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
Madden NFL 25 Super Bowl XLVIII simulation comes up short as Seattle Seahawks win
Sometimes the Madden Super Bowl prediction is scarily accurate. Other times… it’s not.
Super Bowl XLVIII ended just moments ago and not one of Madden NFL 25‘s predictions came true. The game didn’t go into overtime. Peyton Manning didn’t throw three touchdowns (and he definitely wasn’t the MVP). There was no snow. And the Denver Broncos did not win their first Super Bowl since 1998. Instead, the Seattle Seahawks crushed their opponents 43 to 8.
In the real game, Russell Wilson threw a pair of touchdowns (one to Doug Baldwin and one to Jermaine Kearse). Marshawn Lynch added a rushing touchdown and Seattle’s special teams added two more (one pick six from Malcolm Smith and a kickoff return from Percy Harvin). In case you were curious, Smith also took home MVP honors as well.
With the loss, the Madden NFL Super Bowl simulation drops to 8-3 over the last 11 years. The last failed prediction was in 2011 when the Packers defeated the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
Better luck next year, EA.
New Releases: Bravely Default, Fable Anniversary, The Lego Movie, More
This week’s New Releases Report kicks off with the long-awaited 3DS RPG Bravely Default. If you like your RPGs Japanese and old school, you’ll want to give Bravely Default a look. And in fact, the game is a semi-sequel to another throwback RPG, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. And speaking of throwback RPGs, Microsoft plans to release Fable Anniversary, their Xbox 360 remake of Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, this week.
Also available this week is the “Videogame” adaptation of The Lego Movie. You can hear a Lego version of Chris Pratt say “awesome” a lot on the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Finally, a trio of PC simulation games will soon be available for your purchasing pleasure including Civilization V: The Complete Edition, Airport Simulator 2014, and Professional Farmer 2014.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies, Fable Anniversary, The Lego Movie
Microsoft wants to give you $100 towards an Xbox One… if you trade in your PS3
It is now an open secret that the gap between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is growing from a small crevice to a Grand Canyon. And Sony may soon to leave its competitor eating dust when its new console hits Japanese stores next month. In response, Microsoft has resorted to what some may see as desperate measures. They have started sending out emails offering PlayStation 3 owners $100 towards the cost of an Xbox One if they trade in their console at their local Microsoft Store by March 2.
Perhaps to make the offer look less self-serving, the $100 credit can also be obtained if you trade in an Xbox 360 S or Xbox 360 E system as well.
The move is very peculiar, especially as the cost of the new PlayStation 4 is almost $100 less than the Xbox One. Fans looking to upgrade to either next-gen console would be able to trade in their old ones at the likes of GameStop, without having to take part in Microsoft’s deal. The ill-conceived plan seems to indicate that the company is all too aware that it risks being left in second, possibly even third place, in the next-generation race.
The big question is, what will Microsoft do with all the PlayStation 3 consoles it receives?
Discless, 1TB, and White Xbox One consoles rumored
Microsoft has some big plans for the Xbox One in 2014… but I’m not sure anyone expected the rumors that flew out of Big Redmond today. According to The Verge, Microsoft plans to launch at least three new versions of their next-generation console this year.
First up, a TitanFall-themed Xbox One console will be released sometime this year, presumably in the Spring to tie into the game’s March launch. And speaking of March, an Xbox One update will be available that month that is expected to fix a variety of the system’s social functions.
More new system designs will follow in the Fall including a white version of the console in October (which is said to launch alongside Insomniac’s cartoonish shooter, Sunset Overdrive) and a massive 1TB version in November.
Finally, Microsoft’s biggest Xbox One move may not make into stores, but it is incredibly interesting. One of Verge’s sources has confirmed that Microsoft is testing a version of the Xbox One without a disc drive. There’s a very strong possibility the discless console will never be released to the public, but if it is, it will go a long way towards fulfilling the all-digital future that Microsoft promised us when the Xbox One was first revealed ahead of E3 2013.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Sunset Overdrive, TitanFall
XBL Store Today: Tomb Raider Xbox One, Rekoil, Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver
After taking a few weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s, Microsoft is back with another Xbox Live Game Store update.
Today, Xbox One owners can download Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, the ultimate version of Lara Croft’s latest adventure. Also available today is Rekoil: Liberator, an arena shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade, and Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver, a new Hot Wheels racing game downloadable through the Xbox 360 Games on Demand service.
More details on this trio of games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Tomb Raider
Bethesda unveils Elder Scrolls Online Imperial Edition, new cinematic trailer
A few days ago, Bethesda announced an impressive voice cast for The Elder Scrolls Online. Today, they’ve unveiled an equally impressive special edition for the game.
The “Imperial Edition” will be available in both digital and physical formats. The $79.99 Digital Edition will feature a variety of in-game gear including:
- Play as an Imperial: Become an Imperial and play in any Alliance. Gain unique bonuses, crafting styles, gear, and more.
- White Imperial Horse: Summon this Imperial mount and journey through Tamriel with speed.
- Mudcrab Vanity Pet: Explore Tamriel with a mudcrab pet scuttling along by your side.
- Rings of Mara: Complete the Ritual of Mara with a friend and receive an experience bonus when you play together.
The Physical Edition has been priced slightly higher, $99.99, but it will include all the Digital Edition content as well as several goodies you can touch and feel:
- Molag Bal Statue: A 12” statue featuring Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of domination and enslavement.
- The Improved Emperor’s Guide to Tamriel: A 224-page illustrated guide annotated by the Imperial scholar, Flaccus Terentius.
- Physical Map of Tamriel: A 21” x 26” printed map detailing Alliance-controlled zones and the ultimate conquest: Cyrodiil.
- Steelbook Packaging: A limited edition steel case decorated in the color of the Imperials.
Players who pre-order either edition (or the $59.99 Standard Edition) will also receive the Explorer’s Pack, a special bit of DLC that includes a Scuttler vanity pet, four bonus treasure maps, the ability to play as any of the nine races in any Alliance, and five days of Early Access ahead of the game’s April 4 launch. The Elders Scrolls Online will also be available for the PS4 and Xbox One in June.
And if you’re desperate for more ESO, we’ve got a brand new cinematic trailer, “The Arrival,” after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged The Elder Scrolls Online
Gears of War acquisition may have killed Black Tusk’s current project
Yesterday, Marcus Fenix and the rest of the Gears of War gang moved from Epic Games to Black Tusk Studios as Microsoft acquired the publishing rights to the long-running Xbox-exclusive series. But it’s beginning to look like this acquisition will kill Black Tusk’s in-development “AAAA” project, which was first revealed at last year’s E3 Expo.
According to the official “XboxJobs” Twitter account, Black Tusk and Microsoft executives are currently determining if the project will continue:
@ChrisLikesDinos @blacktuskstudio has been working on an all original IP since its inception, we’ve just brought the GoW franchise (1/2)
— Xbox Jobs (@xboxjobs) January 27, 2014
@ChrisLikesDinos into our portfolio and have not yet determined the future of the new IP at this point. (2/2) (cc @blacktuskstudio)
— Xbox Jobs (@xboxjobs) January 27, 2014
Also yesterday, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told reporters, “I wouldn’t say things have been shelved,” implying that development on Black Tusk’s “AAAA” game would continue. Hopefully, the status of Black Tusk’s future projects will be announced soon.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Gears of War 4
Microsoft acquires rights to Gears of War franchise from Epic
While the Gears of War franchise has always been exclusive to the Xbox 360, the rights to the series, as well as all development, were handled by Epic Games. Today, Microsoft has ensured that Marcus Fenix and the rest of the Gears grunts will remain exclusive to the Xbox platform as the publisher has purchased the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but Microsoft now owns all intellectual property rights to the franchise, the right to republish or remake any previous title in the series, all development assets, and the right to produce original Gears games in the future.
Just as 343 Industries took over for Bungie when they gave up their claim to the Halo series, Microsoft plans to place the Gears of War franchise in the hands of Black Tusk Studios, their studio in Vancouver. Black Tusk is currently working on an unnamed “AAAA” game that is not based on the trailer they showed during Microsoft’s E3 2013 Press Conference. Phil Spencer, the Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios, referred to it as a “concept piece.” Whatever form this “AAAA” game eventually takes, a new Gears game will likely be produced in parallel with it.
And what kind of Gears game does Black Tush have in mind? Microsoft wasn’t ready to announce anything today, but Spencer told GamesIndustry International: “We’re not announcing anything right now, but I think if you look at what we did with 343 and getting them up to speed for Halo 4, you can maybe anticipate some things that are similar to that. But it does give me confidence knowing that we’ve done this once with 343.”
If you remember, 343 Industries famously produced Halo Anniversary as a practice run before development began on Halo 4. Spencer’s words are a very strong hint that an Xbox One remake of one or more Gears games is currently in development.
Rod Fergusson, a producer on the first three Gears of War games, has been hired by Microsoft to oversee the franchise’s future at Black Tusk. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that future soon.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Gears of War, Gears of War 4