Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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)
Author: John Scalzo
Nintendo will host Super Smash Bros. Switch and Splatoon 2 tournaments at E3 2018
Nintendo first pulled back the curtain on Super Smash Bros. Switch during a Nintendo Direct presentation a few weeks ago. And naturally, fans are curious when they’ll learn more about the next entry in the popular fighting franchise. (For example, is it a remaster of Super Smash Bros. For Wii U or Super Smash Bros. 5? We honestly don’t know yet.)
Today, the consolemaker confirmed that we’ll all get our first look at Super Smash Bros. Switch during a Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament at this year’s E3 Expo. The Invitational will showcase “high-level gameplay” from “an invited group of players,” and it’ll take place on June 11th and 12th.
Nintendo is also planning to host a massive Splatoon 2 tournament during the E3 Expo, but this competition will be open to the entire world. Players from the US and Canada will be able to win a spot in the Splatoon 2 World Championship by competing in the Inkling Open online qualifying round on April 21. Each team of four (plus one alternate) will need to register at Nintendo’s official E3 website, and compete in Turf War during the open qualifiers and in Ranked Battle during the finals.
The winners will move on to the Splatoon 2 World Championship, where they’ll do inky battle with the winners from Japan (Splatoon Koshien 2018), Europe (Splatoon European Championship), and Australia (AUNZ Splatoon Cup).
More details about Nintendo’s E3 2018 festivities (including a “Nintendo Switch Event”) will be announced soon.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged E3 2018, Splatoon 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Detective Pikachu, The Alliance Alive, Outlast II, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
This week’s Nintendo eShop update is a bit smaller than normal, but Nintendo still wants to “clue” 3DS owners in on the upcoming release of Detective Pikachu on March 23. The mystery adventure will give the famed Pokemon a voice for the first time, and players will need to help him investigate the strange occurrences happening all over Ryme City.
3DS owners will also get the chance to download a new RPG from Atlus, The Alliance Alive, beginning on March 27. In The Alliance Alive, Daemons invaded the world of Humans over a thousand years ago. But a resistance is forming and players will need to band together a team of rebels and take back the world.
Speaking of demons, Switch owners will be able to download Outlast II beginning on March 27. Red Barrels’s first-person sequel introduces new characters and a creepy doomsday cult in this horror adventure. But if you’re looking for a few cute demons, isometric horror puzzler Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut is now available to download for the Switch.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Detective Pikachu, Outlast II
Prepare yourself… to not be shocked in the slightest… Zelda: Breath of the Wild won “Game of the Year” at 2018 GDC Awards
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continues its sweep of this year’s “Game of the Year” awards, as it won the top honor at last night’s Game Developers Choice Awards. Developers for the adventure game also strode on stage to collect awards for “Best Audio” and “Best Design” during the ceremony.
The unique visual stylings of Jason Roberts’s Gorogoa were honored with the “Innovation Award,” and the puzzle game’s portability were also honored as “Best Mobile/Handheld Game.” Studio MDHR also carried home multiple trophies during last night’s GDC Awards ceremony for Cuphead, including “Best Debut” and “Best Visual Art,”
“Every year sees countless amazing games worthy of recognition, but this year in particular has seen some of the strongest titles to arrive this generation. The GDCAs give us an opportunity to reflect on and honor the games that provided us with endless joy,” said Katie Stern, the General Manager of the Game Developers Conference. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild helped us rediscover a childlike sense of adventure and discovery. Titles like Gorogoa and What Remains of Edith Finch offered us distinct creative visions that can only be experienced in games, and games like Cuphead and Horizon: Zero Dawn crafted worlds we could lose ourselves in. Congratulations to all of tonight’s nominees and winners and thank you for your creativity and dedication.”
A replay of the 2018 GDC Awards ceremony can be viewed at the Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference. And a complete list of the winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Cuphead, GDC 2018, Gorogoa, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata, Night in the Woods, Superhot, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Night in the Woods wins the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2018 IGF Awards
Indie developers from around the world got dressed up last night to fit in with the pomp and circumstance of the the Independent Games Festival’s 2018 IGF Awards ceremony. But it was Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods that took home the top prize, the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, as well as the IGF Award for “Excellence In Narrative.”
Night in the Woods had plenty of company on the big stage, as Amanita Design’s Chuchel (“Excellence In Visual Art”), Hempuli’s Baba Is You (“Excellence In Design” and “Best Student Game”), Nifflas Game’s Uurnog Uurnlimited (“Excellence In Audio”), and Bennett Foddy’s Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy (the “Nuovo Award”) all took home at least one IGF Award of their own.
A replay of the 2018 IGF Awards ceremony can be viewed at the Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference.
Congratulations to all the winners, and don’t forget, GDC attendees will be able to try out all the winner and nominees at the IGF Pavilion on the expo floor through Friday, March 23. A complete list is available after the break. (more…)
Home Run Derby VR will launch for PS VR, Vive this Spring; 2018 update for MLB Home Run Derby Mobile coming March 27
With RBI Baseball 18 now available for the PS4 and Xbox One, MLB Advanced Media is turning their attention to their next two game releases.
With Opening Day fast approaching, Major League Baseball’s interactive arm has announced that MLB Home Run Derby Mobile‘s 2018 update will step up to the plate first on March 27:
MLB Home Run Derby will continue to be available as a free download on the App Store and Google Play and this year includes more than 20 iconic MLB ballparks, highlighted by its HD re-creation of Nationals Park, host of the 2018 T-Mobile Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard. Fans may play in both single player and multiplayer modes for a chance to capture the Home Run Derby crown, reach the top of the worldwide leaderboards, compete against more than 11.5 million game players in daily tournaments and earn valuable upgrades. This year’s version also includes hi-res renderings of more than 50 participants from the 2010-17 competitions.
The developer also revealed that Home Run Derby VR will make its way to the PC and PS4 later this Spring. Supporting the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR headsets, Home Run Derby VR will let players swing for the fences like never before:
MLB’s first console virtual reality video game, Home Run Derby VR, will be available commercially for the first time – coming to Sony PlayStation VR and HTC Vive (available at launch via Steam) – and will feature three All-Star ballparks from 2017-19. Fans will be able to step into the batter’s boxes at Marlins Park (Miami), Nationals Park (Washington, DC) and Progressive Field (Cleveland) to score as many points as possible in the timed home run competition.
More details about Home Run Derby VR’s upcoming launch will be announced at a later date.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4
Tagged Home Run Derby VR
Sea of Thieves, RBI Baseball 18, Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Remastered, more added to Xbox Store
Prepare to walk the plank in Microsoft’s mid-week Xbox Games Store update…
Two pirate-themed adventures are now available to download for the Xbox One including Rare’s multiplayer-focused Sea of Thieves (which also includes access to the PC version through the Xbox Play Anywhere program) and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Remastered re-release.
Also available to download today for the Xbox One are MLB Advanced Media’s RBI Baseball 18 and Koei Tecmo’s Attack On Titan 2.
You can learn more about the rest of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store (including THQ Nordic’s Titan Quest and Square Enix’s Octahedron) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Attack On Titan 2, RBI Baseball 18, Sea of Thieves
February 2018’s best-selling game was Monster Hunter: World… and Nintendo Switch set the record for first-year console sales in US
The Nintendo Switch continues to break records, and the consolemaker can now add “Best First-Year Sales in the US” to its trophy case. The news comes courtesy of The NPD Group’s February 2018 report (via GamesIndustry.biz), which estimates that Nintendo sold more than five million Switch consoles in the US over the previous 12 months.
On the software side of the ledger, Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World was the top-selling game yet again. It was challenged by several new releases in February, but while EA Sports UFC 3 (#7), Kingdom Come: Deliverance (#8), Bayonetta 2 (#14), and Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet (#18) all cracked the top 20, none could dethrone Monster Hunter: World.
The NPD Group’s complete top 20 for February 2018 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed Origins, Bayonetta 2, Call of Duty: WWII, Dragon Ball FighterZ, EA Sports UFC 3, FIFA 18, Grand Theft Auto V, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Madden NFL 18, Mario Kart 8, NBA 2K18, NPD, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Shadow of the Colossus, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Sims 4, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
A Way Out, Ni No Kuni II, Attack On Titan 2, more coming to PS Store this week
It’s time for another PlayStation Store update, and this week, a decent-sized handful of highly-anticipated new games will be available to download from the digital storefront…
Leading the way this week is A Way Out, a co-op prison break for the PS4 from Electronic Arts and Hazelight. A Way Out was directed by Josef Fares, the same developer who shepherded the creation of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons in 2013.
A pair of sequels will also be available to download for the PS4 this week. Bandai Namco will once again team with animators from Studio Ghibli for Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. And Koei Tecmo will return to the world of Attack On Titan with Attack On Titan 2.
Finally this week, MLB Advanced Media will step up to the plate with RBI Baseball 18 for the PS4, and Ubisoft will give 2014’s Assassin’s Creed: Rogue a second chance on the PS4 with a Remastered re-release.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged A Way Out, Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Attack On Titan 2, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, RBI Baseball 18