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
Splash Damage reveals Dirty Bomb, their new free-to-play shooter
Splash Damage, the team behind Brink and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, has pulled the curtain back on their next project. And you’ll never believe it, but it’s a multiplayer shooter.
Dirty Bomb is a PC-exclusive free-to-play shooter that looks to take place in the same kind of “modern combat” scenario that fuels games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Battlefield 3. Dirty Bomb will be published by Splash Damage’s publishing label, Warchest, and you can pre-register your username at Warchest’s official site now.
GameFly publishes their first game: iOS puzzler Writer Rumble
GameFly, gaming’s biggest rent-by-mail company, has announced the release of their first self-published game today. Writer Rumble was published by the recently formed GameFly Games and is now available on the iTunes App Stores for $0.99.
Writer Rumble combines two wonderful things: The gameplay from Boggle and literary legends like Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, the Brothers Grimm, Jane Austen, and Homer. Each literary legend has an arsenal of special moves that change the board as they battle monsters (in a Survival Mode) and each other (in a local/online multiplayer mode). If you’re playing Writer Rumble on an iPad, you can also fire up some splitscreen multiplayer play.
“We are thrilled to have an addictively fun, quality-driven game such as Writer Rumble as our first foray into publishing under the new GameFly Games label,” said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. “Mobile gaming is an ever growing part of the gaming experience, and publishing high quality games is an important part of our digital strategy at GameFly.”
An Android version will be available in early 2013 and a variety of downloadable content packs will also be released throughout next year.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Writer Rumble
Nintendo Download: Aero Porter, Pac-Man, more
It’s Thursday, so welcome to your weekly dose of Nintendo Downloads. This week we’ve got another Level-5 collaboration for the 3DS, Aero Porter, yet another re-release of Pac-Man, and a pair of DSiWare titles.
More details? Why yes, we have them:
3DS eShop
Aero Porter – Level-5 and Yoot Saito team up to bring you Aero Porter, an airport simulation and puzzle game that will have you sorting luggage, expanding your airport’s operations and avoiding security mishaps. It’s your job to put your airport on the map and help it grow from a sleepy regional terminal to a bustling international hub.
Pac-Man – Control iconic character Pac-Man as you navigate through mazes, eating Pac-Dots and simultaneously avoiding devious ghosts. Warp from one edge of the maze to the other using tunnels, or eat a Power Pellet to turn the tables and make the ghosts vulnerable. Earn extra points to achieve the high score and see how far you can get before losing all your lives.
DSiWare
Invasion of the Alien Blobs! – A mysterious alien life form has appeared from outer space and is raging war against humanity. Use your stylus to take a stand against the invasion by squashing the alien blobs one at a time. With just 10 seconds to deal with each attack wave, you have no time for sightseeing as you travel the globe to fight off the blobs.
Bloons TD 4 – The monkeys are ready to take down the enemy from land, air and sea in this classic tower defense game. Using a ranking system, you can build up your experience and gain access to powerful towers and upgrades like mortar strikes and banana farms. Can you battle through all 75 rounds to earn the gold medal?
Posted in 3DS, DS, News
Tagged Aero Porter
Nintendo announces 3DS XL Mario Kart 7 bundle
Shoppers looking for a 3DS XL this holiday season will have another option beginning December 2 as Nintendo has announced the handheld will also be offered as a special Mario Kart 7 bundle.
The Blue/Black 3DS XL will retail for $199.99 and come with a copy of Mario Kart 7 pre-installed on the system. The basic 3DS XL pack also retails for $199.99, so you’re essentially getting Mario Kart 7 for free.
As long as you don’t get Blue Shelled when you’re first in the checkout line.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Mario Kart 7
Check out the first Etrian Odyssey IV trailer
Atlus has released the first trailer for Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan, which will be available for the 3DS on February 26, 2013.
Here’s what you can expect from the first game in the series to appear on the 3DS:
For centuries, the tree Yggdrasil has been a constant presence in the lives of the people of Tharsis. It looms on the horizon, visible from everywhere in the city. But its roots are in a far-off land where no one has ventured until the Outland Count of Tharsis sponsors an Explorers Guild to reach Yggdrasil and discover its secrets. You are the latest explorer arriving in Tharsis to seek your fame and fortune. Board your skyship and set out into the clouds in search of treasure, glory, and the answer to Tharsis’ oldest mystery.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Etrian Odyssey IV
Deathstroke brings his skills to Injustice: Gods Among Us
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios have been pretty quiet when it comes to Injustice: Gods Among Us over the last few months. Today, the publisher and developer confirmed that DC’s Deathstroke will make an appearance in the game.
Deathstroke is an assassin who is best known as an enemy of the Teen Titans. He’s also no stranger to the fighting game arena as he appeared in 2008’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in April 2013.
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Injustice: Gods Among Us
XBLA Today: Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Fighter 2
It’s Sega fighting game day on the Xbox Live Arcade as three titles from the publisher’s internal AM2 studio have been added to the download service. They’re available for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) each and are sure to bring back some 90s nostalgia.
First up is Fighting Vipers (which had some of the best commercials ever):
Fight with flair in the return of Fighting Vipers, the classic arcade game from AM2 that was later playable on the Sega Saturn. Choose one of nine zany characters–including Grace the roller blader and Raxel the metal guitarist– and break your opponent’s costume-based armor to maximize damage. Take advantage of all-new online modes to battle friends across the world.
Then there’s Sonic the Fighters (possibly the first mascot fighter ever):
Join Sonic and friends in battle in this classic arcade game from AM2. Originally on consoles as part of the Sonic Gems collection, Sonic the Fighters is back with an all-new online mode, including both online versus and tournament play. In single player mode, choose from 10 playable characters and fight through 8 stages to stop Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic from unleashing the Death Egg II!
And finally we’ve got the classic Virtua Fighter 2:
Go back to the roots of 3D fighting with Virtua Fighter 2, the second title in AM2’s flagship fighting franchise. Experience the legendary polygon-based 3D graphics and fluid fighting mechanics that made the game so influential in the arcades, and later on the Sega Saturn. With all-new online play you can battle friends throughout the world.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Fighter 2
Bungie’s Destiny: More details, first concept art revealed
Poor Bungie, they just can’t keep the details about their upcoming Destiny project from spilling out. Maybe they need to make a trip down the road to Nintendo HQ and learn all about the secret to keeping secrets.
Anyway, IGN has obtained a document relating to Destiny that was prepared by an advertising agency for Bungie. After studying the document, IGN discovered that it contained a host of concept art (which can be found on their site) as well as the first story details about the game:
Our story begins seven hundred years from now in the Last City on Earth, in a Solar System littered with the ruins of man’s Golden Age. A massive, mysterious alien ship hangs overhead like a second Moon. No one knows where it came from or what it’s here for, but only that it’s our protector. Meanwhile, strange, alien monsters creep in from the edge of the universe, determined to take Earth and the Last City. We are young ‘knights’ tasked with defending the remains of humanity, discovering the source of these monsters and – eventually – overcoming it.
Fighting back frustration, Bungie released the first official piece of concept art for Destiny on their website. You can see the image above and, maybe it’s just me, but I definitely get a gritty Battle of Hoth-vibe from the image.
Destiny is still on track for a Fall 2013 release on the Xbox 360 (and likely the PS3).