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
Bored of waiting for the next Fallout? While away the time in Radiated Wasteland
For those who cannot wait another minute to tackle the mutants and rairders of a dark humoured post-apocalypitic world, you can celebrate with the announcement of Radiated Wasteland, a free-to-play MMORPG from Copenhagen outfit Pixel Pandemic. The browser-based game, set for release on Facebook, will pit players against NPCs that sound very familiar: radiated ghouls, fierce mutants and merciless raiders.
The game promises turn-based gameplay and fully customizable avatars which can be equipped with any items a player can find, a skilltree, and other perks amidst a rich storyline of post-apocalyptic popular culture. It will also feature co-op gameplay, the likes of which Pixel Pandemic says has not yet been seen on a Facebook game, drawing from classic MMORPGs for inspiration. The artwork certainly suggests it’s been inspired by Fallout 3.
With no word yet on when the game will debut, gamers are invited to visit the official Radiated Wasteland website to sign up for news on the beta release.
EA has at least two unannounced Wii U games in the works
When Mass Effect 3 was announced for the Wii U, myself and many others were left scratching our heads. Unlike the port of Batman: Arkham City, which while a sequel is a standalone game, Mass Effect 3 is the third entry in a series where choices carry on from the previous two. To only release the third entry seems a little bizarre.
Thankfully, EA Labels President Frank Gibeau has spoken up about the company’s further plans for Nintendo’s new touchscreen baby. Gibeau told CVG that they have at least two more games currently in development for the Wii U: “We’ve got a couple of more games in development for Wii U and we’ll have a bigger line-up for Wii U than we did on the Wii.”
While not stated explicitly, his comments (and promise of more details this Summer) imply that these unannounced titles will be released within the Wii U’s launch window in late 2012. This at least goes some way to solidifying the statements made by EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello during last year’s E3 Expo when he said his company was embarking on “an unprecedented partnership” with Nintendo.
While we can all hope for new IPs from EA, the publisher already has a full slate of PC/PS3/Xbox 360 games coming in the Fall including their sports titles, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. So these unannounced titles are likely to belong to one or more of those groups.
However, Riccitiello also described the Wii U tablet controller as “transformational,” which could lead one to speculate that EA is looking at games to better take advantage of the second screen. For example, how about their long-running Command & Conquer series? With Command & Conquer Generals 2 set for 2013, it would be a welcome surprise for the Wii U.
Face your Alien Fear with these screenshots
City Interactive has released the first screenshots of their upcoming Unreal Engine 3 powered first-person shooter, Alien Fear, which is coming this Fall to the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Hoping to set a new standard for digital download games, the game puts you in the shoes of a space commando on a vital mission to sabotage the enemy forces. The screenshots are very impressive, using a larger colour palette than most of the grim shooters these days, and looks to offer a visual delight of arcade action mayhem.
You can find all eight screenshots after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Alien Fear
THQ’s Rubin: We’re going to cancel games, not cut jobs
Barely a fortnight into his new role as THQ President, Jason Rubin is already showing how he intends to progress with the company’s new direction. In a recent interview with Joystiq, he managed to allay fears within the various studios owned by THQ of further job cuts.
“We have the appropriate number of teams and the appropriate number of people working on products, and we’re not going to be continuing to cut teams. But as far as product goes, I think we’ll have to find out exactly where that’s going,” Rubin said.
However, he does recognise that changes will have to be made, and several of THQ’s titles are on the chopping block as the company seeks to streamline their business. This process actually began last month when the company announced plans to sell off the publishing rights to Tomonobu Itagaki’s Devil’s Third.
While he comments that Insane, a planned trilogy of games from award winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is “still in the slate,” other games such as a new FPS from Turtle Bay, a wholly new IP at THQ Montreal, and ex-Assassin’s Creed developer Patrice Desilets’ new project, rumoured to be called 1666, will have to wait for an official verdict from Rubin.
“I have to go around and look at everything over the next few weeks, next month, and I have to then decide which of the titles are the titles we’re gonna focus on based on what I believe our future should be.”
It is nice to hear Rubin talk so confidently, and will no doubt put THQ in a better position in the months and years to come.
Bungie co-founder wants to rethink mobile game controls with Industrial Toys
“The innovation is all on mobile,” claims Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian. Of course, the creator of the Halo franchise would say that, as his new studio, Industrial Toys, is focused on mobile platforms. The new company is attempting to bring a hardcore gaming experience to your phone and/or tablet with the help of Unreal Engine 3 and new thinking on the control interface for these devices. Yet for all the innovation, their first effort will be a sci-fi themed FPS… just like Seropian’s biggest hit.
The unnamed project, which is being written by sci-fi author John Scalzi, is gearing up to offer gamers a world on their phone that is as expansive as World of Warcraft, and are focusing on two things that Seropian feels is missing from current mobile games: unique controls and fully integrated community.
“The whole design paradigm about designing for dual sticks is all about creating a software interface for hardware that makes it feel like you have more control and have better skill curves, That’s all about getting closer to how a mouse works. There’s no sense to emulate a relative control scheme, like a controller… We have been designing a control scheme that’s all about putting our controls in the game space, as opposed to the screen space.”
As well as these thoughts on the interface, the company is trying to envelop its social features and functionality into the very mechanics of the game, rather than the default option utilised by most mobile games of creating a separate community space on a linked website.
Industrial Toys plans to officially announce their first game soon, possibly even as early as later this month.
[Source: Joystiq]
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Morning Star
Majesco goes mobile with Sci-Fi Heroes
Majesco Entertainment, the publisher responsible for the Mama series of games (you know, Cooking, Babysitting, Crafting, etc) and Jillian Michael’s fitness range, has revealed screenshots (which can be found after the break) and a trailer (which can be viewed above) of their first internally developed mobile game.
Sci-Fi Heroes, a free-to-play RPG, will feature over forty levels and allow you to take charge of eight unique characters including a space marine, an animal trainer, a Serenity-inspired space cowboy, a priest, an ID Master, an Exxo, a healbot, and a technomancher. With its cutesy graphics and fun humour, it comes across as a tongue-in-cheek version of the likes of Star Wars and Mass Effect.
Piloting the Starship Aphelion, players will take command of up to eight misfit warriors as they go up against the Calimar Space Horde to free four planets in a once peaceful solar system. You can look forward to kicking some Space Horde butt later this summer. (more…)
TrU or False: Retro Studios developing Star Fox United for Wii U
Over the weekend a rumour spread like wildfire across the internet, that Retro Studios, the geniuses behind the Metroid Prime trilogy, were making a new entry into Nintendo’s furry Star Fox universe, entitled Star Fox United.
It started on the 4Chan imageboards, where several dubious screenshots were posted, along with a retro-looking logo. The story was first picked up by Go Nintendo and others quickly followed suit.
However, the images disappeared almost as soon as they arrived, like a giant explosion in the vacuum of space. Most seem to believe it was a hoax, but there is a little part of me praying this is true. I would love a Nintendo version of Mass Effect, mixing flying missions with third or first-person shooter quests. I can imagine seeing the HD detail of Fox’s fur blowing in the kickback from his gun.
For the moment though, it looks to be a dream upon the stars.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Star Fox Zero
Activision working on Angry Birds for consoles
For the few people who have not played Angry Birds in one of its many iterations on their phone, PC or tablet, never fear, Activision will be bringing an HD version of the game to “consoles” (which consoles, or when, went unmentioned).
For some reason, this irks me. Despite loving the Angry Birds franchise, especially the Super Mario Galaxy-inspired Angry Birds Space, I like it fine on my phone. It is perfect for a touch screen, and would perhaps work well on the Wii U GamePad, but I cannot see anyone who owns a smartphone opting to pay more money for a console version that has a poorer control interface than the one originally designed for that type of game.
Perhaps my cynicism is ill-founded, and this is a brand new game that will make full use of a standard game controller. The company best known for the Call of Duty franchise will be revealing more details in the coming weeks.
[Source: Game Informer]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Angry Birds, E3 2012