Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 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
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)
Author: Andrew Rainnie
Mario Warfare brings gunplay to Mushroom Kingdom… already better than 1993 film
A trailer has hit for “Mario Warfare,” an upcoming web series from an outfit known as Beatdown Boogie. It looks like someone has thrown all of our favourite Mario characters, the bravado of Call of Duty, and the bullet choreography from The Matrix into a crazy blender. The resulting trailer looks to be being something that is quite funny, and already outshines the notoriously awful Super Mario Bros. film.
No date has been set for the debut of the first episode (“And don’t ask!” the trailer threatens), so keep a watch on Beatdown Boogie via Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Double Fine’s The Cave is coming to Wii U too
While already scheduled for release on the PC, PSN and XBLA, Double Fine finally confirmed during their PAX Prime presentation that their upcoming game The Cave will also be coming to the Wii U. The downloadable title will be a great compliment to the GamePad’s screen.
With the usual brand of humour associated with Double Fine’s Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer, the title has been described as “an adventure game so odd and compelling that it can only be described as odd and compelling.”
“The concept of The Cave has been bouncing around in my head for many, many years, and then the little voices that tell me to do things said it was time to make the game,” explained Gilbert. The game itself is said to utilise concepts from Gilbert’s own 1987 classic, Maniac Mansion, with the player able to select three playable characters (from a group of seven) including a knight, a monk, a pair of street urchins, a time traveller and a hillbilly, to enter the magical talking titular Cave. Each character will have their own personality and traits used to solve the puzzles found within.
[Source: CVG]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged PAX Prime 2012, The Cave
Gearbox adds female characters to Aliens: Colonial Marines multiplayer
Given that the Alien film series has always featured strong female roles (including Ellen Ripley, Private Vasquez or Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus), it seemed not only sexist but basically wrong when Aliens: Colonial Marines producer Brian Burleson announced there would be no female characters in the multiplayer portion of the game. After a major online petition, signed by over 4,000 people including several associated with the Aliens film, it finally caught the attention of Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford.
Speaking to Eurogamer at this weekend’s PAX Prime, the company’s head honcho revealed that the co-op mode and online multiplayer will both feature at least one playable female character. The company released artwork of the co-op character, Private Jennifer Running, a fiery, short-haired redhead. Whether she was created after the petition, or existed all along and was only revealed early because of the outcry, we will never really know.
While it is a great result for female gamers, or those males who wish to get it touch with their female roots, should we really have been having this discussion over a game set in the Aliens universe? What do you think, readers?
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Aliens: Colonial Marines, PAX Prime 2012
2K announces four DLC expansions, Season Pass for Borderlands 2
In a move certain to fan the flames of the DLC debate, 2K and Gearbox have announced four additional downloadable campaigns for Borderlands 2 before the retail game is even out. Each one will cost $9.99, meaning the total comes to $40, two thirds of the game’s actual price. Thankfully the company is offering a Season Pass, which will ensure that you’re the proud owner of all four DLC campaigns for only $30, saving you $10.
Minus the Season Pass, this is the same amount of content Gearbox created for the first Borderlands game.
I love Borderlands and the DLC for the original, But I still bought them through gritted teeth over the realization of spending $100 on a single game. Especially when the Game of the Year edition was released with all four campaigns included (and is now available for a mere $20). So if you love Gearbox’s humorous FPS and are flush with cash, the Season Pass may be for you. But for the rest of us, hold out for the GotY edition, which given current trends will probably be out this time next year.
Borderlands 2 will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on September 18.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands 2
Techland goes from Dead Island straight to Project Hell
Polish developer Techland is following up its zombie hit Dead Island with a dark fantasy hack ‘n’ slash game, codenamed Project Hell. Rather than following the isometric view of the similarly dark fantasy-styled Diablo series, Techland has opted for a first person perspective. The game will be set in the time period when Europeans practiced pagan rituals at the same time they allegedly converted to Christianity.
Project Hell originated after some of Dead Island’s development team began experimenting with the weapon mechanics of their zombiefest. Beginning life as a Dead Island mod, one hopes it plays better than that title, given that it’s more famous for its trailer by Axis Animation than the game itself. It does appear that Techland has recognised this, by creating a development blog, Sharpen Your Axes!, which will allow gamers to comment on the progress and direction of the game. It is the developer’s hope that this open collaboration will help improve the quality of the title.
Project Hell is currently only in development for PC, but Techland has stated that it will look to port it to consoles if successful. The company also promised there will be no unicorns. This is “dark” fantasy after all.
Uncharted movie director out, National Treasure writers in
Sony Pictures has made two announcements regarding their long-gestating adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, both of which seem to indicate it will be in development for a bit longer.
The first is that Neil Burger, who had replaced David O’Russell as the film’s director last summer, has now exited the project. No explanation was given for this, but seeing that two new writers have been brought in, one imagines that those involved were not happy with the current direction.
Those two new writers are the husband and wife duo Cormac and Marianne Wibberly, best known for penning the Nicolas Cage-led National Treasure franchise. Given the similar subject matter, one can almost see the complex inner workings of the producer’s thought processes.
Losing Burger is unfortunate, as his most recent film, Limitless, showed a creative visual flair that has been developing during his career. Sony Pictures, along with Atlas Entertainment and Arad Productions, are now going to wait to until the Wibberlys deliver a new draft before shopping it around to potential new directors.
[Source: Variety]
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Sony closes Wipeout developer Studio Liverpool
In what was a gloomy and depressing day for British game development as Sony Computer Entertainment announced the closure of its Liverpool studio last week. The studio was originally known as Psygnosis, a developer who crafted some of the best known games of the 1980s including Lemmings and Shadow of the Beast. They were taken over by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1993, making it one of the oldest teams in the SCE family.
The Liverpool studio is best known for its work on Sony’s Wipeout franchise, creating the latest title, Wipeout 2048, exclusively for the PS Vita. While Sony issued a bittersweet statement revealing that other teams will now make use of the Liverpool facilities, members of the Wipeout 2048 development team took to the game’s Facebook page to have a final word with their fans.
“As some of you may have heard Sony have chosen to close Studio Liverpool as of today. This page will no longer be maintained by theWipEout Team. We have loved making every game, every minute and every one of you. Keep the faith, keep loving WipEout. Thank you for everything, Pilots. It’s been an amazing journey and we’ll miss you. x”
Sadly, the news came just two days after the studio lost one of their veteran developers, Colin Fawcett, to cancer.
[Source: The Independent]
Harmonix is gearing up for a next-gen “combat game”
Harmonix, a company best known for its musical franchises, such as Rock Band and Dance Central, is apparently moving in a brand new direction for its next title. A job advertisement on Gamasutra shows the company is actively seeking a “Combat Designer to create real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next-generation hardware.”
The ad is also seeking someone who can create “robust combat AI systems for minor and major combat encounters,” which certainly sounds a world away from the musical titles that have made the company’s name. Although never fear, Harmonix still needs to butter their bread and is rumored to be working on a pair of as-yet-untitled music projects for both the 3DS and PS Vita.