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
Alien: Isolation bursts ahead of the field with six nominations at 2015 BAFTA Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards and the British-born Alien: Isolation leads the way with six nominations. Creative Assembly’s sequel to the 1979 film is up for “Best Game” as well as “British Game,” “Audio Achievement,” “Music,” Game Design,” and “Game Innovation.”
It will be competing for the top prize against some of last year’s most-honored titles including Bungie’s Destiny, BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, Nintendo’s Mario Kart 8, Monolith’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordorm, and ustwo’s Monument Valley.
Monument Valley’s presence in the “Best Game” category is rather fitting as it lead all other games with five nominations. Far Cry 4, which is not competing for “Best Game,” also managed to score five nominations. 80 Days, Destiny, Mario Kart 8, and Shadow of Mordor all took up residence on the next level with four nominations apiece.
The winners of the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards will revealed on March 12. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monument Valley
New Releases: Evolve, Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, More
One of 2015’s most anticipated games, Evolve, will finally be available on store shelves this week. Originally scheduled for release last Fall, Evolve is the latest asymmetric shooter from Turtle Rock Studios, the team behind 2008’s well-loved Left 4 Dead, though it switches out zombies for a player-controlled Monster on an alien planet. Evolve will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One if that sounds like your kind of thing.
If you’re a handheld gamer, this week will also be a good time to head down to your local game store as Nintendo plans to release their New 3DS XL handheld in America. A slight refresh of the 3DS platform, the New 3DS will include built-on NFC support for Amiibo figures as well a second analog stick and a handful of additional input buttons. Nintendo will support their latest handheld with a trio of new titles including The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (a remake of the underappreciated N64 classic), Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (an enhanced re-release of the latest game in Capcom’s monster-hunting franchise, which was previously only available in Japan), and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy + (an enhanced re-release of the latest game in Bandai Namco’s aerial combat series).
All three games are also compatible with earlier 3DS hardware, though that won’t be the case for every New 3DS game going forward.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Evolve, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
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
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
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
Lego Jurassic World teaser trailer promises June 2015 release date
WB Games has unveiled a teaser trailer for Lego Jurassic World and it includes everything you could ever want from the intersection of Legos and dinosaurs. There’s a recreation of the famous water glass scene, funny dinosaurs, and a short-armed Tyrannosaurus gag. We’ve also learned that players will be able to play as a Lego dinosaur to (presumably) terrorize patrons of the park.
“As ardent fans of Universal’s Jurassic Park films, we are thrilled with the opportunity to finally bring Lego dinosaurs to life for the first time in a videogame in Lego Jurassic World,” said Tom Stone, the Managing Director at TT Games. “Imagine playing as the ominous Lego T. Rex, roaming the grounds of Isla Nublar, smashing Lego bricks and battling with other dinosaurs… this game is bound to bring out the kid in all of us.”
Lego Jurassic World will be released this June for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
New Releases: Criminal Girls: Invite Only, Cities XXL, SpongeBob HeroPants
2015 marches on and after a particularly slow January we’re moving into a February that is, well, pretty equally unspeedy. A trio of games make up this week’s batch of new retail releases…
- Criminal Girls: Invite Only (Vita), a turn-based RPG that asks players to save a set of naughty schoolgirls from the depths of Hell, sometimes by “punishing” them. In case you were wondering… yes, it’s from Japan.
- Cities XXL (PC), the latest city-builder from Focus Home Interactive offers even more architectural options than ever before.
- SpongeBob HeroPants (3DS, Vita, Xbox 360), a new SpongeBob platformer, released to coincide with the theatrical debut of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
And that’s it! Though the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop will all be home to several new games this week as well.
Sega to institute layoffs, early retirement program as company continues to struggle
Sega (which officially does business under the Sega Sammy Holdings name) has been dealing with financial difficulties for some time, but it looks like their latest round of problems will result in some big changes for the company.
Sega’s Board of Directors met this morning and hammered out a restructuring plan that they believe will help the company’s financial position in the future. Unfortunately, a key part of that plan will involve an unspecified number of layoffs and a voluntary early requirement program that the company will offer to 300 employees. Some of the layoffs will come from Sega of America, which will be moving from its current headquarters in San Francisco to a smaller facility somewhere in Southern California.
The restructuring, which is expected to be completed by the Summer, will also lead to a new focus on downloadable titles developed for smartphones and the PC. Sega is also heavily involved in big budget and mid-tier on consoles and the PC, but it’s currently unknown how this plan will affect the company’s internal development teams.