Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: PC
Journey lands 11 nominations at 2013 DICE Awards
The Interactive Achievement Awards will be sporting a new look in 2013, but they’ve managed to recognize the great games all the same. Now known as the DICE Awards, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences revealed their picks for the best games of the year this morning, nominating thatgamecompany’s Journey for an astonishing 11 awards.
The game is up for… deep breath… Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Downloadable Game of the Year, Casual Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Story.
Other Game of the Year contenders include Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. All four of those games are up for multiple awards, along with other big hitters like Halo 4 (six nominations) and Dishonored (five nominations).
The 2013 DICE Awards will be given out on February 7 during the 2013 DICE Summit. Our host for the evening will be Chris Hardwick, best known as the host of The Nerdist and Telltale’s Talking Dead (hmmm…).
The complete list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Journey, The Walking Dead, XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the best-selling game in all of 2012 too
As the best-selling game of the month in November and December, Call of Duty: Black Ops II has consistently blown away the competition since its November 13th launch. But seven weeks was all it needed to stand tall as the best-selling game of all of 2012.
The complete list doesn’t include many surprises. Like the list of bestsellers from December 2012, no original games are included in the full-year list. Microsoft’s Halo 4 was the only platform-exclusive title to make the list and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the only 2011 release able to retain its spot in the top ten.
In terms of retail sales, 2012 was a down year for the game industry. Retail sales of games, accessories, and consoles (not counting used games/hardware or downloadable games/content) totaled $13.26 billion, which was off 20% from 2011’s $16.99 billion total. perhaps this Fall’s expected launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 will kickstart the industry in 2013.
The complete 2012 top ten can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed III, Borderlands 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, FIFA Soccer 13, Halo 4, Just Dance 4, Lego Batman 2, Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, NPD
CoD Black Ops II was the best-selling game of December 2012
For the second straight month, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II stands tall as the best-selling game of the month, per The NPD Group’s December 2012 report.
The first person shooter fended off a bevy of sequels including the rest of the top five: Just Dance 4, Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed III, and Madden NFL 13. In fact, not a single non-sequel cracked the top ten last month.
Once again, The NPD Group is reporting (via Game Informer) that game sales and console sales are down relative to 2011 (which was itself down from 2010). Of course, the NPD Group’s inability to track sales of downloadable games makes this statistic less than helpful.
The full top ten from last month can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Far Cry 3, FIFA Soccer 13, Halo 4, Just Dance 4, Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, New Super Mario Bros. 2, NPD, Skylanders Giants
Omerta: City of Gangsters announced for Mac; PC, Xbox 360 versions set for February 12
Kalypso Media and Haemimont Games have announced that Omerta: City of Gangsters will be available for the PC and Xbox 360 on February 12. I’m sure the publisher plans to make your local game store an offer it can’t refuse to carry it.
The two companies have also confirmed that the turn-based strategy game will be available for the Mac (on the Apple Mac Store and the Steam Mac Store) sometime in early 2013.
Finally, a new gameplay trailer is available for your viewing pleasure. Unless you’ve been prohibited from watching it.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox 360
Tagged Omerta: City of Gangsters
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct coming to Wii U too; March release confirmed
Glenn Gamble, a Producer at Terminal Reality, has revealed that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, Activision’s first person shooter based on the popular AMC show, will be available for the Wii U in addition to the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
So what will the Wii U version bring to Survival Instinct? A more streamlined inventory system, according to Gamble:
“We didn’t want to change the game, because the game had already been established, so we tried to say, ‘What can we augment with the Wii U version?’ That’s where it’s basically a more elegant inventory management system. With the Wii U you have access to your backpack at all times, so you can tap what weapons you want, you can drop stuff. It’s a lot more streamlined.”
Finally, Gamble confirmed that the game will be released in Europe on March 29, just two days before the third season finale. Because of the close tie-in with the TV show, a North American release date is likely to be very similar.
UPDATE: As expected, Activision has announced The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will be released in North America on March 26.
[Source: Digital Spy]
Treyarch officially unveils Revolution map pack for CoD Black Ops II
It appears that the rumors are true. Announced yesterday by Treyarch and Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s first downloadable map pack will be known as Revolution.
Available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on January 29, Revolution will include four new multiplayer maps, a new Zombies map, a new Zombies gametype, and a new weapon (The Peacekeeper, a new SMG/assault rifle hybrid). You can watch the trailer above for all the details on the new maps or you can read about them yourself right here:
- “Downhill” – Set in the ski country of the French Alps, where players fight their way down the slopes and through a ski lodge, while avoiding the moving hazards of the mountain’s gondola system.
- “Grind” – Transports players to the historic birthplace of skateboarding, California’s Venice Beach, where they will battle it out through the ramps and half-pipes of this massive, epic skate park in a multiplayer environment comprised of unique curved architecture requiring players to adapt and learn new ways to take cover.
- “Hydro” – Opponents must dodge the floodwaters as they contend for dominance of this hydroelectric dam facility in Pakistan, filled with treacherous spillways.
- “Mirage” – Pits players in competition amidst the sand dunes of a dilapidated luxury resort in the sandstorm-devastated Gobi Desert, where a range of long-distance and close-quarters combat will mix up the action for all play styles.
- “Die Rise” (Zombies) – Transports players to the Far East, where they will attempt to overcome a zombie infestation inside a series of collapsed skyscrapers towering over the remains of an obliterated Chinese city.
“Die Rise” will be joined by “Turned,” a new Zombies gametype that lets players play as the undead for the first time.
The Revolution map pack will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points ($14.99) or as a free download for owners of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC Season Pass. Revolution will be released on additional platforms (including the PC, PS3, and hopefully the Wii U) at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review: Let This Call Go To Voicemail
The Call of Duty franchise practically prints money for Activision shareholders. It is for this reason that an annual release in November is as certain as Thanksgiving. 2012 marked Treyarch’s turn in the development driver seat and they are looking to show that they aren’t just the Call of Duty “B-Team.” Unfortunately, Call of Duty: Black Ops II falls short of the lofty expectations set forth by the stellar World at War and the original Black Ops. (more…)
DayZ standalone version “overhauls” the zombie apocalypse with inventory, UI tweaks
Project Leader Dean Hall and his team at Bohemia Interactive missed their planned 2012 release date for the standalone edition of DayZ. But they’ve got a good excuse. Hall’s latest development update has revealed that Bohemia has used the extra time to rebuild the game engine and “[make DayZ] the game […] we all dreamed it could be.”
Besides changes to the game engine and the user interface, Hall’s main focus has been on overhauling the inventory system. From the sounds of it, this new system could change the way we look at surviving the post-apocalyptic landscape of your average zombie game:
You scavenge for items now, as individual parts, picking up pieces rather than piles, looking for cans on shelves or under beds. The new system opens the door for durability of items, disease tracking (cholera lingering on clothes a player wears…), batteries, addon components, and much more. If you shoot a player in the head to take his night vision, you will damage the night vision. The changes to this inventory system are huge.
Hall has also revealed that Bohemia is planning an internal test of DayZ and that we can expect a new release date only after any issues discovered during the test are fixed.