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
Xbox Store Today: NBA 2K17, Just Sing, Mount & Blade Warband, more
The 2016-2017 NBA season won’t tip off until next month, but 2K Games wants to get hoops fans ready with today’s release of NBA 2K17, which is now available to download for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 through the Xbox Games Store. In addition to updated rosters and improved graphics, the publisher focused their effort this year on a brand new MyCareer mode, and even recruited Michael B. Jordan (Creed) to lend authenticity to the “immersive new narrative.”
Also available to download today is Ubisoft’s Just Sing, a karaoke-styled spinoff from their popular Just Dance franchise. Players can choose to sing along or lip sync to their favorite songs on the Xbox One with a microphone or the free Just Dance Companion App for their smartphone.
Finally this week, Mount & Blade: Warband brings medieval battlefields and “realistic mounted combat” to the Xbox One. Players can tell their own knight’s tale by becoming anything from a “lonesome adventurer” to the “ruler of a faction.”
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Earth Defense Force 5 will be released for PS4 in 2017 (in Japan)
It looks like the Earth is going to need defending one one more time, as D3 Publisher announced that Earth Defense Force 5 will be released for the PS4 in Japan in 2017. Revealed yesterday during their Tokyo Game Show presentation, the fifth game in the increasingly over-the-top action franchise will add new enemy types including frog-like monsters and humanoid ground troops. They’ll join the invasion alongside the series’s standard assortment of alien ants, bees, and spiders.
XSEED Games publishes the Earth Defense Force franchise outside of Japan, so hopefully they’ll make first contact soon and let us know when Earth Defense Force 5 will be available in North America.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Earth Defense Force 5, TGS 2016
Madden NFL 17 rumbles its way to the end zone as the best-selling game of August 2016
A trio of new releases stood atop the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games of August 2016, but Madden NFL 17 unsurprisingly took the top spot.
EA’s juggernaut is almost always unstoppable during the calendar’s eighth month, but it was equally unsurprising to see No Man’s Sky and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided take up residence at #2 and #3, respectively.
NPD analyst Sam Naji told GamesIndustry.biz: “The release of strong new titles such as Madden NFL 17, No Man’s Sky and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided bolstered console software dollar sales by 8%.”
The remainder of this month’s best-sellers included the usual mix of big titles from 2015 and 2016, with some Grand Theft Auto V (#4) and Minecraft (#9) tossed in for flavor.
A full look at August 2016’s best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Shigeru Miyamoto shows us his favorite ways to play Super Mario Run in new trailer
When Shigeru Miyamoto stepped onto the stage during last week’s Apple Week, he joked that Super Mario Run could easily be played one-handed, freeing up your other hand to hold onto a subway handle or, more importantly, a tasty hamburger.
Naturally, Nintendo went ahead and actually made a video of Miyamoto playing Super Mario Run while riding a subway, eating a hamburger, and performing other activities…
Watch as Mr. Miyamoto reveals his favorite ways to play #SuperMarioRun on the go! pic.twitter.com/MboONwsdsw
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 12, 2016
Never change, Mr. Miyamoto. Super Mario Run will be available to download for the iPhone and iPad this December, with an Android launch planned for 2017.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Super Mario Run
Axiom Verge will be available for the Xbox One on September 30
Developer Thomas Happ will reach the end of his victory lap around the game industry when Axiom Verge is released for the Xbox One on September 30. After launching for the PS4 in March 2015, the “MetroidVania” made its way to new platforms like clockwork, ultimately landing on the PC, Vita, and Wii U before its next scheduled stop.
In a post on the game’s official website, Happ reveled in the irony that the Xbox One is the last platform to receive Axiom Verge, as the game began life as an Xbox Live Arcade/Xbox Live Indie Games title:
There’s a certain irony that Xbox One is the last console to get Axiom Verge. When I started development almost 7 years ago, Xbox 360 (in particular, the Xbox Live Indie Games service) was my target platform. Like many indie developers, I vastly underestimated the scope of what the game would eventually become and the time needed to achieve my full vision, and by the time I was ready to launch, the development framework I was using (XNA) was no longer compatible with Xbox’s latest system.
Axiom Verge will be priced at $19.99 on the Xbox One, but fans who purchase it by October 10 will receive a 10% discount.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Axiom Verge
Nintendo Download: Dragon Quest 7, Noitu Love Devolution, WarioWare Smooth Moves, more
Copies of Dragon Warrior VII were rather hard to come by when the game was originally released for the PlayStation in 2001. But 15 years later, Nintendo and Square Enix are fixing that with the 3DS launch of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, which will be available to download from the 3DS eShop beginning tomorrow. The massive RPG has been “completely rebuilt from the ground up” for the handheld, so even experienced players may want to play it again.
Also new this week is Noitu Love: Devolution, the latest game in Nintendo’s Nindies Summer Jam promotion. Available to download for the Wii U and 3DS, Noitu Love is a side-scrolling platformer that asks players to save the city from an evil robot army lead by professor Darnacus Damnation.
Finally this week, WarioWare: Smooth Moves makes it Wii U debut as a downloadable title on the eShop. Originally released for the Wii back in 2007, WarioWare is packed with 200 insane minigames that ask players to “swing, spin, and squat” their way to victory.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Get your first look at Telltale’s Batman: Episode 2 – Children of Arkham right here
Telltale’s five-part Batman tale will continue next week in Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 2: Children of Arkham. Today, the developer unveiled a brand new trailer that seems to be pushing Gotham City even further towards insanity:
With Gotham City’s first family mired in corruption, and an old friend now a dangerous adversary, the life of the Dark Knight is turned upside down. What was Thomas Wayne entangled in, and why was he killed? Determined to learn the truth about his father, Bruce sets out to question those involved in Gotham’s criminal past. But which mask will he wear – The billionaire, or the bat? Huge decisions will forever change the Batman and the lives of those around him, as he meets the Children of Arkham.
Who are the Children of Gotham? Is that really The Penguin behind that bird mask? And could that pale, lanky fellow be The Joker? We’ll all get to find out together on September 20, when Children of Arkham launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The second episode in Batman: The Telltale Series will also be available at a later date for the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile devices.
Final Fantasy XV’s TGS 2016 trailer reveals a bit more about the game’s story
Square Enix is pushing Final Fantasy XV hard as a story of brotherhood and legacy, and both of these themes are present in a brand new Tokyo Game Show trailer, which was released late last night. Focusing heavily on the game’s story, the new trailer also spends quite a bit of time on the game’s characters, including Cid the Mechanic, Luna the Oracle, and the villainous Ardyn Izunia.
After more than a decade in development, Final Fantasy XV will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on November 29.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV, TGS 2016