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
- 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: Vita
The Last of Us wins five Best of E3 2012 awards
It’s hard to argue with those who believe The Last of Us reigned supreme at this year’s E3 Expo. That claim has been given some further validation by the Game Critics Awards, which handed five “Best of E3 2012” statues to Naughty Dog for The Last of Us.
The game, which stars two survivors of a post-apocalyptic America, won “Best of Show,” “Best Original Game,” “Best Console Game,” and “Best Action/Adventure Game.” It also took home a “Special Commendation for Sound.”
No other game came close, though Dance Central 3, Halo 4, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown all won two awards and Watch Dogs collected two Commendations.
The Wii U was mostly shut out of the awards show, though the system itself won “Best Hardware” and the multiplatform Injustice: Gods Among Us won for “Best Fighting Game.”
A complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Game Critics Awards announce nominees for Best of E3 2012
The world’s biggest gaming websites, including Kotaku, IGN, Nintendo Power, Joystiq and The Escapist (don’t worry, Warp Zoned will be there one day!) have released their full list of nominees for awards pertaining to what was shown and played at this year’s E3 Expo. Some of the highlights of the show, such as Star Wars: 1313 or Ubisoft’s surprise Watch Dogs do not qualify, as the rules state the journalists must be able to “manipulate a game in real-time while running on its native platform.” However, it seems there was not much love for Nintendo’s Wii U, with no mention of the system’s most-anticipated game, ZombiU. Although both Wii Fit U and Game & Wario made it into the “Best Motion Simulation” category.
The awards will be handed out at GameCriticsAwards.com on June 26. The full list of nominees is available after the break. (more…)
New Releases: Pokemon Conquest, Lego Batman 2, Brave, More
This week’s new releases are for the kids as Pokemon Conquest (that wild Pokemon/Nobunaga’s Ambition crossover on the DS), Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (3DS, DS, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360), and the game adaptation of Pixar’s Brave (DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) will all be available in stores this Tuesday.
Also available this week is the Kinect-powered Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and an all new Civ V expansion, Civilization V: Gods and Kings.
Hit the jump for a complete look at this week’s new releases. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Brave, Lego Batman 2, Pokemon Conquest, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor
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
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.
Lord of the Rings is next franchise to get Lego treatment
After Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Harry Potter and Lego Batman, the Lego Group, along with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and TT Games, have announced the rather clumsily worded Lego The Lord of the Rings.
Surely they should have taken the definitive article out of the title? Regardless, the new game will encompass all three films from the trilogy, and will be released for all current consoles, including the 3DS, PS Vita, DS, PC, Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. In a break from the traditional “Lego Something” format, the game will also feature voiced dialogue.
Tom Stone, Managing Director at TT Games, expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the game: “We are huge aficionados of The Lord of the Rings franchise and are incredibly excited to put our special Lego family-friendly touch on this classic fantasy adventure. We’ve taken what fans are familiar with and love about The Lord of the Rings films and combined it with the playful Lego style, which makes the story and gameplay accessible to gamers of all ages.”
Perhaps it is just me, but it is hard to get excited about yet another Lego transformation of a licensed film series. What’s next? Lego Fast and the Furious? Or maybe a move into TV with Lego Game of Thrones and Lego Sex and the City? The toy brick company has a number of original franchises, such as the Lego Hero Factory or Bionicle, the latter made into a mediocre game by Argonaut and EA and therefore in need of a decent reboot. I find I am much more excited by the upcoming Lego City Stories for Wii U.
Nevertheless, cutesy brick versions of Gandalf, Frodo and Legolas will be winging their way to you in the Fall.
EA @ E3 12: Madden NFL 13 has a new engine, Connected Careers mode
It won’t be the same old Madden when Madden NFL 13 launches this August. The latest football sim from EA will include a brand new engine, the Infinity Engine, which is a brand new run-time physics engine. According to EA’s Cam Weber, “No two plays will be the same.”
Collisions will be affected by a player’s size, their speed, and how the hit begins. If a player is hit on the arm, they could lose the ball, but tackle animations are no longer the end of the play. Players will be able to “regain balance after contact to fight for a few more yards.”
Former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin also took the stage to showcase the game’s RPG-like Connected Careers mode. In Connected Careers, players will select a current player, a created player, a legendary player, or a coach in a story-based mode. Completing goals will earn XP that can be used towards a Canton career. Goals can also be shared on Twitter and Facebook.
Madden NFL 13 will launch on August 28.
Snapshot puzzling its way onto PSN, Vita this Fall
Indie developer Retro Affect have announced that their debut game, Snapshot, a 2D platform-puzzler, will be heading to the PlayStation Network and PS Vita this Fall, and will handily feature cross-platform saves. Nominated for an IGF Award back in 2009, developers Kyle Pulver and David Carrigg have since been expanding and polishing the game for a console release.
In what sounds like a simple yet brilliant idea, the game features an amnesiac robot named Picon on an adventure to discover his origins. He has in his possession a powerful camera that can take photos of the surrounding landscape, and to paste that photo elsewhere. Players will then be able to manipulate the photographs in order to overcome obstacles or solve puzzles.
As Retro Affect told the PlayStation Blog, “Our goal is to make awesome games that resonate with the feel of classic gaming flavor, but with a splash of something fresh.” With the current Fall schedule oversaturated by sequels and first-person shooters, Snapshot could very well follow in the footsteps of Journey, offering something fun and unique.
Retro Affect have plans to push the game onto Windows PC, Mac OSX, and Linux after the release on Sony’s systems.