Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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
An Introduction to the World of Grand Theft Auto V: First gameplay video released
As promised, Rockstar has released the first gameplay video for Grand Theft Auto V this morning. Everyone already knows all about the three playable characters and Southern California-inspired environments of Los Santos, so you should have no trouble diving right in to “An Introduction to the World of Grand Theft Auto V.” And stay tuned for a first look at the game’s multiplayer component, Grand Theft Auto Online. Rockstar has revealed that we’ll get a closer look at that soon/
Grand Theft Auto V will be released exclusively for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on September 17.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Grand Theft Auto V
Square Enix wants to add Star Wars-themed world to Kingdom Hearts III
Tetsuya Nomura has the world’s biggest toychest at his disposal. As the Director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Nomura is able to mix and match Disney’s biggest properties in the most expansive crossover ever. But I have a good feeling about his plans for Kingdom Hearts III…
Nomura wants to add Star Wars characters to the mix.
Speaking to Finaland, Nomura confirmed that he wants to include a galaxy far, far away in the next Kingdom Hearts game, but that the decision ultimately lies with Disney:
“[W]e’ve been talking about Star Wars itself since it became Disney’s content recently. When I [heard] the news I was like ‘Wow ! Wow !’ Yeah obviously it’s gonna be great if we could add it, but like I said there are a lot of restrictions and rules by Disney so we don’t know what’s gonna happen but yeah, we’ll see.”
I hope Disney goes for it. Who doesn’t want to see a Keyblade/Lightsaber battle between Sora and Darth Vader?
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Kingdom Hearts III
Summer of Arcade 2013 titles priced and dated
Microsoft has announced the release schedule and prices for this year’s slate of Summer of Arcade titles.
First announced at E3, this year’s Summer of Arcade will kick off on August 7 with Starbreeze’s Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (1200 Microsoft Points/$15). The second week of the promotion, August 14, will see the release of Ska Studios’ Charlie Murder (800 Microsoft Points/$10). Third out of the gate, on August 21, is the HD remake of Flashback (800 Microsoft Points/$10). Capping everything off, on August 28, is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (1200 Microsoft Points/$15). Here’s the schedule in list format, because, why not…
- August 7: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (1200 Microsoft Points/$15)
- August 14: Charlie Murder (800 Microsoft Points/$10)
- August 21: Flashback (800 Microsoft Points/$10)
- August 28: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (1200 Microsoft Points/$15)
As in years past, buying more than one Summer of Arcade title will trigger a special bonus gift. This year, purchasing two or more games during the promotion will net you a “Souls Pack” for the upcoming Ascend: Hand of Kul.
The narrator of Beatbuddy’s first gameplay trailer is awesome
Threaks has released the first gameplay trailer for their puzzle platformer, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians. Pay close attention to the narrator as he describes all the “beautiful hand-painted levels, clever puzzles, head-bobbing music, and engrossing gameplay” that you see on the screen. He’s a hoot.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians will be available to download from Steam (for the PC, Mac, and Linux) on August 6.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Latest Google Doodle asks players to help the Roswell alien escape Earth
66 years ago, an alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and gave extraterrestrials everywhere the biggest boost since a radioman named Orson Welles filed a live report we still haven’t forgotten. During a check of his fields, rancher Mac Brazel found the remains of a “flying saucer” and quickly contacted the government. After the initial hysteria died down, the public came to realize that there were no captured aliens and the “flying saucer” was actually a weather balloon used to spy on the Soviets.
But what if a UFO really did crash in the desert on that warm New Mexico night? That’s what Google wants us to believe with their latest Doodle (which is now on the Google homepage and will be available on the 2013 Doodles page soon). The grey alien just wants to phone home, but to do that, he needs your help. Guiding the alien like in the point-and-click adventure games of old, players will reassemble his spaceship through and discover that the truth (and a can of alien mutagen) is out there.
A hearty “Live long and prosper” to the Googler responsible, this is definitely a close encounter of the awesome kind. When you’re done, be sure and do a Google Search on the “Roswell UFO incident.” The vintage pictures and newspaper clippings are great.
Weekly Warp-Up: July 7, 2013 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…
As if the Xbox One saga couldn’t get any weirder, Don Mattrick, Microsoft’s Xbox Division head, has left the company and taken a job as CEO of Zynga. Was the fan backlash too much to handle? Did Mattrick know a sinking ship when he saw one? Or does he just want a new challenge?
My money’s on… well, money.
Also this week, the Warp Zoned staff took of their monthly playlists with our examination of What We Played in June 2013 and The Games of July 2013.
For more news from the week that was, hit the jump.
Posted in News
Tales of Xillia 2 coming to North America, Europe in 2014
Namco Bandai plans to release Tales of Xillia for the PS3 on August 6. The game was originally released in Japan in 2011 and took two long years to travel across the Pacific.
Luckily, fans of the Tales series won’t have to wait very long for the sequel. The publisher has announced (during France’s Japan Expo) that Tales of Xillia 2 will be released in North America and across Europe in 2014.
[Source: Siliconera, Facebook]
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Tales of Xillia 2
Microsoft rejected over 36 ridiculous names before settling on “Xbox”
In a world where the original Xbox (commonly called the Xbox 1) exists, Microsoft’s debut of the “Xbox One” name was seen as an oddball move by many. But it could have been worse. Much, much worse.
In 1999, Seamus Blackley was one of the engineers working on the Xbox project, which was a shortened form of the console’s code name: DirectX Box. But the geniuses who gave us a product named “Microsoft Bob” decided that the “Xbox” name (even though it was the preferred name by Blackley and his team) would never be accepted by the public. So they proposed a few alternatives. Almost 40, in fact.
Among the frontrunners were “Eleven-X,” “FACE” (an acronym for “Full Action Center”), “Microsoft Active Reality Zone” (which would be shortened to “MARZ”), “MEGA” (which would stand for “Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Attendant” or “Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Assembly”), and “CyberPlayGround.” Xbox doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?
The complete list of rejected names can be found at Edge Online.
Posted in News