Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Author: John Scalzo
Madden NFL 13 Cover Nominees: AFC North
Are you ready for some football? How about a long and drawn out fan vote to decide who will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Well, EA Sports has you covered on both.
With just two to go, the Madden-maker has continued to reveal each division’s nominees for the game’s cover. The 64-player tournament will initially include two players from each team. Beginning March 7, fans can head over to the ESPN SportsNation Facebook Page to decide who will represent each team in the final 32-player bracket.
Today’s nominees come from the AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens
Ray Rice or Terrell Suggs
Cincinnati Bengals
Andy Dalton or A.J. Green
Cleveland Browns
Joe Haden or Joe Thomas
Pittsburgh Steelers
Troy Polamalu or Ben Roethlisberger
I don’t think anyone’s surprised, but Peyton Hillis isn’t in the running for the Madden NFL 13 cover. The Madden Curse doesn’t statistically exist, but it’s hard to argue that anyone has ever been hit by it as hard as Hillis.
But among the actual AFC North nominees, I think Baltimore’s Ray Rice has the best shot at the cover. The Raven running back ran for 12 touchdowns, caught three more, and even threw one himself in 2011. That’s impressive.
Forza Horizon skids onto schedule in Fall 2012
Microsoft has decided to pull an Activision and split the development of the Forza series between two studios. Games carrying the “Forza Motorsport” name will still be racing sims developed by Turn 10. But this Fall’s Forza Horizon will be handled by debut developer Playground Games and is definitely leaning more towards the arcade style of racing:
Forza Horizon is a fast-paced, pick-up-and-play racing game and the newest entry in the Forza Motorsport franchise. Available this Fall, the game is being created in partnership with acclaimed racing development studio Playground Games.
While you may not have heard of Playground Games before, you definitely know them by reputation. The team is made up of developers from Bizarre Creations (creators of the Project Gotham Racing series) and Black Rock (creators of Split/Second).
So it sounds like Forza Horizon is in good hands.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Forza Horizon, GDC 2012
Get your first look at Halo 4 in this video
Microsoft and developer 343 Industries (I originally wrote Bungie, that’s going to be a hard habit to break) have pulled back the curtain on Halo 4 with the video above. The video gives us a first look at actual in-game footage as well as the updated Battle Rifle, and some multiplayer tidbits.
Halo 4 will be available for the Xbox 360 this Fall.
Xbox.com outs Fable Heroes, release date for Fable: The Journey
Lionhead Studios is counting down to a big Game Developers Conference announcement tonight, but it looks like Xbox.com spoiled things a might early. Microsoft’s site for all things Xbox has revealed a release date for Lionhead’s Kinect-powered Fable: The Journey (September 4, 2012) as well as a product page for Fable Heroes. What is Fable Heroes you ask, read on young adventurer…
Fable Heroes is a fresh spin on the beloved Fable franchise in which up to 4 players play both cooperatively and competitively in this hack-and-slash adventure. Work together as heroes of Albion to defeat familiar foes and new enemies while collecting as many gold coins as possible to unlock upgrades, characters, and items in both this game and Fable: The Journey for Kinect for Xbox 360.
From the description, the game doesn’t sound too far afield from what the Fable series is known for. That is until you realize that Fable Heroes is a cartoony, four-player beat ’em up planned for release through the Xbox Live Arcade. There also appears to be a board game component akin to Mario Party. Say what?
Don’t believe me, check out the first screenshots after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Fable Heroes, Fable: The Journey, GDC 2012
Madden NFL 13 Cover Nominees: NFC South
Are you ready for some football? How about a long and drawn out fan vote to decide who will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Well, EA Sports has you covered on both.
Every day this week, the Madden-maker has revealed each division’s nominees for the game’s cover. The 64-player tournament will initially include two players from each team. Beginning March 7, fans can head over to the ESPN SportsNation Facebook Page to decide who will represent each team in the final 32-player bracket.
Today’s nominees come from the NFC South:
Atlanta Falcons
Julio Jones or Matt Ryan
Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton or Steve Smith
New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees or Jimmy Graham
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LeGarrette Blount or Josh Freeman
In 2011, Drew Brees set single-season records for most passing yards, most games over 250 yards, most games over 300 yards, most games over 350 yards, most completions, and highest completion percentage. In short, the man was a passing machine and made quarterbacks like Josh Freeman and Matt Ryan look like rank amateurs. But I wouldn’t count out Cam Newton, he’s the kind of exciting young quarterback that EA Sports used to pick for the cover back when they did the picking themselves.
Weekly Warp-Up: Everybody Loves Shepard 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’re T minus 72 hours from the launch of Mass Effect 3 and Warp Zoned has gone a bit Shepard crazy. During our look back at What We Played in February 2012, the Mass Effect 3 demo came up a lot. So much so that we devoted an entire article to a Hands-On Preview of the tiny taste of Shepard’s next adventure. And you better believe Mass Effect 3 showed up in our article highlighting The Games of March 2012.
And if you think that’s the last you’ve heard of Mass Effect 3 in this edition of the Weekly Warp-Up, think again and hit the jump to read the latest from the week that was. (more…)
Posted in News
Persona 4: Arena battles its way into stores in August
A short report from Aram Jabbari, Atlus’ PR Relations Manager, has revealed that Persona 4: Arena will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in August.
Jabbari also brought along three ultra-colorful screenshots as well as a promise that Atlus is “doing everything possible to retain the full English voice cast from Persona 3 and 4.” The publisher also isn’t ready to confirm or deny the status of the Japanese language track in the North American release, so don’t ask.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Persona 4: Arena
Madden NFL 13 Cover Nominees: AFC South
Are you ready for some football? How about a long and drawn out fan vote to decide who will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Well, EA Sports has you covered on both.
Every day this week, the Madden-maker will continue to reveal each division’s nominees for the game’s cover. The 64-player tournament will initially include two players from each team. Beginning March 7, fans can head over to the ESPN SportsNation Facebook Page to decide who will represent each team in the final 32-player bracket.
Today’s nominees come from the AFC South:
Houston Texans
Arian Foster or Andre Johnson
Indianapolis Colts
Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis
Jacksonville Jaguars
Blaine Gabbert or Maurice Jones-Drew
Tennessee Titans
Chris Johnson or Jake Locker
Andre Johnson didn’t have a great 2011 (in fact, he spent more time injured then he did on the field), but the Texans play-in matchup is certainly the most interesting so far. But out of this eight, it’s hard to argue, except for Arian Foster, that any of them are deserving of the cover of Madden NFL 13.