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
Putting the past behind us: Sony and George Hotz reach a settlement
The PlayStation Blog has released a joint statement from Sony Computer Entertainment America and George “GeoHot” Hotz that the two parties in the recent litigation have settled their dispute out of court. The statement only discloses that Hotz has consented to a permanent injunction, presumably preventing him from further tinkering with the PS3’s security. Sony claimed it only sought to protect its intellectual property and maintain a secure environment for its consumers. Hotz commented, “It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” and that he’s happy to have the litigation behind him. The statement also puts forth that Hotz has not been involved in the recent attacks on the PlayStation Network and SCEA’s websites.
Hotz was trying to have the lawsuit dismissed, claiming that California did not have personal jurisdiction over him. That argument was made moot by the agreement all PSN users must consent to, which destroys any reasonable expectation that he could not be hailed to California courts.
Now that one of the two lawsuits they took action over has been taken care of, it’ll be interesting to see what “hacktivist” group Anonymous’ next move is.
Resistance 3 early beta access included with SOCOM 4
Sony keeps the beta train rolling with the announcement that gamers who purchase SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs will receive early access to the Resistance 3 public beta. Sony seems to be knitting some kind of “beta chain” for their major 2011 releases as early access to the SOCOM 4 beta (which is going on right now) was included with copies of Killzone 3.
Both the regular version and the Full Deployment Edition of SOCOM 4 will include a voucher for beta access. And gamers can get their hands on either when the game is released on April 19.
Sony has promised that more details on the Resistance 3 beta program will be released soon.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Resistance 3, SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs
New Releases: Michael Jackson The Experience, Patapon 3, Rio, More
Next week will be one of the biggest weeks for new releases this year, but that doesn’t mean publishers are taking this week off. Instead, they’ve put together quite possibly the oddest combination of games I’ve ever seen.
First up is the PS3 (with Move) and Xbox 360 (with Kinect) versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience. The King of Pop will be strutting through your living room with several new songs and a “Singing Mode.” If you need to feel the rhythm on the go, Sony will release the PSP rhythm game Patapon 3 this week as well.
Two big games for the kids will be in stores this week, a video game adaptation of the movie Rio (DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and the uDraw-powered SpongeBob SquigglePants (Wii).
Finally, we have two games that start with D and have been released for other platforms before: Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PC) and Dance Dance Revolution (Xbox 360 this week, previously on the PS3 and Wii).
The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Patapon 3, Spongebob Squigglepants
SCEA CEO blasts Nintendo, calls DS a “babysitting tool”
Jack Tretton is the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. If his recent interview with Fortune is anything to go by, he’s also horribly out of touch with how the PlayStation family’s fortunes are faring in the marketplace.
Tretton started off slow, knocking the Wii and Xbox 360 for their optional storage solutions and motion gaming peripherals (I guess the PlayStation Move is beyond that kind of criticism):
“They’re starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond,” [Tretton] says. “I mean, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I’m doing true accurate motion gaming?”
Tretton unleashed his true ire on the DS, playing the dreaded “kiddie” card and resorting to namecalling when referring to adult DS owners… (more…)
D3 to publish White Knight Chronicles II this Summer
D3 Publisher has swooped in and picked up the publishing rights to Level-5’s White Knight Chronicles II. Originally published by Sony in Japan, the PS3 RPG will be released this Summer in a special edition that also includes the original White Knight Chronicles.
According to D3, the sequel will include a single-player campaign, a “multiplayer co-op experience” and “new fan-requested features.”
That’s neat and all, but look, free game!
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged White Knight Chronicles II
Anonymous suspends their campaign against Sony
The “hacktivism” group Anonymous has announced that they’ve suspended their campaign of online warfare against Sony due to the effect their efforts were having on innocent PS3 players. The denial of service attacks perpetrated by Anonymous caused outages on the PlayStation Network and blocked access to Sony-owned websites. These attacks were called off one day after a member of Anonymous referred to gamers as “collateral damage” in their war with Sony.
Anonymous’ statement reads, in part, as follows:
Anonymous is not attacking the PSN at this time. Sony’s official position is that the PSN is undergoing maintenance. We realize that targeting the PSN is not a good idea. We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers.
Anonymous is on your side, standing up for your rights. We are not aiming to attack customers of Sony. This attack is aimed solely at Sony, and we will try our best to not affect the gamers, as this would defeat the purpose of our actions. If we did inconvenience users, please know that this was not our goal.
On our side or not, this latest round of statements doesn’t look like it’ll make gamers feel all warm and fuzzy towards Anonymous anytime soon.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011
SSX: Deadly Descents gets new title, gameplay details
Todd Batty, Creative Director of SSX: Deadly Descents, recently sat down with Game Informer to discuss the rebirth of the snowboarding series. During the interview he dropped new details like the number of mountains players will be able to shred down (at least 70) and revealed the game’s slimmed down title (it’s just called SSX now).
Batty also talked about the game’s three gameplay styles: Speed Descent (get down the mountain as fast as possible), Tricky Descent (perform as many tricks as you can) and Deadly Descent. In Deadly Descent mode the mountain literally fights back against the racers and, according to Batty, “the challenge will be just making it to the bottom alive.” This challenge will be amplified thanks to avalanches, rockslides and falling stalactites.
Tying together all of these death-defying drops are “Nine Deadly Descents,” which are based on the “Seven Summits” of the mountaineering world. Each descent is “themed by an environmental challenge and a cultural significance that makes [the] mountains unique from each other” and Batty considers them like boss battles.
To help players survive the elements, SSX will include a ton of new geat including wingsuits (for gliding after a jump) and pickaxes (to help NOT falling off the mountain). And all of this will come together through what Batty calls “a very strong multiplayer component.”