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
Insomniac announces two more VR titles and a release date for Edge of Nowhere
Insomniac Games is making a big move into virtual reality titles this year. During a special media event last week, the developer revealed two new VR games, both of which will be available exclusively for the Oculus Rift by the end of the year.
In Feral Rites (Release Date: Fall 2016), players will take control of a shapeshifting brawler, who has returned to the mystical island of his birth to avenge his father’s death:
Feral Rites is a VR adventure-brawler set on a mystical island. Avenge the death of your father by brawling your way through harrowing missions and quests. Immerse yourself exploring unique areas of the island from under the jungle canopy to ruined temples while mastering new abilities — including the power to transform into a feral beast. Witness the brutality of savage violence all around you.
Also in development is The Unspoken (Release Date: November 2016), a first-person spellcasting game where players compete in an “urban magic fight club”:
Learn the secret art of spellcasting. Veteran developer Insomniac Games presents The Unspoken—an Oculus Touch‐enabled VR action game that pulls players into a hidden world of spellcasting and magicians’ duels. Manipulate the environment around you with the powerful arcane forces that flow through your fingertips, summon unfathomable monstrosities with your bare hands, and rise up through the ranks of an urban magic fight club.
More details and screenshots for both games can be found at Insomniac’s website (Feral Rites and The Unspoken) and a pair of teaser trailers can be found after the break. Both games will also be playable at this year’s E3 Expo.
Insomniac also has a third VR title in development, the Lovecraftian Edge of Nowhere, and we now know it’ll be released on June 6. (more…)
Posted in News, PC
Tagged E3 2016, Edge of Nowhere, The Unspoken
Insomniac’s Song of the Deep will be released on July 12
Insomniac Games has unveiled a new trailer for their “underwater Metroidvania,” Song of the Deep, and also announced the game will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on July 12. The new trailer dives a bit deeper into Merryn’s search for her father and the decidedly non-cuddly marine life she’ll find under the waves. The Little Mermaid this ain’t.
The developer’s Chief Creative Officer, Brian Hastings, has also penned a tie-in novelization for Song of the Deep, and it’ll be available in stores “soon.”
In addition to its digital release, Song of the Deep will receive a retail launch exclusively through GameStop. The retailer, which currently operates more than 6,900 stores, will publish the game through their GameTrust publishing label.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Song of the Deep
Mercury Steam announces Raiders of the Broken Planet
Mercury Steam took the wraps off their mystery project earlier this week and revealed Raiders of the Broken Planet, a “Multiplayer Online Asymmetric Adventure.” The Spanish developer is still keeping a tight lid on most details concerning the game, but they did reveal a bit of its backstory:
In the Lira Constellation, light years from Earth lies a Broken Planet. Long ago, its inhabitants discovered a powerful ability enhancing substance called Aleph. Today, this Broken Planet is home to the entire Universe’s intergalactic scum and criminal lowlife. All are here to wrest control of the Aleph and thereby control the Universe.
We don’t know exactly how Raiders of the Broken Planet will work, but the developer did say that it’ll feature a “distinctive blend of shooting, brawling and thinking man’s strategy.”
Mercury Steam, best known for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, also announced plans to publish Raiders of the Broken Planet themselves using an episodic release model on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The first episode is expected to launch sometime this year and Mercury Steam is now accepting applications for an upcoming beta test at the game’s official website.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Raiders of the Broken Planet
Activision will release Ghostbusters (consoles, PC) + Ghostbusters: Slime City (mobile) in July
As expected, Activision is answering the “Who Ya Gonna Call?” call and will release a pair of Ghostbusters games alongside the new film in July.
Ghostbusters is an overhead shooter for 1-4 players, who will take control of four rookie Ghostbusters as they battle spooks and spirits in New York City after the events of the film. According to the Activision Games Blog, the four characters will each have their own play style and players can “level up their character’s gear and abilities by battling ghosts, completing objectives, or discovering hidden collectibles.” Ghostbusters will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on July 12.
Meanwhile, Ghostbusters: Slime City will be available for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and it “lets players collect powerful ghosts.” The rather vague description continues to say that players will also be able to “collect components to craft [their] own proton packs, upgrade [their] own headquarters, and complete jobs around the city for new weapons and rewards.” Ghostbusters: Slime City will be released sometime in July.
The Ghostbusters reboot will open in theaters on July 15.
Get a preview of the new maps in CoD: Black Ops III’s Eclipse DLC Pack right here
Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Eclipse DLC Pack will be released for the PS4 on April 19, but for fans who just can’t wait a few more days, Activision and Treyarch have unveiled a series of teaser trailers for each map.
In case you need a refresher course, the four maps of Eclipse are a varied bunch including “Spire,” a sub-orbital airport terminal set high in the clouds. But watch your step, because there aren’t any railings. “Rift” also requires some fancy footwork as its’ a munitions plant perched above the caldera of an active volcano. Meanwhile, “Knockout” imports a Shaolin Temple from a 70s Kung Fu movie into Call of Duty. And yes, there is a disco room so you can dance, dance, dance. And finally, “Verge” reimagines World At War‘s “Banzai” map as the wasteland of a distant post-apocalyptic future.
You can find all four trailer after the break. And don’t forget, the Eclipse DLC Pack will also be released for the PC and Xbox One sometime in May. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III
New trailer shines a spotlight on Doom’s character customization system
Players who plan to jump into Doom‘s multiplayer modes will find a deep player progression system and loads of customization options for weapons, armor, and taunts. And you can get a glimpse at some of the ways you can make your characters yours in the brand new trailer from Bethesda that’s been embedded above.
And if you’re interested in trying out the customization options for yourself, you won’t have to wait until Doom’s May 13 launch. An Open Beta for the game is now available to download on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’ll stay open all weekend long. Beta participants will get to try out two maps (the hellish “Infernal” and the industrial “Heatwave”) and two modes (Warpath, a King of the Hill mode, and Team Deathmatch).
Bethesda is also bringing Doom to next weekend’s PAX East expo. This Bethesda.net post has more details on all the festivities, but congoers will get the chance to try out an all-new map and all-new mode against a never-before-seen demon.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), PAX East 2016
Shovel Knight has sold over one million copies; Specter Knight and King Knight expansions will be finished by the end of the year
Yacht Club Games is in a rather celebratory mood this morning as they’ve announced that Shovel Knight has now sold more than one million copies. According to a blog post on their official site, the current number is actually over 1.2 million copies, with 200,000 sales coming from the game’s recently released retail edition.
For statistics nerds, this blog post is a treasure trove of information including a sales breakdown for each platform, region, and retailer, as well as sections for Steam User Stats, the Plague of Shadows expansion, and the Amiibo figure.
And speaking of expansions, Yacht Club has pledged that development work on the Specter Knight and King Knight expansions will be completed by the end of the year. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll launch by the end of the year, but they’re much closer to release than they were yesterday.
The developers at Yacht Club condensed a lot of this information into a great infographic, which you can find right here.
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
A Green Thursday for The Division… it was the best-selling game of March 2016
Tom Clancy’s The Division deals with the horrific aftermath of a terrorist attack on New York City on Black Friday, but everything came up green for Ubisoft last month. According to The NPD Group (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz), the multiplayer shooter took the top spot as the best-selling game of March 2016.
A bevy of new releases helped the retail game sector perform just as well in 2016 as it did in 2015. That includes The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD at #3, EA Sports UFC 2 at #5, MLB The Show 16 at #6, and Pokken Tournament at #7. And don’t worry, Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft continue to hang around the top ten, at #4 and #10, respectively.
A complete look at last month’s top ten best-selling titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, NBA 2K16, NPD, Pokken Tournament, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Tom Clancy's The Division