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
Square Enix brings back True Crime series as Sleeping Dogs
About six months ago, Square Enix picked up Activision’s discarded open-world game, True Crime: Hong Kong. Now, the Japanese publisher has rechristened the game Sleeping Dogs and announced that it’ll be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in the second half of 2012.
Developed by United Front Games, Sleeping Dogs (like the True Crime series before it) flips the typical open-world game on its head. Instead of featuring the criminal element in all of their sadistic glory, it follows an undercover cop, Wei Shen, as he infiltrates the Hong Kong Triad. Naturally, this involves a lot of fighting and brutal combat:
Offering players an island packed with action, every street corner, market stall, harbor dock or city skyscraper can become an opportunity for intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat. Featuring one of the most intuitive and imaginative combat systems, Sleeping Dogs empowers players to perform an extensive set of martial arts moves, singlehandedly taking on numerous opponents. Players perform bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors.
To give you an idea of what the melee combat will look like, Square Enix has produced a live action trailer for Sleeping Dogs that you can view after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Sleeping Dogs
XBLA Today: Gotham City Impostors, Shank 2
Today’s Xbox Live Arcade update will look very familiar to anyone who scoped out yesterday’s additions to the PlayStation Store. While Xbox owners won’t be able to throw down with the Jak and Daxter Collection, two other cartoony action titles are on the menu.
Gotham City Impostors puts you in the cape and cowl of a caped crusader (not The Caped Crusader) as you attempt to rid Gotham of Jokerz, a particularly dumb brand of criminal who’ve patterned themselves after the Clown Prince of Crime. It can be downloaded for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), along with hundreds of dollars in optional DLC:
A 6 vs. 6 first person shooter, Gotham City Impostors is a multiplayer game unlike any other, giving players the opportunity to rebel against conformity as they customize their own characters. Posing as amateur vigilantes or villains, gamers create their own Bats and The Jokerz characters using unprecedented customization options including insane costumes, homebrewed gadgets and a wide range of traditional and imagined weapons.
Also available today is Shank 2, which stars a crazed brawler in a crazy brawler. It can be yours for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):
The fan-favorite 2D brawler is back in action with Shank 2. Shank is forced on the offensive wielding his trusty arsenal of weapons and combo moves to protect those close to him. Shank 2 raises the bar from the original, creating an amazing comic book visual style and combat system which redefines the 2D side-scrolling brawler.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Gotham City Impostors
PSN Today: Simpsons Arcade, Gotham City Impostors, Jak & Daxter Collection, More
Sony has pulled out another of their patented “kitchen sink” updates of the PlayStation Store. This week sees the release of three major PSN games (the long-awaited Simpsons Arcade Game, hitman game Shank 2, and multiplayer shooter Gotham City Impostors) as well as all three games from the Jak and Daxter Collection.
Speaking of the Jak and Daxter Collection, the complete package is available from the Full PS3 Games section as well as the sexually charged Catherine, tennis sim Top Spin 4, and the bricktastic Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rounding out the new releases is the PS2 Classic SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie. And don’t forget that The Simpsons Arcade Game is free to PlayStation Plus subscribers (as well as Final Fantasy V). Oh, and the first episode of “The Tester” season three is now available.
Yup, kitchen sink time. You can find out more about all these new releases after the break. And for a complete listing of all of this week’s new game add-ons, head over to the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Catherine, Gotham City Impostors, Jak and Daxter Collection, The Simpsons Arcade Game
CoD Modern Warfare 3 Elite update: Overwatch map comes to Xbox 360 on February 21
Yes, the third Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 content drop has a February 21 release date. But remember, that date is only for Call of Duty Elite subscribers. And only for Elite subscribers who own an Xbox 360 copy of Modern Warfare 3.
This drop consists of a single map, Overwatch, which is set in New York City and not for those who are scared of heights:
Shots break out on a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper. Battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of boundaries surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing to prevent you from falling far to the ground below.
It’s likely that Overwatch will be made available to PC and PS3 players in March, as part of the first “Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection.”
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Microsoft Flight launches on February 29
Microsoft’s free-to-play flight simulator, Microsoft Flight, will take off from MicrosoftFlight.com on February 29.
Also available on February 29 is the Hawaiian Adventure Pack, the first expansion pack for the game. Priced at $20, the pack will add hundreds of miles of more terrain with the rest of the Hawaiian island chain (only the Big Island is included in the free-to-play version), new challenges, five new job types, 20 new missions, and a new plane (the Vans RV-6A).
While some people may gripe about “day one DLC,” you could also say that Microsoft is bringing back the old shareware model. Which is actually kind of awesome.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Microsoft Flight
Minecraft creator offers to fund Psychonauts 2
Markus “notch” Persson wants to change the video game industry. His first creation, Minecraft, became a worldwide sensation while in beta. It’s since won a truckload of awards and made notch a very rich man.
So what’s he going to do with all the money? For starters, he’s going to offer some of it to Double Fine developer Tim Schafer to make Psychonauts 2. Here’s what notch posted on Twitter this morning:
@TimOfLegend Let’s make Psychonauts 2 happen.
Psychonauts, a platformer set at a Summer camp for kids with telekinesis, was released in 2005 to rave reviews. However, it sold horribly and any plans for a sequel (the game ended on a cliffhanger) have been on hold ever since.
Is notch serious? (He says he is in another tweet.) Will Schafer take him up on it? (He’s said in the past that he wants to do a Psychonauts sequel.) Hopefully we’ll find out soon. Maybe even on Twitter.
Posted in News
Tagged Psychonauts 2
PSM3 teases “A Mystery Shooter Sequel”
UK gaming mag PSM3 is promising a big reveal in its March 2012 issue.
The image to your right appears on the “Next Issue” page of the current issue of PSM3. Two bullets appear alongside the words “A Mystery Shooter Sequel” and “An exclusive look at one of 2012’s hottest shooters.” We’re likely looking at a game with a two in the title and, obviously, one that’s being released this year.
Sister publication CVG has helpfully suggested that the game could be Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or Bulletstorm 2, so I think it’s safe to dismiss both of those options. However, I think an EA-published title is the most likely candidate.
Since it’s release in 2010, EA has continually laid the groundwork for Medal of Honor 2, even going so far as to include a teaser with copies of Battlefield 3. I’d be very surprised if this reveal is referring to anything else.
However, if you’re interested in longshots, what about Black 2? EA executives have always said they’d like to make a sequel someday and the game did rely heavily on the bullet motif. Just look at the cover.
But we’ll find out for sure on March 6.
It’s a Zapper… that transforms into Megatron… made out of Legos
While I’m not sure what I would have given to obtain this transforming Zapper made out of Legos when I was eight, at the very least I certainly would have entertained an offer for my soul from Old Scratch.
And it’s a good thing too, as Lego maestro Baron von Brunk has just completed such a mashup, which he’s dubbed Plasmashock. Based on Megatron’s pistol design from the Transformers Generation 1 toy line, it is everything my eight-year old self imagined… and more (because it’s built out of Legos).
For the Baron’s next trick, he plans to large replica of a Nintendo Entertainment System that transforms into a giant robot like Metroplex or Fortress Maximus. An 80s-style “We’re not worthy!” has never been more appropriate.