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
“Have yourself a time” with South Park: The Fractured But Whole announcement trailer
One of the biggest surprises out of this year’s E3 came from Ubisoft. South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the sequel to the award-winning RPG title South Park: The Stick of Truth was announced during Ubisoft’s press conference.
Instead of donning their Game of Thrones-inspired garb, the boys of South Park will take on their superhero alter-egos, as seen in the “Coon and Friends” trilogy of episodes from 2010. The game will retain the turn-based RPG elements, and is once again being written by series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. However, Stick of Truth developer Obsidian Entertainment has handed the development reins over to Ubisoft San Francisco.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. No release date was given, but let’s hope that that game doesn’t experience the same turbulent development history that the first one did.
EA unveils Survival Missions for Star Wars: Battlefront with new trailer
Worried that the only way to play Star Wars: Battlefront is to do so competitively? Well, worry no further! At E3, EA announced Survival Missions, which are challenges set on several planets in the Star Wars universe. Your goal, as with any survival mission, is to make it out alive. These missions will be playable cooperatively both on-and-offline, so if you and a friend would rather take on waves of AI-controlled Stormtroopers, you’re set.
Star Wars: Battlefront hits the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 11th. Until then, enjoy the latest (gorgeous) trailer, which explores a Survival Mission on Tattooine.
Just Cause 3 gets December 1 release date, E3 trailer
Get your grappling hooks ready! Square Enix announced today that Just Cause 3 will hit the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on December 1st.
“Just Cause 3 is one of our most anticipated titles and we’re excited to build on everything the community loved about Just Cause 2,” said Phil Rogers, CEO at Square Enix. “With a beautiful 400 square-mile sandbox, Just Cause 3 will offer players almost endless hours of creativity, destruction and awe-inspiring stunts this December 1.”
Additionally, Square Enix released a new trailer for the title. The video, “This is Just Cause 3,” showcases all the vehicles, weapons, and modes that the game has to offer.
Square Enix confirms the next Hitman will be an episodic game
Not much was said about the latest Hitman game at Sony’s E3 Press Conference last night. We got our first look at a teaser trailer and the promise that a beta would be available exclusively for PS4 owners, but other than that, the announcement was as mysterious as Agent 47 himself. This morning, Sqaure Enix cleared up a few things by announcing quite a few more details about the next Hitman game.
Most importantly, Square Enix has confirmed that Hitman will be an episodic game with the first episode scheduled for release on December 8. Unlike traditional episodic games, Square Enix and developer IO Interactive are asking gamers to purchase the entire season up front for $60. After that, they’ll receive free access to every additional episode/add-on, which will be released throughout 2016.
But aside from a new distribution model, players should already be familiar with the concept behind the sixth Hitman game:
Hitman will see players perform contract hits on powerful, high-profile targets in exotic locations around the world, from the highly fashionable Paris and sunny coast of Italy to the dust and hustle of the markets in Marrakesh in this creative stealth action game.
Gameplay focuses on taking out targets in huge and intricate sandbox levels with complete freedom of approach. Where to go, when to strike and who to kill – it is all up to you.
“This is new ground for Hitman, coming out digital first enables us to do something new, bold and exciting,” said Hannes Seifert, Studio Head at IO Interactive. “We are building a live, expanding and evolving world of assassination where we continuously develop the game, listening closely to the players as we release new locations, missions and hits as soon as they are ready… where $60 and not a dollar more gets you full access to the experience.”
While the beta will be exclusive to the PS4, Hitman will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on December 8.
Shenmue III is already fully-funded on Kickstarter
Last night’s announcement of Shenmue III during Sony’s E3 Press Conference came with a caveat… the game had to reach a funding goal of $2 million on Kickstarter. However, fans of the franchise have been primed for this moment after more than a decade of waiting and they pounced on the “Back This Project” button with their wallets wide open. Less than seven hours after being available, the Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign is now fully funded.
As of this writing, the campaign is currently approaching $2.5 million and the first stretch goal, “Shenmue 1 & 2 Cinema Shorts.” The developers promised that more information about the stretch goals (which include subtitles in a variety of languages, a Skill Tree System, and the expansion of Baisha Village) would be revealed once the campaign reached its goal. With the $2 million mark well in the rearview mirror, a campaign update should appear sometime today.
If all goes according to plan, Director Yu Suzuki would like to release Shenmue III for the PC and PS4. After so many years, the fans have shown they may not be able to wait a minute longer.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged E3 2015, Shenmue III
EA unveils first Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer at E3 2015
It’s time to stop calling it Mass Effect 4. Electronic Arts opened their 2015 E3 Press Conference with a short glimpse at Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next game in the well-loved RPG franchise. In development at BioWare Montreal, Mass Effect: Andromeda will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One next Fall.
EA’s executives didn’t say much about the game during their E3 Press Conference, but developers at BioWare were all too eager to finally talk about their new project. According to the BioWare Blog, Andromeda takes place “far away from and long after” the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy:
While we aren’t ready to go into too many details just yet, as you saw in the trailer and can tell by the name, this game is very much a new adventure, taking place far away from and long after the events of the original trilogy. You will play a human, male or female, though that’s actually not the character you saw in the trailer (more on that later). You’ll be exploring an all-new galaxy, Andromeda, and piloting the new and improved Mako you saw. And through it all, you will have a new team of adventurers to work with, learn from, fight alongside of, and fall in love with.
BioWare describes the trailer as a “visual target for the final game,” so it’s possible Andromeda may not look like this when its released. But the inclusion of Johnny Cash’s “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” was inspired. Along with the desert visuals, it gives the whole thing a Firefly vibe, though that was probably unintentional.
You can’t take the sky from me…
Activision officially announces Transformers: Devastation with E3 trailer
Even though Best Buy Canada spoiled the surprise, the official announcement of Transformers: Devastation is still pretty great… because it includes a trailer of the game in motion. Platinum’s decision to use cel-shaded graphics, and the original Generation 1 character designs, makes the game look like a lost episode of the 1980s cartoon series. I think I speak for every child of the 80s here when I say we couldn’t be happier.
The trailer also gives us a nice glimpse of Platinum’s patented brand of fast action as applied to the Transformers universe. According to the Activision Games Blog, players will even be able to string together combos using robot mode and vehicle mode:
If you’re in the mood for an iron-fisted rumble, your Autobot robot mode should fit the bill nicely. But when you need to race across the city to perform a few hit-and-run maneuvers, vehicle mode is just a button-touch away.
You can dynamically switch between modes to perform a seemingly endless stream of robot/vehicle combo maneuvers, reducing the Decepticon army to a pile of smoldering metal. It wouldn’t be a Transformers game without Optimus Prime, and Peter Cullen is once again lending his iconic voice to the character. Sideswipe, Bumbleebee, Wheeljack, and Grimlock are also playable, and each character has a unique set of maneuvers and combos.
Transformers: Devastation, which also features the vocal talents of Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee) and Frank Welker (Megatron and Soundwave), will be released this Fall for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Sony @ E3 2015: Shenmue III announced… and a Kickstarter campaign has been launched
Hot off the heels of the Final Fantasy VII remake, another highly-requested title, Shenmue III, was just announced at Sony’s E3 Press Conference! However, Shenmue III needs your help. In order to create the game for the PC and PS4, a Kickstarter campaign has been set up by Director Yu Suzuki. If the game is funded, then we’ll all be able to continue Ryo’s journey from the first two Shenmue games.
Something tells me funding won’t be a problem…
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged E3 2015, Shenmue III