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
CoD: Advanced Warfare Havoc Pack is now available for PC, PS3, PS4
Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s first downloadable expansion, the Havoc Pack, is now available for the PC, PS3, and PS4. The Havoc Pack will include the first episode in “Exo Zombies,” Advanced Warfare’s co-op mode featuring Atlas employees versus an undead horde, as well as four competitive multiplayer maps:
Core: Deploy to the Gobi desert where the ravaged ruins of a nuclear fusion plant set the stage for a high-octane warzone. Take down enemies through the wreckage in long-range combat or get up-close and personal in the tunnels surrounding the central turbine. Activate decontamination drones using the map-based scorestreak to help clean out the competition.
Urban: Prepare yourself for brutal, high-speed combat in Dallas Ward 3, a future mega structure, funneling players into a close-quarters free-for-all. This modular compound’s verticality unleashes the exoskeleton’s capabilities. Stay focused during the timed event as blast doors alter the map’s flow and sightlines.
Sideshow: In the shadow of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, this abandoned inn’s open layout amplifies its creep factor. Blast your way through the clown inn with close-quarters battles or use long-range site-lines from the mining facilities and natural terrain. Use the map-based scorestreak to activate the lights, music, and magic of the clown marquee and rain down a barrage of rainbow smoke-trailed cannonballs.
Drift: An idyllic ski resort high in the Rocky Mountains is transformed into a festive high-altitude playground, perfect for an all-out firefight. Make your way to the highly contested over watch in the glass observation deck or take a ride on the carousel to deliver 360 degrees of carnage. Players can use the map-altering timed event to their advantage as an avalanche of snow and debris disorients players, intensifying the battle.
The Havoc Pack is available to download as part of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s Season Pass. It can also be purchased a la carte for $14.99.
UPDATE: In a post on their Facebook page, Sledgehammer Games has confirmed that the PC release of the Havoc Pack has been delayed until March 3 due to an “unexpected issue.”
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Insert Quarter: Did Batman: Arkham Knight Just Kill the Teen Rating?
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
The gaming world was a tad surprised when Batman: Arkham Knight was awarded an “M For Mature” rating by the ESRB earlier this week, but no one has taken up the “Won’t someone think of the children!” mantle just yet. And that’s probably because the way that gamers treat a Mature-rated game is much different from the way moviegoers react to an R-rated film (to say nothing of the dreaded NC-17).
You might even wonder if this has signaled a shift away from the ESRB’s Teen rating (which has always been considered equivalent of the much-more-popular PG-13 for films). Few games carry a Teen rating in 2015 and nearly every critically acclaimed title of the past decade (BioShock, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto V, and many others) has been slapped with a scarlet “M.” Paul Tassi of Forbes believes the “T For Teen” rating is dead and that it’s unlikely anyone will notice or even care:
Unlike the movie industry, however, a game being rated M is not all that big of a deal. Movies will bend over backward to cut themselves down to PG-13 from an R in order to have a chance at dramatically increasing their box office haul, and there’s only one R-rated movie in the top 25 highest grossing films of all time, The Passion of the Christ. There are 16 PG-13 movies, by contrast, including the first four of the top five.
Gaming is a much different story, with rating hardly seeming to matter at all. M-rated games are routinely best-sellers, and comparatively seven out of the top 25 highest selling video games of all time are rated M, all split between Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty titles, with the non-M games mostly coming from Nintendo ’s E-rated stable. In fact, there isn’t a single T-rated game in the list.
The full article is available for your perusal at Forbes.
Posted in Insert Quarter, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Dragon Quest Heroes will be released for PS4 in US in 2015
Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force successfully turned The Legend of Zelda into a Warriors game last year with the release of Hyrule Warriors. They’re currently performing the same magic on Dragon Quest, with a Japanese launch planned for this week. Today, Square Enix confirmed that Dragon Quest Heroes will also makes its way onto store shelves in North America sometime this year.
Besides Koei Tecmo and Omega Force, many familiar faces from Square Enix have come together to bring Dragon Quest Heroes to the PS4:
In Dragon Quest Heroes, players must rise up against insurmountable odds, challenging swarms of enemies and conquering gigantic monsters. Dragon Quest Heroes comes to the PlayStation 4 system in beautiful high-definition graphics, filled with characters and monsters designed by world-renowned artist Akira Toriyama.
Both Yuji Horii, director and creator of Dragon Quest, and Koichi Sugiyama, the composer closely tied to the series since its first installment and creator of countless memorable musical masterpieces, are closely involved in bringing this title to life. Dragon Quest Heroes is a title not only for Dragon Quest series fans, but also for gamers of all interests to enjoy.
The Dragon Quest franchise has tallied more than 64 million copies sold since its debut in 1986. That number will surely grow with Dragon Quest Heroes and the frenzied response to the franchise in Japan.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Dragon Quest Heroes
Resident Evil Revelations 2, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Starwhal, more added to PS Store
The first episode in the first episodic entry in the Resident Evil series is available now on the PlayStation Store today as Capcom launched Resident Evil Revelations 2 today. “Episode 1: Penal Colony” stars fan favorite Claire Redfield and it can be purchased now on the PS3 or PS4.
Also new this week is a variety of new games including…
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse (PS3, PS4) the latest Dragon Ball game from Bandai Namco.
- Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PS3, PS4), the latest entry in Koei Tecmo’s strategic spinoff series.
- Starwhal (PS3 + PS4 Cross-Buy), a multiplayer game featuring battle space whales.
- Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (PS3), the ultimate edition of the fifth fighting game in Koei Tecmo’s franchise.
More details about these games (and a few more new releases) can be found after the break. 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 Dead or Alive 5, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, Resident Evil Revelations 2, Starwhal
Latest Mortal Kombat X trailer includes all you ever wanted to know about Kitana
Steve Brownback is a Quality Assurance Analyst at NetherRealm Studios and he hosts this latest trailer for Mortal Kombat X. But before Mr. Brownback took a job at the Chicago-based developer, he was a professional gamer on the tournament fighting circuit with an expertise in 2011’s Mortal Kombat and the character of Kitana. And now as a developer, he’s directly influencing Kitana’s design including her three style variations (the defensive “Royal Storm,” the offensive “Assassin,” and the Jade-like “Mournful”). All that and more can be found in this trailer showcasing everyone’s favorite Edenian princess… wait, does Mileena count? Because that would shake up the rankings.
Mortal Kombat X will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
New Street Fighter V trailer teases Nash, M. Bison, PC/PS4 beta
Capcom has released a new trailer for Street Fighter V and it confirmed what we’ve all long suspected… Guile’s buddy Charlie Nash is back! This Charlie looks a bit different than he did in the Street Fighter Alpha series, but his Sonic Boom is just as deadly as ever.
Stick around until the end of the trailer for quick M. Bison tease as well. It’s hard to imagine a Street Fighter game without him, so the announcement feels rather fitting, especially since today is Tuesday.
Finally, Capcom also announced that Street Fighter V will receive an online beta test sometime in the not-so-distant future. How can you get involved? According to Capcom-Unity, everyone who pre-orders the game will be eligible to join the beta. More details on the beta will be announced at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V
Rumor: A new Guitar Hero game will be released this Fall for PS4, Xbox One
Last week, an anonymous source revealed to Bloomberg that Harmonix is looking to revive the Rock Band franchise. Right on cue, another round of rumors have revealed that Activision might bring back the Guitar Hero franchise as well.
Two separate sources recently spoke to Kotaku UK and both are saying the same thing: Guitar Hero 7 (or whatever it ends up being called) is in development for a Fall release on the PS4 and Xbox One. Though before that happens, Activision plans to publicly unveil the game during the 2015 E3 Expo alongside “new guitar peripherals” and a “more realistic” graphical style.
Kotaku UK’s sources also said that Guitar Hero 7 is in development at a west coast studio, which rules out the New York-based Vicarious Visions, the previous home of the franchise. However, Infinity Ward, which absorbed Guitar Hero III developer Neversoft in 2014, is located in California. Interesting… very interesting.
Activision would not confirm the rumors, but they did tell Kotaku UK: “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation, but have previously said, that as one of the most beloved entertainment franchises, we would only bring Guitar Hero back if we developed the right innovations to usher the franchise into the new generation of gaming.”
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Guitar Hero Live
GTA5 PC release slips again as Rockstar synchronizes a March 10 launch for Heists
Just when you thought Grand Theft Auto V was ready to come out for the PC… Rockstar pulls it back in.
Today, the publisher announced that Grand Theft Auto V’s PC edition will miss its previously announced March 24 release date and will launch on April 14 instead. According to Rockstar, the delay is due to the fact that “a bit more time is needed to ensure that the game is as polished as possible, and to make certain that both Heists and the GTA Online experience are ready to roll out on day one for PC.”
But speaking of Heists, Rockstar has also announced that the Heat-inspired multiplayer mode will be ready to go for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on March 10. You can steal a glance at some new screenshots from GTA5’s Heists mode at the Rockstar Newswire.