Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game Awards
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: Etcetera
Daily Scoop: March 4, 2011 – Let the PAX countdown begin!
It’s Friday! It’s one week until PAX East! You know what that means, right? It means my weekend is going to be full of laundry and packing and planning and scheming. It also means this is going to be one of the longest weeks of the year, because the week before PAX is always the longest week of the year. Whatever, time! You can’t stop the FUN!
Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Fable III for the Xbox 360. It’s $28.06 today, which seems completely and totally arbitrary, but whatever. That’s a good deal down from $59.99! So gobble this one up while you can.
Also, I am completely freaking out right now, because ThinkGeek is selling PixelJunk Shooter 2 t-shirts!! AIEEEEEEEE!!
This is amazing. They have this shirt (called “Ship It“) and another called “Acid Test.” So. Cool. As soon as these t-shirts are available as babydolls, I’m buying them both. Do you hear me, Timmy??? BOTH OF THEM!!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
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
‘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
Devil May Cry on its way to the big screen
Screen Gems, the same studio who developed the Resident Evil films, picked up the license to adapt another Capcom franchise to movies: Devil May Cry. Kyle Ward, who wrote the upcoming Fiasco Heights for Universal, has been hired to pen the script. Screen Gems hopes to develop the property as another film franchise, much like Resident Evil. The movie will (obviously) revolve around Dante, who avenges his mother’s death by killing demons.
The Devil May Cry series has been knowing for pioneering the contemporary style of the hack and slash genre since the PlayStation 2. The Resident Evil films weren’t so bad, so hopefully the film won’t disappoint die hard fans as much as the proposed Ninja Theory reboot of the franchise has.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Devil May Cry
USC is the top school for Video Game Design
For its April 2011 issue, GamePro teamed up with The Princeton Review to determine the best Video Game Design Study programs in North America. The University of Southern California (USC) took the top spot in both the undergraduate and graduate school rankings. The University of Utah, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Drexel University also appear on both lists.
The rankings were compiled through a survey that covered a wide range of topics, from academics and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements. The quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure was also examined as well as scholarship, financial aid and career opportunities. In total, more than 150 schools offer some kind of Video Game Design coursework.
The complete top ten for both undergraduate and graduate programs can be found after the break. More information on the schools selected can be found at the GamePro article or at The Princeton Review report. (more…)
Daily Scoop: February 28, 2011 – GDC!
It’s GDC week, kids! Hopefully we’ll see some great announcements coming out of this week. Keep your eyes on Warp Zoned for news and updates as soon as we get them!
Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is EA’s NCAA Football 11 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It’s got football, and sports stuff, and something called “An All-New Locomotion System” which just makes me wonder how much I really don’t know about football. It’s also got ESPN broadcast package integration, which sounds really serious. It’s $39.99 today down from $59.95, so if you’re a big fan of football games and haven’t had a chance to pick this up yet, this could be your lucky day.
The t-shirt of the day goes to Ript Apparel, whose “Street Water” gave me a good laugh this morning:
Initially I wondered if there was some Wonder Twins joke going on here, but since Zan isn’t forming out of that bucket of water to deliver a liquidy punch, I’m going to assume I added too much geek to it. Still, it’s an awesome shirt, and if you’re into Street Fighter, I’m guessing it’s worth the $10.
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Daily Scoop: February 25, 2011 – It’s Friday, I’m in love
It’s Friday, YAY! And I’m in love…with Radiant Historia. This JRPG by Atlus has two of my favorite things: time travel and steampunk. Need I say more?
Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Hori’s Xbox 360 Real Arcade Pro EX. This “hi-end next generation arcade style controller” even has an expansion port for your headset so you can still chat with your buddies. It’s $84.99 down from $129.99, which is a pretty good deal.
Also awesome today is that John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is being adapted for the big screen. Scalzi’s book series is heavily influenced by video games (and is super awesome), so this is definitely something gamers can start getting excited about.
Not much else going on today, but I love this t-shirt from Snorg Tees:
I know zombies are, like, so hackneyed these days, but whatever. I think it’s hilarious!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Watch the final launch of the Discovery space shuttle today in PlayStation Home
Today, the first live streaming event for the Sunset Yacht premium personal space in PlayStation Home will take place. NASA and Sony have announced that the Discovery space shuttle’s final launch will be streamed live today at 4:50pm Eastern Time. This is a watershed moment in LOOT’s Entertainment-On-Demand service, which allows players to watch popular TV shows, web series, and other content from inside their personal space. This is also a big moment for NASA TV’s initiatives in PlayStation Home, which include two additional space shuttle launches to be streamed in April and June, as well as hundreds of videos showing footage from NASA missions and other spectacular views of the universe.
Basically it’s all kinds of geeking coming together. If you’re interested, head to PlayStation Home for your super exclusive yacht, as you only have a few hours before the live stream.