Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: Xbox One
Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC Pack to be available on XBL Store on January 28
Activision and Infinity Ward have announced that the first map pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts, Onslaught, will be available to download from the Xbox Live Store (for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One) on January 28.
The coolest map is clearly “Fog,” a love letter to the horror films of yesteryear. Players will even be able to become Halloween‘s Michael Myers and deliver the killing blow with a bloody axe. Players will also be able to frag their friends in the California boardwalk of “BayView,” the war-torn Mexican village of “Containment,” and the aging Florida space launch facility of “Ignition.”
Onslaught will also include a new weapon, a dual-purpose Assault Rifle/Sniper Rifle known as the Maverick, and “Nightfall,” a new chapter in humans vs aliens Extinction saga. In “Nightfall,” players will guide a small strike team to a snowy Alaskan base in search of the origins of the alien invasion (and to battle the biggest boss Infinity Ward has ever created).
Once again, Onslaught will be available to download through the Xbox Live Store on January 28 with a release on other platforms to follow. The DLC pack has been priced at $14.99 individually and will also be included as part of the $49.99 Season Pass.
More details about all of Onslaught’s maps can be found after the break. (more…)
2014 Writers Guild Awards nominees announced
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Award. The award, which honors “Outstanding Achievement in Writing for Videogames,” will be given out on Saturday, February 1 during the 2014 Writers Guild Awards ceremony.
This year, the writers behind Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, God of War: Ascension, The Last of Us, and Lost Planet 3 will all battle it out for the award. A full list of every nominated writer can be found right here:
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
Story by Darby McDevitt, Mustapha Mahrach, Jean Guesdon
Lead Scriptwriter: Darby McDevitt
Scriptwriter: Jill Murray
AI Scriptwriter: Nicholas Grimwood
Scriptwriter Singapore: Mark Llabres HillBatman: Arkham Origins (Warner Bros. Interactive)
Narrative Director: Dooma Wendschuh; Writer & Senior Narrative Designer: Ryan Galletta
Writer: Corey MayGod of War: Ascension (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by Marianne Krawczyk
Additional Writing: Ariel LawrenceThe Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by Neil DruckmannLost Planet 3 (Capcom)
Head Writer: Richard Gaubert
Writers: Orion Walker, Matt Sophos
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, God of War: Ascension, Lost Planet 3, The Last of Us
The Last of Us, Tearaway, Gone Home lead this year’s GDC Awards
The nominees for the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced and The Last of Us, Gone Home, and Tearaway lead the field with five nominations apiece.
The Last of Us and Gone Home will be competing for this year’s Game of the Year award alongside Grand Theft Auto V, Super Mario 3D World, and Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto V are also in the running for multiple awards as each has been nominated in two additional categories.
Other multi-category nominees this year include The Stanley Parable, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Device 6, and Papers, Please.
This year’s Game Developers Choice Awards will be handed out on Wednesday, March 19 at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2014 Game Developers Conference. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged GDC 2014, Gone Home, Grand Theft Auto V, Super Mario 3D World, Tearaway, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider
WWE Network will be available through PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, mobile devices next month
Whatcha gonna do when the WWE Network runs wild on you?
That’s the question Vince McMahon asked today at CES when he revealed the WWE Network, a streaming subscription service for original and classic WWE content.
So what can wrasslin’ fans expect to find on the WWE Network? For $9.99 per month (with a six month commitment), they’ll receive live access to all 12 WWE Pay-Per-View events (including WrestleMania XXX, Summer Slam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble). In addition to the live events, on-demand streaming of Raw and SmackDown replays will be available as well as original shows such as Countdown, WrestleMania Rewind, and Legends House. More details on these shows can be found at the WWE Network official site.
The WWE Network will be available through the WWE app on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Roku, and mobile devices beginning February 24. Users will also be able to access WWE Network content through the WWE website as well. WWE Network support for the Xbox One and selected Smart TVs will be available this Summer.
Get Even uses photorealistic graphics to ask “What Is Real?”
Polish developers The Farm 51 are best known for budget titles like 2009’s Necrovision, last year’s Painkiller: Hell & Damnation, or the Indiana Jones-esque Deadfall Adventures. But for their first next-gen project, the company is getting a little ambitious.
Get Even plays with memories like The Matrix and drops players into a world that melds single-player and multiplayer gameplay. Which “memories” a player chooses to follow will change the how the game progresses. And, according to the developer, “[Other players] on the network can join the quest as enemies, so players never know whether their opponents are human or CPU-based.”
The game will also make extensive use of a brand new 3D photoscanning technology that will literally drop these images into the game to create “expansive and lifelike environments.” “Advanced lighting effects” will add to the immersive images to create an even more realistic world. The developer plans to combine these elements to create a unique shooter that stands out from the crowd.
Wojtek Pazdur, CEO of The Farm 51, said: “As an independent developer, it would be foolish to go head-to-head with the larger companies and create a ‘me too’ knock-off, and frankly we wouldn’t be interested in doing it. We believe that there is still a ton of content and design creativity that has yet to be explored in first-person genre, as well as an audience beyond the warfare player — those are the people we are going for with Get Even.”
Get Even will be available sometime in 2015 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Rumor: Tom Clancy’s The Division delayed into 2015
Tom Clancy’s The Division wowed attendees at last year’s E3 Expo. The MMO from Ubisoft Massive is powered by the brand new Snowdrop Engine and is expected to launch in late 2014 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. However, an anonymous developer within Massive recently told Gamereactor UK that he/she believes that is very unlikely due to the game’s current unfinished state:
“The game engine works well, it’s not done but works well. The actual game development has barely started, however,” says our source.
“The fact that Ubisoft has gone public with a 2014 release date feels laughable to be perfectly honest, we will never be able to release The Division this year. It’s a large project, and we have very far to go.”
Ubisoft hasn’t been shy about touting the technological muscle that has been poured into The Division, so if this report is true, it’s actually rather unsurprising. The Division is, quite literally, a massive game. And Ubisoft surely wants to get it right, as they’ve shown with South Park: The Stick of Truth, Watch Dogs, and The Crew.
And speaking of Ubisoft’s other games, the company has a huge slate of titles on tap for 2014. Even if The Division is ready, moving it would make sense from a practical standpoint. In addition to those three games, Ubisoft has also scheduled Child of Light, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, and an untitled new entry in the Assassin’s Creed series for release this year. That’s a lot of games and giving a big new franchise like The Division room to breath makes more sense than sticking to a (possibly) arbitrary 2014 release date.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Tom Clancy's The Division
Square Enix Montreal’s Hitman game has been canceled
Square Enix Montreal opened in 2011 and its first mission was to create a new game in the Hitman series for next-generation consoles. It looks like that mission is a failure as VideoGamer has surmised that the project has been terminated.
According to the LinkedIn profile of Senior Game Designer Richard Knight, the new Hitman game was to be a “re-imagining” of the character, going back to the roots of the first game, echoing what happened with the new Tomb Raider. However, the news does not mean the end for the bald and barcoded Agent 47. Square Enix Montreal is still in business and has shifted its focus to the mobile games market. And one of their mobile projects is an as-yet-untitled Hitman game that will soon be making its way to a smartphone/tablet near you.
As for a next-gen Hitman game, Square Enix has handed the reins back to IO Interactive, the company that created he franchise. The company plans to focus “resolutely on the future vision for the Hitman franchise” and is already “in pre-production on a new AAA Hitman project.” However, it’s unclear whether that title is the same one that Square Enix Monreal scrapped, or if it’s something completely different.
Game Informer reveals Evolve, a new game from the creators of Left 4 Dead
Today, Game Informer revealed the cover subject of their latest issue: Evolve, a new cooperative multiplayer game from Turtle Rock Studios, the minds behind Left 4 Dead.
The next-gen title, hitting stores this fall, follows the same basic premise as its zombified brethren. But instead of four survivors taking on an entire zombie horde, Evolve pits four alien hunters against one extraterrestrial creature. Before you start thinking, “Where’s the challenge in that?” keep in mind that this is one powerful alien. Not only that, but as the game progresses, your foe gets increasingly larger, and much stronger.
In addition to the standard cooperative mode, the game also features a cooperative/competitive mode, where one gamer plays the role of the alien. Like Left 4 Dead, the game is designed to be played again and again, with slight changes every time you play. More details on Evolve will be included in Game Informer’s February 2014 issue.
Evolve was originally set to be published by THQ, but when they went under the project was scooped up at auction with an astonishing $10.8 million bid by 2K Games. If the Turtle Rock’s previous outings are any indication, it’s going to be money well spent and one hell of a ride for gamers. Evolve will be available for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 this Fall.