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 announces North American release for Tomodachi Life
The Tomodachi franchise is a series of life simulation games that have gained a considerable following in Japan. And after the continued success of Animal Crossing and its many sequels, Nintendo is finally ready to bring it to North America, starting with Tomodachi Life for the 3DS.
In the game, layers will be able to mix their Mii into “the outrageously bizarre island world” of Tomodachi Life. Nintendo has promised “drama, intrigue, and hilarity” for everyone that dares venture into Tomodachi Life as well as plenty of crazy antics:
“Tomodachi” is the Japanese word for “friend.” After completely customizing all your Mii characters, from their voices and appearances right down to their personality quirks, you’ll recognize them instantly. But you can’t possibly predict what they’ll do next. For the first time ever, Mii characters behave based on the personality traits you select, playing out the drama you set in motion. A celebrity might fall in love with your math teacher. Your mom might jump on stage to belt out heavy metal songs. Or you could become famous striking poses down the runway of a fashion show wearing cute and silly outfits. Best of all, you can document these unbelievable moments for posterity and share them all with your friends via the Nintendo 3DS Image Share service.
Nintendo plans to populate Tomodachi Life with a variety of celebrities including Christina Aguilara. The singer is the first celebrity to sign on for the game’s promotional campaign, which will include an in-game Mii modeled after herself and appearances in videos promoting the game. Like, for example, the one you can find after the break.
Tomodachi Life will be released exclusively for the 3DS/2DS on June 6 (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Tomodachi Life
Nintendo has another Mario game in development
Are you sitting down? You might want to sit down because Nintendo has confirmed that another Super Mario game is in development. Take a moment to compose yourself, this is a completely unprecedented and unexpected announcement.
OK, I kid because I love.
Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura of EAD Tokyo recently spoke to Edge, and confirmed the news that Mario will return. The pair was asked if the game would be released for the 3DS or the Wii U, but Koizumi shut that line of questioning down by saying, “That’s still a secret!” However, he did reveal that the team isn’t afraid to possibly shake things up: “There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.”
On that note, Motokura added that if the game is in development for the Wii U, it “might need to make even more use of the [Wii U] GamePad.” Interesting.
So we still don’t know much about the next Mario game, but we do know that it’ll be the 20th game in the long-running franchise. Can you imagine if Nintendo stuck with the Super Mario Bros. title scheme after all these years? The fact that this is technically the announcement of Super Mario Bros. 20 utterly amazes me. And hopefully we’ll find out more about it soon.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Direct from Nintendo… Super Smash Bros. 4 launches for 3DS this Summer, Wii U in Winter
They’re still not ready to reveal the final title, but Nintendo has confirmed that Super Smash Bros. 4 will be available for the 3DS this Summer with the Wii U release to follow sometime in the Winter. The news comes via a new Nintendo Direct video that included a multitude of other announcements:
- New Characters! Greninja, the final evolution of Froakie from Pokemon X/Y, will be included in a Smash Bros. game for the first time. It will be joined by returning favorites Zero Suit Samus, Sheik, Yoshi, and Charizard.
- Smash Run Mode! “Exclusive to the 3DS, four players have five minutes to enter a dungeon and explore the surroundings, fight enemies and obtain power-ups to enhance their fighters. Once the five minutes are up, all four fighters enter a battle arena using their newly equipped items and power-ups.”
- Custom Movesets! Players will be able to create custom movesets for all characters.
- Online Play! Online multiplayer will be included on both systems in two flavors… “For Glory” is a straight fight in Final Destination stages with no items, elevated areas, or platforms. “For Fun” includes random stages, items, and power-ups.
- Unique Stages! While the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game will feature similar stages, they will be unique on each platform. Wii U stages will be based on home console entries in a franchise while 3DS stages will draw inspiration from the handheld entries in the franchise.
- Bosses! Some stages will have boss characters that can be drawn into the fight. For example, the Rock Monster (AKA the Yellow Devil) will guard Dr. Wily’s Base.
- System Link! The 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. 4 will link up with the Wii U version in some way. More details later.
That’s all for now, but the complete Nintendo Direct video can be viewed above.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
New Releases: TitanFall Xbox 360, Lego The Hobbit, Kinect Sports Rivals, More
After a month-long delay, EA and Respawn Entertainment are finally ready to launch the Xbox 360 version of TitanFall.
If giant mechs duking it out on the battlefield isn’t your thing, you might be interested to know that WB Games will release the awkwardly-titled Lego The Hobbit this week. The game will be available on Tuesday for the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One with a Wii U release set for April 22. A PC version of the game will be also be downloadable this week through Steam.
Finally, Microsoft will bring Kinect Sports Rivals, their motion-controlled sports franchise, to the Xbox One for the first time and Nintendo will join forces with Disney to bring the Disney Magical World life sim to the 3DS this week.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Batman Blackgate, Metroid Fusion, Advance Wars, more
Everyone’s favorite handheld, the Game Boy Advance, returns in a big way this week courtesy of the Nintendo Download. Metroid Fusion (the last Metroid side-scroller), Advance Wars (one of the greatest strategy games of all time), and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (a pretty great RPG) are now purchasable through the Wii U eShop… and more 3DS games are on the way all month. Wii U owners will also have a chance to download Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition, a high definition re-release of the Arkham Origins spinoff, and Evofish, an evolutionary fish sim.
Over on the 3DS, Nintendo has added their Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, their free-to-play baseball-themed minigame collection, to the eShop along with a pair of Mystery Case Files hidden object games.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Dr. Mario, Clu Clu Land, more
A few months after adding Dr. Luigi to the Wii U eShop, Nintendo has gone and ahead and made the NES original, Dr. Mario, available to download as well. Another NES puzzler, Clu Clu Land is now available to download from the 3DS eShop.
Four other games will make their way to the Nintendo eShop this week including My Style Studio: Hair Salon (Wii U), a hair styling sim; Skater Cat (3DS), a platformer where you control a skateboarding cat; Airport Hero Hawaii (3DS), an air traffic control sim; and I Am In the Movie (DSi), a video editing application.
More information on all of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Disney has added Lightsabers to Disney Infinity
Almost from the day it was announced, fans have been begging Disney Interactive to add Star Wars characters to Disney Infinity. While we’re not there quite yet, the publisher has revealed that a Lightsaber, an elegant weapon for a more civilized age, can be found in the game. The specific steps you need to take to unlock the Lightsaber can be found at the Disney Infinity Wiki.
So if you’ve ever wanted to watch Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie from Toy Story, Mr. Incredible, Dash, and Elastigirl from The Incredibles, The Lone Ranger, Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc., Rapunzel, Jack Skellington, Wreck-It Ralph, Jack Sparrow, Elsa from Frozen, and several others wield a Lightsaber, I recommend checking out the trailer above.
As for actual Star Wars characters, we’ll probably have to wait for Disney Infinity 2.
Nintendo to add Super Mario Bros. 3, GBA classics to Virtual Console in April
Super Mario Bros. 3, one of the greatest games of all time, will soon be available to download through the Virtual Console on the Wii U and 3DS. It’ll be released next month alongside the first Game Boy Advance games to be added to the Wii U eShop.
Advance Wars, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Metroid Fusion will kick things off on April 3. They will be joined on the Wii U eShop by a least one new GBA game every week for the entire month. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! will follow on April 10, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and Golden Sun can be downloaded beginning April 17, and Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 completes the first wave of GBA on Wii U games on April 24.
Like all Virtual Console titles on the Wii U, each game will include Off-TV Play and a Restore Point feature to save your progress. Miiverse functionality will also be included.
More details and pricing information for all of these titles can be found after the break. Yes, even for Super Mario Bros. 3. Though, if you need more information on Super Mario Bros. 3, I want to see the rock you’ve been living under, it must be impressive. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Bros. 3