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
Smithsonian asks public to select games for “Art of Video Games” exhibit
Ladies and gentlemen, the question of whether or not games are art has finally been answered. The Smithsonian will launch a new exhibit titled “The Art of Video Games” on March 16, 2012. So somebody be sure to tell Roger Ebert, games have officially been declared art.
According to the museum, the exhibit will be “the first to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies.” And what games will be chosen to represent gaming as art? The Smithsonian has decided to ask for the public’s help at ArtOfVideoGames.org. The website will offer participants a chance to vote for 80 games from a pool of 240 proposed choices in various categories, divided by era, game type and platform. Voting will be open from February 14 through April 7 and requires a valid email address.
“I want this exhibition to include the collective voice of the video game world, which is not limited to the developers, designers and artists but also the game players,” said the curator of the exhibit, Chris Melissinos. “It is important to me that when gamers visit the exhibition, they find the experiences that most matter to them.”
The results of the voting will be announced in May.
State of the Video Game Magazine: 2011 Edition
As a technology-based hobby, it’s not surprising that video game magazines have faded into the shadows of the umpteen billions of gaming-related websites. What might be surprising is despite the move towards online publications, game magazines – once the only way die-hard gamers could get information, reviews, and run-downs of everything that happened at the important trade shows – have reinvented themselves in the 21st century to complement the 24 hour news cycle that runs in your web browser. You might think that print magazines are dead, or at least on life-support… but believe it or not, they might be at a higher quality than they were during the peak of the medium. Shall we take a tour? (more…)
Breach patched, get 60 minutes free play time
If you’ve been going crazy trying to sample some of Atomic Games’ XBLA military FPS Breach, you might want to hold off on any attempts to steal the game. The demo now offers a full 60 minutes of play in all modes on all maps and Atomic has also reset the clock for all players, so even if you’ve already exhausted your time with the demo you can come back for all the destruction features and cover system you can handle in an hour. If you were turned off by any performance issues of the game, you may want to check back as a new update fixes many issues, with the developers claiming it “shoots lag in the head.” That’s a pretty aggressive way to handle your network problems, but I guess it gets the job done.
Fixes included in this update:
– All known crashes fixed
– Many fixes to reduce lag
– Game connectivity improved by more than 33%
– Bug that caused Sole Survivor games to end in draw fixed
– Bug that caused invisible canister in Retrieval games fixed
– Bug that caused Vendetta icon to appear incorrectly fixed
– Server Browser can now sort by number of players
– Server Browser can now be manipulated with mouse scroll wheel
– Fixed bugs related to Friendly Fire settings
– Better ability for a game with lag to recover when bandwidth improves
Super Mario All-Stars returns to stores on March 13
Nintendo’s Wii re-release of Super Mario All-Stars this past December sold out almost as fast as stores could stock it. And gamers looking to play Mario’s original adventures with a 16-bit makeover were left hanging as no new copies were in sight
But it looks like Nintendo plans to reissue the compilation next month with a limited “final” print run beginning on March 13. So if you want to own Super Mario All-Stars for your Wii, you better plans to skip work/school on March 13 now.
In addition to a game disc containing Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, the All-Stars package include a 32-page Super Mario History book featuring “interviews, behind-the-scenes details and rare concept art” as well as a soundtrack CD featuring music from the entire series.
Posted in News
Tagged Super Mario All-Stars, Wii
Mindjack receives more maps for endless troop-killing
Square Enix has let loose on content for Mindjack, the recently-released sci-fi shooter for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Two new map packs will soon be available for download on each console’s online service. The first pack was actually released yesterday, on Valentine’s Day. D’awwwwww, how sweet. The second pack is scheduled for March 8th.
Each of the two collections will cost $7.00 (or 560 Microsoft Points) each, and will each feature three new maps which allow the player to continue the fight against the endlessly-invading Nerkas soldiers.
I don’t know about any other players of this game, but as far as I’m concerned, there was already enough endless shooting on the game’s first time around.
Double Fine Productions brings Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster to life on Kinect
This sounds like a match made in heaven. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions will be bringing Elmo, Cookie Monster, and your favorite childhood characters to Xbox 360 Kinect with Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. Children and Parents join Sesame Street characters as they enter the world of the story book, Once Upon a Monster, making new friends along the way and learning life lessons to solve problems in the game.
Tim Schafer said, “Sesame Street had a profound effect on me, and many members of the Double Fine team, when we were children. So did video games. Now many of us are parents and we want to share with our kids the great experiences we had, but also the completely new ones made possible by cutting-edge technology like Kinect for Xbox 360. So it’s a labor of love on many levels.”
I’ll admit it – I seriously envy the kids who get to interact with such awesome concepts in new and innovative ways. Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is set for a Fall 2011 release date, and hopefully a tear jerking presentation at E3.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
Felicia Day to star in Dragon Age webisodes
It seems like releasing webisodes to promote a new game is the cool marketing trend as of late, and all of us at Warp Zoned are extremely excited for the Mortal Kombat series accompanying the game. BioWare is the next developer jumping on the opportunity, as a six-episode series for Dragon Age II, titled Dragon Age: Redemption is already in post-production and will be hitting the net this year. The project is under the creative direction of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild star, Felicia Day. Day, a self-proclaimed “organic gamer” (?) wrote the story for the heroine she portrays, Tallis (the same name as the production company), and chronicles this Elven assassin’s quest to capture a renegade magician. Directing is Independence Day associate producer Peter Winther and cinematography is being handled by John Bartley, who also worked on “Lost.” Day commented, “They are going to take this a step above what we have seen on the Web before,” so hopefully this won’t look like recorded footage of Day and crew awkwardly LARPing.
“Tallis is headstrong, she fights dirty, and she has a really sarcastic sense of humor… I wanted to bring a modern sensibility to a fantasy character in a fantasy world.” Expect Tallis to be like every hipster chick you know who’s constantly seeking male approval.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Redemption, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Noob Saibot teleports into Mortal Kombat
John Tobias may have left NetherRealm Studios more than a decade ago (when it was still known as Midway), but his namesake ninja still lives on. Although Noob Saibot is an undead ninja, so I guess it’s not really that surprising.
After being bypassed in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Noob will make his PS3/Xbox 360 debut in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, which will be released April 19th alongside a whole mess of other Mortal Kombat media. You can check out a Noob Saibot-centric trailer, where he performs a bone-crushing finisher on Jade (and smacks around the previously unseen Sindel), right here:
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat