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
Xbox Store Today: King’s Quest Chapter 1, Life Is Strange Episode 4, more
Four new games were added to the Xbox Games Store today. Without further adieu, here we go…
- King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember (Xbox 360, Xbox One) kicks off The Odd Gentlemen’s reboot of the classic adventure game. Return to the middle ages as King Graham reminisces on his journey from a young teen to the most powerful man in all the land.
- Meanwhile, Life Is Strange: Dark Room (Xbox 360, Xbox One) is nearing its end as Chloe finds out exactly why time travel is a bad idea. And not just because of all the runaway open-air manure trucks.
- World of Tanks: Xbox One Edition will, not surprisingly, bring the World of Tanks franchise to the Xbox One for the first time. Players will be able to pilot a wide variety of mid-century tanks and battle both Xbox One and Xbox 360 players in this free-to-play game.
- Finally, Squid Hero For Kinect (Xbox One) asks players to smash ice with motion controls.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged King's Quest, Life Is Strange
It’s Always Blocky in Minecraft… because Rob McElhenney is directing the movie
Have you heard? Word on the Internet is that there’s going to be a Minecraft movie coming out… sometime. There’s really no information on it just yet. But here’s one thing we do know, the director of the film has been announced to be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney.
McElhenney has mad credits on Sunny for creating, writing, producing, directing, and starring as Ronald “Mac” McDonald… not to mention snagging colleague and funny lady Kaitlin Olson. The announcement was made in a succinct blog post from Mojang, which offered no other information about the project. While McElhenney’s ascension to the position remains a temporarily confusing but delightful mystery, we have noticed some fun similarities between Minecraft and several recurring Sunny characters.
Minecraft aficionados will certainly remember the Creepers, which are very reminiscent of the infamous Green Man (Charlie Day’s Charlie, high out of his mind, in a full-body green spandex suit), who first debuted in the season three episode “The Gang Gets Invincible.” And who can forget Day Man and the creepily suggestive Night Man, which viewers may recall from Charlie’s weird musical, “The Nightman Cometh,” from the end of season four. Both characters seem to parallel the protagonist “Steve” and the mysterious Enderman.
With these concurrent elements in mind, McElhenney now seems like a natural fit for the film. It almost begs the question, was Notch just a huge Sunny fan all along?
Players will be able to unlock Premium Show DLC in Guitar Hero Live by completing songs
Like Street Fighter V and it’s two-tiered “Fight Money/Zenny” system, Activision is also planning to give players the opportunity to unlock paid DLC in Guitar Hero Live with in-game currency.
Players will be able to purchase Hero Cash, which can be exchanged for “Premium Shows” in Guitar Hero Live’s GHTV mode. But if you’d prefer to skip all that and just buy the DLC content with cold hard cash, that’s an option too. Activision’s Matt Clark drummed up a rundown of the system at the Activision Games Blog:
When a new Premium Show launches on the GHTV service, players will have the ability to unlock it by completing a set challenge. To gain access, you’ll have to complete songs and hit a certain star level—Guitar Hero’s system for measuring your performance. So, if you do a great job playing a particular song, you’ll gain admission to new Premium Content, such as live concert videos and more. But if you want to save time and get instantaneous access, you can also unlock Premium Content immediately with a simple purchase via Hero Cash. Premium Content also offers unique prizes, like Note Highways, player cards, and more.
Guitar Hero Live will be available for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices on October 20.
Final Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC pack, Reckoning, will be available next week
Activision and Sledgehammer Games have announced the fourth and final downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the Reckoning Pack, will be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on August 4.
I’m sure you know the drill by now. The Reckoning Pack will be available for free to everyone who has previously purchased the Season Pass. A standalone download will also be available for $14.99 through the Xbox Games Store. For their investment, players will receive access to four new multiplayer maps and the concluding chapter of the Exo Zombies co-op campaign:
- Overload: Enjoy the grand view of downtown New Baghdad from this exotic compound, complete with fountains, gardens and decorative plasma lamps. The map’s multiple levels and long perimeter site-lines highlight medium to long-range combat, and firing a shot at the lamps will send enemies flying in a burst of energy.
- Quarantine: Following a deadly viral outbreak, the island has been converted into a biological testing center. This medium sized map’s tight corners dial up the speed and open areas combine to allow for any style of gameplay. Activate the map-based scorestreak to unleash a devastating ship-fired missile strike.
- Fracture: Discover what secrets are locked in the ice in this arctic excavation site. Take refuge behind wind turbines and heavy equipment through large combat areas cradled on the shelf of a glacier. Stay alert as the timed event cracks the ice sheet, sending one lane sinking to the depths.
- Swarm: Reconstruction is underway in Seoul, South Korea, congesting narrow corridors of this small to medium sized map with vehicles and equipment. Take position in war-scarred storefronts that provide plenty of cover over the streets or flank the enemy through close quarter interiors in the center of the map.
And in the final episode of Exo Zombies, “Descent,” John Malkovich’s Oz will rise from the dead to do battle with Bill Paxton, Bruce Campbell, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal during their escape from the Atlas aircraft carrier.
PC, PS3, and PS4 players will likely be able to get their hands on the Reckoning Pack in early September.
Pre-order WWE 2K16 to play as The Terminator
Just days after confirming (via IGN) that Hulk Hogan won’t be part of WWE 2K16, 2K Games has announced that two versions of The Terminator will be included as a bonus for those who pre-order the game. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was actually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, will return to voice the T-800 in two different incarnations: 1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
“I’ve achieved many things in my life, but I’ve always said success means staying hungry and pushing the limits,” said Schwarzenegger. “I was honored to join the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year, and now I’ll continue my WWE legacy with one of my biggest film roles immortalized in WWE 2K16. Match the Terminator against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Seth Rollins, or Daniel Bryan, and there’s only one possible outcome: Hasta la vista, baby!”
You can watch Arnold and a variety of WWE wrestlers recreate the iconic opening scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the trailer above.
WWE 2K16 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 27.
Mortal Kombat X was the best-selling game in the first half of 2015
Fortune has scoured the last six months of data from The NPD Group to assemble a definitive list of the best-selling games from the first half of the year.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly when you realize just how few games have been released this year, NetheRealm’s Mortal Kombat X took the top spot. The latest game in the long-running series paved the way for WB Games’s complete domination of the sales chart. The publisher secured four spots in the half-year top ten including Batman: Arkham Knight (#6), Dying Light (#7), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#9). Arkham Knight’s appearance on the list is even more impressive as it was released in the last week of June.
Among the holdovers, Grand Theft Auto V (#2), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), and Minecraft (#5) all broke into the top five. It’s likely that all three will stick around for the year-end list as well.
The complete top ten list can be found right here:
Bestselling Games in the First Half of 2015
1. Mortal Kombat X
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Battlefield Hardline
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Minecraft
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
7. Dying Light
8. NBA 2K15
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
10. Super Smash Bros. For 3DS / Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield Hardline, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dying Light, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K15, NPD, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
DJ Khaled, DJ Premier, and DJ Mustard hand-picked the 50-song NBA 2K16 soundtrack
The NBA 2K franchise is well known for its expansive soundtracks, and this Fall’s NBA 2K16 will be no exception. Sporting the largest soundtrack ever included in the series, 2K Games has recruited famed producers DJ Khaled, DJ Premier, and DJ Mustard to curate a 50-song soundtrack for the game. Split into five distinct playlists, each artist also created two tracks that’ll be available only in the game.
You can listen to the entire playlist (minus the exclusive tracks) on Spotify right now, or you can find all 50 songs after the break.
NBA 2K16 will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 29 (more…)
Rise of the Tomb Raider Release Dates… Xbox One/360: Nov 10, PC: Q1 2016, PS4: Late 2016
Are you ready to raid some tombs this Fall? Square Enix has announced that Lara Croft’s next adventure, Rise of the Tomb Raider, will be released for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on November 10.
Microsoft signed the game to limited exclusivity contract a few years ago, so PC and PS4 owners will have to wait a bit before delving back into Lara’s adventures. However, rather than keep the public in suspense, Square Enix went and announced tentative release windows for the game on both platforms. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be available for the PC in early 2016, while PS4 owners will get a chance to play it in late 2016.
So which tomb will Lara raid this time? Well…
In the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider, Lara Croft survived a harrowing experience only to be discredited as part of a cover up. Now, after uncovering an ancient mystery, Lara must explore the most treacherous and remote regions of Siberia to find the secret of immortality before a ruthless organization known as Trinity. Lara must use her wits and survival skills, form new alliances, and ultimately embrace her destiny as the Tomb Raider.
It’s silly, but a part of me loves that developer Crystal Dynamics treats “the Tomb Raider” as some kind of honorific title.