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 One
Mad Max WILL have an Australian accent in Mad Max game
A Mad Max game has been known to be in development for a few years now and it’s appearance at E3 2013 was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. But the announcement wasn’t half as shocking as the news that Max would speak with an American accent in the game.
After the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Internet that this kind of thing produces, Avalanche’s Chief Creative Officer, Christofer Sundberg, has confirmed that Mad Max’s Aussie twang will be included in the game:
Attn. fans who want Max to have an Aussie accent in #MadMaxGame : It shall be so. We admire your loyalty. You have been heard.
— Christofer Sundberg (@CHSundberg) July 2, 2013
Well that’s just ace, mate! The next tallie of amber fluid is on me!***
TitanFall wins “Best of Show” at E3 2013 Game Critics Awards
Respawn’s TitanFall is a big winner in this year’s E3 2013 Game Critics Awards. The mech shooter, which will be available for the PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in Spring 2014, won all six awards it was nominated for, including the coveted “Best of Show” award.
TitanFall was the only game to win in multiple categories this year, but Watch Dogs (“Best Action/Adventure Game”), Tearaway (“Best Handheld/Mobile Game”), The Elder Scrolls Online (“Best Role Playing Game”), and a few others split the nine remaining awards. And a virtual high five to the developers at Supergiant Games for Transistor, which was selected as the “Best Downloadable Game.” We liked it quite a bit at PAX East 2013 too.
You can find the complete list of selections from this year’s Game Critics Awards after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Need For Speed Rivals, NHL 14, Tearaway, The Elder Scrolls Online, TitanFall, Total War: Rome II, Transistor, Watch Dogs
TitanFall, Destiny, Watch Dogs lead all nominees in Best of E3 2013 awards
The 30 publications that form the Game Critics Awards judging panel have announced this year’s nominees for the Best of E3 2013. This year, Respawn’s TitanFall lead the way with six nominations. Bungie’s Destiny and Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs were close behind with five nominations apiece.
All three games were selected to be part of the “Best in Show” alongside new hardware from Sony (the PlayStation 4) and Oculus VR (the Oculus Rift HD). That has to sting for Microsoft and the continued debacle that is their Xbox One announcement. Though the Xbox One did get a nod in the “Best Hardware” category. I have a feeling it’s not going to win.
A complete list of all the nominees can be found after the break. The winners will be announced on July 2. (more…)
DualShock 4 is bigger than you think (and bigger than the Xbox One controller)
The DualShock has been Sony’s go-to controller design (with slight variations) for three generations now. The fourth DualShock, which will be packaged with the PS4 this Fall, makes a few major changes to the formula and fixes a complaint gamers have had about Sony’s controllers for almost 20 years.
Sony’s DualShock controllers have always been on the small side, but the DualShock 4 remedies that problem with a wider profile and longer handles. It acutally looks comfortable to hold for extended periods of time and, as you can see in this side-by-side photo from GameChup, is actually larger than the Xbox One controller.
As someone who spents years trying to find a third-party PS2 controller that didn’t cramp my hands, this is excellent news.
Halo “Reclaimer Trilogy” is now considered a “Saga” by Microsoft
During PAX Prime 2011, Creative Director Josh Holmes referred to Halo 4 as the start of the “Reclaimer Trilogy,” mapping out the Master Chief’s future in the then-upcoming game and two further adventures: Halo 5 (due in 2014 for the Xbox One and officially known as “The Next Halo Game”) and Halo 6. According to a Microsoft representative (speaking to GameSpot), “trilogy” is no longer the correct word for the next two games in the Halo franchise:
“While we originally said trilogy, we’ve actually expanded this to more of a saga, so we don’t want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy.”
Will the “Reclaimer Saga” include more than three AAA console shooters? Or is Microsoft counting things like the recently announced Halo: Spartan Assault for mobile devices as part of the saga? The Microsoft representative didn’t clarify, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about Halo 5 (and Halo: The Television Series, which may also be part of the saga) in the coming months.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo 5: Guardians
NBA Live 14 will be exclusive to PS4, Xbox One
Executive Producer Sean O’Brien wants you to know that NBA Live 14 will be different. Different from the two previous games in the series that were canceled due to quality issues. And different from 2K’s NBA 2K series.
How different will it be? NBA Live 14 won’t be released for the PS3 or Xbox 360 and will instead be exclusive to next-generation platforms, specifically the PS4 and Xbox One.
“There has been a lot of talk the last few years about how great NBA Live was going to be. The “talking” is over. The vision is a simple one: To create a great basketball game exclusively for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4,” O’Brien said.
You can read the rest of his manifesto at EASports.com.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged NBA Live 14
Microsoft puts an end to used game restrictions and online check-in with Xbox One
And all is right with the world.
Microsoft’s Don Mattrick has confirmed (via Xbox.com) that the next-generation console’s game registration scheme, used game restrictions, and online check-in requirements are dead. Game discs can be borrowed, rented, or sold between friends or businesses, just as they are today. The system will still require an Internet connection during the initial setup period (which includes a day one patch to enable the offline mode), but the “once-a-day check-in” is no more.
This reversal comes after gamers, the media, and the US government reacted in horror to many of the Xbox One’s online policies in the days leading up to the 2013 E3 Expo. Marc Whitten, the Vice President of Xbox Live, spoke to Kotaku an hour ago and elaborated on what some of these changes mean. With the game registration scheme gone, gamers will have to keep the disc in the Xbox One’s tray to play a game. Disc-based games will also no longer be added to your “cloud library,” but digitally downloaded games can still be downloaded to any Xbox One system that your Live account is logged-in on. This new DRM policy also means that the coolest Xbox One feature, family game sharing, is gone. Or rather, it won’t be available “at launch,” according to Whitten.
Mattrick’s full statement is available after the break. Oh, and it’s nice to be right.
Congressmen propose “We Are Watching You Act,” an anti-Kinect bill
Microsoft had a tough time selling gamers on the Xbox One and its (almost) always-on Kinect sensor during last week’s E3 Expo. This week, a pair of US Representatives want to block the monitoring features of the next-generation console before it’s even released.
Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced the “We Are Watching You Act” last week in order to protect the privacy of consumers from DVR boxes (or similar devices) that include built-in cameras and microphones. Verizon, who provides the popular FiOS service, filed a patent application for a DVR with video and audio monitoring capabilities in 2012. But, at this point, it’s unknown if they have such a DVR in development. So for now, the “We Are Watching You Act” is strictly an anti-Xbox One bill as the system’s Kinect sensor is the only device that meets the qualifications of the bill.
The “We Are Watching You Act” would prohibit companies from marketing this kind of monitoring DVR (or Kinect sensor) without first offering consumers the chance to opt-in to the service. The DVR/Kinect operator must also “provide specific details on how collected information will be used and who will have access to the data.” If you do chose to opt-in, when the device is recording it will display “WE ARE WATCHING YOU” in a font “large enough to be readable from a distance.”
While that kind of message might kill the immersive feel of a round of Killer Instinct, it might help with Watch Dogs.
And here’s where it gets messy. The bill would require manufacturers who sell devices that monitor consumers to create a similar device, without monitoring capability, and offer that as well, thus creating two tiers of Xbox One hardware. Rep. Capuano’s statement, and the full text of the bill, can be found at his official website.