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
EA will reboot Need For Speed franchise this Fall on PC, PS4, Xbox One
EA has announced that the Need For Speed franchise will most definitely return this Fall. Specifically in the form of a “full reboot” that will simply be known as Need For Speed. Developed by the same team who produced Need For Speed Rivals, Sweden-based Ghost Games, Need For Speed will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
According to the developer, Need For Speed will include “deep customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative that pulls you through the game.” A teaser trailer is available for your perusal above with a more in-depth trailer scheduled to debut during EA’s E3 Press Conference on June 15.
In addition to Ghost Games, EA has also recruited the team from Speedhunters, the publisher’s “car culture community,” to assist with the development of Need For Speed. EA hopes that this collaboration will result in an even more authentic racing game:
Need For Speed will deliver an experience that’s grounded in authentic car culture by diving into the rich world of past, present and emergent trends of the urban car scene. This collaboration with Speedhunters in the research and development of the game means the level of detail and real-world authenticity will envelop gamers in an exciting world to discover and enjoy in a way that only Need for Speed can deliver.
Finally, Executive Producer Marcus Nilsson reassured fans that Ghost Games wants to bring the series back in a big way: “Need For Speed is one of the most iconic names in gaming, and we’re returning it to greatness in this reboot.”
Techland puts development of Hellraid on hold
They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. But the road to Hellraid is apparently paved with Stop signs as Techland announced (on the game’s official website) that the first-person slasher has been put on hold.
First announced in 2012 as Project Hell, Hellraid was originally scheduled to be released in Fall 2013 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The co-op arena brawler was then pushed back to 2014 so Techland could add a single-player story mode and fix the game’s magic system. But as the 2014 launch date loomed, Techland delayed it one more time and shifted the game’s destination to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It looks like even a jump to current-generation consoles couldn’t save it:
In the recent months we conducted an internal analysis and came to the conclusion that Hellraid, in its current shape and form, is not meeting our own expectations for this project. Therefore, we decided the best course of action would be to send it back to the drawing board and invent our dark fantasy title anew.
While Techland didn’t officially cancel Hellraid, the developer plans to continue to expand their first-person zombie survival game, Dying Light, while they figure out what to do with it.
Rocksteady wants us to “Be the Batman” in live-action trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight
- A firefighter running into a burning building.
- A group of passengers confronting a bully on the train.
- A basketball player basketballs with a broken finger.
- A kid who decides to single-handedly fight off a gang of muggers.
These are the “Everyday Heroes” that Rocksteady Studios has decided to honor in their live-action “Be the Batman” trailer/commercial. You apparently don’t need billions of dollars and an arsenal of high-tech toys to fight crime or make the world a better place, you just need Batman’s selflessness, determination, and courage.
On the other hand… the basketball player is an athlete and while “playing through the pain” might make him heroic to his teammates, he’s not exactly making the world a better place or promising to hit two home runs for a dying kid like Babe Ruth did. And the poor mugging victim in the alley is going to get himself killed as the only guy who walks away from a three-on-one fight is The Batman.
Batman: Arkham Knight will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on June 23, which is just a little over a month away from today.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Step into the safe of Boxman in this Evil Within: The Executioner gameplay trailer
Whether you call him The Keeper or Boxman, the hulking brute with the safe on his head will be the “hero” of The Evil Within‘s third, and final, downloadable expansion. The Evil Within: The Executioner will also shift things around in another memorable way as players will be forced to play the game from a first-person perspective.
Can you handle the terror? Load up the gameplay trailer embedded above to find out. And remember that The Executioner add-on will be available to download next Tuesday, May 26, for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Players who own The Evil Within’s Season Pass will get it for free while everyone else will have to pony up $4.99.
Great Scott! This new Lego Dimensions trailer stars Back to the Future’s Doc Brown
Don’t be a butthead, watch this new Lego Dimensions trailer right now! Christopher Lloyd, old Doc Brown himself, headlines the video as we get a closer look at some of the game’s Back to the Future-inspired locales. A few of Batman’s greatest foes also show up to cause some mayhem (Bane and Two-Face) and get some laughs (The Joker and Harley Quinn).
Will we need roads where we’re going? Doc Brown doesn’t know, but he does know that WB Games also announced the following minifigure expansions for Lego Dimensions, which will join the previously confirmed Portal 2, Simpsons, and Doctor Who sets:
- DC Comics Team Pack: The Joker and Harley Quinn
- DC Comics Fun Pack: Superman
- DC Comics Fun Pack: Aquaman
- DC Comics Fun Pack: Bane
- Back to the Future Fun Pack: Doc Brown
- Lego Ninjago Fun Pack: Sensei Wu
- Lego Ninjago Fun Pack: Lloyd
We don’t know exactly when each pack will make its way onto store shelves (as early as this Fall or as late as the first half of 2016), but we do that Lego Dimensions will be released for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 27.
Xbox Store Today: The Witcher 3, Farming Simultaor 15, Life Is Strange: Episode 3, more
Do you love the great outdoors, but also prefer to experience it through a video game console? Then today’s Xbox Games Store update is absolutely for you.
Players who love to hunt will be able to hunt the monsters that plague the Northern Kingdoms in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The massive open-world RPG, which is now available to download on the Xbox One, marks the end of Geralt of Rivia’s adventures. But it looks like CD Projekt’s most famous character (who’s origins are actually found in a Polish novel) will ride off into the sunset in a blaze of glory.
However, if your outdoorsiness trends towards farming, you might want to look into Farming Simulator 15, which is now available to download for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Farming Simulator 15 promises a simulation of every part of a farm including “harvesting, animal husbandry (cows, chicken, and sheep), sales of fresh products,” and more.
Stepping away from the outdoors theme is Life Is Strange: Chaos Theory, the third episode in Dontnod’s episodic adventure series. Set within the walls of the mysterious Blackwell Academy, the Xbox One/Xbox 360 game still offers plenty of opportunity to explore the strange time travel abilities of main character Max.
Finally this week, Adult Swim Games has added the competitive platformer Mega Coin Squad to the Xbox Games Store. Mega Coin Squad is available for the Xbox One and it promises “fast, frantic, and tactical” action while asking players to collect coins like they’ve never collected coins before.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Farming Simulator 15, Life Is Strange, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Check out the first 20 minutes of Behemoth’s Game 4
The Behemoth has released a new gameplay walkthrough showcasing the first 20 minutes of their next project, the currently untitled “Game 4.” I was quite smitten with the game after playing the PAX East demo and this video covers a lot of the same ground, so the walkthough should look very familiar if you were able to travel to Boston for the big show this year. But a few tweaks and changes did creep into the frame thanks to the additional two months of development time.
Game 4 is shaping up to be an epic turn-based strategy game infused with The Behemoth’s trademark brand of deranged humor. It’s currently in development for the PC and Xbox One, but the final release date is as up in the air as all that bear blood.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Pit People
Activision cranks up the hard rock for second batch of Guitar Hero Live tracks
Last week, Activision unveiled the first 24 songs that’ll make up the final tracklist for Guitar Hero Live. The tracks covered a wide range of musical styles including blues (Gary Clark Jr.), pop (Ed Sheeran), pop punk (Fall Out Boy, Green Day, My Chemical Romance), alternative (The Killers), and even some techno (Skrillex).
But for this week’s “Tracklist Tuesday,” Activision wanted to go a little harder with ten selections from the hard rock and heavy metal acts that’ll be included on Guitar Hero Live’s soundtrack:
- Bring Me the Horizon – “Shadow Moses”
- Deftones – “Diamond Eyes”
- Killswitch Engage – “In Due Time”
- Marilyn Manson – “Disposable Teens”
- Marmozets – “Move Shake Hide”
- Mastodon – “High Road”
- Of Mice & Men – “Bones Exposed”
- Royal Blood – “Little Monster”
- Trivium – “Strife”
- Vista Chino – “Sweet Remain”
Most of these bands are unknown to me, but I think I was most surprised to learn that Marilyn Manson is still a thing. Guitar Hero Live will be released this Fall for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U.