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: Mobile
European publisher Rising Star Games opens a US office
Rising Star Games will be expanding beyond Europe in the coming days as they’ve announced the opening of a North American office. The publisher specializes in localizing quirky Japanese games, and mostly has that market to themselves in Europe. By jumping in to the American game market, they’ll now be competing against several established players in that space such as XSEED, Atlus, NIS America, and Aksys Games.
But as they say, more competition is always a good thing.
Rising Star plans to make a splash with their first North American release this Spring when the company will bring Cave’s Akai Katana to the Xbox 360 in both Europe and North America.
The publisher also plans to delve into downloadable games for the first time with the launch of their Rising Star Games Digital label. The digital group will work on bringing “the most engaging video games” to the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Steam, the Android Marketplace and the iTunes App Store.
Uncharted 3 leads the 2012 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards with 12 nominations
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominees for the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards and, to save everybody some time, they just recycled the nominee list from 2010.
OK, not really. But a surprising number of games on this year’s ballot are part of franchises that took home some IAA hardware in 2010. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception leads all nominees with 12 nominations, just like Uncharted 2, which nearly swept the 2010 IAAs. Batman: Arkham Asylum won every award that Uncharted 2 didn’t in 2010, and so it goes in 2012 as Batman: Arkham City racked up six nominations this year.
Other games with more than five nominations include Portal 2 (ten), L.A. Noire (nine), Battlefield 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (six each).
Many of those multiple nominees (Arkham City, Skyrim, Portal 2, and Uncharted 3) will be involved in the five-way battle royale for the IAA Game of the Year award. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword rounds out the the category.
Hit the break for a complete list of every nominated game in all categories. And remember, the 2012 AIAS IAAs will be handed out during this year’s DICE Summit on February 9. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Breakout Boost Review: Boost Breaks Bricks Brilliantly
Call it Breakout. Call it Arkanoid. Call it Brickles. Whatever title you use, everyone is familiar with the “bricks-and-balls” genre.
A small paddle is located at the bottom of the screen while a large wall of bricks is located at the top. Using the paddle, players must knock the ball back into the wall until all the bricks are destroyed. It’s such a simple design that the genre is often referred to as “one-player Pong.” (more…)
Catball Eats It All Review: A Purr-fect Game on the Go
The iOS marketplace is full of crazy games, and I haven’t even come close to scratching the surface. But there’s one game I’ve discovered that fulfills almost every single thing I love about video games: it’s fun, it’s cute, it’s addictive, it’s smooth, and most of all, it works. That game is called Catball Eats it All, and it’s available for the iPad and iPod Touch. Imagine if you married Katamari with LocoRoco and plopped it down on the iPad. That’s the adorable union you’ve got with Catball. (more…)
Skyrim, Portal 2, Bastion nab 5 nominations at 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Conference has handed out nominations for their 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards and, prepare to be shocked, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bastion, and Portal 2 each scored five nominations apiece.
Wait a minute, that’s not shocking at all! Those three games have been sweeping every Game of the Year contest of 2011.
Skyrim and Portal 2 will be joined by Batman: Arkham City, Dark Souls, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution in the coveted GDCA Game of the Year category. Bastion will battle it out against From Dust, Frozen Synapse, Outland, and Stacking for the honor of Best Downloadable Game.
Skyrim, Bastion, and Portal 2 will fight it out in many of the same categories throughout the rest of the awards show. Skyrim and Portal 2 were both nominated for Best Game Design while Portal 2 and Bastion will go head-to-head for Best Narrative and the Innovation award. Meanwhile, all three games were nominated for Best Audio.
Bastion developer Supergiant Games is also up for Best Debut.
The Game Developers Choice Awards will be given out on March 7. You can check out the complete list of nominees after the break. (more…)
The Official Mega-Super-Awesome Video Game Release Calendar for 2012
Dick Clark is in Times Square and the big ball will drop in less than 36 hours. That’s right folks, 2011 is coming to an end. But all that means is that 2012 is (quite literally) right around the corner. And with it comes a huge new year of gaming. In 2012, we’ll witness the launch of the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Wii U. We’ll also welcome back the bullet-time action of Max Payne, the knee-cracking excitement of NFL Blitz, and a rousing return to the world of BioShock. There’s also the tomb raiding rebirth of Lara Croft, another count of Grand Theft Auto, the first Kid Icarus game in over two decades, and the gravity-defying feats of Inversion.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what else we’ll be playing in 2012 (Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments)… (more…)
Sega reveals Tails, Metal Sonic to return in Sonic 4 Episode 2
Ken Balough, Sega’s Digital Brand Manager, recently sat down with GameSpot to reveal that the publisher is still hard at work on Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II. What’s been taking so long? Apparently Sega is listening to the fan complaints and creating all-new graphics and physics engines for the game.
Oh, and they’re also inserting Miles “Tails” Prower as your sidekick and they’ve resurrected Metal Sonic to be the villain. Hit the break to view the entire interview.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II will be coming to the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and mobile platforms like iOS, Windows Phone, and Android in 2012 (sorry Wii owners). (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
Minecraft tops Time Magazine’s top 10 video games of 2011
Time Magazine has announced their “Top 10 Everything of 2011” lists, which of course contains a list of video games. Did your favorite games of this year make the list? Number 10…
10. Battlefield 3
9. Sword & Sworcery
8. Dark Souls
7. The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim
6. Bastion
5. Batman: Arkham City
4. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
2. Portal 2
1. Minecraft
My favorite game of 2011, Dead Space 2, did not make that list – nor have I seen it on any other lists. That’s what happens when games get released at the beginning of the year, I suppose. Ah well. For full commentary, check out the Time Magazine article.