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
Square Enix: Final Fantasy XV will finally be released in 2016
2016 is going to be a big year for the Final Fantasy franchise. Remakes and re-releases of both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX are in the works, and Director Hajime Tabata is hard at work on the next game in the series, Final Fantasy XV. The fifteenth Final Fantasy game began life in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, an action-oriented (and, at the time, PS3-exclusive) spinoff to Square Enix’s “Fabula Nova Crystallis” project. But after a number of delays, a title change, and a platform change, it looks like Tabata is finally ready to release the game for the PS4 and Xbox One in 2016.
He delivered the good news to Final Fantasy fans everywhere via the Square Enix Blog this morning:
We will finally release FFXV this year, in 2016! In development, previous phases required wisdom and strength. However, moving forward the final phase will focus on effort and willpower.
I vow to you all that every member in the team will do their best to the very last possible moment taking responsibility and pride in their craft.
We will do everything we can do to finish FFXV to create an experience we are incredibly proud of and one that you will enjoy and treasure.
While we still don’t know the exact date of Final Fantasy XV’s release, we do know that Square Enix is planning a simultaneous global launch, a first for the franchise.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV
Xbox Store Today: Beatsplosion For Kinect
Are your New Year’s Resolutions ready? I hope so, as time is getting short with a little over a day to go before the clock strikes midnight on 2015. But if your list includes the words “Exercise More,” Virtual Air Guitar is hoping you’ll consider their new Xbox One title, Beatsplosion For Kinect.
Available to download now through the Xbox Games Store, Beatsplosion For Kinect will transform players into a “Beat Ninja” who punches and kicks his way through a “crazy world of subatomic particles”:
Beatsplosion For Kinect ($12.99)
Step through Kinect into the crazy world of subatomic particles. Move to the beat of the music, punch your way through quarks and neutrinos, and smash everything into smithereens! Earn higher skill belts to unlock new levels that challenge your rhythm and coordination. Get your sweat on as the tempo increases, and pit yourself against the epic black belt challenge at a blazing speed of 200 bpm!
A Beatsplosion For Kinect launch trailer has been embedded above.
Chart-topping songs from Coldplay, Justin Bieber, One Direction, and more are now available from Rock Band 4’s Music Store
Harmonix has decided to spin a few more chart-topping songs onto Rock Band 4‘s Music Store as players of the reborn rhythm franchise can download new songs from Coldplay, Justin Bieber, One Direction, and other popular acts beginning today. The following songs are now available to purchase for usual price of $1.99 apiece (and you can get a preview of each track in the trailer embedded above)…
- Coldplay – “Adventure of a Lifetime”
- Ellie Goulding – “On My Mind”
- Justin Bieber – “What Do You Mean?”
- One Direction – “Drag Me Down”
- Sam Hunt – “Leave The Night On”
- Weezer – “Thank God for Girls”
If you haven’t picked up the new-gen game yet, Harmonix is also trying to spread the word about a major Rock Band 4 sale going on this week at GameStop. The Game-Only package has been slashed to a more wallet-friendly $39.99 on the PS4 and $59.99 on the Xbox One for the next seven days. Both instrument bundles have also been heavily discounted as the Band-In-A-Box Bundle is currently priced at $199.99, while the Guitar Bundle is just $79.99.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Rebel Galaxy will be released for PS4 and Xbox One in January
Double Damage Games has announced that Rebel Galaxy, their space combat sim that debuted for the PC earlier this year, will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One in January. The developer took to Twitter earlier today to reveal that PS4 players in North America will get a chance to purchase it on January 5, while Xbox One owners will have to wait until January 13:
Console Launch Dates! PS4 USA: Jan 5th. XBox One: Jan 13th. PS4 Europe: TENTATIVE Jan 12th (possibly 19th)
— Rebel Galaxy (@RebelGalaxy) December 28, 2015
As you can see, Double Damage confirmed that Rebel Galaxy will also be available through the European PlayStation Store on either January 12th or the 19th.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rebel Galaxy
Xbox Store Today: Minecraft Story Mode Episode 4, Frizzy
Two new titles are available to download today through the Xbox Games Store…
- Telltale is releasing their fourth, and second-to-last, episode in their Minecraft: Story Mode adaptation. The End will be reached in 2016, but for now, you can experience the penultimate episode on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.
- Also available today is Frizzy, a platformer for the Xbox One that features a retro art style from the 90s.
More information on both games can be found right here:
Xbox One Games
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place ($4.99)
As Jesse, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.Frizzy ($7.99)
Frizzy is a tiny ball of dirt and fur. Within this late 90’s retro art style setting, the player must solve puzzles while simultaneously moving in an intense platforming environment utilizing gravity and sandbox mechanics. Frizzy can static cling to special objects called balloons, which fling Frizzy around each level.Xbox 360 Games
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place ($4.99)
As Jesse, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Minecraft: Story Mode
Capybara will now release Below in 2016
It look like Capybara’s Below, a roguelike in development for the PC and Xbox One, is going to need a little more time in the oven. Originally expected to be out by the end of 2015, Capybara’s President and Co-Founder, Nathan Vella, recently told Game Informer that the game was pushed back to 2016:
Below is indeed coming in 2016. Past that I can’t share much, yet. We’ll certainly have a lot more content to show and news to share in the new year.
Since there’s just a week and a half to go in 2015, this news isn’t too surprising.
Harmonix hopes you’ll “Desire” the U2 Essentials 01 Pack… which is available through the Rock Band 4 Music Store beginning today
Harmonix is taking a trip “Where the Streets Have No Name” today to give players a chance to purchase an eight-pack of U2 songs in Rock Band 4.
The U2 Essentials 01 Pack starts with 1983’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” before taking a career-spanning journey through many of U2’s biggest hits including 1984’s “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” 1987’s “Where The Streets Have No Name,” 1988’s “Desire,” 1992’s “One,” and 2004’s “Vertigo.” The pack closes out with two songs from last year’s Songs of Innocence: “California (There Is No End To Love),” and “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone).”
Players will be able to purchase the complete U2 Essentials 01 Pack for $13.49, with individual songs priced at $1.99 apiece. A video preview of all eight songs has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Kickstart This! Deserted, Wanda: A Beautiful Apocalypse, Night City Assault
Kickstarter recently released a long-awaited Fulfillment Report, an independent analysis of its crowdfunding activities by Professor Ethan Mollick of the University of Pennsylvania. While the report contains a lot of interesting data, the number many media outlets are focusing on is the 9% failure rate of fully-funded projects. The report has this to say about the numbers:
Is a 9% failure rate reasonable for a community of people trying to bring creative projects to life? We think so, but we also understand that the risk of failure may deter some people from participating. We respect that. We want everyone to understand exactly how Kickstarter works — that it’s not a store, and that amid creativity and innovation there is risk and failure.
Let’s look at this another way. 91% of projects across all categories succeed and deliver. What industry can say that? There is an old adage in the film industry that mentions that 7 out of 10 features lose money, two break even, and one film makes enough money to cover the loss. This is almost the opposite.
Personally I have yet to support a successful project, video game related or otherwise, that has not delivered after receiving my funds (or at least been on course to do so). Yes, I practise what I preach and donate on crowdfunding sites. I recently had an update from lead developer James Fletcher about his long-gestating project Knite and the Ghost Lights. In a nutshell, he had to put the project on hiatus to work for six months so he could support his family and then return to the game. Despite waiting longer than I thought I would for the game, James’ commitment to do six months of commercial work in order to realise his dream keeps my faith alive in the crowdfunding community. There are people out there who seek to con others, but that’s why we have columns like Kickstart This!
So what games are we urging you to back this time around? We start off with RPG action-adventure Deserted, before shining a light on not one but two games from Australia. The first is cutesy robot puzzler Wanda: A Beautiful Apocalypse, while the second is the Streets of Rage-inspired RPG beat ‘em up Night City Assault. (more…)