Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
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)
Monthly Archives: February 2013
Nintendo Download: Wii Street U, Dig Dug, Rabbids Travel in Time 3D, more
Nintendo’s mapping service for the Wii U, Wii Street U, is now available on the Wii U eShop as a free download. But if you’re interested in the Google Maps-powered application, I suggest you get it quick, as it’ll be free only for a limited time.
3DS players will get a chance to download three games this week: the NES version of the arcade classic Dig Dug, the minigame collection Rabbids Travel in Time 3D, and the mythical pet-raising game Petz Fantasy 3D.
You can read all about these titles (as well as new additions to the DSiWare Shop and Wii Virtual Console) after the break. (more…)
The Aliens: Colonial Marines saga so far
By now, you’ve probably heard at least some of the sordid details surrounding the development process of Aliens: Colonial Marines. Did Gearbox push the majority of the development duties onto TimeGate Studios in order to have more time to work on Borderlands 2? Was the game rewritten and reworked multiple times in the six-year development cycle? What happened to the Wii U version?
Destructoid has compiled a pretty thorough timeline of the events so far and it makes excellent afternoon reading. It’s a much better use of your time than watching Alien 3, that’s for sure.
Aliens: Colonial Marines has turned out to be more than just a bad game. It’s a confusing story of allegations, outsourcing, and potential deception on a considerable level. The biggest mystery to come out of this debacle is the question of who actually made the game. Nobody’s entirely sure.
And sadly (or not, you know, because of all the bad reviews), it looks like the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines has been postponed indefinitely.
New Super Luigi U DLC expansion transforms New Super Mario Bros. U this year
Luigi rarely gets a chance to shine on his own, but 2013’s “Year of Luigi” celebration should all that. In addition to a slew of 3DS games starring Mario’s taller brother, the green-suited one will star in “New Super Luigi U,” a massive New Super Mario Bros. U expansion set for release later this year.
New Super Luigi U will transform every level found in New Super Mario Bros. U into an alternate version playable by Luigi, and Luigi alone. Which is why, according to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, there’s “Brothers” in the title. Mr. Iwata also revealed that this DLC package is “similar [in size] to the development of full software” and will take a bit of time to develop.
New Super Luigi U should be available to download from the Wii U eShop sometime this year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U
Animal Crossing: New Leaf sets up house on June 9
3DS owners will finally get a chance to purchase Animal Crossing: New Leaf when its released for the 3DS on June 9. The game, which has been available in Japan since December, will be the first game in the series available for the handheld.
New Leaf will add plenty of new things to the Animal Crossing formula including a Main Street shopping plaza and the Happy Home Place model home showcase. And, of course, this time you get to be the mayor. Bill Trinen, Nintendo’s Director of Product Marketing, had this to say: “You’re the boss now. No more doing chores for Tom Nook.”
As the boss, you also might like to know that Nintendo is adding an Animal Crossing-themed clothing line to Style Savvy: Trendsetters. The Gracie Grace line is inspired by “the fashion-forward giraffe from the Animal Crossing series” and is available for download now. Another new clothing line, based on the popular Japanese brand Liz Lisa, will be available to download later this year.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Mario Golf: World Tour coming to 3DS this Summer
Nintendo has just finishing delivering their latest Nintendo Direct address to fans and Nintendo President Satoru Iwata opened things up by declaring that 2013 will be “The Year of Luigi.”
In addition to showing some new gameplay footage from Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Mr. Iwata announced two new games that star “Mario’s twin brother.” Did we know they were twins? I don’t think we knew that… Anyway, Nintendo revealed they’ll be bringing Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Mario Golf: World Tour to the 3DS this Summer.
As you might have guessed, Dream Team takes place in Luigi’s dreams and players will actually get to wake him by pulling on his mustache with the touchscreen. The latest Mario Golf game will once again be developed by Camelot and will include multiple courses set in and around the Mushroom Kingdom.
Doesn’t Mr. Iwata look great in a Luigi hat?
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Mario Golf: World Tour
Sony pushes The Last of Us back to June 14
Sony made a bummer of an announcement today on the PlayStation Blog, saying that The Last of Us has been pushed back to Friday, June 14.
“As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realize just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards,” wrote Neil Druckmann, Creative Director at Naughty Dog.
“As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games – gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further – for ourselves, and most importantly, for you, our fans.”
It’s nice to see them taking their time with it to make sure it’s perfect, as opposed to releasing it and then doling out DLC fast and furiously after. But it’s an odd choice to have it come out the day after E3 ends. Either way, as Druckman said, this is their “most ambitious project to date,” so rushing it is a bad idea.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged The Last of Us
Jamie Fristrom’s Swingin’ Career, From Spider-Man to Energy Hook: An Interview
Jamie Fristrom is a name that you might not be familiar with, but you’ve certainly experienced his work. In 1996, Fristrom became part of the original team at Treyarch and had a hand in many of their earliest hits. But his biggest claim to fame is the creation of the webslinging engine found in Spider-Man 2 (and used in nearly every Spider-Man game since). In that dark period between GoldenEye 007 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, Fristrom’s work on Spider-Man 2 proved that licensed games could still be fun.
After his days at Treyarch ended, he went the indie route and created the acclaimed XBLA game Schizoid and founded his own one-man-studio, Happion Labs. His first game under the Happion Labs banner will be Energy Hook, a game that attempts to recapture the fun we all found in aimlessly webslinging around Manhattan.
Fristrom is readying a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the game, which will likely launch in a few weeks. In the meantime, I had a chance to talk to him about his career so far and where he plans to take it with Energy Hook. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, PS2, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Energy Hook
EA plans to release 10-15 next-gen games during console transition period
Blake Jorgensen, the Chief Financial Officer at Electronic Arts, told the crowd at this year’s Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference that EA plans to have 10-15 next-generation games ready to go during the PS3-Xbox 360/PS4-Xbox 720 “transition period.”
But don’t worry, if you don’t plan on purchasing a next-generation console (for whatever reason), Jorgensen confirmed that the majority of EA’s output would be available on “generation-three” consoles (that’s the PS3 and Xbox 360) because they’re a slave to the sports schedules:
“An important thing to remember is that next-gen consoles will most likely not be backwards compatible,” [Jorgensen] explained. “And if you [play] multiplayer on a game, you’ll most likely not be able to play with someone on a different generation. And so if you’re a FIFA player, and the soccer season’s starting in August, and all your friends are playing FIFA, you’re going to want to be on the same box that they’re on.”
Further details of these 10-15 titles were unavailable, but we know for a fact that EA internal studios DICE and Criterion are hard at work on next-generation games.
[Source: Polygon]