Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: News
Nintendo Download: 3D After Burner II, Lufia: The Legend Returns, more
After adding Super Mario Galaxy 2 to the Wii U eShop yesterday, the consolemaker is back with another big batch of games in their usual Thursday update.
This week, 3DS owners can now download 3D After Burner II, an enhanced rendition of Sega’s arcade classic, and Lufia: The Legend Returns, a well-loved RPG that was originally released for the Game Boy Color in 2001.
The Wii U eShop is now home to a few new games as well including Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight, a wacky NES spinoff of the Street Fighter, and Electronic Super Joy: Groove City, a retro-inspired platformer that is about… I swear to god… the heroine’s search for her missing “Laser-Nipples.”
More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. (more…)
Activision details CoD: Advanced Warfare’s Havoc Map Pack ahead of January 27 launch
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s Havoc Map Pack is less than two weeks away, so Activision has dropped a few new details and a behind-the-scenes trailer to get us all talking about it. The Havoc Map Pack will follow the same “four competitive maps/one co-op map” format that Infinity Ward used for Ghosts. Here’s what players can expect from the four competitive maps:
Core: Deploy to the Gobi desert where the ravaged ruins of a nuclear fusion plant set the stage for a high-octane warzone. Take down enemies through the wreckage in long-range combat or get up-close and personal in the tunnels surrounding the central turbine. Activate decontamination drones using the map-based scorestreak to help clean out the competition.
Urban: Prepare yourself for brutal, high-speed combat in Dallas Ward 3, a future mega structure, funneling players into a close-quarters free-for-all. This modular compound’s verticality unleashes the exoskeleton’s capabilities. Stay focused during the timed event as blast doors alter the map’s flow and sightlines.
Sideshow: In the shadow of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, this abandoned inn’s open layout amplifies its creep factor. Blast your way through the clown inn with close-quarters battles or use long-range site-lines from the mining facilities and natural terrain. Use the map-based scorestreak to activate the lights, music, and magic of the clown marquee and rain down a barrage of rainbow smoke-trailed cannonballs.
Drift: An idyllic ski resort high in the Rocky Mountains is transformed into a festive high-altitude playground, perfect for an all-out firefight. Make your way to the highly contested over watch in the glass observation deck or take a ride on the carousel to deliver 360 degrees of carnage. Players can use the map-altering timed event to their advantage as an avalanche of snow and debris disorients players, intensifying the battle.
Sledgehammer Games is also taking a page from Treyarch as the co-op maps for Advanced Warfare will feature an ever-expanding zombie horde. The first episode of “Exo Zombies,” which stars John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal, will be included with the Havoc Map Pack.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s Havoc Map Pack will be available to download on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on January 27. A PS3, PS4, and PC release will likely follow in February.
The Simpsons are going to Minecraft (on the Xbox One and Xbox 360)!
Whenever Matt Groening and his army of Korean animators send the Simpson family on a new adventure, they almost always kick it off with a rousing round of “The Simpsons are going to…!” Today, Microsoft announced that everyone’s favorite family (and a few of Springfield Elemenrary’s finest) will be making the jump to Minecraft on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. So, before we go any further…
“The Simpsons are going to Minecraft!”
Enough of that borax! “The Simpsons Skin Pack” will be priced at $1.99 and it’ll include new skins for Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and 19 characters from Springfield Elementary School. The pack will be available on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 in late February. Launch details for the “Simpsons Skin Pack” on PlayStation platforms will be announced at a later date.
2015 Writers Guild nominees: Alien: Isolation, Last of Us: Left Behind, AC: Unity, Freedom Cry
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award, which they use to honor the best game writing of the year.
Continuing their love affair with Ubisoft, the Guild nominated both new entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, for this year’s Writers Guild Award. Two other games are have also been nominated this year, Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us: Left Behind expansion. The full list of nominated writers can be found here:
Alien: Isolation (Sega)
Writers: Dan Abnett, Dion Lay, Will PorterAssassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry (Ubisoft)
Lead Scriptwriter: Jill Murray
Scriptwriter: Melissa MacCoubrey
Story: Jill Murray, Hugo Giard, Wesley PincombeAssassin’s Creed: Unity (Ubisoft)
Story: Alexandre Amancio, Sylvain Bernard, Travis Stout
Scriptwriting: Alexandre Amancio, Travis Stout, Russell Lees, Darby McDevitt, Ceri Young
Additional Scriptwriting: Jeffrey YohalemThe Last of Us: Left Behind (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by: Neil Druckmann
Writers from Naughty Dog and Ubisoft have been trading off top honors at the WGA Awards for the last five years. Naughty Dog prevailed last year for their work on The Last of Us, following wins for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (2012) and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2010). In between, Ubisoft collected a pair of WGA Awards for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation (2013) and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2011).
If history repeats itself, writers from Ubisoft will be hoisting a trophy in victory when the winners of the 2015 Writers Guild Awards are announced on February 14.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, Assassin's Creed: Unity, The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind
New Xenoblade Chronicles X trailer is a travelogue of the planet Mira
During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo unveiled a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles X that showcases the game’s expansive open world. The game is set on an alien planet known as Mira, which is now home to a cadre of humans who left Earth in a generation ship. But Mira was already home to a wide variety of animal life including flying whale-like creatures and massive worms who traverse lush forests, towering mountains, and endless oceans alongside our main characters.
So what’s the game all about? Aside from serving as a spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles, the story of Xenoblade Chronicles X is still shrouded in mystery. But we won’t have to wait much longer to find out more as the game is still on track for a 2015 release exclusively on the Wii U.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Xenoblade Chronicles X
Nintendo adds Super Mario Galaxy 2 to Wii U eShop with more Wii games to follow
The Wii U eShop is about to get a whole lot more interesting as Nintendo has announced that they have begun adding Wii games to their downloadable.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be the first Wii game added to the Wii U eShop and it is available to download right now. It will joined shortly by the excellent Punch-Out!! (January 22) and the ultra-rare Metroid Prime Trilogy (January 29). All three titles have been priced at $19.99 apiece, but Nintendo will offer them at a heavy discount ($9.99) during each game’s first week of availability.
All Wii games sold through the Wii U eShop will require a Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo, though games that originally included Wii Classic Controller support will be playable with the Wii U GamePad.
Posted in News, Wii, Wii U
Tagged Punch-Out!!, Super Mario Galaxy 2
Get your first glimpse at Kung Lao (and Kitana!) in the latest Mortal Kombat X trailer
As promised by Ed Boon yesterday, a new Mortal Kombat X trailer starring Kung Lao was unleashed upon the world today. While the man with the razor-rimmed hat got plenty of screen time, an appearance by Kitana and her razor-rimmed fan blades raised just as many eyebrows. Or the developers at NetherRealm really like razor-rimmed weapons, I can’t decide.
Kitana looks quite similar to her previous appearances, with a veil covering her face and blue bikini armor (barely) covering the rest of her. Like Kung Lao, it’s currently unknown how the Princess of Edenia/Outworld survived her apparent death at the end of 2011’s Mortal Kombat. Perhaps we’ll learn more about her backstory for Mortal Kombat X, and her three character variations, in a future update from NetherRealm Studios.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
Xbox Store Today: Monopoly Plus, Monopoly Deal
You Have Won Second Prize in a Beauty Contest… Collect $10
OK, not really, but it’s Monopoly Day in today’s Xbox Games Store update as Ubisoft has added Monopoly Plus and Monopoly Deal to the Xbox 360 storefront.
Monopoly Plus is the same great game you played for hours (and hours and hours) with a few moderns twists including a 3D city at the center of the board, an adaptable set of rules, and a “Speed Die” for faster games. Meanwhile, Monopoly Deal translates the classic board game into a fast-paced card game.
More information on both games can be found right here:
Xbox 360 Games
Monopoly Plus ($9.99)
It’s Monopoly for a new era! Play the classic game and watch the board come to life! A full 3D city at the center of the board lives and evolves as you play. Play the way you want, change the rules and adapt them to your playing style. Use the Speed Die for a faster game or select from a catalogue of the top six House Rules. Win or lose, the game allows you to take and display photos at key moments for an amplified social gaming experience. Monopoly Plus raises the classic game to a new level!Monopoly Deal ($4.99)
Everything great about Monopoly, now a fast paced, delightfully addictive card game! Compete online against your friends or the community in this frantic card-game: steal sets of cards, collect debts and be the first to collect three complete property sets of different colors. Build your real estate empire in a new and faster way! Keeps everything you love about Monopoly but packs it into a fast burst of fun.