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
NBA 2K16, Madden NFL 16 lead off September 2015’s top ten list of best-selling games
Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports!
Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports!
With the Fall gaming rush off to a slow start, Electronic Arts and 2K Games more-or-less split the month with four sports titles in the NPD Group’s monthly top ten. NBA 2K16 slammed it home to take the #1 spot, while EA’s Madden NFL 16 slipped to #2 in its second month on the chart. Rounding out this month’s murderer’s row was FIFA 16, which bicycled kicked its way into the #4 spot; and NHL 16, which safely skated into the #9 spot.
While most of this Fall’s biggest games are still a few weeks away, new releases did take up the majority of the remaining slots. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sent off Hideo Kojima in style with a #3 ranking, while Bungie’s Destiny: The Taken King expansion took the #5 spot. Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker was the only platform-exclusive title to break into the top ten and it did so at #6. A pair of licensed games, Disney Infinity: Star Wars at #7 and Mad Max at #8, claimed the next two spots.
Finally, Minecraft continues to hold on by claiming the #10 slot. Expect Mojang’s creation to rise as we get closer to the holiday shopping season.
September 2015’s top ten can be viewed in handy list format after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Destiny, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, FIFA 16, Mad Max, Madden NFL 16, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Minecraft, NBA 2K16, NHL 16, NPD, Super Mario Maker
New Releases: Guitar Hero Live, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, More
Are you ready to rock? I said… are you… Ready. To. Rock? Activision is certainly ready to rock as they’ve brought back the Guitar Hero franchise this week with the release of Guitar Hero Live . Scheduled for launch on the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in a Standard Edition and Two Guitar Bundle, Guitar Hero Live will include more than 100 songs on the disc and an ever-changing lineup of artists available through its GHTV mode.
But Guitar Hero Live isn’t the only arena act looking to put on an encore this week. New entries in four of gaming’s biggest franchises will soon be available in stores:
- Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (PS4 and Xbox One) brings the Templars-versus-Assassins saga to Victorian England. And you better believe that Jack the Ripper is involved (though not until the downloadable expansion).
- The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is yet another multiplayer Zelda game, this time for the 3DS.
- Tales of Zestiria is the latest Tales game from Bandai Namco and the first to appear simultaneously on the PC, PS3, and PS4.
- Just Dance 2016 (PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One) and Just Dance: Disney Party 2 (Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One) will have you beboppin’ and scattin’ all over your living room one more time.
Finally this week, Microsoft is releasing Halo 5: Guardians a week early if you’re willing to pay extra for it (sort of). The Limited Collector’s Edition includes a digital download of the game, but it won’t unlock until next Tuesday, October 27. You can also spring for the 1 TB Xbox One + Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition Bundle, which features a Halo-themed Xbox One system, along with a digital download of Halo 5 that won’t unlock until next Tuesday.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Guitar Hero Live, Halo 5: Guardians, Just Dance 2016, Tales of Zestiria, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
Dragon Quest Heroes, Minecraft: Story Mode, Wasteland 2, more added to PS Store
Fans of epic stories will find a lot to like in this week’s PlayStation Store update.
First up, Square Enix and Koei Tecmo have teamed up to create Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below (PS4), a Warriors-style game that’s based on the popular Dragon Quest franchise and features the beloved monster designs of Akira Toriyama.
Also available this week is the first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode (PS4, PS3), Telltale’s recent collaboration with Mojang. Combining Minecraft’s distinctive visual style with an original story and an accomplished voice cast, Episode 1: The Order of the Stone should ensnare fans of Minecraft as well as Telltale’s patented brand of adventure gaming.
Finally this week, Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut (PS4) is a strategy RPG that’s also a direct sequel to the 1988 game that served as the inspiration for the Fallout franchise. That’s like a double dose of epic.
More information on all of these games (and the rest of this week’s new releases) can be found after the break. And, as always, a full 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 Dragon Quest Heroes, Minecraft: Story Mode, Wasteland 2
Treyarch delivers a thick coat of pulpy noir in this prologue to CoD: Black Ops III Zombies
The hardboiled detectives and wicked dames of noir fiction have lead to the genre’s continued popularity for more than 90 years. And why not? Noir films and books all feature bad people doing bad deeds before meeting a bad end… which makes it the perfect environment for an undead uprising.
Treyarch came to the same conclusion when developing Call of Duty: Black Ops III as the franchise’s famed Zombies Mode will flashback to the 1940s in “Shadows of Evil,” a morally ambiguous tale of good and evil that stars Jeff Goldblum (as The Magician), Heather Graham (as The Femme Fatale), Ron Perlman (as The Boxer), and Neal McDonough (as The Cop). The developer recently screened the co-op mode’s prologue at the New York Comic-Con, and yesterday, they released it for public consumption. Film noir fans will enjoy the period touches, but like I said, these are bad people people who’ve done bad deeds. Can you keep them from a bad end?
Be sure to watch the prologue again and let’s all find out together when Call of Duty: Black Ops III is released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on November 6.
New Releases: Yoshi’s Woolly World, Dragon Quest Heroes, Wasteland 2, More
Wooly dinosaurs, dimension-hopping heroes, and the return of a classic strategy RPG series highlight this week in new games.
Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Wii U is Good-Feel’s second attempt at yarn-ifying a beloved Nintendo character. Expanding on many of the ideas they used in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Woolly World is a ridiculously cute side-scroller that’ll also include extensive Amiibo support.
There’s no yarn, but Square Enix and Koei Tecmo tie together the various Dragon Quest dimensions in Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below for the PS4. Much like last year’s Hyrule Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes uses Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors franchise as a template to create a brand new hack and slash game.
If you’re looking for something a little more tactical, this week also marks the release of Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut on the PS4 and Xbox One. More than just a simple turn-based RPG, Wasteland 2 is the first direct sequel to 1988’s Wasteland, which served as the inspiration for the Fallout franchise.
Finally this week, we’ve got a pair of re-releases that might be of interest to those who missed them the first time around. In honor of the movie’s 30th anniversary, Telltale has remastered their Back to the Future game for the PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. And over on the Wii U, Nintendo has finally bundled together New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U on a single disc.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Back to the Future, Dragon Quest Heroes, New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U, Wasteland 2, Yoshi's Woolly World
New Lego Avengers trailer reveals levels based on Iron Man 3, Captain America 1+2, Thor 2
Lego Avengers got a whole lot bigger during a New York Comic-Con panel today as WB Games and TT Games revealed that the game will also include levels based on Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Playable scenes from these four movies will join the previously announced Lego-ized adaptations of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Lego Avengers will be released on January 26, 2016 for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Activision adds 12 “fan-favorite tracks” to Guitar Hero Live
I honestly thought Activision would call it a day after the Guitar Hero Live tracklist ballooned to 110 songs, but it looks like I was wrong. This morning, the publisher announced that 12 more songs would be included on the game disc, all of which have been featured in previous Guitar Hero games. There’s a lot of good stuff to be found in this latest tracklist update, especially if you’re a fan of 80s/90s rock:
- AFI – “Girl’s Not Grey”
- Audioslave – “Cochise”
- Disturbed – “Down with the Sickness”
- Faith No More – “Epic”
- Incubus – “Drive”
- Living Colour – “Cult of Personality”
- Pat Benatar – “Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Live)”
- Queen – “We Are the Champions”
- Ratt – “Round and Round”
- Slipknot – “Before I Forget”
- Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger”
- Warrant – “Cherry Pie”
Guitar Hero Live will be released in less than two weeks, on October 20, for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices. If you want to dive deep into the entire tracklist, Activision has created a Spotify playlist that’ll keep you busy for exactly seven hours and 40 minutes.
Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 5 will be released on October 20
Telltale has announced that Tales From the Borderlands will come to its explosive end during the week of October 20 with the release of the fifth episode, The Vault of the Traveler. If the trailer embedded above is any indication, Rhys and Fiona are in some kind of trouble again, but hopefully a series of humorous shenanigans will help them escape. The complete release schedule for The Vault of the Traveler can be found right here:
- Tuesday, October 20: PC/Mac, PS4, PS3
- Wednesday, October 21: Xbox One, Xbox 360
- Thursday, October 22: iOS App Store, Android’s Google Play Store, Amazon.com Appstore
And if you haven’t had a chance to take Tales From the Borderlands for a ride yet, Telltale wants to remedy that. The developer also announced yesterday that the game’s first episode, Zer0 Sum, is now available as a free download on consoles and mobile devices.