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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- 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
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)
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Most Recent: News
Star Wars 1313 would have starred Boba Fett
Star Wars 1313‘s E3 2012 trailer included a placeholder main character that LucasArts planned to replace before the game was released. With this week’s closure of LucasArts, we may never see the game on store shelves, but Kotaku has learned that the main character of 1313 would have been… wait for it… Boba Fett. I’ll give you a minute to catch your breath as this is clearly a development that no one was expecting.
The reason for the placeholder character was due to the fact that Boba Fett wasn’t added to 1313 until just before last year’s E3 Expo. Until that point, the game officially didn’t have a main character and was basically a blank slate being used to tell stories in the Star Wars underworld.
While internal development has ceased at LucasArts, there’s still hope that 1313 (and Star Wars: First Assault) will be completed by a third party. According to Kotaku’s tipster, this scenario is unlikely:
“[LucasArts] ended up with movie tech that wouldn’t fit in a game, and game tech that wouldn’t fit in a movie. 1313 was always in danger of not being made.”
If Star Wars 1313 is truly dead, we should probably start thinking of it as a game frozen in carbonite, forever taunting us with the dream of a “mature” take on the Star Wars saga. Though I’m not sure a game starring a character with as much baggage as Boba Fett could have done it.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Star Wars 1313, Star Wars: First Assault
Killer Instinct trademark rejection rescinded after Microsoft, Fox reach deal
The Killer Instinct trademark is back in the hands of Microsoft after the company’s army of lawyers reached a deal with Fox Television Studios over their claim to the mark.
Microsoft’s agreement with Fox actually states that they’ll share the Killer Instinct trademark and that they “do not believe confusion is likely to result from concurrent use of their respective marks.” Because it’s very easy to confuse an iconic fighting game developed by Rare and starring a cyborg, an ice alien, and a giant eyeball with a short-lived TV show about serial killers that was canceled nine episodes into its first season.
The deal between Fox and Microsoft was required after the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejected Microsoft’s renewal claim in December. But with an agreement between the two companies in place, Microsoft can move forward with… whatever it is they plan to do with the Killer Instinct trademark.
[Source: Polygon]
Activision officially announces April 16 release date for CoD: Black Ops II Uprising DLC
After weeks of rumors, Activision has officially announced the second downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The Uprising Map Pack will be available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 16 for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15). The pack is also included as part of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC Season Pass. A PC and PS3 release will likely follow in May. Like the Revolution Pack before it, Uprising will add four new maps to the game’s multiplayer mode:
- “Magma” is a modern Japanese village with volcanic eruptions carving multiple paths throughout the town.
- “Encore” takes place in the aftermath of a deserted London music festival and leaves numerous opportunities for run-and-gun, close quarters combat.
- “Vertigo” is a futuristic high rise in India housing a high-tech lab featuring dizzying vistas and multi-tiered pathways.
- “Studio” is a Hollywood movie back lot with a variety of cinematic themes that range from Sci-Fi to the Old West. It’s also a contemporary remake of “Firing Range,” a fan-favorite multiplayer map from Call of Duty: Black Ops.
An expansive new Zombies mode, “Mob of the Dead,” will also be included in Uprising. Similar to Black Ops‘ “Call of the Dead,” “Mob of the Dead” will recruit four of Hollywood’s most famous wiseguys: Ray Liotta as Billy Handsome, Joe Pantoliano as Al “The Weasel” Arlington, Chazz Palmentiri as Salvatore “Sal” DeLuca, and Michael Madsen as Michael “Finn” O’Leary. At the start of “Mob of the Dead,” these four made men are residents of Alcatraz. But instead of hanging with the Birdman, they’ll have to take on a zombie horde:
With plans to break out of Alcatraz foiled by the rise of the undead, the quartet of inmates will have to lean on their mob-derived skills with firearms, blunt instruments and improvised weaponry as they battle the zombies infesting and overrunning the island. In order to survive, players must work their way through the steel cells and aging concrete buildings while fighting off a multitude of zombified prisoners and guards trapped on the island with them.
I’ll just say it, welcome to The Rock!
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Injustice: Gods Among Us mobile game brings card-battling superhero smackdowns to iOS
Injustice: Gods Among Us is less than two weeks away from its PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U debut, but if you’re a mobile gamer, don’t worry, NetherRealm Studios hasn’t forgotten about you. The Mortal Kombat maker has announced that a slightly different version of Injustice is now available for download from the iOS App Store.
Playable on the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch, this version of Injustice is a free-to-play title that adds a unique collectible card mechanic to the gameplay. Players will engage in 3-on-3 battles and use a variety of support cards to control the outcome of the fight. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Lex Luthor, and many others will appear in the iOS version of Injustice, which will also link up with its console counterpart to unlock special in-game content. Owners of the console version will also be able to unlock special content in the iOS edition.
“The team at NeatherRealm Studios created a custom mobile experience for Injustice: Gods Among Us on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that delivers gameplay mechanics created specifically for the platform,” said Ed Boon, the Creative Director at NetherRealm Studios. “We’re excited to offer fans a new way to play fighting games that can be enjoyed alone or as a companion experience to the console versions.”
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on April 19. A trailer for the iOS edition can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Toki Tori 2, Castlevania, More
The giant chicken at the center of Toki Tori 2 is the hightlight of this week’s Nintendo Download. The puzzle platformer marks the continuation of Nintendo’s push to get indie developers on the Wii U eShop and its available to download for $X.XX.
Also available this week is the classic 8-bit platformer, Castlevania. Downloadable on the 3DS for the first time, the first adventure of the original “vampire killer,” Simon Belmont, is joined by Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D and Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove 3D.
And over on the Wii’s Virtual Console, Nam-1975 (originally released for the NeoGeo) is now available to download.
Additional details for all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
The Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote is down to the “Elite 8”
The third round of the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote is in the books and the top-seeded players continue to rumble towards the deciding round. But there were a few upsets of note.
Over on the “New School” side, the fourth-seeded Arian Foster ran over 49ers quarterback (and number one seed) Colin Kaepernick. To be fair, Kaepernick probably wasn’t deserving of the number one seed in a fan-voted contest. In another upset, Third-seeded Russell Wilson pushed past Andrew Luck, the two seed. On the “Old School” side, things are as they should be with Joe Montana (#1), Jerry Rice (#1), Barry Sanders (#3), and Deion Sanders (#2) all advancing to the quarterfinals.
You can the remaining matchups below. And don’t forget to vote for your favorites in quarterfinals at ESPN.com/MaddenVote. Voting is open now through April 10.
Old School
1 Joe Montana vs 3 Barry Sanders
1 Jerry Rice vs 2 Deion Sanders
New School
4 Arian Foster vs 3 Russell Wilson
1 Robert Griffin III vs 2 Adrian Peterson
Madden NFL 25 will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Madden NFL 25
Daily Scoop: April 3, 2013 – Super Dungeon Explorer
Last night was board game night at our local game store, and we ended up playing Super Dungeon Explorer with some friends. Our friend Josh had picked up the latest expansion at PAX East, and we were all eager to try it out. The new characters are amazing, especially the one based around Simon Belmont. I mean really, just look at these minis. Too cute!
Not too many deals going on today, but if you’re really going to press me for something, I would have to say it would be the PS3 250GB Amazon Exclusive Family Entertainment Bundle. It includes PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, a controller, and a remote control.
It’s currently marked down to $249.99 from $399.99, which is a great deal. Scoop it up! Got a few t-shirts as well: (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
GameStop CEO calls Xbox 720 “a very hot, compelling device”
Somewhere in the bowels of Big Redmond is a prototype version of Microsoft’s next console, the Xbox 720/Durango. The whole world (OK, maybe not Japan) is waiting to get a glimpse of the console and the next-generation games that it’ll support.
One person who doesn’t have to wait is GameStop CEO J. Paul Raines.
Speaking to GamesIndustry International, the leader of North America’s largest game retailer has revealed that not only has he seen the Xbox 720, but that he’s very impressed with it:
“We’ve been spending a lot of time with Microsoft, but we have to let them take the lead on this, but it will be a very hot, compelling device. They are doing some really cool stuff, and I’m eager to hear them start their announcements because I think the world is going to stand up and take notice,” Raines commented.
Microsoft has yet to confirm when they’ll take the wrapping off the next Xbox, but many in the industry expect the system to launch before the end of the year.