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
Xbox Store Today: AC: Unity, AC: Rogue, Halo Master Chief Collection, Lego Batman 3, more
After the delay of Halo 5: Guardians earlier this year, Microsoft didn’t have any kind of big shooter on their Fall 2014 schedule. Thankfully, Microsoft put out something else today that will surely make all the little Halo fans out there squeal with delight… an Xbox One-exclusive compilation of the first four games in the series known as Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Improved visuals and a complete “Anniversary” makeover for Halo 2 make this the biggest re-release the series has ever seen.
Elsewhere on the Xbox Games Store today is a pair of new Assassin’s Creed games (the Paris-set Assassin’s Creed: Unity on the Xbox One and the Revolutionary Assassin’s Creed: Rogue on the Xbox 360), Konami’s latest soccer sim (Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One), and WB’s latest whimsical Lego adventure (Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One)
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Creepy Mario meets Peach and Luigi in new commercials for the Mercedes GLA in Japan
Remember the creepy live-action Mario Kart 8 commercial promoting the Mercedes-Benz GLA downloadable content? Well… Mercedes-Benz Japan is back with two new entries in the series and they’re just as crazy as the first one.
In these new spots, live-action Luigi emerges victorious against Mario and decides to do some kind of not-quite robot dance in celebration. Meanwhile, Peach stares down the plumber and then does a dainty hop-step to avoid a green shell. That stare… she’ll stare into your soul.
You can check out the Luigi commercial above while the Peach advertisement is available after the break. Don’t say you weren’t warned. (more…)
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Mario Kart 8
Sony has announced Bloodborne’s due date is now March 24
Bad news for PS4 owners… Masaaki Yamagiwa, a Producer at SCE Japan has confirmed (via the PlayStation Blog) that Bloodborne will miss its previously announced release date of February 5, 2015. The game has been pushed back almost two months and will now be released on March 24. According to Yamagiwa, SCE Japan and From Software made this decision due to a desire to implement some of the things they learned during the game’s recent alpha test.
And keep an eye out for more information on the game to be revealed soon as Yamagiwa also announced that “exciting Bloodborne news” would be revealed in December.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Bloodborne
Telltale’s Game of Thrones will span six episodes and begin with “Iron From Ice”
After announcing it almost a year ago, Telltale Games is finally ready to talk about their Game of Thrones adaptation on their official blog. The first episode, “Iron From Ice,” will debut on the PC (Win/Mac), PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and iOS App Store “soon.” Telltale said that it will also appear on “additional platforms,” but that’s most likely just confirmation that the episodic series will eventually appear on the many, many Android devices out there.
Unlike previous episodic games from Telltale, Game of Thrones will take place over six episodes and will initially take place towards the end of the third season of the show. Future episodes will push the narrative through to the beginning of the fifth season (which will begin airing on HBO in Spring 2015). However, the members of House Forrester that Telltale will spotlight in the game have yet to appear on the popular show:
House Forrester is a noble house from the Wolfswood in the north of Westeros. Bannermen to House Glover, they have always offered unswerving loyalty to the ruling great house of the North – the Starks. The Forresters are seated at Ironrath, an imposing stronghold surrounded by towering ironwood trees. Built over fifteen hundred years ago by Cedric Forrester and his triplet sons, Ironrath is a testament to the strength and endurance of Ironwood. The Forrester house words are “Iron from Ice,” which echoes their belief that – like the ironwood itself – the adverse conditions and unforgiving landscape of the North only makes them stronger.
Ironrath sits on the edge of the largest ironwood forest in Westeros, which has proven to be a strategic advantage for the House. The trees are a valuable commodity; many of the best weapons, ships, and defensive structures include the use of ironwood. House Forrester controls the majority of the ironwood forests in the Wolfswood, much to the chagrin of their bitter rivals, House Whitehill.
All told, players will control five different characters throughout the series, which Telltale promises will up the complexity considerably: “Playing as five characters not only reflects the epic scope of Game of Thrones, but is also something that the player needs to be mindful of. This is because the actions of one character can ripple out to affect the rest of House Forrester. Multiply the actions of one character by five, and you’re truly playing the Game of Thrones… where you win, or you die.”
Game of Thrones: Iron From Ice is expected to be available before the end of the year, but only Telltale knows how soon is “soon.”
AC: Unity, AC: Rogue, Lego Batman 3, PES 2015, many more added to PS Store
It’s another big week for the PlayStation Store. These words could probably be etched to the top of this column every week and still be true, but today that sentence is especially apt as Ubisoft, WB Games, and Konami added a bunch of eagerly anticipated titles to Sony’s digital storefront alongside a passel of big indies.
Ubisoft leads the way with a double shot of their famed Assassin’s Creed series. The franchise’s first next-generation exclusive, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, takes the action to Paris and is now available to download for the PS4. Meanwhile, Assassin’s Creed: Rogue for the PS3 closes out the “Americas” saga and allows players to play as a Templar for the first time. Also available this week is WB Games’ Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. The latest Lego title from TT Games blasts Batman into outer space on the PS4, PS3, and Vita. And Konami’s contribution to this week’s PlayStation Store update is Pro Evoltuon Soccer 2015 (PS4, PS3), the latest game in the soccer simulation series.
Finally this week, Bandai Namco released Tales of Hearts R, a new action RPG in the long-running Tales series, for the Vita. It was joined by a pair of indie favorites: Vblank’s overhead actioner Retro City Rampage DX (Cross-Buy on the PS4, PS3, and Vita) and side-scrolling world-builder Terraria (PS4, but includes Cross-Buy access to the previously released Vita version).
More information about all of these games can be found after the break and a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Just Cause 3 officially announced for 2015 release on the PC, PS4, Xbox One
After a variety of leaks, fans of the first two games in the franchise have long assumed that Just Cause 3 has been in development at Avalanche Studios. Today, the developer has confirmed that their New York studio has been hard at work on the game for the last three years and that it’ll be released in 2015 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The news comes not via publisher Square Enix, but instead from Game Informer, as Just Cause 3 will appear on the cover of the magazine’s December issue:
In 2015, the beloved series returns with Just Cause 3 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. We got the chance to be the first people outside of the studio to play not just 10 or 20 minutes, but several hours of the game, set in a fictional Mediterranean archipelago. The time flew by as we tried out the vastly improved parachute and grapple mechanics, terrorized the latest dictator’s well-defended bases, and soared through the sky with the all-new wingsuit. Just Cause has never played this smoothly, and as you’ll see in the cover story launching digitally today, it’s never looked this good.
More details about Just Cause 3 will trickle out of Game Informer’s editorial offices all month. And in case you’re wondering what the main Avalanche team is working on, they’ll release Mad Max in 2015 for WB Games.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Just Cause 3
Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Valve, others teaming up for The Game Awards 2014
Geoff Keighley is leaving the familiar confines of the Spike TV-sponsored VGX Awards to launch a brand new game industry event: The Game Awards. The VGX Awards polled a wide range of game journalists to select the best games of the year, but The Game Awards will take a different tack. Their advisory board will instead be made up of some of the industry’s biggest executives and developers:
- Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo of America)
- Yves Guillemot (Ubisoft)
- Hideo Kojima (Kojima Productions)
- Shawn Layden (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Peter Moore (Electronic Arts)
- Phil Spencer (Microsoft)
- Martin Tremblay (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- An unnamed representative from Rockstar Games
- An unnamed representative from Valve
The nominations for this year’s Game Awards haven’t been announced yet, but we do know that the ceremony will take place on December 5 at the AXIS Theater in Las Vegas. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow and those of us that aren’t planning to attend the live show will be able to watch an online stream of the events through the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Nintendo Network, Steam, and “many other sites and platforms.”
And you’ll probably want to pay close attention as, just like the VGX Awards, the show will feature a series of trailers promoting a variety of upcoming games. Musical performances and appearances by “game developers, eSports players and online content creators” will round out the 2014 Game Awards agenda.
Spike TV has yet to announce whether the VGX Awards will be held this year.
Microsoft has filed a trademark application for Battletoads
Battletoads. Just it’s name should conjure up images of broken controllers and tears of frustration for any kid who lived through the NES era. It is fondly remembered today as one of the most difficult video games of all time and the launching pad for a franchise that would eventually span four more titles.
And yet, the last Battletoads game, an arcade rendition known as Super Battletoads, was released in 1994. The series has laid dormant for 20 years… until now.
Last week, Microsoft filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to revive the Battletoads name. Because this is only a trademark application, it doesn’t mean that a new Battletoads game is necessarily in the works. But it is a very good sign. Especially after the announcement earlier this year that Rare would be changing their “development methodology” and possibly leaving their series of Kinect-based games behind.