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
Wii Sports Club: Golf has been added to Wii U eShop
Your next Wii Sports Club fix is now available to download from the Wii U eShop. Announced during this morning’s Nintendo Direct presentation, Wii Sports Club: Golf is the latest sport to be released, joining the already available Tennis and Bowling.
In addition to a high definition graphical makeover, Nintendo has also added Wii U GamePad support to Wii Sports Club: Golf. By placing the GamePad on the floor, players will be able to see their ball on the tee (or rough or fairway or green or etc.) as they ready their swing with the Wii Remote Plus. Online multiplayer has also been added to the game for the first time.
As with previous Wii Sports Club titles, Wii Sports Club: Golf is available to download for $9.99 or you can purchase a “Day Pass” (for $1.99) to play every Wii Sports Club title for 24 hours. A demo version is also available.
The last two Wii Sports Club games, Wii Sports Club: Boxing and Wii Sports Club: Baseball, will be released soon.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Wii Sports Club: Golf
XBL Store Today: Walking Dead: Season 2 Episode 1, Assassin’s Creed IV
The Dead walk on the Xbox Live Arcade once again! The first episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 2, “All That Remains,” is now available to download. Episode One (and all subsequent chapters) has been priced at $4.99, but you can grab the Season Pass for $14.99, which is a pretty hefty discount.
Also available to download today is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the latest game to chronicle the fight between the Assassins and the Templars (now with pirates!).
More details on both games are available right here:
The Walking Dead: Season 2 – “All That Remains” ($4.99)
Left to fend for herself, Clementine has been forced to learn how to survive in a world gone mad. Many months have passed since the events seen in Season One of The Walking Dead, and Clementine is searching for safety. But what can an ordinary child do to stay alive when the living can be just as bad – and sometimes worse – than the dead? As Clementine, you will be tested by situations and dilemmas that will test your morals and your instinct for survival. Your decisions and actions will change the story around you, in this sequel to 2012’s Game of the Year.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag ($59.99)
It is 1715. Pirates rule the Caribbean and have established a lawless Republic. Among these outlaws is a fearsome young captain named Edward Kenway. His exploits earn the respect of legends like Blackbeard, but draw him into an ancient war that may destroy everything the pirates have built.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, The Walking Dead Season 2
NES Remix throws 16 classic games in a blender on Wii U eShop today
After years of uploading their NES catalog to the Virtual Console storefront, Nintendo has decided that a few changes might do these old games good. NES Remix, which is available to download from the Wii U eShop today for $14.99, takes 16 classic NES games and chops them up into WarioWare-style mini-challenges.
For example, relive some of your NES-era favorites like Mario Bros. (knock over as many enemies as you can), Super Mario Bros. (smash the turtle shell to collect 1-Ups on the World 3-1 steps), and Golf (get a hole-in-one).
But NES Remix also embraces the second half of its title with altered NES games that forces Luigi to travel right-to-left in Super Mario Bros., adds a colorful filter to Excitebike, or lets you play as Link in Donkey Kong.
NES Remix includes full Miiverse support and, once again, it’s available to download now from the Wii U eShop for $14.99.
Nintendo and Tecmo Koei will team up for Hyrule Warriors in 2014
Is it April? Am I dreaming? Is this really happening? It’s December, I’m awake and, yes, it really is…
This morning, Nintendo and Tecmo Koei announced a new collaboration: Hyrule Warriors. Developed by Tecmo Koei’s Omega Force, the new game will merge the Legend of Zelda universe with the Dynasty Warriors style of gameplay on the Wii U. The name isn’t final, but Hyrule Warriors is a pretty apt description of the action found in the teaser trailer above. Hyrule Warriors will be released in 2014.
And keep in mind, this is an entirely separate game from the new “core” Zelda entry that Producer Eiji Aonuma and his team are working on. So if 2013 was the Year of Luigi, 2014 might just be the Year of Link.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Hyrule Warriors
PS Store Today: Minecraft PS3, Walking Dead: Season 2 Episode 1, Flow PS4/Vita, a lot more
It’s a big day for the PlayStation Store as several well-received games have found homes on new platforms and one of this Winter’s biggest releases is now available.
For all you PS3 owners who are jealous of your Xbox 360 brethren and their embrace of Minecraft-mania, the wait is finally over, Mojang and 4J Studios have gotten together and added Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition to the PlayStation Store. Also available today is Telltale’s continuation of their heartwrenching Walking Dead adaptation. Like the first season, The Walking Dead: Season 2 will be released in five parts. The first episode, “All That Remains,” can be downloaded now.
What else is available today? Well…
- Flow, thatgamecompany’s first game, is now available on the Vita and PS4.
- Speaking of the PS4, The Pinball Arcade has also flippered its way onto Sony’s next-generation console.
- Terraria, everyone’s other favorite sandbox game, has been released for the Vita.
- Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien has also zoomed onto Sony’s handheld today.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sony has added more than a dozen games to their online store today and you can read all about them after the break. As usual, a detailed listing of this week’s new game add-ons (including Borderlands 2: How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Freedom Cry) can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Tomb Raider now available on iOS (with controller support) for $0.99
Lara Croft’s universe was rebooted earlier this year with Tomb Raider, but it looks like Square Enix has no plans to forget about Lara’s earlier adventures. Tomb Raider I, “in all its original (and challenging) glory,” is now available to download from the iOS App Store. And instead of breaking the bank like many of Square Enix’s iOS releases, Tomb Raider I has been priced at $0.99.
Tomb Raider I has been faithfully ported to the iOS in its unedited form and it even includes the two bonus chapters from the Gold Edition re-release. The “I” suffix also implies that subsequent Tomb Raider games will likely soon make their way to the App Store.
If you want to give Tomb Raider I a try, you’ll need to be sure your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch is updated to iOS 7. Thankfully, Square Enix also included iOS 7 controller support, so touchscreen controls are strictly optional.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Tomb Raider (1996)
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster PS3 Collector’s Edition, Vita bundle announced
The last time Square Enix discussed the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, it was to delay the compilation’s release and to cryptically shove the Vita version to the side. Well good news, the Vita version is alive and well! And it’s no longer two separate games. And it will be released side-by-side with the PS3 version on March 18.
Previously, the publisher planned to release Final Fantasy X HD and Final Fantasy X-2 HD as two separate cartridges on the Vita. Now, like the PS3 version, the two PS2 classics will be bundled together in a single package. However, only Final Fantasy X HD will be included in the box. To obtain Final Fantasy X-2 HD, you’ll need to download it from the PlayStation Store with the enclosed voucher.
Finally, the PS3 version of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will also be release in a special Collector’s Edition, available exclusively through the Square Enix Online Store. Priced at $79.99, the Collector’s Edition will include:
- Full-Size Artbook Packaging, featuring 40 pages of imagery from the beautiful world of Spira.
- Visual Soundtrack – Over six hours of music set to the game’s most memorable moments on a Blu-ray disc.
- Five Lithographs of iconic artwork and characters.
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
DayZ standalone is now available through Steam Early Access
After an Everest ascent and multiple development delays, Dean “Rocket” Hall’s standalone version of DayZ is now available through Steam. But there’s a catch, the game is still in the alpha stage and has been released through the online storefront’s Early Access program.
The Early Access version of DayZ has been priced at $29.99 and Hall estimates that the game will reach the beta stage in about a year. In the alpha version, players will have access to 40-player online play, customizable weapons and clothing, and a 230 sq. km game map known as “Chernarus.” Hall has big plans for DayZ and, as development on the Early Access version continues, he and his team at Bohemia Interactive plan to add drivable vehicles, a wide variety of native animal life, player-constructed buildings, upgraded graphics, and mod support.
But all of these additions will take time and Bohemia has cautioned: “DayZ Early Access is your chance to experience DayZ as it evolves throughout its development process. Be aware that our Early Access offer is a representation of our core pillars, and the framework we have created around them. It is a work in progress and therefore contains a variety of bugs. We strongly advise you not to buy and play the game at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle.”
You can get a taste of the Early Access version by viewing the “Launch Trailer” at the top of this post.