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
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- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
Most Recent: News
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us wins ten statues at 2014 DICE Awards
When Santa Claus asks if you’ve been naughty or nice, if you’re a game developer, you might want to answer “naughty.” During last night’s DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us took home the top prize in ten categories (out of 13 possible nominations). The only other game to win multiple awards was BioShock Infinite, which took home two (Action Game of the Year and Oustanding Achievement in Original Music Composition).
With such a big haul, The Last of Us naturally took home Game of the Year honors. The game also won Adventure Game of the Year, Oustanding Achievement in Game Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Story, Oustanding Achievement in Animation, Oustanding Achievement in Art Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Oustanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Character Performance (for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie).
A few other games did manage to wrestle a few awards away from Naughty Dog, but that’s mostly because The Last of Us didn’t qualify for every category. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Downloadable Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds won Handheld Game of the Year, and Plants vs Zombies 2 won Casual Game of the Year.
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Diablo III, FIFA 14, Forza Motorsport 5, Grand Theft Auto V, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Plants vs Zombies 2, Super Mario 3D World, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, World of Tanks, XCOM: Enemy Within
Sledgehammer Games developing Call of Duty 2014 as franchise adds third team
For 2006’s Call of Duty 3, Activision handed the Call of Duty series off to Treyarch to complete a new game in the series while original developer Infinity Ward completed work on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Since then, the two developers have worked in tandem to release a new Call of Duty game every year, with Treyarch taking the “even” years and Infinity Ward releasing their title during the “odd” years.
But yesterday, during their quarterly financial report, Activision announced they will add a third team to the mix to give each developer three years to create a new Call of Duty.
Sledgehammer Games assisted Infinity Ward on 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and they will use that experience as the lead developer on the still-shrouded-in-mystery Call of Duty 2014. According to Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, the publisher moved the Call of Duty series to a three-year development cycle to give each team more time to produce a great game: “This will give our designers more time to envision and to innovate for each title.” Hirshberg added that he believes “the 2014 game is going to be one of if not the best Call of Duty game ever.”
No other details were revealed about Call of Duty 2014, but Activision usually makes a formal announcement of the latest Call of Duty title in May ahead of the E3 Expo.
Posted in News
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
EA wrangled up in “ratingsgate” controversy over Dungeon Keeper
It seems that EA Games, everyone’s favourite publishing powerhouse, is intent on winning the title of Worst Company in America for a third year running. Not content with the bug-ridden release of Battlefield 4 and the lawsuits that arrived in its aftermath, the company has been accused of rigging the ratings system for the updated mobile version of Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper. The game, which has garnered less than stellar reviews, has employed a unique ratings system. When the in-game pop-up asks you to “Rate Your Experience,” gifting the game five stars will deliver you straight to the Google Play store. However, dare you wish to give the title a star rating below five, players will be whisked away, not to the Google Play store, but to an online feedback form, circumventing the Google Play store rating altogether.
The reason for this? An EA spokesperson has issued the following statement:
“We’re always looking at new ways to gather player feedback so that we can continue to improve our games. The ‘rate this app’ feature in the Google Play version of Dungeon Keeper was designed to help us collect valuable feedback from players who don’t feel the game is worth a top rating. We wanted to make it easier for more players to send us feedback directly from the game if they weren’t having the best experience. Players can always continue to leave any rating they want on the Google Play Store.”
As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. However, preventing players from offering a rating other than “Perfect” does not seem like a noble endeavour, no matter what the excuse is. If EA was really concerned about feedback, its developers could read the reviews left on the Google Play store. What this new feature amounts to is a deliberate circumvention of the ratings system in order to inflate the game’s score.
Players can choose to rate the game separately on the store outside the game, and as a result of “ratingsgate,” the one-star ratings are exploding. It seems that what we have witnessed is the ugly mutation of a cult classic into yet another freemium cash cow from EA’s mobile division.
[Source: Eurogamer]
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Dungeon Keeper
Nintendo Download: Bravely Default, Retro City Rampage, The Lego Movie, More
Welcome to another edition of the Nintendo Download. This week, 3DS owners will be treated to Retro City Rampage: DX, an enhanced and updated version of the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii game that most of us refer to as “8-bit Grand Theft Auto.” Also available today are a pair of Wii U titles: Percy’s Predicament, a family-friendly platformer, and Ninja Gaiden, one of the greatest ninja games to ever grace the NES.
Tomorrow, Nintendo and Square Enix will add Bravely Default, an RPG in the style of classic Final Fantasy titles, to the 3DS eShop and WB Games will do the same for The Lego Movie, a Lego-style game based on the movie of the same name. The Lego Movie will also be available on the Wii U eShop.
Finally, One Piece: Romance Dawn, an RPG based on the popular anime, will be available through the 3DS eShop on Tuesday, February 11.
More details on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies, Retro City Rampage, The Lego Movie
Daily Scoop: February 6, 2014 – Happy birthday, Grandpop!
It’s February 6, which means it’s my awesome Grandpop’s birthday! He’s 84 years old today. He’s been an amazing role model and father to me my whole life. Happy birthday, Grandpop! I love you!
Of course, you’re probably here for the deals, and not this celebration, so I’ll get on with it! There’s a new bundle at Indie Royale, and this one’s called the Mixer Bundle. Pay the minimum for Alien Spidy, The Journey Down: Chapter One, Miner Wars 2081, Dollar Dash, Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem 2, Cherry Tree high Comedy Club, Foreign Legion: Multi Massacre, Final Slam 2, and Party of Sin. Pay $7 to unlock a bonus album!
There are also some new deals at Steam. The Weekend Deal is on Democracy 3, which costs $12.49 until Monday. The Daily Deal is Blood Knights, which is on sale for $7.49.
And there are more Pokemon shirts after this jump than I know what to do with! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Standalone edition of Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry coming to PC, PS3, PS4
Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, originally an add-on for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, will be available later this month as a standalone game. It will be available for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on February 18, and on PC starting February 25. Both versions will cost $14.99, and neither one will require that the player own Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Though Ubisoft was unclear on whether the standalone game would be available as a retail disc, a digital download, or both.
Tony Key, the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, said, “We decided to release Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry as a stand-alone game for both fans and newcomers to the Assassin’s Creed universe. Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry delivers key elements of an Assassin’s Creed game, including a new hero, new environments and new weapons.”
In Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, you play as Adewale, a former slave who is now a trained Assassin. He must face his past when he is shipwrecked in 18th century Haiti, however, and he kills enemies while freeing slaves. Once he’s done on land, he’ll take to sea, fighting the slave owners and bringing them to justice.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry
Borderlands 2: Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre DLC coming next week
Gearbox is hard at work on the latest addition to the Borderlands 2 Headhunter series… and its almost here! The latest DLC, Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre, takes a poke at the big bad Hallmark machine, Valentine’s Day. The Hodunks, the Zafords, and everyone’s favorite, Ellie, will be there, as well as Innuendo Bot 5000, who is sure to have some hilarious new dialogue.
Of course, once you beat the main boss, there are head mods for your character, and according to the 2K blog, “This time the heads are a little more graphic. With these new heads, you’ll also get an inside look at the Vault Hunters, especially Zer0… though it should be said that his new head is named ‘N0t C4n0n’ for a reason.”
Gearbox also announced that, Sir Hammerlock Versus the Son of Crawmerax, the fifth (and final!) DLC in the Headhunters series, will be out in April. While these are fun, they are far too short, and I’m hoping these talented developers will get to making Borderlands 3 already.
Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre will be out on February 11 for the PC, PlayStation Network (PS3), and Xbox Live Store (Xbox 360).
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands 2
Strider will slice and dice digital download platforms starting February 18
Strider will be released on February 18 on the PlayStation Store (for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4) and will come out the next day on the Xbox Live Game Store (Xbox 360, Xbox One) and Steam, Capcom announced today. The game’s price point is $14.99.
That’s not all. Capcom also announced that there will be two new Challenge Modes, which will be in addition to the Story Mode. The first is called Beacon Run, in which the player has to race through a speed run, hitting checkpoints and killing enemies as quickly as possible. The second, Survival Mode, puts the player through rigorous combat, changing up the items and loadouts while upping the difficulty. All modes will have global online leaderboards, taking that arcade feel to a new level.
There will also be unlockable costumes throughout the game, which you can find “by uncovering the vestiges of Striders fallen in battle against Grand Master Meio’s evil empire.” Unlock them all and travel through Kazakh City in style.