game will stalk “multiple platforms” in October 2015
First came an announcement for Summer Camp. Then we learned about Last Year. So now’s the perfect time for the original camp counselor killer to get his first game since an appearance on the NES in 1989. I’m talking, of course, about Jason Voorhees (“Ch Ch, Ch, Chhh, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ahhh”).
EGM has discovered that Friday the 13th: The Video Game is currently in development at an “experienced game studio” for “multiple platforms.” According to Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the original film, an official announcement for the game should be dropping in “the coming weeks.”
Like Summer Camp and Last Year, Friday the 13th: The Video Game will be an asymmetrical multiplayer affair where one player is the hulking, hockey mask-wearing Jason and the other players take control of the expendable (and likely oversexed) teens.
Friday the 13th: The Video Game is currently on track for an October 2015 release and will use concepts and characters from the franchise’s 35-year history as well as the upcoming Friday the 13th television show.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Friday the 13th
Turtle Rock releases Evolve’s intro cinematic as the game goes gold
After a slight delay (it was originally scheduled to launch last Fall), it looks like Turtle Rock’s Evolve is ready for primetime. The developer confirmed that Evolve has passed certification and that it’s officially “gone gold.” With development complete, the manufacturing process can begin so that Evolve is ready to ship to stores on February 10.
To celebrate the pending launch of the PC, PS4, and Xbox One game, Turtle Rock has added Evolve merchandise to the 2K Store and given gamers a look at the game’s intro cinematic. The nearly-three-minute is pretty impressive, but be on the lookout for the crazy glint in the eye of Hank, the heavily-bearded Support character. I think he’s going to be my favorite. And speaking of beards, Turtle Rock revealed (via the game’s official website) that facial hair is no longer allowed in the office now that Evolve has passed certification:
And last, but not least, we have some beards to shave and hair to cut! Team members at Turtle Rock pledged to not shave or cut their hair until the game passed certification. For each inch of beard grown by the guys and hair cut by the ladies, we’d donate $50 to Child’s Play charity. The total length? 227.5 hairy inches! That comes out to $11,375 raised for Child’s Play – with the hair itself, if long enough, being donated to Locks of Love. 2K is matching the Turtle Rock Studios contribution, for a total donation of $22,750.
That’s fantastic!