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)
Warp Zoned Archives
Most Recent: PS4
Minecraft: Story Mode S2 Ep5, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Ep3, Accounting+, more coming to PS Store this week
Sony is sliding into the Christmas holiday with a slight PlayStation Store update, but it does include the finales of two of 2017’s biggest episodic games.
Telltale Games will launch Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 – Episode 5: Above and Beyond for the PS4, putting a cap on a second round of adventures for Jesse and friends. And Square Enix will release Life Is Strange: Before the Storm – Episode 3: Hell Is Empty for the PS4, bringing Chloe’s prequel journey to an end.
Also available to download this week is Accounting+, a PlayStation VR-powered “nightmare adventure comedy” from Justin Roiland (one half of the Rick and Morty team).
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2
Call of Duty: WWII leads a huge month for game sales as best-selling game of Nov. 2017

Fans have been asking to send the Call of Duty franchise back to the European Theater for years, and now that Activision has finally delivered, those same fans have gleefully opened their wallets. According to The NPD Group, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game in November, as well as the best-selling game in all of 2017 (so far).
Call of Duty: WWII’s launch helped push November 2017’s total game, hardware, and accessory sales to $2.7 billion, an increase of 30% over last year. Other big performers that fuled the last four weeks of sales included Star Wars: Battlefront II (#2), Assassin’s Creed Origins (#3), Super Mario Odyssey (#6), and a big debut for Need For Speed: Payback (#8).
The complete Top 20 from last month can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII, Destiny 2, FIFA 18, Grand Theft Auto V, Just Dance 2018, Madden NFL 18, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, NBA 2K18, Need For Speed Payback, NPD, Pokemon Sun/Moon, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Sims 4, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, WWE 2K18
Here’s a trailer for the season finale of Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2… which launches on December 19
Telltale Games has announced that Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 will come to an end on December 19. That’s because the season finale, Episode 5: Above and Beyond, will be released next week for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices. Naturally, Jesse and friends will need to perform some bigtime heroics to make it out alive:
The home Jesse left so long ago — Beacontown — has succumbed to the iron rule of the Admin. Menacing guards patrol the streets, anxious citizens tremble in fear, and worst of all, everyone believes Jesse is responsible thanks to the Admin’s devious disguise. In order to save the city, the real Jesse must find a way to zap the Admin’s powers and take him down once and for all…
And as long as you’re all caught up, a new trailer for Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 – Episode 5: Above and Beyond has been embedded above.
Okami HD, Papers Please, Romancing Saga 2, more coming to PS Store this week
Fresh off this year’s PlayStation Experience, Sony has added a fresh batch of new games to the PlayStation Store.
Leading the pack (yes, that’s a dog joke) is Okami HD, a PS4 re-release of Capcom’s beloved action adventure. Players will once again be able to follow Amaterasu on her quest to defeat Orochi, and the game’s sumi-e ink art style is now available in 4K resolution.
Going slightly smaller is the launch of Lucas Pope’s Papers Please on the Vita. The Communist immigration inspector simulation made a big splash on the PC in 2013, and a portable version is now available for Sony’s handheld.
Finally this week, Square Enix will bring Romancing Saga 2 to the PS4 and Vita on Friday, December 15. The turn-based RPG was originally released for the Super NES in 1993, this new version will include enhanced graphics, as well as a new dungeon, two new character classes, a new “Avalonian Gardens” game system, an additional scenario, and a New Game Plus mode.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Overwatch’s “Winter Wonderland” event begins today
Starting today, Overwatch players will once again get to walk through a “Winter Wonderland.” Players will be able to take part in the seasonal event until January 2nd, which will include more holiday-themed loot, two “Mei-themed brawls,” and a few redecorated maps:
Winter Wonderland has returned to Overwatch! From now until January 2, take a stroll through the decked halls of Hanamura, King’s Row, and Black Forest, put your enemies on ice in not one, but two Mei-themed brawls, and unwrap all new holiday-themed loot including legendary skins like Casual Hanzo, Rime Sombra, Beachrat Junkrat, Snow Owl Ana, and more.
Stay frosty, heroes, and happy holidays from all of us at Blizzard!
Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch’s Director, had more to say about this year’s “Winter Wonderland” event in the latest Developer Update video. You can find it after the break. (more…)
Bandai Namco delays Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom again… this time to March 23, 2018
Bandai Namco and Level-5 have announced another delay for Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Previously scheduled to launch in January, the RPG will now be released for the PC and PS4 on March 23, 2018.
According to Level-5’s CEO, Akihiro Hino, the delay was necessary to make sure “everything works together in a fun and cohesive way”:
As you all know, Level-5 is committed to delivering the highest levels of design and quality in each of our titles. The development of our latest project, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, is coming along very nicely and we can’t wait to share this new adventure with you, our fans. In an effort to constantly innovate, we’ve also implemented new modes in Ni no Kuni II, including the new Skirmish and Kingdom Modes.
However, with innovation and new ideas comes the need to ensure everything works together in a fun and cohesive way; this means we’ll need a bit more time to make sure the entire Ni No Kuni II experience meets our highest quality standards. So today, I would like to ask for everyone’s patience as we move Ni No Kuni II’s worldwide release date to March 23, 2018. We will be sharing more news about Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom in the coming weeks and months as we move closer to our new launch date. On behalf of everyone at Level-5, I want to thank you all for your patience and continued support.
Akihiro Hino – President & CEO of Level-5
In addition to the delay, Bandai Namco unveiled a new trailer for Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom that focuses on the game’s Japanese voicework, and it’s been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
New Retail Releases: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Resident Evil 7 Gold, Okami HD, More

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the wildly popular battle royale from PUBG Corporation, will make its way to the Xbox One this week, and Microsoft has teamed up with the developer to sell a special Retail Edition of the game. However, prospective buyers might like to know the box only contains a download code for the game.
Elsewhere on store shelves this week, Capcom will release Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – Gold Edition for the PS4 and Xbox One. The Gold Edition includes the original game, as well as all three downloadable expansions (Banned Footage Vol. 1, Banned Footage Vol. 2, and End of Zoe). The Not A Hero expansion, which stars series mainstay Chris Redfield, will also be available as a free download for all players this week.
Speaking of Capcom, the publisher will also launch Okami HD for the PS4 and Xbox One this week with graphics “enhanced for modern displays.”
Finally, Edmund McMillen (one half of Team Meat) will bring his nwe platformer, The End Is Nigh, to the Switch.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Okami, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Capcom unveils Opening Cinematic for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition along with Season 3’s DLC characters
It looks like Street Fighter V‘s third year is going to be big. And Capcom wants to show fans how big by fully unveiling the fighters included in the Season 3 Character Pass in a new trailer. The season will begin on January 16 with the release of Sakura, who made her first appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 2. Players who purchase the Season 3 Character Pass (for $29.99) will also receive access to Blanka, Cody, Sagat, and newcomers Falke and G throughout 2018.
A new post on the Capcom-Unity blog offers up some details on how her fighting style will change in Street Fighter V:
About Sakura
First appearing in Street Fighter Alpha 2, Ryu’s number one fan returns to the series with a new outlook on life. After graduating high school, Sakura now works part-time at an arcade, but wonders what decisions she needs to make in order to be satisfied with her future.This time, Sakura has a new move, Tengyo Hadoken, where she fires a fireball diagonally into the air that can act as an anti-air. In addition, her V-System that is detailed below gives her more tools to open up opponents. Overall, Sakura’s fighting style remains similar to her past appearances as she pummels opponents with flurries of quick attacks along with her trademark Hadoken, Shouoken, and Shunpukyaku.
V-Skill: Haru Kaze
Sakura leaps into the air towards the opponent, which can then be followed up by three different options. Hitting punch will result in one of her signature moves, Sakura Otoshi, which can be pressed up to three times to continue the combo. Following up with a kick will trigger Oukakyaku, a forward flip that can act as a divekick. Finally, pressing throw (LP+LK) after Haru Kaze will result in Kashinfu, a command grab that that sees Sakura using her opponent as a spring board to jump back.V-Trigger I: Haru Arashi
Upon activation, Sakura’s fists are enveloped by blue energy that powers up Hadoken and Tengyo Hadoken, giving them both an additional hit. Landing a hit will also cause your opponent to be put into a juggle state giving you an opportunity to land additional attacks. She can also press HP+HK again to use Hogasho, a powerful palm thrust.V-Trigger II: Sakura Senpu
This time, Sakura’s fists and feet become enveloped by blue energy that powers up Shouoken and Shunpukyaku. Landing a hit will send your opponent flying into the air where you can cancel into V-Skill to follow up with either Sakura Otoshi or Oukakyaku. Both moves are improvements to their EX version and can be performed up to four times before Sakura Senpu ends.Critical Art: Sakura Rain
Sakura’s Critical Art draws inspiration from her past Super Combos. If used away from the opponent, it will only be a high-damaging Hadoken. However, if Sakura can land this Critical Art right next to the opponent, it’ll go into a special animation that deals significantly more damage.
Capcom also revealed the Opening Cinematic from Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, an updated version of the game that’ll include downloadable access to all Season 1 and Season 2 characters. The Arcade Edition will be available for the PC and PS4 on January 16, and you can view the Opening Cinematic (which features appearances from all six Season 3 characters) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Street Fighter V







