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 Entertainment Studios will close; Atari doc, Halo: Nightfall, Halo series will continue
William Goldman, the screenwriter of The Princess Bride, once said, “In Hollywood, no one knows anything.” Today, Microsoft is feeling that uncertainty as the software giant has announced they plan to lay off 18,000 people over the next 12 months. Over 12,000 employees in Microsoft’s Nokia division account for the vast majority of jobs affected but, according to Re/code, the company’s film production studio at Xbox Entertainment Studios will also close.
Xbox Entertainment Studios had barely gotten their original programming schedule off the ground before the closure notice came down. An app that included a comprehensive look at the Bonaroo musical festival was released in June while the studio’s first series, Every Street United, is currently airing and will conclude in August.
Some of the originally programming Microsoft had planned will continue even after the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios. First and foremost, Halo: The Television Series and the Ridley Scott-produced Halo: Nightfall be released as scheduled. And with filming already finished, the documentary examination of Atari’s New Mexican landfill, Atari: Game Over, will also be completed.
The fate of the remaining projects in the studio’s “Xbox Originals” series is unknown, though it’s likely that many will be canceled. Sony still plans to move ahead with their own original programming initiative beginning with this Winter’s Powers.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: Nightfall
The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 4 will be available to download next week
Telltale will deliver the next episode for The Walking Dead Season 2 next week. Titled Amid the Ruins, Telltale’s Laura Perusco told the PlayStation Blog that the episode puts Clementine in a very dangerous spot:
This episode picks up right where Episode 3 left off. After escaping Carver’s camp, the group now faces immediate danger in the dead center of a walker horde. Walkers aren’t the only threat to Clem’s safety, though. The group is beginning to fracture under the pressures of survival in an unforgiving world, and as they search for new shelter, it becomes apparent that the living may be just as dangerous as the dead…
The Walking Dead Season 2: Amid the Ruins will be available to download for the PS3 and Vita on Tuesday, July 22. Xbox 360 owners will be able to play it beginning Wednesday, July 23. Finally, the episode will be available on the iOS App Store on Thursday, July 24.
As always, Amid the Ruins will be priced at $4.99 or available as a free download as part of the Season Pass.
Nintendo Download: Strike Force Foxx, Mr. Driller 2, Comic Workshop
Rounding out a strangely slow week for digital releases is Nintendo’s latest eShop update. Three games will attempt to fight for your downloadable dollar and they are:
Wii U eShop
Mr. Driller 2 – Armed with a mighty drill, dig deep through multicolored blocks until reaching safety. Not all of the blocks will be breakable, but be careful that the blocks you break don’t fall on you or cut off your air supply. How deep can you dig underground?
3DS eShop
Strike Force Foxx – Take control of Captain Raymond Foxx as you guide your Razor-One helicopter through intense missions, battling the enemy and saving your citizens. Take to the air in your helicopter in more than 35 missions to eliminate numerous obstacles, including gunmen, tanks, helicopters, planes, machine-gunning jeeps, heat-seeking missiles, gunboats and submarines.
Comic Workshop – With Comic Workshop, you will be able to easily create Comics and Manga, step by step, thanks to the various tools available. From frame’s management to text entry, everything you need to make the best creations is gathered in this software.
XBL Store Today: Magic 2015, Abyss Odyssey
Two new games are available to download through the Xbox Live Arcade today. First up is Magic 2015, Wizards of the Coast’s annual update to the digital version of their flagship card game:
Magic 2015 ($9.99)
Hunt bigger game on a bold new adventure with Magic 2015 — Duels of the Planeswalkers! Hone your skills as you battle your way across the planes of the Multiverse. Beware though, Planeswalker. Your biggest danger is one of your own… Garruk Wildspeaker, the greatest hunter known, is now hunting you! Magic 2015 is the best way to learn to play the Magic trading card game. It provides hours of game play and allows you to collect cards and build decks from that collection.
Also available today is Abyss Odyssey, a new side-scroller developed by ACE Team:
Abyss Odyssey ($10.04)
From indie Chilean developer ACE Team comes an Art Nouveau-styled, side-scrolling action adventure game featuring a complex fighting engine in procedurally generated levels that destine its three warriors to battle for an eternity. Enter the bold Katrien, the tortured specter Ghost Monk, and the ethereal Pincoya. Perform combos and chain attacks, and release a flurry of blows in order to survive what lies beneath. Your path into the unknown may start out with three fierce warriors, but when you learn to possess your enemies, you can challenge the abyss with their skills and combat abilities. Use these abilities available to you and attempt to figure out the infinite abyss. But the difficulties in accomplishing this great task don’t end there! The side-scrolling levels never play out the same way twice, from the monsters they are filled with, to the locations of life-saving merchants, or the unique encounters and treasures to be found.
Adam West will play himself in Lego Batman 3
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will launch Batman (and the rest of the Justice League) into outer space for an intergalactic adventure against Brainiac. And it looks like they’re bringing Adam West with them:
Holy LEGO mini figures, Batman. It's Adam West! #LEGOBatmanGame #SDCC pic.twitter.com/QuqybSJ46J
— LEGO Batman (@LEGOBatmanGame) July 15, 2014
The official Twitter account for the Lego Batman game series posted this image yesterday, confirming that West will actually be playing himself in the sequel. Let’s hope he feels the need to ask the Caped Crusader, “Why doesn’t Batman dance anymore?”
We’ll likely get a sneak peek of West’s contribution to the game during TT Games’ Lego Batman 3 panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (Sunday, July 27 at 1:00 PM). West will be a busy man during this year’s Comic-Con as he’ll also be promoting the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD release of the 1960s Batman television series in a panel on Thursday, July 24. How does he do it? Pure… West…
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Fall.
Crimsonland, Abyss Odyssey, One Piece Unlimited World Red added to PS Store
It looks the Summer drought has even effected the PlayStation Store as only three games are new to the digital storefront this week:
- Crimsonland (PS4), a twin-stick shooter that promises “hundreds of aliens, giant spiders, mutant lizards, and more.”
- Abyss Odyssey (PS3), a side-scrolling action game developed by ACE Team and published by Atlus.
- One Piece Unlimited World Red, the Vita version of the latest game adaptation of the popular anime/manga.
More information about all three games can be found after the break. And a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Mass Effect 4 panel planned for Comic-Con 2014
It looks like we’re going to learn a bit more about Mass Effect 4 at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Developers from BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Montreal will be on hand to discuss the “expansion” of the game’s universe:
Mass Effect developers from the Edmonton and Montreal studios discuss what it’s like to expand on a well-established and beloved video game franchise. Panelists Carl Boulay (lead animator), Fabrice Condominas (producer), Mike Gamble (producer), Noel Lukasewich (senior artist), and Jessica Merizan (community manager), share their experiences in shaping the next Mass Effect game with new possibilities while staying true to the critically acclaimed series. Moderated by Nerdist.com.
The panel, “Charting a Course: Developing the Next Mass Effect,” will be held on Saturday, July 26 at 2:00 PM (Pacific Time). Better get in line now.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Comic-Con 2014, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Sting will make his WWE debut in WWE 2K15 as a pre-order bonus
Sting, the face of the WCW in the 90s, will make his WWE debut in this Fall’s WWE 2K15. Players who pre-order the game will actually receive two different versions of Sting, representing two distinct eras of his career:
One of the most popular and revered competitors in WCW history, Sting will be featured in WWE 2K15 through two unique playable characters: the mysterious, ghost-like persona with trademark black and white face paint who was the face of WCW during the “Monday Night War” era, as well as his earlier look, sporting bright colors and a blond, flattop hairstyle
Sting had been a part of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling since 2003, but appeared in a WWE production in April to honor Ultimate Warrior. It’s unknown when he’ll make his in-ring debut during a WWE show.
WWE 2K15 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 28.