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)
Author: John Scalzo
Newton, Rodgers, Johnson, Willis are your Madden NFL 13 cover vote final four
Round Three of the Madden NFL 13 cover vote is complete and the final four has emerged. Semifinal voting will run from today until April 18 as these players vie for your votes:
Left Bracket
Cam Newton (#1) vs Patrick Willis (#11)
Right Bracket
Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Calvin Johnson (#6)
Both of the top seeds still remain and both are competing against some surprising opponents as we near the end. The 11th-ranked Patrick Willis has had the kind of run that Peyton Hillis had last year. A dedicated fanbase pushed him to the finals, which eventually pushed him over the top against the divisive Michael Vick. Johnson is less of a surprise as he was far and away the best wide receiver in the league last year, but anytime Rob Gronkowski gets bested, it’s a surprise.
But I would be surprised if either man makes it to the finals. Those two positions are reserved for Newton and Rodgers, I guarantee it.
XBLA Today: Skullgirls, World Gone Sour, The Splatters
Two thirds of today’s Xbox Live Arcade update will look very familiar to anyone who spied what Sony added to their online service late last night. So let’s start with those first.
Skullgirls is 2D fighter designed with a “Dark Deco” art style. It’s priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15):
Skullgirls is a fast-paced 2D fighting game that puts you in control of fierce warriors in a Dark Deco world. All-new game systems test the skills of veteran fighting game fans while also making the genre enjoyable and accessible to newcomers. A modern take on classic arcade fighters with a hand-drawn high-definition twist, Skullgirls is a one-of-a-kind, action-packed competition complete with awesome combos and an intriguing backstory.
Also available on the XBLA today after it’s PSN debut yesterday is World Gone Sour, a sidescrolling adventure where the Sour Patch Kid at the center of the story wants to get eaten. It carries a rather sweet price of 400 Microsoft Points ($5):
Based on the popular “Sour Then Sweet” candy Sour Patch Kids, World Gone Sour takes players on a journey from the perspective of a lost piece of candy finding its way to its ultimate destination – the human stomach. Gamers take on the role of a miniature Sour Patch Kid in a stylized human-sized world, guiding the hero through unique locations such as the sticky floors of a movie theatre and a concession stand counter. Joining forces with fellow lost Sour Patch Kids, players use a combination of jumps, twists and puzzle-solving to overcome larger than life obstacles.
Finally, we’ve got The Splatters. Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), The Splatters is an action-puzzler where blobs of goo try to explode themselves in the most stylish way possible:
The Splatters are acrobatic masters with a unique death wish – to blow themselves up with style! In this award winning action-puzzler, you will unlock and master a variety of stunts and perform spectacular moves to clear out each stage in the most show-stopping way possible. With its fast-paced, splattery liquid physics engine you’ll never play the same way twice. And using Splatter TV, an in-game feature for sharing game clips, you’ll pick up a ton of new moves as you watch the world’s top players perform their jaw-dropping combos. It’s a messy, vibrant show of skill and splattery destruction. Life’s short. DIE WITH STYLE.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Skullgirls, World Gone Sour
Skullgirls, Persona 3 FES, World Gone Sour, more added to PS Store
Sony pushed out a massive update to the PlayStation Store yesterday. In addition to a huge assortment of new PlayStation Plus freebies and discounts, the consolemaker has added a half dozen games to their downloadable network including…
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES – The classic Atlus RPG that is now part of the PS2 Classics section.
- Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City – The expansion pack compilation has shockingly never been available on the PSN until now.
- World Gone Sour – Capcom’s sidescrolling suicide march
- Skullgirls – A 2D “tournament level” fighter.
- The Pinball Arcade – The pinball platform is PS3/Vita cross-compatible, so you can buy one it for one system and get it on the other for free!
- Treasures of Montezuma Blitz – A “shiny new puzzle game” that makes use of the Vita’s unique features.
You can hit the break for more detailed information on all of these titles. And be sure to visit the PlayStation Blog for more on all of this week’s Plus bonuses and new game add-ons. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Skullgirls, The Pinball Arcade, World Gone Sour
Resident Evil 6 pushed up to October 2, adds Wesker Jr. as a playable character
Were you looking forward to Resident Evil 6 before today? If so, Capcom just gave you a dozen more reasons to be excited at their Captivate 2012 event.
The biggest news to lurch out of the show is that Resident Evil 6 will be released almost two months earlier than expected. Previously pegged with a November 20 release date, the game will now launch on October 2. The PC version will still release sometime after the PS3/Xbox 360 version.
We also now know the previously unnamed mercenary is Jake Muller. But he’s also known as the son of Albert Wesker. Oh, and Muller (with an adult Sherry Birkin at his side) is being hunted by Ada Wong because of his “special blood.” With Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield also running around in separate (but eventually interwoven) storylines, it’s like a Resident Evil reunion!
Resident Evil 6 will introduce the C-Virus, a new version of Umbrella’s deadly experiments that will create zombies who can run, jump, and use weapons. Some people exposed to the C-Virus will mutant further into a “Chrysalide” stage that spawns a “horrific creature” after a short metamorphosis.
More horrific than Nemesis? Get out of here!
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Resident Evil 6
Lost Planet 3 brings back the ice age in early 2013
Perpare to bundle up, the Lost Planet series is bringing back the ice and snow of the original game in Lost Planet 3. Announced as part of Capcom’s Captivate 2012 event, Lost Planet 3 is being developed by Spark Unlimited and will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in early 2013.
The game will put players in the giant metal boots of Jim, “a utility rig pilot who has left Earth to take on a hazardous, but lucrative, contract on E.D.N. III.” Like the first two games, most of Lost Planet 3 will take place in third-person on-foot battles against the alien Akrid, but players will also climb aboard Jim’s utility rig for some first-person action.
Lost Planet 3 will dump the proprietary MT Framework engine that powered the first two games. Instead, Spark has opted for an Unreal Engine 3 environment. This new engine will also power a new set of multiplayer modes, which will be revealed at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Lost Planet 3
Aliens: Colonial Marines is officially part of movie canon; Wii U version “is not a port”
We learned two very interesting things about Aliens: Colonial Marines at this weekend’s PAX East.
One, the Sega-published shooter has been inducted into the “official canon” of the Alien universe by 20th Century Fox. Chris Faylor, the Community Manager for developer Gearbox Software, told us that all previous expanded universe material (including the novels, the comics, and all the Alien vs Predator stuff) has been thrown out. The only productions currently considered canon are the first four films (yes, even Alien 3), Aliens: Colonial Marines, and maybe Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (since there’s still the possibility it’s not a prequel).
We also chatted with Matt Powers, a Senior Producer on the game for Sega, about the Wii U version of the game. Powers initially referred to the game as “the Wii U port” and Faylor rushed back over to scold him, telling us: “I hate that word. The Wii U version is not a port. Remove it from your vocabulary.”
After that rather tense exchange, we tried to get Powers to talk more about how the Wii U controller would come into play. With the Community Manager standing over his shoulder, he would only say that “there are interesting things you can do with the Wii U controller” and “for an Aliens game, you can probably guess what some of those things are.”
For the non-diehards in the audience, Powers was (wink, wink) likely referring to the famous radar display Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, and the rest of the Colonial Marines used to track the xenomorphs in the film.
Aliens: Colonial Marines is expected to launch sometime this Fall.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Aliens: Colonial Marines, PAX East 2012
Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 + 2’s player character is dead
Or possibly only mostly dead, no one’s too sure.
We talked to Robert Boyd at PAX East this past weekend and he confirmed that the rake-wielding player character of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1 and Episode 2 will not be making an appearance in Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3. Officially, the character’s location is unknown, so maybe if we bug the boys at Zeboyd enough, he (or she) will make a return engagement.
Boyd revealed that he wanted to kill off the character in the opening moments of Penny Arcade 3, but the idea was nixed by Jerry “Tycho” Holkins himself. Considering the fact that we were standing in a giant convention center dedicated to his greatness and talking about a game bearing his pixelated likeness, I guess he had some pull.
As a compromise, Boyd assured us that one of the character classes players will be able to choose is “Gardener,” so as to “satisfy the need for rake-based attacks.”
Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 will be out this Summer on the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel, PC, and mobile devices.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged PAX East 2012, Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
Weekly Warp-Up: We’re Prowling PAX East 2012
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…
It’s PAX East weekend and the Warp Zoned staff is in geek overload. I think there’s also some big holiday going on today where Zombie Jesus sneaks into your house and leaves you chocolate. Yeah, that sounds right.
Anyway, we’ll have a ton of PAX East 2012-related previews, interviews, and features for you next week. In the meantime, be sure to check out our expo coverage from the show floor as well as our picks for The Games of April 2012, many of which are being showcased at PAX East.
Want to know what else was going on in the game industry this week? Hit the jump for more of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)
Posted in News