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: PSP
First trailer for Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
The MTV Multiplayer blog has an exclusive first look at Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. You can follow the link to view it or you can just play the video right here.
In the video, you’ll be treated to a Lego-ized version of Jack Sparrow’s grand entrance from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The game will include levels from all three current Pirates movies as well as the upcoming On Stranger Tides.
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean will be released for the DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 this May.
Disney Interactive cuts jobs
Disney Interactive is currently downsizing, apparently in a pretty substantial way, as nearly half of its 700 member staff may be getting the boot. Disney calls the layoffs a “restructuring process” in its statement. Variety reports that many were anticipating the layoffs as many key players left the division last year, including Graham Hopper, who spent the last eight years building the studio into a formidable entity in the gaming industry. New talent is coming in to upper management, including John Pleasants, CEO of Playdom, which Disney acquired last year. Disney’s current CEO Bob Iger said Pleasants would “focus on turning those businesses into profitability” and “diversifying our presence in the business, so we’re not reliant on one platform that’s obviously facing challenges.”
While terms can have multiple connotations in the business context, he may be referring to last year’s Epic Mickey, which released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, a console that is notoriously difficult for third party developers to find success on. Epic Mickey was panned critically, but is apparently the fastest selling game in Disney Interactive’s history, pushing 1.3 million copies last December.
Hulk Hogan runs wild on WWE All-Stars box
THQ has released the official boxart for WWE All-Stars and it features eight of the biggest wrestlers of yesterday and today.
Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior will be joined by “Macho Man” Randy Savage and The Rock on the legends side of the box while John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston represent the modern-day superstars.
The best part of this news is that THQ hadn’t announced Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior as part of the game’s roster, so this is a welcome surprise.
WWE All-Stars (and Hulkamania) will run wild on the PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PS2 and PSP this March.
Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy coming March 22
The title of Dissidia 012 [duodecim]: Final Fantasy has been giving gamers the fits ever since it was announced. But now we finally know when we’ll get to play it as Square Enix has revealed the PSP fighter will be released on March 22.
The prequel will feature the return of every character from Dissidia: Final Fantasy along with new characters Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII), Kain (Final Fantasy IV) and Tifa (Final Fantasy VII). Square Enix has promised that “many other new faces” will also make an appearance in Dissidia 012, possibly in the game’s new “Assist” feature.
Among the characters we already know about, many of them will be voiced by some familiar names as the cast includes Rachael Leigh Cook as Tifa, Keith David as Chaos, Steve Burton as Cloud Strife, George Newbern as Sephiroth and Ali Hillis as Lightning. According to Square Enix, they won’t be the only ones as “numerous past voice actors have also returned to once again bring their characters to life.”
Posted in News
Tagged Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, PSP
Red Dead Redemption, Enslaved, God of War III lead 2011 AIAS nominees
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has announced the nominees for the 14th annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs). As expected, Red Dead Redemption lead the way with nine nominations including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design and Game of the Year.
God of War III and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (a title that is already being considered one of the best games you’ve never played) shared the second-most nominations with six apiece. Other games up for multiple awards include Call of Duty: Black Ops, Heavy Rain, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Mass Effect 2 (five nominations apiece) along with Dance Central, Limbo and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (four apiece).
The awards will be handed out by Jay Mohr at the 2011 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit on Thursday, February 10. The hour-long show will be broadcast on G4 two days later, February 12, at 4:00 PM (Eastern Time) with a webcast scheduled for 7:30 PM (Eastern Time) at G4tv.com/DICE.
A complete list of nominees can be on the AIAS website, but the “Game of the Year” will come from this list of five: Angry Birds HD, Call of Duty: Black Ops, God of War III, Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption.
Can you dig these WWE All-Stars trailers?
OOOOOOOHHHHH YYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!
THQ is taking the WWE to the arcade this March (March 29 to be exact) with WWE All-Stars, a wildly over-the-top wrestling game that brings together two generations of the WWE’s finest.
Check out the game’s debut trailer above and hit the jump for a special message from “Macho Man” Randy Savage on why he’s the greatest superstar in the PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PS2 and PSP game. At 58, the former Slim Jim spokesman is still more awesome than any wrestler working today. (more…)
PlayStation Store update for 1/18/11 brings Mass Effect 2 to the PSN
This week’s PlayStation store update brings a ton of great content, most notable of which is the digital version of Mass Effect 2. Coming in at 12GB, the game is accompanied by a load of free and priced downloadable content, as well as a free game trial for PSN Plus Subscribers. Other notable releases include Modern Combat: Domination at a reasonable $7.99 (with a demo if the low price point isn’t enough for you to give it a shot) and a handful of Neo Geo games now available on PSP, including Alpha Mission II and The King of Fighters ’94. Hit the jump for the full list of new downloadable content, courtesy of Grace Chen of the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged Mass Effect 2, PS3, PSP
Limbo, Red Dead Redemption lead 2011 Game Developers Choice nominees
The nominees for the 2011 Game Developers Choice Awards, which will be handed out on March 2 during the Game Developers Conference, have been announced.
The monochromatic XBLA puzzle-platformer Limbo took seven nominations, more than any other game. But Rockstar’s cowboy opus Red Dead Redeption was close behind with six while BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 received five.
Other big nominees include God of War III, Heavy Rain and Minecraft, all of which received three nominations. Minecraft’s inclusion among the nominees marks the first time a game has received a GDC Award nomination and was selected as a finalist in the Independent Games Festival.
Hit the jump for the full list of nominees. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged DS, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Limbo, Mass Effect 2, Minecraft, PC, PS3, PSP, Red Dead Redemption, Wii, Xbox 360