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
Brandon Sanderson and Little Orbit unite to transform Mistborn saga into an epic RPG
Take note, fantasy junkies; publisher Little Orbit plans to put out an RPG that will serve as a prequel to Brandon Sanderson’s best-selling Mistborn series, set several hundred years before the first Mistborn novel. Mistborn: Birthright will even include an original storyline penned by Sanderson himself.
This is not Sanderson’s first foray into video games; he recently finished work on Infinity Blade II and an accompanying novella called Infinity Blade: Awakening.
The upcoming RPG is due out in 2013, and will be available on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac. The gameplay will feature a unique combat system that includes “Allomancy”, an ability familiar to fans of the series that involves using metals to enhance the physical and mental capabilities of the user. For more on the game, you should check out the official website.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mistborn: Birthright
Rockstar takes gang warfare to the next level with “Crews” in Max Payne 3, GTA 5
Rockstar has announced a new feature for their Rockstar Games Social Club platform that’ll make its debut in Max Payne 3: Crews.
Crews are sort of like clans, except that they’ll exist outside of any individual game. Players will be able to join a Crew in Max Payne 3’s multiplayer mode and they’ll still be a member of that same Crew when future Rockstar games like Grand Theft Auto V, and other “appropriate titles,” are released.
In an interview with IGN, Rockstar’s Vice President of Creativity, Dan Houser, laid down some details on what you’ll be able to do with Crews:
How will Crews be able to interact?
Houser: One major way will be with Feuds. In multiplayer games we have a feature called Vendettas – if someone kills you twice, you can initiate a vendetta against them, which lets everyone know that you’re out to get that person. For you, a special X marks their blip when they’re visible to you on the map. If you take that person down, you get extra XP. If they survive your vendetta though, they get that XP.
Crew Feuds are essentially Crew Vendettas: impromptu skirmishes between crews that can spring up in multiplayer matches that quickly spawn a first-to-10-kills battle. You can be playing any team-based game with a completely new set of players, but if you spot two or more members of a crew you’re feuding with on the opposite team, any kills you get against them will count to the overall feud so rivalries will spring up automatically – and when they do, you’ll be notified and the grudge will come to the forefront of the game.
We’ll track who you’re feuding with, how long you’ve been feuding, and who’s winning. You’ll get extra XP for taking down members of crews you’re feuding with, so you’ll be able to remember those grudges for future matches. Again, we want to create more drama out of the interactions that go down in typical multiplayer matches.
And the beauty of this system is that crews persist over time and across future games. Multiplayer is an ever-more important part of all our games moving forward, and by creating crews through Social Club the crews that you create in Max Payne 3 will be ready and available for you to play in Grand Theft Auto V from day one. It’s all part of our larger approach to make multiplayer deeper and richer than what’s currently available, much more easily accessible to the newcomer and rewarding for the hardcore.
Whoa. Why didn’t anybody think of this before? Max Payne 3 will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 15 with the PC version following on May 29.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Grand Theft Auto V, Max Payne 3
Square Enix Steam titles on sale for a short time
Square Enix is having a huge sale on Steam that’s running from now until March 26th.
All Square Enix games and DLC packs will be half off throughout the five-day sale period, and there will be additional “Daily Deals” that promise even greater savings (such as today’s offer of 75% off any Hitman title). Steam is also selling a “Square Enix Hit Collection” bundle with over 15 titles, including classics like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Tomb Raider: Legend, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Hitman: Blood Money.
Check out Steam for more details!
The Cross and The Controller: Mass Effect’s Picture of Faith
SPOILER WARNING: This article will talk about the death of a major character in Mass Effect 3 that takes place about a third of the way through the game… unless, of course, that character died in your playthrough of Mass Effect 2.
Prayer is a very strange thing. It takes numerous forms, from the recitation of memorized words, often ancient, to the spontaneous utterances of exuberant or anguished hearts. It can be practiced in deep silence, and it can be as informal as a muttered word for help before a surgery or a battle. Prayer flows out of human beings; we seem to be hardwired for it, either by some quirk of natural selection or through deep enculturation. The old saying “there are no atheists in foxholes” suggests the fact that, at our core, humanity is a praying species.
It’s important to note that none of this is an apologetic for the existence of God. One needs a particular understanding of the bare facts to interpret them in any particular way. Our penchant for prayer may be a quirk of genetic mutation; it may be a result of millennia of conditioning. Neither suggests that there is anyone listening to our prayer. So, while I do believe that our prayers are heard, I do not think the fact that we pray is somehow proof of that. (more…)
BioWare co-founder comments on Mass Effect 3 backlash, hints at new ending DLC
Developers at BioWare can’t stop talking about Mass Effect 3 and the fan backlash concerning the ending. They preface each new comment with some variation of “we’ll talk about it later” and then they proceed to talk about it right now in that diplomatic PR-speak that artists and entertainers use when they’ve screwed up: “I’m sorry, the team was great, I’m sorry, everybody else seems to like it, I’m sorry…”
The latest person to join the backlash bandwagon is BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka, who took to the BioWare Blog to praise the development team, crow about the very positive critical response, and to again admit that answers to fan complaints are coming in “a timely way.”
But Muzyka also spoke about BioWare’s post-release plans for Mass Effect 3 including “a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions [of the ending], providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey.” While he didn’t come right out and say it, it seems likely that a “new ending” DLC pack is in the works as these content initiatives will join several additional Mass Effect 3 expansions the team was already developing. The developer promised that more information about these content initiatives will be revealed in April.
The BioWare General Manager also confirmed that the Mass Effect franchise will continue with “new full games” in the series. So let’s hope the launch of Mass Effect 4 (or whatever it’s called) goes much smoother.
Muzyka closed by thanking fans for their feedback and, once again, tried to assure them “we are listening.”
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect: Andromeda
First Walking Dead trailer, pricing details shamble into focus
After months of teasing, Telltale Games is finally ready to satisfy the hunger of gamers everywhere looking for details about The Walking Dead. The first episode of the five-part series will be available for the PC, Mac, iOS, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. PSN, XBLA, and iPod/iPad owners will be able to purchase it for $5 (or the Microsoft-approved equivalent) while PC/Mac players will have to pre-purchase the entire series for $24.99.
However, those that pre-order the PC game before it’s release will receive a 10% discount and be entered into a contest to become a character in the game. According to Telltale, “they will be modeled as a human survivor before being killed and then returned to life as a ravenous zombie.” Kick ass!
In addition to a release window, pricing information, and the first trailer, Telltale has also released a story synopsis:
An untold story following convicted criminal Lee Everett; a man given a second chance at life in a world gone to hell. With danger around every corner, protecting an orphaned girl named Clementine may offer him redemption in a world of true horror.
Dan Connors, Telltale’s co-founder and CEO is understandably excited: “This trailer really shows off how our artists have managed to take the 2D art style of the comic books and create a 3D world allowing fans to truly interact with Robert Kirkman’s world for the very first time. We hope that fans will like what they see and be excited by the chance to join the cast of the game; we promise they’ll die horribly!”
That better be a promise, Mr. Connors!
BioWare cancels Dragon Age II expansion, asks for fan feedback on franchise’s future
Dragon Age II was released more than a year ago and while many players were disappointed in the new direction the series took, the adventures of Hawke still had plenty of fans. However, it looks it wasn’t enough as Executive Producer Mark Darrah has confirmed (via Twitter) that an expansion for the game, titled Dragon Age II: Exalted March, was recently canceled.
Afterwords, Darrah ventured into the BioWare Forums (a scary place nowadays) and revealed a little more about the future of the franchise. According to the developer, Dragon Age II won’t be completely forgotten as BioWare will try to complete Hawke’s tale in a future game.
He also confirmed that the Dragon Age team will be listening very closely to fan feedback and incorporating it into Dragon Age III:
We’ll be attending a number of conventions and gatherings, including PAX East in April. The most valuable thing we can get out of those meetings is to hear from you on those same topics – what does Dragon Age mean to you, and where would you like to see it go? We’re excited to hear what you have to say!
Interesting. Was this the plan all along or did the Mass Effect 3 backlash rewrite BioWare’s entire culture?
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Disney brings Brave to consoles, DS, PC this Summer
Pixar’s next movie, Brave, opens on June 22. As you’d expect for one of the Summer’s biggest blockbusters, it’ll receive a tie-in game published by Disney Interactive.
Brave will be available for the DS, PC, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 sometime this Summer (probably in early June). The game asks players to “run, jump and battle their way through the rugged landscape of mythical and mysterious Scotland” as the movie’s main character, Merida:
A third person action-adventure, Brave: The Video Game expands the tale beyond the movie’s storyline. Gamers can play as Merida, an expert archer and heroine, and in the console versions, players can also play as other entertaining characters from the film. In addition, they will be able to go on quests through a magical world and solve puzzles to uncover secrets.
If that doesn’t convince you to give Brave a shot, how about this: the PC, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 versions will include a Bear Mode where you, yes, play as a bear.