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: Articles
Namco Bandai is changing their name to Bandai Namco
The publishing company we all know and love, Namco Bandai, is changing their name globally to Bandai Namco, which is currently their name in Japan. The change will start on April 1, and will apply to all 31 of their subsidiaries, locally and abroad.
According to an article at Gematsu, “The reason for the change, the company said, is to elevate the appeal and value of the Bandai Namco brand overseas.”
If you’re curious as to the names of all 31 of the subsidiaries, you can find that – and what the new names will look like – on the second page of this PDF.
Posted in News
Weekly Warp-Up: No Snow Bowl Edition
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
Super Bowl Ex-Ell-Vee-Eye-Eye-Eye begins in a few hours and it looks like all the gloom and doom a few weeks ago about fans freezing to death in their seats was a little overblown. The current weather forecast calls for a high of around 50 and a little bit of rain. It’s definitely a far cry from the blizzard Bowl that EA Sports and Madden NFL 25 predicted, so perhaps the Seahawks can defy the simulation and pull out a win.
But the biggest spectacle in sports has got nothing on the news that Microsoft has obtained the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games. They’ve entrusted the future of the franchise to Black Tusk Studios, though this deal may have killed their in-development “AAAA game.”
And speaking of business deals… Nintendo has a plan! It involves releasing Mario Kart 8 in May, DS games on the Wii U’s Virtual Console, and more third party licensing deals like Hyrule Warriors. That… that actually sounds a lot like their old plan.
But you can read all the rest of the new news after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Bravely Default, Fable Anniversary, The Lego Movie, More
This week’s New Releases Report kicks off with the long-awaited 3DS RPG Bravely Default. If you like your RPGs Japanese and old school, you’ll want to give Bravely Default a look. And in fact, the game is a semi-sequel to another throwback RPG, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. And speaking of throwback RPGs, Microsoft plans to release Fable Anniversary, their Xbox 360 remake of Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, this week.
Also available this week is the “Videogame” adaptation of The Lego Movie. You can hear a Lego version of Chris Pratt say “awesome” a lot on the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Finally, a trio of PC simulation games will soon be available for your purchasing pleasure including Civilization V: The Complete Edition, Airport Simulator 2014, and Professional Farmer 2014.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies, Fable Anniversary, The Lego Movie
Diablo III Console Review: Why Buying It On A Console Over the PC Is A No-Brainer
Blizzard teased console gamers with the possibility of a Diablo III port for over a year before they made it official in February 2013. According to the developer, this cloak-and-dagger approach was because they weren’t sure a console version of the game could ever be up to their standards, and they didn’t want to officially announce anything until it was ready for prime time. But when Blizzard did deliver the game to the public at last year’s PAX East, it was met with rousing support from the press and players alike. Finally, In September, the console release of Diablo III gave non-PC gamers their first chance to take on the Lord of Terror since the heady days of the original PlayStation.
Was it all worth it? A veteran of the PC campaign and a Diablo newcomer find out… (more…)
Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Diablo III
Daily Scoop: January 31, 2014 – The weekend is here!
It’s Friday, hooray! Which means the weekend is here. It’s also the end of January, meaning it’s the beginning of February, meaning we are one step closer to warmer weather. I guess it all depends on the groundhog this weekend and whether or not he sees his shadow. Come on, groundhog! No more winter!
Also, the season of America’s favorite sport, gambling on football, comes to a close this weekend. Whether your money is riding on the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks in this weekend’s Super Bowl… I’m sure the commercials will be good.
If you’d prefer to spend your money on games, how about a few deals? The Humble Store has some new discounts today, including Guns of Icarus Online for $3.74, Kingdom Rush for $7.49, Hive for $4.99, and Epigenesis for $6.66. Today’s daily deal at Steam is Guacamelee! Gold Edition for $3.74.
That’s it for games, but of course, there are still t-shirts to be had! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Releasing’s as easy as breathing… Rambo: The Game to be released in EU in February
He’s no tourist and Reef Entertainment has announced that John Rambo will make his grand return to video games next month. Rambo: The Video Game will be released throughout Europe on February 21 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The game will be released in North America sometime in March (Amazon says March 25).
Rambo: The Video Game will follow everyone’s favorite one man army as he tears his way through a game adaptation of First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III. To create the most authentic Rambo experience possible, Reef has packed Rambo: The Video Game with voice clips featuring Sylvester Stallone as Rambo and the late Richard Crenna as Colonel Trautman from all three films. The publisher will also include musical selections from each movie’s soundtrack in the game.
If you live in Europe, you can pre-order Rambo: The Video Game now. In addition to the game, you’ll receive two three-inch Rambo action figures based on the character’s appearance in First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Nothing is over! But sadly, this news article is.
Pac-Man Museum will gobble up all your free time on February 25
The Pac is back next month as Bandai Namco plans to bring Pac-Man Museum to the PlayStation Store (PS3) on February 25 and the Xbox Live Arcade and Steam on February 26. Sadly, the previously announced 3DS and Wii U versions of Pac-Man Museum have been canceled.
Pac-Man Museum compiles eight Pac-Man games into a single downloadable package. The collection includes 1980’s Pac-Man, 1982’s Super Pac-Man, 1983’s Pac & Pal, the side-scrolling Pac-Land, the isometric Pac-Mania, the puzzling Pac-Attack, 2007’s excellent Pac-Man: Championship Edition, the previously iOS-exclusive Pac-Man Remix, and the formerly arcade-only Pac-Man Battle Royale
Players who purchase Pac-Man Museum on any platform by March 31 will also receive Ms. Pac-Man for free. Beginning April 1, it will revert to the $4.99 price it currently carries on the PSN and XBLA.
A price for Pac-Man Museum has yet to be announced by Bandai Namco.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Pac-Man Museum
XBL Store Today: Halo: Spartan Assault for Xbox 360
Microsoft previously said that Halo: Spartan Assault would be available to download from the Xbox Live Arcade sometime in January. Making it in just under the wire, the top-down shooter was added to the XBL Game Store today to fulfill Microsoft’s promise.
If you haven’t played Halo: Spartan Assault on a Windows 8 device or the Xbox One, here’s what you can expect:
Halo: Spartan Assault ($14.99)
Halo: Spartan Assault is a fast paced top-down shooter set during the timeline between “Halo 3” and “Halo 4,” progress your Spartan career as you engage in over 30 exciting Campaign missions using many of favorite Halo weapons, vehicles and armor abilities. Team-up on Xbox Live and fight with a friend against waves of the nightmarish Flood in the all-new online co-op multiplayer mode. Earn achievements, complete weekly Assault Ops and compete for the top scores in the leaderboards.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Halo: Spartan Assault