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
THQ cancels Del Toro’s Insane; director retains IP rights
THQ President Jason Rubin just announced that the company has canceled Insane, the first game in a planned trilogy from director Guillermo Del Toro and developer Volition. “We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo Del Toro,” Rubin said.
Insane was first announced during the 2010 Spike TV Video Game Awards, so the game was in development for at least two years before getting the axe. With Del Toro retaining the IP rights to the game, he would legally be able to take the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 title to other publishers if he wanted to. However, it’s likely that Volition’s contirbution to the project would stay with the publisher.
THQ never talked about Insane much after that day, but Del Toro described it as a “Lovecraftian Thing” to the MTV Multiplayer Blog before the announcement.
[Source: Joystiq]
Rise of the Triad reboot will be cheap, have free DLC, and may come to consoles
Apogee Software has been tinkering with the idea of a Rise of the Triad reboot for years and we finally got our first look at it during last weekend’s QuakeCon. If you were a teenager in 1995, this is quite possibly the best news ever. Some would even say that it’s ludicrously good news.
More good news emerged from the show floor when Apogee announced that the Rise of the Triad reboot would be priced at $14.99. Developer Interceptor Entertainment is also working on a ton of additional downloadable content for the game (including an expansion based on Rise of the Triad: The Hunt Begins) that they plan to give away for free.
Finally, Apogee and Interceptor haven’t ruled out a console port, so PS3 and Xbox 360 owners may get their hands on ROTT someday.
[Source: Destructoid]
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Rise of the Triad
Sony to release God of War Saga, InFamous Collection on August 28
It looks like the Ratchet & Clank Collection won’t be the only compilation of classic titles Sony has planned for an August 28 release. The publisher has just announced plans to package together an InFamous Collection and the God of War Saga on that day as well. Both Collections will be available for a super-low price of $29.99 each.
The InFamous Collection will include both games in the series, InFamous and InFamous 2, as well as InFamous: Festival of Blood, a formerly PSN-exclusive title. In addition to the games, “additional character costumes, power ups and weapon styles” and “extra missions” will be included in the compilation.
The God of War Saga will include five games: God of War, God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. This package will also include “exclusive bonus content.”
Finally, Sony revealed that more Collections will be released this Fall.
Way of the Samurai 4 coming to PSN on August 21
XSEED Games has announced that Way of the Samurai 4 will be available on the PlayStation Store in all of its nut-punching glory on August 21. The download-only title will be priced at $39.99 and, according to XSEED, will include branching storylines and multiple endings.
It will also include the weirdness that the Way of the Samurai series is known for, as the game’s tagline makes clear: “Be the hero Amihama deserves… or just run around like a maniac.”
Yeah, our unnamed hero obviously ain’t Batman. Though he does carry a bunch of wonderful toys…
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Way of the Samurai 4
Weekly Warp-Up: Look to the Future 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…
It’s our monthly calendar turn here at Warp Zoned as we push out the latest edition of Warpback, or What We Played in July 2012, and our look at next month’s biggest games in The Games of August 2012.
Looking out even further into the future, we got a peek at four games that’ll be part of this Fall’s Wii U launch lineup. I don’t know why most of these games skipped E3, but you’ll be able to play them on your brand new Wii U this November (or whenever the sytem launches): Family Party 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade, FIFA Soccer 13, Madden NFL 13, and Mass Effect 3
Finally, we went really far into the future and came back with the Premiere Edition of Kickstart This!, our semi-regular look at the best the crowdfunding platform has to offer.
Want more news from the future… buy a crystal ball! Or you could just hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)
Posted in News
John Carmack: “Doom 4 will be done when it’s done”
John Carmack, id Software’s founder and chief Technical Director, told the assembled masses at this weekend’s QuakeCon that Doom 4 “will be done when it’s done.”
The existence of Doom 4 was confirmed back in 2008 and this vague progress report is nothing new. At one point, parent company Bethesda Softworks even denied the game was ever officially announced.
Work on the title appears to be well underway now though, with Carmack stating that id’s entire mobile team has been tasked with completing Doom 3: BFG Edition. After that game’s October launch, the entire company’s resources will be devoted to the development of Doom 4. Unfortunately, a side effect of these redoubled efforts towards Doom 4’s development will result in the end of mobile game development at id.
However, Carmack also reassured fans that the company will move back into mobile development “at the appropriate time.”
[Source: Game Informer, Polygon]
New Releases: Persona 4 Arena
After a veritable bounty last week, this week the new release calendar is limited to a single new game.
That game is Atlus’ Persona 4: Arena, a 2D fighter based on the popular PS2 RPG. It was developed by Arc System Works and it’s available on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
If a Persona 4 fighter doesn’t thrill you, there’s always this week’s downloadable content (including Sony’s Sound Shapes and Microsoft’s Hybrid) to look forward to.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Persona 4: Arena
The Force is with the Dishonored voice cast
When it comes to compiling top flight vocal talent to portray the characters in their games, Bethesda is second-to-none. The publisher has previously tapped Oscar nominees (Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow, Joan Allen), nerd favorites (Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Ron Perlman), and a Jedi Knight (Liam Neeson) to bring their past games to life.
With Dishonored, they may have outdone themselves. Look at the cast they’ve assembled for their supernatural first person shooter:
- Carrie Fisher as an unnamed voice broadcasting government propaganda over loudspeakers throughout the city of Dunwall.
- Susan Sarandon as Granny Rags, an intriguing old blind woman now deranged after years of street life.
- Brad Dourif as Piero, creator of the iconic mask worn by Corvo as well as a wealth of gadgets Corvo can use.
- John Slattery as Admiral Havelock, a Loyalist who helps Corvo on his quest.
- Michael Madsen as Daud, a mysterious assassin.
- Chloe Grace Moretz as Young Lady Emily, the Empress’ daughter who is kidnapped after her mother’s death.
- Lena Headey as Calista, Emily’s caretaker.
So let’s recap. Dishonored’s voice cast includes Princess Leia, Annie from Bull Durham, Chucky from the Child’s Play series, the guy from Mad Men, Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs, Hit Girl from Kick-Ass, and one of the stars of Game of Thrones. Wow.
Dishonored will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 9.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dishonored