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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Sunset Overdrive gets Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines add-on and a price drop today
Microsoft and Insomniac Games released Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines, the second downloadable expansion for Sunset Overdrive, today. Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines is included as a free download as part of the Sunset Overdrive Season Pass. It can also be purchased separately for $9.99.
According to the Xbox Wire, Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines will depict the final round of a fight that’s been raging for “billions of years,” Man vs Machine:
Enter Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines – the savage battle that’s been raging on for billions of years enters its latest bout. A rescue mission to save Sam’s old mentors from the Fizzco Robotics Factory quickly turns into an all-out assault to counter-hack and dismantle Fizzco defenses. Don’t worry. For you, hacking equates to pulling triggers and laying waste to a bevy of upgraded Fizzco bots. Everyone has their strengths! So, face off against the avaricious Fizzco. One. Last. Time. Well, maybe. It depends on sales and market research, etc. You know the drill.
In addition to new Story Missions, the expansion will also add a new 200-point Achievement: “Worst Job in the Kingdom.” To complete the Achievement, players will have to complete the “Floating Garbage” mission within par time (15 minutes). Other additions to the game include two weapons, two Amps, and two traps, as well as a new Night Defense Base, a new boss, and more Vanity Items, Quests, Challenges, and Chaos Squad Missions.
Finally, if you haven’t picked up Sunset Overdrive yet, it’s also getting a permanent price drop on the Xbox Games Store today. Instead of $59.99, prospective players will only have to pay $39.99 from now on to tangle with the game’s wide array of mutants and monsters.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Sunset Overdrive
4/1: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth IS coming to New 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One
I hate April Fool’s Day… I have no idea if this is real or just a joke. Nicalis sent out an absolutely deranged “press release” this morning, that quite honestly, scares me a little. According to the handwritten note (which is overly concerned with clenched anuses), the developer will bring The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth to the New 3DS XL (not the original 3DS or the 2DS), Wii U, and Xbox One in May. but I suppose that doesn’t mean it can’t be real.
For a while now, it was assumed that Nintendo’s content restrictions would prevent The Binding of Isaac from ever launching on the 3DS or Wii U. However, a post on the official Binding of Isaac blog from creator Edmund McMillen lists a number of increasingly absurd required to make it acceptable to Nintendo’s Standards and Practices department.
Is that part of the announcement a joke and the game really is coming to the New 3DS XL, Wii U, and Xbox One in May? Or is the whole thing just a big gag? I don’t know? Do you?
I repeat, I hate April Fool’s Day.
UPDATE: It’s no joke! Creator Edmund McMillen has confirmed (via Twitter) that The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is indeed coming to the New 3DS XL, Wii U, and Xbox One “soonish.” A spokesman from Nicalis added (also via Twitter) that the game will be uncensored on all platforms, contrary to the claims made in McMillen’s April Fool’s Day post.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
4/1: Sony is NOT creating a “PlayStation Flow” underwater VR device
With all the crazy virtual reality rigs that actually exist (such as the Birdly flight simulator), it’s possible that someone is working on an underwater VR experience. However, that someone is definitely not Sony (as reported by the PlayStation Blog Europe).
But if they were to create it, the PlayStation Flow is probably exactly what it would look like. When players reach a swimming section in any game (say, The Last of Us Remastered, for example), Sony wants them to sync their PlayStation Flow with their PS4 and head for the nearest pool. After putting on the Flow goggles and several body sensors, you dive in and dive right back into the game with your swimming movements translated to in-game actions. Even knowing that this is an April Fool’s prank, I’m still pretty convinced that someone is actually working on it. However, the PlayStation Flow Body Dryer, which uses “ionizing technology to dry you within seconds” is more than a little absurd.
As goofy as the PlayStation Flow is, I loved the tiny little details hidden within the video, including the name of the presenter. Ariel Ingannare, is supposedly the Wearable Tech Manager at PlayStation Wearable Entertainment Technology (P-WET), which is amusing enough on its own. But then you take apart her name. “Ariel” is, of course, the Little Mermaid, and “Ingannare” is Italian for “fool.”
Well played, Sony.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us
PS Store Today: Axiom Verge, MLB 15: The Show, RBI Baseball 15, more
It’s another big week for the PlayStation Store as Sony’s Spring Fever promotion continues to roll on with Axiom Verge, a “Metroidvania” that was created by a single developer (Tom Happ) over the course of the last five years.
The side-scrolling adventure game is joined this week by a pair of baseball games: Sony’s more modern MLB 15: The Show (PS4, PS4, Vita) and MLB Advanced Media’s retro-styled RBI Baseball 15 (PS4).
Also available today is Toukiden: Kiwami, a new monster-hunting game for the PS4 and Vita. It’s developed by Omega Force (the Dynasty Warriors people) and it’s published by Koei Tecmo. Toukiden: Kiwami is actually an enhanced re-release of Toukiden: The Age of Demons, which was released for the Vita last year.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And, as always, a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge, MLB 15: The Show, RBI Baseball 2015, Toukiden: Kiwami
Daily Scoop: March 31, 2015 – Last day of March
Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day, when you cannot trust a single thing on the Internet. I can’t wait to avoid it all day long!
The Humble Indie Bundle 14 is brand new over at Humble! Pay what you want for Pixel Piracy, UnEpic, and Super Splatters. Beat the average to unlock Outlast, Torchlight II, and La-Mulana. Pay $10 or more to unlock Shadow Warrior Special Edition. And finally, pay $40 or more to get the Travelin’ Pack, which includes a t-shirt, a custom patch, and a handkerchief.
Over at Steam, the Midweek Madness is indie darling Octodad: Dadliest Catch. For just $4.94, you can get the game, or you can pay $6.59 for the game and soundtrack. The Daily Deal is early access to Gang Beasts. If you’re into local multiplayer, this is a steal for $13.39.
Again, there are just a few shirts today. But they’re good ones! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Google adds playable Pac-Man Street View to Google Maps
Google loves April Fool’s Day. But I think today’s early April Fool’s prank even tops the time Google Maps added a Dragon Warrior-inspired Quest Filter.
Going to Google Maps today (and for “a little while” longer) will give users the option to load up a playable Pac-Man Street View. Not every street can be transformed into a Pac-Man playground, but once you find one that does, you can duck down boulevards and avenues to collect dots while avoiding the ghosts on real streets. Here’s Times Square, that’s a good one to start with. Other locales recommended by Google include the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Niagara Falls, the Batu Caves of Kuala Lumpur, and a few others.
The streets around the Bandai Namco offices in the the Shinagawa neighborhood of Tokyo, better known as the birthplace of Pac-Man, also work quite well.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China will launch April 21; India and Russia will follow in Fall
Ubisoft has announced the Climax Studios-developed Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, a side-scrolling spinoff in the Assassin’s Creed series, will be released on April 21. Now only that, but Ubisoft also plans to release two additional Chronicles games. Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia will both be released by this Fall.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China will star Shao Jun, who was first seen in the Assassin’s Creed: Embers short film, as she fights for vengeance in her homeland. For Chronicles: China, Ubisoft and Climax will use Chinese brush paintings as the basis for the game’s look. In fact, each entry in the Chronicles trilogy will feature its own unique art style that evokes it’s setting.
The artistic signature of Chronicles: India will be based on the bright colors that bathe India during the Holi celebration. The game will star Arbaaz Mir, who must steal a mysterious item from a Master Templar. Mir previously appeared in the Assassin’s Creed: Brahman graphic novel.
Finally, Chronicles: Russia will take place just after the Russian Revolution, basing its look on the propaganda posters that were common in the USSR. Nikolai Orelov (of Assassin’s Creed: The Fall and The Chain) has been asked to break into the tsar’s palace, where he eventually crosses paths with Anastasia.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One by itself (priced at $9.99) or as part of the Assassin’s Creed: Unity Season Pass. Future Chronicles installments will be sold separately. An in-depth overview of Chronicles: China can be found at the UbiBlog. Ubisoft’s official site also has an early look at Chronicles: India and Chronicles: Russia.