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)
Most Recent: 3DS
Nintendo Download: Super C, AeternoBlade, Spot the Differences!
This week’s Nintendo Download is short and sweet with just a trio of new titles. The Wii U eShop is now home to Super C, the first sequel to Contra and the 3DS eShop can now lay claim to Spot the Differences!, a spot the differences game. And on Tuesday, February 18, CoreCell will add AeternoBlade, a side-scrolling sword smasher to the 3DS eShop. More details on all three games can be found right here:
Wii U eShop
Super C – In this action-packed sequel to the classic game Contra, experience run-and-gun game play at its best as you take control of Mad Dog or Scorpion and once again battle the forces of Red Falcon. Stages feature intense battles against huge bosses and both side-scrolling and top-down perspectives. Use a variety of powerful weapons and tap into your killer instinct to survive the deadly waves of enemies.
3DS U eShop
AeternoBlade – At Awelsia region, vengeful Freyja traveled with unknown weapon AeternoBlade to revenge Beladim, the Lord of Mist who had destroyed her village, Ridgerode, and killed all her tribes. Her vengence is helped by Vernia , who has same merit to Beladim, Vernia taught Freya about the ablility of AeternoBlade. Freya has to adventure to many world dimention find the secret of Beladim annihilation.
Spot the Differences! – Stay focused to find all of the hidden differences. A relaxing classic for the mind that the whole family can enjoy – anywhere!
Square Enix trademarks “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” in the US
Get ready to start theorizing! Square Enix has trademarked “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” and “The Seeds of Salvation” here in the good old USA. What could it mean?
There’s plenty of speculation going around. Siliconera thinks it could be for remakes of Dragon Quest Monsters or Dragon Quest VII, or perhaps even a smartphone remake of Dragon Quest III. “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” could also be interpreted as an Americanization of the currently Japan-only Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes. The Wii/Wii U MMORPG is a huge hit in Japan and it’s suprising it hasn’t made its way across the Pacific yet. But I personally love what Technology Tell had to say about the alliteration:
As you may recall, the last four DS games in the series that we received were Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.
So yeah, both titles likely refer to future Dragon Quest games. And with so many games in the series, the possibilities are close to endless.
Disney Infinity 2 in the works after Infinity 1 sells a ton
Disney Interactive had a 38% revenue growth (to $403 million) and a 600% quarterly operating income growth (to $55 million from $9 million), according to their quarterly earnings call, which took place last week. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger attributed the success primarily to Disney Infinity. Hopefully this means that last week’s rumor about layoffs was just that: a rumor.
But wait – there’s more great news. Iger confirmed that there would be additional entries in the Disney Infinity series, saying, “On the interactive front, there will be new iterations of [Disney] Infinity.” The executive also said that Disney Interactive would explore more mobile possibilities – could Infinity be coming to mobile platforms as well?
The company plans to focus more on licensing their iconic characters (for example, their deal with EA for two Star Wars games) instead of publishing when it comes to console – with the exception of Infinity. Iger also said they are “tracking what we are seeing in the industry” and “moving off of some of the more traditional platforms into mobile-to-mobile space, mostly for social games and for other casual games.”
With how much I see little kids stealing their parents’ phones to play Minecraft and other games, putting more Disney games on mobile would be sheer genius.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Disney Infinity, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes
Pokemon X/Y Review: Or, Why You Should Buy a 3DS
Pokemon X and Y are the latest and greatest games in the Pokemon franchise, finally bringing the series to the 3DS family of handhelds. There are new locations, new baddies, and, of course, new Pokemon to add to your Pokedex. There’s even a new Pokemon type, as well as a new battle mechanic known as Mega Evolution. New friends, new foes, new places, and new Pokemon – what more could a Pokefan ask for?
Posted in 3DS, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Pokemon X/Y
Sega reveals Sonic Boom: New game, TV show, and toy line coming soon
Sonic: Lost World didn’t set the world on fire when it was released for the 3DS and Wii U last year. But Sega still has at least one more game to release as part of their exclusivity agreement with Nintendo and so they’ve wasted no time in announcing that Sonic Boom will be available for the handheld and home console later this year.
Sonic Boom isn’t just a game. It is also going to be a television series (airing this Fall on Cartoon Network) and a toy line (including plush, action figures, and RC vehicles all created by Tomy). Oh, and it’s not being developed by Sonic Team. Instead, Sega has handed development duties for Sonic Boom to Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (3DS), two American developers. Though Sonic Team will supervise their progress.
Sega was also quick to point out that the Americanized makeover received by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose will represent a “new branch” of the Sonic series. So if Sonic Boom is a bust, you can bet that Sega will hit the big red reset button and restore Sonic the Hedgehog’s classic look in his next game.
Sega will surely reveal more details about Sonic Boom soon, but until then, check out the first screenshots and some concept art at the Sega Blog.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Sonic Boom
New Mighty No. 9 gameplay video released and a live-action adaptation is in development
Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man and the development lead behind next year’s Mighty No. 9, is on a mighty roll. After raking in a ridiculous pile of money with one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever, Inafune and his design teams at Comcept and Inti Creates have released a steady flow of Mighty No. 9 details. Now, they’ve released another gameplay video, with Inafune himself holding the controller.
It’s a very brief look at the game, but the developer closes out the clip with a hearty shout of “I’m extremely satisfied!” How can you not love Inafune’s energy?
In other Mighty No. 9 news, Contradiction Films’ Tim Carter recently sat down with EP Daily and revealed that his company has been contracted to produce a live-action adaptation of the game.
“We are at the very beginning stages of creative development on a digital series for Might No. 9. We are building the story right now,” Carter said. “I was a little apprehensive about it at first until I got his notes, and thought ‘Dude, you should be working at Pixar!’ It’s so good. We’re really, really excited about it.”
It’s currently unknown how the Mighty No. 9 adaptation will be released, but Contradiction Films is best known as the producers behind 2011’s excellent Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries. So perhaps Mighty No. 9 will receive similar treatment.
Skylanders 4 is in development and set for release this year
Activision is incredibly proud of the financial success of the Skylanders series. Since its debut in 2011, the publisher has released three titles in the franchise (Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, Skylanders Giants, Skylanders: Swap Force) and it appears a fourth is on the way. Toys For Bob, the developer behind Spyro’s Adventure and Giants, will take the reins on the currently untitled Skylanders 4 after allowing Vicarious Visions to handle Swap Force.
This news comes courtesy of a recently released infographic by Activision (click it to see a larger version), which also touts the franchise’s massive revenue stream of more than $2 billion. A release date for Skylanders 4 (or any other information, for that matter) is currently unknown, but an October release seems likely.
Also, allow me to also speculate that Skylanders 4 will likely appear on every platform imaginable including the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us wins ten statues at 2014 DICE Awards
When Santa Claus asks if you’ve been naughty or nice, if you’re a game developer, you might want to answer “naughty.” During last night’s DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us took home the top prize in ten categories (out of 13 possible nominations). The only other game to win multiple awards was BioShock Infinite, which took home two (Action Game of the Year and Oustanding Achievement in Original Music Composition).
With such a big haul, The Last of Us naturally took home Game of the Year honors. The game also won Adventure Game of the Year, Oustanding Achievement in Game Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Story, Oustanding Achievement in Animation, Oustanding Achievement in Art Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Oustanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Character Performance (for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie).
A few other games did manage to wrestle a few awards away from Naughty Dog, but that’s mostly because The Last of Us didn’t qualify for every category. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Downloadable Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds won Handheld Game of the Year, and Plants vs Zombies 2 won Casual Game of the Year.
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Diablo III, FIFA 14, Forza Motorsport 5, Grand Theft Auto V, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Plants vs Zombies 2, Super Mario 3D World, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, World of Tanks, XCOM: Enemy Within