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
Xbox Store Today: Payday 2 Crimewave Edition, Elite Dangerous, The Long Dark
This week’s Xbox Games Store update is a big one for Microsoft as the consolemaker has begun offering “Xbox Game Preview” titles for download on the Xbox One. This Steam-like service gives Xbox One owners the chance to support developers by purchasing in-development games. In return, gamers get to play these games before anyone else. Two Xbox Game Preview titles were added to the Xbox storefront earlier this week… Elite: Dangerous and The Long Dark.
Elite: Dangerous, the fourth game in the very influential Elite franchise, is in the works at Frontier Developments. After acquiring a small starship, players will make their way across a “futuristic cutthroat galaxy” in a deep spacefaring simulation. Meanwhile, The Long Dark is bit more earthbound as players will attempt to survive in the frozen wilderness.
Outside of the Xbox Game Preview program, Overkill released Payday 2: Crimewave Edition for the Xbox One this week. Overkill’s cooperative heist simulation was originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2013, but the Crimewave Edition comes bundled with all previously-released downloadable content and an enhanced graphics engine.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Elite: Dangerous, Payday 2, The Long Dark
Guitar Hero Live is coming October 20; Here’s your first look at GHTV
Here it is, your first momentous look at Guitar Hero Live‘s GHTV mode. Are you ready? Here it comes…
Wait, it’s just a Guitar Hero note highway overlaid on top of a music video. The list of available music videos will be periodically updated and players can opt to play individual songs or a themed series of videos. That’s exactly how Activision said GHTV would work when the game was announced a few months ago.
OK, Guitar Hero Live’s E3 2015 trailer is a bit of a bust, but we did also learn that the game will be released on October 20 for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and “select mobile devices.” If you’re thinking of pre-ordering Guitar Hero Live, you might also be interested to know that Activision has partnered with Avenged Sevenfold to create exclusive bonus content for fans of the rhythm game franchise. Prospective pre-order purchasers of the game will receive access to a playable concert performance featuring the heavy metal band in Guitar Hero Live’s GHTV mode. More information is available at GuitarHero.com/bonus.
Guitar Hero Live is in development at FreeStyleGames, the same studio that was responsible for DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2.
EA unveils Survival Missions for Star Wars: Battlefront with new trailer
Worried that the only way to play Star Wars: Battlefront is to do so competitively? Well, worry no further! At E3, EA announced Survival Missions, which are challenges set on several planets in the Star Wars universe. Your goal, as with any survival mission, is to make it out alive. These missions will be playable cooperatively both on-and-offline, so if you and a friend would rather take on waves of AI-controlled Stormtroopers, you’re set.
Star Wars: Battlefront hits the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 11th. Until then, enjoy the latest (gorgeous) trailer, which explores a Survival Mission on Tattooine.
Just Cause 3 gets December 1 release date, E3 trailer
Get your grappling hooks ready! Square Enix announced today that Just Cause 3 will hit the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on December 1st.
“Just Cause 3 is one of our most anticipated titles and we’re excited to build on everything the community loved about Just Cause 2,” said Phil Rogers, CEO at Square Enix. “With a beautiful 400 square-mile sandbox, Just Cause 3 will offer players almost endless hours of creativity, destruction and awe-inspiring stunts this December 1.”
Additionally, Square Enix released a new trailer for the title. The video, “This is Just Cause 3,” showcases all the vehicles, weapons, and modes that the game has to offer.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will take us into the world of Tangled
Sora’s adventures through the Magic Kingdom (and beyond) are about to get a little hairy. Today, Square Enix released a new gameplay video for the highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts III. The video shows multiple battle scenes with Sora and his companions Donald and Goofy, and also features a familiar-looking tower in the background. Eagle-eyed Disney fans may immediately recognize it as being from Tangled, Disney’s retelling of the Rapunzel story.
A release date has yet to be officially announced for the PS4 and Xbox One game, so stay tuned for more information. Until then, enjoy the E3 2015 trailer.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2015, Kingdom Hearts III
Destiny expands again with The Taken King on September 15
Activision and Bungie will continue to expand the world of Destiny this Fall with Destiny: The Taken King for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Available September 15, The Taken King will add “an all-new campaign, three new Guardian subclasses, a massive arsenal of new armor, weapons and exotics, new Strikes and Crucible maps, a new Raid that will put players to the ultimate test, and more.” PS3 and PS4 players will also receive exclusive early access to an additional Crucible map, Strike, three sets of gear, and an exotic weapon.
So where will this new campaign take players? Here’s what Activision had to say:
Oryx, The Taken King has arrived in our solar system, bringing with him a corrupted army to exact revenge on the Guardians who destroyed his son, Crota, and to consume our worlds. Arm yourself with newfound abilities, weapons, and gear. Defeat the Taken hordes. Make your way aboard the Dreadnaught, and face Oryx himself within his inner sanctum.
For players who have yet to dive in to the world of Destiny, Activision and Bungie will release a special Legendary Edition of the game which will include Destiny, Expansion I: The Dark Below, Expansion II: House of Wolves, and The Taken King. A special Collector’s Edition of Destiny: Legendary Edition, packed with bonus items and in-game content, will also be available. More information on the Collector’s Edition can be found at Destiny’s official website.
Finally, Bungie has released a new behind-the-scenes video that goes deeper into The Taken King. You can find it after the break. (more…)
Square Enix confirms the next Hitman will be an episodic game
Not much was said about the latest Hitman game at Sony’s E3 Press Conference last night. We got our first look at a teaser trailer and the promise that a beta would be available exclusively for PS4 owners, but other than that, the announcement was as mysterious as Agent 47 himself. This morning, Sqaure Enix cleared up a few things by announcing quite a few more details about the next Hitman game.
Most importantly, Square Enix has confirmed that Hitman will be an episodic game with the first episode scheduled for release on December 8. Unlike traditional episodic games, Square Enix and developer IO Interactive are asking gamers to purchase the entire season up front for $60. After that, they’ll receive free access to every additional episode/add-on, which will be released throughout 2016.
But aside from a new distribution model, players should already be familiar with the concept behind the sixth Hitman game:
Hitman will see players perform contract hits on powerful, high-profile targets in exotic locations around the world, from the highly fashionable Paris and sunny coast of Italy to the dust and hustle of the markets in Marrakesh in this creative stealth action game.
Gameplay focuses on taking out targets in huge and intricate sandbox levels with complete freedom of approach. Where to go, when to strike and who to kill – it is all up to you.
“This is new ground for Hitman, coming out digital first enables us to do something new, bold and exciting,” said Hannes Seifert, Studio Head at IO Interactive. “We are building a live, expanding and evolving world of assassination where we continuously develop the game, listening closely to the players as we release new locations, missions and hits as soon as they are ready… where $60 and not a dollar more gets you full access to the experience.”
While the beta will be exclusive to the PS4, Hitman will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on December 8.
EA unveils first Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer at E3 2015
It’s time to stop calling it Mass Effect 4. Electronic Arts opened their 2015 E3 Press Conference with a short glimpse at Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next game in the well-loved RPG franchise. In development at BioWare Montreal, Mass Effect: Andromeda will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One next Fall.
EA’s executives didn’t say much about the game during their E3 Press Conference, but developers at BioWare were all too eager to finally talk about their new project. According to the BioWare Blog, Andromeda takes place “far away from and long after” the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy:
While we aren’t ready to go into too many details just yet, as you saw in the trailer and can tell by the name, this game is very much a new adventure, taking place far away from and long after the events of the original trilogy. You will play a human, male or female, though that’s actually not the character you saw in the trailer (more on that later). You’ll be exploring an all-new galaxy, Andromeda, and piloting the new and improved Mako you saw. And through it all, you will have a new team of adventurers to work with, learn from, fight alongside of, and fall in love with.
BioWare describes the trailer as a “visual target for the final game,” so it’s possible Andromeda may not look like this when its released. But the inclusion of Johnny Cash’s “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” was inspired. Along with the desert visuals, it gives the whole thing a Firefly vibe, though that was probably unintentional.
You can’t take the sky from me…