Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio – Bloomberg (2025)
- Fight Club, The Game David Fincher Didn’t Want You To Play – Time Extension (2025)
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: Articles
Daily Scoop: August 8, 2014 – Friday at last!
At long last, it’s Friday! I’ll be heading up to Boston tonight for Boston GameLoop tomorrow, which should be awesome! I’m really looking forward to being around a bunch of brilliant, wonderful people. Hopefully I’ll get back in time Sunday to get some sleep before getting back to work again Monday!
There are some really amazing deals happening today. The Humble Store has the Red Faction Collection for $5.99, as well as Papers, Please for $4.99, Road Not Taken for $11.99, Surgeon Simulator for $2.49, and Cook, Serve, Delicious for $2.49. And over at Steam, the Weekend Deal is Saints Row IV for $9.99, and the Daily Deal is early access to Legends of Eisenwald for $9.99.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen Mount Your Friends yet, you need to stop what you’re doing and check it out. It’s only $4.99, so you should probably also just buy it.
Let’s end this week with some shirts!
Posted in Daily Scoop
Activision is bringing back the Sierra label at Gamescom 2014
The Sierra Entertainment publishing label has laid dormant for the last six years, when the label’s parent company, Vivendi, merged with Activision. But it looks the name will get another chance in the sun as Activision has relaunched Sierra.com and released a teaser trailer promoting the label’s return at next week’s Gamescom convention.
Sierra was best known for a string of adventure games released throughout the 80s and 90s, but it’s still a mystery how the label will fit in with Activision’s focus on massive franchises like Call of Duty, Skylanders, and Destiny.
I guess we’ll find out next week.
Posted in News
Tagged Gamescom 2014
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition definitely coming on October 14
After finding success with Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition earlier this year, Square Enix has announced that Sleeping Dogs will also get the next-gen treatment this Fall. The re-release will be developed by the original team behind Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games. It will include all 24 pieces of downloadable content originally released for the game as well as all three single-player expansions (“Nightmare in North Point,” “The Zodiac Tournament,” and “Year of the Snake”).
“It was an exciting opportunity for the original development team to be able revisit a game we’re so passionate about”, said Dan Sochan, Senior Producer at United Front Games. “We’re giving old and new fans a lot reasons to pick up the game, as we’ve gone beyond just increasing resolution and running at 1080p. We listened to the fans: we tuned gameplay, we added to the ambience of Hong Kong, increased audio fidelity and pushed the visuals further than we could on the previous generation of consoles.”
Square Enix has quite a bit of faith in their open-world game of undercover cops and gangsters. In addition to this re-release, Sleeping Dogs was previously available as a free download through PlayStation Plus and Microsoft’s Games With Gold. If you haven’t played it before (and you really have no excuse), now’s your chance.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition will be available for the PC (through Steam), PS4, and Xbox One on October 14.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Sleeping Dogs
Titles selected for EA Access Vault will be “permanently” available to play
If you read the fine print behind Electronic Arts’ new EA Access subscription service, you’d come away with the idea that it operates in a similar manner to Sony’s PlayStation Plus plan. Just as Sony rotates out the games that are part of its “Instant Game Collection,” EA gave every indication that games in “The Vault” would change with the seasons.
According to Peter Moore, EA’s Chief Operating Officer, the publisher actually plans to make every game in The Vault a permanent part of EA Access.
Speaking to CVG, Moore said, “I think one of the key things is that once a game goes into the Vault it stays there, it’s not going to be taken out, that’s a commitment we’ve made.” This commitment will go a long way towards helping EA Access reach its potential as a “Netflix for games,” a comparison that many have made since the service was announced. Moore also stated that the number of AAA titles that will be offered through EA Access will be “substantial,” though he said there’s no timetable on when (or even if) EA’s future releases will become part of The Vault.
EA will begin offering EA Access subscriptions on the Xbox One for $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year later this Summer. Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, and Peggle 2 will make up the first wave of titles available to download through The Vault.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2
Second Gamescom 2014 teaser from Sony brings down the ax
Sony has unveiled a second Gamescom 2014 teaser and this time we’re treated to a bloody ax smashing into a stump followed by the same cracking ice from the first teaser. By focusing on one of Jason Voorhees’ favorite implements of destruction, it appears more and more likely that Sony is teasing the reintroduction of Until Dawn, a horror movie-themed adventure game first announced in 2012.
At the time, Until Dawn was expected to be released as a Move-exclusive PS3 title, but if Sony is teasing its return, are they also planning to shift it to the PS4? We won’t know for sure until Sony’s Gamescom presentation on August 11, but all signs point to yes.
Finally, you might also want to check out Sony’s psychedelic Gamescom trailer. It doesn’t tease any new surprises, but it’s fun to watch.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Gamescom 2014
Daily Scoop: August 7, 2014 – New Humble Weekly Bundle
There’s a brand new set of games over at Humble Weekly Bundle, and this one’s called the Japan Edition! Pay what you want for Unholy Heights, One Way Heroics, and Gigantic Army. Pay $6 or more to unlock Ys Origin, Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae, and PixelJunk Shooter. Pay $10 or more to unlock Astebreed.
There are some brand new sales happening at Steam as well. The Weekend Deal is Nosgoth, which is marked down to $2.49 and is free for the weekend. The Daily Deal is StarForge for $4.99. These are both early access games.
Let’s check out some t-shirts, shall we?
Posted in Daily Scoop
Nintendo Download: Super Mario Kart, Mega Man V, Cybernator, more
This week’s Nintendo Download is a great day for fans of the Virtual Console as four classic titles have been added to the eShop.
The biggest name in today’s batch is clearly Super Mario Kart. The Super NES game is considered the forefather of all kart racing games and is still beloved by gamers the world over. So celebrate the 22nd anniversary of its release by downloading it to your Wii U. Joining Super Mario Kart on the Wii U eShop today is Mega Man V, one of the last Mega Man games to be released for the NES, and Cybernator, a shooter originally released for the Super NES.
One Virtual Console title was added to the 3DS eShop as well today, and it’s The Mysterious Murasame Castle, an NES game that was previously only available in Japan. You might recognize it as the basis for Nintendo Land‘s “Takamaru’s Ninja Castle.”
And if you’re looking for more Virtual Console blasts from the past, Nintendo has confirmed that Double Dragon II: The Revenge will be added to the Wii U eShop on August 14 with Life Force following the week after on August 21.
More details on all of these games (as well as two more) can be found after the break. (more…)
Latest BioWare teaser asks you to feel the “Impact”
BioWare has released another teaser trailer in their “You’ve Been Chosen” series of adverts ahead of the game’s Gamescom 2014 reveal next week. This one is titled “Impact” and it depicts a terrified girl whispering that something isn’t her fault over and over again. A quick cut later and we realize that she has somehow created a magical-looking sinkhole under her house. The trailer closes with this teaser’s tagline, which asks, “Can You Control Your Power?”
After careful consideration, I think we’re dealing with mutants here. Or possibly modern day folks dealing with mystical powers that they never knew existed. Something like that.
We’ll find out for sure next week during BioWare’s Gamescom presentation, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, August 13 at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time). If you can’t make it to Cologne, Germany, BioWare will livestream the announcement on Twitch.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Gamescom 2014, Shadow Realms