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
Nintendo unveils new Super Mario Run trailer and live-action commercial
Jimmy Fallon got to show off his prowess at Super Mario Run on yesterday’s episode of The Tonight Show. But Nintendo also unveiled a brand new trailer for one of their first mobile projects yesterday, giving fans a look at the game’s three modes.
Players will guide Mario through the game’s main mode, collecting coins and bashing enemies before they reach the flagpole. But in “Toad Rally,” players will compete against each other to impress the most Toads and win the match. Finally, “Kingdom Builder” will give players the chance to spend their hard-earned coins and construct their own personal Mushroom Kingdom. It’s even possible to unlock bonus characters such as Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad in “Kingdom Builder.”
In addition to Super Mario Run’s new trailer, Nintendo also announced that fans can try it out early by visiting a demo kiosk at their local Apple Store all week. Finally, the company also revealed a live-action commercial to promote the game, and you can find it after the break.
Super Mario Run will be available for iOS devices on December 15. Android users will be able to download it beginning in 2017. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Super Mario Run
Gigantic Open Beta (and the Founder’s Pack) is now available for Xbox One, Windows 10
The Gigantic Open Beta kicked off today on the Xbox One and Windows 10, and developer Motiga has unveiled the Founder’s Pack for players looking to get the most out of the free-to-play MOBA. Priced at $39.99, the Founder’s Pack will include access to every character, four post-launch characters, and various other goodies:
Gigantic Founder’s Pack
- 16 Original Heroes
- 4 New Heroes (Released at a Later Date)
- 2 Limited-Edition “Imperial” Skins for Tyto the Swift and Charnok
- 2 Exclusive Founder’s Profile Icons
Players who forego the Founder’s Pack will be able to play Gigantic for free by selecting one of the six heroes in the weekly rotation. Other characters can be unlocked through an in-game currency earned by completing matches, fulfilling Fortune Cards, or purchasing it with a credit card.
About Gigantic
Teams work together to attack enemies while claiming points on the map to summon powerful Creatures. Players will power up their team’s Guardian by controlling the battlefield and defeating enemies. Victory is awarded to the team who can overpower their opponents’ Guardian.
Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will also be able to get in on the Gigantic Open Beta at a later date through Perfect World’s Arc platform.
Nintendo brought Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (on the Switch) and Super Mario Run to The Tonight Show
Nintend of America’s President, Reggie Fils-Aime, stopped by The Tonight Show last night to play Super Mario Run with host Jimmy Fallon. The mobile game will be available to download for iOS devices next week, on December 15, and Fallon showed some pretty impressive skills during his time with the game. However, players who want to try it out early will be able to play a demo at Apple Stores across the country beginning today.
However, before Fils-Aime left the stage, he handed Fallon a Nintendo Switch console and let him play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for a few minutes. Fallon, who constantly told the audience he was “freaking out,” also showed off many of the Switch’s features, including the detachable Joy-Con controllers and the kickstand for portable multiplayer gaming.
Finally, Shigeru Miyamoto sat in with The Roots to play a live version of the “Super Mario Bros. Theme.” Check it out after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Run, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Dragon Quest Heroes II will be released for PS4 on April 25
Square Enix has announced that Dragon Quest Heroes II (no ridiculously lengthy subtitle this time) will be released exclusively for the PS4 on April 25, 2017. The sequel will include online multiplayer for up to four players for the first time, and it’ll also take the story in interesting new directions:
Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a long and terrible war. When the war finally ended, the people of the world made a solemn pact never to fight again. The world was divided into seven realms and peace reigned for a thousand years.
One day, cousins and fellow knights-in-training Lazarel and Teresa reunite in the Kingdom of Harba, far from their Dunisian home. Little do they suspect that the Dunisian army is about to invade, with their old friend Prince Cesar at the helm.
The long-kept peace is broken and the world descends into chaos. With the aid of High King’s envoy the cousins must travel to Accordia for a meeting with the Supreme Sovereign of the Seven Realms to find a solution and bring back peace to the world!
The first trailer for Dragon Quest Heroes II has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Dragon Quest Heroes II
Xbox Store Today: Dead Rising 4, Abzu, Her Majesty’s SPIFFING, more
Frank is back, baby! Capcom and Microsoft have teamed up to release Dead Rising 4 this holiday season, and its now available to download through the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One. It’s Christmastime at the Willamette Mall and Frank is up to his eyeballs in zombies once again. Thankfully, he’s got a ton of new weapons (including a jolly EXO Suit) to deliver coal to the naughty undead hordes.
This week’s other big Xbox One release, Abzu, is a tad more serene than Dead Rising 4. The underwater exploration game was designed by Matt Nava, the Art Director on Journey and Flower, and it gives players the chance to visit a “vibrant ocean world full of mystery and bursting with color and life.”
Finally this week, Her Majesty’s SPIFFING asks players to go adventuring in outer space, though with a distinctly British flair. Players who gone SPIFFING, the Special Planetary Investigative Force For Inhabiting New Galaxies, will boldly go where no man has gone before (except for all those Brits who starred in Star Wars and Star Trek).
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Dead Rising 4
Sony has sold 50 million PS4 consoles since its launch in 2013
Have you heard about this PlayStation 4 console? I think it’s pretty popular. Actually, I know for a fact that it’s very popular, because Sony announced today that they’ve sold more than 50 million PS4 consoles, worldwide, since it launched in 2013.
“We’re truly delighted that the PS4 community continues to flourish since launch three years ago,” said Andrew House, the President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “With tremendous support from our fans and partners across the globe, this year we were able to deliver an unprecedented lineup of hardware, including the new slimmer PS4, PS4 Pro, and PlayStation VR. We will continue to provide the best gaming experiences available through our ground-breaking software lineup and network services, as we focus on accelerating our business and expanding the PS4 ecosystem.”
Sony added that more than 369.6 million PS4 games have been sold in retail stores and through the PlayStation Store. A little quick math confirms that this means each PS4 owner has purchased an average of seven games for their console.
Batman: The Telltale Series will come to an end next week in Episode 5: City of Light
Making good on their promise to complete Batman: The Telltale Series by the end of the year, Telltale Games has announced the game’s final episode, City of Light, will be released on December 13.
In Episode 5, the leader of the Children of Arkham prepares to execute the final act of a plan to destroy the Wayne family name, and the people closest to you are in their path of vengeance. Can Batman’s ultimate secret be kept – his very identity – when it is causing chaos and death in Gotham? The fate of the Wayne family and of the city itself rests on your choices. What will you do? How far will you go? Which mask will you wear?
With Batman: The Telltale Series coming an end, the developer also wants to give fans a chance to try it out for free. The first episode, Realm of Shadows, is now available as a free download for the PC through Steam.
The fifth episode in Telltale’s Batman series will be available to download next week on the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices.
Rumor: Nintendo Switch’s Virtual Console storefront will include GameCube games
Citing “three separate sources,” Eurogamer is reporting that GameCube games will be available to download through the Virtual Console storefront on the Nintendo Switch when it launches in March:
GameCube support is already tested and working, we understand, and three Nintendo games have already been prepped for Switch.
Those games are Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Super Smash Bros. Melee is extremely popular in the eSports world, and Eurogamer’s sources believe that Nintendo is even striving to make the Wii U’s GameCube Adaptor compatible with the Switch, though “a final decision has not yet been made” on if it’ll be officially released.
In other Virtual Console news, Eurogamer’s sources also revealed that Wii U owners will likely be able to “Upgrade” their Virtual Console purchases to the Switch for a small fee. And the creation of the Switch’s Virtual Console is being handled by Nintendo European Research and Development, the same studio responsible for the NES Classic Edition.
Finally, if the Switch’s Virtual Console does include GameCube games, it looks like Animal Crossing will be available to download shortly after launch.