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: Nicole Kline
Daily Scoop: May 9, 2011 – The PSN outage continues
The ApocalyPS3 is still in full swing, with Sony now admitting the service will likely not return “fully” until May 31. In case you hadn’t noticed, May 31 is 22 days from now. That is a ridiculous amount of time for the PSN to be down, bringing their total downtime to well over a month. I’m not sure what their welcome back package is going to include, but I think for some people, it’s going to need to offer to pay for the therapy they’re in right now as they’re going through multiplayer withdrawal.
And now, onto the deals! Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for the Wii. It’s $34.99 down from $49.99. I would definitely recommend it for the fan of the Lego games in general – sure, if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all, but they’re really enjoyable either way. I’ve been playing the 3D version on the 3DS and it’s been a pretty fun time!
Also, Brink is coming out tomorrow, and Amazon’s running a $10 promotional credit on that, as well as cutting $5 off the price tag on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. They’ve also upped the promotional credit for L.A. Noire to $15 for both PS3 and 360 versions. Click here for a full list of all bonus offers at Amazon right now.
Today’s daily t-shirt is courtesy of Ript, and it’s called A Moogle We Can Believe In:
Can we say Moogle/Chocobo ’12?
Daily Scoop: May 5, 2011 – Cinco de game-o!
It’s Cinco de Mayo, but for me, it’s really Cinco de game-o – I plan to go straight home after work and do nothing but gluttonously game as much as possible, pausing only to eat and maybe sleep. It’s been too long since I’ve just let go and rocked out! I think I’ve earned a nice, relaxing break.
Not many deals today, other than today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Disney’s Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales for the Wii. It’s on sale for $14.99 from $29.99, and also includes Mater’s Tall Tales cartoon shorts. Sounds like a fun time!
No t-shirts today, but our Editor-in-Chief, John Scalzo, found this Super Mario Brothers Alphabet poster over at Etsy:
So cool!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Daily Scoop: May 4, 2011 – May the fourth be with you!
Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! In honor of this auspicious day, the details have been released about the Star Wars Blu-rays. You can even pre-order them at Amazon. Hellz yeah!
Now that Nintendo announced the Wii price drop, I’ll stop encouraging you to spend $169.99 when you’ll soon be getting an even better package for $149.99 (that’s what she said?). Sadly, Mortal Kombat isn’t on sale anymore (though the Kollector’s Edition is still $85.99), but Portal 2 is still $34.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $29.99 on the PC. Seriously, if you don’t have Portal 2 yet, what are you waiting for? You might as well just go play some Portal Tetris.
What else…oh! Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles for the PlayStation 3 for $22.99. With Valkyria Chronicles 3 coming out, this is the perfect time to jump into the series.
Today’s daily t-shirt pick is in honor of Star Wars Day – it’s Ript’s Say Beep Bop Boop:
That says it all.
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Daily Scoop: May 3, 2011 – The world is not enough
This weekend, Mike Gutierrez and I were talking about James Bond films, and lo and behold, today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is a James Bond game! It’s Activision’s James Bond 007: Blood Stone for the Xbox 360, and it’s $29.99. It’s “an explosive third-person action/adventure game from critically acclaimed developer Bizarre Creations” and it “features Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Joss Stone in an original story from the writer of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.” It’s also got Daniel Craig on the cover. Sexy!
Let’s see, what else… I wasn’t going to tell you again, but since you brought it up, I’ll just remind you that Mortal Kombat is still $39.99 (and the Kollector’s Edition is $85.99), Portal 2 is still $34.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $29.99 on the PC, and you can still get a black or white Wii for $169.99, and a 160 GB PlayStation 3 or one of several different Xbox 360 consoles with Amazon credit.
We’ve got t-shirts! Two awesome ones today, actually. Hit the jump for the details! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360
PSN credit card sale a hoax, says Sony
Rumors have been spreading about credit card information that was leaked by the PSN security breach – one of them being that the hackers tried to sell a list of stolen card numbers back to Sony. Patrick Seybold, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media at Sony, said on the PlayStation Blog that “To my knowledge there is no truth to this report of a list, or that Sony was offered an opportunity to purchase the list.” He also reiterated that Sony will never ask you for your credit card number or social security number or any other information like that, so if you’re approached for this information, it’s by a party posing as Sony and you should not share that information. Duh.
He also explained what they meant at this weekend’s press conference when they said users’ passwords were not encrypted. “While the passwords that were stored were not ‘encrypted,’ they were transformed using a cryptographic hash function,” wrote Seybold. “There is a difference between these two types of security measures which is why we said the passwords had not been encrypted. But I want to be very clear that the passwords were not stored in our database in cleartext form.” Seybold also offered a link explaining the difference.
We’re nearly two weeks into the PSN outage, with not one, but two class action lawsuits against Sony already. The PSN should be back up this week, but have people already lost too much faith in Sony?
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
Sony Online Entertainment accounts compromised
The ApocalyPS3 continues as yesterday Sony took down Sony Online Entertainment in response to their discovery of “an issue.” According to CNet, after SOE was taken down, this message was sent: “Dear Valued SOE Customers, We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today Monday. We apologize for any inconvenience and greatly appreciate your patience.”
Sony released more information at the SOE website, detailing the breach: “Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.” There’s also “evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained.”
Holy crap. This is really bad, Sony. The company is pointing SOE users to the government-offered free credit report service: “U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.” In other news, I just got my free t-shirt for participating in the Rewards Beta. I think I’ll wear it when I sign up for my free credit report.
Posted in News, PC, PS3
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
Pulse: Volume One coming out May 5 for iPad
Philadelphia independent studio Cipher Prime is releasing their third game this Thursday. Pulse: Volume One is a rhythm game and marks Cipher Prime’s first foray into the iPad world. Pulse takes advantage of the multi-touch functionality, challenging players to keep up with the music and “tap notes as they are crossed by the pulse as it expands in time with the music.” The music is provided by local Philadelphia artists and supports “genres from chip-tune to nerdcore to death metal.” The gameplay video above is from Indie Game Mag, and makes me want to buy an iPad right now.
Cipher Prime’s previous games were Auditorium (on the PC, PS3, and PSP) and Fractal (on the PC), so their fans are at war over whether or not they approve of this jump to the mobile gaming scene. So far, it’s gotten some great press. (My favorite quote comes from Pocket Gamer: “A package so thoroughly well put together that you’re reminded of why music games were popular in the first place.”)
Cipher Prime is part of Philadelphia’s flourishing video game scene, and can be found this weekend at the Too Many Games Expo from May 6-8. Stop by. Tell ’em Nicole sent you.
Catherine Deluxe Edition announced, game is officially creepier than ever
Mega-creepy Atlus game, Catherine, is getting the Japanese company’s special treatment with the “Love Is Over” Deluxe Edition. This incredibly ridiculous box set includes Vincent’s t-shirt (as seen on Catherine), the boxers Vincent is wearing when he thrashes forth from his nightmares, a sexy pillowcase (is there any other kind?), and a Stray Sheep pizza box. Both the standard and deluxe editions will come with an art book and a CD. The deluxe edition will set you back $79.99 and they’re being made to order, so toss your panties hat in the ring and pre-order this monster.
From what I’ve seen, the game feels like so many Japanese things I already love, namely that strange addictiveness and innovation of Atlus games plus that Wild Sheep Chase feeling of a Haruki Murakami novel. I am most likely going to be one of the insane people who pre-order that deluxe edition, and I’ll probably be sitting around on July 26 in those boxers and that t-shirt, leaning on a pillow with Catherine on it, when I first put the game in. Probably.