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
Uncharted 3 leads the 2012 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards with 12 nominations
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominees for the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards and, to save everybody some time, they just recycled the nominee list from 2010.
OK, not really. But a surprising number of games on this year’s ballot are part of franchises that took home some IAA hardware in 2010. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception leads all nominees with 12 nominations, just like Uncharted 2, which nearly swept the 2010 IAAs. Batman: Arkham Asylum won every award that Uncharted 2 didn’t in 2010, and so it goes in 2012 as Batman: Arkham City racked up six nominations this year.
Other games with more than five nominations include Portal 2 (ten), L.A. Noire (nine), Battlefield 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (six each).
Many of those multiple nominees (Arkham City, Skyrim, Portal 2, and Uncharted 3) will be involved in the five-way battle royale for the IAA Game of the Year award. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword rounds out the the category.
Hit the break for a complete list of every nominated game in all categories. And remember, the 2012 AIAS IAAs will be handed out during this year’s DICE Summit on February 9. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Breakout Boost Review: Boost Breaks Bricks Brilliantly
Call it Breakout. Call it Arkanoid. Call it Brickles. Whatever title you use, everyone is familiar with the “bricks-and-balls” genre.
A small paddle is located at the bottom of the screen while a large wall of bricks is located at the top. Using the paddle, players must knock the ball back into the wall until all the bricks are destroyed. It’s such a simple design that the genre is often referred to as “one-player Pong.” (more…)
Meet Swan, a “goth geek” necromancer, in the latest Lollipop Chainsaw trailer
Say hello to Swan, the “Goth Geek Bastard” behind the zombie uprising in Suda 51’s Lollipop Chainsaw. If you’re thinking this necromancer is any match for the big bads regularly faced by Buffy Summers, think again. He’s just an 18-year old loser who decided that the world needed more walking undead. OK, so he’s exactly like several of the big bads from “Buffy.”
His voice actor also sounds very familiar and I believe it belongs to Sean Gunn, brother of Lollipop Chainsaw writer James Gunn.
Lollipop Chainsaw will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in 2012, which will be a day filled with rainbows and sunshine and happy dances for me.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Lollipop Chainsaw
Shocker: Modern Warfare 3 leads December NPD list
The NPD Group has released their list of the bestselling games in December and, once again, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 tops the list. The shooter was joined in the top ten by its comrade in arms, Battlefield 3, which gunned down the number five slot.
The rest of the list includes a cross-section of some of this year’s absolute biggest games including Just Dance 3 at #2, Skyrim at #3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations at #7, and Batman: Arkham City at #10. And Nintendo’s 3DS is finally coming alive with two titles in the top ten: Mario Kart 7 at #4 and Super Mario 3D Land at #9.
Here’s the complete NPD Top Ten for the month of December 2011:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC)
2. Just Dance 3 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3)
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
5. Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
6. Madden NFL 12 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)
7. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
8. NBA 2K12 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
9. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
10. Batman: Arkham City (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Just Dance 3, Madden NFL 12, Mario Kart 7, NBA 2K12, NPD, Super Mario 3D Land, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
March is Silent Hill month thanks to Book of Memories, HD Collection, Downpour delays
With three Silent Hill games on the schedule (one for each month), Konami had previously planned to keep gamers in the state of perpetual panic throughout the new year. But several delays have now condensed a season of scares into one monstrous month.
Silent Hill HD Collection will bow first on March 6. The PS3 and Xbox 360 package will collect Silent Hill 2 (considered by many to be the best game in the series) and Silent Hill 3 into a single package. The compilation will include new vocal performances and updated high definition graphics.
Silent Hill: Downpour, also in the works for the PS3 and Xbox 360, will follow the HD Collection into stores a week later on March 13. Developed by Vatra Games (their first in the Silent Hill series), Downpour is a twist on The Fugitive formula as convicted felon Murphy Pendleton escapes a prison bus crash outside a familiarly foggy burg.
Finally, the series will make its debut on Sony’s new Vita handheld on March 27 with Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Book of Memories introduces time travel to the Silent Hill universe and also includes another first, a multiplayer mode.
Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360
Tagged Silent Hill HD Collection, Silent Hill: Book of Memories, Silent Hill: Downpour
Nominees for 2012 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Videogame Writing announced
The Writers Guild of America has announced the five nominees who will battle it out for this year’s Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing.
The Assassin’s Creed team at Ubisoft is once again up for a Writers GUild Award thanks to their work on Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The previous game in the series, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, won the award last year.
The writing teams behind Batman: Arkham City, Brink, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and Mortal Kombat have also been nominated for the Writers Guild Award.
Turning the Mortal Kombat mythos into a coherent story was quite a feat, so I’m pulling for the team at NetherRealm Studios.
You can see the complete list of nominated writers after the break and check back on February 19 to find out who won. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Brink, Mortal Kombat, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Use your Club Nintendo points to get Dr. Mario, Zelda: Majora’s Mask, more this month
As promised, Nintendo has updated the free game downloads they’re offering through their Club Nintendo loyalty month. This month, gamers will be able to spend their hard-earned Coins on the following games:
WiiWare
Dr. Mario Online Rx – 100 Coins
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 150 Coins
3DS eShop
Dr. Mario Express – 150 Coins
Kirby’s Dream Land – 100 Coins
If any of these games strike your fancy, you’d better hurry, they’ll only be available as Club Nintendo prizes until January 31.
Nintendo Download: Zen Pinball 3D, Hip Hop King, more
Are you ready for today’s Nintendo Download? This week, we’ll get new games featuring pinball, hip hop, the world’s greatest thief, and more pinball…
Zen Pinball 3D – (3DS eShop) – Zen Pinball 3D for Nintendo 3DS brings an incredible stereoscopic 3D experience to the acclaimed video game pinball series for the first time, featuring four original, beautifully crafted tables.
101 Pinball World (DSiWare) – Complete special objectives to earn fun bonuses as you shoot your ball through pipes, up ramps and around mind-blowing obstacles. Choose from 2 game modes, Quick Play and Random, and blast through over 100 fun tables on 4 exciting worlds filled with eye-popping details.
Hip Hop King: Rytmik Edition (DSiWare) – Create rhythmic and melodic themes or compose whole songs using more than 170 carefully selected sound samples of drums, percussion, bass, melodic instruments and phonograph scratches.
Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral (WiiWare) – Bad news, detective! There’s trouble in Moscow, Russia. St Basil’s Cathedral has disintegrated! All that’s left is a giant pile of sand. Carmen Sandiego is back and only you can foil her V.I.L.E plans. Travel the globe, solve brain-twisting math puzzles, and catch the villain behind the Crumbling Cathedral.