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)
Author: John Scalzo
Weekly Warp-Up: Nintendo Finally Launched the Switch…
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
After a few months of teasing, Nintendo has officially unleashed the Switch on the world. The console/handheld hybrid seems to have had a successful launch, and the company is prepping fans for a second wave of titles with a new Nintendo Direct that confirmed more than 60 “Nindies” are in development for the machine, including SteamWorld Dig 2, Runner 3, Yooka-Laylee, and more. Capcom also announced that Ultra Street Fighter II will be released for the Switch on May 26.
Microsoft will attempt to compete with Nintendo’s latest console (and Sony, of course) with the launch of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service this Spring. This kind of “all-you-can-eat” download service has never been tried on a console before, and it should be very interesting to see how gamers react to it.
With all this talk about new games and new consoles, let’s not forget the Video Game History Foundation was founded to create a digital record of the industry’s past.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, we reviewed Double Dragon IV, and the staff got together to discuss What We Played in February and The Games of March.
Andrew Rainnie, UK Correspondent extraordinaire, sat down with the owner of Super Bario, the owner of Glasgow’s first arcade bar, for a conversation about Joysticks, Pints, and Kickstarter. And finally, the Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time rolls on with #3, Super Mario 64, and a look at the launch of the Nintendo 64.
Everything comes full circle, and the rest of the of the news from this past week can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Retail Releases: Nier Automata, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Lego Worlds, More
It’s official… Nintendo’s Switch definitely sparked a stampede on retail stores last week. There’s nothing quite so dramatic happening in this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we do hry a new action RPG from Square Enix/Platinum, a new shooter from Ubisoft, an open-world Lego game, and the latest RPG in Koei Tecmo’s Atelier series.
Square Enix and Platinum Games named up for Nier: Automata, a followup to 2010’s Nier. Available exclusively for the PS4, the action RPG follows a team of Androids who’ve been sent to Earth to repel an alien invasion.
Also set to be released this week is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will join a team of Ghosts that are waging war against the Santa Blanca drug cartel. Promising players that “[they] decide how to play” and “every decision affects the world around you,” Ghost Recon: Wildlands promises to be a unique new entry in the universe of open-world shooters.
WB’s Lego Worlds is a tad more family-friendly, but it too offers a wide-open world for players to explore on the PS4 and Xbox One. Taking a cue from Minecraft, Lego Worlds features a prodcedurally-generated game world that’s made up entirely of Lego Bricks. Players can build unique creations brick-by-brick, but those with bigger visions will be able to drop in pre-built models to remake the entire landscape.
Finally this week, Koei Tecmo and Gust will release Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey for the PS4. The RPG is the 18th entry in the long-running Atelier series and serves as a direct followup to last year’s Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back throughout the week with a look at all the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Lego Worlds, Nier: Automata, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
The Video Game Canon – Super Mario 64
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with an exploration of all the ways Nintendo tried to teach the world about 3D games with Super Mario 64. Here’s a teaser…
For Mario’s first foray into “The Third Dimension,” Nintendo wanted to ensure that everything was perfect. In fact, the Nintendo 64, its unique three-pronged controller, and the controller’s analog stick designed to better simulate 3D movement were all created with the needs of Super Mario 64 in mind.
Nintendo had good reason to be worried about getting all of the details just right, as most video gamers had never even seen a 3D platformer before Super Mario 64. Aside from a few experimental titles from the late 80s and early 90s, 3D movement was only found in a handful of titles on the market at the time, the most famous of which was probably EA’s Fade To Black. Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, which included pseudo-3D movement, beat Super Mario 64 to store shelves by about five weeks, but a majority of the game took place on a 2D plane.
So Nintendo used Super Mario 64 as an opportunity to introduce players to what was, in their mind, an entirely new genre. Shigeru Miyamoto’s exacting attention to detail helped mold every part of the game. The first interaction players had with the game was the appearance of an actual cameraman (Lakitu the Cloud), and instructions on how to control the camera’s angle with the diamond-shaped set of C-Buttons on the right side of the Nintendo 64 controller.
Actually, let me back up… the very first thing most players experienced after booting up Super Mario 64 was the interactive Mario face on the Title Screen. Miyamoto saw fit to even offer players a primer on polygons as the squares, rectangles, and rhombi that made up Mario’s face could be grabbed and manipulated in dozens of different ways. In a way, “It’s-a me, Mario! Hello!” was a coded message that encouraged players to jump right into this new 3D world.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Posted in Features, Video Game Canon
Tagged Nintendo 64, Super Mario 64
THQ Nordic is bringing De Blob, Sine Mora EX, SpellForce 3, and more to PAX East 2017
THQ Nordic has announced plans to bring seven games to this year’s PAX East convention, including a newly-announced re-release of De Blob. The ultra-colorful puzzle platformer originally debuted on the Wii in 2008, and it’ll get a second life on the PC (via Steam) this Spring after its available to download on April 27.
Joining De Blob in THQ Nordic’s booth (#20037) will be Sine Mora EX, an enhanced re-release of the horizontally-scrolling shooter. Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Summer, THQ Nordic will bring a special High Score Challenge demo to PAX East for fans to try out. If you’re in Boston for the big show, the publisher will also be demoing a trio of RPGs on the show floor… the post-apocalyptic ELEX, the retro-inspired Battle Chasers: Nightwar, and RTS/RPG hybrid SpellForce 3.
Finally, THQ Nordic will have Weappy Studio’s This is the Police and the RTS Lock’s Quest on display.
PAX East is scheduled to begin on March 10, and you can learn more about the games that THQ Nordic is bringing to the show after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battle Chasers: Nightwar, De Blob, ELEX, PAX East 2017, Sine Mora, SpellForce 3
Nintendo Download: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Shovel Knight, Super Bomberman R, more
The Nintendo Switch is here!
Nintendo’s next gaming machine, a hybrid console/handheld, will go on sale in just a little over three hours. That’s also when Nintendo will swing the doors open on the Switch’s eShop and give early adopters the chance to purchase nearly a dozen different launch titles.
The biggest name in the Switch’s launch lineup, by far, is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Also available to download on the Wii U, Breath of the Wild will offer a wide-open world for Link to explore and new puzzles to solve.
However, if you’re looking to celebrate the system’s launch with a big party, you’ll have several options. There’s 1-2-Switch, a wild minigame collection where players are encouraged to look at each other instead of the screen. There’s also Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together!, a co-op puzzle adventure starring two pieces of paper. And Ubisoft will bring the popular Just Dance series to the Switch with Just Dance 2017.
Prospective Switch players who want to be on the move might want to look into FAST RMX, a new futuristic racer from Shin’en Multimedia.
Finally, retro gaming fans will have plenty of options on the Switch’s first day including Yacht Club’s new platformer, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, as well as the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, which includes Specter of Torment and the first two campaigns. Konami’s Super Bomberman R brings the lovable Bombers back for the first time in almost a decade. And I Am Setsuna, from Square Enix, is an original RPG inspired by Chrono Trigger.
If you’re taking a wait and see approach to the Switch, never fear, 3DS owners will still have something new to play this week. Marvelous Entertainment’s Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is the latest entry in the popular farming simulation series and, as you might have guessed, players will be able to visit three towns this time around.
You can learn more about all of these games after the break. (more…)
Overwatch is “Game of the Year” at the 2017 GDC Awards
Overwatch continues to rack up year-end awards for Blizzard Entertainment, and it picked up two more statuettes last night during the Game Developers Choice Awards. After more than a month of deliberations, the GDC committee choose to bestow “Game of the Year” status on the team-based shooter, as well as “Best Design” for its colorful world.
Two other games collected multiple awards at last night’s GDC Awards. Playdead’s platformer, Inside, earned “Best Audio” and “Best Visual Art.” And later in the night, Campo Santo’s Firewatch was selected as “Best Debut” and its story was honored with “Best Narrative.”
“This year’s amazing slate of winners is a testament to the diversity of experiences in games,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference.
Scavio added: “Pokemon Go [“Best Mobile/Handheld Game”] took gaming outdoors using AR, while Job Simulator [“Best VR/AR Game”] showed how lo-fi aesthetics could meet cutting edge tech for a winning VR experience. Overwatch once again proved Blizzard’s uncanny ability to make a perfectly balanced multiplayer game, and Inside delved deep into our dark psyches to unearth our scariest nightmares. These nominees speak to the strength of games as a medium, but also show the various textures and possible creative outlets that interactive entertainment can provide. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees for following their visions and thanks to all developers who strive to make amazing games for us day in and day out.”
The full list of winners from the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1, Firewatch, GDC 2017, Inside, No Man's Sky, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Quadrilateral Cowboy won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2017 IGF Awards
Quadrilateral Cowboy, Blendo’s hacking-based heist game, took home the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” last night during the 2017 Independent Games Festival Awards. Its 1980s-inspired world also helped Quadrilateral Cowboy capture the “Excellence in Design” category.
The other big winner last night was Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Drifter, which was also the recipient of two statuettes. The action RPG’s glitchy 16-bit graphics were rewarded with a win in the “Excellence In Visual Art” category, and its mass appeal ensured an “Audience Award” victory.
The Independent Games Festival Awards are awarded annually in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference, and you can view a replay of the entire ceremony through the GDC’s Twitch channel.
But if you’re in a hurry, a list of all the winners can be found after the break. (more…)