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: PC
ESRB Rating Summary for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard revealed… and then removed
For a brief window of time this morning, the Rating Summary for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard could be found on the ESRB’s website. It’s offline now, but the short paragraph did reveal a bit more information about the mysterious game, which Capcom is keeping tightly under wraps.
According to the Rating Summary, Resident Evil 7 will star Ethan, “a man searching for his missing wife.” We first heard Ethan’s name during the recently released Gamescom trailer, and it looks like the character will be knee deep in the dead during his quest:
This is a survival-horror game in which players assume the role of Ethan, a man searching for his missing wife in a derelict mansion. Combat is accompanied by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, and exaggerated blood-splatter effects. As players progress through the story, cutscenes can depict instances of gore and intense acts of violence: a character’s arm dismembered by a chainsaw; a man’s leg taken off at the knee with a shovel; a character impaled through the face with a shovel. Some areas also depict mutilated corpses with exposed organs/viscera. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” are heard in the dialogue.
While this certainly sounds like the Resident Evil we all know and love, Capcom hasn’t even hinted at the level of intense combat that’s supposedly contained within the game. At the very least, fans of Resident Evil 4 should be happy.
But we’ll all find out together when Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on January 24, 2017.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Closed Beta for The Behemoth’s Pit People will begin on September 8
Behold! The Behemoth has unveiled a brand new trailer for Pit People, and just like the game, it’s narrated by the mellifluous Will Stamper.
Have you soaked it all in? I hope so, because you might also be interested to learn that Pit People’s Closed Beta will begin on September 8. Xbox One players will get a full week, until September 15, to test out The Behemoth’s somewhat bizarre strategy game. A second Closed Beta, this one for PC players, will held at a later date.
And don’t worry, if you haven’t registered for a chance to join the Closed Beta, there’s still time. Head over to the PitPeople.com/beta and sign up today.
Pit People will be released for the PC and Xbox One before the end of the year.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Pit People
Experience the end of the Zombies saga with CoD: Black Ops III’s Salvation DLC Pack
This is it… Treyarch’s Zombies saga, which began in Call of Duty: World At War, comes to and end in “Revelation.” The final episode in the Call of Duty franchise’s popular co-operative multiplayer mode will be included in Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Salvation DLC Pack, which will be available to download for the PS4 on September 6:
In “Revelations,” we meet up with the Origins characters after they’ve taken an epic journey through space and time – all of their struggles lead to this very moment. In this, the final chapter of the Zombies experience, Richtofen, Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai finally come face to face with the mysterious Doctor Monty in The House. Confronted by an ancient evil, our heroes must fight the zombie horde once more in the final battle to save their immortal souls.
“With the release of Zombies as an Easter Egg in 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War, Treyarch set forth on a journey – or, really a conversation – with fans, and Revelations is the final punctuation mark,” said Jason Blundell, Treyarch’s Director of Zombies. “The secrets we laid out years ago will finally make sense – we’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
The Salvation DLC Pack will also include two brand new multiplayer maps and two remade maps:
- Citadel: Once home to a powerful medieval army, this ancient castle now sits broken and abandoned. Tight corners force close-quarters engagements, while the moat and drawbridge allows for unique player movement opportunities in this mid-sized map. The last trespassers didn’t make it out alive – maybe you’ll have a better shot.
- Micro: What’s better than a BBQ on a hot summer day? A miniaturized war zone that takes place on a well-stocked family picnic table, that’s what! Navigate this bite-size battlefield for a larger-than-life experience.
- Outlaw: Gear up for a showdown in Outlaw; a western-style re-imagining of the fan favorite map Standoff from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. This rough-and-tough medium-sized map brings classic engagements, flanking routes and strategic positions for long and medium ranged combat.
- Rupture: The Call of Duty: World at War classic Outskirts is re-imagined as a high-tech facility, designed by a futuristic society desperate to repair the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Salvation DLC Pack will be available as a free download for owners of the Black Ops III Season Pass, but it will also be available as a standalone download for $15. And don’t worry, Treyarch will likely make the expansion available to PC and Xbox One owners sometime in early October.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Mighty No. 9 Review: Mega Meh
When I was eight years old, there was only one place I wanted to go after school on Fridays: Gas City. Yes, a gas station. Not that I enjoyed the place or anything… rather, it was what was inside the station that intrigued me. See, back in the 80s, movie and game rental stores were everywhere. Pizza places had their own rental corner, grocery stores had theirs, and yes, even gas stations. The reason I kept going back to Gas City was because they had one game that no other rental store had: Mega Man. I remembered the exhilaration of staying up all night playing the game, and the sadness of having to return it on Sunday. I was never able to find the game for sale, so renting it was my only means of playing it.
I also distinctly remember having a meltdown once at the Record Town in the mall. My birthday had just passed, and my grandma gave me a check. To a small child, that was all the cash in the world. I was at the mall with my family, and we stopped so my dad could look at cassettes. But behind the clerk’s counter, stacked up to the ceiling, were Nintendo games for sale. I remember just staring at the games until one caught my eye: Mega Man 2. I had to have that game, and with a fresh $20 check in my pocket, my young mind figured that was all I needed. My mom had to break the news to me that I couldn’t just hand the check over to the cashier and get the game. Oh man, did I lose it. Here I was, about to own one of the greatest NES games ever made, only to be shot down by something as meaningless as financial insolvency? That did not sit well. Luckily, my mom took me out to cool off while my dad got it as a Christmas present, so all was not lost.
Point being, I’ve been a diehard Mega Man fan for as long as I can remember. Thus, when I heard that the Blue Bomber’s creator, Keiji Inafune, was making a spiritual successor to the franchise that I adore so much, I felt like a kid again. I could not wait until I was able to get my hands on another game, even if it was just Mega Man-ish. With the exception of Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10, Capcom has been mind-baffling stingy with releasing proper titles for this game. So even though I wasn’t getting an actual Capcom game, I was happy enough to get something similar. Unfortunately, Mighty No. 9 is not the robot I was looking for. (more…)
Square Enix will bring a lot of Final Fantasy, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, more to PAX West 2016
Square Enix loves PAX West and the Japanese megapublisher will once again have a major presence at the Seattle-based convention.
The publisher’s booth will include a dozen demos, including some of this Fall’s biggest releases (Dragon Quest Builders, Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, and World of Final Fantasy). Square Enix also plans to demo 2017’s biggest re-release, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.
But if you want to get up close and personal with your favorite developers, a series of panels from the publisher will give you your chance. Friday will focus on Deus Ex Go and Final Fantasy XV, while Saturday’s presentations will dive deep into Final Fantasy XV, World of Final Fantasy, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
A complete look at all of Square Enix’s demos and panels can be found after the break. And don’t forget, the 2016 PAX West expo will kick off on Friday, September 2. (more…)
Allison Road gets un-canceled by developer Christian Kesler
Allison Road, a first-person horror game partly inspired by Hideo Kojima’s PT/Silent Hills, was canceled under mysterious circumstances by developer Lilith and publisher Team17 back in June. However, yesterday, project lead Christian Kesler told IGN that the game is back in development… though it might be a very long time before we see the finished product.
Part of the reason for Allison Road’s under-the-radar return is that Kesler has decided to continue working on the game by himself:
“For our gameplay trailer, I did all the modeling, texturing, shaders, lighting, etc., and thankfully a lot of the mechanics are already implemented from the previous development phase, so I can comfortably take the game forward by myself,” Kesler told IGN. “If and when it comes to a point where new features and mechanics are required, or old ones need changing, I’ll go look for support.”
Kesler explained that his desire to resurrect Allison Road partially came about after an extended break and a reevaluation of the game’s progress so far:
“It did take a bit of soul searching to find the drive again to work on Allison Road and to simply make a call on what to do next,” Kesler told IGN. “After the set back, I took a bit of a break from working on it and re-evaluated all the work that had been done so far — the whole journey, so to speak. I started making a few (in my opinion) necessary changes to the story and the flow, little bits and pieces here and there, and before I knew it, it sort of naturally came back to life.”
Allison Road is currently in development for the PC and will be released as soon as Kesler can finish it (which, again, likely won’t be anytime soon).
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Allison Road
Almost three years after its release, GTA5 was NPD’s best-selling game in July 2016
With a sweltering Summer in full swing, game publishers mostly skipped the month of July. And nowhere is this more evident than the monthly NPD ranking of best-selling games, which was topped by Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, a game that was originally released almost three years ago. The only new release to crack the top ten in July was Capcom’s Monster Hunter Generations, which claimed the #4 spot.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD analyst Sam Naji said: “Lack of strong new titles for the month resulted with poor comparison with last July’s Batman: Arkham Knight with consumers spending 14 percent less year-on-year on hardware, software and accessories. However, the release of Monster Hunter: Generations and the price drop for the 2DS helped to bolster spending for 3DS and 2DS hardware by 44%”
While brand new titles were a rare sight in the NPD’s July 2016 top ten, new-ish titles like Overwatch (#2), Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (#3), and Doom (#8) continue to be popular with shoppers.
The NPD Group continued their foray into tracking sales of digital downloads last month, though Capcom, Mojang, Bethesda, and Blizzard (for Battle.net sales) chose not to participate.
A full look at July 2016’s best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Snowcastle will launch Earthlock: Festival of Magic on Xbox One for free through Games With Gold and PC on September 1
Snowcastle Games has announced that their turn-based RPG, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, will be available to download for the PC and Xbox One on September 1. But best of all, Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to get the game for free next month through the Games With Gold program.
If you’re unfamiliar with Earthlock: Festival of Magic, head to Xbox Wire to learn more about the game’s Norse inspirations:
This westernized turn-based RPG, which in subtle ways reveals its Scandinavian origin, starts as a simple quest, but develops into a deeper journey. Play as Amon and join several unlikely heroes to save Umbra, a beautiful but harsh world that mysteriously stopped spinning thousands of cycles ago. Mix up your strategy to beat your enemies by crafting ammo and materials, harvesting elemental plants, and customizing your characters’ talent tree.
Earthlock: Festival of Magic is also in development for the PS4 and Wii U, and will likely be released for both platforms sometime this Fall.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Gamescom 2016