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 is holding another Nindies@Night event at PAX West 2016
Nintendo is once again bringing their popular Nindies@Night pre-show event to PAX West this year. From 8:00 PM to midnight on Thursday, September 1, Nintendo will take over the EMP Museum on Fifth Ave to showcase more than a dozen “Nindies” for the 3DS and Wii U:
Games Scheduled to Appear At Nindies@Night
- Axiom Verge (Wii U)
- FAST Racing Neo: Neo Future Pack (Wii U)
- Jotun: Valhalla Edition (Wii U)
- Severed (Wii U)
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Wii U)
- SteamWorld Heist (Wii U)
- World to the West (Wii U)
- Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3DS)
- Gurumin: A Monsterous Adventure (3DS)
- Noitu Love: Devolution (3DS)
- Punch Club (3DS)
- Runbow Pocket (3DS)
- Severed (3DS)
Nintendo will host playable demos of all their upcoming Nindies (along with visits from the developers) during the convention at the PAX West Indie Lounge in Room 612. Like always, this year’s PAX West convention will be held on the first weekend in September at Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center.
During the course of the convention, Nintendo will also operate a second booth in the South Hall (Booth 2335) with several other playable demos including Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past and Yo-Kai Watch 2, both of which will be released for the 3DS this September. For congoers looking to learn more, a Panel Discussion with the developers of Dragon Quest VII will be held on Sunday, September 4.
“Having [PAX West] essentially in Nintendo’s backyard and getting a chance to connect with our fans makes it all the more special for us,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s appropriately-named Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Almost three years after its release, GTA5 was NPD’s best-selling game in July 2016
With a sweltering Summer in full swing, game publishers mostly skipped the month of July. And nowhere is this more evident than the monthly NPD ranking of best-selling games, which was topped by Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, a game that was originally released almost three years ago. The only new release to crack the top ten in July was Capcom’s Monster Hunter Generations, which claimed the #4 spot.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD analyst Sam Naji said: “Lack of strong new titles for the month resulted with poor comparison with last July’s Batman: Arkham Knight with consumers spending 14 percent less year-on-year on hardware, software and accessories. However, the release of Monster Hunter: Generations and the price drop for the 2DS helped to bolster spending for 3DS and 2DS hardware by 44%”
While brand new titles were a rare sight in the NPD’s July 2016 top ten, new-ish titles like Overwatch (#2), Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (#3), and Doom (#8) continue to be popular with shoppers.
The NPD Group continued their foray into tracking sales of digital downloads last month, though Capcom, Mojang, Bethesda, and Blizzard (for Battle.net sales) chose not to participate.
A full look at July 2016’s best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Another Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild trailer shows Link chopping down a tree
In case you missed it, Nintendo unveiled another mini-trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild recently on Facebook. This time, Link paid a visit to the Woodcutter’s House to cook a few mushrooms and “borrow” the Woodcutter’s Axe. Later, Link played lumberjack and chopped down a massive tree to use the fallen log as a bridge.
The “Woodcutter’s Axe” mini-trailer joins other recent Breath of the Wild trailers for the Temple of Time and the Magnesis Trial.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be released for the Wii U and NX sometime in 2017.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Dark Horse to publish Hyrule Historia sequel Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts in February 2017
After the massive success of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia (including a series timeline that fans are still talking about), Dark Horse and Nintendo are teaming up again to publish The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts in Early 2017. Art & Artifacts will be packed with promotional artwork and interviews with the design team, along with exclusive artwork from the next game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
Fans of The Legend of Zelda are in for a treat with The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts. Readers can peruse over four hundred pages of fully realized artistic masterpieces, exclusive interviews with the design team behind the beloved video game franchise, the official pixel art of the early series, and rare promotional art never before published in this format. The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts offers fans a sneak peek at art from the newest game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, prior to its official release. This breathtaking volume is essential for any true Zelda fan!
The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts will be available in stores on February 21, 2017. And let’s hope that release date means we’ll get Breath of the Wild on the Wii U and NX sooner rather than later.
Posted in 3DS, DS, Etcetera, News, Retro, Switch, Wii, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Snowcastle will launch Earthlock: Festival of Magic on Xbox One for free through Games With Gold and PC on September 1
Snowcastle Games has announced that their turn-based RPG, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, will be available to download for the PC and Xbox One on September 1. But best of all, Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to get the game for free next month through the Games With Gold program.
If you’re unfamiliar with Earthlock: Festival of Magic, head to Xbox Wire to learn more about the game’s Norse inspirations:
This westernized turn-based RPG, which in subtle ways reveals its Scandinavian origin, starts as a simple quest, but develops into a deeper journey. Play as Amon and join several unlikely heroes to save Umbra, a beautiful but harsh world that mysteriously stopped spinning thousands of cycles ago. Mix up your strategy to beat your enemies by crafting ammo and materials, harvesting elemental plants, and customizing your characters’ talent tree.
Earthlock: Festival of Magic is also in development for the PS4 and Wii U, and will likely be released for both platforms sometime this Fall.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Gamescom 2016
Nintendo wants the NX to appeal to “people who like games” and “moms”
It sounds like Nintendo has plans to stray from their “Blue Ocean Strategy” for the Nintendo NX. According to Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s General Manager of Entertainment Planning and Development, the consolemaker is working on a platform that’ll appeal to a wide range of audiences including “people who like games” and “moms.”
This insight into Nintendo’s corporate strategy was revealed by Takahashi during an interview with Nikkei Trendy (and helpfully translated by Nintendo Everything):
“I can’t talk about this in detail yet, but we are aiming so that neither people who like games nor moms dislike it. I think that I want to release a game device that both customers who have much experience in gaming and customers who haven’t played much can enjoy greatly.”
Later in the interview, Takahashi also said that Nintendo is better tuned in to the needs of their staff, and hopes to avoid the drought of new games that plagued the Wii U’s first year:
“We are paying attention to that. Having said that, it isn’t about drastically increasing the amount of development staff. To be specific, software development teams and teams that create the development environment are thinking about the NX lineup together.”
“For example, a software development team may have a request ‘if we had this library, then development would progress quickly’. Teams creating the development environment respond to that by considering ‘if we prepare an environment like this, then development will go smoothly,’ and they actually discuss with development teams and hear their opinions and prioritize those things. We have built a stronger cooperative relationship compared to what is was before and are making efforts so that software can be developed smoothly.”
The Nintendo NX will be released in March 2017, and many people expect Nintendo to fully unveil the console sometime in the next few months.
The making of Tetris will be chronicled in a new graphic novel this October
Most people know that Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris while working for the Soviet government in the early 80s, but the story will be retold this October in a brand new graphic novel by Box Brown.
Tetris: The Games People Play will be published by the Macmillan imprint First Second, and it’ll reveal the story behind the game’s creation and the subsequent legal battle over distribution rights to the puzzle game outside the USSR:
Alexey Pajitnov had big ideas about games. In 1984, he created Tetris in his spare time while developing software for the Soviet government. Once Tetris emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, it was an instant hit. Nintendo, Atari, Sega—game developers big and small all wanted Tetris. A bidding war was sparked, followed by clandestine trips to Moscow, backroom deals, innumerable miscommunications, and outright theft.
New York Times–bestselling author Box Brown untangles this complex history and delves deep into the role games play in art, culture, and commerce. For the first time and in unparalleled detail, Tetris: The Games People Play tells the true story of the world’s most popular video game.
Brown has experience with finding larger-than-life figures from pop culture and adapting their lives into graphic novels. The writer and artist was previously responsible for Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, a well-received graphic novel that was originally published in 2014.
Meanwhile, Pajitnov seems to a popular biography subject these days. Director Brett Ratner announced plans to develop a film based on the developer’s life last year, and Interestingly enough, the untitled film will also feature an emphasis on the court case surrounding Tetris.
Tetris: The Games People Play will be available on store shelves on October 11.
Mario helped Japanese PM Shinzo Abe make it to the Olympics Closing Ceremony on time
The 2016 Summer Olympics came to an end last night with the Closing Ceremonies. Team USA won 121 total medals, including six more for Michael Phelps, one for “mugging victim” Ryan Lochte, and Gold for both the Men’s and Women’s basketball teams. But now the eyes of the world turn to Tokyo as they prepare for the 2020 Games, and naturally, Mario was on hand to help them out.
In a great little video to symbolize the Olympic handover, Japanese athletes perform alongside the country’s greatest cultural exports… Hello Kitty, Pac-Man, and Mario. Mario even lent a warp pipe and his signature hat hat to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe so he could make it to the Closing Ceremony on time. Cutting to live events in the stadium, Abe even emerged from a massive green wipe wearing Mario’s coveralls.
You can watch the full video at NBCOlympics.com and I’m sure Nintendo and Sega are already thinking about the Nintendo NX launch of Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in four years.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Super Mario Bros.