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
NASCAR Heat: Evolution will be released on September 13
Dusenberry Martin Racing, which formerly operated under the DMi Games moniker, announced today that they will bring back the NASCAR Heat series this September with NASCAR Heat: Evolution. In development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, the racing simulation will be developed by Monster Games, the same team responsible for the original NASCAR Heat.
Ed Martin, the “Martin” (and President) of Dusenberry Martin Racing, believes this partnership will lead to a new era of NASCAR games: “To deliver an all-new NASCAR game experience, we assembled an all-star team of NASCAR game experts and started with a clean sheet of paper. What the DMR and Monster Games teams have come up with is going to amaze NASCAR fans.”
NASCAR Heat: Evolution will immerse fans in the door-to-door excitement of stock car racing and allow users to live the experience of taking the checkered flag. Whether a casual or hardcore gaming fan, NASCAR Heat Evolution will dynamically adapt to any skill level and deliver a true-to-life racing experience. The new game will feature all of the top drivers, teams, and incredibly detailed tracks and environments, giving fans the opportunity to feel what it is like to be a racing legend.
Dusenberry Martin Racing is also holding a contest to choose a cover athlete for NASCAR Heat: Evolution, but don’t expect the typical online vote. Instead, the publisher struck a sponsorship deal with Toyota, and the first Toyota driver (Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, or Martin Truex Jr.) to cross the finish line during tomorrow’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway will also appear on the cover of NASCAR Heat: Evolution.
NASCAR Heat: Evolution is currently scheduled to be released on September 13.
Shovel Knight is getting a series of tie-in kids books this January
Shovel Knight lives by the Codes of Shovelry, and the teachings of this ancient art helped him topple the Order of No Quarter in Yacht Club’s excellent side-scrolling platformer of the same name. Capturing the hearts and minds of nostalgic gamers everywhere after his 2014 debut, Shovel Knight will take on his greatest challenge next year… the Children’s Literature section of your local bookstore.
Yacht Club Games has partnered with Grosset & Dunlap to publish a series of Shovel Knight-themed books targeted at kids 8-12 years old. The four books announced so far include:
- Shovel Knight Guidebook, a 176-page strategy guide that includes all of Shovel Knight’s secrets and tips to defeat the Order of No Quarter.
- Shovel Knight: Codes of Shovelry Handbook, which will teach readers more about the characters from the game, “as well as tips for enhanced gameplay.”
- Shovel Knight: Digger’s Diary, a journal filled with “fun activities, challenging mazes and puzzles, and writing prompts.”
- Shovel Knight Mad Libs, which promises 21 silly stories from the world of Shovel Knight.
Yacht Club expects to release Shovel Knight’s final two expansions by the end of the year, which nicely matches up with the January 10, 2017 release date for the game’s first four tie-in books.
Battleborn’s first DLC character, Alani, will be available very soon
Gearbox Software is getting ready to release Alani, the first of five free downloadable bonus characters for Battleborn. If you purchased Battleborn’s Digital Deluxe Edition or Season Pass, you’ll be able to play as Alani as early as Tuesday, May 24. Everyone else will be able to download the character a week later, on May 31.
Alani is a Warrior-Monk, who has the ability to heal while also charging into battle like a badass. You can get a look at the character on the game’s official website, and learn more about her backstory right here:
A member of the Eldrid faction who was raised as a healer, but forced to be a warrior, Alani is all that remains of her order after Rendain’s Jennerit Imperium stole the oceans from her world. As a warrior from a planet with vast seas, Alani’s attacks and abilities revolve around her power to control water to dish out pain, or heal her fellow Battleborn.
Gearbox is also introducing “Hero Keys” for Digital Deluxe and Season Pass owners later this month. With a Hero Key, players will be able to instantly unlock any hero in the game, even if they haven’t completed the necessary Challenge Objective or reached the requisite Command Rank. Everyone who participated in the Open Beta on the PS4 will also receive a Hero Key, and access to the first Story DLC Pack.
Finally, Gearbox will host a Double XP Event for Battleborn players all this weekend. The event kicked off a few hours ago and will come to an end on Wednesday, May 25, at 11:00 AM (Eastern Time).
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battleborn
Poe Dameron is the star of the first Character Trailer from Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will bring the beloved franchise back to that galaxy far, far away in just a few weeks, but first the developers are doing their best Han Solo and jumping to lightspeed with a series of brand new Character Trailers. First up is Poe Dameron, the decorated X-Wing pilot played by Oscar Isaac.
Isaac recorded new dialogue for Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, proving that even a Lego Minifigure can be cocky and charming all at the same time.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 28.
Rockstar is hard at work on multiple projects that will be revealed “soon”
Executives from Take-Two Interactive presented the company’s quarterly financial report to investors yesterday, and they had some very interesting things to say about Rockstar Games.
The famed developer released Grand Theft Auto V in 2013, but since then, they’ve been happy to create additional content for “Grand Theft Auto Online” and re-release some of their older hits on mobile devices and the PS4. Not that this strategy hasn’t paid off, according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, the company has shipped more than 65 million copies of Grand Theft Auto V worldwide since its launch.
However, Zelnick also confirmed that development teams within Rockstar are currently working on multiple new projects, and they will likely be revealed to the public soon: “Rockstar Games is, of course, also hard at work on some exciting future projects that will be revealed soon.” One of these projects is widely assumed to be Red Dead Redemption 2.
The CEO previously told reporters that Take-Two will be in attendance at next month’s E3 Expo “in a big way,” so we probably won’t have to wait too long to find out what Rockstar is up to.
But hold your horses, Zelnick later confirmed that Take-Two’s 2016 release calendar is set in stone, so any new offerings from Rockstar won’t be released until 2017 at the earliest: “We’ve announced the entire release schedule for the year and that’s what you should expect our release schedule to be and that’s what our outlook is based on.”
Is id Software teasing Quake 5? Developer is telling prospective employees they’ll get to work on “franchises like Doom and Quake”
After nearly a decade in development, Doom is now available on store shelves and nostalgic FPS fans are loving its mixture of modern design and retro sensibilities. So the developers at id Software are probably feeling pretty good about themselves. But that hasn’t stopped the company from going on a hiring spree.
More than a dozen job openings at id Software were recently added to Bethesda’s Careers page, and once again, they’re offering prospective employees the chance to work on “legendary game properties like DOOM and QUAKE.” Obviously, this isn’t a guarantee that Quake 5 is in the works at id, but the last time the developer went on a similar headhunting operation was in 2013, about a year before they debuted Doom to a packed house at QuakeCon 2014.
Of course, this is probably just the regular employment churn that occurs at all companies, combined with an HR department too lazy to write up a new job description. But after the amazing return of Doom (and Wolfenstein before it), I am ready for more Quake too.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), Quake Champions
NIS America will bring Phantom Brave to Steam on July 25
Way back in 2004, Phantom Brave was one of the first games released in the States by NIS America. Along with Disgaea, it helped establish the NIS America label and allowed the publisher to spread their unique brand of strategy RPGs throughout the world.
Phantom Brave takes place on Ivoire, the small island that a lonely girl named Marona calls home. An orphan since she was very young, Marona uses her special “Chroma” ability to speak to phantoms and complete tasks for the other islanders. This gift has come in handy over the years, but the optimistic Marona, and her ghostly companion Ash, are about to embark on their biggest adventure yet.
The Steam version of Phantom Brave will be based on the 2009 Wii re-release, but it’ll also include the bonus content created for the 2011 PSP re-release. And don’t worry, support for Steam Trading Cards, Achievements, and Cloud Saves will be also be part of Phantom Brave’s PC debut.
Hanzo and Genji are the “Dragons” at the center of Blizzard’s latest Overwatch short
With Overwatch just a week away, Blizzard has released a new animated short to give players further insight into the lives of Hanzo and Genji. I don’t want to spoil anything, so let me just suggest that if you liked the Winston and Tracer shorts, you should drop everything and watch this one too.
Overwatch, Blizzard’s upcoming MOBA-like arena shooter, will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 24.