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: Articles
Nintendo Download: Axiom Verge, Zelda Skyward Sword, Picross 3D Round 2, more
After looking to NES classics like Metroid and Contra for inspiration, Thomas Happ is finally ready to bring his retro-flavored side-scroller, Axiom Verge, to the Wii U this week. As the first game in Nintendo’s “Nindies Summer Jam” promotion on the eShop, Axiom Verge’s Wii U debut will offer Off-TV Play, Leaderboards, and a Speedrun Mode.
Two other games unveiled by Nintendo during this morning’s Nintendo Direct presentation are also now available to download through the Nintendo eShop. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Link’s only full-length adventure developed exclusively for the Wii, is now available to download through the Wii U eShop. And over on the 3DS, players can chip away at a three-dimensional block puzzle in Picross 3D Round 2.
More information on all of these games (and a huge number of other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Axiom Verge, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Nintendo will release Super Mario Maker for 3DS on December 2
Super Mario Maker is coming to the 3DS this Fall! Announced during Nintendo’s newest Nintendo Direct presentation this morning, Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS will be available on December 2, and it’ll be nearly identical to its Wii U sibling.
Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS players won’t be able to upload their creations to the Internet, but they will be able to share courses locally with friends through a wireless connection or StreetPass. To make up for this missing feature, Nintendo has added a collaborative level-editing mode for two players to Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS.
In addition to building their own courses, players will also be able to take on 100 Nintendo-designed courses (with added 3DS-exclusive objectives) and download “select” courses from the Wii U version in 100 Mario Challenge.
You can get your first glimpse at Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS by viewing its first trailer, embedded above.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Slayer Shock will be released on September 29; Pre-order now to get access to the beta
Developer David Pittman and Minor Key Games have announced that Slayer Shock, a procedurally-generated first-person action RPG heavily influenced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will be released for the PC on September 29. But players who pre-order the game now through Itch.io will receive instant access to the beta version.
Slayer Shock further leans on its late 90s influence with a retro-inspired look that wouldn’t be out of place on teh Nintendo 64:
Operating from your headquarters at a college coffee shop, you take missions to patrol the streets, rescue captive humans, and weaken the undead threat. A team of fellow vampire slayers assists you from HQ, providing new weapons, skills, and research.
With a format that lovingly recalls scripted television (missions are “episodes”, each campaign is a “season”), Slayer Shock blends immersive first-person action, lightweight strategy, and procedural narrative into a uniquely thrilling experience.
Finally, Pittman and Minor Key Games have released a new trailer for Slayer Shock, and its been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Slayer Shock
Bombs away! Link paraglides in the latest Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild mini-trailer
I think Nintendo might have outdone themselves with the latest mini-trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Link takes up paragliding in the new video clip, which was posted to Nintendo’s Twitter account yesterday. But rather than leisurely leap off a mountain and glide to safety, Link delivers death from above by dropping Bombs on a mob of enemies and using an exploding Arrow to get a bit of an updraft:
Explore new horizons with the paraglider in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. pic.twitter.com/xozg4GSywl
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 31, 2016
That’s just beautiful… and I also love the superhero-esque three-point landing right on top of the remaining mooks. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be released for the Wii U and NX sometime in 2017. Probably after Nintendo releases a few dozen more mini-trailers.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Kickstart This! Ruin of the Reckless
Apologies for the lack of a Kickstart This! pick over the last three weeks, but No Man’s Sky has rekindled my love of space exploration and childhood dreams of seeking out new life and new civilisations.
Now I turn to a different type of discovery, one within the vastness of crowdfunding, where creativity oozes and begs for recognition and coin. There are plenty of games worthy of your attention, with some ridiculously fantastic titles such as Attack of the Mutant Fishcrows and Russian Subway Dogs. However, the project I eventually settled on, Ruin of the Reckless, is very reminiscent of the game I was playing prior to No Man’s Sky, Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Drifter, as well as other recent roguelikes such as Enter the Gungeon, Deathstate, and Nuclear Throne.
Let us ascend the Ruin of the Reckless! (more…)
Xbox Store Today: Armello, Resident Evil 4, Attack On Titan, more
The month of August is coming to a close (which also means today’s your last chance to grab Warriors Orochi Ultimate 3 and Beyond Good & Evil HD as part of Microsoft’s Games With Gold program) and we’ve got a handful of new titles to talk about on the Xbox Games Store…
Armello was originally released for the PC and PS4 last year, but the “grand swashbuckling adventure” that combines card games, tabletop board games, and RPG mechanics is now available to download for the Xbox One. And a launch week discount means that interested players can pick it up for 25% this week.
Also available this week is Koei Tecmo’s game adaptation of Attack On Titan. The popular anime brings its battle between the man-eating Titans and Eren and his companions to the Xbox One for the first time while also promising “a few original twists.”
Finally this week, Capcom will bring Resident Evil 4 to the Xbox One with enhanced and another set of Achievements. If you’ve never experienced Leon S. Kennedy’s fight for survival against Las Plagas, now’s your chance.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Resident Evil 4
More Nintendo NX Rumors: Controllers to include Motion Control, Force Feedback, Split D-Pad, Share Button
It’s time for another round of Nintendo NX rumors, this time focusing on the console’s supposedly detachable controllers.
A few days ago, Let’s Play Video Games reported that the NX’s controllers will serve a similar function to the Wii Remote, and will include motion control features and force feedback. Citing anonymous sources, the report goes on to describe the advanced force feedback features as similar to the Vive controller: “[The NX controller] alters intensity, pulsing patterns and duration of vibration to mimic the sensation of a range of different movement types. It’s not just one vibration for all situations, there’s a notable difference between the hard abrupt feedback of a sword clash or the softer, longer thud of something like hitting a tennis ball.”
A second rumor report from Let’s Play Video Games, published yesterday, claims that the NX controller will also include a “Split D-Pad” and a Share Button to upload screenshots and video directly to Miiverse, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. Nintendo has never used a “Split D-Pad” (four buttons aligned in a cross shape, similar to the PlayStation controller) before, but it’s possible the design would allow both players to have an analog stick and a set of face buttons when the controllers are detached from the screen for multiplayer gaming.
On the surface, neither of these reports sound all that far-fetched, especially due to their similarity to the current Wii Remote. However, Nintendo has yet to confirm any specifics regarding the NX, and it’s still possible that everything we think we know about the platform (including its status as a “console/handheld hybrid”) is false.
The Nintendo NX is currently scheduled to launch in March 2017… hopefully an official unveiling of the console will happen sometime soon.
TowerFall 8-Player released for PC; TowerFall Ascension coming soon to Xbox One
It’s a good day for TowerFall fans as developer Matt Thorson has announced that a standalone eight-player variant, imaginatively titled TowerFall 8-Player, is now available to download for the PC through Itch.io:
Pack 8 friends on a couch and get ready to experience true chaos. Free-for-all matches now support up to 6 players, and team matches are playable with a full 8 archers at once! Every Versus level in the original game, including all the Dark World stages, are included, adapted to widescreen to fit all the absurd action.
And in other TowerFall news, the developer has confirmed (via Twitter) that TowerFall Ascension (and the Dark World expansion) is currently in the works for the Xbox One. There’s currently no release date yet, but Thorson added, “I’m playing it and it’s awesome.”
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged TowerFall Ascension