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: Xbox 360
Call of Duty: Black Ops II nukes the competition in November 2012 NPD report
Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4 set records in November 2012. The Wii U also opened strong with sales of over 400,000 consoles. And the Christmas rush resulted in big numbers for new releases like Assassin’s Creed III, Just Dance 4, and Need For Speed: Most Wanted. But that still didn’t stop The NPD Group from reporting that retail game sales dropped 11% from November 2011.
“Despite an overall retail video game decline of 11 percent, November had the smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen for dollar and unit sales so far this year. This is a sign of momentum going into the December holiday period,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
You can view the complete top ten from last month after the break, and remember, despite what The NPD Group says, the console game market is still in good shape. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, FIFA Soccer 13, Halo 4, Just Dance 4, Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, NPD, Skylanders Giants, WWE '13
Assassin’s Creed III Review: New World, Old Problems
I’m going to open this review with an honest disclaimer, I’ve never liked the Assassin’s Creed franchise. While the concept of an open-world assassination game sounds just fine, quite exciting even, the actual execution felt lacklustre with cumbersome controls and free roam diluted down to near nonexistent levels. “Kill your targets any way you want,” the adverts said, but what they failed to mention was that unless you adhered to Ubisoft-approved killing methods within Ubisoft-sanctioned locations your open-world experience would suddenly feel like a confined cardboard box as the game punished you for not playing it right. I tried the second game for all of an afternoon before the masquerade fell away and left me feeling cold, cheated and unloved. All subsequent games failed to rekindle our relationship; I just couldn’t get interested, but for some reason (clue: my interest in Colonial America) I somehow found myself falling for the hype and giving this franchise another chance with Assassin’s Creed III. (more…)
Retro City Rampage readying for XBLA, WiiWare release
Vblank Entertainment has revealed that Retro City Rampage will soon be available to download from the Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo’s WiiWare service. According to Vblank, both versions are currently going through “console certification” in North America and Europe and, barring any setbacks, will be released soon.
Retro City Rampage was first released for the PC, PS3, and Vita in North America on October 9, and since then, Vblank has been hard at work on tweaking the game to make it better. These tweaks (which are currently available on the PC/PS3/Vita as a title update) include “faster cars, tips screens, shop icons on the map, additional tutorials, checkpoints, level balancing and more.”
Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to get another chance to play Retro City Rampage. And for our friends across the Atlantic, the European release of the PS3/Vita version of the game was also said to be nearing completion as well.
CoD Black Ops II has made a lot of money since its release
Activision is in full-on brag mode when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The publisher previously reported that the shooter sequel set a sales record for single day sales. Now they’ve happily informed the world that Black Ops II has made more than $1 billion in sales in its first 15 days of release.
For the record, that’s one day quicker than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Of course, that’s likely due to the fact that the Black Ops II “Care Package” sold for $180 while Modern Warfare 3’s “Hardened Edition” was priced at a much more modest $100.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick used this announcement to continue to talk up Call of Duty’s dominance versus films like Star Wars, Avatar and Harry Potter. But that kind of comparison is really just ridiculous, as we saw last year.
Home Run Stars Review: Batter and Broken Ladder
Spring 2001. Normal, Illinois. My last semester at college was peppered with preparing for graduation, studying for finals, job searching, and filming a movie about a murderous chef (don’t ask). But, like any self-respecting gamer, I always found time to relax with my PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Throughout the final month of my college career, my roommate and I put an absurd amount of time into one game: Triple Play 2001. We did not play the exhibition or season modes; our precious time was devoted to Extreme Home Run Derby, where, instead of a baseball stadium, you are placed in a giant living room, medieval castle, or construction site. The goal of that game was to not just hit home runs, but also get bonus points by hitting various targets. Shatter a picture frame in the living room, get 500 bonus points. Raise the drawbridge in the castle, get 1000 bonus points. You get the idea.
Ever since Triple Play 2001, I yearned for another baseball game to come along with the same feature. Alas, my wishes have gone unfulfilled. Now, eleven years later, we are treated to Home Run Stars, a Kinect title available on Xbox Live Arcade. One could only imagine my elation upon learning that a spiritual successor of sorts was being released. And although I found the game somewhat enjoyable, there were too many issues with Home Run Stars (and the Kinect itself) that bogged down what could have been a fantastic game. (more…)
Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Home Run Stars
XBLA Today: Guardians of Middle-Earth
Guardians of Middle-Earth, the multiplayer online battle arena based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy arrives on the Xbox Live Arcade today just in time for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘s theatrical debut. If you want to bash some orcs with Gandalf, Legolas, Aragorn, and all the rest, it’ll only set you back 1200 Microsoft Points ($15):
Guardians of Middle-Earth delivers an authentic multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game set in Middle-Earth and crafted specifically for console systems. Gamers team up as the most powerful heroes from the greatest fantasy epic of all time, bringing up to 10 players together in strategic five versus five competitive multiplayer battle arenas in the epic setting of Middle-Earth.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Guardians of Middle-Earth
USPTO rejects Microsoft’s application for Killer Instinct trademark
Back in September, Microsoft made a big to-do about renewing the Killer Instinct trademark. Sadly, it looks like the US Patent and Trademark Office has decided to rain on their parade by rejecting the application.
According to a letter issued by the USPTO, Microsoft has six months to appeal the rejection, which was due to a previous trademark granted for a 2005 Fox television show also known as “Killer Instinct” (the show was canceled after only nine episodes). The USPTO believes that consumers could be misled and confused by the two properties because TV shows are often turned into video games. Or in lawyerspeak: “[T]he goods and services listed therein, namely providing television shows and video games, are of a kind that may emanate from a single source under a single mark.”
Killer Instinct was originally developed by Rare (now a Microsoft-owned internal team) and published by Nintendo before the company abandoned it in the late 90s. A small (but dedicated) fanbase has been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Hopefully, this rejection doesn’t impact whatever plans Microsoft has for the series.
It’s interesting to note that Nintendo’s claim on the original Killer Instict trademark wasn’t canceled until November 4, 2006, a full year after the television show stopped production. So the marks did co-exist at one time and, with any luck, probably will again.
[Source: Polygon]
“Dragonborn” Skyrim expansion will be available for PC, PS3 in early 2013
Bethesda has announced that the next Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim expansion, “Dragonborn,” will be available on the PC and PS3 in early 2013. The publisher is still trying to make the game’s previous expansions, “Dawnguard” and “Hearhtfire,” available on the PS3. But as of right now, there’ still no timetable on when that could happen.
“Dragonborn” will also be available for the Xbox 360 beginning tomorrow (December 4). It’ll be priced at 1600 Microsoft Points ($20).
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim