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
Live action Prey 2 trailer is bothering me
OK, I understand that Prey was a highly acclaimed game, but the guy in the debut trailer for Prey 2 is seriously annoying. This live action clip is recorded by the guy who annoys everyone on the plane – he’s keeping his camcorder on even though he’s been told to turn it off (while you’ve already turned off your PSP) and he’s also trying to get footage of the prisoner you didn’t know was being transported on your flight. If you want to hear the epitome of douchiness in American culture, just skip ahead to 1:06 and listen to how he says “sweeet” and “ohhhhh, that’s bad ass…” with special emphasis on the “ohhhh” and “ssss” at the end. I seriously hope for the developers’ sake the game is not this annoying.
Newest FEAR 3 trailer discusses fratricide
Did you beware the Ides of March yesterday? Or were you stabbed to death by 62 of your closest friends on the steps of the Senate?
Provided you survived the Ides, WB Games has released a new trailer for FEAR 3 (dubbed “The Ides of March”) that features the ghost of Paxton Fettel waxing philosophical about his death at the hands of his brother.
Man, your brother was a psychotic cannibal who you had to personally kill and your mother is a crazy person with uncontrollable psychic powers. Family reunions for the Point Man must be awkward.
Brink Hands-On Preview: Bringing the Customizable Fun
Brink was playable at PAX East this weekend, and it was fun. Not that I’m surprised – I’ve been kind of keeping myself out of the loop for this one on purpose because everything I hear is more of what I want, and that makes me want to remain spoiler-free. But being in the media makes it impossible to do that, and I was excited to get some hands-on time with the game. Brink is being developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, and focuses on the acrobatic parkour style that’s becoming more common in games (see also Mirror’s Edge). There are two factions, the Resistance and Security, who are vying for control of a city called the Ark. The Ark is a floating city, built to house 5,000 people – but now, Earth has been flooded, and tens of thousands more fight to take control of the city, which is now on the “brink” (see what they did there?) of a civil war. (more…)
“This Ain’t No Place for a Hero” – Batman: Arkham City gameplay trailer revealed
WB Games has uncloaked the first gameplay trailer for Batman: Arkham City. The two minute clip is titled “This Ain’t No Place for a Hero” and details the dangerous days (and wide open world) of the new Arkham City. Hugo Strange, Catwoman, Two-Face, Harley Quinn and The Clown Prince of Crime himself all make an appearance in the trailer, which closes with someone telling The Joker “It was all a lie, there’s nothing wrong with you.”
Batman: Arkham City will be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 18.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City
Interview: Augmenting Deus Ex: Human Revolution With Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas
One of the more high profile developers we got to interview at PAX East 2011 was Jean-Francois Dugas, Game Director on Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Eidos Montreal hopes the upcoming sequel will establish the franchise as a dominant force in gaming, but it’s been a long journey for Dugas and his team in their attempt to accomplish that. Throughout the interview we talk about the challenges of reviving an older franchise, their unique relationship with their Japanese publisher, Warren Spector’s feedback, and influences from movies to anime to Metal Gear to… Professor Layton? (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Previews, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PAX East 2011
Prey 2 stalks PC, PS3, Xbox 360 in 2012
Bethesda Softworks has announced they plan to publish Prey 2 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.
First announced back in 2008, the Elder Scrolls publisher acquired the rights to Prey 2 a year later. The game is being developed by Human Head (who also worked on Prey) and will make use of the id Tech 5 engine.
“We are thrilled to be working with Bethesda on Prey 2,” said Chris Rhinehart, project lead. “Prey 2 will provide gamers the opportunity to explore a new facet of the Prey universe, one that offers fast-paced action in an open, alien world. We’re excited to show gamers the title we have been working on and hope they will be as excited by this title as we are.”
More information on Prey 2 will be revealed in the May issues of Official Xbox Magazine and PlayStation: The Official Magazine.
Battle: Los Angeles sneaks onto XBLA
While Aaron Eckhart and the rest of the Battle: Los Angeles cast were pushing the movie to a blockbuster debut at the box office this weekend, Konami was quietly adding the film’s Xbox 360 adaptation to the Xbox Live Arcade.
Available to download for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), Battle: Los Angeles was developed by Saber Interactive as a first person shooter companion to the film. Players are placed in the boots of Corporal Lee Imlay as he fights the interstellar invasion alongside characters from the movie. Xbox 360 owners with a 3D TV will be able to splatter the aliens in style with a special stereoscopic 3D mode.
Battle: Los Angeles will be available to download through the PlayStation Network on March 22. It’ll also be added to Steam sometime later this month.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Battle: Los Angeles
Deus Ex: Human Revolution inspired by Blade Runner, RoboCop and… Professor Layton?
Eidos Montreal set up shop at this weekend’s PAX East show to talk about their upcoming game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The prequel to the Warren Spector-created series will be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 23.
We had an opportunity to sit down with Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas at the show. During the interview we talked about the challenges of reviving an older franchise, their unique relationship with Square Enix, Warren Spector’s feedback, and what influenced the team during the development of the game:
Dugas: [W]e look at everything around. Of course, we looked at Blade Runner, we went back even to RoboCop. We even watched Johnny Mnemonic again.
Warp Zoned: Ohhh no!
Dugas: Haha, yeah, but there are good ideas in that, even though it’s not a great movie, so you really need to have an open mind. And even the not so good stuff might be interesting anyway. We also went into Japanese anime like Ghost in the Shell, but also things like Solty Rei. I don’t know if you heard of that, it’s more obscure.
We also went into books about transhumanism, real stuff that’s non-fiction. Watched a lot of documentaries about a lot of things. So our sources of inspiration weren’t necessarily sci-fi driven, they were about everything that relates to our game. Like anticipation of the future, transhumanism, how to create good cyber punk setting, it was all over the place.
Even Professor Layton inspires me! (laughing) I love that game!
You can read our full interview with Jean-Francois Dugas right here.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Deus Ex: Human Revolution, PAX East 2011