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 will release handheld-only New 3DS on November 25 for $99
The New 3DS is dropping below $100 for the first time as Nintendo has announced it’ll slash the price of its high-end handheld beginning on November 25. Available for $99.99 in Mushroom Kingdom Black or Mushroom Kingdom White, the new handhelds will feature characters and items from the Super Mario Bros. series.
“Nintendo has some of the best gifts for the holiday season,” said the appropriately-named Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Whether you’re looking for games for the whole family, or a cool new system at a great value, Nintendo has you covered.”
The current New 3DS bundle is priced at $149.99 and includes a pre-loaded copy of Super Mario 3D Land. Unfortunately, this new New 3DS won’t come packaged with a game.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Black Friday 2016
Akuma is coming to Street Fighter V in 2017
Capcom has been adding new characters to Street Fighter V since its launch in February, and Season 1 concluded a few months ago with the launch of Urien. But during the conclusion of the Capcom Cup North America Finals at Red Bull Battle Grounds last night, the publisher kicked off Season 2 with a huge fan favorite… Akuma.
Akuma has always been a mysterious character, and the short teaser embedded above is all we have to go on right now. However, Game Informer discovered something interesting about the kanji emblazoned on Akuma’s costume:
One curious thing to note: The symbol on Akuma’s back this time around is not the traditional “Heaven” Kanji, but the one for “god” over the one for “man” – the same combination that appeared when he transformed into his ultimate form, Shin Akuma, in Capcom Vs. SNK 2. This could hint at what his abilities in Street Fighter V might be.
Akuma will be available to download sometime in 2017, but if you plan to attend the 2016 PlayStation Experience in Anaheim, you’ll be able to test out the character in Capcom’s Booth on December 3rd and 4th.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged PlayStation Experience 2016, Street Fighter V
Blizzard’s Overwatch League is coming in 2017 and it’s patterned after pro sports leagues
Blizzard wants to take esports to the next level with the Overwatch League, a new esports organization that will be patterned after existing professional sports leagues like the NFL and NBA. The Overwatch League will begin play in 2017, but first, Blizzard will invite the world’s best players to a combine to test their skills:
The inaugural season of the Overwatch League will begin in 2017. At the start of the season, Blizzard will host a combine, where eligible players who have previously distinguished themselves in competition will be invited to try out for teams. Players at the combine will be evaluated across a range of tests, giving teams the opportunity to sign those who best round out their rosters. Anyone picked up by a team during the signing period will be guaranteed a contract that includes a baseline minimum salary and benefits package.
In addition to holding tryouts, each team in the Overwatch League will be based in a city or region to further tap into support from local fans. Who knows? Maybe in 108 years some wild-eyed old man from Chicago will be tearing up over his city’s first Overwatch League Championship in a generation.
Blizzard will reveal more about the Overwatch League in the coming months, but for now, interested fans are encouraged to visit OverwatchLeague.com to learn more.
Learn more about Overwatch’s Sombra with an Origin Story video and gameplay trailer
If you’re like most Overwatch players, I’m guessing you’ve been waiting patiently for Sombra’s debut for a few months now. But after all of Blizzard’s teasing, the developer finally pulled the curtain back on the character during this weekend’s BlizzCon.
An elite hacker with combat skills to match, we got our first look at Sombra in “Infiltration,” a brand new animated short from Blizzrd. But did you know the developer also uploaded a brand new “Origin Story” video and gameplay trailer for everyone’s new favorite character? Both videos can be found after the break.
Sombra herself will be available to download for PC players using the Overwatch Public Test Region next week, and she’ll be accessible by all players sometime in the near future. (more…)
Diablo III will get retro Diablo dungeon next month and Necromancer class later in 2017
Diablo III is getting nostalgic in 2017.
The original Diablo was released on December 31, 2016, and Blizzard is celebrating the groundbreaking game’s 20th anniversary with The Darkening of Tristram, a retro-styled dungeon that’ll be available to download as a free update for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in January. According to the BlizzCon news feed, the update’s many “retro touches” will include “special graphics filters” and “eight-direction character movement”:
Celebrate 20 years of Diablo by traveling back into the depths of the Cathedral where it all began in this upcoming Diablo III: Reaper of Souls content update. Get ready to explore a monster-filled dungeon 16 levels deep, and come face to face with the four main bosses from the original game—all with retro touches like special graphics filters and eight-direction character movement.
Blizzard will also bring back a little piece of Diablo II in 2017 with the reintroduction of the Necromancer class. The Necromancer will be part of the Rise of the Necromancer Pack, which will also include “an in-game pet, two additional character slots, two additional stash tabs (on PC), a portrait frame, pennant, banner, and banner sigil.” There’s a new trailer starring the Necromancer embedded above and a pretty extensive FAQ over at Battle.net:
The Necromancer will be the next fully-playable class introduced to Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. As a master of the dark arts, you draw your magic from the power of death itself, and command mighty armies of risen warriors! Oh, and you can make corpses explode. There are definitely exploding corpses.
I guess all that Diablo IV talk was a little premature.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Diablo III
Ubisoft CEO teases Switch development and promises “at least one game that will definitely surprise you”
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is very excited for the Nintendo Switch. In addition to reconfirming that Just Dance 2017 will be available for Nintendo’s next console, Guillemot also said the publisher has “at least one game that will definitely surprise you” in a recent Facebook post:
With the Switch’s unique capacities and design, Nintendo could again redefine the way we play games! The Switch is accessible at its core and will give people the freedom and the pleasure to share more experiences and play anywhere at anytime. The Ubisoft teams developing games for the Switch are inspired by these new possibilities, and I’m really happy that we’re able to continue doing great things with Nintendo. In addition to Just Dance 2017, I think there’s at least one game that will definitely surprise you!
Is Guillemot referring to Beyond Good & Evil 2? Who knows… but I can’t wait to see what surprises Ubisoft has in store for the Switch on January 12.
Weekly Warp-Up: Halloween, Horror, and the Games of November…
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…
Hope you had a great Halloween on Monday, we celebrated the holiday with Part Five of It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, the staff got together to discuss What We Played in October 2016 and The Games of November 2016.
And in Nintendo Switch news this week, Nintendo said the new console won’t be a replacement for the 3DS. And Capcom said they want their Switch games to be unique and not ports of existing PS4 or Xbox One titles.
More news from the rest of the week can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Retail Releases: PlayStation 4 Pro, NES Classic Edition, Dishonored 2, More
Are you in the market for a new console this week… well good news, you’ve got three new options to choose from.
Sony is kicking things off with the launch of the PS4 Pro, their hyper-powered new PS4 that promises to deliver “resolutions up to 4K, HDR imaging technology, and faster, more stable frame rates.” For games to get the most out of the PS4 Pro, they’ll need a special “Enhancement” patch, and so far, the patches for 39 games will be ready this week, with more to come by the end of the year.
While Sony’s PS4 Pro is the biggest and beefiest new console launch this week, the smallest might possibly be even larger (metaphorically speaking). The NES Classic Edition shrinks Nintendo’s beloved NES console down into an HDMI-powered nostalgia machine that’s packed with 30 of the greatest games of all time. If you just want to relive your childhood, or maybe introduce a new generation of kids to games like Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and Final Fantasy, then you should hunt down an NES Classic Edition this week.
Last, but not least, the Retro-Bit Generations will stuff more than 90 games into its retro-styled chassis including a huge number of 8-bit and 16-bit classics from Capcom, Data East, Jaleco, and Irem.
If you’re looking for new games, you’ll also find a handful of new titles on store shelves this week, including Dishonored 2 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will be able to control both Corvo and Emily Kaldwin as they attempt to once again return Emily to her rightful place on the throne.
Finally this week, a pair of new PlayStation VR titles will be available for the PS4… Robinson: The Journey, an exploration adventure, and Eagle Flight, a flight simulation.
A complete look at this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)