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
ZombiU drops the “U” and will be available to download on PC, PS4, Xbox One on August 18
Ubisoft has announced that ZombiU, one of the best games available during the Wii U’s launch window, will be available to download on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One beginning August 18. While it’s the same ZombiU that Wii U players fell in love with, the game’s new destinations have necessitated a name change to Zombi.
After being one of the Wii U flagship titles in 2012, Zombi returns to challenge gamers on multiple new platforms to find out how long they can survive in the dilapidated, infected London. For the second time in history, a great plague has shrouded the city in a fog of death and thousands have died, or worse, been infected by a sickness more gruesome than death. Once again, this fear-fueled first-person shooter invites all players to dive into the horror, chaos and tension found in the best of the genre.
Zombi’s permadeath mechanic will once again force players to think strategically to survive (or to risk it all to regain their loot if they don’t). The “bug-out bag,” which was only accessible through the Wii U GamePad, will also be back in some form. Probably through a pause screen that doesn’t pause the action or a second screen app.
London Bridge is falling down…
It’s Always Blocky in Minecraft… because Rob McElhenney is directing the movie
Have you heard? Word on the Internet is that there’s going to be a Minecraft movie coming out… sometime. There’s really no information on it just yet. But here’s one thing we do know, the director of the film has been announced to be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney.
McElhenney has mad credits on Sunny for creating, writing, producing, directing, and starring as Ronald “Mac” McDonald… not to mention snagging colleague and funny lady Kaitlin Olson. The announcement was made in a succinct blog post from Mojang, which offered no other information about the project. While McElhenney’s ascension to the position remains a temporarily confusing but delightful mystery, we have noticed some fun similarities between Minecraft and several recurring Sunny characters.
Minecraft aficionados will certainly remember the Creepers, which are very reminiscent of the infamous Green Man (Charlie Day’s Charlie, high out of his mind, in a full-body green spandex suit), who first debuted in the season three episode “The Gang Gets Invincible.” And who can forget Day Man and the creepily suggestive Night Man, which viewers may recall from Charlie’s weird musical, “The Nightman Cometh,” from the end of season four. Both characters seem to parallel the protagonist “Steve” and the mysterious Enderman.
With these concurrent elements in mind, McElhenney now seems like a natural fit for the film. It almost begs the question, was Notch just a huge Sunny fan all along?
Players will be able to unlock Premium Show DLC in Guitar Hero Live by completing songs
Like Street Fighter V and it’s two-tiered “Fight Money/Zenny” system, Activision is also planning to give players the opportunity to unlock paid DLC in Guitar Hero Live with in-game currency.
Players will be able to purchase Hero Cash, which can be exchanged for “Premium Shows” in Guitar Hero Live’s GHTV mode. But if you’d prefer to skip all that and just buy the DLC content with cold hard cash, that’s an option too. Activision’s Matt Clark drummed up a rundown of the system at the Activision Games Blog:
When a new Premium Show launches on the GHTV service, players will have the ability to unlock it by completing a set challenge. To gain access, you’ll have to complete songs and hit a certain star level—Guitar Hero’s system for measuring your performance. So, if you do a great job playing a particular song, you’ll gain admission to new Premium Content, such as live concert videos and more. But if you want to save time and get instantaneous access, you can also unlock Premium Content immediately with a simple purchase via Hero Cash. Premium Content also offers unique prizes, like Note Highways, player cards, and more.
Guitar Hero Live will be available for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices on October 20.
PS Store Today: N++, King’s Quest Chapter 1, Life Is Strange Episode 4, more
Sony’s PSN Play 2015 promotion continues this week with the release of N++ (PS4), a minimalist side-scroller where players take control of a gold-seeking ninja. Leap wide chasms, avoid obstacles, and watch out for those rockets! N++ is packed with hundreds of hand-crafted levels and an extensive level editor to create and share even more.
Also available this week is new entries in a pair of episodic adventure games. Life Is Strange: Dark Room (PS3, PS4) is the fourth episode in Dontnod’s apocalyptic tale and Max finally gets an eyeful of just how dangerous time travel can be. But danger is the name of the game in King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember (PS3, PS4), the first episode in The Odd Gentlemen’s reboot of the classic adventure series. Though I doubt a game described as “whimsical” and “charming” by its developers deals with the end of the world.
But speaking of the end of the world, another group of teenagers will have to stop a monstrous evil, actually named “The End,” from destroying the world in Atlus’s Lost Dimension. The twist this time is that the 11 kids at the center of the story are psychics and at least one is a traitor. You’d think a group of psychics wouldn’t have a problem with that kind of treachery…
Finally this week, we end with another dash of “whimsical” and “charming” with Legend of Kay Anniversary (PS3, PS4). A remaster of a ten-year-old PS2 game starring a feline samuari, Legend of Kay Anniversary is nothing if not adorable.
More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. And a complete 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, Legend of Kay Anniversary, Life Is Strange, N++
Bethesda literally CANNOT make any more Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Editions
Bethesda set off a fanboy frenzy when they announced Fallout 4‘s special Pip-Boy Edition. The limited edition, which was priced at $120, will include a smartphone cradle shaped like a Pip-Boy. Best of all, the publisher is also developing a Pip-Boy app which will control various in-game functions. But I hope you’ve already placed your order because Bethesda literally can’t make any more.
Bethesda’s Vice President of Marketing, Pete Hines, told GameSpot that the factory they contracted with to produce the Pip-Boy Edition has reached manufacturing capacity. While the company would love to produce more, they literally can’t.
“We reached a point where we’d go back to the factories and they were like, ‘[G]uys, this is it, sorry. This is as long as we can run the lines and as many of them as we can make.'”
He continued: “They’re being made today, it’s not like they’re done and sitting in a warehouse. [The factories would tell us,] this is what the yields say. I mean, we don’t make [the Pip-Boy Editions], and we’d go back to [the factories] and say, ‘Demand for this is insane, we’ve got to make more.’ And they’d move other projects off or shift stuff to other factories and it just came to [them telling Bethesda], ‘Final answer: sorry, this is as many as we can make.’ And we sold every single one of those that we could.”
Hines wouldn’t elaborate on exactly how many Pip-Boy Editions will be produced, but he did say that “a shitload” are currently being manufactured. In fact, Hines is confident that more Pip-Boy Editions will be produced than any other collector’s edition Bethesda has published.
Fallout 4 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 10. If you missed out on the Pip-Boy Edition, I’m sure they’ll appear on eBay before too long.
Capcom postpones first Street Fighter V beta test
Street Fighter V‘s first beta test began last Thursday, July 23, but players struggled with poor connections and server issues. Yesterday, Capcom announced (via the Capcom-Unity blog) that they would postpone the rest of the test due to these issues:
Capcom offers its sincerest apologies to everyone who participated in this first beta test. While the purpose of a beta is to work out these type of issues, it was very clear that the issues we faced were more severe than we were prepared for. After three days of testing, while we were making progress and collecting valuable data, we felt the majority of players were not having a good experience, and the best course of action would be to take the servers offline for extended maintenance. We will be postponing our first beta phase until we believe the experience is going to be a positive one for players.
After they get the kinks worked out, Capcom plans to offer at least three more beta tests before Street Fighter V’s Spring 2016 release. As a further apology, Capcom will also offer every player who missed out on the beta a “worthwhile in-game incentive.” Capcom will announce dates for future beta tests and more information about the “worthwhile in-game incentive” sometime in the future.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time announced for 3DS, PS4, Nintendo’s NX
Square Enix announced the next game in the long-running Dragon Quest franchise today, while also kicking off the frenzy for more information on Nintendo’s NX system.
Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time is the name of the next game in the series and its in development for the 3DS, PS4, and Nintendo’s NX system. The announcement event was held in Japan, and currently, Square Enix has only confirmed that the game will receive a Japanese release. However, we Dragon Quest fans in America should remain hopeful as the eleventh entry in the series will drop the MMO style of Dragon Quest X and return to the franchise’s single-player roots.
Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time will be directed by Yuji Horii, with character designs by Akira Toriyama, and music by Koichi Sugiyama. A development house by the name of Orca will assist with the game’s production.
We don’t know much else about the game at this point, though we do know that the 3DS version will include a 3D game world on the top screen and a 2D sprite-based world map on the bottom screen. It’s a pretty neat effect and could make the handheld version of Dragon Quest XI the one to get. We also know that Toy Logic will assist in the development of the 3DS version.
A release date for Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time wasn’t announced, but you can watch the reveal presentation above (apologies, but it’s entirely in Japanese).
Posted in 3DS, News, PS4, Switch
Tagged Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
The Frames Per Second Fight is Just the Return of the Bit Wars… We All Need to Move On
Unlike many in the video game community, I don’t have fond memories of gaming as a child. It wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 when I got a PS2 for Christmas that I got serious about my gaming. Before that, video games were an entirely foreign concept to me, though I did play my sister’s Super Nintendo from time to time. We’d play Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, and Paperboy 2; it was the only time when we weren’t trying to kill each other. My dad was into games back then too, playing old adventure games like Riven and Myst.
As my interest in gaming grew, so too did my interest in gaming’s history. Time and time again in my halfhearted and aimless research I became aware of the fanboy subculture. In those days, I was a Sony fanboy, but the art of emotionally investing in a multi-million dollar company that didn’t care about its individual customers was more refined in the height of the Sega and Nintendo wars. (more…)