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)
All Articles: PS3
PSN to be restored next week; Sony offers “Welcome Back” gifts
As promised, Sony held a press conference on the state of the PlayStation Network and announced that the PSN/Qriocity music service will be back online next week. An exact date for the service’s return was not revealed, but the initial phase of the rollout will include restoration of online play, Qriocity’s Music Unlimited service, account management options (including password resets), PlayStation Home, the Friends List and chat. It looks like the PlayStation Store will come back online later.
Sony spent the last week examining the network infrastructure and investigating how the breach occured. In order to prevent something like this from happening again, the company has created a new position: Chief Information Security Officer. In addition to a new executive that reports directly to the highest levels of Sony, the gamemaker has beefed up the PSN’s security with automated software monitoring to defend against attacks, tougher encryption and new firewalls.
A mandatory PS3 update will also require all PSN users to change their passwords before logging in to the restored system. To further enhance security, this password change can only be performed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated or through a validated email confirmation.
To apologize for gamer’s patience during The Great PSN Outage of 2011, Sony has launched a “Welcome Back” program. The “Welcome Back” program will supply PSN users with free “entertainment content” (specific content will be announced soon) and a 30-day subscription to PlayStation Plus (or a 30-day extension for current subscribers). Current Qriocity users will receive a 30 days of free service. Sony plans to announce additional “Welcome Back” offerings over the next few weeks.
The full text of the press statement can be read at the PlayStaton.Blog.
Posted in News
Tagged ApocalyPS3 2011, PS3, PSP
Your Madden NFL 12 Cover Athlete: Peyton Hillis
Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis didn’t just win the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote, he demolished his competition, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. The Madden NFL 2004 coverboy only managed to capture 34% of the vote to Hillis’ 66%. Hillis had an impressive 2010-2011 season, but this vote was clearly a huge upset.
All told, more than 12,000,000 votes were cast throughout the entire tournament and Hillis steamrolled some pretty hefty competition (including head-to-head victories over Ray Rice, Matt Ryan, Jamaal Charles and Aaron Rodgers).
Madden NFL 12 (with Peyton Hillis on the cover) will be released for the PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 on August 30.
EA breaks out complete Battlefield 3 “Fault Line” trailer
Over the last six weeks, Electronic Arts and developer DICE have unveiled several segments to the rather lengthy “Fault Line” gameplay trailer for Battlefield 3. Today, they’re finally ready to release the complete 12-minute cut, now with never-before-seen footage.
So check out the trailer above and start counting down the days until Battlefield 3’s Fall 2011 release on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Posted in News
Tagged Battlefield 3, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Michael Vick, Peyton Hillis fight for Madden NFL 12 cover
And then there were two.
The voting for the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete is down to the end and only Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis remain.
Hillis defeated the heavily favored Aaron Rodgers to reach the finals while Vick ended the cinderella dreams of Adrian Peterson. A Vick victory would give the formerly incarcerated quarterback his second Madden cover appearance while Hillis has run over some of the biggest names in pro football to reach the finals. I think it’s safe to say that few people picked either of these guys to make it this far.
Final round voting will continue from now until Monday, April 25. The winner will be announced on April 27th during ESPN 2’s “SportsNation.”
American McGee’s Alice returns with Alice: Madness Returns
Yo dawg, I heard you like Alice, so I… nevermind. American McGee had a little exchange with CVG, discussing how a game without multiplayer can achieve the longevity of of the typical modern game. He disclosed that Alice: Madness Returns will have a strong DLC stream flowing throughout its lifespan, such as dresses that will augment Alice’s powers and change how you have to play the game.
However, the most impressive feature, beefing up the game’s content offering, will be the inclusion of its predecessor, American McGee’s Alice, with all console copies of the game. The formerly PC/Mac-only game will be available via a download code given with all copies of the sequel on the PS3 and Xbox 360. There’s no word yet on if it’ll be available to people who didn’t purchase Alice: Madness Returns or if PC buyers will receive the downloadable bonus.
Alice: Madness Returns releases for PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on June 14.
UPDATE: EA has informed Joystiq that they’re not ready to comment on this, saying “Unfortunately, we do not have information in regards to Alice: Madness Returns including the original Alice game.”
Posted in News
Tagged Alice: Madness Returns, American McGee's Alice, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Two Worlds II expansion coming September 2011
Two Worlds II is getting a disc-based expansion pack, Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress, this September. This return to Antaloor will bring you into the realm of the pirates, though “Flying Fortress” makes it sound like some sort of steampunk adventure. They’ve announced a lot of new additions, including thunder and rain storms, weapons, breeds, bosses, and new animations for both the cutscenes as well as the in-game dialogs.
This multiplatform expansion pack will also include several new multiplayer maps as well. Check out the Pirates of the Flying Fortress website for more details.
Posted in News
Tagged PC, PS3, Two Worlds II, Xbox 360
Meet the Umbrella Security team in new RE Operation Raccoon City trailer
Another trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has clawed its way out of Capcom and this one highlights the Umbrella Security Squad that’ll be hunting down Leon Kennedy and battling with the U.S. Spec Ops team in the zombie ravaged Raccoon City, circa 1998. Although why a team of badasses with cloaking devices care about a rookie cop in a town overrun with zombies is beyond me.
We also get our first closeup of the trenchcoated Bio-Organic Weapon from the game’s first trailer. Sadly, it’s not Nemesis.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this Winter.
Posted in News
Tagged PC, PS3, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Xbox 360
“F**king Run!” in FEAR 3 multiplayer modes
Back when it was first announced, developer Day 1 Studios revealed that they had enlisted John Carpenter to bring some horror to FEAR 3. It looks like the famed director wasn’t only involved in the single-player campaign as his unique stamp is all over the game’s four multiplayer modes.
Check out the trailer above for some absolutely hellish (and awesome!) imagery or hit the jump for the full scoop on escaping the Wall of Death in “F**king Run!,” the Horde-like “Contractions,” the divide-and-conquer of “Soul Survivor” and the collector-fest that is “Soul King.” (more…)