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
XBL Store Today: Call of Duty: Ghosts, World of Tanks Beta Weekend
Sadly, Microsoft has no plans to add anything to the Xbox Live Arcade today. But, two new “Games on Demand” may brighten your day.
The first needs no introduction. It’s Call of Duty: Ghosts ($59.99), arriving on the Xbox Live Store day-and-date with its retail release:
Outnumbered and outgunned, but not outmatched. Welcome to Call of Duty: Ghosts, an extraordinary step forward for one of the largest entertainment franchises of all-time. This new chapter in the Call of Duty franchise features a fresh dynamic where players are on the side of a crippled nation fighting not for freedom, or liberty, but simply to survive.
Also available today is the beta for World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition. The beta test, which is a free download, expands today to include the entire Xbox Live Gold community for the weekend:
AAA team-based online tank warfare comes to Xbox 360 with the custom built version of the global phenomenon dedicated to armored warfare in the mid-20th century. Command some of history’s most powerful tanks and experience intense combat where the excitement of battle is enhanced by working together with your tank platoon to win the fight, downloadable and free-to-play to Xbox Live Gold members.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, World of Tanks
Activision shipped $1 billion worth of copies of CoD: Ghosts to stores
It’s another billion dollar day for the video game industry… sort of.
Activision has announced they shipped more than $1 billion worth of copies of Call of Duty: Ghosts to retail outlets across the world for the game’s launch yesterday. The $1 billion figure doesn’t include download revenues from Ghosts, which also launched on Steam, the PSN, and the Xbox Live Store yesterday. It’s unknown how many of those copies have been sold to fans (or even how many copies “$1 billion” represents), but I’m going to guess that both numbers can be rounded up to “a lot.”
The literal pile of money that Activision is sitting on right now will only grow in the next few weeks as CEO Bobby Kotick reported that Ghosts is GameStop’s “most pre-reserved next gen title.”
Not known for his humility, Kotick also told reporters, “The [Call of Duty] franchise has never been more popular.”
PSN Today: CoD: Ghosts, Guided Fate Paradox, How to Survive, Final Exam, more
Just as in the retail world, most publishers are staying far away from the PlayStation Store this week as Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts makes its digital debut today.
It will be joined on the PlayStation Network by Ben 10 Omniverse 2, the latest game to star the Cartoon Network star; The Guided Fate Paradox, the latest RPG from NIS America; Final Exam, a side-scrolling brawler set in the Obscure universe; and How to Survive, a zombie survival sim.
Two PSN/Vita Cross-Buy titles, the puzzle platformer A-Men 2 and the physics puzzler/tower defense mashup CastleStorm, round out this week’s update. Oh, and the inexplicably popular The Adventures of Cookie & Cream has been added to the PS2 Classics store.
More details about all of these titles can be found after the break and a full list of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Infinity Ward offers up another look at CoD: Ghosts’ Extinction Mode
Call of Duty: Ghosts is available in stores today (for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360) and, as one last appetizer before the main course, Infinity Ward has released a new trailer for Extinction Mode dubbed “First Contact.” Watch as a squad of soldiers defends Earth against a slimy alien menace and then they… become an appetizer for the aliens. Whoops. Maybe the aliens can ask Kang and Kodos for some culinary tips.
The developers at Infinity Ward also sat down with GameSpot to deliver an extended look at Extinction Mode, which you can view after the break. And don’t forget, Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available for the PS4 and Xbox One later this month. (more…)
Sony will call up MLB 14: The Show in Spring 2014
Sony’s critically acclaimed baseball simulation series, MLB: The Show, will return in 2014 with its next entry (and first on the PS4): MLB 14: The Show. The game, which is scheduled for release sometime in the Spring, will also be available for the PS3 and Vita.
Naturally, the PS4 version of the game will enable the developers at Sony San Diego to create a more lifelike simulation. “The handcuffs and restraints have been taken off,” according to Game Designer/Community Manager Ramone Russell. But the next-generation system also allows Sony San Diego to add a Quick Counts mode for faster game lengths and year-to-year saves for Seasons, Franchises, and Road To The Show.
Fresh off his selection as Player of the Year at last night’s 2013 Player’s Choice Awards, Miguel Cabrera has been selected as the cover athlete for MLB 14: The Show. Cabrera has earned many awards and accolades in his 11-year career, but his greatest claim to fame is no doubt the Triple Crown he won in 2012. It was the first time a player had lead the league in home runs, batting average, and RBIs since 1967.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged MLB 14: The Show
The AAA Game: Where It’s Been, Where It’s Going, and Did It Kill the Mid-Tier Game?
An edited and updated version of this article is now available at Video Game Canon.
With a new generation of consoles almost upon us, there is the worry that the spiraling budgets and massive teams required to create AAA games is hurting the industry. But for all the hand-wringing about how the AAA game is detrimental to mid-size developers, no one can seem to agree on what exactly a AAA game is or when the AAA designation was even first used. In attempting to solve this etymological mystery, I found that the AAA designation shares much in common with Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s obscenity test from a 1964 case: “I know it when I see it.” But I also found out that “Will the AAA game survive?” is probably the wrong question to ask. (more…)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be available in Spring 2014
No more tricks and no more subterfuge, Konami has officially announced a release date for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Better known as the prequel chapter to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes will be available for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in Spring 2014.
Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid saga, had this to say about the Ground Zeroes prequel: “The advanced capabilities of the Fox Engine have allowed me to tell the new story in a new way. There will be a significant difference in what Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain brings to the series, so we want to ease players into the new open world environment and its potential. As such, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been designed to introduce key elements, allowing them to fully benefit from all that the new game will offer.”
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will receive a retail release on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (priced at $29.99) as well as a digital release (priced at $19.99). The next-generation PS4/Xbox One version will also be priced at $29.99 and will only be available as a digital download.
As for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it currently has no official release date.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Thor: The Dark World now available for iOS, Android devices
Thor: The Dark World opened internationally with a huge box office haul over the weekend and it’ll make its theatrical debut in North America this Friday, November 8. But if you’d rather wield the power of Mjolnir yourself, fire up your iOS or Android device and download the game adaptation of Thor: The Dark World now.
In this action-packed adventure, you will play as Thor in his epic quest to stop Malekith’s dark ambitions, and restore order to the Nine Worlds. Explore the worlds by immersing yourself in a rich Thor experience. Fight alongside legendary Asgardians, like Sif or Heimdall, summon Einherjar warriors for help, upgrade your skills and allies, and compete with friends for unique rewards. A great variety of fast-paced missions, familiar environments and characters await you, all in beautiful 3D graphics.
Thor: The Dark World is a free-to-play brawler and was produced by Gameloft, the same company behind this Summer’s official game adaptation of Iron Man 3.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Thor: The Dark World