Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: Xbox One
Activision officially announces Destiny: Rise of Iron expansion
As expected, Activision and Bungie will release the next major expansion to Destiny this Fall. Destiny: Rise of Iron will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on September 20, and players will be required to own Destiny: The Taken King before they can tackle the new content.
In Rise of Iron, Destiny players will return to Earth to obtain new weapons (including an “Iron Black” Gjallarhorn for those who pre-order) and armor while completing a new six-player Raid (Felwinter Peak) and three-player Strike in “The Plaguelands”:
Guardians must rise to the challenge to take their place as the next generation of Iron Lords. Along the way they will join forces with a legend from humanity’s Golden Age to defeat a plague of unstoppable evil once and for all. The game features a collection of fresh content including an all-new setting on Earth called The Plaguelands, a brand-new six-player Raid, Felwinter Peak, a new social space that looks out onto The Plaguelands, new cooperative three-player Strike, more quests, weapons, gear, competitive multiplayer mode and maps, a Light level increase, a new mutated enemy faction of the Fallen, and more.
Destiny: Rise of Iron will be priced at $29.99, and players who purchase it for the PS4 will receive access to a another collection of timed exclusive content, which will be revealed at a later date. But for now, we can expect to learn more about Destiny: Rise of Iron during next week’s E3 Expo.
Xbox Store Today: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Minecraft Story Mode Ep6, Soul Axiom, more
“Follow Faith, a daring free runner, as she fights for freedom in the city of Glass.”
This short sentence should be enough to put a smile on the face of anyone who was a fan of 2008’s Mirror’s Edge. And that’s because Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is now available to download for the Xbox One through the Xbox Games Store. Also now available to download is the continuing adventures of Jesse and his/her Order of the Stone in Minecraft: Story Mode. Telltale released the sixth episode, “A Portal To Mystery,” this week, and future episodes will be available soon.
Finally this week, Wales Interactive’s first-person adventure game, Soul Axiom, has been added to the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One. Billed as a “cyber-thriller” by the developer, Soul Axiom will give players the chance to solve puzzles, manipulate the environment, and explore their digital afterlife.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Minecraft: Story Mode, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
Ubisoft officially unveils Watch Dogs 2 with a new trailer and November 15 release date
Hack the Planet! Hack the Planet!
I’m getting a distinctly Hackers vibe from Watch Dogs 2, which was officially announced by Ubisoft this morning. Hackers is a tad ridiculous, but its concept of “hackers as superheroes” clearly lives on in Watch Dogs 2. The second game in the series is heading for the coast, and Ubisoft has confirmed that Watch Dogs 2 will take place in San Francisco. It’s new location also paves the way for a new main character, Marcus Holloway, though players won’t just be limited to “The City by the Bay.” They’ll also be able to explore the surrounding area including Oakland, Marin County, and (of course) Silicon Valley.:
Players will explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0’s predictive algorithms and is accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus’ quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess, to trigger unpredictable chains of events. With the ability to take control of drones, cars, cranes, security robots and much more at their disposal, players can choose whether to use stealth hacking to complete missions without killing a single enemy or go guns blazing for a more ferocious approach.
Prospective players won’t have to wait long to try out Watch Dogs 2… it’ll be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 15. As part of their big marketing push, Ubisoft will release Watch Dogs 2 in three different versions including a Deluxe Edition (the game plus a Deluxe Pack of in-game customization items), a Gold Edition (everything in the Deluxe Edition plus the Season Pass), and a Collector’s Edition which includes a Wrench Junior robot that’s controllable through a mobile app. Everyone who pre-order Watch Dogs 2 will receive the exclusive “Zodiac Killer” bonus mission.
But in the more immediate future, Ubisoft plans to bring Watch Dogs 2 to next week’s E3 Expo in a big way, starting with an informative dive into the game’s new features on the UbiBlog and a “World Premiere” livestream, which has been embedded after the break. (more…)
Here’s an E3 2016 trailer for Yooka-Laylee… but Playtonic pushed it back to Early 2017
Playtonic Games is hard at work on Yooka-Laylee, their loving tribute to the “Collect-Em-Ups” of the late 90s/early 2000s like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. But it looks like that hard work is going to take a little more time, as Playtonic has confirmed Yooka-Laylee won’t be released this October as originally planned. Instead, the developer revealed (on their official website) that it’ll be released for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One early next year:
While we felt confident we could ship the game in October as originally projected in our Kickstarter, the Playtonic team has decided that it would prefer to add a few extra months’ polish to the game schedule.
Ultimately, this will allow us to deliver a better game to the tens-of-thousands of you who’ve supported us throughout development. And that’s what we all want, right?
While Yooka-Laylee is a bit further away now than it was before, Playtonic plans to bring their work-in-progress game to next week’s E3 Expo, so we should learn more about it soon. In the meantime, you can check out the game’s E3 trailer, which has been embedded above.
NetherRealm officially announces Injustice 2 ahead of E3 2016
All the teases and leaks in the world can’t take away from an impressive Announcement Trailer… and that’s just what NetherRealm has given us for Injustice 2. Set to be released for the PS4 and Xbox One in 2017, Injustice 2 revives a dark corner of the DC Universe… where a deranged Superman plots to return to his role as the supreme leader of Earth:
Injustice 2 continues the epic cinematic story introduced in Injustice: Gods Among Us as Batman and his allies work towards putting the pieces of society back together while struggling against those who want to restore Superman’s regime. In the midst of the chaos, a new threat appears that will put Earth’s existence at risk.
Batman, Superman, Aquaman, and The Flash will return for a second round of fighting, alongside newcomers like Supergirl and villains such as Atrocitus and Gorilla Grodd. But regardless of who you pick, players will be able to customize the characters in Injustice 2 like never before. According to NetherRealm, players can “personalize iconic DC characters with unique and powerful gear earned throughout the game,” as well as “take control of how their characters look, fight, and develop across a variety of game modes.”
We’ll likely learn more about Injustice 2 during next week’s E3 Expo.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2016, Injustice 2
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night backers will get access to the E3 demo… and everybody else gets a new trailer
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is still almost a year away, but Koji “IGA” Igarashi is ready to give fans and friends a look at the game’s first level in a new trailer. Here’s what he had to say about the video in Bloodstained’s latest Kickstarter update (which also includes some new screenshots):
For this month’s update, the team has put together a video and some screenshots of an actual stage in Bloodstained. This is the game’s first stage, where we find Miriam on a ship, the Galleon Minerva, headed toward the castle. It’s a setting filled with anticipation.
Igarashi, and his team at Inti Creates, are planning to debut the first demo for Bloodstained at next week’s E3 Expo. But you won’t need to sneak into Los Angeles Convention Center to get your hands on it… everyone who pledged at least $60 during the game’s Kickstarter campaign will receive access to the demo through Steam.
If all continues to go well for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the side-scrolling MetroidVania should be released for the PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One sometime next Spring.
XCOM 2 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on September 6
Prepare for invasion! After making a successful debut on the PC earlier this year, 2K Games and Firaxis have announced they’ll release XCOM 2 for the PS4 and Xbox One on September 6. The console port will be handled by The Workshop, a development house that has previously assisted Tango Gameworks on The Evil Within and Gearbox on Borderlands 2.
“Firaxis has successfully enhanced the XCOM franchise, as XCOM 2 has earned both massive critical and fan acclaim,” said Matt Gorman, the Vice President of Marketing for 2K. “Many console gamers have been vocal about bringing XCOM 2 to their platforms, and now they can look forward to joining the resistance this September.”
“The incredible reception of XCOM 2 has been rewarding and humbling for the team, and we’ve known console fans have been clamoring to play the game too,” said Jake Solomon, XCOM 2’s Creative Director. “As avid console players ourselves, we’re excited to work with The Workshop to bring XCOM 2 to all of our fans.”
Players who pre-order XCOM 2 on the PS4 or Xbox One will receive the Resistance Warrior Pack, which includes additional soldier customization options such as additional outfits and headgear, as well as custom facial war paint. The Resistance Warrior Pack also features the “Survivor of the Old War,” a special XCOM recruit who will appear in the barracks. Players who opt for the XCOM 2 Digital Deluxe Edition will also receive the Resistance Warrior Pack, along with the Reinforcement Pack, which includes all previously-released downloadable content for the strategy game.
FIFA 17 will use the Frostbite Engine for the first time when it launches this September
Soccer fans will have an all-new FIFA experience to try out this Fall, as EA Sports has announced that FIFA 17 will be developed using the publisher’s Frostbite Engine for the first time. In development at EA Vancouver, the publisher believes their Frostbite technology will add “depth and emotion” to the pitch when FIFA 17 is released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this September.
“Frostbite unlocks a whole new world of possibilities for the FIFA franchise and its fans,” said David Rutter, the Executive Producer on the FIFA franchise. “We have never been as excited as we are today about the future of football and the experiences we are going to deliver in FIFA 17.”
To create the most authentic game possible, EA Sports also recruited four world-class players to lend their expertise to the EA Vancouver team: James Rodriguez of Real Madrid, Anthony Martial of Manchester United, Eden Hazard of Chelsea FC, and Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund. We’ll get our first look at FIFA 17’s evolution during the EA’s EA Play E3 Presentation on Sunday, June 12, at 4:00 PM.
The Frostbite-powered FIFA 17 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 27. The game will also be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360, though without any of the improvements found in the new-generation version.