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: PS3
Jurassic Park delayed on PC/Mac, multiplatform launch coming Fall 2011
Last month we posted an in-depth dev diary and confirmed that Jurassic Park: The Game would have an April release date for the Mac and PC, with console versions coming later in the Fall. Telltale is scrapping that schedule, instead opting for a simultaneous multiplatform release later this year. This doesn’t seem to be an arbitrary decision, with the company genuinely wanting to make the best game possible:
We see a ton of potential in the game’s exciting mechanics and style and feel we can take what we already have in place to an even more thrilling level, so we’ve decided to continue work on the game and launch the PC/Mac version of Jurassic Park: The Game to coincide with the our multiplatform release in fall 2011.
As an apology to those who pre-ordered the first full season on Mac or PC, Telltale will refund your money and send you a voucher for a copy of any Telltale game you wish, regardless of whether you want to wait and use it for Jurassic Park later in the year.
Jurassic Park: The Game is coming to PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Jurassic Park
Sony says “we didn’t know hackers stole info” as CT Senator goes after company
It looks like gamers aren’t the only ones that can’t believe Sony waited as long as they did to inform consumers about their lost personal information. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal has written a letter to SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton demanding that consumers be compensated for the security breach and Sony’s failure to notify PlayStation Network users in a timely manner.
The Senator is asking Sony to provide PSN users with free access to credit reporting services for two years (this service is actually already provided by the federal government) and asked that “affected individuals [..] be provided with sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft.”
While I’m sure gamers everywhere appreciate Blumenthal going to bat for them, Sony is actually claiming that they just learned of the user information theft on Monday, April 25th. A Sony spokesman posted the following timeline of events on the PlayStation.Blog late last night:
There’s a difference in timing between when we identified there was an intrusion and when we learned of consumers’ data being compromised. […] It was necessary to conduct several days of forensic analysis, and it took our experts until yesterday to understand the scope of the breach.
The forehead-slapping stupidity of that statement makes me think the Senator might have a point. Sony’s failure to admit it was a strong possibiliy that hackers accessed the personal information of 77 million PSN users on the 19th is inexcusable.
Maybe it really is the “ApocalyPS3” for Sony…
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
Sony admits hackers stole personal info, possibly credit card numbers as well
First, the good news. Sony has “a clear path” to bringing the PlayStation Network back online. The software giant expects some services to be back online within a week. It’s not much, but a preliminary timetable is more than we knew before.
Now the bad news… HACKERS HAVE STOLEN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM SONY! According to Sony, during the intrusion, an outside party obtained the following information from PSN users:
[N]ame, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. […] If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.
While Sony states they are still investigating the security breach, I can’t believe they just learned what personal information (and possible credit card information) the hackers gained access to today. Sony should have notified PS3 owners about this possibility a week ago and I’m shocked that they, quite literally, said nothing over the holiday weekend.
More information is available at the PlayStation.Blog.
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
COD Black Ops goes grindhouse: Buffy, Freddy, Machete battle zombies
Treyarch promised “something special” for the new “Call of the Dead” mode included in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation Map Pack and they definitely made good on their promise.
Taking a page from Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse, the developer has enlisted a quartet of the biggest names from zombie films and television. Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Danny Trejo (Machete), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Michael Rooker (“The Walking Dead”) have all performed voicework and supplied the use of their likenesses for the DLC pack. While they’re not officially playing Buffy, Machete, Freddy Krueger and Merle Dixon, they’ve definitely dressed the part.
The best part is who Treyarch got to play the leader of the Siberian zombies that the team encounters: George “The Godfather of the Zombie Movie” Romero! That’s just too awesome!
The Escalation Map Pack will be available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on May 3 with PC and PSN versions following soon after.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops
Portal 2 Review: Buy it. For Science. You Monster.
When Portal 2 was announced, the question wasn’t whether or not it would be good, but whether or not it would be successful. As a sequel to a short game that was added in as an extra on The Orange Box, many people wondered if it could live up to the original and if it was worth making a sequel. But Valve has done it again – they’ve given us a game rich with story and full of new and interesting gameplay. It still remains within the Aperture Science universe, and it still has that same self-contained story, but now it’s been expanded further. Portal 2 is a monumental success, and should be an example for how sequels can succeed under the right guidance and passion. (more…)
THQ renews Warhammer 40,000 license
THQ and Games Workshop have announced today that they are renewing THQ’s exclusive license to prepare video game adaptations of the popular Warhammer 40,000 tabletop war game.
The publisher has two Warhammer 40,000 games in development: PC/360/PS3 third person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and MMORPG Warhammer 40,000: Dark Milennium Online. THQ President and Ceo Brian Farrell expressed his enthusiasm for both games, still scheduled to launch this year, saying, “our envisioning of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will continue to grow with top quality games across all platforms, including the upcoming launches of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.”
The last big game to come out of this license, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, was a notable success among PC gamers, breathing a little extra life into the Real Time Strategy genre.
In other tabletop news, anyone wanna get in on a D&D campaign?
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium Online, Warhammer 40000: Space Marine
Daily Scoop: April 26, 2011 – It’s not a Crysis
Today is a beautiful day! The weather people keep saying it’s going to rain, but I am at a point where I don’t think I trust them anymore. They’ve lied about the snow, they’ve lied about the rain…if they lie about the sunshine, then I’ll start getting belligerent!
Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is EA’s Crysis 2 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It’s on sale for $39.95 down from $59.95, which is a damn good deal. (Someone should probably ask Mike Gutierrez if he thinks it’s worth spending even that much after his review.)
Amazon’s also got some Kinect games on sale – three of them are $10 off, but Kinectimals is over $20 off! Now is a good time to pick it up if you’re Kinect-ed.
There are tons of awesome t-shirts today, including a great Shaun of the Dead one, as well as a heart-wrenching Serenity reference. But my favorite by far is at Ript Apparel:
Game over, man! Game over.
Hydrophobia Prophecy announced for PC, PSN; Episode 2 still in the works
Dark Energy Digital has announced Hydrophobia Prophecy, which they’re referring to as the “ultimate version” of Hydrophobia and Hydrophobia Pure – “It’s Hydrophobia 1.5, really,” managing director Deborah Jones told Eurogamer. They’ve opted not to just port the game, instead creating something new. “The game includes new levels – around 70 per cent of the game is new – and existing levels have been reworked,” Eurogamer reported.
That’s not all Dark Energy Digital said. This “comprehensive reinvention” will include “upgraded graphics, brand new gameplay mechanics, exclusive new levels, a reworked back story, a dramatic new ending, recast voice acting and much, much more.” Much of this is thanks in part to the Hydrophobia Listening Post, in which the voices of the gamers were heard and their opinions and suggestions were taken directly to heart. This means great news for PlayStation Network and Steam gamers, who will be reaping the benefits of all of these changes.
Another new feature is Darknet, which is an in-game feedback system that will allow players to be heard immediately right as they are in the action. Creative Directory Pete Jones said, “In the modern, interconnected world we think there should be better lines of communication between players and developer, which is exactly what Darknet delivers. Gamers have shown us how much they appreciated being involved in the development process and we have responded.”
So does this mean they’re dropping the episodic concept of their original scope? We contacted Senior Creative Designer Rob Hewson, who said they haven’t abandoned the idea of episodes, but instead fleshed out the story here, since the original ending didn’t feel complete. “The new ending resolved the first episode properly and fully (you even get to use Hydro Kinetic ‘water powers’ in the main campaing now), but the wider story arc is still there for future episodes,” Hewson said. “Let me put it another way… you now get to destroy the Death Star but you still don’t know who your father is!”
There you have it! Hydrophobia Prophecy will be out on May 9th for Steam, and should launch shortly after for the PSN, according to Eurogamer. The PSN version will also have Move support, which has a lot of potential. As for whether or not the game will come to XBLA, Pete Jones said it’s up to Microsoft, but that they intend for XBLA players to be able to play it. The full list of new features can be seen after the jump. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Hydrophobia, Hydrophobia Prophecy