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
Weekly Warp-Up: Watch Dogs/DriveClub Delay 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…
It was a bad week for the PS4 as Ubisoft delayed their hugely-hyped open world game, Watch Dogs. A few days later, Sony did the same to their racing game, DriveClub. But don’t worry, there is still plenty to play during the PS4’s launch period including Mike Ryan’s look at 5 Indie Games for PS4 to Spend Your Watch Dogs Money On.
Speaking of indie games, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie is back with another edition of Kickstart This!, “The Opulent October Edition,” highlighting some of the most promising pitches on the crowdfunding site this month. Mr. Rainnie also explored the 6 Reasons I’m Not Looking Forward to Batman: Arkham Origins. Is he right? Is he wrong? We’ll all find out together next week.
But you can find more news from this week after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Batman: Arkham Origins, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Rocksmith 2014, More
It’s a Marvel versus DC face-off this week as Batman: Arkham Origins (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Lego Marvel Super Heroes (3DS, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360) are both scheduled for release. A handheld companion game to Arkham Origins, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (3DS, Vita) will also swing into stores this week.
The remainder of this week’s new releases include a grab bag of stuff such as…
- Rocksmith 2014 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – Ubisoft’s next guitar game.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut (PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360) – An updated version of Square Enix’s 2011 FPS, now available for the Wii U for the first time.
- The Sims 3: Into the Future (PC) – The last Sims 3 expansion before The Sims 4 is released in 2014.
- Hometown Story (3DS) – A new life sim from the creators of the Harvest Moon series.
Even more new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham Origins, Lego Marvel Super Heroes
Batman begins in Batman: Arkham Origins’ TV commercial
Warner Bros. Games is really sticking with the “origins” theme for Batman: Arkham Origins. The publisher recently unveiled the game’s TV spot and it depicts a young Bruce Wayne witnessing the murder of his parents before zipping ahead to the present. But the journey is half the story and we also see the stone-faced boy and determined martial artist he would be before settling on the man… The Batman… he would become.
The commercial will begin airing on broadcast channels beginning today. Batman: Arkham Origins will be released for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on October 25.
UPDATE: This impressive commercial was created by Blur Studio and was directed by Tim Miller, who has been tapped by Fox to direct the Deadpool movie.
DriveClub release date shifts into early 2014
Sony has announced that another expected launch title for the PS4 has been pushed back into early 2014. This time, the delay falls on Evolution Studios’ ambitious racing title, DriveClub. According to Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios, the team needs “more time in order to deliver on their vision.”
This delay will also affect the free-to-play DriveClub: PlayStation Plus Edition. Yoshida assured fans that the PS Plus Edition is still in the works and will be released alongside the retail edition.
But this delay doesn’t change the fact that Sony wants to offer two free PS4 games to PlayStation Plus subscribers in November. So instead of DriveClub, the consolemaker has confirmed that Contrast, a “surreal vaudevillian, film-noir inspired reality full of performance, intrigue, shadow-play and drama” will join Resogun as part of November’s PS Plus offerings for new PS4 owners.
Someone leaked GameStop’s Black Friday 2013 ad
Someone from GottaDeals.com has obtained a copy of GameStop’s 12-page Black Friday 2013 circular and it’s certainly worth a look. There’s nothing that absolutely screams, “MUST BUY,” but there is plenty of smaller deals and at least something to appeal to everyone.
If you’re looking for system bundles, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 will have $199.99 packages available. The Xbox 360 250GB Bundle will include Halo 4 + Tomb Raider while the PS3 250GB Bundle will include Batman: Arkham Origins + The Last of Us. Nintendo is also getting in on the act with a Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS XL Bundle. Priced at $219.99, it includes a gold system and the game.
Some of the best “Friday Only” deals include Beyond: Two Souls ($39.99), The Last of Us ($39.99), Battlefield 4 ($29.99), Call of Duty: Ghosts ($49.99), and Just Dance 2014 ($19.99). A few “All Weekend” deals are pretty great as well: Diablo III ($39.99), WWE 2K14 ($39.99), Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition ($24.99), and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist ($24.99).
There’s a possibility that the ad (and the sales within) could change between now and Black Friday, November 29, as Watch Dogs and DriveClub, both of which were delayed into 2014 this week, were included in the PS4 section.
XBLA Today: Alien Rage
Microsoft is pushing out another Friday update to the Xbox Live Arcade as CI Games’ Alien Rage is now available to download:
Alien Rage is an action-packed, hard-core first-person shooter that will have you facing off against armies of the nastiest Alien forces ever encountered. Battle beastly-sized bosses relentlessly attacking you from every direction, hell-bent on taking you down. Tons of powerful dual-mode weapons, 14 intense levels, massive shootouts, destructible environments and over-the-top fast paced gameplay.
The first person shooter is priced at $14.99 and was originally released for Steam last month. A PS3 version of the game will be added to the PlayStation Store next week.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Alien Fear
GTA5 steals our hearts (and money) as the best-selling game of September 2013
Rockstar Games was on a quest for booty last month as Grand Theft Auto V was declared the best-selling game of the month by The NPD Group (via Joystiq). Not only did GTA5 sell a ridiculous amount of copies, but the title actually raised the fortunes of the entire video game industry. In September 2012, the game industry recorded $848 million in retail sales. Last month? $1.07 billion. Whoa.
The rest of the top ten includes a mixture of new releases and August holdovers. NBA 2K14 (#3), Diablo III (#4), FIFA 14 (#5), Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix (#6), and NHL 14 (#8) represent the new releases while Madden NFL 25 (#2), Disney Infinity (#7), and Saints Row IV (#10) all remained on the list from August. The retail version of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (at #9) was the only game with a pre-August release date to crack the top ten.
If you’d prefer your monthly NPD report in list format, we’ve got that too:
Bestselling Games in September 2013
1. Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360, PS3)
2. Madden NFL 25 (Xbox 360, PS3)
3. NBA 2K14 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. Diablo III (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
5. FIFA 14 (Xbox 360, PS3, Vita)
6. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix (PS3)
7. Disney Infinity (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U, 3DS)
8. NHL 14 (Xbox 360, PS3)
9. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox 360)
10. Saints Row IV (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Diablo III, Disney Infinity, FIFA 14, Grand Theft Auto V, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, Madden NFL 25, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, NHL 14, NPD, Saints Row IV
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls coming to PS4 and playable at BlizzCon 2013
Blizzard previously hinted that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls would make its way to consoles sooner rather than later, but today the publisher announced that the expansion is officially in development for the PS4.
In addition to the console confirmation, Blizzard announced Reaper of Souls (and the Crusader character class) will be playable on the BlizzCon 2013 show floor. More than 300 demo machines will be dedicated to the PC version of the game while a slightly smaller number will showcase the DualShock 4-controlled PS4 version.
It’s currently not known if Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will also be released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Blizzard also did not confirm if Reaper of Souls would get a simultaneous PC/PS4 launch or when the PS4 of Diablo III will be released.
BlizzCon 2013 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center on November 8 and 9. If you can’t make it to the show, Blizzard is selling Virtual Tickets to video footage on Battle.net of all the action.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Diablo III