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)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (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)
Most Recent: Articles
XBLA Wednesday: Beyond Good & Evil HD
The Xbox Live Arcade House Party rolls on with Beyond Good & Evil HD, an HD remake of the 2003 game. Hailed as one of the greatest games of the GameCube/PS2/Xbox era, it’s now available to download for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Often compared to The Legend of Zelda, here’s what gamers have to look forward to if they missed it the first time around (or want to play it again):
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Action & Adventure
Beyond Good & Evil, the award-winning action-adventure game is back! This time play through this innovative thriller in full high-definition graphics. Play as Jade, a young investigative reporter, and expose a terrible government conspiracy. It is up to you and your loyal pig friend Pey’j to save your planet and its inhabitants.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Beyond Good & Evil
Dead Space: Ignition Review: Devilishly Puzzling
Visceral Games has been really busy lately with the release of Dead Space 2, the port of Dead Space: Extraction, and the development of their recently released DLC entitled Dead Space 2: Severed. Back in October, they released Dead Space Ignition, which came free with Amazon pre-orders of Dead Space 2. I finally had a chance to play this devilish puzzler, and while it was short, it was enjoyable and gave yet another viewpoint of the Dead Space universe. (more…)
InFamous 2 allows you to make your own missions, beta coming in April
Sucker Punch really doesn’t want you to stop playing InFamous 2. “No matter how many missions and mini-missions and systemic opportunities and branching story lines we add to the game, eventually the story ends,” said Development Director Chris Zimmerman (not Kris Zimmerman). To make sure the game never leaves your PS3, they announced today at GDC that InFamous 2 will provide the means for you to play, create, and share user-generated missions. The interface looks similar to the creation wheel in ModNation Racers as you can select props, enemies, and determine how the mission will play out. The trailer showcases defending and escort scenarios, and the developers tease that you’ll be able to create pure stealth objectives and even disc golf by substituting frisbees with cars.
A limited beta will begin in early April which you can sign up for starting March 14. Some of the best created levels during this time will even show up on the final version of the game. InFamous 2 launches on PlayStation 3 June 7, with an insane special edition.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged InFamous 2
3DS getting new Super Mario Bros., Netflix, and free access to AT&T Hot Spots
At the Nintendo GDC keynote today, President Iwata announced a triumvirate of features that greatly increase the value of the Nintendo 3DS. The first won’t surprise anyone: Shigeru Miyamoto will be making a new Super Mario Bros. title for the handheld. Slightly surprising is that the Super Mario Galaxy team is working on it, so expect a high quality (and high reviewed) adventure from everyone’s favorite plumber.
Secondly, Netflix will be available for the platform, in much the same way it operates on the Wii. Finally, and possibly most important, all 3DS users will receive automatic and free access to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots across the country when they use the SpotPass service after a May update.
Also part of the May update will be the eShop, which will grant access to a lot of the features we’ve been hearing about like 3D Hollywood trailers, the internet browser, classic Nintendo titles updated in 3D, and Game Boy/Game Boy Color games. Two things we didn’t expect are titles from TurboGrafx-16 and Sega’s Game Gear, the latest development in the ongoing love affair between the two prior rivals. The Game Gear was the first handheld Sega tried to go up against Nintendo with. While clunky and requiring tons of batteries, it offered impressive graphics in full color. Hopefully some Shining Force Gaiden games will show up on the store.
The 3DS is already a technical powerhouse with a fairly solid launch lineup, but these three new announcements make it even more appealing. You may want to pre-order yours soon for the March 27 release date, as it may sell out here just as fast as it did elsewhere.
Posted in 3DS, Etcetera, News
Tagged Super Mario 3D Land
New Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer takes us through a bad part of town
EA and DICE released a new trailer with some nice gameplay from the upcoming Battlefield 3.
Some of this appears to be the snippets we saw from the premiere gameplay trailer, but in longer, uninterrupted segments. Seeing the Frostbite 2.0 engine in motion for a longer duration is actually kind of breathtaking. DICE has always made great-looking games but this propels them to the top of technical studios if you ask me. Granted, this is the PC version as seen by some of the control hints, but I’m sure the console versions won’t be too far off.
Battlefield 3 will release for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 Fall 2011. The second part to the “Fault Line” trailer will be revealed March 16.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Battlefield 3
iPad 2 coming March 11, priced at $499
As expected, the second generation iPad was announced today at a press conference in San Franciso spearheaded by CEO Steve Jobs. Priced at $499 and available March 11, the tablet, which is officially named the iPad 2, improves on the original iPad thanks to its “thinner, lighter, faster” design.
The “faster” claim is bolstered by the iPad 2’s new dual-core A5 chip architecture (which makes it perfect for gaming). According to Apple, this makes the device nine times faster than the previous iPad and, along with its dual camera setup, makes FaceTime video calling possible. The cameras will also be able to record HD video. Even with these advanced specs, the iPad 2 is 33% thinner and and nearly 15% lighter.
In addition to beefing up the iPad’s inards, the new Smart Cover makes the device more mobile than ever. Snapping into place with magnets, the Smart Cover protects and can be folded to use as a stand.
You can also head on over to Apple.com to see a video of the iPad 2 in action.
‘Find Makarov’ countdown is not Modern Warfare 3 (but an awesome Fan Film)
You may remember an enigmatic countdown at findmakarov.com which Activision later called a hoax. The countdown has finished, and the site now redirects to the trailer you see above for a fan film tentatively titled “Live Action Modern Warfare.” Created by Toronto viral marketing company We Can Pretend, the trailer captures some of the most iconic scenes from the Modern Warfare series in live action. The final scene of Call of Duty 4, the end of Modern Warfare 2 at Rust, and even the intense showdown at the aircraft boneyard in MW2 are all adapted with shocking accuracy. Two original scenes are included, one where presumably protagonist Soap MacTavish is saluting General Shepherd. The other is in Nikolai’s aircraft above the inevitable U.S. invasion of Moscow, where Captain Price states “The objective is simple: Find Makarov, end this war.” Either Soap or an undisclosed Russian character agrees, “Aye, let’s write some history.”
It’s strange to see the whole thing in first person, as Infinity Ward’s use of the perspective always seemed as something gaming could accomplish that film could not. Either way, we’ll be sure to follow this ambitious fan project as it progresses.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Daily Scoop: March 2, 2011 – We can’t stop here
There’s so much good to say about Wednesday. It’s the infamous humpday, the day of the week that everyone gets into a good mood because they’re halfway to the weekend. I think a lot of people are happy, too, due to the fact that it’s just two days until the next Warp Zoned Podcast. But you all know my real agenda: I want to get over this hump already so I can play Radiant Historia all weekend!
I’m a little overwhelmed today. Not by today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games, which is THQ’s Megamind: Mega Team Unite for the Wii. It’s half off at $14.99, but still – some days I feel like Amazon’s not really even trying. What a snoozefest.
No, what I’m overwhelmed by is today’s Tee Fury, simply titled “Koopa Country:”
I am speechless, so I’ll let the description do the talking:
As a child, I was always suspicious Mario had a serious power-up problem. Given their similar habits, it just made sense to mash him up with everyone’s favorite gonzo journalist.
As your attorney a lover of both video games AND Hunter S. Thompson, I’m not sure if my wallet’s going to last the day. Add to my temptation this amazing Mario Kart shirt, and I’m already in the can upwards of $25.
Posted in Daily Scoop