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
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Xbox One
The Society emerges as a threat to the Injustice 2 universe in “Shattered Alliances Part 4”
After Superman’s Regime came to power in Injustice: Gods Among Us, they managed to end all crime on Earth by executing any supervillain that fought back.
Naturally, this lead to some sore feelings, and now that the Man of Steel is in prison, the supervillain community has roared back in Injustice 2 as a terrorist organization known as “The Society.” Gorilla Grodd is leading Bane, Cheetah, Catwoman, Captain Cold, Deadshot, Scarecrow, and others against Batman’s forces, and it’s going to be a bloody confrontation.
You can learn all about Grodd’s machinations by viewing the “Shattered Alliances Part 4” trailer embedded above, and catch up with the rest of Injustice 2’s story in “Part 1,” “Part 2,” and “Part 3.”
Injustice 2 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on May 16.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Injustice 2
Activision is working on at least three movies in a connected Call of Duty Cinematic Universe
Activision first began discussing the possibility of a “Call of Duty Cinematic Universe” shortly after opening their film division, Activision Blizzard Studios, a few years ago. Earlier this week, a new profile in The Guardian has revealed that the studio is already working on three separate films:
“We have plotted out many years,” [Co-President Stacey] Sher tells the Guardian. “We put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story. The Modern Warfare series looks at what it’s like to fight a war with the eyes of the world on you. And then maybe something that is more of a hybrid, where you are looking at private, covert operations, while a public operation is going on.”
According to The Guardian, Activision would like to start filming the first entry in the “Call of Duty Cinematic Universe” sometime next year, with a theatrical premiere planned for “a couple of years after” that.
Sher and her Co-President, Nick Van Dyk, also have ambitions beyond traditional motion pictures. The pair has already partnered with Netflix to produce Skylanders Academy, and they’re also envisioning a Call of Duty-branded series that focuses on historical conflicts such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
Sher also wants fans to know that, above all else, Activision Blizzard Studios wants to make good movies: “If you just chase the empty blockbuster, and have nothing to say in the genre, forget about it.”
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops
Captain Cold does his best Sub-Zero impression in this Injustice 2 trailer
Just as we suspected when he was first unveiled in the “It’s Good To Be Bad” trailer, Captain Cold’s Injustice 2 incarnation owes a lot to Sub-Zero. The Mortal Kombat mainstay is the master of ice and cold, and it makes perfect sense that NetherRealm Studios would want to recreate his moveset for DC’s icy villain.
Sworn to ending all crime, the Regime hunted down and brutally executed every member of the Rogues, including Captain Cold’s sister. Using his skills as a thief and his iconic Cold Gun, Cold now seeks his vengeance. He’ll gladly use the Society to achieve it.
Captain Cold uses his Cold Gun to shoot icy projectiles across the screen. He can also freeze his opponents for a free hit or drop an Ice Ball on the ground as a trap. The supervillain even makes use of the Lin Kuei ninja’s Cold Shoulder charge.
Injustice 2 is just a little over a month away, and it’ll launch for the PS4 and Xbox One on May 16.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Injustice 2
This News Is On Fire… NBA Playgrounds will be available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in May
IGN is reporting that Saber Interactive will team up with the National Basketball Assocation to release NBA Playgrounds for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One this May.
NBA Playgrounds is following in the footsteps of the wild antics and insane dunks that NBA Jam and NBA Street pioneered more than a decade ago. Midway and EA Big may both be defunct, but their love of an over-the-top arcade basketball experience definitely lives on in 2017.
The game will feature 2-on-2 matchups with players from all 30 NBA teams, as well as a deep bench of retired legends such as Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, and more. And as you might expect, players can pick up and play NBA Playgrounds in single-player or multiplayer (local and online) modes.
NBA Playgrounds will be available next month exclusively as a digital download, but do not miss the game’s debut trailer, which has been embedded above.
Xbox Store Today: Enter the Gungeon, Lego City Undercover, Use Your Words, more
Today’s Xbox Games Store update features guns, bricks, and words. Are you ready?
After launching exclusively for the PS4 last year, Dodge Roll’s Enter the Gungeon makes its Xbox One debut today. The twin-stick shooter asks players to delve deeper and deeper into a procedurally-generated “Gungeon” in search of the Gun That Can Kill the Past. Featuring hundreds of guns and dozens of bosses, Xbox One owners who purchase Enter the Gungeon will also receive access to the game on Windows 10 thanks to the Xbox Play Anywhere program.
Xbox One owners looking for some action might also want to explore the open world of Lego City in Lego City Undercover. Now available to download, Lego City Undercover stars Chase McCain, a police officer who’s been tasked with going undercover to hunt down the notorious criminal Rex Fury.
Finally today, Smiling Buddha Games will launch Use Your Words for the Xbox One. Use Your Words is a party game that asks players to respond to a variety of mini-games and prompts with “the funniest answers they can think of.”
More information on all of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Enter the Gungeon, Lego City Undercover
Cars 3: Driven To Win will be released for every available console on June 13
WB Games and Avalanche Software have announced that the Cars 3 video game, Cars 3: Driven To Win, will be released for the PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 13.
Taking place after the events of Disney/Pixar’s upcoming film, Cars 3: Driven To Win will ask players to master advanced racing abilities such as “Drifting, Turbo, Two-Wheel Driving, Driving Backwards and Side-Bash” as they rise through the ranks of the Piston Cup. Naturally, the game will also feature splitscreen multiplayer for competitive and cooperative modes:
Picking up after the final big race in the film, Cars 3: Driven to Win extends the storyline of Cars 3 with all-new action packed adventures and takes players through a high-speed competition that is filled with both familiar and new faces. Players will be able to join Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez as they prepare to take on rival racer Jackson Storm. The game features more than 20 customizable playable characters including popular heroes from the Cars franchise and next generation racers. Players can also select their favorite race environments from a series of iconic settings from the film, such as Radiator Springs and Florida International Speedway, with over 20 unique tracks to choose from across 13 different locations.
We also got a glance at the first trailer for Cars 3: Driven To Win, and its been embedded above.
CoD: Infinite Warfare’s Continuum DLC Pack goes back to the 70s on April 18 with “Shaolin Shuffle” and four new multiplayer maps
Activision has delivered our first look at “Shaolin Shuffle,” the 1970s-set Zombies Mode chapter set to launch as part of the next downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The trailer also introduces players to Pam Grier’s “Shaolin Sister,” who will help players fight back against the undead with four new kung fu fighting styles:
“Shaolin Shuffle,” the next thrilling chapter of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare zombies experience, features the return of Willard Wyler, the mysterious movie director villain portrayed with voice and likeness by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, Gotham). This time, Wyler has trapped the four protagonists inside a new horror film, set in the unforgettable 1970s. Players will face all-new zombie enemies across a variety of disco-era New York locations, including subways, flashy nightclubs and a martial arts dojo headed up by the Shaolin Sister, played with voice and likeness by Pam Grier (Jackie Brown, Foxy Brown). In addition to hallmark Call of Duty action, “Shaolin Shuffle” introduces four unlockable kung fu fighting styles, each with its own set of unique combat moves.
The Continuum DLC Pack will also include four new multiplayer maps that favor close-quartered combat and unique architectural design:
Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Continuum DLC Pack
- Turista – A plush spa and resort, “Turista” is nestled in the middle of a giant skeleton of an ancient creature. With sniper spots scattered across a majestic, central waterfall, Turista also boasts tight interiors for fans of close-quartered combat and a three-lane design that caters to a variety of play styles.
- Scrap – Set in an abandoned junkyard on the Moon, “Scrap” features a combination of extended sightlines and tactical pathways that reward players who engage in both long and short range combat.
- Archive – Fast, frenetic engagements set the pace in “Archive,” a post-futurist art gallery where tight engagements contrast with open exterior battlegrounds in this wide three-lane style map.
- Excess – Perched atop a gilded penthouse in a sprawling future metropolis, “Excess” is a small, circular map re-imagined from the classic Modern Warfare 2 map, “Rust,” that retains the intense, fast-paced combat from the original.
The Continuum DLC Pack will be available to download for the PS4 on April 18, while PC and Xbox One owners will receive access to the expansion sometime in May.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
It looks like Udon will publish a Shovel Knight: Official Design Works artbook in August
We’re still waiting patiently for the release of those children’s books based on Shovel Knight (they’re currently scheduled to arrive in stores on April 18), but it looks like you’ll be able to purchase yet another tome featuring the titular knight later this Summer.
According to a new listing on Amazon, Udon Entertainment will publish Shovel Knight: Official Design Works on August 29. The artbook will include 184 pages of images from the game, as well as new information about Shovel Knight from the development team at Yacht Club Games:
Shovel Knight: Official Design Works collects the fun and original artwork behind this landmark title. Inside you’ll find key art, character concepts, enemy designs, sprite sheets, unused ideas, and an all-new Shovel Knight tribute art gallery! This epic tome is also packed with creator commentary, as well as exclusive interview with the Yacht Club Games team.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, the newest expansion to Shovel Knight’s side-scrolling adventure, will be available to download for the PC beginning tomorrow. If missed its Nintendo Switch launch last month, you might not know that it’s an AMAZING addition to the franchise.