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
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the best-selling game of 2015; CoD franchise sells more than 250 million copies since 2003
The numbers have been tabulated and the Call of Duty franchise once again reigns supreme over all other video games.
According to The NPD Group’s yearly report of retail releases, Call of Duty: Black Ops III was the best-selling game in 2015, besting EA’s Madden NFL 16 (#2) and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (#3). The Call of Duty franchise also controlled the back end of the list with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare taking the #10 spot. Activision’s Scott Lowe added (by way of the Activision Games Blog) that the entire franchise has sold more than 250 million copies since the release of Call of Duty in 2003.
Believe it or not, games outside the Call of Duty franchise found success in 2015 as well, though most of them were released after July 1st including Star Wars: Battlefront (#4), NBA 2K16 (#6), and FIFA 16 (#9). The only game to break that trend (aside from a few 2014 stragglers like Advanced Warfare) was Mortal Kombat X (#8), which was released in April. The game-playing public may not always like it, but this does explain why publishers constantly strive to release their games in the back half of the year.
On the hardware side, console sales surged in 2015, as the PS4 and Xbox One continued to outpace the PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS4 was the overall winner in 2015, but NPD analyst Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz that both platforms did well: “After 26 months of sales, the combined cumulative sales of Xbox One and PS4 exceeds the 26 month total of the PS3 and Xbox 360 by 47 percent,”
The NPD’s list of the top ten best-selling games for 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Fallout 4, FIFA 16, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 16, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K16, NPD, Star Wars: Battlefront
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
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, The Banner Saga, Gone Home, more added to PS Store
The PS4 gets the spotlight in this week’s PlayStation Store update as six new games are now available to download for the new-generation console.
Leading the way this week is a pair of indie favorites including The Banner Saga, Stoic’s Viking-themed tactical RPG, and Gone Home, Fulbright’s emotional first-person exploration game. Also available this week is Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, the second game in Ubisoft’s side-scrolling spinoff series to the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
Finally this week, Sony will expand their lineup of PS2-On-PS4 games with the release of Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, a well-liked (but not very well-known) RPG from 2003.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) is available after the break. And a complete look at this week’s new game add-ons and discounts (including a “PlayStation Essentials Sale”) can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, Gone Home, Tharsis, The Banner Saga
Psychonauts will be released for the PS4 this Spring
With the sequel now fully-funded through Fig, Double Fine is also working to reacquaint the gaming public with the original Psychonauts. So the developer stopped by the PlayStation Blog today to announce that the PS2 classic will be available to download for the PS4 this Spring:
Psychonauts follows the story of a young psychic named Razputin in his quest to join an elite group of international psychic secret agents, the Psychonauts! He runs away from the circus and breaks into their secret training facility, Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.
As he begins his training by psychically delving inside the consciousnesses of his tutors and those around him, he realizes all is not as it seems, and soon embarks upon a psychic odyssey through a variety of levels set inside the minds of misfits, monsters, and madmen!
Like other PS2-On-PS4 releases, the unique visual style of Psychonauts will be uprendered to 1080p on the PS4. The game will also include support for Trophies, Remote Play, Live Broadcast, Share Play, and Activity Feeds.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Psychonauts
Deep Silver confirms May 17 release date for Homefront: The Revolution
Confirming last week’s release date leak, Deep Silver has announced that Homefront: The Revolution will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 17. The publisher has also released “This Is Philadelphia,” a brand new trailer that shows what it’s like to live in the game’s Korean-occupied “Yellow Zone” (Wait, really?):
In the “This Is Philadelphia” trailer released today, citizens get their first chilling glimpse into the world of Occupied Philadelphia in the year 2029: The birthplace of American freedom has been split into three occupied zones, each zone varying in the level of KPA police activity with each unique zone forcing players to adapt new gameplay strategies in order to further the progress of The Revolution. The “This Is Philadelphia” trailer showcases the unforgiving Yellow Zone, distinct from the war-ravaged wastelands of the Red Zone, and the highly militarized Green Zones, the Yellow Zone is a densely populated environment offering a unique challenge and gameplay experience to would-be Freedom Fighters.
Xbox One owners who are interested in joining a Homefront: The Revolution closed beta this February can head over to Homefront-Game.com to register for a chance to receive a Beta Token from Deep Silver.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Homefront: The Revolution
Gameplay trailer for Mortal Kombat X: Kombat Pack 2 released
WB Games wants you to have a bloody good Tuesday as they’ve released the first gameplay for Mortal Kombat X‘s upcoming Kombat Pack 2 DLC. In development now at NetherRealm Studios, Kombat Pack 2 will add four new fighters to the game: Leatherface (from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), the Xenomorph (from Alien), Bo Rai Cho, and Tri-Borg (a composite character that fuses together Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke). The new characters are incredibly fast and the chainsaw-fu practiced by Leatherface (against Jason Voorhees, I might add) is incredible.
Players who purchase Kombat Pack 2 will also receive a fifth playable character, the mighty Goro, and a number of costumes that were previously exclusive to Mortal Kombat X pre-order customers:
- Goro – The feral, four-armed Shokan warrior will be available as a playable combatant.
- Brazil Pack – The Brazil Pack features three new character skins: Futbol Cage, Capoeira Liu Kang, and Gaucho Kung Lao.
- Kold War Pack – The Kold War Pack includes three new character skins: Motherland Sonya, Tundra Sub-Zero, and Revolution Kano.
- Kold War Scorpion – Kold War-themed Scorpion character skin.
- Apocalypse Pack (Never-Before-Released) – The Apocalypse Pack features three new character skins, reimagining characters Takeda, D’Vorah, and Erron Black with an apocalyptic theme.
NetherRealm will release Kombat Pack 2 sometime in 2016, though they’ve previously said that all four characters will be available in early 2016.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Mortal Kombat X