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: Xbox One
Just Stop! Sony and Microsoft Will NOT Block Used Games in Their Next-Gen Consoles
When the Internet decides to collectively believe something that’s just not true, we have to cry out… Just Stop! This is what’s making a Warp Zoned editor rip his computer from the wall in frustration today…
Even though Sony’s February 20th presentation is still officially known as “Meeting 2013,” and unofficially as their “See the Future” event, the gaming populace is resolute in its belief that the PlayStation 4/Orbis will be unveiled to the public on that Wednesday evening. Actually, I have a hard time disagreeing with the hive mind of the Internet on this one. The PS4 reveal is but a fortnight away, I’m sure of it. But the drones of the Internet have also decreed that Sony will include some kind of nefarious scheme within the PS4 that’ll disable used games on the system.
No! Just Stop! YOU. ARE. WRONG. (more…)
Rumor: Project Gotham Racing 5 in the works for Xbox 720 at Lucid Games
I have a feeling this Xbox 720 “logo” is going to get a lot of work over the next few months.
STFU and Play has posted a rumor that claims Lucid Games (a development house made up of former Bizarre Creations and Criterion staff members) is hard at work on Project Gotham Racing 5 for the Xbox 720/Durango.
Bizarre Creations created the PGR series back on the original Xbox and a new entry has been rumored to be in development ever since Activision scooped up Bizarre in 2007.
Interestingly enough, a search of Lucid Games’ website reveals a mystery project known as “Sky Light” that carries the tagline “Road Opens 2013.”
This lines up nicely with STFU and Play’s assertion that Project Gotham Racing 5 will be a launch title for the Xbox 720/Durango, which is rumored to launch in Fall 2013.
More Xbox 720 rumors: Blu-ray discs, no used games, Kinect V2 compatible
As Sony steams towards their February 20 announcement of the “Future of PlayStation,” new rumors have emerged about Microsoft’s next-generation offering, the Xbox 720/Durango.
According to Edge, an anonymous tipster has revealed a laundry list of details concerning Microsoft’s next system:
- The system’s internals will include an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800MHz graphics card, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a hard drive of unspecified size.
- Games will ship on 50GB Blu-ray discs.
- Each game will also ship with an activation code, locking out used game sales without some kind of re-authorization code.
The tipster also said that Microsoft plans to launch a “new, more reliably responsive” Kinect sensor alongside the Xbox 720/Durango.
Diablo III is “up and running” on consoles; still no official announcement
Oh Blizzard, you’re such a tease!
Speaking to Polygon, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has confirmed that the developer has a version of Diablo III “up and running” on console hardware. But, he reiterated, the company is still not ready to officially announce it.
“We’re still kind of exploring it,” said Pardo. “We’ve got builds up and running on it. We’re hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we’re not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it’s looking pretty cool.”
I realize Blizzard wants to ensure a console version of Diablo III can live up to its PC predecessor before they officially announce it or post screenshots or give it a release date, but come on, this is getting ridiculous.
Black Tusk Studios is creating Microsoft’s next “Halo-like” franchise
Microsoft opened their Vancouver studio last year, but the team is finally ready for the big time with a new name and a new focus. Now known as Black Tusk Studios, the developer has begun work on creating the consolemaker’s next big franchise.
“[W]e are working on Microsoft’s next big entertainment franchise. We’re not working on an existing franchise, we’re looking to build the next Halo here in Vancouver, for example, which is really exciting. We are building something from the ground up,” said Mike Crump, the Studio Manager at Black Tusk.
To that end, Black Tusk has announced a massive recruitment drive in an effort to bring new talent to the studio. If you’re interested, you can find all of the job postings at BlackTuskStudios.com.
Details on the new franchise are being kept tightly under wraps, but previous recruitment efforts by Black Tusk (back when they were known as Microsoft Vancouver) have confirmed the developer is working on a “AAAA” shooter that makes use of the Kinect sensor in some way. It’s likely (but unconfirmed) that it’ll appear on the Xbox 360 as well.
[Source: The Vancouver Sun]
Bethesda VP hints at Dishonored sequel
Pete Hines, Bethesda’s Vice President, recently spoke to Destructoid about the unsurprising sales success of Dishonored. Hines didn’t reveal specific sales numbers, but he did confirm that the game is selling “far [above] expectations.”
How well is it selling? Well enough that Bethesda has begun to think of Dishonored as their next big franchise. Here’s what Hines had to say:
“I can tell you that Dishonored is far exceeding our sales expectations, which is especially cool considering it’s new IP facing a host of well-established franchises this quarter. We did terrific numbers again this past weekend, both in stores and on Steam, where Dishonored was listed as the #1 selling title over the holiday weekend. And Dishonored has really sold well overseas.
So, we’re very pleased and appreciate all the fans that have supported Dishonored and Arkane. We clearly have a new franchise.”
While it’s too early to go around claiming that Dishonored 2 is in development, the game is clearly coming. Hopefully, we’ll get an official announcement soon.
Posted in News
Tagged Dishonored, Dishonored 2, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Atari founder is baffled by Wii U, says console era is over
I think Nolan Bushnell needs a Chuck E Cheese pizza and a good long nap. During a recent chat with The New York Times, the Atari founder took a few swipes at Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U, and console gaming in general.
Bushnell told the newspaper, “I actually am baffled by [the Wii U]. I don’t think it’s going to be a big success.”
But he saved his harshest criticisms for the console industry in general saying, “These things will continue to sputter along, but I really don’t think they’ll be of major import ever again. It feels like the end of an era to me.”
A part of me wonders if Mr. Bushnell is aware that console gaming is still a $20 billion a year industry? But at least he’s more informed than the author of the article. After leaving the Atari founder, he spends several thousand words on a eulogy for Nintendo because of the popularity of phone/tablet apps.
Sigh.