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
New Releases: GOW: Ascension, SC2: Heart of the Swarm, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, More
A pair of dueling sequels highlight this week’s new releases.
Kratos returns in a God of War prequel that brings multiplayer to the series for the first time. God of War: Ascension is available as a standalone game and also as part of a new PS3 system bundle that include Ascension and the previously released God of War Saga. Also new on store shelves this week is StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion in the StarCraft II trilogy saga.
And speaking of sequels, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is also available this week for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. And speaking of snipers, Sniper Elite V2 comes to the PC this week, almost a year after first appearing on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Finally, the 3DS will receive another Monster High game thanks to Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged God of War: Ascension, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Boomshakalaka! Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman are on fire in this NBA Jam parody
Someday, historians may write about Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea as the beginning of a basketball diplomacy program that opened up the secretive nation to the rest of the world. For now though, he’s just the tattooed and pierced weirdo who shared courtside seats with a dictator at an exhibition game.
Naturally, this lead someone to mashup Kim Jong-un’s famed athletic abilities with the extreme stylings of NBA Jam. The “North Korean All-Stars” are lead by Kim Jong-un’s flawless skillset (10 out of 10 in Speed, Power, Shoot, Dunks, Steal, and Block) against a “Pathetic Americans” team that includes Mark Jackson and Sarunas Marciulionis of the 1996-97 Denver Nuggets.
Can you guess the final score? Let’s just say it makes Kim Jong-il’s purported 11 hole-in-ones on the golf course seem realistic.
EA to give players free game to make up for “dumb” SimCity launch
It happens almost every time, doesn’t it? Some publisher releases a game with a massive online component and then throws their hands up in horror as more players than they ever expected bring down the servers. EA’s SimCity is just the latest bungled launch in a grand tradition that goes back a long time. Lucy Bradshaw, the Senior Vice President at Maxis, has admitted that it was “dumb” not to expect so many players in a new blog post on the developer’s website:
The server issues which began at launch have improved significantly as we added more capacity. But some people are still experiencing response and stability problems that we’re working fast to address.
So what went wrong? The short answer is: a lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in the beta.
OK, we agree, that was dumb, but we are committed to fixing it. In the last 48 hours we increased server capacity by 120 percent. It’s working – the number of people who have gotten in and built cities has improved dramatically. The number of disrupted experiences has dropped by roughly 80 percent.
So we’re close to fixed, but not quite there. I’m hoping to post another update this weekend to let everyone know that the launch issues are behind us.
To make up for their mistake, EA plans to offer a free game download to all SimCity players. The game (likely a list of games, and each player will get to pick one) hasn’t been chosen yet, but SimCity players will learn more in an email set to be delivered on March 18.
Ubisoft bringing guided demos of AC4: Black Flag, SC: Blacklist, Watch Dogs to PAX East
Ubisoft has announced their 2013 PAX East lineup and it’ll include all of their “heavy hitters” set for release later this year including Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Watch Dogs. Sadly, all three will only be available as guided demos/videos controlled by Ubisoft staff. But you will receive an inflatable cutlass if you watch the Black Flag presentation.
If you’re looking for games to play, Ubisoft will have those available on the show floor as well. You can check out the list of playable demos right here:
- ShootMania Storm (PC)
- Might & Magic Heroes VI: Shades of Darkness (PC)
- Might & Magic: Duel of Champions Online (PC, iOS)
- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PSN, XBLA)
- Spartacus Legends (PSN, XBLA)
PAX East 2013 is being held from March 22nd through the 24th at the Boston Convention Center. Hit the jump for a few more details on Ubisoft’s “heavy hitters” lineup. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, PAX East 2013, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Watch Dogs
PBS Inventors profiles Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games, on his 91st birthday
Before Cliff Bleszinski… Before John Carmack… Before even Shigeru Miyamoto… there was Ralph Baer. While not known as a game designer, Ralph Baer gave the video game industry something much more important: the first home console.
Today is Ralph Baer’s 91st birthday and PBS has decided to celebrate with the “Father of Video Games” by profiling him as part of their Inventors digital series.
Baer began work on his “Brown Box” console all the way back in 1966. It would eventually be released to the public in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey. The prolific inventor is also responsible for the first light gun and the first light gun game, Shooting Gallery as well as the Simon handheld game. Happy birthday Ralph! Never stop inventing.
I’d also like to wish a happy birthday to Warp Zoned’s Senior Editor, Nicole Kline. I’ll bet she had no idea she shared a birthday with video game royalty.
XBLA Today: WRC Powerslide
Milestone has added their latest off-road, WRC Powerslide, to the Xbox Live Arcade in a special Friday update. It’s been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) and, if you download it, here’s what you can expect to get:
Four cars on the same stage and WRC challenges with arcade flavour. Collect Power-ups during the race and use them to slow down your opponents and achieve victory! Choose between the official WRC cars and locations to experience exciting challenges with your friends in the online multiplayer mode. Otherwise select the single player mode and enjoy overtaking, acceleration and braking while paying attention to your opponents: because they will do anything to win!
Company of Heroes 2 marches towards a June 25 release
Another of THQ’s lost children has been given an official release date as Sega has announced that Company of Heroes 2 will be available in stores and through PC download services on June 25.
The game was originally scheduled to be released this month, but due to the publisher changeover, Sega has given Relic Entertainment more time to “meet the high standard set by its predecessor.”
Greg Wilson, Producer of Company of Heroes 2, said, “We hate to disappoint our fans with a later than expected date as we know they are eager to play but we feel that the additional time will help the team deliver the high quality sequel they deserve.”
Relic is planning to hold a closed beta test before release to help balance the multiplayer portion of the game. More details on the beta will be released soon.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Company of Heroes 2
Tomb Raider reboot already has one million players
It looks like fans are loving Lara Croft’s return to gaming in the rebooted Tomb Raider prequel, which was released by Square Enix on Tuesday. How big is the party? Well, Karl Stewart, Crystal Dynamics’ Global Brand Director, has tweeted that over one million people have played the game since the launch date:
Wow, 1m gamers playing in less than 48hrs! @tombraider fans, you’re AMAZINGHearing some stores are running low..more copies are on the way!
— Karl Stewart (@CrystalDKarl) March 8, 2013
With GameFly and Blockbuster (yes, they still exist) and Redbox rentals, this likely doesn’t translate to one million copies sold… yet. But with this many players already, Tomb Raider is well on its way to unearthing even more riches from the retail counter.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Tomb Raider