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
PSN’s “Welcome Back” program extended to July 5
After you finish celebrating the 4th of July today, Sony wants to remind you that there’s just one day left in their “Welcome Back” program. The program was actually scheduled to end yesterday, but it’s been extended, so the last chance for all you PS3/PSP owners to get your free games is Tuesday, July 5 at 9 AM Pacific Time.
In addition to the free games, Sony is offering a variety of other freebies to make up for the month-long PlayStation Network outage including a 30-day PlayStation Plus subscription and 100 virtual items in PlayStation Home.
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
See 12 minutes of Batman: Arkham City gameplay in new trailer
This 4th of July weekend, it’s important to remember that if there’s one comic book character who stands for truth, justice and the American way… it’s Batman!
Wait… I don’t think that’s right…
Anyway, WB Games and developer Rocksteady have released over 12 minutes of Batman: Arkham City gameplay footage including Catwoman taking down a bunch of thugs, getting captured by Two-Face and Batman’s rescue mission. And trust me, there’s no shortage of fireworks when those three get together.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City
Weekly Warp-Up: The Futurist 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…
Today was a good week to be a gamer as the Supreme Court struck down the California anti-game bill. It wasn’t so good a week for Jon Stewart as his favorite target retired and then he went on an old man rant about them evul viddygames.
Get Warp Zoned!
Besides an argument over the future of the “violent video game” debate, this week was also a general look into the future. We took a stab at predicting the future of the 3DS in Nintendo’s 3DS: Looking Into the Next Dimension and we spun into Sonic’s future with a hands-on preview of Sonic Generations.
With the end of June in sight, we also published the latest edition of Warpback, better known as “What We Played in June 2011.” Naturally, this was followed up by our report detailing The Games of July 2011.
Finally, on Episode 12 of the Warp Zoned Podcast, Senior Editor Nicole Kline and Podcast Producer Ryan Littlefield are joined by West Coast Editor Adam Woolcott. They talk about the latest news (what’s up with Nintendo’s refusal to localize games we are dying to play???) and then move into our big topic: game reboots.
Hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon, More
The Summer slowdown is here. Just five games are scheduled to be released this week. But as a wise (and animated) man once said: “Celebrate your country’s independence by blowing up a small part of it.” And that’s just what I plan on doing with D3 Publisher’s Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (PS3, Xbox 360), the closest thing we’ll ever get to a Starship Troopers video game.
Also available this week is a quartet of games that couldn’t be more diverse:
Jon Stewart rips SCOTUS on CA game bill decision; forgets he starred in The Faculty
No matter how depraved and disgusting a comedy gets, it only becomes “offensive” or “inappropriate” when the creators attack something you love. Even a comedy show as respected as The Daily Show can fall into this trap. There are few men in America that are as beloved among young adults as Jon Stewart, but he just questioned the wisdom of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Brown vs EMA…
Jon Stewart is dead to me now.
The Daily Show host made his point by splicing clips of the latest Mortal Kombat game in with his own reactions to the gratuitous violence. But before showing the clip, he prefaced it with the following warning: “It’s like an interactive, animated snuff film.”
That’s just going too far Mr. Stewart! Why, I’ll have you know, the Mortal Kombat series is a historic and… (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
ESRB says Crysis is coming to PS3, Xbox 360
Even though it was released back in 2007, Crysis still sets the benchmark for graphically intensive PC games. Developer CryTek has flirted with a console release for the game before, but nothing has ever come of it.
Until now, that is.
Today, a rating for a PS3/Xbox 360 version of Crysis appeared on the ESRB’s website. The Korean Rating Board also outed a console version of Crysis in the last few days. It’s not quite confirmation, but PS3/Xbox 360 owners got a chance to play Crysis 2 back in March and it seems very likely like its predecessor will be joining it soon.
Kenshi’s story told in new MK DLC trailer
Kenshi, the blind swordsman, was the best character introduced to the Mortal Kombat mythos in the Deadly Alliance trilogy. So it’s only fitting that he’s the first returning character to be offered as DLC for the Mortal Kombat reboot on the PS3 and Xbox 360. NetherRealm Studios has released a new trailer that tells the tale of Kenshi and you can watch it above.
Kenshi will be available to download from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace on July 5 for $5 (or 400 Microsoft Points).
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
Halo: Glasslands novel set for October
Tor Books and their Halo fiction factory continues to roll with Halo: Glasslands this October. Glasslands was written by Karen Traviss and is the beginning of a new trilogy that sets the stage for Halo 4 in the aftermath of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
“Although Karen’s novel deals with the characters and events from ‘Ghosts of Onyx,’ it’s the wonderful new characters and scenarios that she brings so vividly to life that will excite Halo fiction fans,” says Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director for 343 Industries. “We get an incredible opportunity to explore the Halo universe in the aftermath of the Covenant war, and unveil some mysteries and storylines that will connect readers to a compelling corner of the Halo universe. I can’t wait for readers to enjoy this book as much as we have.”
Halo: Glasslands will be available in stores in paperback and on compact disc on October 25, 2011.