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
- 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”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: Top Story
Warp Zoned Podcast: Episode 21
Welcome to Episode 21 of the Warp Zoned Podcast! In this exciting installment, Nicole Kline, Ryan Littlefield, and John Scalzo talk about what they’re playing, what they can’t wait to be playing, and just what kind of players they really are. The main topic of discussion is Nintendo’s 3DS conference and the strangeness of their added analog stick, as well as how fantastic some of the new games look (though Nicole still refuses to call it Mario Kart 7). They also spend some time talking about Rachel’s breasts, as well as what they’re excited about – and not so excited about – with the PlayStation Vita. analog sticks, breasts, and Katamari – what more could you want in a podcast?
You can listen to the podcast below, or download it for later listening from SoundCloud.
Warp Zoned Podcast: Episode 21 by WarpZoned
Music Credits:
WZ Podcast Intro – Ryan Littlefield
Life Is A Perfect Video Game – Colorpulse
Ico: Castle in the Mist Review: Everything a Video Game Tie-In Should Be
Ico: Castle in the Mist is a novelization of the video game Ico as imagined by a dedicated fan – Japanese author Miyuki Miyabe. Published in 2004 in Japan, it has finally been brought to our shores, translated by video game localizer Alexander O. Smith. The book is not a direct explanation of what happens in the game; rather, it’s a retelling of the story, with details that flesh out the missing pieces. Instead of coming out a horribly uncreative jumble, as books based on video games often are, Miyabe has woven an intricate and beautiful tale that embellishes and enhances what the game creators have already made. (more…)
Warp Zoned Podcast: Episode 20
Welcome to Episode 20 of the Warp Zoned podcast! Nicole Kline, Ryan Littlefield, and John Scalzo spend almost the entire episode talking about the Fall game rush! They cover everything from Resistance 3, to Gears of War 3, to Spider-Man: Edge of Time. They also discuss Michael Phelps, Sonic, Assassin’s Creed and, of course: GOLDENEYE! Don’t miss this episode of the Warp Zoned podcast, or you won’t know just how much money you’re going to be spending in the next few months – though Nicole and John stopped Ryan from diving right into 2012 as well. As always, feel free to email us at mailbag [at] warpzoned [dot] com and let us know what games you’re looking forward to, or if we missed anything good that we should have mentioned!
You can listen to the podcast below, or download it for later listening from SoundCloud. And be sure to check back next week for Episode 21!
Ready Player One Review: The Greatest Video Game Romance Ever Written
Ready Player One is Ernest Cline’s first novel, though it’s not his first foray into a nerdy niche topic. You may have seen the movie for which he wrote the screenplay, the veritable nerdfest Fanboys. Cline definitely has a penchant for this sort of thing – he has a vast store of knowledge of geek culture and a ridiculous ability to transform it into pure entertainment. Lightning strikes twice in this case, as his novel completely won me over. (more…)
Study Finds Video Game Competition, Not Violence, Can Lead To Aggression
A new study at Ontario’s Brock University has turned the old adage, “playing violent video games causes violence,” on its head. A paper published in the American Psychological Association’s journal Psychology of Violence entitled, “The Effect of Video Game Competition and Violence on Aggressive Behavior: Which Characteristic Has the Greatest Influence,” concluded that it was the competitive nature of a video game that led to aggressive behavior, and not the level of violence.
Researchers Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby conducted two experiments. The first involved 42 test subjects playing either the violent action game Conan or the nonviolent racing game Fuel. Participants rated the games similar on competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action, so the only difference was the level of violence. Test subjects’ post-gaming aggressiveness was measured by which of four hot sauces they would serve to another participant – the hotter the sauce, the more aggressive they were. (Yes, hot sauce – remember, they’re Canadians, so giving the test subjects guns, bazookas or nukes is a wee bit frowned upon.)
The researchers found no difference in aggressiveness between the two groups of gamers. They write, “The results suggest that the violent content alone was not sufficient to produce elevations in aggressive behavior compared with a nonviolent video game.” (more…)
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition Review: Fighting Like It’s 1999
If you are a casual fan of fighting games, it would be understandable if you saw the jump from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter IV as a little confusing. After all, while Street Fighter II is considered one of gaming’s most important jewels, Street Fighter III seemed to be something of a ghost. Releasing after the peak of fighting game mania, SFIII only saw a console release on Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast, severely limiting the audience compared to, say, the PlayStation or the PlayStation 2. However, thanks to Xbox Live Arcade, Street Fighter III is getting a chance to appeal to a brand new audience. Dubbed Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, this release is designed to finally bridge the SFII and SFIV gap for the people who barely knew the third game existed. (more…)
Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Warp Zoned Podcast: Episode 19
We’ve got something new for you on the latest edition of the Warp Zoned podcast! Not only do we talk about what we’re playing, we actually sit around playing some games for your amusement! Ryan Littlefield and Adam Woolcott take on the devastation that is Beautiful Katamari, while Nicole Kline fruitlessly curses at Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. They eventually actually sort of talk about the news and what’s been going on, like PAX Prime and Operation Rainfall, and there’s a certainty that someone mentions Mass Effect, which pleases Ryan. Want us to play a specific game, or get in on the fun? E-mail us at mailbag [at] warpzoned [dot] com and give us some love.
And be sure to check back next week for Episode 20!
The Next Level: The Games of September 2011
Autumn – and the crazy Fall gaming schedule – is upon us. There’s so much coming out in the first week of September alone that we here at Warp Zoned are reeling with undisguised glee… and yes, just a touch of fear. Read on to see what we’re excited about in the insanely huge list of September releases. (more…)