Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Author: John Scalzo
GLaDOS battles Lovecraftian aliens in Del Toro’s Pacific Rim
Rumor has it that Guillermo Del Toro’s Insane is back in production at some mystery game developer. And with the release of the first trailer for next year’s Pacific Rim film, it looks like the famed director will be battling a lot of Lovecraftian monsters in 2013.
In Pacific Rim, skyscraper-sized aliens have emerged from a portal underneath the Pacific Ocean and its up to Idris Elba and his team of Jaeger pilots to stop them. Anime fans will recognize the Jaegers as being very similar to the 25-foot tall mechas that are very popular in Japanese cinema and television. Be sure to check out the trailer above where Elba gives a rousing speech that rivals Bill Pullman’s at the end of Independence Day and listen close for the voicework of Ellen McClain (AKA GLaDOS from the Portal series) as the voice of the AI that manages the mechas.
Pacific Rim will be open in theaters on June 12, 2013.
BitComposer obtains the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. license
BitComposer, a European publisher headquartered in Germany, has acquired the video game rights to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series from the estate of the Strugatsky brothers. Arkady Strugatsky and his brother Boris, who passed away last month, wrote the novel Roadside Picnic in 1972. It heavily influenced the 1979 film Stalker and subsequently formed the backbone of GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.
The publisher views the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. license as their springboard to more international recognition.
“The acquisition of the S.T.AL.K.E.R. license serves as an important cornerstone for the further international orientation of bitComposer Entertainment,” said Stefan Weyl, who is a member of the company’s executive board. “For us, this brand represents a bridge to an important segment of triple-A products and a milestone in the history of the company.”
Former publisher GSC Game World was working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 before their closure in April.
Posted in News
XBLA Today: Black Knight Sword, American Mensa Academy
We’ve got two new additions to the Xbox Live Arcade today. First up is the Suda 51-produced platformer, Black Knight Sword:
From the twisted and brilliant mind of Suda 51 comes Black Knight Sword, a platforming adventure with an unprecedented visual style. In this fresh take on the classic fairy tale, The Black Knight treks through a dark and mysterious world filled with whimsical creatures to kill the dark princess and ending her reign of terror. A throwback to classic platformers, Black Knight Sword evokes simple yet addictive and challenging gameplay with an overall aesthetic unlike anything released to date.
Also available this week is the braining training game American Mensa Academy:
Get ready to stretch your grey matter as you put yourself through more than 100 interesting and challenging puzzles designed to stretch and train your brain in key areas including logic, language, visual and more. Mensa Academy is the only brain training game backed by Mensa, the high IQ society, so for the first time you’ll be able to put all that practice into action by taking on real Mensa-style questions, like the ones you see in the Mensa IQ tests. What will your Mensa Academy score be?
Both games have been priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10) apiece.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Black Knight Sword
Diablo III is “up and running” on consoles; still no official announcement
Oh Blizzard, you’re such a tease!
Speaking to Polygon, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has confirmed that the developer has a version of Diablo III “up and running” on console hardware. But, he reiterated, the company is still not ready to officially announce it.
“We’re still kind of exploring it,” said Pardo. “We’ve got builds up and running on it. We’re hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we’re not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it’s looking pretty cool.”
I realize Blizzard wants to ensure a console version of Diablo III can live up to its PC predecessor before they officially announce it or post screenshots or give it a release date, but come on, this is getting ridiculous.
Rumor: PS4 codenamed Thebes, set to launch in Spring 2014
I was just thinking that it’s been awhile since we’ve heard some PlayStation 4 rumors.
The latest news to come out of Sony via inside sources says that the PS4 has been codenamed “Thebes” (and not “Orbis,” like previously assumed). Production hasn’t begun on the system’s innards just yet, so this rumor posits that the PS4 will be available in Spring 2014 at the earliest. And if that doesn’t happen, the next-most-likely release date is listed as Fall 2014.
So much for Sony swearing they wouldn’t be last this generation, huh?
[Source: SemiAccurate]
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Black Knight Sword, more added to PS Store
“The Trilogy” is complete, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now available to download from the PlayStation Store in “PS2 Classics” form.
Joining the open world classic in this week’s update are Black Knight Sword (a platformer from Suda 51), Judge Dee: The City God Case (a hidden object game), Mix Superstar (a music mixer), and Ben 10 Omniverse (which is based on the popular Cartoon Network cartoon).
Finally this week we have Big Sky Infinity, a twin-stick shooter for the PSN/Vita that features randomly generated stages that change based on your skill level. Also, it’s a Cross-Buy title, so if you buy it for one platform, you get it on the other for free.
Hit the jump for a closer look at all of these games and hit up the PlayStation Blog for a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Black Knight Sword, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The Last of Us multiplayer mode, pre-order bonuses announced
If you watched the 2012 Spike TV Video Game Awards, you know that Sony has given Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us a May 7, 2013 release date. But did you also know it’ll include a multiplayer mode?
Naughty Dog has been dropping hints about a multiplayer mode for awhile now, but now it’s finally a sure thing. The news comes via the announcement of a pre-order bonus pack for the game offered through GameStop. Players who secure their copy of The Last of Us early will receive access to the Survival Pack, which will include the following multiplayer-specific swag…
- Bonus Experience Points
- Multiplayer Melee Attack Booster
- Extra In-Game Currency
- Special Customizable Character Items
- Special Bonus Skins for Joel and Ellie (Unlocked Once Single-Player Campaign is Completed)
If you prefer to buy your games elsewhere, other retailers will be offering the Sights & Sounds Pack as a pre-order bonus. It’ll contain a downloadable soundtrack, a PS3 Dynamic Theme, and two PSN Avatars (Winter Joel and Winter Ellie).
More details on The Last of Us’s multiplayer mode will be revealed soon and don’t forget to watch the Spike TV VGA trailer again.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged The Last of Us
Industrial Toys set to launch their iOS FPS Morning Star in Spring 2013
Mobile developer Industrial Toys, which was co-founded by Halo Executive Producer Alex Seropian, has announced their “ambitious” first title, Morning Star.
In Morning Star, players will take on the role of a soldier aboard the Joplin, a research ship that has just received the first confirmed communication from an alien civilization. After exploring a strange alien artifact, these aliens transport the Joplin across space “to take part in an epic war that is not their own.”
Industrial Toys has recruited science fiction author John Scalzi to write Morning Star’s story and they’re striving to create a unique Unreal Engine-powered first person shooter experience on the iOS. To that end, they’ve removed the standard “virtual stick” control scheme for something specifically built for a mobile platform from the ground up.
“With Morning Star, we’re looking to change expectations for what kind of experience core gamers get from their mobile devices,” said Seropian. “We’re breaking new ground on everything from the visuals to the story to the ongoing support we’ll provide in the way of content, events and player involvement. It’s gonna be nuts.”
Morning Star is currently scheduled for a Spring 2013 release.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Morning Star