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: PS3
Activision working on Angry Birds for consoles
For the few people who have not played Angry Birds in one of its many iterations on their phone, PC or tablet, never fear, Activision will be bringing an HD version of the game to “consoles” (which consoles, or when, went unmentioned).
For some reason, this irks me. Despite loving the Angry Birds franchise, especially the Super Mario Galaxy-inspired Angry Birds Space, I like it fine on my phone. It is perfect for a touch screen, and would perhaps work well on the Wii U GamePad, but I cannot see anyone who owns a smartphone opting to pay more money for a console version that has a poorer control interface than the one originally designed for that type of game.
Perhaps my cynicism is ill-founded, and this is a brand new game that will make full use of a standard game controller. The company best known for the Call of Duty franchise will be revealing more details in the coming weeks.
[Source: Game Informer]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Angry Birds, E3 2012
Film actors join Star Trek game, battle lizard aliens The Gorn
Paramount Pictures, along with video game publisher Namco Bandai and developer Digital Extremes have revealed the enemy of their much anticipated game based on the rebooted universe of the new Star Trek films: the lethal, lizard-like species known as The Gorn. The alien race, originally designed by artist and prop designer Wah Chang, first appeared in the famous “Arena” episode of The Original Series. Although they have made subsequent appearances, including a laughable CGI version in the last TV iteration, Star Trek: Enterprise, they are seen as an iconic villain, especially for Captain Kirk, by those working on the game.
While perhaps not as famous as the Klingons, who J.J. Abrams has confirmed will be the antagonists of the sequel film, The Gorn are every bit as battle-thirsty. The game will see several distinct types of Gorn, from infantry Rushers to hardened Brutes, while the females of the species will be more cunning, able to climb walls with stealth.Carlson Choi, VP of Marketing at Namco Bandai Games America, sees The Gorn as the perfect villain for this new title:
“Great villains give our favorite characters a chance to become heroes in the process of attempting to eliminate a powerful threat, and Star Trek fans have been eagerly anticipating the moment when the antagonists of the game would be revealed. This is one of those moments and we couldn’t be more excited to give gamers a glimpse at the challenges that lie ahead for Kirk and Spock.”
Speaking of the infamous Starfleet Captain and his pointy-eared second-in-command, it had previously been revealed that the likenesses of actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto would be incorporated into the game, but now it has been confirmed that the actors will also lend their voices as well. Pine and Quinto will be joined in the game by the entire crew of the Enterprise: Zoe Saldana (Lieutenant Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty), Karl Urban (Dr. Bones McCoy), John Cho (Mr. Sulu) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov). They will all be bringing their vocal talents to the game’s script, which was written by Marianne Krawczyk (God of War), with input from the films’ writers and producers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
Set your phasers to stun and be prepared to beam me up in early 2013 on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360!
Atlus and ACE Team are bringing Zeno Clash II to PC, PS3, Xbox 360 in 2013
Atlus has been busy, it seems – the publisher announced that it will be teaming up with ACE Team to release Zeno Clash II in early 2013 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The first game was an indie first-person brawler, and the sequel is going to tie in RPG elements in a vast open-world setting to make it bigger than the original.
The game will also feature drop-in/drop-out online co-op, allowing players to team Ghat up with his sister, Rimat. Andres Bordeu, co-founder of ACE Team, had this to say:
“The world of Zenozoik is one of wild dreams and wilder nightmares. This is part of the reason we are working on Zeno Clash II, to give players the opportunity to explore Zenozoik with a friend via online cooperative multiplayer, turning those moments of wonder and awe into a shared adventure. We will make certain that going back and forth between solo and cooperative play preserves the consistency and impact of the narrative experience, while still allowing friends easily drop in and out of the game’s fulfilling exploration and visceral melee combat.”
Dead or Alive 5 fights its way into stores on September 25
Tired of waiting for your busty babe brawler? Well there’s good news for you: Dead or Alive 5 now has a release date, and it’s September 25. That’s just a little over three and half months away. Then you’ll be able to bounce boobs on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
[Source: Game Informer]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dead or Alive 5, E3 2012
Injustice ditches block button, adds Clash System
I think NetherRealm’s Injustice: Gods Among Us announcement was met with a worldwide chorus of, “It looks like Mortal Kombat with DC characters.” But there’s apparently more going on here under the hood.
For one thing, the game has jettisoned the block button, which was a staple of the Mortal Kombat series. Instead, Injustice will use Street Fighter-style blocking (pressing Back on the control pad).
Injustice will also use something called the Clash System, a chatty combo breaker system that attempts to emulate the verbal tet-a-tet often found in comic book fights.
“Once you go into this Clash thing, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, the characters will interact with each other. Batman will say specific stuff to Superman and vice-versa, different things than he would say to one of the other characters,” Lead Designer John Edwards said.
After they exchange a little smack talk, both characters will enter a “betting” phase, where they wager all or part of their super meter. The bets are kept secret (Edwards didn’t say how), and the higher bet wins the Clash.
“So if the defender wins the Clash, then he gets back all the health from that combo that he would have lost,” Edwards said. “If the attacker wins, [the defender] takes that damage plus a little bit more.”
It sounds a bit confusing, but hopefully it’ll all make sense when we see it in action ahead of Injustice’s 2013 release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.
[Source: Joystiq]
Ellen Page is a firestarter in first trailer for Beyond: Two Souls
Love it or hate it, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain was one of the most talked-about games of 2010. The developer looks to aim even higher with their next project, Beyond: Two Souls.
Featuring voice work from the Oscar-nominated Ellen Page (Juno), Beyond: Two Souls tells the story of Jodie Holmes, a woman with telekinetic abilities thanks to her psychic link to an entity she calls Aidan. Taking place across 15 years of her life, Beyond is an ambitious game.
And an ambitious game needs an ambitious debut, so be sure to check out the game’s astounding extended trailer above.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Beyond: Two Souls, E3 2012
Danica Patrick joins Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed; Wii U version announced
Horny teens and auto nuts everywhere can now celebrate the announcement that NASCAR racing hottie Danica Patrick will be a playable character in Sega’s Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. To promote the game, the driver and model will be racing a “No. 7 Sonic the Hedgehog Chevrolet” in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on November 3 at the Texas Motor Speedway. Danica herself was bursting with enthusiasm when asked about her being turned into a video game character:
“It’s a very exciting experience since I’ll be sharing the screen with such an iconic character. I cannot wait for gamers to jump into my customized, transformable vehicles and give Sonic a run for his rings this holiday season!”
The sequel to Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing will see the players take to the land, sea and air, similar to the N64’s underappreciated Diddy Kong Racing. Here, however, the vehicles will transform during the race in a triathlon fashion.
Sonic, Danica and the other All Stars will be appearing on the Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS, PS Vita, and PC this winter. The sequel will also race onto the Wii U this winter as well.
E3 trailer for The Last of Us shows brutal gameplay
E3 saw the release of more footage from Naughty Dog’s much anticipated new game The Last of Us, and boy was it brutal. Although initially it looks very similar to the Uncharted series, as the trailer progresses it has a distinct feel, conjuring up the tension and eeriness of I Am Legend or “The Walking Dead.” Joel certainly has a touch of Sheriff Rick Grimes about him.
The trailer sees Joel and Ellie attempting to reach a bridge and escape the city. They are strangers in this territory, controlled by scavenging hunters. The player remains in control of Joel, and the level felt reminiscent of the French Villa chapter in Uncharted 3, with Sully offering banter and, later on, support.
However, the game itself seems to flow smoother than Drake’s last outing, and whereas that world took some liberties with the action, The Last of Us looks to be more grounded in reality. There are no funny quips here. This is survival, kill or be killed. The game seems to have more of a focus on stealth, but once discovered, Joel has no alternative than to kill a group of hunters in order to protect himself and Ellie. AT one point he even uses a hunter as a human shield. Ellie helps out when Joel runs out of bullets; although it was unclear whether this was an automatic reaction by the companion AI, or whether it was an action directed by the player.
The other main distinction from the Uncharted series is the lack of ammunition and reliance on hand-to-hand combat or improvisation. After Joel has run out of bullets, we see him create a Molotov cocktail from items in his backpack, and setting fire to one of the hunters, before wrestling the last one for a shotgun and blowing his face off as he begs for his life. This is not merely a shooter; there is a gravity to the killing here, you can hear the regret in Troy Baker’s voice acting.
This, coupled with the foreboding musical score by double Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla makes The Last of Us all the more compelling, and my most anticipated title for 2012 (or maybe 2013).
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged E3 2012, The Last of Us