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
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Xbox 360
$99 subscription-based Xbox 360 console moves to Best Buy, GameStop this month
Are you the only other person in the United States other than me who doesn’t have an Xbox 360? Well, you’re probably about to be $99 poorer. Major Nelson announced on his blog that the $99 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect and two-year subscription service is coming to all Best Buys and select GameStop stores later this month.
The two-year subscription service is $14.99 a month for 24 months of Xbox Live. This comes out to nearly $360. Coincidence?!?!
In all seriousness, this pilot program (an expansion of the original Microsoft Store-only promotion) is a huge deal for Microsoft. This might just be the year I actually buy an Xbox.
Atlus and ACE Team are bringing Zeno Clash II to PC, PS3, Xbox 360 in 2013
Atlus has been busy, it seems – the publisher announced that it will be teaming up with ACE Team to release Zeno Clash II in early 2013 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The first game was an indie first-person brawler, and the sequel is going to tie in RPG elements in a vast open-world setting to make it bigger than the original.
The game will also feature drop-in/drop-out online co-op, allowing players to team Ghat up with his sister, Rimat. Andres Bordeu, co-founder of ACE Team, had this to say:
“The world of Zenozoik is one of wild dreams and wilder nightmares. This is part of the reason we are working on Zeno Clash II, to give players the opportunity to explore Zenozoik with a friend via online cooperative multiplayer, turning those moments of wonder and awe into a shared adventure. We will make certain that going back and forth between solo and cooperative play preserves the consistency and impact of the narrative experience, while still allowing friends easily drop in and out of the game’s fulfilling exploration and visceral melee combat.”
Dead or Alive 5 fights its way into stores on September 25
Tired of waiting for your busty babe brawler? Well there’s good news for you: Dead or Alive 5 now has a release date, and it’s September 25. That’s just a little over three and half months away. Then you’ll be able to bounce boobs on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
[Source: Game Informer]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dead or Alive 5, E3 2012
Injustice ditches block button, adds Clash System
I think NetherRealm’s Injustice: Gods Among Us announcement was met with a worldwide chorus of, “It looks like Mortal Kombat with DC characters.” But there’s apparently more going on here under the hood.
For one thing, the game has jettisoned the block button, which was a staple of the Mortal Kombat series. Instead, Injustice will use Street Fighter-style blocking (pressing Back on the control pad).
Injustice will also use something called the Clash System, a chatty combo breaker system that attempts to emulate the verbal tet-a-tet often found in comic book fights.
“Once you go into this Clash thing, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, the characters will interact with each other. Batman will say specific stuff to Superman and vice-versa, different things than he would say to one of the other characters,” Lead Designer John Edwards said.
After they exchange a little smack talk, both characters will enter a “betting” phase, where they wager all or part of their super meter. The bets are kept secret (Edwards didn’t say how), and the higher bet wins the Clash.
“So if the defender wins the Clash, then he gets back all the health from that combo that he would have lost,” Edwards said. “If the attacker wins, [the defender] takes that damage plus a little bit more.”
It sounds a bit confusing, but hopefully it’ll all make sense when we see it in action ahead of Injustice’s 2013 release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.
[Source: Joystiq]
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.
XBLA Today: Virtua Fighter 5, Bang Bang Racing
Microsoft has two games ready to be added to the Xbox Live Arcade for today’s E3 week update.
The spotlight game this week is likely Sega’s Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. It’s been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) and is considered the ultimate revision of the fifth game in the fighting franchise:
Reignite your inner fighter and prepare for the ultimate showdown! Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is the definitive version of the Virtua Fighter 5 series that incorporates all the enhancements Sega has rolled out since 2007 with some brand new features.
Also available this week is Bang Bang Racing, a top-down racer that, at a price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10), is “perfect for the whole family”:
Put the pedal to the metal with Bang Bang Racing, a brand new top-down arcade car racer perfect for every speed demon in the family! Choose from 20 sleek cars in four different categories (muscle cars, Evo GT, Protech and open-wheel formula cars), eight different skins and nine exotic, reversible and variable tracks around the world. Cones and exploding barrels will challenge your driving skills on snow, water, sand and oil covered tracks. You can also take the race to 4-player split-screen multiplayer to show your friends or family who the daddy is!
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
Prepare for another zombie paradise, Dead Island: Riptide announced
Get all your Weekend At Bernie’s jokes ready, because the dead will walk on an island paradise again in Dead Island: Riptide.
Publisher Deep Silver didn’t reveal much about the sequel, but they did confirm that the game will be available on “consoles and PCs” and that Techland is once again handling the development duties. A more complete reveal is planned for later this Summer.
And don’t forget, the Dead Island: Game of the Year Edition will also be available later this Summer. On June 26 to be exact.
Summer of Arcade 2012 includes Tony Hawk HD, Hybrid, Wreckateer, Dust, Deadlight
Microsoft has announced the games that will make up this year’s Summer of Arcade and the fifth iteration of the annual promotion is already looking like a contender as one of the best:
Deadlight (Tequila Works/Microsoft Studios): Deadlight is a puzzle platformer, where the player must take advantage of the main character’s agility to solve obstacles, and dodge zombies, manipulating the many interactive elements of the scenery. With more walking corpses than bullets, the feeling of danger is constant.
Dust: An Elysian Tail (Humble Hearts/Microsoft Studios): As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. Battle dozens of enemies at once with an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master combat system, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover your own past in a gorgeous hand-painted world.
Hybrid (5th Cell/5th Cell): Hybrid is a pioneering third person shooter set in the near future, where global conflict exists between a species known as the Variant and a rebel human faction known as the Paladins. 5TH Cell strives to give players a completely new gameplay experience never seen before in the genre.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (Robomodo/Activision): Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD takes the best elements of the classic THPS games and gives them a fresh update to create an all new skateboarding experience. Tapping into fans’ muscle memories, and combining sharp visuals with the best controls ever in a Tony Hawk game, the feel is cutting edge yet timeless.
Wreckateer (Iron Galaxy/Microsoft Studios): Wreckateer uses Kinect to put you in control of a massive castle-wrecking ballista. With the help of Wreck and Tinker, travel the land and destroy 60 castles using six magical projectiles, and explore the infinite ways you can wreak havoc with Wreckateer’s fully-dynamic destruction.
A release schedule wasn’t announced yet, but Microsoft typically starts the Summer of Arcade by mid-July. As in years past, if you purchase multiple Summer of Arcade titles, you’ll receive a bit of a rebate. This year, players who purchase three or more Summer of Arcade titles will receive 400 Microsoft Points.
Hit the jump to see the funky Summer of Arcade 2012 trailer. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Deadlight, Dust: An Elysian Tail, E3 2012, Hybrid, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, Wreckateer