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
New CoD: Black Ops III Awakening Pack trailer introduces us to “Der Eisendrache”
Activision will release Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Awakening DLC Pack on February 2 (for PS4 owners), but first they want to introduce would-be players to the newest Zombies Mode map: “Der Eisendrache.” German for “The Iron Dragon,” players will definitely have to deal with some kind of fire breathing monstrosity as they move further into the deadly castle:
Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s epic Zombies DLC season begins here. In “Der Eisendrache”, Origins characters Richtofen, Nikolai, Takeo, and Dempsey embark on a suicide mission to an enemy research facility built upon an archaic site of unspeakable horror. Massive deposits of Element 115 have recently been discovered, delivering inspired new gameplay and — in Zombies tradition — a variety of plot twists and surprises to discover at every turn.
The Awakening DLC Pack will be exclusive to the PS4 for 30 days and should appear on the PC and Xbox One sometime in March.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt nabs eight nominations at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
South by Southwest Gaming recently announced the nominees for this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, not surprisingly, has captured the most accolades. CD Projekt’s sprawling RPG is up for eight awards, including “Game of the Year.” It was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Art,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Visual Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Musical Score,” and “Most Enduring Character.”
Competing against Geralt of Rivia for “Game of the Year” is a familiar-looking quartet of games including Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Undertale. Bloodborne was actually a close second to The Witcher 3 with seven nominations.
Who wins at the 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined in part by a public vote that will hosted by IGN from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 12. The winners will be announced on Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) and you can watch it live on Twitch.
The complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Activision officially announces Platinum-developed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan
The development of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan has been leakier than a busted sewer pipe as most gamers first heard about it late last year. But now Activision is finally ready to deliver an official announcement for the tie-in game, which is indeed being developed by PlatinumGames:
Players will protect The Big Apple from aliens, mutants and the Foot Clan in a single-player campaign or partner with up to three friends in four-player online co-op. But be prepared – defeating Bebop, Rocksteady, Shredder and other iconic bosses won’t be easy.
PlatinumGames’ flair for stylish visuals and fluid combat are on full display in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. Fast-paced, team-based brawling will challenge gamers of all skill levels. Each Turtle has a distinctive combat play style and can be customized with a unique set of Ninjutsu moves, combat items and special bonuses.
Activision and Platinum last teamed up for 2015’s Transformer Devastation, and they plan to use a similar cel-shaded art style for Mutants in Manhattan. The game’s overall design has been heavily inspired by Dan Duncan’s artwork for the currently ongoing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic from IDW, with writer Tom Waltz providing the story.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Summer.
TimeFrame Review: Blurring the Lines Between Art and Game
TimeFrame is a bit like Myst in that they are both calm and exploratory. It is the kind of game you can play to relax and unwind and continue to feel that way when you stop playing. Instead of a game where one might seek catharsis through lots of action, TimeFrame sets you on a thoughtful journey through a doomed society, as you’re given ten minutes to explore the last ten seconds of a world. It’s simple in its presentation, but TimeFrame features a lot of little details that make every ten-minute playthrough worthwhile. (more…)
Street Fighter V Story Mode detailed; First DLC character to be available in March
In a first for the franchise, Capcom has announced that Street Fighter V will be getting individual Character Stories and a full-fledged Story Mode.
Street Fighter V’s Character Stories will feature artwork by Bengus, an illustrator who has worked on a number of Capcom titles in the past, and will serve as a prologue to the Story Mode, which will be released as a free expansion this June. According to the Capcom-Unity blog, the Character Stories will include “background information on what drives them to fight, and what their relationships are to the other characters.” As for Story Mode, it’ll offer cinematic cutscenes that bridge the gap between the events of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter III. And if the teaser trailer above is anything to go by, it looks like M. Bison is planning some kind of massive terrorist attack on the citizens of the world.
Capcom also confirmed the first downloadable character will be available in March. Best of all, the publisher said that players who complete all the Character Stories should earn enough “Fight Money” (Street Fighter V’s in-game currency) to unlock the new fighter for free. Downloadable characters will also be able to purchased with “Zenny,” which can be obtained by spending some real money.
Finally, Capcom wants to give players one last chance to test out Street Fighter V’s online modes before the big launch on February 16. A beta test will be available on January 30 and January 31 for everyone who has already pre-ordered the game for the PC or PS4.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Mighty No. 9 delayed for a third time… will now be released in Spring 2016
There is no joy in Mudville… Mighty Keiji has delayed again.
Keiji Inafune and his team at have Comcept have informed Kickstarter backers that Mighty No. 9 has been delayed again. The platformer won’t be able to meet its planned release date of February 9 and will instead now launch sometime in the Spring. Once again citing bugs in the network code as the reason for the delay, all the developer could do was apologize:
The reason for the delay is rooted in bugs inside the network modes, and specifically problems with matchmaking. There are two large reasons for this problem, one of them being the large number of platforms supported (the solution for each platform is slightly different) and the other stems from the fact that the engine we are using is no longer being updated which means adjustments for matchmaking and online code are being made manually (actually reprogramming parts of the engine by the dev team themselves).
Unfortunately, this is all a result of miscalculations on the part of us, the development staff. As a result, our fans who have been looking forward to Mighty No. 9 have been forced to wait for over half a year longer than expected, and for that we are sincerely sorry. I want to take this chance to apologize personally, and on the behalf of the development staff.
Inafune added that the development team “has been working on these issues non-stop without break” and that “the end is in sight.” If that’s true, Mighty No. 9 will finally be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Spring.
PC requirements revealed for The Division, which Ubisoft considers “more than a port”
Ubisoft has revealed the minimum and recommended requirements for Tom Clancy’s The Division… do you think your PC can handle it? You can find the system specifications after the break, but don’t forget that Ubisoft will also launch a closed beta for The Division very soon. Opening on January 29, you can signup at Ubi.com now for a chance to play the multiplayer shooter early.
In addition to revealing the system specifications, Ubisoft also discussed the PC version of The Division in some depth at the UbiBlog. The first thing they want PC players to know is that The Division “more than a port” on Windows machines:
“The main goal during the development of the PC version of The Division was to give players the version of the game they wanted. We didn’t want to just port the console version for them, but to instead craft an experience that felt native to PC from the start. A key feature we particularly wanted to address was the navigation through the UI. If you have a mouse and a keyboard, the way you navigate is very different than the navigation with a controller.”
Tom Clancy’s The Division will be released on March 8. (more…)
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Tom Clancy's The Division
New Releases: Final Fantasy Explorers, Lego Avengers, Rise of the Tomb Raider for PC
This might get said every January, but January 2016 was an abnormally slow period for new game releases. The first month of the year closes out with the launch of a trio new games and a promise of much more to come in the remaining eleven frames:
- Final Fantasy Explorers (3DS) is a multiplayer action RPG from Square Enix that resurrects “legendary” Final Fantasy characters to battle with a horde of monsters guarding a cache of crystals. Yup, sounds like a Final Fantasy game.
- Lego Avengers (3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One) is the latest Lego-ization of some pop culture favorite by the geniuses at TT Games. This time, they’ve set their sights on the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe and created a brick-filled adaptation of The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World.
- Finally, Square Enix comes back around again to bring Lara Croft’s latest adventure, Rise of the Tomb Raider, to the PC.
As always, we’ll be back later this week to shine the spotlight on the latest digital releases available through the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy Explorers, Lego Avengers, Rise of the Tomb Raider