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
NetherRealm finishes Mortal Kombat; in stores April 19
OK, I don’t know for sure if development on Mortal Kombat has finished, but it makes a good headline. As you can see, that headline also confirms that the fighting franchise will return to the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Tuesday, April 19. WB Games plans to resurrect “Mortal Monday” for European gamers as the game will be released a day earlier across the Atlantic: Monday, April 18.
Warner Bros. and NetherRealm have also unveiled the final boxart for Mortal Kombat. Besides including an awesome image of Scorpion and Sub-Zero fighting their eternal fight, the PS3 box includes a special “Exclusive Content” stripe, effectively putting an end to the hope that the Xbox 360 version would get an exclusive character as well.
But Kratos or no Kratos, Mortal Kombat has a release date and I am ready to decapitate some kombatants.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
Activision wants to close Bizarre Creations
Activision has spent the last three months looking for a buyer for British development team Bizarre Creations. Yesterday, with no buyer in sight, the publisher told Develop that they’ve recommended the studio for closure. And Bizarre has responded that they’ve accepted this decision.
The future of the Bizarre team is rather murky at this point, but Coddy Johnson, Activision Worldwide Studios’ chief operating officer said, “We’re offering the studio as many resources as possible, including counselling, external placement services and external career fairs.”
Bizarre released two games in 2010 that underperformed their rather lofty expectations. Blur was pitched as “Mario Kart for adults,” but most adults indicated that they’d rather play Mario Kart. And November’s James Bond 007: Blood Stone was overshadowed by last year’s other Bond game, a remake of GoldenEye 007.
Everyone here at Warp Zoned hopes the people at Bizarre land on their feet soon.
The Smurfs smurf their way onto the Wii, DS this Summer
A film adaptation of The Smurfs will be released in theaters on August 3, and Ubisoft has announced that the blue creatures will smurf their way onto the Wii and DS around the same time as well.
Nothing else was announced about the game, but executives at Ubisoft are absolutely thrilled to be working on a Smurfs game (the game’s unnamed developers didn’t mention what they thought of the deal):
“We’re thrilled to be working with Lafig Belgium and Sony Pictures on the Smurfs license. Our ongoing partnership with Sony Pictures Consumer Products allows us to create fun and entertaining video games based on some of the most popular family films,” said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft. “Ubisoft’s creative team is working hard on crafting the perfect video game experience that will appeal to new and old fans of The Smurfs.”
Rumor: Infinity Ward & Sledgehammer team up for Modern Warfare 3
A report on the LA Times blog “Company Man” claims to have a few details on the next Call of Duty game. Citing “people familiar with the situation,” the blog reveals that Activision will release the Infinity Ward-developed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this November.
But it appears that Infinity Ward wasn’t able to complete the game on their own.
The LA Times article states that due to the defection of company founders Jason West and Vince Zampella (along with the majority of the IW staff) Activision had to call in the team from the newly-formed Sledgehammer Games. The megapublisher also had to call on Raven Software to help with the multiplayer portion. Although this part of the tale was more-or-less confirmed by a job opening at Raven a few weeks ago.
This shifting of resources has seemingly caused a “domino effect” among Activision’s internal studios. The newspaper claims that Sledgehammer has had to postpone their Call of Duty spin-off that was previously scheduled for a 2011 release.
It all sounds plausible enough, but we won’t know for sure until Activision officially announces the title and developer of the next Call of Duty game, which will definitely be released this November.
Posted in News
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy coming March 22
The title of Dissidia 012 [duodecim]: Final Fantasy has been giving gamers the fits ever since it was announced. But now we finally know when we’ll get to play it as Square Enix has revealed the PSP fighter will be released on March 22.
The prequel will feature the return of every character from Dissidia: Final Fantasy along with new characters Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII), Kain (Final Fantasy IV) and Tifa (Final Fantasy VII). Square Enix has promised that “many other new faces” will also make an appearance in Dissidia 012, possibly in the game’s new “Assist” feature.
Among the characters we already know about, many of them will be voiced by some familiar names as the cast includes Rachael Leigh Cook as Tifa, Keith David as Chaos, Steve Burton as Cloud Strife, George Newbern as Sephiroth and Ali Hillis as Lightning. According to Square Enix, they won’t be the only ones as “numerous past voice actors have also returned to once again bring their characters to life.”
Posted in News
Tagged Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, PSP
Red Dead Redemption, Enslaved, God of War III lead 2011 AIAS nominees
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has announced the nominees for the 14th annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs). As expected, Red Dead Redemption lead the way with nine nominations including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design and Game of the Year.
God of War III and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (a title that is already being considered one of the best games you’ve never played) shared the second-most nominations with six apiece. Other games up for multiple awards include Call of Duty: Black Ops, Heavy Rain, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Mass Effect 2 (five nominations apiece) along with Dance Central, Limbo and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (four apiece).
The awards will be handed out by Jay Mohr at the 2011 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit on Thursday, February 10. The hour-long show will be broadcast on G4 two days later, February 12, at 4:00 PM (Eastern Time) with a webcast scheduled for 7:30 PM (Eastern Time) at G4tv.com/DICE.
A complete list of nominees can be on the AIAS website, but the “Game of the Year” will come from this list of five: Angry Birds HD, Call of Duty: Black Ops, God of War III, Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption.
Square Enix officially releases Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer
Every trailer from Square Enix’s 1st Production Department Premier showcase was leaked onto YouTube within hours of the end of the show. And like any big company, Square Enix pulled them down just as quickly as they were posted. But today, as promised, the publisher has released an official HD version of the Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer. And best of all, it’s in English, so we can finally figure out what Lightning is saying.
Check it out above.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Final Fantasy XIII-2
Reality is Broken, Guinness Gamer’s 2011 in bookstores now
Two video game-related books are now on the shelves of your local bookstore.
The book on the right, Guinness World Records 2011: Gamer’s Edition, needs no introduction. It’s the latest compendium of game records by the Guinness people and it was released today after a record-setting LittleBigPlanet 2 launch party in New York City. Some of this year’s new records include Largest Collection of Super Mario Memorabilia (5,400 items), Top Paid-For Apple App Store Game (Angry Birds) and Most Popular Facebook Game (FarmVille). I think it’s kind of funny that Apple revealed the official “top paid-for app” yesterday and Angry Birds wasn’t it. CityVille also surpassed FarmVille as the most popular Facebook game earlier this month.
The 2011 Gamer’s Edition also lists the Top 50 Video Game Characters of All-Time. After thousands of votes were cast, Mario came out on top with Link at number two and the Master Chief rounding out the top three.
The book on the left is Reality is Broken, which was written by Jane McGonigal, one of the creators behind the alternate reality game I Love Bees. McGonigal argues that the popularity of games has fundamentally changed the world and Reality is Broken is her blueprint on how to fix it (using game concepts in everyday life, of course).
We’ll have a review of Reality is Broken very soon.