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
Final Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC pack, Reckoning, will be available next week
Activision and Sledgehammer Games have announced the fourth and final downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the Reckoning Pack, will be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on August 4.
I’m sure you know the drill by now. The Reckoning Pack will be available for free to everyone who has previously purchased the Season Pass. A standalone download will also be available for $14.99 through the Xbox Games Store. For their investment, players will receive access to four new multiplayer maps and the concluding chapter of the Exo Zombies co-op campaign:
- Overload: Enjoy the grand view of downtown New Baghdad from this exotic compound, complete with fountains, gardens and decorative plasma lamps. The map’s multiple levels and long perimeter site-lines highlight medium to long-range combat, and firing a shot at the lamps will send enemies flying in a burst of energy.
- Quarantine: Following a deadly viral outbreak, the island has been converted into a biological testing center. This medium sized map’s tight corners dial up the speed and open areas combine to allow for any style of gameplay. Activate the map-based scorestreak to unleash a devastating ship-fired missile strike.
- Fracture: Discover what secrets are locked in the ice in this arctic excavation site. Take refuge behind wind turbines and heavy equipment through large combat areas cradled on the shelf of a glacier. Stay alert as the timed event cracks the ice sheet, sending one lane sinking to the depths.
- Swarm: Reconstruction is underway in Seoul, South Korea, congesting narrow corridors of this small to medium sized map with vehicles and equipment. Take position in war-scarred storefronts that provide plenty of cover over the streets or flank the enemy through close quarter interiors in the center of the map.
And in the final episode of Exo Zombies, “Descent,” John Malkovich’s Oz will rise from the dead to do battle with Bill Paxton, Bruce Campbell, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal during their escape from the Atlas aircraft carrier.
PC, PS3, and PS4 players will likely be able to get their hands on the Reckoning Pack in early September.
Nintendo details Splatoon’s big August update
Nintendo has been talking about Splatoon‘s big August update since before the game’s May 29 launch. Today, they finally detailed exactly what’ll be included in the update (see below) and when it’ll be available (August 5).
Most importantly, the update will include two brand new matchmaking modes: Squad Battle and Private Battle. In Squad Battle, players can join up with their friends in all of Splatoon’s Ranked Battle modes. These two-to-four player Squads will then be randomly matched against other Squads. Private Battle is, as the name implies, a private battle between friends. Two-to-eight players can join up to battle it out on any map, in any game mode, and with any combination of players (1v1, 4v4, 4v1, 3v2, etc).
The August update will also add two new weapon types to the game for those looking for a fresh style of play. The Slosher is a grenade launcher-like weapon that will allow players to “hurl ink straight ahead at an impressive range” with a bucket. If you’d rather go “Full Arnold,” the Gatling-like Splatling can produce short blasts of “all-powerful ink” when its fully charged.
Finally, Nintendo will add more than 40 pieces of Gear to the shops in Arowana Mall and raise the level cap in both Regular Battle and Ranked Battle. Players can now reach Level 50 (raised from Level 20) in Regular Battle and S or S+ (both higher than A+) in Ranked Battle.
In case you missed it, Nintendo is still adding content to Splatoon ahead of the August update. This weekend saw the release of the Camp Triggerfish map and a pair of new weapons (E-Liter 3K Scope and Neo Splash-O-Matic). Not only that, but additional maps, weapons, and at least one new game mode (Rainmaker Ranked Battle) will be added to the game throughout the Fall.
Pre-order WWE 2K16 to play as The Terminator
Just days after confirming (via IGN) that Hulk Hogan won’t be part of WWE 2K16, 2K Games has announced that two versions of The Terminator will be included as a bonus for those who pre-order the game. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was actually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, will return to voice the T-800 in two different incarnations: 1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
“I’ve achieved many things in my life, but I’ve always said success means staying hungry and pushing the limits,” said Schwarzenegger. “I was honored to join the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year, and now I’ll continue my WWE legacy with one of my biggest film roles immortalized in WWE 2K16. Match the Terminator against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Seth Rollins, or Daniel Bryan, and there’s only one possible outcome: Hasta la vista, baby!”
You can watch Arnold and a variety of WWE wrestlers recreate the iconic opening scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the trailer above.
WWE 2K16 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 27.
Mortal Kombat X was the best-selling game in the first half of 2015
Fortune has scoured the last six months of data from The NPD Group to assemble a definitive list of the best-selling games from the first half of the year.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly when you realize just how few games have been released this year, NetheRealm’s Mortal Kombat X took the top spot. The latest game in the long-running series paved the way for WB Games’s complete domination of the sales chart. The publisher secured four spots in the half-year top ten including Batman: Arkham Knight (#6), Dying Light (#7), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#9). Arkham Knight’s appearance on the list is even more impressive as it was released in the last week of June.
Among the holdovers, Grand Theft Auto V (#2), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), and Minecraft (#5) all broke into the top five. It’s likely that all three will stick around for the year-end list as well.
The complete top ten list can be found right here:
Bestselling Games in the First Half of 2015
1. Mortal Kombat X
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Battlefield Hardline
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Minecraft
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
7. Dying Light
8. NBA 2K15
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
10. Super Smash Bros. For 3DS / Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield Hardline, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dying Light, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K15, NPD, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Weekly Warp-Up: Can You Escape From the Man-Sized Cabinet?
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…
The Summer of 2015 continues its rather lazy trajectory and so little is happening in the game industry right now that an out-of-work comedian was able to capture our attention all week with the released of a browser-based text adventure. Of course, this out-of-work comedian is none other than Stephen Colbert and his “Colbert Nation” is dedicated in ways that few fandoms are. So play a few rounds of Escape From the Man-Sized Cabinet this weekend and watch out for the monster with a bear trap for a head.
Also this week, Bethesda reminded the public they’ll be selecting names for a Doom Alpha Test soon. And Nintendo UK unveiled a Super Mario Maker Limited Edition that’ll include a 30th Aniiversary Mario Amiibo.
More news from this week (including a Hideo Kojima conspiracy theory and Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s release date) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Lost Dimension, Legend of Kay, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend Vita
We say goodbye to July 2015 with a trio of new retail releases this week…
- Lost Dimension is the latest tactical RPG from Atlus. Set to be released for the PS3 and Vita, Lost Dimension asks players to join the ranks of SEALED, “eleven psychics with superhuman abilities,” who are doing battle with The End. But watch out, at least one of those psychics is a traitor!
- Legend of Kay Anniversary resurrects the ten-year-old PS2 game for a new generation of players on the PS4 and Wii U. This new version of the game has received a graphical makeover, but the cat is still kung fu fighting.
- Finally this week, Arc System Works’s latest fighting game, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend, will be released for the Vita.
That’s it for retail releases, but a handful of additional games will be available throughout the week on the digital storefronts from Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Steam.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U
Tagged BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Legend of Kay Anniversary
DJ Khaled, DJ Premier, and DJ Mustard hand-picked the 50-song NBA 2K16 soundtrack
The NBA 2K franchise is well known for its expansive soundtracks, and this Fall’s NBA 2K16 will be no exception. Sporting the largest soundtrack ever included in the series, 2K Games has recruited famed producers DJ Khaled, DJ Premier, and DJ Mustard to curate a 50-song soundtrack for the game. Split into five distinct playlists, each artist also created two tracks that’ll be available only in the game.
You can listen to the entire playlist (minus the exclusive tracks) on Spotify right now, or you can find all 50 songs after the break.
NBA 2K16 will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 29 (more…)
Atlus will release HD remaster of Odin Sphere in North America too
Atlus has confirmed that the high definition remaster of Odin Sphere, announced earlier this week for Japan, will also be released in North America. Developed by Vanillaware, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir will be available on store shelves and through the PlayStation Store for the PS4, PS3, and Vita sometime in 2016.
In case you missed it earlier, Leifthrasir will include enhanced HD graphics alongside a few other additions, such as “expanded worlds with new monsters, fully voiced story scenes, and a fine-tuned refreshing combat and RPG system.”
The debut trailer for Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, but its exactly the same as the Japanese announcement trailer. The only difference is a closing card that shows the North American release window at the end.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Odin Sphere