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
Harmonix will officially release Rock Band 4 for the PS4, Xbox One in 2015
Keep holding those lighters aloft, Harmonix has officially announced that the Rock Band franchise will play an encore on the PS4 and Xbox One sometime this year. The developer will partner with Mad Catz to produce an all-new range of plastic instruments for Rock Band 4, though Harmonix wants your old controllers to work with the new game. Not only that, but many of the downloadable tracks you’ve accumulated over the years (more than 2,000 in total) will work with Rock Band 4 as well. Harmonix is currently hard at work finalizing which tracks will be forward compatible for Rock Band 4, but rest assured, the game will have an extensive soundtrack of new songs as well.
“With Rock Band 4, we’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends,” said Harmonix CEO Steve Janiak. “Focusing on the core experience that our fans have told us they love allows us to evolve established gameplay in meaningful ways that we can’t wait to share with everyone later this year.”
To get long-time Rock Band fans ready to rock once more, Harmonix has added Frank Turner’s “I Still Believe” to the Rock Band Music Store today as a free download for Rock Band 3 and Rock Band Blitz. And if you’re attending this weekend’s PAX East expo, you can pre-order an exclusive Penny Arcade-themed guitar in person at Harmonix’s booth (#4224).
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged PAX East 2015, Rock Band 3, Rock Band 4, Rock Band Blitz
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor wins “Game of the Year” at 2015 GDC Awards
Monolith’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won “Game of the Year” at this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards, but it looks like Monument Valley took home the most hardware. The mobile game, which recently had a memorable cameo in the third season of House of Cards, won all three awards it was nominated for including “Best Handheld/Mobile Game,” “Best Visual Art,” and the “Innovation Award.”
Other winners at night’s ceremony include The Banner Saga (a “Best Debut” award for Stoic Studio), Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Best Design”), Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 (“Best Narrative”), Alien: Isolation (“Best Audio”), and Destiny (“Best Technology”). The “Audience Award” was given to Elite: Dangerous.
The full list of winners can be found in handy list format after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Destiny, GDC 2015, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monument Valley, The Banner Saga
Xbox Store Today: ScreamRide, Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 2, Shiftlings
Are you ready to scream your head off this week? I hope so, as Microsoft and Frontier Developments have added ScreamRide to the Xbox Games Store on both the Xbox One and Xbox 360. This coaster creator comes from the same team responsible for RollerCoaster Tycoon and Thrillville, so there’s definitely going to be more to ScreamRide than a bored teenager pulling a lever and asking you to keep your arms and legs inside the car at all time.
Also available this week is the Xbox One and Xbox 360 launch of “Contemplation,” the second episode from Resident Evil Revelations 2. Capcom has plans to complete this chapter of the Resident Evil saga in a timely manner as the remaining two episodes should launch next week and the week after, respectively.
Finally this week, Sierra will add the Xbox One game Shiftlings to the Xbox Games Store. Shiftlings is a colorful platformer that stars a pair of space janitors who are attempting to fix all the broken gadgetry in the universe.
More information on all of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Resident Evil Revelations 2, ScreamRide
September 1 release date for MGS5: Phantom Pain leaked ahead of big announcement
It’s hard to believe that news this big would just sneak out of Konami, but it looks like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released on September 1. The news comes courtesy of a a behind-the-scenes interview with Hideo Kojima that IGN accidentally published a day earlier than planned. Several sites (including Game Informer) peeked at the video before it was pulled and shared the good news with the world.
Kojima had a few other interesting tidbits to share in the video including the fact that Snake will be more of a “silent protagonist” in The Phantom Pain. If that’s true, then why hire Kiefer Sutherland? Rather than expound on that puzzling question, Kojima reiterated (again) that The Phantom Pain will be his last time directing a Metal Gear Solid game:
“I always say this will be my last Metal Gear, but the games in the series I’ve personally designed and produced: Metal Gear on MSX, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3, 4, and Peace Walker, and now Metal Gear Solid V are what constitute a single Metal Gear saga,” he says. “With Metal Gear Solid V, I’m finally closing the loop on that saga. In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid. Even if the Metal Gear franchise continues, to me, this is the last Metal Gear.”
Konami acknowledged the leak on Twitter, but they also promised players that more Metal Gear-related announcements will be made tomorrow (at 12:00 PM Eastern Time) when their countdown expires.
Mad Max will go beyond release on September 1
Two generations enter, one generation leaves…
WB Games and Avalanche Studios have announced that Mad Max will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 1. If you remember, the game was also in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360 but, according to Game Informer, those versions of the game have been “left by the wayside.” Avalanche made the decision to cancel the previous-gen versions of Mad Max so they could focus on creating the best game possible without also trying to make it work on lower-powered hardware. This new focus will allow the team to deliver “stunning vistas and effects that will challenge your expectations of what the Wasteland might look like.”
But anyone who wants to travel through the Wasteland will need transportation and Avalanche is providing just such a vehicle for Mad Max. “The Ripper,” a fully upgradeable car body with “a powerful V8 engine, upgraded exhaust with custom off-road tires, a ramming grill and a tuned suspension,” will be available as a pre-order bonus to all players who pre-order the game.
Xbox 360 owners can now claim Xbox One’s Games With Gold titles
Did you know that gamers without an Xbox One have been able to claim the monthly Games With Gold offerings through Xbox.com as long as they have an Xbox Live Gold account? I had no idea. Way to drop the ball Microsoft. This is the kind of feature that your customers (and prospective Xbox One purchasers) would have loved to learn about this earlier.
So why are they talking about it now? Well, according to Major Nelson, Xbox 360 owners can now claim the latest Games With Gold offerings for the Xbox One from the Xbox 360 dashboard. All you have to do is open the Games With Gold section and then “purchase” it there.
This month’s Games With Gold selection on the Xbox One is Rayman Legends. If you’ve itching to try out Ubisoft’s popular platformer, now’s the time… even if you don’t own an Xbox One.
A mobile version of Mortal Kombat X is also in development
In years past, NetherRealm’s mobile team has produced a scaled down version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as fighting game spinoffs of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins. Earlier this year, they turned WWE wrestlers into superheroes and supervillains for the similarly styled WWE Immortals. Today, the developer has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will get the same treatment this April.
Like their previous efforts, the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X will be a free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid. Fatalities will definitely make the cut in the mobile version, as will X-Rays and the “iconic visceral combat” the franchise is known for. Mortal Kombat X on mobile will link up with the PC/console edition and players will be able to unlock content within each version by completing tasks and Achievements/Trophies in the other.
“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”
Mortal Kombat X will be available in April for all iOS (iPhone, iPad, iOS Touch) and Android devices.
New Releases: ScreamRide
You’re going to feel a bit lonely if you head out to your local game shop this week in search of new releases. Microsoft’s ScreamRide, which will be released for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 is the only new game receiving a retail release this week.
ScreamRide is a roller coaster construction that was developed by Frontier Developments. If you recall, Frontier is also the team behind the popular RollerCoaster Tycoon series as well as the later Thrillville. If anybody could be called experts in the rather niche “roller coaster construction simulator” genre, it’s Frontier Developments.
If ScreamRide isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there are plenty of downloadable games planned for a digital release this week including the start of Sony’s Spring Fever promotion.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged ScreamRide