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
Weekly Warp-Up: Rewarding Edition
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…
After months of promises, Microsoft finally launched the Xbox Live Rewards “MyAchievements” program. By reaching one of the three Gamerscore tiers, Rewards members can become eligible to receive a special Birthday Gift (hilariously valued at $0.25 by Microsoft) and a one or two percent rebate on all Xbox Live Marketplace purchases.
For the record, one percent of your average Xbox Live Arcade game is 15 cents. So OK, it’s not a great rewards program, but it’s something. And it’s more or less the biggest news story of the week. To read about more of this week’s major news stories, hit the jump. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Resident Evil 6, NBA 2K13, Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection, More
The frightful month of October kicks off with the release of Resident Evil 6 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you’d prefer a more complete Resident Evil experience, Capcom is also releasing Resident Evil 6 Archives for the Xbox 360 (which includes Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD, Resident Evil 4 HD, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, and Resident Evil: Degeneration on DVD) as well as the Resident Evil 6 Anthology on the PS3 (which includes Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil 4 HD).
The scariness continues (OK, not really) with NBA 2K13, which will be available for the PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360.
A quartet of Nintendo-published handheld games will also make their way into stores this week. But because Amazon and Nintendo are having some kind of spat, it’s easy to overlook them. There’s Pokemon Black 2/Pokemon White 2 for the DS and Crosswords Plus and Art Academy: Lessons For Everyone! for the 3DS.
Finally, EA has collected 17 classic strategy games and bundled them together as Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection , exclusively for the PC.
A huge number of new downloadable games will also be available this week. Check back soon for more details on all of those titles.
Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable will invade America in 2013
The bugs are back! D3 Publisher has announced they’ll be bringing Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable to North America in early 2013.
Originally released in 2007 exclusively for the Xbox 360, Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable will add plenty of bonus features to the five-year-old game. Some of the additions D3 is planning include four-player online multiplayer, new missions, and a new playable character named Pale Wing (he has a jetpack and he’s not afraid to use it).
EDF! EDF! EDF!
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Earth Defense Force 2017
Earn Achievements, qualify for XBLM discounts with Xbox Live Rewards
Back in June, Microsoft promised that Xbox Live Rewards members would soon be able to trade in their Achievements for prizes of some kind. As of today, “soon” is now.
Xbox 360 owners can head over to rewards.xbox.com and track your progress in the new “MyAcheivements” section. By earning Achievements, Rewards members will be able to unlock a special birthday present and rebates on Xbox Live Marketplace purchases.
Is your Gamerscore up to snuff? Here’s how many Achievements you’ll need to unlock to earn your birthday present and rebates:
Contender (G3000 – G9999): A Special Gift during your birthday month
Champion (G10000 – G24999): A Special Gift during your birthday month & 1% Rebate on your Xbox Live Marketplace purchases every month.
Legend (G25000+): A Special Gift during your birthday month & 2% Rebate on your Xbox Live Marketplace purchases every month.
EA cancels NBA Live 13, promises new NBA title next year
In 2010, just days before it was scheduled to ship to stores, EA Sports canceled NBA Elite 11. The sports game publisher took 2011 off and moved development of NBA Live 13 to EA Tiburon in Florida in hopes of resurrecting the famed franchise. But history has a way of repeating…
EA Sports Executive Vice President, Andrew Wilson, confirmed the cancellation of NBA Live 13 on the game’s official website today. In the process, he also promised that a new NBA simulation would be released by EA Sports next year:
When we started the process of bringing back NBA Live, we knew it was going to be a long journey. We started by moving the game to a new studio. We brought in some of the best new technology that has helped fuel innovation in our other games. We launched an even deeper level of engagement with our community to gather more feedback directly from fans. And we built a whole new development team to bring it all to life. We felt like we were on the right path.
But making great games is not easy, and we’re just not there yet on NBA Live 13. Having continued to look at the game over the past few days, it’s clear that we won’t be ready in October. And rather than launch midway through the season, we’re going to sit out the full year and stay focused on making next year’s game great.
NBA Live’s only rival in the basketball video game scene, NBA 2K13, will be released as scheduled on October 2.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged NBA Live 13, NBA Live 14
Bethesda releases animated prequel series for Dishonored
Bethesda’s Dishonored is one of the few non-sequels scheduled for release this Fall. As such, the publisher has been attempting to introduce gamers to the world of Dunwall with a series of developer diaries and plenty of trailers showcasing the steampunkish setting.
This week, they’ve gone a step further with the release of “The Tales From Dunwall,” a three-part series of animated shorts narrated by Chloe Grace Moretz (Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass) and scored by Dexter‘s Daniel Licht.
Hit the jump to view all three vignettes and prepare yourself for Dishonored’s PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 release on October 9. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dishonored
Mass Effect Trilogy coming to PC, Xbox 360 in November; PS3 release coming later
By now, you’ve probably heard a lot of people call the Mass Effect franchise the “Star Wars Trilogy of Video Games.” But are you one of the many who has bypassed the series up to this point? If so, does EA have a deal for you.
The publisher has announced they’ll be packaging together the three games of the series as the Mass Effect Trilogy on November 6. Initially available only on the PC and Xbox 360, a PS3 version will be available “at a later date.” The first game in the series was never released on the PS3, so this Trilogy re-release means Mass Effect will finally make its way to Sony’s system. A separate PSN download of the game will also be available on this “later date.”
The Mass Effect Trilogy will be available for $59.99 and should be great preparation for EA’s first annual “N7 Day,” a November 7 celebration of all things Mass Effect.
Hopefully We’ll find out exactly what happens on “N7 Day” soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3
Nintendo Download: Denpa Men, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, more
It’s Thursday, so it must be time for your weekly Nintendo Download. Here’s a quick rundown of the games The Big N has made available to buy this week…
The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave (3DS eShop) – Mysterious little creatures called “Denpa” Men float around near radio waves. You can’t see them normally, but you can find them and catch them in this dungeon RPG.
Hitori by Nikoli (3DS eShop) – “Hitori by Nikoli” contains 50 sudoku puzzles. “Hitori” is a puzzle in which you fill in any unnecessary numbers, making sure that the same number doesn’t appear twice in the same line.
Quarth (3DS eShop) – Originally released in 1990, Quarth is a blockbuster puzzle challenge that’s guaranteed to knock your socks off. Race back and forth in your powerful Block-buster ship and destroy the blocks before they blow you up.
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers (Wii Virtual Console) – First released in 1998, this game is the seventh installment in the Fatal Fury franchise. Based on the same game mechanics as previous installments, it boasts new features and an evolved version of the two-line battle.
Kart Krashers (DSiWare) – Kart Krashers is a single player game where the player drives their kart through an exciting 10 stage circuit that spans the globe, and beyond!