Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game Awards
- “Animal Crossing” and Undertale” Lead the Way for New Book Series About Games at University of Chicago Press
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
All Articles: Vita
Prototype 2, Kinect Star Wars lead April 2012 NPD report
Activision’s Prototype 2 took the top spot in the latest NPD report of bestselling games. Another new release, the Xbox 360-exclusive Kinect Star Wars, “did the Han Solo” all the way up to #2.
The remainder of the list is overflowing with familiar faces from last Fall including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (#3), NBA 2K12 (#5), and Just Dance 3 (#9). It wasn’t a Fall release, but Mass Effect 3 continues to hold strong at #8 now that the controversy over the game’s ending has come to… an end.
In terms of dollars made, the game industry suffered a 32% drop in overall sales from April 2011 ($630.4 million versus $930.9 million) when Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat ruled the charts.
You can check out the NPD Group’s complete list of bestsellers for April 2012 after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Just Dance 3, Kinect Star Wars, Mario Party 9, Mass Effect 3, MLB 12: The Show, NBA 2K12, NPD, PC, Prototype 2, PS2, PS3, PSP, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Atlus announces US release for Persona 4: Golden
Atlus has announced that the Vita remake of Persona 4, Persona 4: Golden, will make its way across the Pacific this year.
Scheduled for a Fall 2012 release, Persona 4: Golden will be an “enhanced and expanded portable version” of the PS2 original. Atlus has a ton of extras planned for the Vita re-release including…
- Remastered visuals
- 1.5x the voiced dialogue
- A new online rescue feature
- New Personas
- New story events (with a new character)
- Stunning new anime cut scenes
- A new opening animation with a new song by Shoji Meguro
- Tons of tweaks and fan suggestions
Whew!
Posted in News
Tagged Persona 4: The Golden, Vita
BioShock Vita will get Irrational’s “full attention” after BioShock Infinite
During last year’s E3 Expo, Ken Levine famously stepped on the Sony stage and announced that a new BioShock game was in development exclusively for the Vita. Since then, we’ve heard absolutely nothing about it. How come? Apparently, it’s because BioShock Vita is on the back burner until Irrational finishes up BioShock Infinite:
Wired: Are you really focusing on BioShock Infinite before you get to work on the Vita game? Or are you working on both simultaneously?
Levine: These games really are all-consuming endeavors. You do want to keep the ball rolling but it is tough to give it your full attention before you finish what you have. But we’re getting there with Infinite.
This news came from a Wired interview where Levine gets into some of the real nitty gritty design choices his team made in BioShock Infinite. While this is bad news for Vita owners hoping to get an exclusive look into Irrational’s world sometime soon, it’s an amazingly entertaining read.
Posted in News
Tagged BioShock Vita, Vita
Skype announces video calling availability on the PlayStation Vita
On Tuesday, Skype announced that PS Vita system owners can now download the Skype application for free from the PlayStation Store. Both Wi-Fi and 3G models will support video and voice calling capabilities.
The application runs in “background mode” while you play games or use other applications, and will give you a notification when you receive a call. If you’re in the middle of a game or or browsing the web, it will “pause” your activity to allow you to take your call, then return to you to whatever you were doing when you’re done. Additionally, the PS Vita has rear and front facing cameras, both of which you can utilize during a Skype call.
Essentially, your PS Vita has just been turned into a wi-fi phone. Which is pretty awesome…
SOCOM developer Zipper Interactive closing down
Zipper Interactive, the development team behind the SOCOM franchise, MAG, and the recent Vita release Unit 13, has announced their closure via Twitter:
After 17 years it’s time to head off into the sunset. A sincere thank you to all our fans for everything you’ve done for us. Farewell.
Zipper’s parent company, Sony Computer Entertainment, responded to the closure with a statement to Game Informer:
The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within SCE WWS. Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita. Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 and Unit 13 will continue to be supported, including the new Daily Challenges in Unit 13.
Best of luck to the former Zipper employees, a team as talented as they were will catch on somewhere, if they haven’t already.
Konami delays Silent Hill: Book of Memories again
As you may have noticed from the latest new release report, Konami’s Silent Hill: Book of Memories will be a no-show on store shelves this week. A representative for the publisher confirmed the delay to Ripten:
Unfortunately Book of Memories has been delayed. Stay tuned for a more formal announcement.
Many online retailers, including Amazon and GameFly, have given the game a placeholder date of May 31 (which is a Thursday, definitely meaning its not the real release date). So don’t expect to see Silent Hill: Book of Memories for a while.
Posted in News
Tagged Silent Hill: Book of Memories, Vita
Pac-Man DLC coming to Touch My Katamari in Japan
How do you make a new Katamari game better? Why, you add a level based on Pac-Man of course!
Namco Bandai has revealed that Japanese owners of Touch My Katamari will be able to purchase Pac-Man-themed DLC very soon. The Prince will be tasked with picking up Power Pellets, Ghosts, fruit, maze walls, and even the big Pac himself. Some familiar bleeps and bloops will also be heard on the soundtrack.
It’s unknown if the Pac-Man level will be able for North American gamers, but I’m sure there’s a ghost of a chance.
[Source: Andriasang]
Posted in News
Tagged Touch My Katamari, Vita
Play.com leaks GTA: Vice City Nights, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, more for Vita
UK retailer Play.com has outed a few Vita games and the selection should be of great interest to… well, everybody. Don’t believe me? Check out this list of leaked titles:
- Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Nights
- Monster Hunter Portable 3
- Tales of Innocence R
Obviously, none of these titles have been officially announced. But there’s a lot of evidence to suggest they’re real.
Final Fantasy Type-0 was previously released for the PSP in Japan and Square Enix has always said it would make it across the Pacific. With the PSP as good as dead, a Vita release makes much more sense.
There hasn’t been so much as a peep about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Nights, but GTA: Liberty City Stories, GTA Vice City Stories, and GTA: Chinatown Wars were huge sellers on the PSP.
A tech demo of Monster Hunter Portable 3 running on Vita hardware was shown by Capcom last year. Turning it into an actual game is a no-brainer. Tales of Innocence R is already available for the Vita in Japan and Namco Bandai has been heavily pushing the series in America as of late, so this also qualifies as a no-brainer.
So what are all of these publishers waiting for? Announce them already!
[Source: Eurogamer]
Posted in News
Tagged Final Fantasy Type-0, Vita