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
Activision will add six maps (plus “Winter Crash” bonus map) to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered on December 13
Back in September, Activision promised that every mutliplayer map from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would be available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered by the end of the year. Yesterday, they made good on their promise by confirming that the remaining six maps (“Bloc,” “Countdown,” “Pipeline,” “Showdown,” “Strike,” and “Wet Work”) will be released on December 13.
Modern Warfare Remastered’s December Update will also include the holiday-themed “Winter Crash” map as a bonus, as well as the Gun Game and Hardpoint game modes.
As of today, Activision hasn’t announced any plans to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered as a standalone download, and the game is currently only available as part of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Legacy Edition.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
DICE will partner with Motive to give Star Wars: Battlefront 2 a single-player campaign
With millions of copies sold and fans clamoring for a sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront has been an extremely successful gamble for EA and DICE. But while players are eager to experience a followup, they’ve also pestered DICE to add a single-player campaign to the multiplayer shooter. Yesterday, the developer strongly hinted at some progress on that front in a new sit-down with Eurogamer.
DICE Producer Paul Keslin revealed that DICE has used the Death Star and Rogue One expansions to inject “a bit of narrative” into the first Battlefront, and that people are responding well to it:
The other big request, of course, was for a campaign – something that’s already been locked in for Battlefront 2, and something that DICE has been making motions towards in its DLC for the first game. “Myself as a Star Wars fan, I want story, I want narrative, I want something I can play that immerses me in that world but gives me something to follow and chase,” says Keslin. “That’s actually what inspired us with the Death Star DLC and [the Rogue One DLC] – how we do add a bit of narrative to the multiplayer game? We know that players want that, we’re not able to give them a full-fledged campaign post-launch for Battlefront, but how can we scratch that itch a bit? It’s been received okay – I think some people appreciate it. We’re trying to address as many things as we can.”
Keslin went on to admit that DICE is currently working with Jade Raymond’s Motive Studios to ensure the single-player campaign in Battlefront 2 is up to par with the multiplayer portions:
“That’s a lot of what we’ve talked about in terms of DICE’s identity and how we approach games,” says Keslin. “We’re partnering up with some folks from Motive – they have their own take on how things are – but we have a very close relationship with them, and we want everything to feel like a coherent experience. We don’t want it where single player isn’t that great but multiplayer has this great thing and isn’t connected.”
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will be released in Fall 2017, just ahead of the theatrical debut of Star Wars Episode VIII.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront II
Doom’s latest Free Update adds bots, new SnapMap options, and more
The imaginatively-named “Free Update 5” is now available to download for id Software’s Doom. This no-cost patch adds a new competitive game mode to Doom’s online multiplayer, as well as the option to play against bots and a higher level cap for your Echelon Rank.
You can check out the trailer above for a look at everything available in “Free Update 5,” or read on for an overview of the update direct from the developer:
Multiplayer Additions
- Infernal Run: A new competitive game mode where teams fight for control of the ball and score in the opponent’s goal.
- Bots: Available on original multiplayer maps in Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch game modes.
- Echelon 11: Multiplayer rank now extends to Echelon 11. Once you reach the new highest ranking, you’ll unlock the signature Doom Marine Armor (Praetor Suit)!
SnapMap Additions
- Play as the Doom Marine in the Doom Marine Armor (Praetor Suit).
- More elements from the campaign, allowing you to play and create even more campaign-like experiences.
- Lazarus Lab themed modules and props.
To get the most out of Doom’s newest update, players will be able to take part in a Double XP Weekend from now until Monday, December 12, at 12:00 PM (Eastern Time).
Finally, id Software also announced that Bloodfall, Doom’s third downloadable expansion, will be released on December 15. The final DLC Pack will include three new multiplayer maps and the invisible Spectre Pinky demon.
More information about “Free Update 5” and the Bloodfall DLC Pack can be found at Bethesda.net.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016)
Gigantic Open Beta (and the Founder’s Pack) is now available for Xbox One, Windows 10
The Gigantic Open Beta kicked off today on the Xbox One and Windows 10, and developer Motiga has unveiled the Founder’s Pack for players looking to get the most out of the free-to-play MOBA. Priced at $39.99, the Founder’s Pack will include access to every character, four post-launch characters, and various other goodies:
Gigantic Founder’s Pack
- 16 Original Heroes
- 4 New Heroes (Released at a Later Date)
- 2 Limited-Edition “Imperial” Skins for Tyto the Swift and Charnok
- 2 Exclusive Founder’s Profile Icons
Players who forego the Founder’s Pack will be able to play Gigantic for free by selecting one of the six heroes in the weekly rotation. Other characters can be unlocked through an in-game currency earned by completing matches, fulfilling Fortune Cards, or purchasing it with a credit card.
About Gigantic
Teams work together to attack enemies while claiming points on the map to summon powerful Creatures. Players will power up their team’s Guardian by controlling the battlefield and defeating enemies. Victory is awarded to the team who can overpower their opponents’ Guardian.
Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will also be able to get in on the Gigantic Open Beta at a later date through Perfect World’s Arc platform.
Xbox Store Today: Dead Rising 4, Abzu, Her Majesty’s SPIFFING, more
Frank is back, baby! Capcom and Microsoft have teamed up to release Dead Rising 4 this holiday season, and its now available to download through the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One. It’s Christmastime at the Willamette Mall and Frank is up to his eyeballs in zombies once again. Thankfully, he’s got a ton of new weapons (including a jolly EXO Suit) to deliver coal to the naughty undead hordes.
This week’s other big Xbox One release, Abzu, is a tad more serene than Dead Rising 4. The underwater exploration game was designed by Matt Nava, the Art Director on Journey and Flower, and it gives players the chance to visit a “vibrant ocean world full of mystery and bursting with color and life.”
Finally this week, Her Majesty’s SPIFFING asks players to go adventuring in outer space, though with a distinctly British flair. Players who gone SPIFFING, the Special Planetary Investigative Force For Inhabiting New Galaxies, will boldly go where no man has gone before (except for all those Brits who starred in Star Wars and Star Trek).
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Dead Rising 4
Batman: The Telltale Series will come to an end next week in Episode 5: City of Light
Making good on their promise to complete Batman: The Telltale Series by the end of the year, Telltale Games has announced the game’s final episode, City of Light, will be released on December 13.
In Episode 5, the leader of the Children of Arkham prepares to execute the final act of a plan to destroy the Wayne family name, and the people closest to you are in their path of vengeance. Can Batman’s ultimate secret be kept – his very identity – when it is causing chaos and death in Gotham? The fate of the Wayne family and of the city itself rests on your choices. What will you do? How far will you go? Which mask will you wear?
With Batman: The Telltale Series coming an end, the developer also wants to give fans a chance to try it out for free. The first episode, Realm of Shadows, is now available as a free download for the PC through Steam.
The fifth episode in Telltale’s Batman series will be available to download next week on the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices.
CoD: Infinite Warfare Update: “Terminal” map free to all and new Quartermaster weapons now available
Activision has announced that new downloadable content for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is now available for all players.
First up, a short tweet has confirmed that the “Terminal” map (which was previously exclusive to players who purchased Infinite Warfare at launch) is now available as a free download for everyone. And second, a new collection of weapons can be obtained from the Quartermaster with Keys or Call of Duty Points. A trailer for the Quartermaster update has been embedded above, and players interested in the new weapons can learn more about them right here:
A brand new collection of craftable Prototype weapons, plus new camos, Epic Taunts, and personalization items have arrived at the Quartermaster in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, including the EBR-800 Bomber sniper/assault rifle hybrid, DCM-8 Epitaph shotgun, Type-2 Atomic assault rifle/dual-SMG combo, and much more.
Activision and Infinity Ward will also support Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare with four downloadable expansions throughout 2017. The first is expected to launch in January or February.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Hungarian company uses racing game on Xbox One to train their self-driving cars
The self-driving cars are coming. Whether its Google or Lyft or BMW or Apple, someone will eventually crack the code and begin production on a car that will drive itself from Point A to Point B. Most companies are tackling the problem of how to “train” their self-driving cars with thousands of hours on the road. But one Hungarian company is using a different type of teacher… video games.
Laszlo Kishonti recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal, and he revealed that his company, Almotive, used an unnamed driving game on the Xbox One to help their self-driving cars learn the basics:
“One of the ways…to train AI [is] you just keep repeating training steps and eventually get a little further and further” in learning, said Niko Eiden, AImotive’s chief operating officer.
Mr. Eiden described using the videogame to training a car to steer, accelerate and brake. “Initially the car will always hit the wall, but after a couple of million tries—that take only a few minutes on a regular PC—it has learned by itself how to drive around a random track and even accelerates on straight sections—just like a child learns to walk!”
Mr. Kishonti said after using the videogame for a few weeks his system had experienced all the variations to be found in the game world.
Almotive is now creating their own simulations using “high-definition video of real-world driving” to further teach their self-driving cars. I’m sure this will in no way lead to the rise of Skynet.