Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- 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
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
First R.B.I. Baseball 14 screenshots bring back the 80s sports game… literally
Today, Yahoo! Sports published the first screenshots of MLB Advanced Media’s mysterious R.B.I. Baseball 14. The game franchise was incredibly popular in the late 80s and early 90s, and the reboot will respect that heritage with its graphics and gameplay style. R.B.I Baseball 14 sidesteps the heavy duty simulation aspects of 2K’s defunct MLB 2K series and Sony’s upcoming MLB 14: The Show to bring video game baseball back to a simpler time.
But don’t think this means that R.B.I. 14 won’t feature realistic baseball. All 30 MLB teams will be represented and 480 players will be included in the game. And the developers will use real-life game metrics compiled by MLB Advanced Media to create each player’s digital self. But all of these statistics will be in service to a game that doesn’t include online multiplayer (it includes local “couch play” only) and only offers three modes: Season, Postseason, and Exhibition. It’s just like the 80s, but many don’t see that as a bad thing.
“There are people out there who would want by a pixel-by-pixel recreation of a game from that era, and there are people who want something that has more control and has more than eight teams,” said Jamie Leece, MLB Advanced Media’s Vice President of Gaming. “If you take a step back and just play the game, what we’re seeing and hearing is: ‘You’re taking me back,’ ‘It feels like the old games,’ ‘It’s so much fun.'”
R.B.I. Baseball 14 will be available as a downloadable game for the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile platforms in early April (lending credence to this earlier rumor). The game will also slide onto the PS4 and Xbox One “shortly after.”
Get to know Diablo III: Reaper of Souls’ new character class: The Crusader
Diablo III‘s first expansion, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, will be available exclusively for the PC at the end of the month. In addition to a higher level cap and several new gameplay modes, the expansion will give players the option of a new character class: The Crusader.
The Crusader’s origin, and his/her ability to dole out divine justice, is explored in a new trailer for Reaper of Souls that was released today by Blizzard.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls will be available for the PC on March 25. The expansion will also be released for the PS4 sometime this year as part of the “Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition” bundle.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Diablo III
CD Projekt pushes the release of The Witcher 3 into 2015
CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was one of the first games announced for the (then nameless) next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Originally scheduled to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC in late 2014, CD Projekt RED confirmed today that the release of The Witcher 3 has been delayed.
In an open letter to fans and shareholders, the Managing Board of CD Projekt RED has revealed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will now be released in February 2015. The development team believes that the delay will give them enough time to create the game that gamers expect from them:
We recently reexamined what we had achieved thus far, and faced a choice about the game’s final release date. The decision we made was difficult, thoroughly considered, and ultimately clear and obvious. We could have released the game towards the end of this year as we had initially planned. Yet we concluded that a few additional months will let us achieve the quality that will satisfy us, the quality gamers expect from us. Consequently, we have set the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for February 2015.
The full text of the letter can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Sony sends DriveClub “back to the drawing board”
When Sony and Evolution Studios originally announced DriveClub during the PS4 reveal event, it was expected to be a launch title for the next-generation system and a stopgap before the next entry in the Gran Turismo series. Instead, the game’s release was pushed back into February, with plans to launch it alongside the PS4’s Japanese debut. That date came and went, and now the game has been delayed indefinitely.
Speaking to IGN, Scott Rohde, Sony’s Head of Software Product Development, has revealed that DriveClub is undergoing a massive overhaul. More specifically, Evolution is going to take it “back to the drawing board” to ensure it represents the great game the studio originally set out to make when it is finally released:
“What I will say is that it all comes back to that fundamental principle, and that’s that we want to build great games,” Rohde said. “And we really don’t want to release a game before it’s ready. And sometimes, this happens in the normal course of business, where we think we’re on track to deliver what we think is going to be a great game, and when we get closer, we realize that we’d be doing everyone a disservice if we shipped it before it was ready.”
“So, I think that at PlayStation, perhaps more than at other places, we’re willing to kinda eat that [cost],” Rohde continued, “and go back to the drawing board and make sure the game is great before we ship it. And that’s what’s going on right now with that game.”
An unnamed Sony representative would also tell IGN that more details about DriveClub’s future will be revealed soon. So hopefully we won’t have to wait long to find out the game’s new release date.
New Releases: TitanFall, Dark Souls II, Yoshi’s New Island, More
It’s finally here. After a boatload of E3 awards and a hugely successful beta, Respawn’s TitanFall is ready to bring man versus mech multiplayer to the PC and Xbox One this week. And if you haven’t picked up an Xbox One console yet, don’t forget that the Xbox One + TitanFall Bundle will also be available on Tuesday.
If you haven’t upgraded to a next-generation system yet, you’ll probably be pleased to know that From Software will bring Dark Souls II to the PS3 and Xbox 360 next week. If you’re waiting on the PC version, it’ll be available at the end of April.
Finally, Nintendo will make the 3DS a Yoshi-er place this week with the release of Yoshi’s New Island and Tecmo Koei will continue the popular Atelier with the release of Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky on the PS3.
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Dark Souls II, TitanFall, Yoshi's New Island
Rumor: R.B.I. Baseball 14 will be released for PS3, Xbox 360, mobile platforms in April
Back in January, Major League Baseball announced that the R.B.I. Baseball franchise would be coming out of retirement sometime this Spring. Since then, we’ve heard absolutely nothing about the game, but R.B.I. Baseball 14 is supposedly in development for “current and next generation consoles and smartphones and tablets” at MLB Advanced Media, the league’s in-house technology group.
Even though details about R.B.I. Baseball 14 are scarcer than a Mets playoff appearance, Darren Rovell, ESPN’s Sports Business Reporter, has tweeted that the game will be released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile platforms on April 10:
MLBAM has set its release date for R.B.I. Baseball. PS3 & Xbox 360 hits April 10, same for iOS and Android versions.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) March 7, 2014
Can R.B.I. Baseball 14 make its April release date when its little more than a logo and a teaser website right now? I have my doubts, but I guess we’ll see.
Thief Review: Criminally Mediocre
I’ve been a fan of the stealth genre since 1998, when I first played the greatest game ever: Metal Gear Solid. No hyperbole, of course. That’s not to say I don’t like other games in the genre, too: the entire Splinter Cell series is excellent and, more recently, Dishonored was hugely impressive. However, Thief was one I just never played. The loot-em-up is apparently the genesis of some stealth mechanics, such as light meters and sound cues, which were revolutionary achievements in the first person point of view. So, it should have been no surprise that I was incredibly intrigued by this new reimagining of Thief.
Sadly, if opportunity makes a thief, this reboot offers them up sparingly. (more…)
Call of Duty: Ghosts Devastation Pack coming to Xbox One, Xbox 360 on April 3
Activision has announced that the next piece of downloadable content for Call of Duty: Ghosts, the Devastation Map Pack, will be available to download on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on April 3. Like the previous map packs, the Devastation Map Pack, which is priced at $14.99, will add four new maps to the game’s multiplayer mode alongside a new gun and the next Extinction Mode episode.
The Devastation Pack promises plenty of excitement as each of the four maps offers something for every CoD player. “Ruins” will include an erupting volcano, “Collision” is “a mangle of debris,” “Behemoth” is a sniper’s paradise, and “Unearthed” is a recreation of Modern Warfare 3‘s “Dome.” And the pack’s new weapon, the Ripper, is a Sub Machine-Gun (SMG)/Assault Rifle combo that will surely live up to its name.
Finally, the “Mayday” expansion to Ghosts’ Extinction Mode will take place on “a mysterious Chinese research vessel” as the alien hunters come face-to-face with a giant Cryptid known as The Kraken.
If history is any guide, the pack will make its way to the PC, PS3, and PS4 by the end of April. More details on the maps of the Devastation Map Pack can be found after the break. (more…)