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
June 2014 NPD: Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 are the top-selling titles once again
Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 once again reign supreme over the monthly sales chart as The NPD Group has confirmed the two titles were #1 and #2, respectively, in their June 2014 top-selling games report. The two games were part of a trend that included other May releases such as Minecraft (#3) and Wolfenstein: The New Order (#7).
The only June releases to crack the top ten were EA Sports UFC (#4) and Tomodachi Life (#9),
With Microsoft’s Kinect-less Xbox One hit store shelves in June, so the battle between the next-generation heated up just as the thermometer did. According to Joystiq, the PS4 once again topped the Xbox One, though all console sales more than doubled (a 106% increase, to be exact) the month of May. Ultimate, the entire industry saw a 24% increase in sales over the last month… and that includes a big jump in Wii U hardware sales too.
You can view the complete top ten chart for the month of June after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, EA Sports UFC, FIFA 14, Grand Theft Auto V, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, NPD, Tomodachi Life, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Xbox Entertainment Studios will close; Atari doc, Halo: Nightfall, Halo series will continue
William Goldman, the screenwriter of The Princess Bride, once said, “In Hollywood, no one knows anything.” Today, Microsoft is feeling that uncertainty as the software giant has announced they plan to lay off 18,000 people over the next 12 months. Over 12,000 employees in Microsoft’s Nokia division account for the vast majority of jobs affected but, according to Re/code, the company’s film production studio at Xbox Entertainment Studios will also close.
Xbox Entertainment Studios had barely gotten their original programming schedule off the ground before the closure notice came down. An app that included a comprehensive look at the Bonaroo musical festival was released in June while the studio’s first series, Every Street United, is currently airing and will conclude in August.
Some of the originally programming Microsoft had planned will continue even after the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios. First and foremost, Halo: The Television Series and the Ridley Scott-produced Halo: Nightfall be released as scheduled. And with filming already finished, the documentary examination of Atari’s New Mexican landfill, Atari: Game Over, will also be completed.
The fate of the remaining projects in the studio’s “Xbox Originals” series is unknown, though it’s likely that many will be canceled. Sony still plans to move ahead with their own original programming initiative beginning with this Winter’s Powers.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: Nightfall
InSomnia Kickstarter campaign reaches its goal a week early
Good news for Russian indie developer Studio MONO this morning, as their Kickstarter campaign for InSomnia, a self-described “Dieselpunk” RPG, surpassed its goal of $70,000 this morning, a full week ahead of schedule. “The team and I are very happy with the continued support from our backers. To reach our initial funding target at this stage is amazing and we’re now extremely excited about the possibility of reaching further stretch goals,” said lead developer Anatoliy Necrasov.
This news comes in contrast to their first Kickstarter campaign in late 2013, which raised only $5,000 towards the then-MMO version of InSomnia. The game now promises a real-time RPG experience that can be played either alone, or as a team in co-operative mode. The story takes place on a gigantic retro-futuristic space station, in a 400-year search for a new planet to house what’s left of the human race. Studio MONO is currently planning a December 2015 release for InSomnia.
Best of all, a playable tech demo of InSomnia is available on their Kickstarter page.
Go behind the scenes with 2K Australia and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
“The Making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel” is a new great documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes on what is probably my most anticipated game of this year. This is “Episode 1: To the Moon,” which talks about how the project was brought to life, and the relationship that exists between 2K Australia and Gearbox Software. It’s mostly talking, but there are some great glimpses of the game in really early form. It’s gorgeous.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be out on October 14th for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Daily Scoop: July 17, 2014 – Destiny beta
The Destiny beta begins today for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners. Well, Sony players would already be in it, if it weren’t for the PSN being down. It’s a great game from what we’ve seen so far, so I’m not surprised at the network-crashing high volume.
What else is going on today? The Humble Weekly Bundle is brand new – it’s the Simulators 2 bundle! Pay what you want for Universe Sandbox, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, and Out of the Park Baseball 14. Pay $6 or more to unlock Turbo Dismount and Tropico 4: Steam Special Edition. And finally, pay $10 or more to unlock Euro Truck Simulator 2, which includes a debut of the Fantasy Paint Jobs Pack.
There’s also a lot happening at Steam. The Daily Deal today is early access to Starpoint Gemini 2 for $16.74. The Weekend Deal is Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition for $24.99, which lasts until Monday at 10am PST. And since Quakecon started today, their special deal is Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition for $10.19.
Just one shirt today, but it’s a good one!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 4 will be available to download next week
Telltale will deliver the next episode for The Walking Dead Season 2 next week. Titled Amid the Ruins, Telltale’s Laura Perusco told the PlayStation Blog that the episode puts Clementine in a very dangerous spot:
This episode picks up right where Episode 3 left off. After escaping Carver’s camp, the group now faces immediate danger in the dead center of a walker horde. Walkers aren’t the only threat to Clem’s safety, though. The group is beginning to fracture under the pressures of survival in an unforgiving world, and as they search for new shelter, it becomes apparent that the living may be just as dangerous as the dead…
The Walking Dead Season 2: Amid the Ruins will be available to download for the PS3 and Vita on Tuesday, July 22. Xbox 360 owners will be able to play it beginning Wednesday, July 23. Finally, the episode will be available on the iOS App Store on Thursday, July 24.
As always, Amid the Ruins will be priced at $4.99 or available as a free download as part of the Season Pass.
Nintendo Download: Strike Force Foxx, Mr. Driller 2, Comic Workshop
Rounding out a strangely slow week for digital releases is Nintendo’s latest eShop update. Three games will attempt to fight for your downloadable dollar and they are:
Wii U eShop
Mr. Driller 2 – Armed with a mighty drill, dig deep through multicolored blocks until reaching safety. Not all of the blocks will be breakable, but be careful that the blocks you break don’t fall on you or cut off your air supply. How deep can you dig underground?
3DS eShop
Strike Force Foxx – Take control of Captain Raymond Foxx as you guide your Razor-One helicopter through intense missions, battling the enemy and saving your citizens. Take to the air in your helicopter in more than 35 missions to eliminate numerous obstacles, including gunmen, tanks, helicopters, planes, machine-gunning jeeps, heat-seeking missiles, gunboats and submarines.
Comic Workshop – With Comic Workshop, you will be able to easily create Comics and Manga, step by step, thanks to the various tools available. From frame’s management to text entry, everything you need to make the best creations is gathered in this software.
XBL Store Today: Magic 2015, Abyss Odyssey
Two new games are available to download through the Xbox Live Arcade today. First up is Magic 2015, Wizards of the Coast’s annual update to the digital version of their flagship card game:
Magic 2015 ($9.99)
Hunt bigger game on a bold new adventure with Magic 2015 — Duels of the Planeswalkers! Hone your skills as you battle your way across the planes of the Multiverse. Beware though, Planeswalker. Your biggest danger is one of your own… Garruk Wildspeaker, the greatest hunter known, is now hunting you! Magic 2015 is the best way to learn to play the Magic trading card game. It provides hours of game play and allows you to collect cards and build decks from that collection.
Also available today is Abyss Odyssey, a new side-scroller developed by ACE Team:
Abyss Odyssey ($10.04)
From indie Chilean developer ACE Team comes an Art Nouveau-styled, side-scrolling action adventure game featuring a complex fighting engine in procedurally generated levels that destine its three warriors to battle for an eternity. Enter the bold Katrien, the tortured specter Ghost Monk, and the ethereal Pincoya. Perform combos and chain attacks, and release a flurry of blows in order to survive what lies beneath. Your path into the unknown may start out with three fierce warriors, but when you learn to possess your enemies, you can challenge the abyss with their skills and combat abilities. Use these abilities available to you and attempt to figure out the infinite abyss. But the difficulties in accomplishing this great task don’t end there! The side-scrolling levels never play out the same way twice, from the monsters they are filled with, to the locations of life-saving merchants, or the unique encounters and treasures to be found.