Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: PS4
ESRB to add “In-Game Purchases” descriptor to games with loot boxes and DLC
In response to the growing furor over loot boxes, especially their similarity to gambling, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has announced plans to create a new descriptor for “In-Game Purchases.”
According to the ESRB, the “In-Game Purchases” label will be affixed to any game that gives players the chance to purchase loot boxes, in-game currency, subscriptions/season passes, and other downloadable content (such as bonus levels, skins, upgrades, and music) with real money.
“The video game industry is evolving and innovating continually, as is the ESRB rating system. ESRB’s goal is to ensure that parents have the most up-to-date and comprehensive tools at their disposal to help them decide which games are appropriate for their children,” said Patricia Vance, the ESRB’s President. “With the new ‘In-Game Purchases’ interactive element coming to physical games, parents will know when a game contains offers for players to purchase additional content. Moreover, we will be expanding our efforts to educate parents about the controls currently at their disposal to manage in-game spending before their kids press Start.”
As part of their push to educate parents on loot boxes and other digital purchases, the ESRB will also launch ParentalTools.org, a new online resource that includes…
- A detailed introduction to the new “In-Game Purchases” and other interactive elements;
- Links to step-by-step guides for setting parental controls to help manage different aspects of video game use in the home, including money and time spent playing; and
- A link to the ESRB Ratings Guide that provides an explanation of ESRB’s three-part rating system.
Players should begin to see games with the “In-Game Purchases” descriptor in stores soon.
New Retail Releases: Payday 2, De Blob 2, Gravel, More
A pair of sequels will find new homes in this week’s New Retail Releases report.
Overkill will bring their cooperative crime simulator, Payday 2, to the Switch for the first time. The developer will add an exclusive new character to the Switch version, as well as a brand new local multiplayer mode. Also new on store shelves this week is THQ Nordic’s De Blob 2 for the PS4 and Xbox One. Originally released in 2011, this remastered version of the game includes a cooperative multiplayer mode and improved graphics.
Italian developer is also burning rubber for retail stores this week with the release of Gravel on the PS4 and Xbox One. Gravel is an off-road racing game that includes several single-player and multiplayer modes.
Finally this week, bargain hunters will be able to pick up Don’t Knock Twice, a horror adventure, and Shiny, a colorful platformer, for the PS4.
And that’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we’ll be back in a few days with a look at all the upcoming additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wins “Game of the Year” at 2018 DICE Awards
Nintendo was definitely the big winner at last night’s DICE Awards presentation. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awarded 11 victories to the consolemaker, including “Game of the Year” for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Link’s newest adventure also received accolades for “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Game Design,” “Game Direction.”
Studio MDHR’s Cuphead received several awards for its outstanding sound and visual at the 2018 DICE Awards, including “Original Music Composition,” “Animation,” and “Art Direction.”
Developers for several other games strode to the stage to collect multiple awards during last night’s ceremony. That list includes Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn (“Story” and “Technical Achievement”), PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (“Action Game of the Year” and “Online Gameplay”), Nintendo’s Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together (“Family Game of the Year” and the “D.I.C.E. Sprite Award”), and Oculus’s Lone Echo/Echo Arena (“Immersive Reality Technical Achievement” and “Immersive Reality Game of the Year”).
Congratulations to everyone who won big at the 2018 DICE Awards. A complete list of all the winners can be found after the break. (more…)
EA’s E3-adjacent EA Play 2018 event will include Battlefield V, Anthem, new EA Sports games, more
UPDATE: EA has announced that “Battlefield 6” will officially be known as Battlefield V.
ORIGINAL STORY: It’s beginning to look a lot like E3…
Even though it’s only February, Electronic Arts has announced the first details of this year’s EA Play event on their official website. As always, the event will run adjacent to the E3 Expo from June 9-11, and it’ll be open to the public.
Fans who visit the Hollywood Palladium during EA Play will get the chance to try out the upcoming Battlefield 6, this year’s slate of EA Sports games, and The Sims 4. An “inside look” at BioWare’s Anthem will also be on display, as well as “a few surprises”:
At EA Play 2018, you will have a chance to play our next Battlefield experience, new EA Sports games, and get an inside look at the stunning new action game, Anthem. The Sims 4 and our mobile games will be on hand, and of course, we have a few surprises as well.
If you are able to make it to Hollywood, we have a lot in store for you: hundreds of game stations, awesome game demos, lots of experiences for attendees and families, including music, art, food, and entertainment for everyone.
Tickets for EA Play 2018 will be available this Spring, and best of all, they’ll be free.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Anthem, Battlefield V, E3 2018, The Sims 4
Monster Hunter: World is king of the jungle… and the bestselling game of January 2018
The Monster Hunter franchise is an absolute phenomenon in Japan, and Capcom has been trying to replicate its success in North America since since Monster Hunter was released for the PS2 in 2004.
It might have taken more than a decade, but it looks like the series finally broke through with Monster Hunter: World, which was the best-selling game of January 2018. According to The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz), Capcom’s unique Action RPG helped push the industry to its best performance in January since 2011.
However, Capcom wasn’t the only publisher to post a monster-sized debut in January. Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Fighter Z fought its way to the #2 slot, beating out some of 2017’s biggest titles, including Call of Duty: WWII (#3) and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (#5).
All told, video game fans purchased more than $517 million in software, as well as $278 million in hardware. Microsoft’s Xbox One, Nintendo’s Switch, and Sony’s PS4 were neck-and-neck-and-neck, and total hardware sales crossed one million units during the month.
You can find the NPD’s recounting of January 2018’s top ten best-selling titles after the break. (more…)
Sega will bring Shining Resonance: Refrain to US this Summer
The Shining series got its start all the way back in 1991, which is when Sega released Shining in the Darkness for its Genesis console. The publisher has since added more than a dozen new games to the franchise, but American audiences haven’t had a chance to play a new Shining game since 2007’s Shining Force EXA.
But that’ll all change this Summer, as Sega has announced that Shining Resonance: Refrain will be released in the US for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One this Summer.
Shining Resonance: Refrain is a real-time action game with music-based attacks that Sega punningly refers to as the B.A.N.D. System. Players will also need to help their team socialize during events and dates to attain “Resonance” on the battlefield for even more powerful attacks.
Yuma has the soul of the Shining Dragon within him, transforming into the ancient beast by unleashing the power conducted through his sword. Dragons, long thought to be extinct, make Yuma a target for the Empire. To use him against the kingdom of Astoria, The Empire captures Yuma. Sonia, princess of Astoria, launches a rescue mission with the help of the Dragoneers. Hearing about the plight of Astoria and their fight to save their land, Yuma decides to aid them. Typically timid, will he find the courage to realize the strength he has within him?
Shining Resonance was originally released for the PS3 in Japan in 2014, and Refrain will add a number of remastered options to the game, including English and Japanese voices, all previously-released DLC, and a Refrain Mode that adds new characters to the game.
Metal Gear Survive, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, more coming to PS Store this week
It’s time for another PlayStation Store update, and it looks like PS4 owners will be able to play a batch of new action-packed games this week
First up is Metal Gear Survive, a spinoff of the Metal Gear franchise that asks players to defend their base from an invading horde of interdimensional zombies. Also available to download this week will be Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, the latest game in Bandai Namco’s Action RPG franchise.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store (including a handful of new Vita games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Metal Gear Survive