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
Battlefield Hardline will be released on March 17, 2015
Electronic Arts just announced that Battlefield Hardline will be released on March 17, 2015 as part of their latest quarterly financial report. It’s possible that more information about the game will be transmitted via their quarterly conference call, which will begin at 5:00 PM (Eastern Time).
Battlefield Hardline was originally announced during this year’s E3 Expo and was expected to launch in October for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. However, the game’s release was delayed into 2015 back in July so the development team at Visceral could make changes to the game’s single-player mode as well as implement some of the feedback they received during the game’s multiplayer beta.
New Releases: Sunset Overdrive, WWE 2K15, Lords of the Fallen, More
Sunset Overdrive, Insomniac’s wild hipsters vs mutants shooter, leads this week’s new release report. With no new Halo or Gears of War game in the pipeline, Microsoft is promoting Sunset Overdrive as one of the biggest Xbox One exclusives of the Fall. To that end, they have also teamed up with Insomniac to offer the Sunset Overdrive Xbox One System Bundle which will include the game itself and a snazzy all-white Xbox One.
Also available this week is WWE 2K15 (PS3, Xbox 360), the first game in the series fully produced by 2K Games; Lords of the Fallen (PS4, Xbox One), Bandai Namco’s attempt at entering the medieval hack and slash market; and NBA Live 15 (PS4, Xbox One), EA’s latest entry in their basketball simulation series.
More new releases from the upcoming week can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Lords of the Fallen, NBA Live 15, Sunset Overdrive, WWE 2K15
Insert Quarter: The History of Music Games
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Almost 50 years ago, Paul and Art Garfunkel asked, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” in their hit song, “Mrs. Robinson.” DiMaggio would later tell Simon that he hadn’t gone anywhere, even though his playing days were long behind him. Likewise, today’s gamers have probably asked themselves, what happened to all the music games? The conventional wisdom says that they just don’t sell anymore, but who can turn down an invitation to rock out with your plastic guitar out?
IGN’s Chris Reed dug in to the history of the music from its humble roots (1996’s PaRappa the Rapper) all the way through the Guitar Here/Rock Band rivalry and into the future of the genre:
Music/rhythm games have run a surprisingly dynamic path through gaming history. Some genres drift into popularity and gradually fade out as technology and popular taste change. You might not even realize it’s happened until one day you look around and wonder, for instance, where all the 3D platformers went. Music games, on the other hand, moseyed along under the radar for the better part of a decade before taking off like a shot, attaining meteoric success before drying up nearly all at once.
You can read the rest of the article at IGN.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round will be released in February 2015
Koei Tecmo has announced that the third, and final, re-release of Dead or Alive 5 will be released in February. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round will be available on February 17 for the PS4 and Xbox One (as a digital download and a retail disc) and the PS3 and Xbox 360 (as a digital download only).
Last Round will also be available on the PS4 and Xbox One as a free-to-play version known as the “Core Fighters” edition. “Core Fighters” on the PS4 will launch with four fighters freely unlocked (Ayane, Hayate, Kasumi, and Ryu Hayabusa) with additional fighters, modes, and other features available as paid add-ons. The Xbox One edition will be expandable in the same way, but first players must purchase an extended character pack (including Hitomi, Tina, Jann Lee, and Bass) priced at $4.99.
For those looking to pre-purchase the entire game, Koei Tecmo will offer three pre-order packs through GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy. GameStop will offer buyers the “Ninja Costume Pack” (for Ayane, Hayabusa, Hayate, and Kasumi) and the “Aloha Costume Pack” (for Ayane, Hitomi, Kasumi, and Mila). Amazon will give purchasers access to the “Showstopper Costume Pack” (for Christie, Helena, Lisa, and Tina) while Best Buy will offer the “Beach Party Costume Pack” (for Kokoro, Leifang, Momiji, and Rachel).
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round will be priced at $29.99 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and $39.99 on the PS4 and Xbox One.
GTA: San Andreas with Achievements, 720p visuals to be released for Xbox 360 next week
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas used to be available through the Xbox Games Store as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Originals initiative. When asked about its delisting, Rockstar revealed that it was removed because an Xbox 360-native version of San Andreas will be released on October 26.
This new version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the game’s PS2 debut, will include a 720p graphical upgrade, enhanced draw distance, and a full range of Achievements. However, owners of the Xbox Originals version of San Andreas will be chagrined to learn that their save file will not be compatible with the brand new Xbox 360 edition.
It’s currently unknown if Rockstar plans to bring this new version of San Andreas to the PS3.
I’m not sure, but this might be the most low-key game announcement ever. You can get a look at the full list of Achievements after the break and hopefully Rockstar will follow it up with enhanced re-releases of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Warner Bros. is creating a Mortal Kombat X tie-in web series
It’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see Mortal Kombat: Legacy III now that Kevin Tancharoen has departed the web series that became an Internet sensation after the director publicly released a proof-of-concept short by accident. But Warner Bros. is picking up the slack with the creation of a new Direct-To-Internet production house, Blue Ribbon Content.
Blue Ribbon’s first project will be a live-action web series that ties in to the story of the upcoming Mortal Kombat X. Like the game, it will pick up after the events of 2011’s Mortal Kombat and “[showcase] some of the franchise’s most storied characters, [as well as] introducing a new generation of fighters.” As of now, Warner Bros. isn’t ready to reveal who they have in mind for the cast or the director’s chair.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015. Presumably, this new web series will be released in a similar timeframe.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Mortal Kombat X, Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Xbox Store Today: Fantasia: Music Evolved, The Legend of Korra, Just Dance 2015, more
There’s all kinds of fighting available in this week’s Xbox Games Store update. Today’s releases include kung fu fighting, dance fighting, and zombie dance fighting. OK, there’s no zombie dance fighting in The Walking Dead Season 2, but here’s what you can find on the Xbox Games Store as of today:
- Fantasia: Music Evolved (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Harmonix is back with a new Kinect-powered musical adventure… and this one is based on Disney’s Fantasia.
- The Legend of Korra (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Activision and Platinum Games have teamed up to release the first game based on the popular animated series.
- Just Dance 2015 (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Ubisoft’s popular dancing franchise is back for another encore. Now with even more Ariana Grande.
- The Walking Dead Season 2 (Xbox One) – The second season of Telltale’s post-apocalyptic saga makes the leap to the Xbox One.
- F1 2014 (Xbox 360) – Codemasters is back with another Formula One simulation.
More information about all of these games (and many more) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Fantasia: Music Evolved, Just Dance 2015, The Legend of Korra
First Alien: Isolation add-on, Corporate Lockdown, will be available on October 28
Just in time for Halloween, Sega has announced that the first Alien: Isolation add-on, Corporate Lockdown, will be released on October 28. Priced at $7.99, the add-on will add three new Challenge Maps and a brand new character in an arc that takes place before the events of Isolation:
In Corporate Lockdown, Seegson Executive Ransome has learnt that he has been abandoned by his paymasters. Knowing that the Torrens is on the way, he decides to make his escape and hitch a ride on board, taking decoded Nostromo data with him. However, while escaping he wants to tie up a few loose ends…
Across three new Challenge Maps (“Severance,” “Scorched Earth,” and “Loose Ends”), players are challenged to compete against others through Alien: Isolation’s online leaderboards, to escape the station in the fastest possible time or attain the top score through numerous side quests and hidden bonus objectives. New to Corporate Lockdown is the addition of Gauntlet Mode where players are challenged to top the Gauntlet Mode leaderboards by completing all three Challenge Maps back-to-back without dying.
Corporate Lockdown will also be available as part of the Alien: Isolation Season Pass, which can be purchased for $29.99, a 25% discount versus purchasing all give planned add-on packs separately.