Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: PSP
Lego Batman 2 rises to the top of the June 2012 bestsellers list
With editions on seven different platforms, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes rose to the top of The NPD Group’s monthly list of bestselling games. The remainder of the list was split between new releases, May holdovers, and Fall 2011 games that are still popular.
There were only a handful of new games available in June with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (#2), Pokemon Conquest (#7), and The Amazing Spider-Man (#10) all earning spots in the top ten. Grasshopper’s Lollipop Chainsaw didn’t make the cut, continuing Suda 51’s lack of success at the register.
An astounding four games from Fall 2011 continue to sell strongly enough to make the top ten: NBA 2K12 (#5), Batman: Arkham City (#6, boosted by the newly released Game of the Year Edition), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (#8), and Battlefield 3 (#9). I’m sure it helps that all were among the best-reviewed games of last year.
As a whole, game and hardware sales are down 29% from June 2011, according to Joystiq.
A complete list of last month’s best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo III, Lego Batman 2, Max Payne 3, NBA 2K12, NPD, Pokemon Conquest, The Amazing Spider-Man, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
New Releases: Lollipop Chainsaw, Gravity Rush, Dirt Showdown, More
I’m sure E3 week has left you ready for all the games coming out this Fall (and beyond), but don’t forget, we’ve got a whole Summer of new releases ahead of us!
New releases like Suda 51’s crazy cheerleader/zombie/rock and roll mash-up, Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3, Xbox 360).
Also available this week is Sony’s stylish action platformer, Gravity Rush (Vita); Codemasters’ offroad racer, Dirt Showdown (PS3, Xbox 360); and the Vita version of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
And there’s a few more new releases after the break. (more…)
Posted in DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Xbox 360
Tagged DiRT Showdown, Gravity Rush, Lollipop Chainsaw, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Mass Effect 3 tops NPD bestseller report for March 2012
Whether you loved Mass Effect 3‘s ending or you hated it, one thing’s for certain, BioWare made a ton of money selling you the game. In what should be a surprise to no one, Mass Effect 3 took the top spot in The NPD Group’s report of the bestselling games in March 2012.
Even though March was a bit of a slow month for new releases, the remainder of the top ten is populated almost totally by games released in the last four weeks including Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (#2), MLB 12: The Show (#3), SSX (#5), Street Fighter X Tekken (#6), Mario Party 9 (#7), Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (#9), and Major League Baseball 2K12 (#10).
Whew!
Hit the break to see the full top ten, including the pair of holdovers from the February 2012 report. (more…)
Posted in DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Major League Baseball 2K12, Mario Party 9, Mass Effect 3, MLB 12: The Show, NBA 2K12, NPD, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, SSX, Street Fighter X Tekken
Class of Heroes 2 Kickstarter campaign aims to improve localization for Japanese RPGs
For those of you who rend your clothing over the sheer amount of awesome games in Japan that will never appear on American store shelves, here’s a chance to support the hard working people in the localization business!
MonkeyPaw Games and Gaijinworks have announced the acquisition of Class of Heroes 2, a dungeon crawler-style RPG for the PSP, as well as a Kickstarter campaign to fund gameplay improvements and a limited edition deluxe package. The overall goal, though, is to attempt to bring more import titles to western markets, and what better way to do so than with the support of hardcore fans?
Gaijinworks President Victor Ireland (yes, the same Victor Ireland from Working Designs), calls this the “craziest deluxe pack” he’s ever done, and if you’re a collector at all, you know Working Designs basically invented the concept of the super premium collectors edition with the pack-in soundtrack.
The Grand Tier pledges get even crazier than plush toys or signed posters; for a generous enough pledge, you might get a trip to Japan to meet the creators of the game, or a two-night stay in Los Angeles, tickets to E3, and dinner with MonkeyPaw and Gaijinworks.
So check out the Kickstarter campaign page to see all the crazy bonus stuff you could get for your support!
Atlus-published PSP games get huge price drop on PSN
Atlus wants to takeover your PSP or Vita with their “Re-Vita-lized PSN Price Drop Event.” The publisher has slashed the prices of their PlayStation Network games by 25-50%, meaning that now is the best time to dive into a quirky Japanese RPG (or several, which I’m sure Atlus would prefer).
Here’s the full list of “Re-Vita-lized” titles and their new prices:
- Persona (New Price: $19.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin (New Price: $29.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Persona 3 Portable (New Price: $19.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Knights in the Nightmare (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Riviera: The Promised Land (New Price: $9.99, Original Price: $14.99)
- Yggdra Union (New Price: $9.99, Original Price: $14.99)
- Class of Heroes (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Crimson Gem Saga (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Hexyz Force (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $39.99)
Posted in News, PSP, Vita
Tagged Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin
EA killing online multiplayer for Burnout Revenge, EA MMA, others
Electronic Arts has announced another round of online multiplayer server shutdowns. As always, the publisher claims that these games are played by less than 1% of all players who play EA games online.
Notable among this batch is EA Sports MMA, both for how recent it is (it was released less than 18 months ago) and because of the fact that it required an Online Pass for its multiplayer mode.
I suppose it can debated whether EA has to right to shut down a for-pay multiplayer server, but for now, here’s the rest of the server shutdowns:
- Boom Blox: Bash Party (Wii)
- Burnout Revenge (Xbox 360)
- Create (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- EA Sports Active 2.0 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp (Wii)
- EA SPorts MMA (PS3, Xbox 360)
- FIFA Soccer 10 (PSP, Wii)
- The Godfather II (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
- Need For Speed: ProStreet (PS3, Xbox 360)
- The Saboteur: The Midnight Club (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Spare Parts (PS3, Xbox 360)
All of the games in the above list will go offline on April 13, 2012.
Modern Warfare 3 fends off Final Fantasy XIII-2 in February 2012 NPD ranking
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sits atop the NPD’s monthly list of bestselling games for the fourth month in a row. The shooter sequel managed to fend off new releases Final Fantasy XIII-2, UFC Undisputed 3, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which rounded out the top four. Two other new releases managed to make it into the top ten, Namco Bandai’s Soul Calibur V (at #7) and Sony’s Twisted Metal reboot (at #9).
The NPD Group didn’t list any Vita games in the top ten during its first month of availability. No 3DS games cracked the top ten either, for that matter.
You can find the complete list of February 2012 bestsellers after the break. (more…)
Daily Scoop: March 8, 2012 – You say it’s your birthday?
It’s my birthday too, yeah! And so far it’s an awesome one! It started out at midnight, when my amazing boyfriend gave me a copy of the dice-building game, Quarriors!! I tore it open and nearly spilled 130 dice everywhere. And today has continued to be awesome – even the weather is beautiful! Tonight, the Alex Mack Daddies are in the skee ball playoffs – so wish us luck!
Anyway, to the deals! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Aksys’ Fate/Extra Limited Edition. This PSP game is just $29.99 today, and boasts “extensive replay value” with “multiple story paths, each with their own unique dialog trees and character interactions that lead to different endings.” Righteous!
And on this auspicious day, we’ve got not one, not two, but THREE gaming shirts for you! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PSP