Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: PS3
CoD: Black Ops III does a repeat of November as the best-selling game of December 2015 too
While financial folks continue to claim that the Call of Duty franchise is in freefall, the latest game in the series still managed to top the sales charts in December. Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which also topped the list in November, beat out several other strong contenders for the public’s Christmas dollars including Star Wars: Battlefront (#2) and Fallout 4 (#3). There weren’t too many new releases available in December, but one, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (#7), managed to crack the top ten.
However, the the biggest surprise in the NPD Group’s December report might be that Minecraft: Story Mode landed at #9… even though the game disc available in stores only contains the first episode. Interestingly, it placed just behind the original Minecraft, which was firmly locked in at #8.
Even with a dearth of new releases, December 2015 was a good one from a financial perspective, which NPD analyst Liam Callahan shared with GamesIndustry.biz: “December 2015 was the best month on record for PS4 and Xbox One, and the second-best for the Wii U in terms of new physical software unit sales. This also meant that it was the best month of total eighth generation new physical software sales.”
The full top ten list for December 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Lego Avengers will get bonus Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man content on PS4/PS3
WB Games and TT Games will release Lego Avengers in less than two weeks, but they’re still packing the game full of extra content for all the true believers out there… but you’ll need to own a PS4 or PS3. PlayStation players who purchase Lego Avengers for the PS4 or PS3 will receive two bonus DLC packs featuring characters and locations from Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man.
The Captain America: Civil War Character Pack will be available to download on January 26 and it’ll include nine characters from the upcoming film (Captain America, Iron Man [Mark 46], Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Crossbones, and Agent 13). Meanwhile, the Ant-Man Character & Level Pack will contain a brand new level based on the blockbuster film and 11 additional characters (Ant-Man [Scott Lang], Ant-Man [Hank Pym], Ant-Thony [Flying Ant], Cassie Lang, Darren Cross, Scott Lang, Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, Luis, The Wasp [Janet Van Dyne], and Yellowjacket) when it’s released sometime this Spring. And don’t worry, every character from both packs will be compatible with the levels in the main game.
Arthur Parsons of TT Games recently dropped by the PlayStation Blog to talk a little bit more about both DLC packs, which will be available as a free download for PS4 and PS3 owners for a limited time. It’s likely that players on other platforms will be able to purchase them at a later date, but we don’t know that for sure right now.
Lego Avengers will also be available on January 26 for the 3DS, PC, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Lego Avengers
Nominees for the 2016 DICE Awards have been announced with Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3 leading the way
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 2016 DICE Awards.
Square Enix’s Rise of the Tomb Raider and CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lead all other games with eight nominations apiece, including “Game of the Year.” They’ll be competing for the AIAS’s highest honor against three other games: Bloodborne, Fallout 4, and Ori and the Blind Forest. All told, 53 different titles received at least one nomination.
“Looking at the nominees for the 19th Annual DICE Awards, I am especially impressed by the broad range of titles catering to gamers’ increasingly sophisticated and diverse tastes,” said Martin Rae, the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. “It is always gratifying to watch our industry and its many artists and craftsmen grow and continue to challenge and thrill audiences.”
In addition to this year’s awards show, Satoru Iwata will be honored with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award and Hideo Kojima will be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.
The ceremony for the 2016 DICE Awards will take place on Thursday, February 16, during this year’s DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Forza Motorsport 6, Helldivers, Heroes of the Storm, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mortal Kombat X, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Star Wars: Battlefront, Super Mario Maker, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Nominees for the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced
Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will all be competing for “Game of the Year” honors at this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards, which will be held on Wednesday, March 16.
With four nominations apiece, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt became the most-nominated titles this year. In addition to “Game of the Year,” The Phantom Pain is also up for “Best Audio,” “Best Design,” and “Best Technology.” Meanwhile, The Witcher 3 will attempt to also take home “Best Visual Art,” “Best Narrative,” and “Best Technology.”
Fallout 4 and Bloodborne were just a step behind both titles with three total nominations of their own. However, they have a lot of company as Star Wars: Battlefront, Splatoon, Her Story, and Undertale all received a trio of nominations as well.
Viewers at home will be able to watch the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards through Twitch, and a complete look at this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bloodborne, Fallout 4, GDC 2016, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Minecraft: Story Mode Ep4, Trine 3, more added to PS Store
With just two days to go before Christmas, Sony is gifting PlayStation owners with a massive new PlayStation Store update this week. PS4, PS3, and PS Vita players will be able to purchase…
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PS3, Vita) – XSEED Games and Falcom have finally brought the RPG to the North American market, more than two years after its Japanese debut.
- Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place (PS4, PS3) – The penultimate episode of Telltale’s Patton Oswalt-starring Minecraft story is now available.
- Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (PS4) – Frozenbyte’s latest puzzle platformer comes to consoles for the first time.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And don’t forget to visit the PlayStation Blog for a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Minecraft: Story Mode, Trine 3 : The Artifacts of Power
Concept art from Agent unveiled by an artist formerly employed by Rockstar
Even though it was announced more than six years ago, Rockstar’s Agent, their PS3-exclusive Cold War shooter, has never officially been canceled. But aside from the game’s logo, the gaming public hasn’t heard anything else about it in all that time. Until today, that is.
Darren Charles Hatton, an artist formerly employed by Rockstar North, has updated his official website with some concept art he created for Agent back in 2009. According to Hatton, his team was pulled off the project less than a year later and eventually put to work on Grand Theft Auto V. The artist left Rockstar in 2010, but he said, “[I’m not] sure if this project will ever be published.”
The leaked concept art has been posted after the break, and you can find even more environment tests at Hatton’s Agent portfolio. Take-Two Interactive renewed the trademark for Agent back in 2014, but hasn’t spoken publicly about the game in years. (more…)
New Releases: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Unless next week offers up a surprise game launch or two, this will most likely be the final New Release Report of 2015. But fans of turn-based Japanese RPGs should definitely stand up and pay attention.
After teasing its release for a very long time, XSEED Games is finally ready to launch The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel in North America for the PS3 and Vita. Originally released in Japan in 2013, Trails of Cold Steel is the first game in the “Erebonian Arc” and includes story beats that’ll be easy to jump into for newcomers, while offering a deeper story for veterans of the Legend of Heroes franchise:
Taking place on the same continent as the fan favorite Trails in the Sky offshoot of Nihon Falcom’s storied The Legend of Heroes franchise, Trails of Cold Steel (Sen no Kiseki in Japanese) is the first in the series to tread Erebonian soil and explore the inner political conflicts of this oft-mentioned powerhouse nation in detail. With a standalone story that also delves into the expansive lore that has become synonymous with the series, players can enjoy school life and bond with fellow students to earn new abilities in battle, take advantage of speedy, tactical turn-based combat with the newly-developed “ARCUS” system, and uncover dramatic events that stand to change everything these two opposing social classes stand for.
TowerFall Ascension for Vita, Tony Hawk 5 for PS3, more added to PS Store
After skating his way onto the PS4 earlier this year, Tony Hawk returns to the PS3 with today’s PlayStation Store launch of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5. But skateboarding’s biggest star isn’t the only familiar face appearing in a new place today…
- TowerFall Ascension, Matt Thorson’s manic multiplayer archery battler, is now available to download for the PS Vita. It’s a Cross-Buy freebie if you already own the PS4 version, and it’s also compatible with the PlayStation TV if you don’t always want to be on the go.
- PaRappa the Rapper 2 is the latest PS2-On-PS4 release from Sony, so now your rapping skills can earn you a few Trophies in addition to bragging rights.
- Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions isn’t available on a new platform today, but the best Spider-Man game in years can now be downloaded for the PS3 through the PlayStation Store.
Finally this week, Sierra and The Odd Gentlemen have released Rubble Without A Cause, the second episode of their King’s Quest reboot, for the PS4 and PS3.
A complete look at this week’s new releases can be found after the break and a rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged King's Quest, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, TowerFall Ascension