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
Did You Hear? Video Game Release Calendar Update #1
Don’t Forget! Warp Zoned’s complete calendar of release dates for 2015, 2016, and beyond can be found right here: Video Game Release Calendar.
Welcome to Warp Zoned’s first “Video Game Release Calendar Update.” We’ve collected all the latest announcements and date changes from the last six weeks and added them to one of the most accurate game release calendars out there.
The month of March is filling out particularly well…
- It starts with the March 5 launch of Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars, Nintendo’s first 3DS and Wii U Cross-Buy game.
- And then there’s the March 6 release of Zombie Army Trilogy (PC, PS4, Xbox One) and its supernatural WWII shenanigans.
- A week later is the March 10 launch of the PC version of Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, which now features eye-tracking technology for camera control.
- A day after that, on March 11, the “Metroidvania” Ori and the Blind Forest will be available for the PC and Xbox One.
- Finally, the Borderlands: The Handsome Collection closes out the month with a March 24 release on the PS4 and Xbox One.
The Spring and early Summer is also beginning to fill up with the announcement that Xenoblade Chronicles 3D will be available for the New 3DS XL on April 10. Nintendo will follow their massive action RPG with the puzzle-RPG styling of Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (3DS) in May, which will launch alongside Splatoon, a shooter for the Wii U. And in June, we’ll get the chance to try out The Elder Scrolls Online on the PS4 and Xbox One (on June 9) and Lego Jurassic World (which will be released for every system under the sun).
Speaking of Lego adaptations, Lego Avengers will be available this Fall. As will Skylanders 5, which is currently in development for unannounced platforms.
And lastly, Blizzard has said that Overwatch (PC) and StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (PC) will likely launch in 2016 after each receives a beta test in 2015.
The complete list of updated release dates can be found after the break. (more…)
Alien: Isolation bursts ahead of the field with six nominations at 2015 BAFTA Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards and the British-born Alien: Isolation leads the way with six nominations. Creative Assembly’s sequel to the 1979 film is up for “Best Game” as well as “British Game,” “Audio Achievement,” “Music,” Game Design,” and “Game Innovation.”
It will be competing for the top prize against some of last year’s most-honored titles including Bungie’s Destiny, BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, Nintendo’s Mario Kart 8, Monolith’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordorm, and ustwo’s Monument Valley.
Monument Valley’s presence in the “Best Game” category is rather fitting as it lead all other games with five nominations. Far Cry 4, which is not competing for “Best Game,” also managed to score five nominations. 80 Days, Destiny, Mario Kart 8, and Shadow of Mordor all took up residence on the next level with four nominations apiece.
The winners of the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards will revealed on March 12. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monument Valley
Abandon hope, all ye who watch this new trailer for Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin
Almost two months from now, Bandai Namco will release Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin for the PS4 and Xbox One. The Scholar of the First Sin package (which include all three downloadable expansion and other gameplay improvements) will mark the first time a game from the Dark Souls franchise will be available for new-generation consoles, though a PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 re-release is also planned.
To get gamers in the right mood, the publisher has released a brand new trailer for Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin that focuses on the game’s world and the brutal combat that players will be forced to endure. Good luck.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin will be available on April 7.
Shadow of Mordor wins eight awards at 2015 DICE Awards but not Game of the Year
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won eight awards during last night’s DICE Awards ceremony (out of nine nominations), but it was unable to snag the big prize. Instead, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences chose to award “Game of the Year” to BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition.
But don’t feel too bad for Monolith Productions and their romp through the Lord of the Rings universe. Shadow of Mordor’s eight wins included “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Innovation in Gaming,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” “Outstanding Achievement in Character,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” and “Outstanding Technical Achievement.”
The third game in the Dragon Age series was only able to walk away with a single other award: “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year.”
Bungie’s Destiny (which took home four awards) and Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Mobile Game of the Year” and “Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year”) were the only other multi-award winners last night. Though Nintendo’s pair of Smash Bros. games were awarded “Handheld Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For 3DS) and “Fighting Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For Wii U).
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
New trailer details Weekly Faction Wars, Dynamic Challenge Towers in Mortal Kombat X
NetherRealm has been slyly hinting at Mortal Kombat X‘s Faction War mode for a while now, but the game’s newest trailer finally laid it all out for us. When players first launch Mortal Kombat X, they’ll be asked to join one of five Factions (Lin Kuei, White Lotus, Brotherhood of Shadows, Special Forces, or Black Dragon). After that, everything they do in the game will earn points for their Faction in the weekly war.
Players will also be able to compete in inter-Faction challenges and perform “Faction Kills” on players that belong to a different Faction. About all we don’t know is what the winning Faction will receive every week.
The trailer also gave us a quick look at the new Dynamic Challenge Towers that will be included in Mortal Kombat X. According to NetherRealm, the Dynamic Towers can change hourly, so there will always be a new Challenge waiting to be conquered.
Mortal Kombat X will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
Activision confirms Skylanders 5, Call of Duty 2015, “unannounced initiatives” during quarterly presentation
Just as the sun rises in the east, Activision uses their first quarterly financial presentation of the year to talk about the next games in the Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises.
Dennis Durkin, the publisher’s Chief Financial Officer, had the task of revealing the non-news that Call of Duty 2015 and Skylanders 5 will be released this Fall. As expected, Call of Duty 2015 will be developed by Treyarch while Skylanders 5 is being described as “innovative.” Durkin finished his remarks by revealing that Activision also has “several unannounced initiatives” in the pipeline that they’ll talk more about “in the months ahead.”
Then the CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg, took the stage to talk about Destiny. He confirmed that the game’s second expansion, House of Wolves, will be released in the Spring. He also said that Destiny 2 is in development, though we won’t see it this year. But Bungie is planning to launch a “major content release” connected to the franchise for this Fall.
Finally, Blizzard’s CEO, Michael Morhaime, said that both StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void and Overwatch will be available for beta testing this year. However, Morhaime would not comment on either game’s final release date, which means that both will probably slip to 2016.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Destiny, Overwatch, Skylanders SuperChargers, Skylanders SuperChargers Racing, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
Xbox Store Today: Game of Thrones: The Lost Lords, Risk, SpongeBob HeroPants
A trio of new games now call the Xbox Games Store home and you can download them through your Xbox One or Xbox 360 now.
Leading the way is Game of Thrones: The Lost Lords (Xbox One, Xbox 360), Telltale’s second episode in their six-part Game of Thrones adaptation. Expect a “maelstrom of bloody warfare, revenge, intrigue, and horror” as you navigate House Forrester through the War of the Five Kings.
Also available today is Risk, an Xbox One adaptation of the game of “Global Domination,” and SpongeBob HeroPants, an Xbox 360 tie-in game based on the upcoming film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
More information about all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series
2K Tidbits: Borderlands 3 only on PS4/Xbox One, GTA5 ships 45 million, Battleborn still on track for late 2015/early 2016 launch
Take-Two Interactive held their quarterly financial presentation yesterday and it looks the publisher is in a better position than ever before. In addition to reporting “strong financial results” for the quarter, Take-Two raised their yearly fiscal forecast due to the pending release of Evolve, Grand Theft Auto V on the PC, and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.
Speaking of Grand Theft Auto V, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick announced that the company has shipped more than 45 million copies of the game to stores since its release last year, including more than ten million copies of the remastered PS4/Xbox One edition.
Zelnick didn’t discuss Rockstar’s future during the presentation or the question-and-answer period that followed, but he did say that Take-Two doesn’t believe in annualizing their big franchises. Specifically, he said, “[W]e think big tentpole releases should not be annualized except for sports titles because we think it’s valuable to build anticipation and because it takes some time to make the highest quality products in the business.”
To that end, Take-Two’s President, Karl Slatoff, reconfirmed that Borderlands 3 is in development at Gearbox. According to Slatoff, the game currently has no release date and it is being developed “specifically for next-gen consoles.” With the PS4 and Xbox One launching in 2013, this probably shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.
However, one thing we do know about Gearbox is that their team-based shooter, Battleborn, is still on track for a “Fiscal 2016” release. That means it’ll launch sometime between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016… but it’s safe to assume that a late 2015/early 2016 release is much more likely.
Finally, Slatoff revealed that the publisher has numerous unannounced games in development. More details about those games will be released over the course of the year.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Battleborn, Borderlands 3, Grand Theft Auto V