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
Mass Effect 3 confirmed as a Wii U launch title
It’s starting to look like Electronic Arts has decided to fill out the Wii U launch lineup by themselves as the company confirmed yesterday that Mass Effect 3 will also be available on day one. It joins FIFA Soccer 13 and Madden NFL 13 as confirmed launch titles from EA.
The Wii U version of the game will include at least some of the downloadable content already released for the PC/PS3/Xbox 360 version of the game including the new Extended Cut ending. Players will also be able to give the multiplayer mode a spin and import plot decisions from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 thanks to the (now expanded) “Mass Effect: Genesis” interactive comic.
[Source: Game Informer]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Mass Effect 3
Unreal Engine 3-powered Rise of the Triad reboot in development
The ludicrous gibs are back! Apogee Software used the opening day of QuakeCon 2012 to announce the long-long-awaited return of Rise of the Triad.
Rebuilt from the ground up by Interceptor Entertainment using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, the new Rise of the Triad will bring back everything that made the cult shooter so memorable. This includes all of the great weaponry (the Flamewall, Split Missile, Drunk Missile and, the Excalibat), the jump plates, the spinning blades of death, the cowering Nazi stand-ins, and all the fantastic modes (God Mode, Dog Mode, Elasto Mode, Mercury Mode, and Shrooms Mode). Players will also have the option to use a reworked soundtrack or the original 90s era music and sound effects.
The Rise of the Triad reboot will be available to download through Steam by the end of the year complete with a 20-level single-player mode and classic multiplayer maps.
Gibs!
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Rise of the Triad
Madden NFL 13 announced for Wii U
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s FIFA Soccer 13 announcement comes the news that EA Sports will also be bringing Madden NFL 13 to the launch of the Wii U.
As you might have expected, Madden NFL 13 for the Wii U will make extensive use of the Wii U GamePad for play calling and audibles. Players will be able to sort through their entire playbook from the touchscreen while also being able to make changes on the fly.
Those changes include quick access to audibles through the touchscreen as well as customizable hot routes for receivers. If the players on the field aren’t to your liking, the touchscreen will also include the option to switch out personnel (on the Personnel screen, naturally) with the swipe of a finger.
The defense will also have access to on-the-fly play customizations with the touchscreen including repositioning players and assigning a player as the one to control.
Madden NFL 13 will be available for the Wii U at launch, whenever that is.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Madden NFL 13
Nintendo Download: Super Mario Land discount, Lost Town, more
Now that’s Nintendo’s 8-Bit Summer is over, this week’s Nintendo Download is considerably less exciting than it’s been over the last month.
The highlight of the week is a “Month of Mario” discount on the plumber’s first Game Boy adventure, Super Mario Land. Today through Wednesday, August 8, players can download the game from the 3DS eShop for $2.99.
Speaking of the 3DS eShop, a lone new game was added to it this week, 3D Solitaire. As you may have guessed, it’s a Solitaire collection… in 3D!
Also available this week is The Lost Town: The Jungle on the DSiWare Shop… “A mysterious meteorite landed in the Amazon jungle, cloaking the land in darkness and causing villagers and animals to go insane. You must locate the meteorite and use your elite combat skills to help get rid of it.”
Skyrim “Dawngaurd” expansion now available on PC; PS3 version delayed
Here’s some news that doesn’t “suck” (it’s a vampire joke, folks)… Bethesda has announced that the “Dawnguard” expansion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now available for PC players. Like the Xbox 360 version, the PC expansion has been priced at $19.99.
But bad news for gamers who get their Skyrim fix on the PS3… Bethesda has announced that the PS3 version has been delayed because the developer isn’t happy with the expansion’s development progress:
We are not satisfied yet with Dawnguard’s performance on the PS3. We would like for everyone to have a chance to play Dawnguard, but we aren’t going to release it for PS3 knowing that some people’s experience in Skyrim will be worse. We do everything we can to have our content available to all; from our free updates, to user mods, to paid DLC. We’re as disappointed as our fans when that isn’t the case, but we’ll continue to push for that reality.
Posted in News, PC, PS3
Tagged The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Final CoD: Modern Warfare 3 Content Collections dated and detailed
With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 getting closer and closer, Activision has begun to close out the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s downloadable “Content Season.” To that end, the publisher has revealed the game’s final pieces of DLC as well as the contents of Content Collection #3 and Content Collection #4.
During the month of August, CoD Elite subscribers will gain access to two new Special Ops Missions, “Light ‘Em Up” and “Special Delivery” as well as the brand-new Chaos Mode. Chaos Mode will transform the “Resistance,” “Village,” “Underground,” and “Dome” maps into a “frenetic form of combat that demands players to outlast waves of enemies, while chaining kills on maps littered in power-ups to achieve the highest possible score.”
All of this DLC (along with the Special Ops Missions “Vertigo” and “Arctic Recon” and the Face Off maps “Vortex,” “U-Turn,” and “Intersection”) will be bundled together as Content Collection #3 for Xbox 360 players on August 9.
Content Collection #4 will be available on September 6 for Xbox 360 players and it’ll be packed with five Multiplayer maps including three that Elite subscribers will get first: “Gulch” sends combatants into a forgotten mining town with mine shafts and equipment sheds for cover, “Boardwalk” features fun in the sun on the Jersey Shore, and “Parish” pits players against one another amidst the rubble of New Orleans. Content Collection #4 will also include the previously released maps “Offshore” and “Decommission.”
Both collections will be priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). And all of the content listed here will be available for PC and PS3 players at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Rockstar’s Agent still in development; Take-Two CEO has nothing to announce
Agent, Rockstar’s PS3-exclusive secret agent period piece, was left off Take-Two Interactive’s latest update to their upcoming games list. The game was first announced during E3 2009, but Take-Two and Rockstar have been reluctant to speak about it since then. But that didn’t stop Arvind Bhatia, a financial analyst from Sterne Agee & Leach, from asking Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick about the game during the company’s most recent quarterly conference call.
Arvind Bhatia: Last question, is Agent still going to be in the pipeline for, I guess, in the next 12 to 18 months? Or should we not consider that as a factor? Kind of where are you on that title?
Strauss Zelnick: Yes, we haven’t announced anything about the title yet.
While it sounds like Agent is still in development, Zelnick’s quick dismissal of the question means it may be a long time before we actually get to play it.
Gearbox talks authenticity for Aliens: Colonial Marines
The big guns at Gearbox Software have released their first developer’s diary for Aliens: Colonial Marines, entitled “Authentic Aliens.” The interview subjects (including CEO Randy Pitchford) mostly talk about their desire to create a game that is worthy of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens, but in the process, they show off plenty of new footage from the game as well.
Aliens: Colonial Marines will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on February 12, 2013. A Wii U version will also be released sometime next year.