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
Anonymous suspends their campaign against Sony
The “hacktivism” group Anonymous has announced that they’ve suspended their campaign of online warfare against Sony due to the effect their efforts were having on innocent PS3 players. The denial of service attacks perpetrated by Anonymous caused outages on the PlayStation Network and blocked access to Sony-owned websites. These attacks were called off one day after a member of Anonymous referred to gamers as “collateral damage” in their war with Sony.
Anonymous’ statement reads, in part, as follows:
Anonymous is not attacking the PSN at this time. Sony’s official position is that the PSN is undergoing maintenance. We realize that targeting the PSN is not a good idea. We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers.
Anonymous is on your side, standing up for your rights. We are not aiming to attack customers of Sony. This attack is aimed solely at Sony, and we will try our best to not affect the gamers, as this would defeat the purpose of our actions. If we did inconvenience users, please know that this was not our goal.
On our side or not, this latest round of statements doesn’t look like it’ll make gamers feel all warm and fuzzy towards Anonymous anytime soon.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
SSX: Deadly Descents gets new title, gameplay details
Todd Batty, Creative Director of SSX: Deadly Descents, recently sat down with Game Informer to discuss the rebirth of the snowboarding series. During the interview he dropped new details like the number of mountains players will be able to shred down (at least 70) and revealed the game’s slimmed down title (it’s just called SSX now).
Batty also talked about the game’s three gameplay styles: Speed Descent (get down the mountain as fast as possible), Tricky Descent (perform as many tricks as you can) and Deadly Descent. In Deadly Descent mode the mountain literally fights back against the racers and, according to Batty, “the challenge will be just making it to the bottom alive.” This challenge will be amplified thanks to avalanches, rockslides and falling stalactites.
Tying together all of these death-defying drops are “Nine Deadly Descents,” which are based on the “Seven Summits” of the mountaineering world. Each descent is “themed by an environmental challenge and a cultural significance that makes [the] mountains unique from each other” and Batty considers them like boss battles.
To help players survive the elements, SSX will include a ton of new geat including wingsuits (for gliding after a jump) and pickaxes (to help NOT falling off the mountain). And all of this will come together through what Batty calls “a very strong multiplayer component.”
Capcom countdown points to Breath of Fire VI?
Capcom Japan has launched a countdown site for a new project they’re calling DD for now.
The countdown features a silhouetted dragon in the background and it’ll expire on April 12th. Coincidentally, the embargo on news from Capcom’s Captivate 2011 event (which is being held right now in Miami) will also expire on the 12th.
As for what the mysterious dragon and the “DD” refer to, we may have a lead on that as well. Andriasang translated a tweet from Breath of Fire V director Makoto Ikehara where he complains that the “DD” in the URL will lead gamers straight to Dragon’s Dogma, which Capcom filed a trademark for a few days ago.
Does that mean the clock is counting down to Breath of Fire VI: Dragon’s Dogma? There’s no way to be sure (short of crashing Captivate), but the clues point to yes.
Posted in News
Tagged Dragon's Dogma
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass trailer blasts onto the web
You thought Duke Nukem: Critical Mass was dead didn’t you? It’s OK, we all did. But after revealing that the DS side-scroller was alive and well last month, Apogee Software has released a new trailer ahead of the game’s release.
European gamers will get a chance to step into Duke’s alienkickers tomorrow, April 8th. Across the Atlantic in North America, we’ll have to wait until May.
Posted in DS, News
Tagged Duke Nukem: Critical Mass
Sega teases new Sonic for 2011
Sonic the Hedgehog’s home on Facebook has unveiled the first teaser trailer for the blue blur’s next game (currently untitled, but possibly known as Sonic Generations, which Sega just registered a domain for).
The trailer starts off innocently enough with Sonic dashing his way through tunnels, bridges and loop-the-loops… but then it gets weird when Sonic splits in two. One seems to represent the new, sleek Sonic while the other more closely resembles Sonic in his Genesis days. Does this mean there’s some kind of time travel operation going on in South Island?
Whatever’s going on, Sega has promised that the game will be released sometime in 2011 on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Sonic Generations
XBLA Today: Dishwasher Vampire Smile, Red Faction Battlegrounds
Microsoft has performed their weekly update of the Xbox Live Arcade and added two new titles to the download service today.
The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is the latest stylish side-scroller from Ska Studios. Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), it tells the continuing tale of Yuki’s bloody quest for revenge.
Also available this week, and also available for 800 Microsoft Points, is THQ’s Red Faction: Battlegrounds. The vehicular combat game features four-player modes and rewards players with Red Faction: Armageddon unlockables (which releases on May 31).
Danny Bilson, THQ’s Executive Vice President of Core Games said, “This explosive arcade game is a throwback to top-down, four-player racers of the past, yet with story tie-ins and unlockable weaponry that you will experience in our most futuristic game, Red Faction: Armageddon. Great on their own, playing either will make the other that much more enjoyable – exactly what we want from our transmedia projects.”
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Red Faction: Battlegrounds, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile
EA sued over Madden, NCAA exclusivity deals
Ready your favorite frivolous lawsuit jokes, because Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and The Paynter Law Firm have filed a joint class-action lawsuit against Electronic Arts claiming the publisher has an illegal monopoly on NFL, NCAA and Arena Football games.
According to a statement from the plaintiffs in the case of Pecover vs Electronic Arts, EA signed exclusive licenses with the National Football League (NFL), National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and Arena Football League (AFL), thereby “[foreclosing] competition in an alleged football video game market” and “overcharging” for the games relating to these licenses.
When you put it that way, the lawsuit is really an awesome display of idiocy and misunderstanding of the video game market. First of all, whether or not you think EA Sports’ games are overpriced, they carry an industry standard $60 pricetag. So the “overcharging” complaint is just stupid. Secondly, the NFL approached EA with the proposal for an exclusivity deal. EA didn’t strongarm the license out of anybody, it was freely sold to them.
And Anybody that’s visited a game store in the last 30 years will know that these kinds of deals are fairly standard in the industry. For example, Activision holds the license to make games based on Spider-Man while Sega holds a similar license to make games based on Captain America. Overturning EA’s NFL exclusivity contract would basically render all of these licensing agreements void.
If the plaintiffs somehow win the day, anyone who purchased a Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football game after January 1, 2005 will be considered a part of the class and will share in the judgment.
More information about the lawsuit can be found at EASportsLitigation.com.
Posted in News