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
CoD Black Ops Declassified, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, more added to PS Store
Yesterday was Tuesday, and as always, Sony has posted this week’s update to the PlayStation Store for your shopping pleasure. Here’s what PS3 and Vita players can look forward to this week:
The Vita-exclusive Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified leads this week’s new releases. Activision’s portable military shooter is joined by Colors!, a new painting app for your Vita.
There are two new additions to the PS3 side of things: Namco Bandai’s Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and an ala carte version of SingStar. Players who want to brush up on their karaoke skills can download the free SingStar client (which includes several demo songs) and then fill their hard drives with only the songs they want.
Finally, a pair of PSN titles round out this week’s batch of new releases. Wicked Monster Blast! HD is a shooting gallery for your PlayStation Move controller (though it also works with a DualShock 3) and Planets Under Attack is a strategy game that features intergalactic warfare. Take that, Call of Duty!
More details on all of this week’s new releases can be found after the break and a complete list of the latest game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Sleeping Dogs gets second expansion this holiday season
Square Enix has announced that “Zodiac Tournament,” the second Sleeping Dogs expansion pack, will be available before the end of the year.
The titular tournament revolves around a fight club operating on a secret island off the coast of Hong Kong. Naturally, Wei Shen is pulled into the tournament and must fight for his life against the best-of-the-best of this blood sport.
Square Enix has a full slate of Sleeping Dogs DLC scheduled for the coming weeks, including plans to make the pre-order bonus content available to all on November 14 (as the “Dragon Master Pack”), as well as new costumes and fight styles.
Read all about them after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Sleeping Dogs
PlayStation Plus comes to Vita on November 19 with 2.00 system update
Vita owners will finally get the chance to make use of Sony’s PlayStation Plus program on November 19. The premium service will be expanded to include the handheld as part of the Vita’s next system update (2.00).
As previously announced, the popular “Instant Game Collection” will come to the Vita in a big way with six games available for download in the first month. The initial “Instant Game Collection” includes Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Jet Set Radio HD, Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush, and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!, as well as the PSP title Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.
Even with the inclusion of Vita games to the “Instant Game Collection,” a PlayStation Plus subscription remains $17.99 for the three-month plan and $49.99 for a year.
Besides the addition of PlayStation Plus, additional functionality will be added to the Vita in the 2.00 update:
- Email: Check read and send email directly from PS Vita
- Content Management: Wirelessly transfer content between PS Vita and PC in addition to browsing folders on PS3/PC and copying them to PS Vita
- PSone Classics: Now assign controller buttons to touchscreen, rear touch pad and buttons with select games on the PS Vita system
- PSone Classics: Custom screen mode option for flexible screen size adjustment
- Web Browser: Enhanced performance of the web browser along with improved support of HTML 5 and JavaScript
- Web Browser: Ability to “Tweet” web page addresses
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Gravity Rush, Jet Set Radio, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, WipEout 2048
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm to be released on March 12; Collector’s Edition announced
A few days after confirming that StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm wouldn’t be released in 2012, Blizzard has announced that the expansion will make its way into stores on March 12, 2013.
As is customary with Blizzard releases, Heart of the Swarm will be available in three different packages next year. The standard edition will be priced at $39.99, the Digital Deluxe version will carry a $20 premium at $59.99, and the Collector’s Edition will be the most expensive at $79.99. Starting today, players can pre-order the game now from StarCraft2.com as either a DVD-ROM or a digital download.
Hit the jump for a sneak peek at the contents of the game’s Digital Deluxe version and Collector’s Edition. (more…)
Posted in News, PC
Tagged StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
DMC: Devil May Cry getting Vergil-focused DLC chapter
DMC: Devil May Cry, Ninja Theory’s reboot of the Devil May Cry franchise, is still on track for a January 15, 2013 release on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Today, Capcom announced that players who pre-order the game from GameStop (USA) or EB Games (Canada) will be able to download an additional bonus chapter, featuring Dante’s brother Vergil, for free.
“Vergil’s Downfall” will be available shortly after the game’s release and will contain “hours of new gameplay, new enemies, and weapons and combos that are unique to Vergil.”
If you’d prefer not to pre-order the game but still want to slice and dice demons as Vergil, you’ll be able to. “Vergil’s Downfall” will be offered as a separate download for $8.99 (720 Microsoft Points).
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged DMC: Devil May Cry
Black Friday Game Deals 2012: Target
It’s time to start planning your holiday shopping strategy as all the major retailers have begun to release their Black Friday ads.
Target will open its doors on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, at 9 PM. Once inside, you’ll be treated to discounts on every console and handheld that’s not named the Wii U (I expect these discounts to be pop up at a lot of stores) as well as free gift cards with the purchase of Assassin’s Creed III, Halo 4, and Forza Horizon.
Target’s ad only listed a portion of the games they’ll have on sale as the retailer promised “more titles” would be discounted to $10, $15, $25, or $35 in addition to the ones shown.
But hit the break for a complete list of all the games we know for sure will be on sale on Black Friday. (more…)
Weekly Warp-Up: Pinballing Through the Week
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…
We sat down with Rob Mann, the Community Manager at FarSight Studios, this week and got him to open up about the company’s multiplatform hit, The Pinball Arcade.
The golden age of pinball might be over, but that hasn’t stopped FarSight from creating epic simulations of some of the greatest tables ever built. Mann talked about the company’s next DLC pack (which includes a table based on Star Trek: The Next Generation) as well as troubles with the 3DS version and a progress report on the Wii U version. If you love pinball, this interview is for you.
Hit the break for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up, which is pinball free. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: CoD Black Ops II, Lego Lord of the Rings, Paper Mario Sticker Star, More
It’s the second week of November and that means that Activision is finally ready to release Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. A Vita-exclusive spinoff, Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified, will also be available in stores this week.
If the future warfare of the biggest first person shooter series on the planet doesn’t sway you, there are plenty of other family-friendly options this week including Lego Lord of the Rings (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS), Scribblenauts Unlimited (3DS), and Wonderbook: Book of Spells (PS3).
And if you’re looking for something as far removed from Call of Duty as possible, might I suggest the Midway Arcade Origins compilation for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It contains over 30 games, including classics such as Rampage, Joust, and Smash TV, which was cruelly pulled from the Xbox Live Arcade a few years back and is now available on HD systems once again.
Even more new releases can be found after the break. (more…)