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
You’re Out! Nintendo plans to sell their majority stake in the Seattle Mariners
Back in 1992, the Seattle Mariners were in trouble. While they weren’t quite as bad as the fictional Cleveland Indians team from Major League, Seattle’s dismal performance on the field caused a similar meltdown from their ownership. Mariners owner Jeff Smulyan constantly threatened to relocate the franchise, but he relented in the middle of the season, ultimately selling the team to Nintendo. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo’s Chairman and President, wasn’t a fan of the sport, but he made sure the team stayed in Seattle to thank the city for their years-long support of Nintendo’s North American headquarters.
Today, Nintendo decided to walk off the field by selling the majority of their stake in the Mariners to the other members of First Avenue Entertainment, the team’s minority ownership group. Famed bowtie enthusiast Howard Lincoln will be replaced as the team’s CEO by John Stanton, though Lincoln will continue to have a seat on the team’s Board of Directors.
“From the first day of our involvement nearly 24 years ago, Nintendo has had two goals for its investment in the Mariners,” said Howard Lincoln. “First, we wanted to assure the permanence of the team in this great city. And on that count, I am proud and gratified that this agreement further solidifies that goal. On the other hand, I’m equally disappointed that we have not been able to host a World Series game for our fans.”
A rather unique entity among Major League Baseball’s 32 owners, Nintendo leveraged their position as a video game producer to develop a series of games starring Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle’s Hall of Fame outfielder, in the 90s. The last game in the series, Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest, was released in 1999 and helped put developer Angel Studios on the map. You might know them better as Rockstar San Diego, the creators of Red Dead Redemption.
The sale of the Mariners likely has something to do with Nintendo’s gloomy financial outlook. But their investment in Seattle baseball will pay off handsomely. The consolemaker reportedly purchased the Mariners for $100 million back in 1992 and the team is worth $1.4 billion today.
Xbox Store Today: Hitman Ep 2, Walking Dead Michonne Ep 3, Elite Dangerous Arena, more
Today’s Xbox Games Store update is making it a good time to be a fan of episodic gaming.
Players who wished for more entries in Sierra’s King’s Quest (Xbox One, Xbox 360) series will be able to continue the adventures of King Graham today in the third episode, Once Upon A Climb. A much bloodier type of adventure can be found in IO Interactive’s Hitman (Xbox One), but that’s not going to stop Agent 47 from meeting his target on the fictional Italian coastal town of Sapienza.
Also this week, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne (Xbox One, Xbox 360) will come to an end with the third episode, What We Deserve. “Michonne tries to protect an innocent family, but Norma and the vengeful Monroe crew are closing in,” reads the episode’s description. Sounds intense.
Elsewhere on the Xbox Games Store, annoying partygoers will meet their doom in Party Hard, a stealth game for the Xbox One where players permanently evict the worst noise polluters. And Elite Dangerous: Arena adds head-to-head dogfighting to the Elite: Dangerous universe as both a standalone expansion or a free add-on for the main game.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Hitman, King's Quest, The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Walking Dead Season 3 tease from Robert Kirkman reveals an older Clementine
Robert Kirkman is the creator of the Walking Dead comic book and the guiding hand behind the megafranchise’s expansion into television, novels, and video games. So Telltale Games recently gave him the chance to talk about his thoughts on The Walking Dead: Michonne, which came to a conclusion yesterday.
In the video, Kirkman praises the Telltale team for their fine work, and reveals that several of the game’s plot points came directly from his notes for Michonne’s absence in issue #126. The writer also couldn’t resist teasing The Walking Dead Season 3, and confirmed that fans of the series are in store for another time jump:
“Season 3 of the Telltale series is really exciting to me. The way that the timeline works, Season 3 will actually be getting pretty close to where we are in the comics concurrently,” said Kirkman. “We’ll be checking in on Clementine again, so we’ll be seeing her, seeing where she’s at and what’s going on with her which is going to be great. But also similar to the Michonne series there will probably be some more comic book elements that we’ll be working into it in some interesting ways. I don’t want to spoil too much…”
The first episode of The Walking Dead Season 3 will be released sometime this year.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, The Walking Dead: Michonne
Cuphead Hands-On Preview: A Shoot-Shoot-A-Hoot
There was no Cartoon Network when I was a little kid. Instead, a sugary haze of Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and G.I. Joe filtered into my home via regular broadcast channels on Saturday mornings. And after they turned the day over to programming for adults, I’d turn my attention to nearly six hours of non-stop Looney Tunes on TNT.
I loved the Looney Tunes, but occasionally, TNT programmers would slip in an older 20s or 30s short that didn’t have anything to do with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Foghorn Leghorn. I never knew what to make of those earlier attempts at animation, but I always felt like there was something unsettling about them. Brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, of Studio MDHR, saw the same sinister edge in these cartoons, and they tapped directly into it for their upcoming side-scrolling shooter, Cuphead. (more…)
Alienation, Hitman: Episode 2, Walking Dead Michonne: Episode 3, more added to PS Store
Sony’s Launch Party promotion reached the end with yesterday’s addition of Alienation to the PlayStation Store. Developed by marquee game developer Housemarque, the PS4 game is a twin-stick shooter where up to four players can try to save Earth from a huge alien invasion.
Also available to download today is Severed from DrinkBox Studios (quasi-related side note… Ecto Cooler is coming back). The Vita game makes extensive use of the handheld’s touchscreen and asks players to solve puzzles, find secrets, and do battle with a host of disturbing monsters. Speaking of disturbing monsters, annoying partygoers have sealed their fate in Party Hard, a stealth game for the PS4 where players permanently evict the worst noise polluters.
There’s also an episodic bounty of riches on the PlayStation Store this week as three titles received new entries. Episode 2 of Hitman (PS4) takes the story to the fictional Italian coastal island of Sapienza, while Sierra’s King’s Quest (PS3, PS4) reaches new heights in its third episode, Once Upon A Climb. And Telltale closes the book on The Walking Dead: Michonne (PS3, PS4) with the third, and final, episode: What We Deserve.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a visit to the PlayStation Blog will reveal this week’s new game add-ons and discounts. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Alienation, Hitman, King's Quest, The Walking Dead: Michonne
Nintendo is working on Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem mobile games
Good news, everyone! Nintendo has announced that new Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem apps will soon be available for mobile platforms:
More #Nintendo apps are coming to smart devices, including Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing! pic.twitter.com/ZLsHirPltM
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 27, 2016
Best of all, it sounds like both will be full-fledged games, instead of communication apps like Miitomo:
For [Fire Emblem], while making it more accessible in comparison to the Fire Emblem games for Nintendo’s dedicated gaming systems, Nintendo aims to offer the great value of a role-playing strategy game. Nintendo will design [Animal Crossing] so that it will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems. By playing both Animal Crossing games, users will find increased enjoyment.
Both of these are pure game applications. Compared to Miitomo, they have more prominent game elements, and the game content will tie closely into Nintendo’s dedicated games business.
The currently untitled Animal Crossing Mobile and Fire Emblem Mobile should launch sometime this Fall.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Animal Crossing Mobile, Fire Emblem Mobile
Nintendo NX will launch in March 2017; Zelda Wii U delayed again to receive a simultaneous release on Wii U, NX
The Nintendo NX is coming… not as soon as some hoped, but much sooner than most of us expected. The consolemaker held their yearly financial briefing a few hours ago, and confirmed the NX will receive a global launch in March 2017.
The console, which is around 315 days away from release and described by Nintendo as “a brand-new concept,” is still a big mystery to fans. However, a Q&A session with executives did shed some more light on the NX’s future.
According to a post on Nintendo’s Twitter account, The Legend of Zelda Wii U will be delayed once again, so it can receive a simultaneous launch on the Wii U and NX. The additional development time was also granted to make “quality improvements” to the game.
Unfortunately, the NX is expected to skip this year’s E3 Expo, so it might be a while before we learn anything else about Nintendo’s “brand-new concept.”
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Dear Diary: Saturday and Sunday at PAX East 2016 I Played…
Another PAX East has come to an end, but Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, Jerry “Tycho” Holkins, and game developers from around the world will return to Boston next year for more shenanigans. In the meantime, I’ve got an overflowing notebook and thoughts on more than a dozen titles from the final days of the expo. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Retro, Top Story, Xbox One
Tagged 20XX, Cuphead, Flinthook, Just Shapes and Beats, Knee Deep, Mages of Mystralia, Metrico+, PAX East 2016, Perception, Rogue Stormers, Streamline, Tooth and Tail, Umbrella Corps