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
Content Crash #11: Gamescom 2017 In Review
Welcome to the Content Crash podcast, I’m your host, Dan Hartnack. With me, as always, is Keno Eastmond.
It’s kind of a crazy week because it’s Gamescom week… the European E3, as I’ve said before. We got to see a couple of new things announced, as well as a couple of feature announcements for certain games. It’s been a fairly quiet affair, but there’s plenty of cool stuff out there.
So let’s talk about it!
You can subscribe to the Content Crash podcast on YouTube or SoundCloud.
Xbox Store Today: Madden NFL 18, F1 2017, Mages of Mystralia, more
It’s a big day for the Xbox Games Store, as a dozen new releases are now available to download through the digital storefront.
We start things off with EA Sports’s annual football simulation, Madden NFL 18. This year, the publisher gave the Xbox One game a “significant visual leap” thanks to the use of EA’s proprietary Frostbite Engine. A brand new Story Mode, “Longshot,” will also give Madden fans something new to try out.
Sports fans will also get the chance to put the pedal to the metal in Codemasters’s F1 2017. The Xbox One racer will include a revamped Career Mode and other enhancements over previous entries.
The magic of sports gives way to actual magic in Mages of Mystralia, an overhead action RPG from Borealys Games. Players will be able to create their own spellbook to solve the puzzles and overcome obstacles “put in place by people who do not want you to succeed.”
Finally, Bandai Namco will re-release the first three games in the Naruto Shippuden series (Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 – Full Burst) for the Xbox One with improved graphics and sound.
You can learn more about all of today’s new releases after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged F1 2017, Madden NFL 18, Mages of Mystralia
Super Mario Odyssey takes home “Best of Gamescom” award at 2017 Gamescom expo
Hats off to Super Mario Odyssey…
Nintendo’s upcoming platformer took home five Gamescom Awards this year, including 2017’s “Best of Gamescom” title, as well as “Best Nintendo Switch Game,” “Best Action Game,” “Best Family Game,” and the fan-voted “Most Wanted Consumer Award.”
The only other game to capture multiple Gamescom Awards was Destiny 2, which won “Best Social/Online Game” and “Best Multiplayer Game.”
The international jury spread out the remainder of the Gamescom Awards and chose to honor Assassin’s Creed: Origins (“Best PS4 Game”), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (“Best Xbox One Game”), Kingdom Come: Deliverance (“Best PC Game”), and Metroid: Samus Returns (“Best Mobile Game”) in the platform categories. Another wide variety of titles (including Project CARS 2, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, and others) were big winners in the genre categories.
The complete list of nominees and winners for the 2017 Gamescom Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Destiny 2, Gamescom 2017, Super Mario Odyssey
Battlefield 1’s “Esports Mode” will be known as Incursions… and here’s the first trailer
Electronic Arts’s promised “Esports Mode” for Battlefield 1 will be known as Incursions, and the publisher unveiled a trailer for it earlier today. When you’re finished with that, a post on the game’s official website has also given us a peek at what to expect from the new mode:
5-Versus-5 Focused Battles
Battlefield 1: Incursions brings the authenticity of Battlefield 1 to a contained, small-scale battle. With just five team members, every move, every action and every kill matters to the outcome of the match. The scoring system emphasizes teamplay and working together like never before.Vehicles
From the very start, we knew: It wouldn’t be Battlefield without vehicles. Vehicles can turn the tide of an Incursions match. But they aren’t unstoppable, and destroying an enemy vehicle can be just as decisive as deploying one.Strategic Depth
In every Battlefield 1: Incursions match, your choice of kit and by extension the team composition is critical to success. Through additions like a lobby-based matchmaker, a draft phase, and per-game progression, we can ensure there are more strategic layers to consider than ever before. Only the sharpest strategic teams will rise to the top of the competition.Epic Battlefield Moments
The impact of Only in Battlefield moments lands even harder as every point, every move, and every bullet becomes the difference between victory and defeat. Each player has a chance to be the hero that saves the day and wins the match for their team.
A Closed Alpha for Battlefield 1: Incursions will begin in September.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1, Gamescom 2017
“Rise and Shine” with Mei in the latest Overwatch Animated Short
Last year at Gamescom, Blizzard pulled hard on the heartstrings of gamers everywhere with an Overwatch starring the robotic Bastion. By heavily playing up its connection to The Iron Giant, “The Last Bastion” surely caused a run on tissues the world over.
Here we are a year later, and Blizzard is back with another Animated Short that’ll leave you all weepy-eyed. “Rise and Shine” stars Mei, and it is sweet and devastating in equal measure:
In “Rise and Shine”, Mei wakes up years after being cryogenically frozen to find that Overwatch has been disbanded, the world is very different than the one she knows, and that she is the last surviving scientist at Ecopoint: Antarctica. With limited resources and time, Mei must use science to figure out a way to get help.
If you’re not a fan of icy temperatures, Overwatch’s Summer Games event is in full swing, and you can earn limited edition Loot Boxes until August 29.
Xbox Store Today: The Escapists 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Episode 3, more
Your midweek Xbox Games Store update is here, and two big games are now available to download for the Xbox One.
Team17 makes a break for it with The Escapists 2, their retro-styled jailbreak simulator. Players will follow the rules by day, and sneak through vents and tunnels at night in the search of sweet freedom. Also… there’s a Space Prison.
Speaking of space, Telltale Games will reunite with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the final frontier with the launch of Guardians of the Galaxy – Episode 3: More Than A Feeling. The third chapter will introduce an “eccentric being” for players to meet, as they continue to deal with the sibling rivalry between Gamora and Nebula.
More details about both of these games (and a few other releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Guardians of the Galaxy, The Escapists 2
Injustice 2’s Fighter Pack 2 will include Black Manta, Raiden, and Hellboy
As expected, NetherRealm Studios unveiled the three characters that’ll be included in the Fighter Pack 2 expansion for Injustice 2 today at Gamescom.
Fans of the fighting game spotted silhouettes for Black Manta (an Aquaman villain) and Raiden (Mortal Kombat‘s God of Thunder) in an earlier trailer, and both characters will make their Injustice 2 debut this Fall in Fighter Pack 2. But the expansion’s inclusion of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy was a welcome surprise. You can catch a glimpse of all three characters in the teaser trailer above.
NetherRealm will broadcast the first gameplay footage of Black Manta on their Twitch channel on August 27. And Injustice 2 owners who pre-purchase Fighter Pack 2 (either by itself or as part of the Ultimate Edition) will be able to download the expansion’s first character (presumably Black Manta) on September 12.
The remaining two characters will be available to download later this Fall.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2017, Injustice 2
Batman: The Enemy Within – Episode 2 will introduce Harley Quinn on September 26
Light up the Bat Signal… Telltale has announced that the Caped Crusader will return in Batman: The Enemy Within – Episode 2: The Pact on September 26. Gotham’s protector will face a new threat in this episode… Harley Quinn.
We’re also happy to confirm that, yes, Harley Quinn will debut in episode two. In keeping with our efforts to create our own unique take on the Batman canon, we’ve worked hard to craft an interpretation of the character that captures her essential qualities while still framing her in a new way. The power dynamic between Harley and “John Doe” should prove especially…intriguing.
Batman: The Enemy Within – Episode 2: The Pact will be available for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices. New screenshots of Batman, The Joker, and Harley Quinn can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: The Enemy Within, Gamescom 2017