Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D will be released on April 10… and here’s a new trailer
Nintendo dropped a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D that gives us another look at the portable remake of the beloved Wii RPG. But the key takeaway from this video is the card at the end that confirms the game’s release date: April 10, 2015.
In other Xenoblade Chronicles 3D news, Nintendo has confirmed (via Twitter) the game will include a special StreetPass mode that will allow players to collect Tokens to unlock music and character models. Tapping a Shulk Amiibo figure (which will be exclusive to GameStop and reportedly will be in very short supply) will also add Tokens to your coffers.
And don’t forget, if you haven’t upgraded your 3DS, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D will exclusively be available only for the New 3DS XL.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Xenoblade Chronicles
Shadow of Mordor wins eight awards at 2015 DICE Awards but not Game of the Year
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won eight awards during last night’s DICE Awards ceremony (out of nine nominations), but it was unable to snag the big prize. Instead, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences chose to award “Game of the Year” to BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition.
But don’t feel too bad for Monolith Productions and their romp through the Lord of the Rings universe. Shadow of Mordor’s eight wins included “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Innovation in Gaming,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” “Outstanding Achievement in Character,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” and “Outstanding Technical Achievement.”
The third game in the Dragon Age series was only able to walk away with a single other award: “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year.”
Bungie’s Destiny (which took home four awards) and Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Mobile Game of the Year” and “Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year”) were the only other multi-award winners last night. Though Nintendo’s pair of Smash Bros. games were awarded “Handheld Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For 3DS) and “Fighting Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For Wii U).
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
New trailer details Weekly Faction Wars, Dynamic Challenge Towers in Mortal Kombat X
NetherRealm has been slyly hinting at Mortal Kombat X‘s Faction War mode for a while now, but the game’s newest trailer finally laid it all out for us. When players first launch Mortal Kombat X, they’ll be asked to join one of five Factions (Lin Kuei, White Lotus, Brotherhood of Shadows, Special Forces, or Black Dragon). After that, everything they do in the game will earn points for their Faction in the weekly war.
Players will also be able to compete in inter-Faction challenges and perform “Faction Kills” on players that belong to a different Faction. About all we don’t know is what the winning Faction will receive every week.
The trailer also gave us a quick look at the new Dynamic Challenge Towers that will be included in Mortal Kombat X. According to NetherRealm, the Dynamic Towers can change hourly, so there will always be a new Challenge waiting to be conquered.
Mortal Kombat X will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
Activision confirms Skylanders 5, Call of Duty 2015, “unannounced initiatives” during quarterly presentation
Just as the sun rises in the east, Activision uses their first quarterly financial presentation of the year to talk about the next games in the Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises.
Dennis Durkin, the publisher’s Chief Financial Officer, had the task of revealing the non-news that Call of Duty 2015 and Skylanders 5 will be released this Fall. As expected, Call of Duty 2015 will be developed by Treyarch while Skylanders 5 is being described as “innovative.” Durkin finished his remarks by revealing that Activision also has “several unannounced initiatives” in the pipeline that they’ll talk more about “in the months ahead.”
Then the CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg, took the stage to talk about Destiny. He confirmed that the game’s second expansion, House of Wolves, will be released in the Spring. He also said that Destiny 2 is in development, though we won’t see it this year. But Bungie is planning to launch a “major content release” connected to the franchise for this Fall.
Finally, Blizzard’s CEO, Michael Morhaime, said that both StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void and Overwatch will be available for beta testing this year. However, Morhaime would not comment on either game’s final release date, which means that both will probably slip to 2016.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Destiny, Overwatch, Skylanders SuperChargers, Skylanders SuperChargers Racing, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
Atlus has released a gameplay trailer for Persona 5
It’s been more than a year since Atlus gave us our first taste of Persona 5. Today, they made up for their protracted silence with a new trailer that runs nearly three minutes and is absolutely oozing with style.
I’m not entirely sure I know what’s going on, but the trailer introduced us to the main character and his friends before diving into in-game footage of their school life and a glimpse at a few battles. After dark, these characters turn into masked vigilantes of some sort as they displayed some very Batman-like maneuvers atop a moving train. Also, one of the main characters is a cat… or possibly a little kid in a full-body cat costume. You never can tell with the Persona series.
Persona 5 will be released for the PS3 and PS4 sometime in 2015.
Nintendo Download: Moon Chronicles Ep2-Ep4, Dig Dug, Kami, more
The final three episodes of Moon Chronicles, Renegade Kid’s space-based first person shooter, have been added to the 3DS eShop today. Players have the option of purchasing episodes individually (priced at $4.50 apiece) or they can grab the Season Pass at a steep discount ($9.00 for the remaining three episodes). Moon Chronicles is joined on the 3DS eShop today by Kami, a paper-folding puzzler that was a hit on mobile devices last year.
Over on the Wii U eShop, a pair of Bandai Namco favorites from the NES era are now available to download. Dig Dug is the classic underground digging game where players are tasked with pumping up a variety of enemies until they explode. Mappy-Land is slightly less well-known, but the ridiculously hard platformer is sure to ring the nostalgia bell for some players.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Moon Chronicles
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue will include eye tracking when it launches for PC on March 10
With Assassin’s Creed: Unity bypassing the PS3 and Xbox 360, Ubisoft threw previous-generation gamers a bone with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Rogue last year. Today, the prolific publisher has confirmed that the game will also be available on the PC beginning March 10.
Developed by Ubisoft Kiev, the PC port of Assassin’s Creed: Rogue will add in-game eye-tracking for anyone with a Sentry Eye Tracker. With this new technology, players will be able to look to the left or right while playing and the game’s camera will follow, creating an “infinite screen” effect.
And if you’re interested in pre-ordering Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, you can grab it through the Uplay Shop and pick up another Assassin’s Creed game for free.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Rogue
Watch this guy beat Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! while blindfolded
Jack Wedge was a man on a mission. During last year’s Awesome Games Done Quick marathon, he watched “Sinister1” attempt to complete Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! while blindfolded. Sadly, after beating the game’s first 13 characters, “Sinister1” was TKOed by Tyson. But his performance inspired Wedge to make his own blindfolded run at Iron Mike and the champ was a bit less invincible this time.
That’s right, it’s all in the video above, but Wedge went 14-0 against the cast of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and emerged victorious with a decision against Tyson. Just beating Tyson at all is a huge accomplishment for most gamers, but doing it while blindfolded? I am just without speech.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!