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: PS4
Ubisoft will release Watch Dogs 2, For Honor, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole before March 31, 2017
Ubisoft may have put the kibosh on a new Assassin’s Creed game for 2016, but they have big plans for the rest of their portfolio in the near-term, including an official announcement for Watch Dogs 2. Ubisoft has been teasing a sequel to their techno-thriller for quite some time, so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that it’s taking over the release window for Assassin’s Creed (at least temporarily).
However, the further adventures of Aiden Pearce won’t be the only game that Ubisoft will release throughout their 2016-2017 fiscal year. The company also plans to launch For Honor, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and a new “high-potential AAA brand” between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017.
Ubisoft plans to reveal more information about their upcoming slate of games sometime in the next two weeks.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged For Honor, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2
Ubisoft won’t release a new Assassin’s Creed game in Fall 2016
Rumors began swirling a few months ago that Ubisoft was planning to give the Assassin’s Creed franchise a rest in 2016, and now it looks like those whispers were right on the money. In a new post on the UbiBlog, the publisher confirmed that we won’t be returning to the battle between the Assassins and the Templars this Fall:
This year, we also are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin’s Creed franchise. As a result, we’ve decided that there will not be a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2016. Since the release of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback. We’ve also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin’s Creed a premier open-world franchise. We’re taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we’re delivering on the promise of Assassin’s Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone’s playground.
But don’t worry, Ubisoft still has several Assassin’s Creed spinoffs in the pipeline for 2016, including the side-scrolling Assassin’s Creed Chronicles collection that was released last week. The publisher’s Motion Pictures arm will also release the long-awaited Assassin’s Creed feature film, which stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, on December 21.
Ubisoft promised to share more information about the future of the Asssassin’s Creed franchise soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (April – September)
The Spring and Summer months are currently less dense with new releases than the first three months of the year, but that should change fairly soon, especially since publishers have staked a claim to every week from the beginning of April to the end of June with at least one big new release dropping every seven days.
Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Ark: Survival Evolved, Battleborn, Bravely Second: End Layer, Dark Souls III, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2, Doom (2016), Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, Fable Legends, FIFA 17, Gears of War, Homefront: The Revolution, Hyper Light Drifter, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Madden NFL 17, Mighty No. 9, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, NBA 2K17, NHL 17, No Man's Sky, Odin Sphere, Overwatch, Pikmin 4, Quantum Break, Ratchet & Clank, Star Fox Zero, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Umbrella Corps, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, World of Warcraft, Zero Escape Volume 3
Telltale will release first episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne on February 23
Telltale Games has announced that The Walking Dead: Michonne will kick off on February 23 with the release of the first episode, “In Too Deep.” The three-part miniseries will be available for $14.99 and subsequent episodes will launch in March (“Give No Shelter“) and April (“What We Deserve“).
In this premiere episode, “In Too Deep,” Michonne joins Pete and his crew on the sailing ship The Companion as they cruise the coast for survivors and supplies. When a desperate signal for help draws them to a scene of horrific massacre, Michonne and the crew are lead further to the floating survivors’ colony of Monroe, which may just be harboring the person responsible for the carnage.
The Walking Dead: Michonne will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices, but you won’t have to wait until the 23rd to get a look at the game in action. Telltale Games will host an extended preview event on their YouTube page this Sunday, February 14, at 8:30 PM (Eastern Time).
Unravel, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia, Firewatch, and a lot more added to PS Store
EA’s adorable Yarny will make his video game debut on the PlayStation Store this week with the PS4 release of Unravel. The puzzle platformer has captivated the gaming public since its unveiling during last year’s E3 Expo, and it’ll be interesting to see what the megapublisher does with a lower-key superstar like Yarny.
A number of other titles are also now available to download this week including Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia, Ubisoft’s third (and final) side-scrolling spinoff in the Assassin’s Creed series; Firewatch, a first-person adventure about a fire lookout and the woman on the other end of his radio; and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Bandai Namco’s newest game based on the popular anime.
Finally this week, a pair of re-releases will give gamers another shot at a game they may have missed before. Techland will relaunch Dying Light as Dying Light: The Following — Enhanced Edition, which includes the original game and every downloadable expansion released in the past year. Vertex Pop’s We Are Doomed will also get a re-release this week on the PS Vita after launching on the PS4 last year. And it’s Cross-Buy compatible, so if you bought the PS4 version last year, you can grab the portable version for free.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And, as always, a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Far Cry: Primal’s world in this trailer
Far Cry: Primal is just a few weeks away, but Ubisoft wants to adequately prepare players for the harsh environments and savage enemies they’ll face with this new introductory trailer.
You are Takkar, a seasoned warrior of the Winja tribe known as “The Beast Master.” To survive, you must embark on a savage adventure filled with brutal weapons, warring tribes, and mystical journeys. Takkar and his people are at the very bottom of the food chain, threatened by man and beast alike. To overcome his many foes, Takkar has powerful weaponry at his disposal.
The five-minute trailer puts a lot of emphasis on the weapons Takkar will be able to wield in the game including a “Bee Bomb” and an an owl companion who is always by his side. Takkar can also “tame and command wild beasts” including badgers, tigers, and elephants (oh my)! But the trailer also expands outward to focus on rival tribes and the many horrors of day-to-day life in the Stone Age.
If you’re up to the challenge, Far Cry: Primal will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on February 23. The PC edition will launch a week later on March 1.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Far Cry: Primal
Ubisoft will host a Tom Clancy’s The Division Open Beta from February 18 – February 21
After the successful completion of last month’s Closed Beta, Ubisoft has announced plans to offer an Open Beta for Tom Clancy’s The Division beginning on Thursday, February 18 (for Xbox One owners) or Friday, February 19 (for PC and PS4 owners). Regardless of which platform you pledge allegiance to, the beta will close up shop on Sunday, February 21.
The Tom Clancy’s The Division Open Beta will include all of the content from the Closed Beta, as well as an all new story mission. Everyone who participates in the Open Beta will receive a special in-game reward that’ll be unlockable in the full game. The Open Beta is now available to pre-load on all three platforms, and you can check out the trailer embedded above to learn more about the game’s factions.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is a team-based shooter that takes place in New York City during the aftermath of a viral attack on Black Friday. It’ll be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on March 8.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Tom Clancy's The Division
Amazon launches Lumberyard, a free-to-use game development engine for PC and consoles
Amazon has been trying to break into the video game industry for years. First with their Fire Tablet, and then later with the Fire TV and the formation of Amazon Game Studios. But today the web retailer is going one step further with the launch of Lumberyard, a free-to-use 3D game engine that will attempt to compete with Unreal Engine 4 and Unity. Amazon also gave the green light to GameLift today, a paid service that offers assistance with “deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer games.”
Lumberyard is currently compatible with PC and console game development, and Amazon hopes to add support for mobile games and virtual reality experiences in a future update. In addition to a development environment that includes easy access to Amazon Web Services, the engine will be closely integrated with Twitch, the world-famous game streaming service that also happens to be owned by Amazon.
Some of Lumberyard’s other features include:
Create the Highest-Quality Games — Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build rich, engaging, world-class games—from a full-featured editor, to native code performance and stunning visuals, and hundreds of other features like performant networking, cloth physics, character and animation editors, particle editor, UI editor, audio tools, weather effects, vehicle systems, flocking AI, perception handling, camera frameworks, path finding, and more. Developers also have full access to Amazon Lumberyard source code, making it easy to customize the technology to create differentiated gameplay.
Build Live, Online Features in Minutes — Live, online games enjoy higher engagement and retention than offline games. Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting tool, with its drag-and-drop graphical user interface, makes it easy to build connected game features that access AWS, such as DynamoDB, Lambda, and S3. In minutes, game designers can create features such as granting a daily gift or sending in-game notifications without having to write a single line of code. Amazon Lumberyard also comes integrated with AWS’s C++ SDK to provide developers access to dozens of AWS services through native C++ code, the most common language used to make games.
Reach and Engage Fans on Twitch — Amazon Lumberyard is integrated with Twitch so that developers can build gameplay features that engage the more than 1.7 million monthly broadcasters, and more than 100 million monthly viewers on Twitch. With Amazon Lumberyard’s Twitch ChatPlay, developers can use a drag-and-drop visual scripting interface to create gameplay features that let Twitch viewers use chat to directly impact the game they are watching in real-time. For example, with Twitch ChatPlay within Amazon Lumberyard, a developer could build a game that lets viewers on Twitch control a character or vote on game outcomes using chat commands like “up,” “down,” “live,” or “die.” And, the Twitch JoinIn feature within Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build games that allow Twitch broadcasters to instantly invite their live audiences to join them side-by-side in the game, with a single click, while others continue to watch.
More information about Lumberyard and GameLift can be found at Amazon.com.