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
L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories announced
Rockstar will be expanding upon the noirish tales told in L.A. Noire with L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, a short fiction collection from some of the biggest names in the mystery game. Published in conjunction with Mulholland Books, The Collected Stories will feature characters and cases from the game, but all of the “emotionally torn protagonists, depraved schemers and ill-fated victims” will be cast in a new light by the awesome Duane Swierczynski (read Severance Package right now, I demand it!), Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer and Andrew Vachss.
The first story available will be “The Girl” by Megan Abbott. The titular girl is June Ballard, one of the many characters from L.A. Noire. An excerpt of the story is available at the Rockstar Games website with the full-length tale coming soon.
Many of the stories will be released on Rockstar’s website before the game’s May 17th release. The Collected Stories will be available at eBook retailers everywhere on June 6th. A print copy doesn’t appear to be in Rockstar’s plans at this time, but it’s seems wrong to read hardboiled fiction on a computer screen.
Yeah, like that’s going to stop me.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged L.A. Noire
Microsoft hosting Halo Fest at PAX Prime 2011
This year is the tenth anniversary of the Halo series and Microsoft plans to celebrate in a big way. They haven’t told us exactly what they have planned yet (*cough* Halo: Combat Evolved HD *cough*), but I’m sure it’ll be spectacular.
We’ll learn more about those plans at this year’s PAX Prime. It’s there that Microsoft will host Halo Fest, a three day celebration of everything Halo:
Packed with tournaments, exclusive panels, and sweet prizes, Halo Fest is the place to be for Halo fans attending PAX Prime 2011
This event commemorates ten incredible years of Halo, looking back at the amazing stories that forged a diverse community and redefined gaming for two entire console generations. Join us […] and see why the last ten years of Halo were just the beginning.
PAX Prime (and Halo Fest) will be held August 26-28 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
Bethesda bringing three more DLC packs to Fallout: New Vegas
Bethesda has announced that they plan to bring three additional DLC packs to Fallout: New Vegas this Summer. The expansions will be released simultaneously on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 (for $9.99 each) and, according to Bethesda, they will “raise the stakes” of the series. While they didn’t announce one, I’d bet good money that a Fallout: New Vegas Game of the Year Edition is in the works for this Fall.
But Fall is so far away. Especially when we’ve got all the details on the downloadable packs, straight from Bethesda:
Available on May 17, “Honest Hearts” takes you on an expedition to the unspoiled wilderness of Utah’s Zion National Park. Things go horribly wrong when your caravan is ambushed by a tribal raiding band. As you try to find a way back to the Mojave, you become embroiled in a war between tribes and a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burned Man. The decisions you make will determine the fate of Zion.
In “Old World Blues,” releasing in June, you will discover how some of the Mojave’s mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You’ll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty in search of technology to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat.
“Lonesome Road,” available in July, brings the courier’s story full circle when you are contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of New Vegas. In his transmission, Ulysses promises the answer as to why, but only if you take one last job –a job that leads you into the depths of the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms. The road to the Divide is a long and treacherous one, and of the few to ever walk the road, none have ever returned.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Fallout: New Vegas
Daily Scoop: May 3, 2011 – The world is not enough
This weekend, Mike Gutierrez and I were talking about James Bond films, and lo and behold, today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is a James Bond game! It’s Activision’s James Bond 007: Blood Stone for the Xbox 360, and it’s $29.99. It’s “an explosive third-person action/adventure game from critically acclaimed developer Bizarre Creations” and it “features Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Joss Stone in an original story from the writer of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.” It’s also got Daniel Craig on the cover. Sexy!
Let’s see, what else… I wasn’t going to tell you again, but since you brought it up, I’ll just remind you that Mortal Kombat is still $39.99 (and the Kollector’s Edition is $85.99), Portal 2 is still $34.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $29.99 on the PC, and you can still get a black or white Wii for $169.99, and a 160 GB PlayStation 3 or one of several different Xbox 360 consoles with Amazon credit.
We’ve got t-shirts! Two awesome ones today, actually. Hit the jump for the details! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360
Explore Outworld in fourth Mortal Kombat: Legacy episode
Using a combination of animation and live action, director Kevin Tancharoen has turned the clock back on the Mortal Kombat saga in the latest episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Mortal Kombat mainstays Baraka, Shao Kahn and Sindel appear alongside Kitana and Mileena to tell the tale of how Edenia was consumed by Outworld.
Departing from current MK canon, the episode brings back Mileena’s original origin story. The recently released reboot on the PS3 and Xbox 360 shows Mileena was created after Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung for the first time. But in Mortal Kombat II (and now Legacy), Kitana and Mileena were raised as twin sisters, with Mileena’s demonic lineage a secret.
Hopefully we’ll see more of Outworld when the story of Kitana and Mileena continues next week.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Catherine Deluxe Edition announced, game is officially creepier than ever
Mega-creepy Atlus game, Catherine, is getting the Japanese company’s special treatment with the “Love Is Over” Deluxe Edition. This incredibly ridiculous box set includes Vincent’s t-shirt (as seen on Catherine), the boxers Vincent is wearing when he thrashes forth from his nightmares, a sexy pillowcase (is there any other kind?), and a Stray Sheep pizza box. Both the standard and deluxe editions will come with an art book and a CD. The deluxe edition will set you back $79.99 and they’re being made to order, so toss your panties hat in the ring and pre-order this monster.
From what I’ve seen, the game feels like so many Japanese things I already love, namely that strange addictiveness and innovation of Atlus games plus that Wild Sheep Chase feeling of a Haruki Murakami novel. I am most likely going to be one of the insane people who pre-order that deluxe edition, and I’ll probably be sitting around on July 26 in those boxers and that t-shirt, leaning on a pillow with Catherine on it, when I first put the game in. Probably.
Silicon Knights plans to finish Too Human trilogy
Most people don’t remember Too Human, and for good reason. The much hyped game bombed, only selling 168,000 copies in its release month of August 2008. Recently, Denis Dyack told IndustryGamers that he hopes to finish the planned Too Human trilogy, “We intend to finish the trilogy but no comment beyond that… You know, there’s very public litigation around that.”
Dyack is referring to the lawsuit between Silicon Knights and Epic Games. Silicon Knights claims that Epic provided them with incomplete Unreal Engine code, forcing them to completely rebuild the game engine. Epic Games, naturally, claims innocence. Too Human’s future is cloudy, but if Silicon Knights does begin a sequel, let’s hope they completely revamp the repetitive gameplay found in the first.
Silicon Knights is currently developing X-Men: Destiny for Activision.
Daily Scoop: May 2, 2011 – Console deals!
Listen, people. The Internet really wants you to buy some consoles. Not only has the Wii seemed to have dropped to $169.99 (at least, black and white consoles on Amazon still are), but now there’s also a $50 promotional credit on the 160 GB PlayStation 3 consoles. On top of that, there’s a deal on Xbox 360 consoles – buy any of the new generation Xbox 360s and get $50 in promotional credit and 1600 Xbox Live points for free. This is a really great time to get that console you don’t have!
Let’s see, what else… Mortal Kombat is still $39.99 (and the Kollector’s Edition is $85.99), Portal 2 is still $34.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $29.99 on the PC, and today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is Sega of America’s Aliens vs Predator for the Xbox 360, which is just $19.99. That’s a lotta good deals!
No game-related shirts today, but as a dinosaur lover, I feel like I should share the love of today’s Qwertee:
Too adorable. <3