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)
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Daily Scoop: September 4, 2015 – New PSN Plus games are great!
Anthony and I downloaded the new PS+ games last night and had a blast playing them! I especially love Xeodrifter, which is outrageously difficult and fun. Check them out if you have Plus!
There are lots of amazing sales happening at the Humble Store! Hotline Miami 2 is $10.04, Tabletop Simulator is $11.99, and Starwhal is $4.07. Oh, and there’s important news: Fez is $1.99. I repeat, Fez is $1.99! You should definitely buy that game immediately.
Over at Steam, the Weekend Deal is early access to Killing Floor 2, which you can play free or buy for $19.99. If you want more, you can get the Digital Deluxe Edition for $26.66, or a six pack for $99.97. No new Daily Deal, but in the “under $10” section, I saw a favorite: Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition. You can get it for just $7.50.
There are some great shirts today! Hit the jump to check them out. (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
“Interim” patch for PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight is now available
As promised, WB Games has finally released an “interim” patch for the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight. Additional work still needs to be done to get the game up to snuff, but the patch provides major fixes and improvements to the game:
- Reduced frame rate hitches
- Optimizations for system memory and VRAM usage
- Improved performance on all GPUs (requires the latest drivers)
- More Comprehensive In-Game Settings
- Fixed low resolution texture bugs
- Fixed hitches when running on mechanical hard drives (HDD)
More patches for Batman: Arkham Knight are still in the works at developer Rocksteady. The team posted their current to-do list for the next patch, which hopefully should be available soon:
- Adding support for SLI and Crossfire
- Adding support for the latest DLC and Season Pass content
- Adding support for additional updates such as Photo Mode
- Continued improvements and bug fixing for a Windows 7-specific memory issue that occurs on configurations with 8GB of system RAM and some Nvidia GPUs during extended game play
- Continued improvements for Windows 10-specific issues on systems with some AMD GPUs
WB Games suspended sales of Arkham Knight’s PC edition just a few days after the game’s June 23 launch. As of today, the game still isn’t available for purchase through Steam or other digital storefronts. Hopefully, this latest patch works the way its supposed to and that changes in the very near future.
[Source: WB Games Community Forums]
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Here’s the first trailer for The Gamechangers, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of GTA
Embedded above is the first trailer for The Gamechangers, a made-for-TV movie that’s set to depict Rockstar’s rise and the development of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as Sam Houser, the movie will also showcase the developer’s legal battle with the dreaded, and now disbarred, Jack Thompson (played here by Bill Paxton). Scheduled to air in the UK on BBC Two on September 15, the film’s plot description seems to play a bit fast and loose with the truth:
[T]he game’s violent gameplay leads to fierce opposition: from parents worried about its impact on children; from politicians, fearful of its influence; and, above all, from campaigners fighting to prevent the game being played by minors.
At the vanguard of this crusade is the formidable Christian lawyer Jack Thompson, a man determined to do whatever he can to stop the relentless rise of the game and its influence on children. The Gamechangers tells the story of how British game designers pushed boundaries into uncharted territory, of how those fighting GTA became consumed by a battle which overwhelmed their lives, and how the subsequent fallout threatened to bring down leading players on both sides.
While I suppose that all of that is technically accurate, it gives Thompson a much bigger role than he had in the real-life tale. However, I’ve got my fingers crossed that the film ends with Harry Potter yelling “Game over, man!” at Hudson after his courtroom defeat.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Nintendo Download: Vs. Excitebike, Gunman Clive HD Collection, Mario Golf, more
A small handful of new games are now available through the Nintendo eShop as part of this week’s Nintendo Download and fans of retro games will definitely want to pay attention as most of this week’s new releases have a throwback aesthetic. Though, to be fair, some of them are just old:
- Available on the Wii U for the first time, the Gunman Clive HD Collection combines the two 3DS side-scrolling shooters into a single package of bandit, robot, and dinosaur hunting.
- Vs. Excitebike added splitscreen multiplayer to the Excitebike franchise when it originally launched on the Famicom Disk System in Japan. Never before released in the US, Vs. Excitebike is now available for the Wii U.
- Mario Golf was originally released for the Nintendo 64 and was the first Mario Golf game developed by Camelot. Fans have always loved the first game in the series and its now available to download on the Wii U.
- Finally this week, Jeff Foxworthy brings his throwback comedy to the 3DS with a portable adaptation of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Look at that… everything fits the theme this week.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
NetherRealm will add four new characters to Mortal Kombat X in 2016
Creative Director Ed Boon, and the rest of NetherRealm Studios, have been teasing a second Kombat Pack of downloadable characters for a while now. And after filling our Summer with Jason Voorhees, Tanya, The Predator, and Tremor, they’re finally making good on their promise.
Officially announced today, though still shrouded in shadow, the second Kombat Pack will include four new characters, a number of new costumes for existing characters, and a new Arena. The content will be released in the first half of 2016, though publisher WB Games didn’t say if it would appear all at once or over the course of a few months. We’ve got plenty of time to play “Guess the Silhouette” thanks to the teaser image above, but the one on the left is clearly a ninja (Rain? Smoke?) and I’d wager my soul that the one on the right is Baraka.
Mortal Kombat X was released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One back in April. Believe it or not, it’s currently the best-selling game of the year, and I’m pretty sure that WB Games is assuming some new blood will keep it selling right into 2016.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Mortal Kombat X
Daily Scoop: September 3, 2015 – Lots of shirts today!
Finally, there are a bunch of shirts again today! It took you long enough, Internet!
Humble has a brand new Weekly Bundle, and this one is all about Mergegames and Friends. Pay what you want for Zombie Kill of the Week – Reborn, Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic, Meridian: New World, and Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space. Pay $6 or more to unlock Coffin Dodgers, Victory at Sea, and Enforcer: Police Crime Action.
The Weekend Deal at Steam is Evolve. Play the game for free on Steam until 1:00 PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday, September 6. If you decide to purchase it, it’s on sale for $19.99 until September 15 for the regular version, and $24.99 for the Digital Deluxe. You can also get the Monster Race edition for $39.99. Today’s Daily Deal is Massive Chalice, which is $7.99. You can also get the game with the soundtrack for just $2 more.
Hit the jump to check out those shirts! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Capcom announces Ace Attorney 6 in Japan; US release confirmed
Unless you have an objection, Capcom has announced that Ace Attorney 6 is in development for the 3DS. The game will be playable at this year’s Tokyo Game Show and the publisher has already gone ahead and confirmed that a North American release is in the works:
You heard Wright! Ace Attorney 6 (working title), announced in Japan today, is also in development for the west!
— Ace Attorney (@aceattorneygame) September 1, 2015
Ace Attorney 6 will be the first game released in the franchise’s “main series” since Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies in 2011. However, that doesn’t mean the Ace Attorney crew has been idle all this time. A crossover game, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, was released for the 3DS last year. More recently, The Great Ace Attorney, a spinoff set in the 19th century, was released exclusively in Japan just a few weeks ago. Even though the main character hobnobs with Sherlock Holmes and helps the famous detective solve a case, an American release for The Great Ace Attorney has yet to be announced.
The 2015 Tokyo Game Show kicks off in two weeks, so expect to hear more about Ace Attorney 6 then.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice, TGS 2015
Transformers: Devastation gets pre-order bonuses, new trailer, Peter Cullen BTS video
As Summer transforms into Fall, Activision has released a ton of new information and gameplay footage about Transformers: Devastation, the Platinum-developed brawler that’ll be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 6.
Let’s start with a pair of pre-order bonus packs, which the publisher announced recently. All players who pre-order the game will receive a trio of Character Skins (Nemesis Prime, Red Alert, and Goldfire) alongside several side several powerful weapons:
- Dark Star Sabre: A fearsome sword which radiates waves of dark energy with every swing.
- Photon Disruptor: A cannon for huge damage at short range.
- Golden Hunter: Twin blaster pistols, which causes enemies to drop credits when attacked.
I have no idea if these weapons are on display in Devastation’s latest gameplay trailer, but it has been embedded above for your viewing pleasure… especially if you’re interested in the combo-heavy combat that Platinum is preparing for the game. Finally, a behind-the-scenes interview with Peter Cullen (the one-and-only voice of Optimus Prime) is available after the break. Only an unfeeling Decepticon can ignore the pride he feels for the character, even after portraying him for three decades. (more…)