Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game Awards
- “Animal Crossing” and Undertale” Lead the Way for New Book Series About Games at University of Chicago Press
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
All Articles: NHL 18
EA Sports’s Stanley Cup prediction is wrong once again as Capitals win their first title
While you can usually take EA Sports’s Super Bowl prediction to the bank, their prognosticating powers for ice hockey have never been as solid. And 2018 is no exception.
The publisher used NHL 18 to simulate this year’s NHL Playoffs, and they zeroed in on a Stanley Cup matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Winnipeg Jets. Though the Jets managed to make it to the Western Conference Finals, the Bruins were knocked out in the second round.
So instead, this year’s Stanley Cup Finals belonged to the Vegas Golden Knights (an expansion team that never existed before last Fall) and the Washington Capitals. And last night, the Capitals hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
Better luck next year, EA Sports.
Winnipeg Jets will triumph over the Boston Bruins in NHL 18’s Stanley Cup prediction
Real life rarely plays along with EA Sports’s annual Stanley Cup prediction, but that hasn’t stopped the publisher from trying once more with NHL 18. This year, the hockey simulation has predicted the Winnipeg Jets will hoist the Stanley Cup after toppling the Boston Bruins in the NHL Finals.
It would be an historic win for the Winnipeg Jets, as no Canadian franchise has won the Stanley Cup in more than two decades. A few other interesting tidbits from NHL 18’s Stanley Cup simulation can be found at the game’s official website:
Patrik Laine took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after recording 15 goals and 24 points along route to the Jets’ Stanley Cup victory. Laine, along with Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and captain Blake Wheeler were four of the top scorers throughout the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs. Mathieu Perreault was the unsung hero for the Jets after he recorded 15 points and was a catalyst on the Jets’ power play.
The Winnipeg Jets Stanley Cup victory made them the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since 1993, ending a 25 year Stanley Cup drought in Canada.
NHL 18 is currently available for the PS4 and Xbox One, and the Stanley Cup playoffs begin tonight with three first round matchups.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Super Mario Odyssey are October 2017’s best-selling games
A northeastern cold snap proves that Fall is all… as does the massive number of new releases that cracked The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from October 2017. WB Games’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of War lead the way at #1, but it was closely followed by Assassin’s Creed Origins at #2, Super Mario Odyssey at #3, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole at #4.
Nintendo actually had a huge month, placing four titles in the Top 20 (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#15), Mario Kart 8 (#16), and Fire Emblem Warriors (#17) were the others), as well as owning the top two hardware platforms. However, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall industry sales still dropped 11% versus October 2016 to $825 million:
With interest in the Switch and the Super NES Classic still sky-high, Nintendo hardware managed to account for two-thirds of the hardware sales generated. That being said, NPD noted that Sony’s PlayStation 4 is still the best-selling hardware platform year-to-date. Furthermore, in the accessories category, the black DualShock 4 wireless controller was both the best-selling accessory of October, and the best-selling accessory year-to-date.
The complete Top 20 from October 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed Origins, Destiny 2, FIFA 18, Fire Emblem Warriors, Forza Motorsport 7, Gran Turismo Sport, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 18, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, NBA 2K18, NHL 18, NPD, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Super Mario Odyssey, The Evil Within 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, WWE 2K18
EA Sports might discontinue yearly releases of Madden and FIFA
EA Sports has a particular way of doing things, and sticking to an annual release schedule for their games lineup is a big one. For decades, a new Madden appears on store shelves every August. It’s followed by updated NHL and FIFA games a month later, and the latest NBA Live (when it’s not on the bench) typically launches in October. But things might be changing for the venerable publisher.
Speaking to Bloomberg, CEO Andrew Wilson said that EA Sports might discontinue yearly releases and switch to offering downloadable expansions or subscriptions instead:
“There’s a few different things that have got to happen first. We do a lot in a FIFA game every year, and a lot in a Madden game. There’s a lot of code that we make available as part of the new iteration. But when we look at what we do in Korea or China, we don’t do it that way. There, every four years we release a new big code drop, and we offer incremental change over time.”
Wilson didn’t lay out a road map for how this change might be implemented, but I’m sure many sports fans would be interested in purchasing a full-priced game once and adding to it with roster updates and Story Mode expansions in future seasons.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged FIFA 18, Madden NFL 18, NBA Live 18, NHL 18
Destiny 2 tops September 2017’s list of best-selling games
Activision has been rather quiet on the Destiny 2 front since the game’s launch, but The NPD Group confirmed this morning that it was the best-selling game during the month of September. It’s doing so well at retail that the tracking firm has also declared Destiny 2 the best-selling game in all of 2017… so far.
Aside from Destiny 2, sports games dominated the sales chart in September, including the debuts of NBA 2K18 (#2), FIFA 18 (#4), and NHL 18 (#8). It was also a good month for games with long tails as Grand Theft Auto V (#7), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#9), and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (#10) continue to hold onto their slots in the top ten.
You can read more about last month’s best-sellers and view the monthly Top Ten after the break. (more…)
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, NBA Live 18, NHL 18, more added to Xbox Store
We’re getting ready for the weekend, and Microsoft has delivered their weekly Friday update to the Xbox Games Store.
Today, Xbox One owners will be able to download Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Bethesda’s stealthy spinoff; NBA Live 18, EA Sports’s first attempt at a basketball simulation in a few years; and NHL 18, the developer’s newest hockey simulation.
You can learn more about all of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, NBA Live 18, NHL 18
Don’t Starve Together, NASCAR Heat 2, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, more added to Xbox Store
Microsoft’s midweek update for the Xbox Games Store is ready, and Xbox One owners will have several new options to choose from.
The Xbox One debut of Klei’s Don’t Starve Together is one of today’s highlights. As is the launch of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, 47 Games’s NASCAR Heat 2, and EA Sports’s NHL 18: Young Stars Edition.
You can learn more about today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged NASCAR Heat 2, NHL 18, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018
New Retail Releases: Metroid Samus Returns, Dishonored Death of the Outsider, NHL 18, NBA Live 18, NBA 2K18, More
Are you ready for some… video games? September is here, and so is the Fall gaming rush. Here’s what game publishers have lined up for release this week…
New entries in a big batch of sports franchises lead the way. EA Sports and 2K Games will square off on the basketball court with NBA Live 18 (PS4, Xbox One) and NBA 2K18: Early Tip-Off Edition (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One). Elsewhere on retail shelves this week, Konami goes for the goal with Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One), EA Sports comes around again with NHL 18 (PS4, Xbox One), and the checkered flag goes to NASCAR Heat 2 (PS4, Xbox One).
Samus Aran isn’t a sports star, but she can contort herself into a tight ball. The intergalactic bounty hunter will have to employ that trick, and many more, to defeat the Metroid menace in Metroid: Samus Returns. Originally released as Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy, this 3DS re-release boasts a beautiful new art style and revamped combat options.
Speaking of combat, Bethesda and Arkane return with another chapter in the Dishonored saga this week. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (PC, PS4, Xbox One) introduces players to a new protagonist, and asks them to kill a god. A big adventure also awaits players who take on NIS America’s Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, which will be available this week for the PS4 and Vita.
Finally this week, things take a turn to 2D with Ubisoft’s launch of Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition for the Switch.
A complete list of this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)