Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: News
Activision: Fans are going to love Destiny 2, which will be released in Fall 2017
Bungie still isn’t ready to officially announce Destiny 2 just yet, but Activision executives continued to talk up its imminent release during a quarterly financial report yesterday.
Activision COO Thomas Tippl confirmed the game is still on track for a 2017 launch, and also said it’ll be followed by a “content season” of downloadable expansions:
Activision, along with their partners at Bungie, plan to answer the call with the release of a full Destiny sequel later this year, designed to thrill our existing loyal fan base and bring many new players into the fold. We plan to support the release of the sequel, with a great content plan post launch, setting the stage for growth with this year’s sequel and the content season that will follow.
Later in the same report, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg promised that Destiny fans are “going to love this game,” and narrowed down the release window to Fall 2017.
No new Skylanders game in 2017, but multiple “Adventure Packs” coming
As part of their quarterly financial report yesterday, Activision executives confirmed that a new game in the Skylanders franchise won’t be released in 2017. However, fans should still expect plenty of new content to appear this year.
First and foremost, Skylanders Imaginators will make its Nintendo Switch debut on March 3. The “toys-to-life” franchise has been one of the few third party bright spots on the Wii U, so it’s good to see Activision continuing the tradition on the Switch. And with Imaginators in the spotlight for another year, COO Thomas Tippl confirmed that Activision plans to launch “multiple Adventure Packs, new characters, and new in-game content” for it throughout the year.
Tippl revealed that Netflix’s Skylanders Academy has also been well-received by fans. A second season will premiere on the streaming service sometime this year, and a third is already in the works.
Finally, Activision is working on a new mobile game set in the Skylanders universe, but that’s all we know at this point.
Episode 3 from The Walking Dead: A New Frontier will be released in March; Season Pass Disc coming February 28
Telltale Games has announced that The Walking Dead: A New Frontier‘s third episode, Above the Law, will be available to download for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices beginning next month. According to the developer, they’ll unveil more details about the upcoming expansion to the story “in the coming weeks.”
In other Walking Dead: A New Frontier news, Telltale also confirmed that the Season Pass Disc will be available in stores on February 28. The Season Pass Disc will contain the season’s first two episodes, Ties That Bind Part I and Ties That Bind Part II, and include access to all subsequent episodes as they’re released.
A new trailer advertising The Walking Dead: A New Frontier’s Season Pass Disc has been embedded above.
Nintendo Download: Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime, more
Even though the Switch will be available in slightly more than three weeks, Nintendo continues to fill out the Virtual Console offerings on the Wii U. This week, Wii U owners will be able to download Mario Vs Donkey Kong, which was originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. Like their first meeting, Mario Vs Donkey Kong is a puzzle platformer that pits the two mascots against one another in a battle of wits, this time involving locked doors and runaway Mini-Mario toys.
Gamers who enjoy the Azure Striker Gunvolt series will find a very interesting new offering over on the handheld side of Nintendo’s digital storefront. Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime is a standalone OVA created by LandQ Studios and Touhoku Shinkai. The Anime promises a deeper look into the world of Azure Striker Gunvolt, and includes two audio options for viewers… the original Japanese voice cast or a brand new English dub.
Several other new games have also made their way to the Nintendo eShop today, and more information about all of them can be found after the break. (more…)
Enroll in Switch 101 and learn the basics of the console with this new video from Nintendo
Is there someone in your life who wants to learn more about the Nintendo Switch? If so, then you should definitely direct them towards this new Hardware Overview video from Nintendo.
Even if you consider yourself a Switch expert, the video offers a nice refresher on exactly what the console’s capable of. Topics discussed include the console’s three output styles (TV Mode, Handheld Mode, and Tabletop Mode), as well as local multiplayer options, wi-fi connectivity, and the ins-and-outs of both Joy-Con controllers.
The Nintendo Switch will launch on March 3… which is just 22 days from today.
The icy Kolin will be second character available as part of Street Fighter V’s Season Pass 2
As promised, Capcom has announced the next character that’ll be available to download as part of Street Fighter V‘s Season Pass 2. Kolin, a “Phantasm of Snow and Ice,” first appeared in Street Fighter III as a background character, and fans will be able to select her as a playable character for the first time on February 28.
In addition to the trailer embedded above, the publisher also shared a few details about Kolin’s arctic abilities on the Capcom-Unity blog:
Character Overview
Kolin excels in the Russian martial art of Systema, utilizing the opponent’s momentum against them and executing various slash-like attacks and knife hand strikes. Gill has bestowed upon her the power of ice, allowing her to augment her fight style with frigid blasts and deadly icicles. She is often heard speaking condescendingly towards her opponents, knowing they don’t stand a chance before her, let alone Gill.V-Skill: Inside Slash
Kolin’s unique counter allows her to deflect and automatically punish incoming moves with ease.V-Trigger: Diamond Dust
With a full V-Meter, Kolin can slam the ground twice with her foot, each time shooting out a path of sharp icicles across the floor. In addition to damage and stun, this move freezes the opponent’s stun gauge. While in this special state, the stun gauge will not deplete and if Kolin is successful in stunning the opponent, they will be frozen in place.Critical Art: Frost Tower
Kolin dashes forward with a slice of her hand. If the attack connects, she’ll continue summoning large icicles from the ground, throwing the opponent into the air and shattering the ice to drop them to the ground.
In addition to Kolin’s debut, Capcom also confirmed today that Street Fighter V’s third new character of 2017 will be unveiled in April.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be released sometime between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018
Ubisoft has quietly delayed South Park: The Fractured But Whole for a second time.
Originally scheduled to launch on December 6, 2016, the game was later pushed back to Early 2017 before being delayed again as part of their quarterly financial report. The publisher confirmed the comedic RPG will now launch on some to be determined date during their next fiscal year (April 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018).
According to a short post on the UbiBlog, the delay is designed to give the development team more time “to deliver the best experience possible”:
The teams at South Park and Ubisoft San Francisco are committed to pushing the envelope during development to deliver the best experience possible, and this additional time will allow them to do so.
Presumably, a final release date for South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be announced soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged South Park: The Fractured But Whole
At long last, the E3 Expo will be open to the public for the first time ever in 2017
The Entertainment Software Association first opened the doors to the annual E3 Expo in 1995, and gamers have been clamoring to get a glimpse at the industry-only event ever since. This year, they’ll finally get a chance as the ESA announced (via GameSpot) that a limited number of tickets will be sold to the public beginning this Monday, February 13, at noon (Eastern Time).
A total of 15,000 tickets will be available, and they’ll be priced at $250 apiece (though early bird buyers on the 13th will be able to buy them at a discount). The tickets will include access to the show floor, panel discussions, and other events for the duration of this year’s expo. Ticketholders will also be able to sit in on Geoff Keighley’s live studio show during the expo, which will include interviews with game developers and executives.
One major part of E3 that fans will miss out on is the various Press Conferences that take place in the days preceding the expo. These tickets won’t act as an invitation to those presentations.
“The feedback we heard was clear… they wanted to play the games inside the convention center. In addition, exhibitors inside the convention center wanted to have access to the fans. So this year we’re bringing the two together,” Rich Taylor, the ESA’s Senior Vice President of Communications, told GameSpot.
Taylor later said the ESA is always looking for ways to make the E3 Expo more relevant and useful for game industry professionals, journalists, and the public:
“I think asking, ‘How can we improve?’ ‘Where are video games headed?’ ‘How do we connect with fans?’ are all healthy questions, and that helps ensure E3 stays current and meets exhibitors’ needs,” he said.
“It’s a changing industry, and E3 has always evolved to meet industry needs and anticipate where we’re heading together–as an event, as an industry, and as fans. The decision to open our doors to 15,000 fans was a strategic decision. It is thanks to our members and their vision and leadership that made this possible. We have a model that allows the business of the industry to continue for our business and media attendees and provides an opportunity for video games’ biggest fans to experience the latest in innovative, immersive entertainment.”
The 2017 E3 Expo will kick off on June 13.