Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game Awards
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)
Warp Zoned Archives
Most Recent: DS
Professor Layton and the Last Specter Review: The Mysteries of a True English Gentleman

Even though it has only been a year since the last engrossing title featuring the world’s favorite mystery-solving English professor, Level-5 and Nintendo are continuing to keep loyal Layton fans fed with a new Professor Layton adventure. This recent release – Professor Layton and the Last Specter – is the fourth entry in the series of five currently-planned Layton games, boasting the same intrigue and complexity of all its predecessors. (more…)
Posted in DS, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Professor Layton and the Last Specter
CoD Modern Warfare 3 sets another record: $775 million/12.5 million copies in 5 days
Brace yourself, Activision has a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sales record to announce.
In its first five days of availability, Modern Warfare 3 has generated $775 million in sales worldwide. For those scoring at home, that works out to more than 12.5 million copies. That surpasses the previous record of $650 million, set a year ago by Call of Duty: Black Ops.
“As I have said all year, we have been singluarly focused on making a spectacular game for our fans, and nothing else. Our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have done just that,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 continues to thrill core gaming enthusiasts as well as draw new people into the medium, which is not an easy balancing act. But it takes more than a great game. I would also like to thank our incredible team for the pulling off the launch of the year, as well as our retail partners around the world. But most of all, I want to thank our fans. They are our toughest critics, and our biggest supporters, and none of this would be possible without them.”
In addition to another sales record, Modern Warfare 3 has also set a new standard for simultaneous players on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. According to Microsoft, 1.4 million were playing Modern Warfare 3 at the same time on November 8. The total number of simultaneous PS3 players was not released by Sony.
Check back with Warp Zoned one year from today, where I plan to copy-and-paste this article, replacing every instance of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” with “Call of Duty 9.”
Kirby’s Adventure (in 3D!) added to 3DS eShop
It’s Thursday and Nintendo has, once again, updated their trio of download services. This week’s batch of new games is lead by Kirby’s Adventure. The NES favorite (and Kirby’s first adventure in color and his first on a console) has been given a “3D Classics” makeover for its inclusion on the 3DS eShop today.
Another Legend of Zelda Symphony piece is available for the 3DS’s video service along with these other games:
Escape Trick: Convenience Store (DSiWare) – When our main character tries to leave the convenience store where he works, he finds that the door won’t open and the store looks somehow different. Who would lock him in here? Can he get out of this place?
Play & Learn Chinese (DSiWare) – Play & Learn Chinese is the fast, fun, and friendly way to learn to speak Chinese!
Pinocchio’s Puzzle (WiiWare) – Solve increasingly difficult puzzles as you progress through the classic tale of Pinocchio. In addition to developing sensory skills and hand-eye coordination, you’ll enjoy an endearing and enchanting story told puzzle by puzzle.
More information on all of these games can be found within the Nintendo Download weekly newsletter.
Black Friday Game Deals 2011: GameStop

Black Friday is less than two weeks away (November 25, mark your calendars) and retailers have continued to release their annual Black Friday sales circulars.
If you want to fill your stocking with used games this holiday season, GameStop is the place to be on Black Friday. The retail giant is offering a special “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” promotion on any used item. This includes all games, accessories, and consoles.
GameStop also has a wide selection of deeply discounted new games including Battlefield 3, FIFA Soccer 12, Madden NFL 12, Need For Speed: The Run, Gears of War 3, and Forza Motorsport 4 for $39.99 as well as Rage for $29.99.
Hit the jump for a complete list of GameStop’s Black Friday sales. (more…)
Black Friday Game Deals 2011: Toys R Us

Black Friday is less than two weeks away (November 25, mark your calendars) and retailers have continued to release their annual Black Friday sales circulars.
Do you want to be a Toys R Us kid? How about a Toys R Kids who buys Rage, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Forza Motorsport 4, and more on Black Friday? You know, kid’s stuff! Those games (and many more) will be part of the toy retailer’s “Buy 1 Get 1 For $5” promotion. They’re also running a “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” promotion on select DS and Wii games.
Hit the jump for the complete list of “Buy 1 Get 1 For $5” and “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” games as well as all the rest of Toys R Us’s sale-priced games. (more…)
Black Friday Game Deals 2011: Target

Black Friday is less than two weeks away (November 25, mark your calendars) and retailers have continued to release their annual Black Friday sales circulars.
Target’s ad has sailed away from the bargain shopper’s bullseye with prices that are a tad higher than those found in the ads from Walmart and Best Buy. The list of games is very similar (Need For Speed: The Run, Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, and Madden NFL 12), but each one has been priced at $37 each. However, Target is giving shoppers the chance to drive Forza Motorsport 4 home for $27, its lowest Black Friday sale price yet.
Hit the jump for the full details on that deal and all the rest of Target’s sale-priced games. (more…)
CoD Modern Warfare 3 becomes the biggest entertainment launch ever… sort of
Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch in history with total sales of over $400 million (that’s 6.5 million copies) throughout North America and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, November 8.
This total surpasses the previous record holder, Call of Duty: Black Ops, which tallied $360 million in sales last year. Before that, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 held the record with a one-day sales total of $310 million.
“We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”
While the sales numbers of Modern Warfare 3 are impressive, who wants to tell Bobby that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 sold over 11 million tickets in a single day this past July? And then another five million were sold the next day with yet another five million sold on the day after that?
It doesn’t matter how often gamemakers shout “We’re bigger than Hollywood!” It always requires the same faulty math Activision employs here where 6.5 million copies of a game sold at a minimum of $60 per copy somehow creates a more popular product than a film that tallies 11 million tickets sold at $8 a pop.
New Releases: Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Zelda Skyward Sword, Halo Anniversary, More

Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest week of new releases has finally arrived. More games are released in the third week of November than at any other time of the year and, once again, the publishers have come through with an amazing array of titles including:
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the first Zelda game created exclusively for the Wii.
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the conclusion to the Ezio trilogy.
- Saints Row: The Third (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the wildest open world crime game, ever.
- Need For Speed: The Run (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), a game about an illicit cross-country road race, which is just how we like our cross-country road races and our racing games.
- Rayman Origins (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), the return of Rayman and there’s not a rabbid in sight.
- Jurassic Park (Xbox 360), Telltale’s take on one of the greatest films of all-time. Hold on to your butts.
- Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii), more multi-sport shenanigans with Mario, Sonic, and all their friends.
- Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic, Cooking Mama brings her culinary skills to the 3DS for the first time.
- Shinobi, Sega’s favorite ninja also comes to the 3DS for the first time.
- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy, Namco Bandai’s fight sim comes to the 3DS for the first time as well.
- Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (PS3, Xbox 360), the ultimate crossover fighting game.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases, which numbers close to 70 games, after the break. (more…)







