Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: News
GameStop removes OnLive coupons from Deus Ex: Human Revolution; Square Enix is cool with it
Man, they don’t get much weirder than this.
Square Enix, the publisher of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and OnLive, the cloud gaming company, recently announced a deal that the PC version of the game would include a voucher for free access to the OnLive version. Fast forward to yesterday, and we learn that GameStop executives have directed their exployees to open copies of Deus Ex and remove the OnLive coupon. This move is legally dubious at best.
The new release surgery occured because GameStop has their own game streaming service in the works. “Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull and discard these coupons,” GameStop public relations representative Beth Sharum said.
Following the Internet outcry, GameStop pulled all remaining copies of the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from store shelves. GameStop planned to return all of these copies of the game to their distributor after an agreement with Square Enix.
But then Square Enix comes out and publicly announces that they’re totally cool with GameStop removing the OnLive coupon from the game’s box:
“As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third party coupon. GameStop was not made aware of this inclusion and Square Enix respects the right of GameStop to have final say over the contents of products it sells and to adjust them where they see fit in accordance with their policies.”
This story is just bizarre on all sides. GameStop’s cloud gaming initiative, Spawn Labs, is still a year away. Doing battle with Square Enix by physically opening new copies of a game and removing an advertised addition is borderline criminal. We as gamers should be furious. But then Square Enix gives GameStop their blessing to do as they please with the retail copies!
And all of this is happening around a game where corporations control everything. The irony, she burns.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Gargoyle’s Quest added to 3DS eShop
Nintendo has released their weekly Nintendo Download update and the Game Boy classic Gargoyle’s Quest leads this week’s new games. The first adventure of Firebrand (unless you count his villainous turn in Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins) will be joined by one Virtual Console release and a trio of DSiWare games.
Originally released on the Super NES, The Ignition Factor is considered one of the best firefighting games of all time. It’s the lone addition to the Wii Shop Channel this week.
The new games on the DSiWare Shop are actually two new games and one new productivity application. The games include Magical Whip: Wizards of the Phantasmal Forest, a side-scrolling platformer and Let’s Create! Pottery, a pottery-making sim. The productivity app is simply titled Calculator, and as you may have guessed, it turns your DSi/3DS into a calculator.
More information on all of these games can be found at the Nintendo Download weekly newsletter.
Bungie Aerospace launching Crimson: Steam Pirates on iPad
When some people start talking about strategic turn-based action on the iPad, most other people start snoozing. But when Bungie, of Halo fame, said they were making a game for the iPad about steampunk pirates, my ears perked up a little. Crimson: Steam Pirates will be out on the iPad on September 1 for free. I will repeat that… FREE!
Developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Bungie’s mobile publishing arm, Bungie Aerospace, you’ll play as the pirate Thomas Blood, who commands a fleet of swashbucklers. The first eight missions in Crimson: Steam Pirates will be free to play, but and additional eight missions can be found in Chapter Two, “Tales of Captain Blood,” which will cost you an extra $1.99. So its not completely free to play.
With a little bit of luck, and an Internet connection, on September 1, I will be screaming, “Yarr me skallywags! Swab the poop deck and fire upon the adjacent poop deck over yonder! Don’t let their steam escape! Steal their steam then we will sell it back to them at a higher price! Show them our poop deck is better than their poop deck!… POOP!”
It sounded much more eloquent in my head.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Crimson: Steam Pirates
Telltale goes Back to the Future on Wii, PS3
Telltale has been holding down the fort on the indie adventure game front for a long time. They have sold over a million downloads of Back to the Future: The Game for the PC and will be expanding the adventure to a console near you. Come October, Marty and the Doc will be invading the Wii (for the first time) and the PS3 (as a retail disc this time) with 1.21 gigawatts of awesome.
Both Back to the Future discs will be priced at $19.99, a steal even in 1955 dollars.
Telltale has also signed agreements with both Nintendo and Sony to release future titles on their consoles. Just as Back to the Future ushered in a new wave of amazingly quotable movie moments, Telltale will hopefully be able to breath some life into the adventure game market on those consoles.
PCs?… Where we’re going, we don’t need PCs.
Posted in News, PS3, Wii
Tagged Back to the Future
Sonic 4 Episode 2 speeds into 2012
It seems like it has been forever since Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I was released back in October 2010. But after Sega West CEO Mike Hayes confirmed that Episode II is still in production, it looks like we’ll all have to wait a little bit longer before we can play as our favorite blue hedgehog with a turbocharger. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II actually isn’t slated to be released until sometime in 2012.
“This year, 2011, is the anniversary, so we’re focusing on the celebration title,” Sonic Team’s Takashi Iikuza said to Eurogamer, “But moving forward to 2012, Sonic will still be going, so I’d hope to provide Episode 2 then.”
Excuse me Sega, isn’t the whole idea of episodic gaming supposed to be to release multiple small games with shorter development times? Looks like Sega has been palling around with Valve a little too much lately. Has anyone seen Gordon Freeman?
Posted in News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
Daily Scoop: August 24, 2011 – 80s movies galore!
Iiiiiit’s Wednesday! We’re at the halfway mark through the work week. Hopefully we won’t have another earthquake today! Though I’m not tired of people asking, “Did you feel it?!?!” Yes, I feel it! I feel the cosmos!
Anywho, Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Aksys’ 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS. It’s just $20.99 today, and is chock full of some really amazing puzzles. Check it out!
No video game t-shirts today, but there are two 80s movies t-shirts that will make you chuckle: (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, DS, Etcetera, News
XBLA Today: Street Fighter III, Hole in the Wall, Crazy Machines Elements
The Summer of Arcade may be over, but Microsoft still has plenty of games in the cooler to make the Xbox Live Arcade the place to be in the last few weeks of August.
Capcom’s Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition leads this week’s trio of new games. Including online play (of course), leaderboards and high definition graphics, the third Street Fighter game is ready for its XBLA debut. Fight!
Also available this week is Hole in the Wall, a Kinect-ified rendition of the physical game show and Crazy Machines Elements, an HD-entry in the popular puzzle series.
Street Fighter III has been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) while Hole in the Wall and Crazy Machines can be both be had for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).
More information on all three games can be found at Major Nelson’s blog.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Street Fighter III: Third Strike
This is not the release date you’re looking for: Kinect Star Wars, R2-D2 360 bundle delayed
A Microsoft spokesman has told OXM UK that Kinect Star Wars and the R2-D2 Xbox 360 bundle will no longer be released by the end of the year. No new release date was revealed, but presumably the game will be jump to lightspeed store shelves in 2012.
No Bothans died to bring us this information, but the spokesman did say that the delay is necessary to make sure Kinect Star Wars lives up to its full potential:
“Microsoft and LucasArts have elected to move the launch of Kinect Star Wars beyond holiday 2011 to ensure the full potential of this title is realized. This move applies to both the Kinect Star Wars stand-alone game and the Kinect Star Wars Limited Edition Console. We will communicate additional timing information at a later date.”
This is disappointing news for Star Wars fans everywhere, so please remember, no disintegrations.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Kinect Star Wars