Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
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)
Monthly Archives: November 2013
The AAA Game: Where It’s Been, Where It’s Going, and Did It Kill the Mid-Tier Game?
An edited and updated version of this article is now available at Video Game Canon.
With a new generation of consoles almost upon us, there is the worry that the spiraling budgets and massive teams required to create AAA games is hurting the industry. But for all the hand-wringing about how the AAA game is detrimental to mid-size developers, no one can seem to agree on what exactly a AAA game is or when the AAA designation was even first used. In attempting to solve this etymological mystery, I found that the AAA designation shares much in common with Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s obscenity test from a 1964 case: “I know it when I see it.” But I also found out that “Will the AAA game survive?” is probably the wrong question to ask. (more…)
A new Crossed Purposes podcast is up, featuring Warp Zoned’s Nicole Kline
Last week, I was on yet another episode of No Avatars Allowed over at Crossed Purposes! I spend another evening with Joshua Wise and Ian Riley, this time just talking about all the video games we’ve been playing. Seriously, we played a lot of video games. You can get a sneak peak of what I think about Beyond: Two Souls, and hear me talk some more about Pokemon X, though Josh and Ian were NOT having it.
Check out the episode here!
Posted in News
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be available in Spring 2014
No more tricks and no more subterfuge, Konami has officially announced a release date for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. Better known as the prequel chapter to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes will be available for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in Spring 2014.
Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid saga, had this to say about the Ground Zeroes prequel: “The advanced capabilities of the Fox Engine have allowed me to tell the new story in a new way. There will be a significant difference in what Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain brings to the series, so we want to ease players into the new open world environment and its potential. As such, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been designed to introduce key elements, allowing them to fully benefit from all that the new game will offer.”
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will receive a retail release on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (priced at $29.99) as well as a digital release (priced at $19.99). The next-generation PS4/Xbox One version will also be priced at $29.99 and will only be available as a digital download.
As for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it currently has no official release date.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Thor: The Dark World now available for iOS, Android devices
Thor: The Dark World opened internationally with a huge box office haul over the weekend and it’ll make its theatrical debut in North America this Friday, November 8. But if you’d rather wield the power of Mjolnir yourself, fire up your iOS or Android device and download the game adaptation of Thor: The Dark World now.
In this action-packed adventure, you will play as Thor in his epic quest to stop Malekith’s dark ambitions, and restore order to the Nine Worlds. Explore the worlds by immersing yourself in a rich Thor experience. Fight alongside legendary Asgardians, like Sif or Heimdall, summon Einherjar warriors for help, upgrade your skills and allies, and compete with friends for unique rewards. A great variety of fast-paced missions, familiar environments and characters await you, all in beautiful 3D graphics.
Thor: The Dark World is a free-to-play brawler and was produced by Gameloft, the same company behind this Summer’s official game adaptation of Iron Man 3.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Thor: The Dark World
Orchid and Spinal have a bone to pick with the latest Killer Instinct trailer
With less than three weeks to go before the Xbox One is available in stores, Microsoft continues to tease characters from their upcoming free-to-play reboot of Killer Instinct. In the latest trailer, B. Orchid puts the moves on Jago through a combination of high kicks and her tonfas. And be sure to stick around until the end as Spinal, the living skeleton, makes a quick appearance.
Killer Instinct, and the Xbox One console, will be available on November 22.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Killer Instinct
Ubisoft Toronto developing new Assassin’s Creed game
Fortune Magazine recently published a list of the ten most powerful women in gaming. Many members of the list are high executives for well-known companies such as Naughty Dog and 343 Industries, and Ubisoft’s Jade Raymond is no exception. Raymond is the Managing Director of Ubisoft Toronto, but before that, she helped co-create the original Assassin’s Creed.
Assassin’s Creed didn’t exist before 2007 and in six short years, it has become one of the best-selling franchises in all of gaming. It has also spawned a number of successful sequels. But the most interesting takeaway from Raymond’s writeup is that, according to Fortune, she is “now working on a new Assassin’s Creed game (not Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag)” as well as Watch Dogs and three other unannounced titles. Of course, with Ubisoft’s commitment to spreading the development of every Assassin’s Creed title across multiple studios, it’s likely that Toronto is just one of a half dozen credits that will appear on the next Assassin’s Creed box.
While it may come as no surprise to gamers that Ubisoft has plans for another Assassin’s Creed title, it does raise the question of what’s next for the franchise. What time period will the new title take place in? Which member of Altaïr’s lineage will the story follow? How, if at all, will it relate to the events happening in the present? And most importantly, will the game be known as Assassin’s Creed V?
All these questions and more will surely be answered soon.
Posted in News
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Unity
Weekly Warp-Up: Next-Gen November is Here Edition
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
We have officially reached November and that means that next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony are just two weeks (PS4) and three weeks (Xbox One) away. Woohoo! The Warp Zoned staff broke down some of our most anticipated next-gen (and current-gen) titles in our look at The Games of November 2013.
But you can’t have a console transition without feeling a little nostalgic for the previous generation. Thankfully, that’s what our “Warp Zoned Rewind” series is for. This week, Staff Writer Mike Ryan looked back at some of the people that could be considered the Jackasses of the 7th Generation and, in honor of Halloween, he embraced his inner serial killer to create a catalog of the Scariest Games. And don’t worry, we’ll continue to look back at the Wii/PS3/Xbox 360 era throughout the rest of the year.
More news from the week that was (including Typing of the Dead: Overkill!) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: CoD: Ghosts, Guided Fate Paradox, Castlevania: LoS Collection, More
You hear that? That’s the sound of freight train coming down the track. It’s got “Call of Duty: Ghosts” (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360) painted on the side and all the other publishers have gotten out of the way. Activision’s juggernaut of a franchise dominates this week’s new releases, but a few other games will find their way into stores over the next seven days.
Also available this week is The Guided Fate Paradox from NIS America. This RPG is a PS3 exclusive and, like all NIS games, it’s full of the crazy. Just how weird does it get? Well… “Players take on the role of high school student Renya Kagurazaka who has become a god by winning a lottery in a mall.”
Finally, Konami has bundled together Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (and all of its DLC) and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD into a single package on the PS3 and Xbox 360. The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Collection also includes a playable demo of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, which is scheduled for release next year.
You can find the complete list of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate