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
Sony adds PS4 games to PlayStation Now
Sony’s game streaming service, PlayStation Now, got a little more useful this week, as the consolemaker added a few PS4 games to its library. More PS4 games will be available to play through the service in the coming months, but for now, 20 titles are currently available:
Akiba’s Beat, Broken Age, Castlestorm: Definitive Edition, Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, Evolve, F1 2015, God of War III Remastered, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Tropico 5, Ultra Street Fighter IV, WWE 2K16, MX vs ATV Supercross Encore, Resogun, Helldivers, Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition, Grim Fandango Remastered, Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky, Nidhogg, and Super Mega Baseball.
More than 500 games are now available to play through the PlayStation Now thanks to these additions.
To celebrate this milestone, Sony is temporarily dropping the price of a PlayStation Now subscription. New subscribers have until September 22 to sign up for a special introductory price ($9.99 for the first month or a full-year for $99.99). A seven-day free trial of PlayStation Now is also available on the PC or PS4.
Here’s a trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Absolution Pack… which is now available for PS4
Activision and Infinity Ward launched the Absolution DLC Pack for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare last night. The game’s third expansion pack adds four new multiplayer maps to the game, as well as a new Zombies Mode chapter known as “Attack of the Radioactive Thing.” You can get a glimpse at the new content included in the add-on in the launch trailer embedded above.
“No matter your play style, whether you’re a sniper from long range or love close-quarters combat, our team has designed the new maps in Absolution to be fun for all players,” said Dave Stohl, the Studio Head of Infinity Ward. “And with ‘Attack of the Radioactive Thing,’ the twisted zombies storyline heads into another crazy setting now in the 1950s, straight from the classic horror movies of the era. It’s a beachside town completely demolished by a new type of enemy we hope our fans will love, along with waves of the undead and all-new weapons and traps to engage with.”
Seth Green, Ike Barinholtz, Jay Pharoah, and Sasheer Zamata will all reprise their roles in “Attack of the Radioactive Thing,” and they’ll be joined on their quest by actress Cassandra Peterson, better known to most horror fans as “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.”
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Absolution DLC Pack is currently available to download only on the PS4, but PC and Xbox One will be able to give it a go sometime in August.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Here’s the first trailer for Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2
Just before this year’s E3 Expo, Telltale announced the first episode from Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 would be available on July 11. Today, the developer unveiled the first trailer for Episode 1: Hero in Residence (as well as Jesse’s heretofore unseen “rival”)…
Now that Jesse and the gang have vanquished the Wither Storm, saved the world, and become totally super famous heroes, life has gotten a bit more…complicated. With more responsibilities and less time for adventure, old friendships have started to fade — at least until Jesse’s hand gets stuck in a creepy gauntlet that belongs to an ancient underwater temple. Together with old pals and new comrades alike, Jesse embarks on a brand new journey filled with tough choices, good times, and at least one temperamental llama.
All five episodes from Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 will be available to download for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices over the next few months. PS4 and Xbox One players will also get the chance to pick up the game in a retail disc version, which is set to launch this Fall.
Doomfist joins Overwatch’s PTR and he’ll available to all next week
After a ton of teasing and an almost unbearable wait, Blizzard officially added Doomfist to Overwatch‘s Public Test Region today. Everyone else will be able to play as the villainous character next week.
With his oversized right arm and a philosophy that demands combat, Doomfist is a formidable fighter. However, he doesn’t have the vocal prowess of Terry Crews, and that’s sure to be a letdown for some Overwatch players:
Doomfist
Doomfist’s cybernetics make him a highly-mobile, powerful frontline fighter. In addition to dealing ranged damage with his Hand Cannon, Doomfist can slam the ground, knock enemies into the air and off balance, or charge into the fray with his Rocket Punch. When facing a tightly packed group, Doomfist leaps out of view, then crashes down to earth with a spectacular Meteor Strike.Abilities
- Hand Cannon: Doomfist fires a short-range burst from the knuckles of his fist. Its ammunition is automatically regenerated over a short time.
- Seismic Slam: Doomfist leaps forward and smashes into the ground, knocking nearby enemies toward him.
- Rising Uppercut: Doomfist uppercuts enemies in front of him into the air.
- Rocket Punch: After charging up, Doomfist lunges forward and knocks an enemy back, dealing additional damage if they impact a wall.
- The Best Defense: Doomfist generates temporary personal shields when he deals ability damage.
- Meteor Strike: Doomfist leaps into the sky, then crashes to the ground, dealing significant damage.
Blizzard produced an animated introduction for Doomfist, and his “Origin Story” has been embedded above. You can also learn more about the character in a new “Developer Update” video featuring Game Director Jeff Kaplan, which is available after the break. The video breaks down Doomfist’s backstory, abilities, and an overall strategy for how best to use him. (more…)
Newest Agents of Mayhem trailer delivers “Magnum Sized Action” soundtracked by the Magnum PI theme
Volition has reached into their ‘stache and pulled out another Agents of Mayhem trailer… this time riffing on the cool cars and smooth moves of Tom Selleck’s Magnum PI.
The developer also delivered more details the open world game’s Q-like quartermaster, Gremlin, as well as a taste of what players can expect from its missions…
Agents of Mayhem’s vision of a futuristic Seoul is ruled by LEGION, but it can be taken back with the help of agents at MAYHEM’s base known as the ARK. Machining expert and resident engineer Gremlin runs the ARK’s R&D lab. Terminally positive, Gremlin engages her mischievous curiosity for all machines to create some of MAYHEM’s deadliest weapons, including the Gutterball Gun, which strikes down everything in its path with a barrage of giant electrified balls, and the Cabbit Bomb, which turns enemies into explosive Cabbits. Gremlin’s crazy weapons can be found hidden in caches around the city, and while her devices aren’t always the safest or well tested, they’re guaranteed to make a splash.
As agents battle Dr. Babylon and defeat his Lieutenants, LEGION’s hold on Seoul will weaken. Agents can locate and eliminate LEGION Patrols, destroy their supply trucks, rescue scientists taken hostage, or attack and capture one of LEGION’s major outposts and use the intel gained to pinpoint all of LEGION’s other nearby activities. Dr. Babylon won’t allow MAYHEM to carry on unchecked though; he’ll send troops to respond to attacks via Mole Machines, fortify his outposts with sniper nests, barricades, and mines, or counterattack in true evil style by dispatching one of his minions equipped with a Doomsday Weapon!
Agents of Mayhem will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on August 15.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Agents of Mayhem
Zero Time Dilemma’s PS4 debut leads a packed announcement schedule from Aksys Games at Anime Expo 2017
The 2017 Anime Expo welcomed anime fans from around the globe to Los Angeles this weekend, and Aksys Games was there to announce a massive slate of upcoming games for release in 2017 and 2018.
The localization house started things off with confirmation that Zero Time Dilemma, the third game in the Zero Escape trilogy, will be released for the PS4 on August 18. The visual novel is currently available for the 3DS, Vita, and PC, but the PS4 re-release will be remastered with “impressive” high definition graphics. [Source]
Aksys is planning to bring several other visual novels to North America over the next year. During their Anime Expo panel, Aksys revealed a handful of such titles from Idea Factory including Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, and Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk. Both Psychedelica games are tangentially connected by haunted locales, and both will launch for the Vita in 2018. [Source]
The publisher will also team up with Idea Factory to bring 7 Scarlet to the Vita in 2018. 7 Scarlet features a story involving a mysterious town, a missing university student, and a search for the truth. [Source]
More ghostly tales will be told in Creeping Terror, a horror exploration game that’ll launch for the PC and 3DS this Fall. Players will travel through a haunted house, an old tunnel, and a shadowy cavern in search of a monster in Creeping Terror. [Source]
Players will also be in search of monsters in SG/ZH: School Girl/Zombie Hunter, a third-person shooter developed by D3 Publisher for the PS4. The goofy game follows five girls who attempt to save their school from a rampaging horde of zombies. [Source]
A different kind of “ghost” story is at the center of Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk. Developed by Arc System Works, Ghost of the Dusk is a hard-boiled detective story that’ll be released for the 3DS in North America in 2018. [Source]
Aksys announced plans to package together two games in the Code Realize franchise, Code Realize: Guardian of Rebirth and Code Realize: Future Blessings, as Code Realize: Bouquet of Rainbows. The bundle will be available for the PS4 next year. [Source]
Moving on (or rather, not moving on), the publisher will release Bad Apple Wars for the Vita on September 29. The visual novel takes place in a school (not surprising)… that’s located in Purgatory (whoa). Bad Apple Wars follows a battle for the soul of Purgatory between the Delinquent Team of Bad Apples and the Disciplinary Committee. [Source]
Under Night In-Birth, a 2D fighter from Arc System Works, will receive a major update this Fall with the release of Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Set to be released for the PS3, PS4, and Vita, the Late[st] version of the game will include two new characters, Enkidu and Wagner, and a story-focused Chronicle Mode. [Source]
Finally, the craziest game on Aksys’s radar might be Drive Girls, which will be released for the Vita on August 11. In Drive Girls, players will control a team of superpowered girls who can turn into a fleet of speedy supercars. The girls will do battle with an invading alien force in a genre mashup that includes melee action and driving prowess. [Source]
That’s all for now, but new trailers for most of these games should be available online shortly.
Content Crash #4: Indie Studios Versus AAA Games
Welcome everyone to the Content Crash podcast. I’m your host, Dan Hartnack, and as always, joining me is Keno Eastmond.
Today, I’d like to talk about indie studios versus AAA studios. What do indie studios bring to gaming that’s different from AAA? What defines the AAA space? And what indie studios are doing to push the industry to new levels?
Let’s go!
You can subscribe to the Content Crash podcast on YouTube or SoundCloud.
Yacht Club continues to joke about Shovel Knight 64… and talks seriously about King Knight expansion
Developers from Yacht Club Games have joked about creating Shovel Knight 64 for a few years now. But the company’s “Pixel Artmancer,” Nick Wozniak, revealed that their fanciful daydreaming about a Shovel Knight sequel that uses the blocky polygonal style made famous by the N64 might be real during an E3 2017 interview with App Trigger:
App Trigger: I’ve seen a little bit of Yacht Club talking about working on more Shovel Knight, or more things besides Shovel Knight after all this is done. What would your personal preference be? If you could work on anything, what would it be?
Nick Wozniak: Anything? I think one of the things we want to work on in the far future is definitely like a Shovel Knight 64, a 3D platformer. We would all love that. We all love Mario 64 to pieces and would just love to be able to jump into that.
Of course, this wasn’t an official announcement for Shovel Knight 64. Wozniak said that Yacht Club doesn’t just want to be known as “the Shovel Knight company,” and that they’re currently hard at work on “something new.”
However, the developer is also putting the finishing touches on Shovel Knight’s King Knight expansion, and Wozniak also had a bit to say about the game’s final add-on:
App Trigger: [King Knight is] great. He’s the light-hearted guy. Even though you guys gave us choices at the beginning of Shovel Knight, your eye is drawn more toward King Knight, so I think that’s the one a lot of people start with.
Nick Wozniak: He’s great. He’s the first guy you probably encounter, and he sets the tone of the rest of the game. You know what to expect, kind of, when you see King Knight. He’s a joke, even in his name. He’s not a king, he’s a knight who’s kingly, and that’s ridiculous and stupid and it sets the bar for your expectations of what the game is and what the knights are. His campaign is going to be a big departure from the very tragic story that Specter Knight was, but it will be interesting and focused on his journey to becoming King Knight. I’m not sure what the timeline is now, we’re still working through what it is, but it’ll be goofy.
Yacht Club has previously said they want to release the King Knight campaign before the end of the year, so it shouldn’t be too long before we can all be royals.