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
Own a piece of 38 Studios/Big Huge Games this Tuesday
In an effort to pay back the state of Rhode Island for their lost investment, the assets of bankrupt developer Big Huge Games will be sold off at auction this Tuesday, October 16.
The auction (which is being held at BidSpotter) begins at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time) and includes everything you’d need to launch a game development company from several baskets of pens (lots 11, 12, and 13) to multiple Dell workstations (lots 350-480) to the break room Dreamcast (lot 172). The complete list of items for sale also includes several pieces of memorabilia stemming from the creation of the developer’s final game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
The Maryland-based Big Huge Games was a subsidiary of 38 Studios, which was hard at work on an Amalur MMO at their Rhode Island headquarters at the time of its bankruptcy. The contents of the Rhode Island office will be auctioned off on Tuesday, October 23 at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time). The auction catalog has yet to be posted, but it’s unlikely to include Curt Schilling’s “Bloody Sock.”
Posted in News
Guillermo Del Toro is looking for a new developer for Insane
When THQ gave the publishing rights to Insane back to Guillermo Del Toro, I (and many others) assumed that that was the end of it. But apparently the director is not giving up his game development dreams so easily.
“When something doesn’t happen in one way, I just continue pursuing it in another way. I own the property and I control it. I’m not giving up on Insane,” Del Toro said. See? Told ya.
When asked what his ideal destination for Insane was, Del Toro quickly replied “Valve.” Never stop believing Mr. Del Toro.
[Source: GameSpot]
XBLA Today: Happy Wars
It took a little longer than expected (a glitch kept the game invisible most of the day), but Happy Wars has finally been added to the Xbox Live Arcade today. The Xbox 360’s first free-to-play game is now available to download for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers (so it’s not technically free). Pitting teams of 15 happy little characters against each another, Happy Wars looks to be the cutest melee ever.
To celebrate the release of the game, Microsoft has slashed the price of all items in the Item Shop by 20%. So if you plan on dropping a few coins on customizable outfits or weaponry, doing it before October 15 will keep a few of those coins in your pocket. Of course, new outfits can also be unlocked in-game for those that prefer to keep the “free” in their free-to-play game.
Hope to see you on the battlefield this weekend:
Happy Wars is a multiplayer action game that pits different comic-style characters against each other in over-the-top combat arenas. Taking place in a variety of fantasy battlefields including grasslands, a dark world, and the ocean floor, players can control any of 3 types of characters: warrior, mage, and cleric.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Happy Wars
Mass Effect 3: Omega single-player expansion available November 27
BioWare is at it again, announcing even more downloadable content for Mass Effect 3 at today’s New York Comic-Con.
“Omega” will be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 27 and it promises to be the biggest Mass Effect expansion ever. The single-player content has been priced at $14.99/1200 Microsoft Points and is said to be “double the size” of the previous single-player pack, “Leviathan.”
In the expansion, players will join up with former Omega ruler Aria T’loak in a mission that will ask players to storm the station and take it back from Cerberus.
[Source: Eurogamer]
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mass Effect 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be coming at you in 3D this November
Activision and has announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops II will launch with 3D display support this November on the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.
The publisher has also teamed up with LG to give gamers a discount on Black Ops II if they purchase an LG Cinema 3D TV and a copy of the game between November 13 and November 21. To further sway you, an exclusive 3D trailer for the game is now available for viewing at your local Best Buy.
“As game developers and storytellers, we want to take advantage of every opportunity to immerse players in the Call of Duty: Black Ops II experience and LG’s 3D technology helps to do just that,” said Mark Lamia, studio head of developer Treyarch. “We are thrilled to team up with LG, which shares this same passion to bring gamers to the edge of their seats with realistic visuals and heart-pounding gameplay. And with LG Dual Play, for the first time ever, two players can each have their own full-screen experience while playing Multiplayer or Zombies split-screen.”
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn – Part 2 is now available
It’s Friday morning, so here’s the second episode of Microsoft’s Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn webseries. In this episode…
Cadet Michael “Sully” Sullivan continues to decode the hidden ONI combat video as Lasky’s struggle with his place in the UNSC ignites with fellow cadet Walter Vickers. After a classroom confrontation with Captain Mehaffey and a challenge from Chyler, Lasky pulls Hastati Squad back from the brink…at a terrible physical cost to himself.
Don’t forget to check back next Friday for part three!
Posted in Etcetera, News, Xbox 360
Tagged Halo 4, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
Madden NFL 13, Borderlands 2 lead all September bestsellers
Boom! The annual juggernaut that is the Madden NFL Football has once again taken the top spot for September sales as Madden NFL 13 reigned supreme last month.
Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 followed close behind with strong sales of its own. In fact, they were so strong that the sequel managed to top the first month sales of the original Borderlands by 234%. That is just an insane number.
New releases controlled much of the top ten with FIFA Soccer 13 (#3), Guild Wars 2 (#5), NHL 13 (#6), and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (#7) also performing well.
The full top ten for September 2012 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2, FIFA Soccer 13, Guild Wars 2, Lego Batman 2, Madden NFL 13, NCAA Football 13, New Super Mario Bros. 2, NHL 13, NPD, World of Warcraft
Bridgestone claims that “Kevin Butler” never appeared in their commercial
The “Kevin Butler” lawsuit saga just gets stranger and stranger. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, a representative from Bridgestone has pointed out that actor Jerry Lambert didn’t have any lines in the commercial he appeared in, so he couldn’t have been portraying “Kevin Butler.”
“Mr. Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer. Bridgestone denies that ‘Kevin Butler’ appears in the Bridgestone commercial discussed herein and thus denies that he speaks or does anything whatsoever in the commercial.”
Sony is suing Bridgestone and Lambert’s company, Wildcat Creek, for trademark infringement over their use of the “Kevin Butler” character in a commercial for a “Buy Four Tires, Receive a Wii” promotion. Bridgestone counters with the assertion that Sony never actually registered a trademark for the “Kevin Butler” character and that viewers understand that the people in commercials are actors.
Bridgestone makes a compelling case, but I’ll bet that someone, somewhere, believes “Kevin Butler” is a real person.