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
PBS thinks Super Mario Bros. is a surreal work of art
PBS launched their latest online venture, the PBS Idea Channel, on Wednesday. Hosted by Mike Rugnetta, the channel attempts to answer all those crazy questions you get in your head. And believe it or not, the debut question was “Is Super Mario Bros. a piece of surrealist artwork?”
Rugnetta makes the point that when viewed from outside the influence of the series, a flower that lets you spit fire after you eat it, giant walking mushrooms, and a dinosaur that lays eggs is just INSANE! Except, it’s not…
“Spitting” fire was just a euphemism we kids came up with in the 80s. The canon depiction of a Fire Flower has always shown Mario throwing fireballs after touching it. Weird sure, but not as weird as Rugnetta wants to claim. Goombas (and other made up species that the host cites like the Hammer Bros. and Latiku) can be traced back to the zaniness found in Looney Tunes cartoons and Dr. Seuss books. I mean, is a Goomba all that different from The Lorax? As for Yoshi and his egg-laying, well, dinosaurs do lay eggs! It was even a major plot point in Jurassic Park.
Rugnetta does make one good point, and that is that surrealism is everywhere nowadays. Mario is a bit surreal, but most of the weirdness in the Mushroom Kingdom makes perfect sense… except for Birdo.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Super Mario Bros.
Us and the Game Industry showcases some of the unique thinkers in indy development
Us and the Game Industry follows three years of research and conversations with developers who were either starting or completing games in 2012. Director Stephanie Beth delves into the world of independent game making, and how developers are reinventing the medium of game design to create experiences far different from that of the ‘establishment’.
LA-based thatgamecompany is one of the development studios featured in the movie. Beth speaks with CEO and Creative Director Jenova Chen, as well as other members of the development team, throughout the three year production of Journey.
Also showcased is sole developer Jason Rohrer, creator of titles like Sleep is Death, and Inside a Star Filled Sky, and Daniel Cook, the Chief Creative Officer at Spry Fox.
Us and the Industry has a Kickstarter campaign going if you’d like to chip in a few bucks to help this movie reach theaters.
For more information on the documentary, or on Stephanie Beth and the developers featured in the film, visit the film’s website.
Daily Scoop: March 15, 2012 – The Ides of March!
Ah, the Ides of March! An ominous day, as always. But tomorrow is sure to be awesome, as it is the first day of Game Fest down in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian American Art Museum! It launches a six and a half month celebration of video games as art. And what better way to do that than to talk about games like Journey and have a conversation with Hideo Kojima? I’ll be there, following him around and trying to get my picture taken with him. It’ll be E3 2010 all over again!
I’ve got a lot of deals for you today! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Nintendo’s Tetris: Axis. It’s $14.73 today, and is available on the Nintendo 3DS. Amazon’s also got some other pretty great deals going on as well, including a free copy of Mass Effect 3 when you buy an Xbox 360 Console, a free copy of Uncharted 3 when you buy a PlayStation 3, and a 50% off sale on Gears of War 3, bringing it to $29.99.
EA is also having a pretty wicked sale – buy a copy of Mass Effect 3, get Arkham City for $10. It’s like they want you to buy video games.
And I’ve got another day of three t-shirts for you! Hit the jump for the details. (more…)
Silent Hill: The Terror Engine Review: An Academic View of Survival Horror
Silent Hill: The Terror Engine is an academic text about the Silent Hill franchise that touches many aspects of that series as well as those of other frightening game franchises. It also goes into horror films and their influence on the survival horror genre of gaming. The author, Bernard Perron, also refers to many texts and articles, drawing from a huge reservoir of data on the horror genre across all media. But it’s more than just a dry academic text – it’s obvious that he is a fan of not just the series but also gaming in general. His voice is a critical one that comes from a place of dedication, passion, and affection. But is this enough to make the book one that is palatable to the non-academic reader? (more…)
“The Art of Video Games” opens in March at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Starting March 16th, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will be showcasing the forty year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on visual effects and technology. It will feature some of the most influential artists and designers in the industry, and games for twenty gaming systems.
Chris Melissinos, the curator of the exhibition, worked with the public and an advisory group of people from varying fields within the video game industry to select the 80 games included in the exhibition.
Five games will be featured to show player interaction with virtual worlds, and highlight design innovations that set the standards for the games that came after them. These games are Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower.
The exhibition will start with “Game Fest”, a three-day festival which will feature panel discussions, movie screenings, and live bands.
“The Art of Video Games” will run from March 16th through September 30th, and will travel to ten cities in the US following it’s presentation in Washington DC. For more information, visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s web site.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Flower, Myst, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Secret of Monkey Island
Daily Scoop: March 8, 2012 – You say it’s your birthday?
It’s my birthday too, yeah! And so far it’s an awesome one! It started out at midnight, when my amazing boyfriend gave me a copy of the dice-building game, Quarriors!! I tore it open and nearly spilled 130 dice everywhere. And today has continued to be awesome – even the weather is beautiful! Tonight, the Alex Mack Daddies are in the skee ball playoffs – so wish us luck!
Anyway, to the deals! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Aksys’ Fate/Extra Limited Edition. This PSP game is just $29.99 today, and boasts “extensive replay value” with “multiple story paths, each with their own unique dialog trees and character interactions that lead to different endings.” Righteous!
And on this auspicious day, we’ve got not one, not two, but THREE gaming shirts for you! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PSP
Robotics teams ready to rumble with Kinect
At the FIRST Robotics Competition in New York City, which is part of a larger celebration of science and technology, more than 60 robotics teams will be competing to earn a chance to go on to a global competition and qualify for scholarship money.
What does this have to do with gaming, you ask? Each team has an “alliance” of robots, and this year, they have the option to control one using an Xbox 360 Kinect instead of an autonomous routine. The Kinect controller will read the team member’s movements and translate those to the robot, creating a “hybrid” between man and machine. All very science fictiony, don’t you think?
Check out the video above of how the Kinect will be used to control robots at the competition!
The FIRST Robotics competition will be held March 16-18, 2012 at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. For more information about the New York City FIRST, or the competition, visit their website at NYCFIRST.org.
Daily Scoop: March 7, 2012 – Happy Wednesday!
It’s the middle of the week! And even closer to the weekend for me, as I’ve taken off Friday to recover from Thursday, which is my birthday! Chances are I won’t do a bit of drinking, but hey – it’ll be nice to have a three-day weekend and to sleep in, if you know what I’m saying. Taking off on your birthday is nice, too, but when it doesn’t behave and fall closer to the weekend, what can you do?
Not really much in the way of deals today. Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is pretty interesting – it’s Sniper Elite by, get this, Maximum Family Games. This Wii game is $19.99 today, and I’m assuming it helps you learn how to be a leet sniper… with your family. In the most maximum way possible.
Does anyone else get a kick out of this, or is it just me???
Alas, only one gaming t-shirt for sale today on the daily sites: (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, Wii