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
New Releases: Far Cry 3, Mass Effect Trilogy, Resistance Collection, More
The month of December is typically a slow one for new game releases, but that hasn’t stopped Ubisoft from bringing Far Cry 3 to the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 this week.
This week will also see the release of the Lord of the Rings-inspired MOBDA Guardians of Middle-Earth. The game will make its debut on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade, but a boxed PS3 copy will also be available.
If you’d prefer something a bit more substantial, two trilogies will be available on the PS3 for the first time: BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy and Insomniac’s Resistance Collection.
Also available this week is a quartet of multiplatform games making their Wii U debut: Rise of the Guardians, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, and The Avengers: Battle For Earth.
Finally, gamers can check out Power Rangers Super Samurai for the Xbox 360 and Family Party 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade for the Wii U this week.
XBLA Today: Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect
Downhill ice skating is apparently a real sport and it’s sponsored by Red Bull… because, of course it is. If they idea of flying down a metal chute with razor blades strapped to your feet sounds a bit on the dangerous side, Microsoft Studios has a solution for you. They’ve partnered with developer Bongfish to bring the world Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect for the Xbox Live Arcade. It’s available to download today for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) and is likely a much safer alternative:
Experience the most intense Kinect sports game in your living room with Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect for Xbox 360. Fly down Ice Cross Downhill tracks at incredible speed, carve through turns, pull off crazy stunts and crash your way to victory across 5 authentic downhill tracks. Take the prize and become the Ice Cross Downhill World Champion on the leaderboards, battling it out with other players from all over the world.
Halo 4: Crimson Map Pack launching on December 10
The first Halo 4 map pack has a release date. Announced by Microsoft today, the Crimson Map Pack will be available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 10.
The Crimson Map Pack has been priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and will contain three new maps for Halo 4 players. The pack will also include eight new Achievements worth 250 Gamerscore.
In addition to the Crimson Map Pack, Microsoft will also be adding a new matchtype, Extraction, to Halo 4’s multiplayer options on December 10. Here’s what you can expect from Extraction:
Extraction is a 5 vs. 5 objective-based game type where opposing Spartan teams are tasked with extracting assets from various sites around the map. Once a team has found a site and is in position, they must plant their beacon and protect it from the opposing team while the extraction process occurs. If the defending team remains in control of the beacon, they receive one point, however if the opposing team overtakes the site before extraction is complete, the point goes to them. Once a site has been extracted, a new site becomes available. The first team to extract five points wins.
But wait, there’s more. A new trailer showcasing the Crimson Map Pack has been embedded above and an overview of all three maps (provided by Microsoft) can be found after the break. (more…)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 trailer to appear at 2012 Spike TV VGAs
We already knew that trailers for The Last of Us, Gears of War: Judgment, and South Park: The Stick of Truth would be appearing at the 2012 Spike TV Video Game Awards. Late last night, Geoff Keighley (via Twitter) added one more game to the list… Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. You can check out a teaser for the trailer above.
The Spike TV Video Game Awards will take place this Friday, December 7 at 9 PM.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Deathstroke brings his skills to Injustice: Gods Among Us
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios have been pretty quiet when it comes to Injustice: Gods Among Us over the last few months. Today, the publisher and developer confirmed that DC’s Deathstroke will make an appearance in the game.
Deathstroke is an assassin who is best known as an enemy of the Teen Titans. He’s also no stranger to the fighting game arena as he appeared in 2008’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in April 2013.
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Injustice: Gods Among Us
XBLA Today: Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Fighter 2
It’s Sega fighting game day on the Xbox Live Arcade as three titles from the publisher’s internal AM2 studio have been added to the download service. They’re available for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) each and are sure to bring back some 90s nostalgia.
First up is Fighting Vipers (which had some of the best commercials ever):
Fight with flair in the return of Fighting Vipers, the classic arcade game from AM2 that was later playable on the Sega Saturn. Choose one of nine zany characters–including Grace the roller blader and Raxel the metal guitarist– and break your opponent’s costume-based armor to maximize damage. Take advantage of all-new online modes to battle friends across the world.
Then there’s Sonic the Fighters (possibly the first mascot fighter ever):
Join Sonic and friends in battle in this classic arcade game from AM2. Originally on consoles as part of the Sonic Gems collection, Sonic the Fighters is back with an all-new online mode, including both online versus and tournament play. In single player mode, choose from 10 playable characters and fight through 8 stages to stop Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic from unleashing the Death Egg II!
And finally we’ve got the classic Virtua Fighter 2:
Go back to the roots of 3D fighting with Virtua Fighter 2, the second title in AM2’s flagship fighting franchise. Experience the legendary polygon-based 3D graphics and fluid fighting mechanics that made the game so influential in the arcades, and later on the Sega Saturn. With all-new online play you can battle friends throughout the world.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, Virtua Fighter 2
Bungie’s Destiny: More details, first concept art revealed
Poor Bungie, they just can’t keep the details about their upcoming Destiny project from spilling out. Maybe they need to make a trip down the road to Nintendo HQ and learn all about the secret to keeping secrets.
Anyway, IGN has obtained a document relating to Destiny that was prepared by an advertising agency for Bungie. After studying the document, IGN discovered that it contained a host of concept art (which can be found on their site) as well as the first story details about the game:
Our story begins seven hundred years from now in the Last City on Earth, in a Solar System littered with the ruins of man’s Golden Age. A massive, mysterious alien ship hangs overhead like a second Moon. No one knows where it came from or what it’s here for, but only that it’s our protector. Meanwhile, strange, alien monsters creep in from the edge of the universe, determined to take Earth and the Last City. We are young ‘knights’ tasked with defending the remains of humanity, discovering the source of these monsters and – eventually – overcoming it.
Fighting back frustration, Bungie released the first official piece of concept art for Destiny on their website. You can see the image above and, maybe it’s just me, but I definitely get a gritty Battle of Hoth-vibe from the image.
Destiny is still on track for a Fall 2013 release on the Xbox 360 (and likely the PS3).
Speed of Sound: The Music of Sonic the Hedgehog
Let’s pretend the year is roughly 2000. It’s Sonic’s tenth anniversary. It’s his first real debut into the third dimension. The game is Sonic Adventure. It will be heralded as a general success. It will set some major tropes for the future of the 3D series to come, though it’s a bit of an oddity. At worst, it will later be looked back upon as “good for its time.” You advance through the levels – suddenly you’re on Speed Highway. The dark of a city forever trapped in the night – highways impossibly bent and stretched along the sides of buildings, through the air. Clear signs of construction that is, considering the landscape, entirely unfinished. This, gamer, is your music. (more…)