Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: Xbox 360
Team Bondi’s horror story in making L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire turned out to be a pretty great game. But in the seven years it took to bring it to market, not all of the team members had such a great time working on it. In addition to a website detailing the real credits of L.A. Noire, a feature has popped up from IGN revealing some of the horror stories many former developers shared about working on the project.
The piece is a strong indictment of Studio Founder, Writer, and Director Brendan McNamara, as sources claimed working 100+ hour work weeks with “the angriest person” they’ve ever met. IGN also gave McNamara a good amount of space to respond, with him explaining, “you’re competing against the best people in the world at what they do, and you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people.”
While you can’t argue with the results of McNamara’s style, one would certainly hope these harsh revelations would cease before the game industry becomes a less attractive job market.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged L.A. Noire
Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies go “In the Jungle” in Annihilation DLC
“Call of the Dead” from the Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation DLC was a hard act to follow for Treyarch. Instead of trying to up the star-studded cast of its previous effort, they decided to just bring you more interesting Zombies settings with new gameplay mechanics. Ride on a rail or down an aqueduct while you cut down the endless horde of the undead with all new weapons. Annihilation will cost you $15 and arrives on Xbox Live tomorrow with a future date for PC and PS3.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops
Summer of Arcade 2011 release dates released
Microsoft has revealed the release schedule and price points for this year’s Summer of Arcade promotion. Beginning on July 20 and ending on August 17, five highly anticipated games will be added to the Xbox Live Arcade for your gaming pleasure. The full release schedule is as follows:
July 20: Bastion (1200 Microsoft Points)
July 27: From Dust (1200 Microsoft Points)
August 3: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (1200 Microsoft Points)
August 10: Fruit Ninja Kinect (800 Microsoft Points)
August 17: Toy Soldiers: Cold War (1200 Microsoft Points)
Like in years past, players who purchase every game during the Summer of Arcade will receive a free bonus. This year, Microsoft plans to reward the completist Summer of Arcade shopper with a free download of Crimson Alliance, a “fast-action RPG game from industry-leading Certain Affinity” that’ll be available through the XBLA on September 7.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Bastion, Crimson Alliance, From Dust, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Forza 4 Limited Collector’s Edition announced
Forza Motorsport 4 is coming October 11, and Microsoft has announced the Limited Collector’s Edition for the most diehard fans of the franchise.
In addition to the “Ship Bonus” car pack exclusively for pre-orders, a “VIP Car Pack” will net you another five additional cars. You’ll also get ten unannounced American classic muscle cars, as well as a custom designed BMW from the “Forza Motorsport 4 BMW Design Challenge.” The 2012 BMW M5 will also be available in the bundle, with a downloadable theme featuring the car and special recognition in lobbies and leaderboards. As far as tangible goods, you’ll get a host of stickers and a 96 page art book, “Cars of Motorsport 4 Presented by Top Gear.”
Head over to the official page for full details.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Forza Motorsport 4
Black Eyed Peas Experience dances to Wii, Xbox 360 soon
If you’re Ubisoft, you have to ask yourself… how do you follow up The Michael Jackson Experience? Remember, this was a game that sold millions of copies and starred one of the world’s most beloved entertainers. Passing over the obvious answer, Ubisoft has gone in a different direction and announced The Black Eyed Peas Experience.
You can check out the trailer above and “get hyped” for more information on The Black Eyed Peas Experience, which Ubisoft plans to bring to the Wii and Kinect for Xbox 360 soon.
Posted in News, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged The Black Eyed Peas Experience
New Releases: Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, RE Mercenaries 3D, Street Fighter IV Arcade, More
The month of June comes to an end with a bunch of new sequels and a new fitness game that will turn your mom into an ultimate fighter. Take that Wii Fit! But I’m sure you want specifics, so here we go:
- Capcom is bringing an expanded version of popular Mercenaries minigame to the 3DS in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.
- The publisher is also expanding the latest Street Fighter game again with Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (PS3, Xbox 360).
- Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei merged two of their favorite franchises a third time in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 (PS3, Xbox 360).
- Nintendo brings the popular Mystery Case Files series to the console world for the first time in Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident (Wii).
- And finally, THQ wants to turn your exercise regiment into an extreme sport with UFC Personal Trainer (PS3, Xbox 360).
Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Street Fighter IV
Xbox COO doesn’t like the chances of PS Vita, 3DS
The PlayStation Vita has garnered a lot of enthusiasm from gamers with its promising software lineup, as has the 3DS with its innovative visuals and recently released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS. But where many gamers see hope, Microsoft corporate executives see doom.
Xbox COO Dennis Durkin told Industry Gamers that while he respects Nintendo and Sony, he wouldn’t want to trade places with them, especially in the handheld space. “I’m not sure I would want to be launching a dedicated portable device right now into that market,” said Durkin. “If you look at the 3DS, certainly versus people’s expectation’s, it’s not been as successful as people would have thought. So that’s a very crowded market and a very, very red ocean right now with a lot of change happening. So I’m not sure it’s [a good idea].”
While I’m sure that mentality is what makes him very good at what he does, it makes me glad Microsoft isn’t involved in the dedicated gaming handheld space, given their attitude. When it comes to handheld gaming, I usually like to order a healthy heaping of gameplay with a side of innovation… hold the corporate bullsh*t.
Ms. Splosion Man blasts onto XBLA on July 13
The funniest guys making video games today, Twisted Pixel, has announced that Ms. Splosion Man will be available to download from the Xbox Live Arcade on July 13. More than a mere sequel to 2009’s Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel promises a ton of enhancements to their already explosive game:
Boasting improvements to nearly every aspect of its gameplay, Ms. Splosion Man is a true successor to her illustrious forebearer. Players can look forward to a host of new gameplay mechanics, varying environments posing new unique challenges, totally revamped network support, epic boss battles, original music, and plenty of the humor and charm that people have come to expect from Twisted Pixel. Tons of unlockables throughout the game give players a complete behind-the-scenes look at the game’s creation.
In case that weren’t enough, the developer also promises players will have access to 50 single-player levels, 50 multiplayer levels and “a bunch of surprises to come.”
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Ms. Splosion Man