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: AC: Unity, AC: Rogue, Halo Master Chief Collection, Lego Batman 3, more
After the delay of Halo 5: Guardians earlier this year, Microsoft didn’t have any kind of big shooter on their Fall 2014 schedule. Thankfully, Microsoft put out something else today that will surely make all the little Halo fans out there squeal with delight… an Xbox One-exclusive compilation of the first four games in the series known as Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Improved visuals and a complete “Anniversary” makeover for Halo 2 make this the biggest re-release the series has ever seen.
Elsewhere on the Xbox Games Store today is a pair of new Assassin’s Creed games (the Paris-set Assassin’s Creed: Unity on the Xbox One and the Revolutionary Assassin’s Creed: Rogue on the Xbox 360), Konami’s latest soccer sim (Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One), and WB’s latest whimsical Lego adventure (Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One)
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Telltale’s Game of Thrones will span six episodes and begin with “Iron From Ice”
After announcing it almost a year ago, Telltale Games is finally ready to talk about their Game of Thrones adaptation on their official blog. The first episode, “Iron From Ice,” will debut on the PC (Win/Mac), PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and iOS App Store “soon.” Telltale said that it will also appear on “additional platforms,” but that’s most likely just confirmation that the episodic series will eventually appear on the many, many Android devices out there.
Unlike previous episodic games from Telltale, Game of Thrones will take place over six episodes and will initially take place towards the end of the third season of the show. Future episodes will push the narrative through to the beginning of the fifth season (which will begin airing on HBO in Spring 2015). However, the members of House Forrester that Telltale will spotlight in the game have yet to appear on the popular show:
House Forrester is a noble house from the Wolfswood in the north of Westeros. Bannermen to House Glover, they have always offered unswerving loyalty to the ruling great house of the North – the Starks. The Forresters are seated at Ironrath, an imposing stronghold surrounded by towering ironwood trees. Built over fifteen hundred years ago by Cedric Forrester and his triplet sons, Ironrath is a testament to the strength and endurance of Ironwood. The Forrester house words are “Iron from Ice,” which echoes their belief that – like the ironwood itself – the adverse conditions and unforgiving landscape of the North only makes them stronger.
Ironrath sits on the edge of the largest ironwood forest in Westeros, which has proven to be a strategic advantage for the House. The trees are a valuable commodity; many of the best weapons, ships, and defensive structures include the use of ironwood. House Forrester controls the majority of the ironwood forests in the Wolfswood, much to the chagrin of their bitter rivals, House Whitehill.
All told, players will control five different characters throughout the series, which Telltale promises will up the complexity considerably: “Playing as five characters not only reflects the epic scope of Game of Thrones, but is also something that the player needs to be mindful of. This is because the actions of one character can ripple out to affect the rest of House Forrester. Multiply the actions of one character by five, and you’re truly playing the Game of Thrones… where you win, or you die.”
Game of Thrones: Iron From Ice is expected to be available before the end of the year, but only Telltale knows how soon is “soon.”
Just Cause 3 officially announced for 2015 release on the PC, PS4, Xbox One
After a variety of leaks, fans of the first two games in the franchise have long assumed that Just Cause 3 has been in development at Avalanche Studios. Today, the developer has confirmed that their New York studio has been hard at work on the game for the last three years and that it’ll be released in 2015 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The news comes not via publisher Square Enix, but instead from Game Informer, as Just Cause 3 will appear on the cover of the magazine’s December issue:
In 2015, the beloved series returns with Just Cause 3 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. We got the chance to be the first people outside of the studio to play not just 10 or 20 minutes, but several hours of the game, set in a fictional Mediterranean archipelago. The time flew by as we tried out the vastly improved parachute and grapple mechanics, terrorized the latest dictator’s well-defended bases, and soared through the sky with the all-new wingsuit. Just Cause has never played this smoothly, and as you’ll see in the cover story launching digitally today, it’s never looked this good.
More details about Just Cause 3 will trickle out of Game Informer’s editorial offices all month. And in case you’re wondering what the main Avalanche team is working on, they’ll release Mad Max in 2015 for WB Games.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Just Cause 3
Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Valve, others teaming up for The Game Awards 2014
Geoff Keighley is leaving the familiar confines of the Spike TV-sponsored VGX Awards to launch a brand new game industry event: The Game Awards. The VGX Awards polled a wide range of game journalists to select the best games of the year, but The Game Awards will take a different tack. Their advisory board will instead be made up of some of the industry’s biggest executives and developers:
- Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo of America)
- Yves Guillemot (Ubisoft)
- Hideo Kojima (Kojima Productions)
- Shawn Layden (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Peter Moore (Electronic Arts)
- Phil Spencer (Microsoft)
- Martin Tremblay (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- An unnamed representative from Rockstar Games
- An unnamed representative from Valve
The nominations for this year’s Game Awards haven’t been announced yet, but we do know that the ceremony will take place on December 5 at the AXIS Theater in Las Vegas. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow and those of us that aren’t planning to attend the live show will be able to watch an online stream of the events through the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Nintendo Network, Steam, and “many other sites and platforms.”
And you’ll probably want to pay close attention as, just like the VGX Awards, the show will feature a series of trailers promoting a variety of upcoming games. Musical performances and appearances by “game developers, eSports players and online content creators” will round out the 2014 Game Awards agenda.
Spike TV has yet to announce whether the VGX Awards will be held this year.
Microsoft has filed a trademark application for Battletoads
Battletoads. Just it’s name should conjure up images of broken controllers and tears of frustration for any kid who lived through the NES era. It is fondly remembered today as one of the most difficult video games of all time and the launching pad for a franchise that would eventually span four more titles.
And yet, the last Battletoads game, an arcade rendition known as Super Battletoads, was released in 1994. The series has laid dormant for 20 years… until now.
Last week, Microsoft filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to revive the Battletoads name. Because this is only a trademark application, it doesn’t mean that a new Battletoads game is necessarily in the works. But it is a very good sign. Especially after the announcement earlier this year that Rare would be changing their “development methodology” and possibly leaving their series of Kinect-based games behind.
Insert Quarter: What’s the Best Way To Introduce Halo (or Any Game) To Your Kids?
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Geeky parents have long wondered what is the best way to introduce their favorite geeky media to their children. It’s definitely a universal thought that I’ve even caught myself having. I don’t have kids yet and I’ve wondered when will be the right time to introduce them to the Star Wars trilogy (and in what order). With this week’s release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Polygon’s Ben Kuchera ponders this predicament as it relates to the game industry’s premiere first person shooter series. Aside from a baffling adherence to inverted controls, Kuchera wonders what parts of the game he should show his son and what parts he should let him discover on his own:
We’re pretty strict about what games the kids play, and for how long, and this is the first time my son and I have played a mature-rated game together. He lacks rudimentary skills when it comes to first-person shooters, and I begin to feel like I’ve been failing him by not teaching him this stuff earlier.
You can read the rest of the article at Polygon.
Posted in Insert Quarter, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: The Master Chief Collection
This is your Halo: The Master Chief Collection launch trailer
The release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One is just two days away and Microsoft has released a launch trailer to get you pumped about Master Chief’s big reunion. Bringing together Halo: Combated Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4 in one package, The Master Chief Collection is a bargain for anyone wanting to break in to the Halo series for the first time. But the package does include several new features as well including an enhanced “Anniversary” edition of Halo 2, several remade multiplayer maps, the Halo: Nightfall digital series, and access to this December’s Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta.
Yup, that is a lot of Halo. And be sure to hit the jump for a little bit of “We Will Rock You” in The Master Chief Collection’s first TV spot. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: The Master Chief Collection
New Releases: Halo Master Chief Collection, AC: Unity/AC: Rogue, Lego Batman 3, More
With Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s launch behind us, game publishers have moved forward with a massive amount of mid-November releases. Chief among them (that’s right, I went there) is Microsoft’s Halo: The Master Chief Collection, an Xbox One repackaging of Halo: Combated Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. More Achievements than you could ever ask for and four of the best shooters to ever grace a gaming system. Not a bad deal. Also available this week is a double shot of Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (PS3, Xbox 360) closes the book on the franchise’s “Americas” saga while Assassin’s Creed: Unity (PC, PS4, Xbox One) shifts the series to the French Revolution.
The remaining new releases can also be slotted into several long-running franchises including WB’s Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One), Sega’s Sonic Boom two-fer (Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on the Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on the 3DS), Bandai Namco’s Tales of Hearts R (Vita), and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One).
Finally this week, Blizzard is back with another World of Warcraft expansion… World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)