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
Starhawk flies into stores on May 8
With the public beta scheduled to begin today, Sony thought this was the perfect time to announce that Starhawk will be available in stores on May 8.
If you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you’re beta ticket has been punched (others will be able to join in the weeks ahead). But before you download it, Sony wants to say “Welcome!” with a quick beta primer video at the PlayStation Blog.
Mortal Kombat koming to PS Vita this Spring
After it’s incredibly awesome rebirth on the PS3 and Xbox 360 last year, WB Games and NetherRealm Studios are now bringing Mortal Kombat to the PlayStation Vita this Spring.
“The NetherRealm team is committed to making sure that we follow up the success of 2011’s Mortal Kombat with an equally compelling experience on the PlayStation Vita,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “The original game content and new features we developed for the PlayStation Vita will provide gamers with the best fighting game experience available on the new mobile platform.”
Not only will Mortal Kombat on the Vita be the same gore-filled game that appeared on the PS3/Xbox 360, but it’ll also include several Vita-exclusive features. According to NetherRealm, they’ll be announced in the next few months.
Posted in News
Tagged Mortal Kombat, Vita
Max Payne 3 shoots up Sao Paolo on May 15
After years of false starts, delays, and possible cancellation, Rockstar Games has announced that, after one more delay, Max Payne 3 will be available in stores (for the PS3 and Xbox 360) on May 15 (May 18 for countries outside of North America)! PC gamers will have to wait until May 29 (June 1 for countries outside of North America) to get their hands on Max’s next case.
“Max Payne 3 brings powerful storytelling back to the action-shooter genre,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Rockstar Studios are delivering a game that’s both incredibly cinematic and very, very intense to play.”
Max Payne 3 takes the titular anti-hero outside his New York City home and drops him in the sunny landscape of Sao Paolo, Brazil. There, he works as a bodyguard for Rodrigo Branco, a wealthy executive. But trouble finds Max wherever he goes when Branco’s wife is kidnapped and Max is tasked with finding her.
In addition to the game’s new locale, Max Payne 3 will also add a multiplayer component to the series for the first time.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Max Payne 3
Penny Arcade is getting into the video game news business
They created a fairly popular video game webcomic. They started an annual gaming convention that grew into a twice-yearly gaming convention. And on the side, they run a charity that helps sick kids. They are Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, creators of Penny Arcade, and now they’re making the jump into creating video game news.
Of course, Holkins and Krahulik don’t do anything small. Penny Arcade isn’t just fairly popular, it’s the biggest webcomic on the Internet. Their gaming convention, PAX, rivals E3 in size, scope, and respectability. And that charity? Child’s Play brought in $3.5 million last year.
To that end, the Penny Arcade pair have hired Ben Kuchera, the (now former) gaming editor of Ars Technica to head up their video game news coverage:
Tycho: We’re bringing him on to create industry coverage you can read without holding your nose, essentially; I want a perspective, I want a Curator for the Internet’s gaming content. In a couple words, I want something less insulting and disposable.
Kuchera and the Penny Arcade team are still working out the details on how his gaming coverage will be featured on the site, but his column should launch sometime in the next few weeks and new content will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Posted in News
Did THQ cancel their 2014 lineup? One man thinks they did…
There’s a possibly apocryphal tale about former President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s philosophy on political mudslinging that goes something this:
LBJ: Tell the public my opponent has sex with pigs.
Campaign Manager: But that’s not true!
LBJ: I know, but let’s make him deny it.
Keep that in mind as you read this story.
Kevin Dent, the head of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Mobile Special Interest Group, was tweeting up a storm yesterday about THQ. According to Dent, the publisher first canceled Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online and then canned their entire 2014 lineup. Yes, 2014. As in, the games they plan to release two full years from now.
THQ went into damage control mode and sent out a statement denying Dent’s entire claim: “THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO.”
Now for the “make him deny it” part. THQ hasn’t been in good financial shape for a long time, but 2011 was acutally a good year for the company. Saints Row: The Third outperformed all expectations and while Homefront was critically panned, it still managed to sell a few million copies. That’s a tremendous success for an untested and unknown franchise.
On top of that, THQ currently doesn’t have a “2014 lineup.” The publisher has announced a few 2013 titles (the Warhammer MMO, Homefront 2, Insane), but 2014 is a big question mark. So tabling a few unannounced games for the time being while working out some financial difficulties is actually a pretty sound strategy.
But by making them deny it, Dent gets his name in the news.
Posted in News
Tagged Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium Online
Weekly Warp-Up: Waiting Out the Drought 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…
The game industry has been the victim of a slow start in 2012, but that will end shortly as we begin a look at some of this year’s big new titles. That look includes a Hands-On Preview of Asura’s Wrath, Capcom’s God of War/Shadow of the Colossus mash-up that’ll be available this February.
For more games of 2012 (and a few from 2011), hit the jump to read the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)
Posted in News
Starhawk public beta schedule flies into focus
Sony plans to bring the futuristic warfare of Starhawk to as many PS3 owners as possible in the first few months of 2012 with a massive multiplayer beta. And if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, that window of opportunity will open in just three days!
Not a PS Plus user? Here’s a look at the complete North American Starhawk beta schedule:
- January 17: All PlayStation Plus subscribers and all Private Beta participants (who haven’t erased their original Private Beta files).
- January 31: Uncharted 3 beta key holders. These voucher codes were found inside of North American copies of Uncharted 3.
- February 7: Visit GameStop and PlayStation on Facebook and see how you can get early voucher codes.
- February 14: IGN.com readers (details to be revealed soon).
- February 21: Everyone with a PlayStation Network account.
New Releases: Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition
We continue our slow slog through a January that’s almost completely devoid of new releases.
This week, the biggest new game available is actually a game that’s over a year old. Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition is a super-sized version of the PS3 racing sim that includes the “new and improved features and functionality from all downloadable game updates through Spec 2.0 right on the disc.” If you love racing sims and, for some reason, haven’t purchased GT5 yet, then this is the version to get.
The only other new release available this week is Kids Learn Spelling and Grammar: A+ Edition, an educational cartridge for the DS.
Sigh. Maybe something interesting will come along next week…
Posted in DS, News, PS3
Tagged Gran Turismo 5