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
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: PC
Superhot Review: A Puzzle-Shooter That Deserves All the Time in the World
“Time Moves Only When You Move.”
The developers behind Superhot know exactly what their minimalist first-person shooter is all about, and this succinct summation of the game’s hook is the perfect way to describe it to anyone unfamiliar with the game. It also tells prospective players that Superhot isn’t just a fast-paced arcade shooter (though it can be). Instead, it’s a deliberately-paced puzzle game where methodically figuring out the correct series of actions to complete each level is the only way to move forward. Even if you’ve never played a first person shooter before, it’s possible to pick up Superhot and understand what the game’s devilish AI has in store for you. (more…)
Capcom reveals more details about Street Fighter V’s Story Expansion
It’s fair to say that fans didn’t know what to expect when Street Fighter V launched as a relatively bare-bones package back in February. New entries in the fighting game franchise are typically quite larger, but Capcom decided to follow Nintendo’s lead with Splatoon and slowly build up Street Fighter V’s feature set over the next year. Today, we got our first look at one of the game’s biggest upcoming additions… the Cinematic Story Expansion.
In addition to a batch of new screenshots, here’s what the publisher had to say about the story, which actually takes place between Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter III, over on the Capcom-Unity blog:
The Street Fighter V Cinematic Story Expansion, “A Shadow Falls,” depicts the ultimate battle between the evil Shadaloo organization and the heroic World Warriors who rise up against them. Seven “Black Moons” are deployed by Shadaloo, granting M. Bison unimaginable power and enveloping the earth in total darkness. Seeing the moons mysteriously appear in the sky, Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li embark on an epic journey around the world to retrieve fragment pieces that are the key to stopping the “Black Moons” before it’s too late. Along the way, they encounter the rest of the World Warriors, each of whom have their own agendas and motivations in mind. The final battle between good and evil begins now… who will RISE UP?
Capcom also said the Cinematic Story Expansion will include a free preview of Balrog, Urien, and Juri. The publisher is currently in the process of polishing and balancing all three characters, and “tournament ready” versions will be added to Street Fighter V later this year.
Finally, Capcom announced that the Zenny “Real Money” Shop will no longer be added to Street Fighter V. Instead, players will be able to purchase characters, stages, and costumes with real money using the already-available PlayStation Store or the Steam Store. Unlocking in-game items through Fight Money credits earned through gameplay will remain unchanged.
Street Fighter V’s Cinematic Story Expansion will be available by the end of the month.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Ubisoft officially unveils Watch Dogs 2 with a new trailer and November 15 release date
Hack the Planet! Hack the Planet!
I’m getting a distinctly Hackers vibe from Watch Dogs 2, which was officially announced by Ubisoft this morning. Hackers is a tad ridiculous, but its concept of “hackers as superheroes” clearly lives on in Watch Dogs 2. The second game in the series is heading for the coast, and Ubisoft has confirmed that Watch Dogs 2 will take place in San Francisco. It’s new location also paves the way for a new main character, Marcus Holloway, though players won’t just be limited to “The City by the Bay.” They’ll also be able to explore the surrounding area including Oakland, Marin County, and (of course) Silicon Valley.:
Players will explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0’s predictive algorithms and is accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus’ quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess, to trigger unpredictable chains of events. With the ability to take control of drones, cars, cranes, security robots and much more at their disposal, players can choose whether to use stealth hacking to complete missions without killing a single enemy or go guns blazing for a more ferocious approach.
Prospective players won’t have to wait long to try out Watch Dogs 2… it’ll be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 15. As part of their big marketing push, Ubisoft will release Watch Dogs 2 in three different versions including a Deluxe Edition (the game plus a Deluxe Pack of in-game customization items), a Gold Edition (everything in the Deluxe Edition plus the Season Pass), and a Collector’s Edition which includes a Wrench Junior robot that’s controllable through a mobile app. Everyone who pre-order Watch Dogs 2 will receive the exclusive “Zodiac Killer” bonus mission.
But in the more immediate future, Ubisoft plans to bring Watch Dogs 2 to next week’s E3 Expo in a big way, starting with an informative dive into the game’s new features on the UbiBlog and a “World Premiere” livestream, which has been embedded after the break. (more…)
Here’s an E3 2016 trailer for Yooka-Laylee… but Playtonic pushed it back to Early 2017
Playtonic Games is hard at work on Yooka-Laylee, their loving tribute to the “Collect-Em-Ups” of the late 90s/early 2000s like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. But it looks like that hard work is going to take a little more time, as Playtonic has confirmed Yooka-Laylee won’t be released this October as originally planned. Instead, the developer revealed (on their official website) that it’ll be released for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One early next year:
While we felt confident we could ship the game in October as originally projected in our Kickstarter, the Playtonic team has decided that it would prefer to add a few extra months’ polish to the game schedule.
Ultimately, this will allow us to deliver a better game to the tens-of-thousands of you who’ve supported us throughout development. And that’s what we all want, right?
While Yooka-Laylee is a bit further away now than it was before, Playtonic plans to bring their work-in-progress game to next week’s E3 Expo, so we should learn more about it soon. In the meantime, you can check out the game’s E3 trailer, which has been embedded above.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night backers will get access to the E3 demo… and everybody else gets a new trailer
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is still almost a year away, but Koji “IGA” Igarashi is ready to give fans and friends a look at the game’s first level in a new trailer. Here’s what he had to say about the video in Bloodstained’s latest Kickstarter update (which also includes some new screenshots):
For this month’s update, the team has put together a video and some screenshots of an actual stage in Bloodstained. This is the game’s first stage, where we find Miriam on a ship, the Galleon Minerva, headed toward the castle. It’s a setting filled with anticipation.
Igarashi, and his team at Inti Creates, are planning to debut the first demo for Bloodstained at next week’s E3 Expo. But you won’t need to sneak into Los Angeles Convention Center to get your hands on it… everyone who pledged at least $60 during the game’s Kickstarter campaign will receive access to the demo through Steam.
If all continues to go well for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the side-scrolling MetroidVania should be released for the PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One sometime next Spring.
Kickstart This! Death Story
I’m going to begin by offering an apology. A few weeks ago, I highlighted a game on Kickstart This! called Lynn and the Spirits of Inao by Bloomylight Studios. The project was cancelled after it was revealed that Bloomylight founder David Tollari had been using unpaid interns to complete the game, which is a violation of French employment laws. Like many of the games journalists who covered the project, I was unaware of these infractions, and while it may not have been something we could have foreseen, I still feel sorry for those who wasted their time on the recommendation.
So let’s move on to another project… though Kickstarter seems to have gone all dark and gloomy this week, and there’s nothing but death, death, and more death! First, I found Death of Humanity, an online multiplayer survival game from Dingo’s Nest. There is also the visual novel Undead Darlings, where you explore the funpocalypse with a group of half-dead girls?
But my choice for today’s Kickstart This! is the rather cute Death Story from Team Neko. So let’s swing our scythe and find out why it rose above the other undead offerings. (more…)
FIFA 17 will use the Frostbite Engine for the first time when it launches this September
Soccer fans will have an all-new FIFA experience to try out this Fall, as EA Sports has announced that FIFA 17 will be developed using the publisher’s Frostbite Engine for the first time. In development at EA Vancouver, the publisher believes their Frostbite technology will add “depth and emotion” to the pitch when FIFA 17 is released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this September.
“Frostbite unlocks a whole new world of possibilities for the FIFA franchise and its fans,” said David Rutter, the Executive Producer on the FIFA franchise. “We have never been as excited as we are today about the future of football and the experiences we are going to deliver in FIFA 17.”
To create the most authentic game possible, EA Sports also recruited four world-class players to lend their expertise to the EA Vancouver team: James Rodriguez of Real Madrid, Anthony Martial of Manchester United, Eden Hazard of Chelsea FC, and Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund. We’ll get our first look at FIFA 17’s evolution during the EA’s EA Play E3 Presentation on Sunday, June 12, at 4:00 PM.
The Frostbite-powered FIFA 17 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 27. The game will also be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, though without any of the improvements found in the new-generation version.
Volition will deploy Agents of Mayhem on PC, PS4, Xbox One in 2017
After announcing their newest project this morning, it looks like Volition has decided to give the Saints Row series a rest. Although its possible the Third Street Saints may make an appearance in Agents of Mayhem, as the developer’s next game will take place in the same universe as the Saints Row saga.
Described as a “new comic hero universe” by publisher Deep Silver, Agents of Mayhem is packed to the brim with colorful characters, whom you can meet in the lengthy Cinematic Announcement Trailer embedded above.
In a simultaneous global assault, LEGION [League of Evil Gentlemen Intent on Obliterating Nations] has taken control over the nations of the world and the only force left to stop them is MAYHEM [Multinational Agency for Hunting Evil Masterminds]. Led by the mysterious and no-nonsense Persephone Brimstone, MAYHEM’s elite Super Agents are called to the city of Seoul, South Korea. Led by LEGION Minister Doctor Babylon and his diabolical lieutenants, a nefarious plot is set in motion to build a world-altering device that will grant unrivaled power to the supervillain organization. In order to stop LEGION and take back the world, the Agents of Mayhem will traverse a sprawling urban battlefield from the ground to the rooftops and team up as a super-agent collective to stop LEGION at any cost.
Agents of Mayhem will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime next year, but we’ll get another extended look at the open world superhero title at this year’s E3 Expo.