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: Xbox 360
New Releases: Madden NFL 16, Disney Infinity Star Wars, Until Dawn, More
Do you feel that nip in the air? And surely you’ve noticed that kids are gearing up for “back to school” time. And that can mean only one thing… the Fall gaming rush is upon us! While these tell-tale signs of the Fall are out there, the Summer’s not over quite yet. It’s still pretty warm in most of the United States and a majority of kids get to enjoy a few more weeks of Summer vacation.
And even though it’s still August, I think the Fall gaming rush has officially begun…
Everything begins, as it always does this time of year, with the release of Madden NFL 16 (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One). The latest entry in EA’s long-running football simulation series features Odell Beckham on the cover and improved passing/receiver controls.
One of this Fall’s biggest “all ages” titles, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, will also be available this week. As the title says, Star Wars characters have been absorbed into the Disney Infinity universe for the first time. If you’ve already got a shelf of Disney’s popular figures, prepare to build a second one. And if you haven’t caught the Disney Infinity bug yet, you’re probably going to need a sturdy shelf to hold all your Star Wars figures.
On the complete opposite end of the age appropriateness spectrum is Sony’s Until Dawn. Available exclusively for the PS4, Until Dawn is one of the first games that attempts to recreate the horror (and excitement) of watching a slasher flick. Until Dawn’s star, Hayden Panettiere, even has plenty of experience running from crazed killers on screens both big (Scream 4) and small (Heroes).
Finally this week, a pair of remasters will give a new generation of players the chance to check out (or revisit) two PS3/Xbox 360 era classics. Dishonored: Definitive Edition brings its stealthy steampunk aesthetic to the PS4 and Xbox One, while Gears of War: Ultimate Edition upgrades the popular Xbox 360 shooter for the Xbox One. Microsoft will also release an Xbox One 500GB + Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle if you haven’t picked up an Xbox One yet.
A complete list of all of this week’s new releases (which also includes the PS3/Vita debut of the SteinsGate visual novel) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Dishonored, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, Gears of War, Madden NFL 16, SteinsGate, Until Dawn
Lego Jurassic World Review: Spared (Mostly) No Expense
Jurassic Park holds a very special place in my heart. When I first read the novel at 12 years old, I remember closing it and saying to myself, “This needs to be made into a movie.” Little did I know that Stephen Spielberg was already filming the movie as I was reading it. And when the movie came out, it was an amazing experience. After seeing it in the theater, I remember being scared to death as I was riding my bike home, thinking that every noise was a Dilophosaurus hunting me down. Weeks later, I saved my Chuck E. Cheese tickets just to get a raptor stuffed animal and collected Jurassic Park trading cards. I even supersized my Extra Value Meals at McDonalds in order to get the collector’s cups. I was fully engulfed in the dino-mania that was sweeping the globe. Everything about Jurassic Park was amazing, with one exception… the video games.
The Jurassic Park games for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were completely different, but unfortunately, neither hit that high standard set by the book and movie. I rented Jurassic Park for the Super Nintendo and found the mixture of overhead exploration and first-person shooter to be quite shallow. My friend had the Sega Genesis game, and while I did enjoy the graphics, animation, and 2D style, I found it too difficult to enjoy. Since then, I haven’t really found a Jurassic Park game that I enjoyed – that is, until Lego Jurassic World. Playing it brought back fond memories of growing up watching these movies, and while it isn’t perfect, Lego Jurassic World is still a fun romp. (more…)
Xbox Store Today: Zombi, Smite, Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 4, Velocity 2X, more
Microsoft’s Summer Spotlight continues to chug along with five new games, though many of them will look familiar to at least a few of you in the audience.
First up is Zombi, Ubisoft’s Xbox One adaptation of the Wii U launch title ZombiU. With the shift to Microsoft’s console, inventory management through the Wii U GamePad has obviously been removed, but the publisher has attempted to keep the first-person survival game as authentic to the original as possible. Also available this week is Smite, a free-to-play MOBA which has been available in beta for the Xbox One for some time. As the first MOBA on the Xbox One, players will compete in five-on-five battles between a “diverse cast of deities.”
Rounding this week’s new releases are a pair of side-scrollers. Velocity 2X is a sci-fi-styled action game that includes aliens and teleporters and laser pistols… not necessarily in that order. Meanwhile, Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is a speedrunning side-scroller for one-to-four players.
Finally this week, Telltale will release the fourth episode of Tales From the Borderlands, which takes our heroes to the moon.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Telltale has released a launch trailer for Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 4
If you’ve been following along with Telltale’s Tales From the Borderlands, you’ll definitely want to watch the launch trailer embedded above. And if you haven’t been playing it, you have two options. You can either avoid the trailer like the plague, or you can use it to catch up with what you missed and pretend that you’ve played the first three episodes:
In this penultimate episode of the season, captured by Vallory and her goons, Rhys and Fiona are forced to continue the search for the Vault beacon – at gunpoint. The beacon is on the Hyperion moon base – Helios – while our heroes are on Pandora… so there’s the pesky cold void of death known as “space” to overcome. Even with assistance from a familiar face, and with a worryingly helpful Handsome Jack hitching a ride in Rhys’ head, getting on board the ominous “H” is going to take every drop of guile, and quite possibly all the spunk you’ve got. Sacrifices will be made – can you make the tough choices needed to succeed?
Whatever your choice, Tales From the Borderlands: Escape Plan Bravo will be available to download through all the major digital storefronts this week:
- Tuesday, August 18: PC, PS3, and PS4
- Wednesday, August 19: Xbox One and Xbox 360
- Thursday, August 20: iOS and Android
And don’t forget, developers from Telltale will make the trip to this year’s PAX Prime expo to host a special “Crowd Play” presentation of Tales From the Borderlands: Escape Plan Bravo on Saturday, August 29 at 8:30 PM. There will be plenty of giveaways and the entire crowd is expected to help steer the events of the episode.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged PAX Prime 2015, Tales From the Borderlands
Extreme Fallout: New Vegas “You Only Live Once” run comes to an end
On September 7, 2014, YouTuber “Many A True Nerd” posted the first video of a Fallout: New Vegas run that he referred to as “You Only Live Once.” Yesterday, nearly a year later, the series finally came to an end.
The name of the game is simple, or rather, the rule set is simple. “Many A True Nerd” wanted to beat Fallout: New Vegas, and all of its expansions, with a single health bar. “Many A True Nerd,” real name Jon, wasn’t allowed to heal his character’s wounds or radiation once in the entire series. If he took any damage, it would be a permanent strike on his health bar. His character’s name, Please Don’t Shoot, seemed rather apt.
In the final video, Jon reminiscences about the series and how it’s helped him and his YouTube channel, which grew from 10,000 subscribers to nearly 100,000. He beat the base game in February of this year and spent the last six months completing the game’s downloadable content, starting with Honest Hearts.
Jon admitted to making several mistakes over the course of the series, including underestimating certain enemies and walking into several traps including a bear trap and tripwire rigged shotgun. But he was able to beat the first three expansions, and entered Lonesome Road with less than 100 hit points. Coming into the final battle, he had all of 23 hit points to survive, and was on the verge of getting radiation poisoning, which would have dropped him down to three hit points. After coming so far, will Jon see it through to the end? You’ll have to watch the video yourself, embedded above, to see.
As for what’s next for Many A True Nerd, he wasted no time telling us how much more difficult the next challenge will be… An “You Only Live Once” run through Fallout 3. But hven he’s convinced he won’t get far.
The game where it’s absolutely, definitely, flipping impossible. There are only about 12 weeks left until Fallout 4 […] Honestly if I can get more than 12 or 13 parts through Fallout 3 “You Only Live Once” I will have surprised myself.
He’s laughing as he says this. Granted, he and everyone else said that about New Vegas. However, Fallout 3 is a much tougher game. With no gambling to quickly make money, a limited damage resistance system, a lack of different ammo types, more random events, and Fallout 3’s heavier reliance on combat, it will be truly remarkable if he can get through ten parts, much less beat the entire game (and all its expansions).
Starting next week, we’ll all find out together. Good luck, Jon, we have faith in you… somewhat.
Activision reveals Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 soundtrack
As with the recent musical offerings from Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4, the majority of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5‘s soundtrack looks fairly unfamiliar to me. I think I recognize maybe three or four of these bands… which is made much more difficult when none of them are Rage Against the Machine or The Ramones. But if you love Cloud Nothings, Connie Price and the Keystones, New Politics, and The Schitzophonics, there’s probably something for you to enjoy on the soundtrack.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on September 29 with the PS3 and Xbox 360 version scheduled to follow on November 10. The full soundtrack is available after the break. (more…)
Treyarch wants to show you that CoD: Black Ops III is all about momentum in new trailer
It’s time to start running!
Treyarch has a released a new video tutorial for Call of Duty: Black Ops III that delves deep into the game’s movement system. Developers David Vonderhaar and Dan Bunting talk about unlimited sprinting, thrust jumping, and wall running as they discuss the ways that momentum can be used to your advantage in the game.
Are you ready to try it out yourself? You won’t have to wait long. The Call of Duty: Black Ops III beta test begins next week for players who’ve pre-ordered the game on the PS4. And don’t forget, the game will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on November 6.
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Charts… Lego Jurassic World is best-selling game of July ’15
July is not typically a very strong month for new game releases, and only a single new title was able to crack the NPD Group’s recounting of the ten best-selling games of the month. But it was Lego Jurassic World, a June release, that sits at the top of the sales food chain this month.
Debuting at #3 in the NPD’s June report, Lego Jurassic World likely got a boost from the tremendous box office support for the film. After nearly nine weeks in theaters, the film has earned more than $636 million. Only Titanic ($658 million) and Avatar ($760 million) have made more money at the domestic box office.
While it’s unlikely that Lego Jurassic World will reach those heights, the game is another hit for WB Games, which had yet another big month in July. Batman: Arkham Knight (#2) and Mortal Kombat X (#8) once again both landed in the top ten.
The only new release to break into the top ten last month was EA’s Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. Before McIlroy, Tiger Woods had been PGA Tour’s pitchman for more than 15 years. As great as Tiger used to be, it looks like EA doesn’t need him to sell their golf game.
Finally this month, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall sales of all game-related items (hardware, software, and accessories) is roughly even with July 2014. Both July 2014 and July 2015 produced around $184 million in total sales.
The complete top ten for July 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny, FIFA 15, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Jurassic World, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NPD, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, The Elder Scrolls Online