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
Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2, Assassin’s Creed II lead PlayStation Store update
Sony has performed their weekly update of the PlayStation Store with lots of new games and lots of discounts for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Those new games include a downloadable edition of Assassin’s Creed II: Deluxe Edition (which features all of the DLC) and Capcom’s platforming sequel Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2. Also available this week is Atari’s puzzler The UnderGarden and Tales From Space: About A Blob, another puzzler (and just for Plus users for now).
Mega Man 2 is this week’s lone addition to the PSone Classic Imports section.
The PSP Store will receive a trio of games this week, one-on-one fighter Samurai Showdown and minis versions of Wackylands Boss and the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break with a full rundown of this week’s downloadables at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged Assassin's Creed II, Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2
Michael Pachter embarrasses himself again by saying “Wii 2 will fail”
Michael Pachter, video game analyst extraordinaire for Wedbush Securities, was a guest on this week’s Bonus Round talking 2011 predictions with Geoff Keighley. “The Pach” was in rare form during this panel. Most people stop at their feet, but Pachter may have shoved his whole leg in his mouth.
During a discussion about the future of the Wii, Pachter laid out his prediction (once again) that Nintendo will announce a Wii 2 at this year’s E3. Whether or not Nintendo has a Wii 2 planned doesn’t much matter as the analyst goes one further and then claims that the Wii 2 “will fail” without third party support:
Pachter: “So without third-party support, I think the Wii 2, if it’s truly a revolutionary device, will fail. I think they boxed themselves in. No matter what they do, it won’t be as successful as the Wii.”
Just… wow.
ATTENTION INVESTORS! Michael Pachter is a moron. He has no greater insight into the video game industry than your average forum fanboy. I would volunteer to do his job for a quarter of his salary and I would do it better.
For proof, just look at that statement. The Wii 2 hasn’t even been announced yet and Pachter is already writing it off. This is lunacy. Especially when you consider the fact that a Nintendo system lives and dies by its first party support. Even the GameCube, a “failure” against the PS2, was hugely profitable for Nintendo and produced a bevy of classic games.
If you want to watch the hilarity yourself, check out the video after the break. The Wii 2 talk starts at the 17:09 mark. (more…)
Miyamoto confirms Super Mario Bros. 3DS… again
The latest Iwata Asks column is all about the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. But after the Nintendo president and his illustrious panel of guests finished talking about the past, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto dropped some hints about the plumber’s future.
Miyamoto: [I]n the interests of adopting new technology for the Super Mario Bros. tradition, I am now making a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo 3DS system.
While Super Mario Bros. 3DS remains officially unannounced, this isn’t the first time Miyamoto has talked about a new Mario game on Nintendo’s upcoming handheld. Back in October, during an investor’s Q&A session, he actually revealed that there are two Mario games in development for the 3DS. What makes today’s quote interesting is that, according to Miyamoto, we may be playing a Mario game on the 3DS sooner rather than later:
Miyamoto: I want to show everyone as soon as possible what the new Super Mario Bros. will be like on the Nintendo 3DS.
And we can’t wait to play it. So what are you waiting for Nintendo? Announce this thing already!
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Super Mario 3D Land
New Resistance 3 and Ratchet & Clank: All-4-One videos surface
The good folks at Insomniac spent the day today in London showing off their two new PS3 games to the press, and were kind enough to let everyone in on the action with two new videos. The Resistance 3 trailer shows human forces battling Chimera in Haven, Oklahoma in all the glory of Insomniac’s new engine for the game, as a terraformer draws closer to the city. I assure you, this is absolutely nothing like terraforming on Dune. The effects are really off the charts this time; as the terraformer gets closer to annihilating the city, the winds really pick up, making it totally bad-ass when the Chimeran Brawler pictured left shows up.
The Ratchet & Clank: All-4-One trailer shows the co-op insanity that will ensue once the game launches this fall. The game looks like a lot of fun with all the wacky characters and guns the series is known for and at one point the players appear to be on jet skis evading a monstrous cross between a blow fish and a giant squid. It’s hard to believe Insomniac is releasing both its marquee franchises in the same year, but they appear to be handling both better than ever. You can find both trailers after the jump. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Resistance 3
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection releasing April 19
In a big day for Square Enix PSP release dates, the company has also announced Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection will arrive at retail (again: no PlayStation Store) on April 19, 2011. The game combines Final Fantasy IV with updated graphics and sound in the style of the FFI & II PSP remakes, as well as the first retail packaging of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. It would’ve been nice to have the style and expanded story of the Nintendo DS remake of FFIV, but hopefully this version will be a little more true to the original experience.
2011 also marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IV, first released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo (and under the confusing name Final Fantasy II in the United States). The game is widely recognized as a milestone for storytelling in RPG’s and video games.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Celebrate The 3rd Birthday on March 29, 2011
The long awaited third entry in the Parasite Eve franchise, The 3rd Birthday, will be coming to U.S. retailers on March 29, 2011 for the PlayStation Portable. Players will assume the role of series protagonists Aya Brea as she seeks to rid 2012 Manhattan of the hideous creatures known as the Twisted. Square Enix has also announced that Yvonne Strahovski of the NBC series “Chuck” will voice the heroine. And in other voice cast news, the mysterious Kyle Madigan will be played by Jensen Ackles of “Supernatural.”
“I was immediately interested when Square Enix approached me with the opportunity to play Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday,” said Strahovski. “I love Aya – she’s strong, driven and ready to take on the world.”
Unfortunately, no mention of a downloadable version for the PlayStation Store has been announced, leaving PSP Go owners like myself out of luck. I have no idea why Square Enix, one of the biggest partners to PlayStation in the past, releases almost none of their PSP games digitally; I guess it’s just a sign of the times.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged The 3rd Birthday
Ico novel, Castle of the Mist, finally coming to America
Ico fans rejoice: Miyuki Miyabe’s Ico novel, Castle of the Mist, is at last being translated into English and is coming to America July 19th, according to Anime News Network (although the publisher’s website actually says on or around August 16th). According to the blurb, “Based on the video game filmmaker Guillemo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) called a ‘masterpiece,’ Japan’s leading fantasist Miyuki Miyabe has crafted a tale of magic, loss, and love that will never be forgotten.” Miyabe is known in America for her novel Brave Story, which was made into an animated film, manga series, and several video games.
Wow. Just. Seriously. I am nearly speechless. Two years ago I read – and re-read – and re-read again – the first two chapters of this novel. I found a fanslation somewhere on the Internet and inhaled it over and over, eager for more Ico. Like the game, it’s charming and haunting, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the story. For those of you who haven’t played the game yet, you’re in luck – the game will be re-released in HD and full 3D with Shadow of the Colossus on March 31. I’ve been having sweet dreams of sitting with Yorda on the couch, with that delightful music playing in the background. In the meantime, I’m still playing LittleBigPlanet 2 as Ico, and I’ve been listening to the soundtrack. I’m trying to be patient. Really.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Ico, LittleBigPlanet 2, PS2, PS3, Shadow of the Colossus
Killzone 3 full Trophy list revealed
With Guerilla Games’ latest sci-fi adventure only three weeks away, and a multiplayer beta available for download tomorrow, you may be overwhelmed by the proximity of the launch of Killzone 3. Feel free to satiate your fix by checking out the full Trophy list, courtesy of the bold heroes at PS3Trophies. There’s no more crazy requirements for placing in the top x% of the weekly multiplayer leaderboards, but you do need to finish the game on Elite to get the Platinum. The rest are your run of the mill challenges for individual levels and multiplayer, but be careful of spoilers in the hidden trophies at the end of the list. I’m hoping this will be my second platinum trophy from the Killzone series.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Killzone 3