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
- 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
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: Xbox 360
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Atari cartridges found in New Mexico landfill
While it was long suspected that millions of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial cartridges were buried in an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill after the great “Video Game Crash of 1983” an Xbox-sponsored dig has finally proven that the failed console company did indeed bury a variety of unsold cartridges in the desert. Historical sources (such as The New York Times) stated the mass burial as fact at the time, but over the years, a number of former Atari executives denied (and occasionally, confirmed) that the cartridges had been discarded.
Today’s dig is part of a planned documentary due to be distributed through Xbox Live by the newly-formed Xbox Entertainment Studios. Zak Penn, the co-writer of X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk is leading the dig as well as directing the documentary.
Before the dig began, Penn told IGN: “Other than garbage and the truth, I have no idea what we’ll find. I think that’s what’s exciting, we won’t know exactly what’s down there until they start digging.”
Well, now we know (knowing is half the battle). One of video gaming’s great urban legends is a legend no more. It is truth. And that’s kind of awesome.
XBL Store Today: Dustforce
Dustforce, Capcom’s janitorial platformer, is now available to download on the Xbox 360 through the console’s Xbox Live Game Store. Previously released for the PS3 and Vita in February, Dustforce carries the same $9.99 price on the Xbox 360.
Here’s what it’s all about, in case “janitorial platformer” didn’t tip you off:
Dustforce ($9.99)
Clean up the world with style! As an acrobatic janitor, you are an adept force against dust and disorder. Leap and dash off walls and ceilings, and deftly traverse precarious environments. Cleanse each level swiftly and thoroughly to achieve mastery in this 2D sweep-’em-up platformer.
Mad Max “Magnum Opus” trailer shows customizable cars and new 2015 release date
WB Games has released a new trailer for their Mad Max game that highlights the vehicles Max and the bandit gangs drive through The Wasteland. The customizable car designs shown in the trailer, including the “Magnum Opus,” a replacement for Max’s “Interceptor,” are also meant to promote a Mad Max-themed episode of West Coast Customs, which will air this Sunday, April 27, on Fox Sports 2 at 10:00 PM (Eastern).
A spearate version of the trailer was also released by WB Games UK with a troubling addendum… a new (and delayed) release date. The Avalanche Studios-developed Mad Max was originally scheduled to be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this year, but a tag at the end of the UK trailer revealed the game’s new date: 2015. Perhaps this applies only to the UK, but that seems unlikely. Instead, we’ll have to warrior on and deal with the news that Max has been pushed down the road into 2015.
Skylanders: Trap Team introduces a new Portal on October 5
Toys For Bob, the original development team behind the Skylanders phenomenon, will return for the next game in the series… Skylanders: Trap Team. Trap Team will be available on October 5 for the PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, and, for the first time, the PS4 and Xbox One. A 3DS version of the game, which Activision is calling a “completely unique adventure,” will also be released on October 5.
Trap Team introduces a new gameplay mechanic to the Skylanders universe and requires a new Portal accessory for the game’s figures, the Traptanium Portal. With the Traptanium Portal, the Skylanders will turn into quasi-Ghostbusters and trap some of the game’s biggest baddies. After trapping them in the Portal using a Trap Master token, players can send the villains back into the game as reformed heroes.
In Skylanders: Trap Team, Kaos continues his ongoing quest to rule over Skylands. He has discovered the location of the legendary Cloudcracker Prison — a fortress built entirely out of the magical substance Traptanium and home to Skylands’ most nefarious baddies. In an attempt to build his own army of foes, Kaos blows up the prison, releasing the most wanted villains and blasting shards of Traptanium to Earth in the form of Traps. Now it’s up to Portal Masters to recapture all of the escaped villains using powerful Traptanium Traps and defeat Kaos before it’s too late! The new adventure delivers a diverse and dynamic story-driven gameplay experience, filled with adventure, combat, puzzles, mini-games, activities, platforming and drop-in/drop-out co-op play — all set within new compelling environments.
As you might expect, an entirely new line of Skylanders figures will be available alongside Trap Team’s October launch including a new series known as Trap Masters, new “Core Skylanders” characters, and reposed “fan-favorite Skylanders characters.” Your wallet will be sorry.
Can Watch Dogs hack it as a movie? Ubisoft and Zombieland writers think so
Even though it’s still a few weeks from release, Deadline is reporting that Sony Pictures and New Regency are collaborating with Ubisoft to produce a film adaptation of Watch Dogs. The film version of Aiden Pearce’s quest for vengeance will be written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the screenwriting duo behind Zombieland.
Watch Dogs isn’t the only Ubisoft property currently stationed in New Regency’s production office. The company is also adapting Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed. Tom Hardy is set to star as Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell adaptation while Assassin’s Creed will feature Michael Fassbender (though its unknown if he will play Altair, Ezio, Desmond, or someone else entirely).
It’s currently unknown who will play superhacker Aiden Pearce, but I could see Jim Caviezel doing a good job with the role. Oh, wait…
Rayman Legends Review: Old School Bliss
You can go ahead and keep your “Last of Uses” and your “Grand Theft Autos” – when it comes to amazing titles of the previous generation, I’d put Rayman Origins at the top of my list. The game was perfect in so many ways. The animation, the music, the gameplay – every aspect of that game was a work of art. And although it had quite a bumpy ride – going from a Wii U exclusive to being delayed to releasing on all consoles – its sequel, Rayman Legends is finally available for the next-generation consoles… and not much has changed. It’s more of the same from Rayman and his buddies, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. (more…)
The Evil Within Preview: Shinji Mikami Made A Game With Zombies In It (Again)
Marketing a horror title is tricky business. If you give away too much, that will spoil the scares and dissipate the tension. But you also don’t want to play things too close to the vest, as then your audience won’t have any clue what to expect. This has been the problem for Bethesda’s The Evil Within almost from the start.
The Evil Within is in development at Shinji Mikami’s new studio, Tango Gameworks. Mikami is most famous for creating Resident Evil and the franchise’s signature sequel, Resident Evil 4. So far, The Evil Within’s marketing has lead audiences to believe that it would be a tense and claustrophobic affair that would force players to run and hide from the imposing and seemingly unstoppable residents of the game’s sanitarium setting. But during a live demo presentation during the 2014 PAX East convention, we got to see a new side of The Evil Within that belies the game’s previous marketing approach and goes in a different (and not altogether wanted) direction. (more…)
Posted in PC, Previews, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged PAX East 2014, The Evil Within
XBL Store Today: Warface, Defense Technica
The full version of Crytek’s ridiculously-named free-to-play first person shooter, Warface, is now available to download through the Xbox Live Game Store. If you’re not a fan of war being right in your face, a new tower defense game, Defense Technica, was also released today.
More information on both Xbox 360 games can be found in their Dashboard descriptions (Defense Technica’s, it should be noted, has not been edited in any way):
Warface (Free)
Engage in explosive action with this exhilarating free-to-play FPS from Crytek, keeping you on your toes with daily new missions. Master four soldier classes as you team up to complete daring Co-op raids or dominate Versus modes. Join the battle with unique assault moves and real-time weapon customization.
Defense Technica ($9.99)
The new revolution of Tower defence! Defence Technica! A project ‘Noah’ is now released to defeat the cruel invader Hergus and save the world. You should defend the core and struggle against the constantly rushing enemy in the battlefield where attack paths and the land, or weather are changed in real-time. You will be amazed at the gorgeous landscape in the beautiful graphic of Defence Technica. Upgrade various weapons to the enemy’s attribute. Predict and decide promptly how and when to counterattack in response to their changing moving route.