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
- 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)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
Most Recent: PC
2013 Writers Guild Award for Videogame Writing nominees announced
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for their 2013 Writers Guild Awards, and with them, the nominees for “Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing.”
To be eligible for consideration, this year’s nominees include games that were released between December 1, 2011 and November 30, 2012 on featured on-screen writing credits. This year, the Guild has continued their love affair with Ubisoft and the Uncharted series by bestowing nominations on Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, and Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Other nominated games for 2013 include Halo 4, 007 Legends, and Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
The 2013 Writers Guild Awards will take place on Sunday, February 17, 2013. A complete list of the nominated writers and editors can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged 007 Legends, Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, Epic Mickey 2, Halo 4, Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Bethesda announces that all Skyrim DLC will be available on PS3 in February
After more than six months of delays, Bethesda has finally announced that all the downloadable content for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be available on the PlayStation Store in February.
Bethesda actually plans to go backwards with the PS3 DLC as Dragonborn will be available first, followed by Hearthfire, and then Dawnguard. As a mea culpa for the botched release schedule (Dawnguard was originally expected to come to the PS3 in July/August), all three add-ons will be priced at 50% off during their first week of availability.
And for all the PC gamers out there, you’ll be happy to know that Dragonborn will be available to download on February 5.
Posted in News, PC, PS3
Tagged The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Curt Schilling’s bloody sock goes up for auction next month
So it’s come to this.
After striking out with the Amalur MMO (internally known as Copernicus), Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios closed up shop last year. Even though the Big Huge Games-developed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning did well with critics, gamers, and your local retailer, it wasn’t enough to keep the developer’s doors open. Now, Schilling has been forced to sell the infamous “bloody sock” so that his creditors (including the taxpayers of the state of Rhode Island) will be able to reclaim some of the money owed to them.
The “bloody sock” was worn by Schilling during the Red Sox’s 2004 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Schilling loaned the sock to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where it resided as part of the museum’s FENtennial exhibit last year. The sock is currently in position of Heritage Auctions and will be displayed at their Manhattan office before being sold at a live auction on February 23 (Internet bidding will begin on February 4).
According to Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage Auctions, the “bloody sock” is expected to sell for at least $100,000. Though that’s considered a “conservative” estimate (insert joke about Schilling’s political leanings here).
[Source: Associated Press]
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Ubisoft sneaks Splinter Cell: Blacklist release into August
The good news… Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist has an official release date!
The bad news… the game’s previously scheduled Spring 2013 release date has been erased, like so many of Sam Fisher’s targets. Blacklist will now be available in stores for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on August 20.
To celebrate, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the game, which you can view above. And for some reason it intersplices the assassination action with video and audio from recent Presidential inaugurations. Yay for being timely, I guess, but why?
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Playable Google Doodle celebrates birthday of Frank Zamboni
Today’s Google Doodle is another playable one, promising to waste time for everyone. In the game, people go out on the ice and mark it all up, after which it’s your job to go out with your Zamboni and make the ice all smooth again. There are pickups and obstacles, of course, just like any good old-school game. And it’s also completely adorable.
The Doodle is in honor of Frank Zamboni, creator of – what else? – the Zamboni machine, which cleans up the ice after each period in a hockey game. This is also fortuitous seeing as the hockey lockout just ended and hockey will return this very weekend. Needless to say, I’m sure hockey fans are psyched to play this game.
Once the Doodle has smoothed its way off the Google homepage, you’ll still be able to play it here: google.com/doodles/zamboni
Happy 112th birthday, Frank!
MotoGP 13 races onto PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Vita in June
Milestone, an Italian development team, has announced that they’ve begun work on MotoGP 13, the latest iteration of the motorcycle racing simulation series. MotoGP 13 is currently scheduled to be released in June 2013 for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Vita.
Milestone’s last MotoGP-licensed game was 2008’s MotoGP 08. So for MotoGP 13, the developer has created a brand new gameplay engine that they say will allow enhanced “graphics, physics, bikes, environment modeling and in-game sound.”
“We’re very proud to announce MotoGP 13. After four years, [we] have the license again in our hands and we’d like to put all the expertise we have developed during this time into the game. This new project will offer players the chance to experience a brand new MotoGP game that will include the most-loved features plus brand new ones,” said Luisa Bixio, Milestone’s Marketing and Sales Director.
MotoGP 13 will include all the tracks and riders from the 2013 MotoGP season, as well as Quick Race Mode and a first-person/third-person Career Mode.
World Series of Poker: Full House Pro shuffles onto XBLA, Windows 8 this Spring
Microsoft’s Full House Poker gave your Xbox 360 Avatar a seat at the table in 2011. This Spring, the publisher plans to deal in Windows 8 users with a free-to-play sequel, World Series of Poker: Full House Pro.
Unlike Full House Poker’s $10 pricetag, Full House Pro will allot players a free stack of chips everyday in single-player, multiplayer, and tournament play. It will also bring back the “flashy Avatar accessories and amazing chip tricks” that the first game was known for while adding real-world casinos and Xbox 360/Windows 8 cross-play compatibility. The head-to-head Pro Takedown Mode and the All-in Pro Takedown Tournament will also make a reappearance.
And to really give you the feel of a World Series of Poker event, ESPN’s Lon McEachern and Norman Chad will provide card-by-card commentary.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox 360
Tagged World Series of Poker: Full House Pro
Deep Silver in deep over mutilated female torso statue
Some days, I feel like the gaming industry is making progress in accepting its female audience and making them feel welcome. But then something happens, like Deep Silver announcing a mutilated female torso statue with a Union Jack bikini barely covering up its lady bits, and all that faith starts to crumble.
Their reprehensible UK-only “Zombie Bait Edition” for Dead Island: Riptide was announced earlier today, and was quickly followed up by an apology, but the damage was already done. Many gamers, especially freelance writer Jenn Frank, were absolutely outraged. “People, how did we get here? Really? Really. How is a woman’s mangled body, a literal trophy on your desk, even remotely defensible,” she tweeted. Frank’s statements were on point, and she didn’t let up: “Stop sending me apologies. It takes a profound amount of foresight to conceive, design, produce a limited run, and then announce them.”
What can Deep Silver do to make up for this? I don’t imagine they can, at this point. Sure, they’ll still sell games, but they’ve just lost a lot of respect. All I want to do is quote Frank more: “So hey, I have as much right to this as you do, right? You can still have a voice, I’m so into that. But here’s a thought: BE LESS HORRIBLE,” and “Anyway, if you play games, I love you. You understand my world, and you already know games can change the world. So don’t stand for this BS.”
The Mary Sue had a good point – the apology doesn’t ever say the word “woman,” and mentions nothing about them actually pulling the offensive edition.
This is a sad day for the industry.
Show the 'Torso Edition'
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dead Island: Riptide