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
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Articles
Prepare yourself for Destiny: The Taken King with this Cinematic Trailer
The launch of Bungie’s Destiny: The Taken King is exactly one week away, so Activision has released a new Cinematic Trailer to get players up to speed on the expansion’s story. The Taken King, Destiny’s third major expansion after The Dark Below and House of Wolves, serves as the finale to “Year One” of Destiny. Hoping to rule the galaxy as father and son, Oryx is none too happy about the death of Crota, the main baddie from Destiny:
Oryx is here. He’s hellbent on revenge, and he’s brought an army of Taken with him. Infiltrate his fortress, fight through his army, and Face The Taken King.
I’m not too well-versed in Destiny’s lore, but it all looks very Star Wars-y to me. Destiny: The Taken King will be available for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 on September 15.
Video Game Release Calendar Changelog: September 2015 Update
Don’t Forget! This is just a changelog of recently announced release dates. Warp Zoned’s complete Video Game Release Calendar includes every title we could find that’s scheduled for release in 2015, 2016, 2017, or beyond.
We have officially turned the calendar over to September and that means the Fall gaming rush is right around the corner. Thankfully, that means a number of publishers have nailed down final release dates for many of their major releases. Nintendo has been especially busy filling in their monthly planner, announcing release dates for Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (October 22), The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (October 23), Yo-Kai Watch (November 6), Star Fox Zero (November 20), and Devil’s Third (December 11).
Looking beyond the end of the year, 2016’s Winter/Spring period is also filling up fast including a launch date for Lego Avengers in January (January 26) and a bevy of titles in February (XCOM 2 on February 5, Battleborn on February 9, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on February 23). A few weeks later, Nathan Drake makes his PS4 debut in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End on March 18. Microsoft has also staked a Spring claim with the release of Quantum Break on April 5.
Finally, we circle back around to Nintendo with the announcement of an official launch window (“Spring 2016”) for the Wii U version of Pokken Tournament. We all knew it was happening, so I’m not sure what took them so long.
Even more new release dates from this edition of the Video Game Release Calendar Changelog can be found after the break. (more…)
Shigeru Miyamoto says Pikmin 4 is “very close to completion”
Nintendo (more specifically, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto) first revealed the existence of Pikmin 4 nearly a year ago during a Shareholders Q&A. Since then, the publisher has remained tight-lipped about the Wii U sequel, preferring to focus on this Fall’s major releases like Super Mario Maker, Star Fox Zero, and Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Today, the prolific developer returned with another Pikmin proclamation, this time revealing that development on the game is almost finished. “It’s actually very close to completion,” Miyamoto told Eurogamer. “Pikmin teams are always working on the next one.” Miyamoto’s claim was later substantiated by Nintendo in a separate statement.
Presumably, a splashy official announcement for Pikmin 4 will happen very soon.
Tetsuya Nomura says that development on Kingdom Hearts III’s “basic systems” is done
Kingdom Hearts III was officially announced more than two years ago and it doesn’t feel like it’s any closer to release now than it was then. However, Director Tetsuya Nomura recently sat down with Games Radar and revealed that the “basic systems” of the game are complete:
“For the most part we’ve established the ground foundations, like the basic systems and mechanics of what’s going to go in the game. Development of that is pretty much close to complete.
But don’t rush out to your favorite game store just yet, Nomura also said that creating the fine details of the game (environments, minigames, and other smaller items) will still take a considerable amount of time:
“But of course, since this is an HD title, it’s now building the resources, and development of the ‘mass’ elements of it, like mass production of the areas and the actual things that are going into the game. Other elements, including the mini-games and other various smaller items; their progress is very varied… some of them are polished and very close to final state, but at the same time some elements are still in the planning phases and I haven’t laid out the groundwork yet. But the basic structure of what’s going to go in the game is set, it’s now a matter of mass production of the different elements.”
Kingdom Hearts III is in development for the PS4 and Xbox One… and it’ll likely be a very long time before we get to play it.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Kingdom Hearts III
Weekly Warp-Up: Countdown to Fall 2015 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’s coming. The Fall gaming rush is almost upon (or already is, depending upon your game of choice) and the old Weekly Warp-Up things is definitely about to pick up. But first, we’ve got a little housekeeping to get done, including an overview of The Games of September 2015. The Warp Zoned staff also got together to talk about What We Played in August 2015 and it was a hoot. Also, I promise I’ll try to stop saying “hoot.”
Also this week, we sat down with Bendik Stang of Snowcastle Games and talked to him about Earthlock: Festival of Magic. The turn-based RPG should be available this Fall and Stang is incredibly excited about its impending release.
For even more reasons to be excited about gaming this Fall, I recommend you read the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Super Mario Maker, Tearaway Unfolded, Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX, More
Nintendo is finally ready to let fans unleash their inner Miyamoto this week with the release of Super Mario Maker for the Wii U. The course creator will let players design and upload a neverending stream of Mario levels, along with being able to play the dozens of courses already on the disc. Players will even have the ability to bring characters like Link and Samus Aran into a Mario game for the first time through an Amiibo tap or by unlocking the character through the Challenge Mode. Super Mario Maker may be the last video game we ever need.
However, if the idea of Super Mario Maker as the last video game you’ll ever play isn’t appealing, there are a few other new releases this week. Chief among them is Tearaway Unfolded, Media Molecule’s PS4 adaptation of their puzzle platformer, which was originally released for the Vita in 2013. Players can jump back into Atoi’s papercraft world to solve puzzles using the unique features of the DualShock 4 such as illuminating a dark room with the Light Bar or whipping up a windy storm with the controller’s built-in motion sensor.
Finally this week, we have a pair of brand new 3DS games… Sega plans to release Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, an idol/maker/rhythm game, for the handheld. Meanwhile, Jeff Foxworthy will host another interactive adaptation of his game show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
CoD: Advanced Warfare’s Reckoning Pack is now available on the PC, PS3, PS4
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare owners on the PC, PS3, and PS4 will finally get their chance to try out the game’s final downloadable expansion as the Reckoning Pack is now available on non-Xbox platforms. With the Reckoning Pack, Activision and Sledgehammer Games added four more competitive multiplayer maps to Advanced Warfare:
- 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.
The Reckoning Pack also includes “Descent,” the final chapter in the Exo Zombies co-op campaign. John Malkovich’s Oz has risen from the dead to do battle with Bill Paxton, Bruce Campbell, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal as they escape from the Atlas aircraft carrier.
This is the last time PlayStation players will be forced to wait for their Call of Duty add-ons. Beginning this Fall, PS4 and PS3 players will receive access to every downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops III a month earlier than their Xbox counterparts.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Xbox Store Today: Evolve Free Weekend, Rugby World Cup 2015, Super Toy Cars, more
Evolve didn’t quite land with the blockbuster boom that Turtle Rock had hoped for, but it has sold almost three million copies and a lot of people seem to enjoy it. Publisher 2K Games is hoping to increase that number this weekend with a special “Free Weekend” promotion for the game, which kicks off today at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time), on the Xbox One and PC. Best of all, players will get the chance to battle alien monsters for an extra day as the promotion doesn’t end until Tuesday, September 8 at 3:00 AM.
If you enjoy your time with Evolve, you might also like to know that it’ll receive a temporary price drop next week as part of Microsoft’s Deals With Gold.
Elsewhere on the Xbox Games Store today, owners of Microsoft’s consoles will get the chance to dive into a scrum in Rugby World Cup 2015 on the Xbox One or Xbox 360. Also available on the Xbox 360 is an overhead shooter from Moss known as strong>Caladrius.
And if you’re looking for Xbox One exclusives, today marks the release of Super Toy Cars, a “tabletop arcade combat racing game” featuring penny racers; Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse, a murder mystery set within a Paris gallery; Quest of Dungeons, a procedurally-generated turn-based roguelike; and Nightmares From the Deep: The Cursed Heart, a “classic adventure game” about undying love.
More information about all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)