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Video Game Release Calendar Changelog: Post-E3 2015 Update
Don’t Forget! This is just a changelog of recently announced release dates. Warp Zoned’s complete Video Game Release Calendar includes every title we could find with a 2015, 2016, 2017, or unannounced release date.
This year’s E3 Expo was, by almost any measure, one of the biggest ever. It was so big that we’re still sorting through all the announcements, trailers, and gameplay demos. But time marches on and the Video Game Release Calendar Changelog must be updated. So in case you missed them, here’s a few important dates to circle on your calendar:
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is real and its spectacular. It’ll also be available on the Xbox One on August 25 and on the PC sometime in the future.
- Forza Motorsport 6 will race on to the Xbox One on September 15.
- Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live will battle it out on October 6 and October 20, respectively.
- Fallout 4 will blow up the world on November 10.
- Just Cause 3 will blow up the world in a slightly different way on December 1.
- Xenoblade Chronicles X will make the Wii U a more RPG friendly place on December 4.
- Hitman is targeting a December 8 release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
And that’s just games we can expect to see this year. Even more new release dates from this edition of the Video Game Release Calendar Changelog can be found after the break. (more…)
Indiependence Day non-sale asks gamers to pay full price for indie games
It’s no secret that independent developers often have to struggle to make ends meat, especially in this world of deep discount Steam sales and bundles (both Humble and not). Cue the “Indiependence Day” movement. Today, a number of indie developers have banded together to not put their games on sale. Instead, they’re asking gamers to pay full price on this 4th of July (and to spread the word with the #IndiependenceDay hashtag):
We encourage fans of indie games to support their favorite developers by buying their games at full price. If you bought a game on sale and wound up really loving it, perhaps buy a copy at full price and gift it to a friend. Or pick up that game that’s been on your wishlist for a long time. (Steam’s new refund policy makes that a lot less risky!) Whatever your platform of choice, we’d love your support.
Dozens of games are included in the Indiependence Day including a few Warp Zoned favorites, such as Tom Happ’s side-scrolling Axiom Verge, Dejobaan’s wordy adventure Elegy For A Dead World, and Vertex Pop’s twin-stick shooter We Are Doomed.
A complete list of participating developers can be found after the break. (more…)
Telltale reveals first trailer, story details, voice cast for Minecraft: Story Mode
As promised, Telltale Games unwrapped our first look at Minecraft: Story Mode during this year’s Minecon expo. The episodic series (which will be spread out over five episodes) nails the look and feel of Minecraft with the added bonus of Patton Oswalt as the main character:
You’ll control protagonist Jesse throughout the season, as portrayed by actor Patton Oswalt. Jesse and his group of friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone; four adventurers who slayed an Ender Dragon. The Order are the very best at what they do: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect. While at EnderCon, Jesse and his friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and they must set out on a journey to find The Order of the Stone if they are to save their world from oblivion.
An all-star cast of vocal talent will join Oswalt on his Minecraft adventure including Brian Posehn, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West, and Paul Reubens. You can hear a few of them in the game’s debut trailer, which has been embedded above.
Minecraft: Story Mode will be released this Fall for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices (iOS and Android).
Indiana Jones, Darkwing Duck, and others could be added to Disney Infinity in the future
Disney Infinity was released to fairly universal acclaim in 2013, but gamers everywhere hoped the Mouse House would add Marvel characters to the mix in a sequel. Disney listened to their requests, and released Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes a year later. This same cycle of fan feedback eventually led Disney Interactive to begin production on Disney Infinity: Star Wars, which will be released sometime in the Fall.
But what other characters from the Disney Vault will eventually make their way into a future Disney Infinity game? How about… all of them?
Disney Interactive’s John Blackburn and John Vignocchi recently spoke to Polygon about the franchise, revealing that every character from Disney’s vast empire has the chance to be added to a future Disney Infinity project. They couldn’t make any promises on which characters might make a future appearance, but Lucasfilm’s Ada Duan said that Howard the Duck has been asked for by a lot of fans. Other characters name-dropped by the trio include Indiana Jones, Darkwing Duck, and LucasArts’s stable of adventure games (especially Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle).
Though it might be a while before any of these characters make it into Disney Infinity, as Duan said the company is “looking forward” towards new content. That’s disappointing, but the full interview at Polygon is still a riot, so be sure to read the whole thing.
Star Wars: Battlefront, Fallout 4 lead the way in Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2015 nominees
The Force is strong with DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront as the game collected five nominations, more than any other title, from the Game Critics Awards in their annual Best of E3 competition. The Star Wars shooter is up for “Best of Show,” “Best Console Game,” “Best PC Game,” “Best Action Game,” and “Best Online Multiplayer.”
Bethesda’s Fallout 4 and Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn can also be considered contenders after collecting four nominations apiece. Both games will battle each other (and Battlefront) for “Best of Show” and “Best Console Game,” but their path will split for the remaining nominations. Fallout 4 is up for “Best PC Game” and “Best RPG,” while Horizon: Zero Dawn was nominated for “Best Original Game” and “Best Action/Adventure Game.”
Two other nominees will compete for this year’s “Best of Show” award including Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and the Oculus Touch motion controller.
The group behind the Game Critics Awards is comprised of representatives from 38 media publications, and they plan to announce this year’s winners on July 7. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Beatbuddy will swim onto the Xbox One and Wii U this Summer
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians continues to find new oceans to explore. The rhythm side-scroller will be released for the Xbox One, alongside the previously announced Wii U version, this Summer.
If you’d rather not wait that long, developer Threaks has also informed us that Beatbuddy is available now for the Android-powered Nvidia Shield microconsole. Priced at $5.99, its available through the Google Play Store.
Beatbuddy for everybody!
20 more tracks from Guitar Hero Live were revealed at E3 2015
Shortly after confirming an October 20 release date for Guitar Hero Live, Activision revealed another 20 songs that will be available on the game disc. This batch of songs returns to the wider variety of music found in earlier tracklist updates with songs from Bob Dylan, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Green Day, Kongos, and many others. There’s also several Guitar Hero alums returning for an encore which were previously featured in the original Guitar Hero (White Zombie’s “Thunder Kiss ’65”), Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade”), Guitar Hero: World Tour (Korn’s “Freak on a Leash”) and Guitar Hero 5 (Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”).
Here’s all the new songs Activision included in their E3 2015 announcement:
- American Authors – “Best Day of My Life”
- The Avett Brothers – “Another is Waiting”
- Band of Skulls – “Asleep at the Wheel”
- Biffy Clyro – “Sounds Like Balloons”
- Bob Dylan – “Thunder on the Mountain”
- Bruno Mars – “The Lazy Song”
- Calvin Harris – “Feels So Close”
- Carrie Underwood – “Before He Cheats”
- Courtney Barnett – “Pedestrian at Best”
- Dum Dum Girls – “Rimbaud Eyes”
- Green Day – “American Idiot”
- Iggy Pop – “Lust for Life”
- Jake Bugg – “What Doesn’t Kill You”
- Jet – “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”
- Kongos – “Come With Me Now”
- Korn – “Freak on a Leash”
- Rage Against the Machine – “Bulls on Parade”
- The Strokes – “Under Cover of Darkness”
- White Zombie – “Thunder Kiss ‘65”
- ZZ Top – “I Gotsta Get Paid”
This update pushes the total number of songs in Guitar Hero Live to 74 (previous tracklist updates can be found here, here, here, and here). Activision hasn’t said how many songs will ship on the Guitar Hero Live game disc, but they plan to continue announcing new songs as it gets closer to release.
Guitar Hero Live is coming October 20; Here’s your first look at GHTV
Here it is, your first momentous look at Guitar Hero Live‘s GHTV mode. Are you ready? Here it comes…
Wait, it’s just a Guitar Hero note highway overlaid on top of a music video. The list of available music videos will be periodically updated and players can opt to play individual songs or a themed series of videos. That’s exactly how Activision said GHTV would work when the game was announced a few months ago.
OK, Guitar Hero Live’s E3 2015 trailer is a bit of a bust, but we did also learn that the game will be released on October 20 for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and “select mobile devices.” If you’re thinking of pre-ordering Guitar Hero Live, you might also be interested to know that Activision has partnered with Avenged Sevenfold to create exclusive bonus content for fans of the rhythm game franchise. Prospective pre-order purchasers of the game will receive access to a playable concert performance featuring the heavy metal band in Guitar Hero Live’s GHTV mode. More information is available at GuitarHero.com/bonus.
Guitar Hero Live is in development at FreeStyleGames, the same studio that was responsible for DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2.