Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: PC
New releases lead the way in August 2013 NPD report of best-selling games
The NPD Group has released their monthly report on the financial health of the video game industry and, good news, retail game sales in August 2013 increased 21% over the same period last year. The entire retail game industry (games, consoles, and accessories) raked in $521 million, an increase of 1% over August 2012. Though the report estimates this number accounts for only half of all video game spending in August when you factor in used games, rentals, digital sales, add-on content, subscriptions, mobile apps, and social network microtransactions that the NPD doesn’t track.
Most of the increase in game sales was due to a stronger than usual slate of August releases. In fact, only two games in the August top ten are holdovers from previous months (Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition at #5 and NCAA Football 14 at #7).
The remainder of the top ten is populated entirely by new titles: Madden NFL 25 (#1), Saints Row IV (#2), Disney Infinity (#3), Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (#4), Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (#6), Payday 2 (#8), Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (#9), and Pikmin 3 (#10).
If you’d prefer the top ten in list format, you can find it right here:
Bestselling Games in August 2013
1. Madden NFL 25 (Xbox 360, PS3)
2. Saints Row IV (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
3. Disney Infinity (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U, 3DS )
4. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
5. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox 360)
6. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)
7. NCAA Football 14 (Xbox 360, PS3)
8. Payday 2 (Xbox 360, PS3)
9. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS3, PC)
10. Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
[Source: GameSpot]
Borderlands 2: T.K. Baha’s Bloody Harvest Preview: I Hope You Like Boss Battles
I finally got a chance to get back to PAX Prime this year after a two-year hiatus from what may always be my favorite gaming expo. And, unsurprisingly, the first thing I got to play on the show floor at PAX Prime was the new Headhunters Pack for Borderlands 2, T.K. Baha’s Bloody Harvest. This new series of smaller DLCs are heavily focused on boss fights, and that was immediately clear in what we got to play. We also got to spend some time with Josh Jeffcoat, the Game Designer on the Headhunters Pack. (more…)
Posted in PC, Previews, PS3, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands 2, PAX Prime 2013
Activision has released a new campaign trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts
Activision has released a new trailer focusing on the campaign from Call of Duty: Ghosts and it looks like Infinity Ward’s first person shooter franchise has been injected with a little James Bond flavor.
The trailer opens with a Moonraker-esque gun battle… IN SPACE! After the firefight, a massive satellite codenamed Odin unleashes a Die Another Day-like barrage of missiles on the United States… FROM SPACE! So yeah, in this version of the story, James Bond got his crotch lasered off by Goldfinger and the supervillain’s plan was a complete success. That’s where the Ghosts come in:
Ten years after a devastating mass event, the nation’s borders and the balance of global power have been redrawn forever. As what’s left of the nation’s Special Operations forces, a mysterious group known only as “Ghosts” leads the fight back against a newly emerged, technologically-superior global power.
Call of Duty: Ghosts will be released for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on November 5. The game will also be released for the PS4 and Xbox One sometime in late November.
Mighty No. 9 adds stretch goal for PS4/Xbox One edition
The Kickstarter train for Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9 continues to steam ahead with the announcement of a third set of stretch goals. The newly expanded goals include another batch of bonus modes and the possibility that the game might be released for the PS4 and Xbox One if the pledge total reaches $3.3. million.
Inafune delivered the good news during yesterday’s update by saying: “We heard your calls and are proud to report we can finally offer next-gen versions of Mighty No. 9 here! We know by the time the game ships in 2015, many of you will be proud owners of one next-gen system or the other — or maybe both! If we reach this level of funding, we can add the PS4 and the Xbox One to the list.”
A possible PS4/Xbox One edition wasn’t the only addition to Mighty No. 9’s stretch goals. Here’s what else Inafune and his team at Comcept plan to add to the game if donations continue to flow in:
- REACHED – $1.2 Million: Two More Stages
- REACHED – $1.35 Million: Mac and Linux Versions
- REACHED – $1.5 Million: New Game Plus and Turbo Mode
- REACHED – $1.75 Million: The Making of Mighty No. 9 Video Documentary
- $2 Million: Boss Rush Mode
- $2.2 Million: PS3/360/Wii U Versions
- $2.4 Million: Challenge Mode!
- $2.55 Million: Extra End Stage & Boss!
- $2.75 Million: Beck & Call Online Co-Op Challenge Mode!!!
- $2.9 Million: ???
- $3.1 Million: ???
- $3.3 Million: PS4 & Xbox One Versions!
- ?: ???
As of this writing, backers have pledged a little over $1.96 million towards Mighty No. 9. With 21 days remaining, all of these stretch goals are certainly reachable.
Kickstart This! The Sweet September Edition
In the space of two short days, Keiji Inafune, co-creator of video game character Mega Man, managed to reach 100% funding for his new project, Mighty No. 9. The new game, whose lead character Beck bears an uncanny resemblance to Mega Man, has managed to rekindle something in the hearts of all those fans let down by Capcom with his Kickstarter campaign. It is the clearest sign yet that big-named developers are turning to the crowd funding site to raise capital for their dream projects. While the game is definitely coming to PC, if it manages to raise $2.2 million, it will be developed for current gen consoles and the Wii U to boot.
What it also does, and does very well, is walk the tightrope between creativity and plagiarism. Kickstarter developers take note. When the Mighty No. 9 video was shown at PAX, with the Kickstarter campaign simultaneously going live (and what a lovely piece of marketing that was), many began to wonder if Capcom was aware of the project, given its uncanny resemblance to Inafune’s other character for which Capcom holds the rights. Time will tell if the goliath game company decide to take legal action against indie outfit Comcept, but given the careful steps taken to distance Beck’s initial outing from Mega Man, while playing on fan’s prior knowledge of and desire for a sequel to that series, they may not have any legal recourse. Of course, this does not always guarantee immediate success; just look at Precursor Games Shadow of the Eternals, a spiritual sequel to the GameCube’s excellent Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
So what other titles are currently vying for your money? There is Death Road to Canada, which is The Last of Us meets Dead Rising for mobiles, Mac and PC. Continuing the horror theme, there is psychological horror Neverending Nightmares, which looks like a hand drawn Silent Hill. Also drawing comparisons to that series, as well as Eternal Darkness, is Shades of Sanity.
Changing tack away from horror (kind of), RedNeck Assassin draws on House of the Dead: Overkill and Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, Super Mario Galaxy meets Portal in the gravity-bending FPS platformer Aterra. Last but by no means least, sci-fi ARTS .Decimal which looks like the futurist offspring of Mechwarrior and Command & Conquer.
In three, two, one… (more…)
Stan Lee is the ultimate power in the universe in this Lego Marvel Super Heroes trailer
Who is the most powerful character in the Marvel universe? Is it Wolverine and his nigh invulnerability? Is it The Hulk and his limitless smashing ability? Or is it the big brain on Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards? The answer is actually none of the above. The answer is Stan Lee. Exclesior!
The famed comic book creator will be included in Lego Marvel Super Heroes and, instead of the super cameo powers he displays in the Marvel movieverse, he’s packing a boatload of superpowers of his own. Stan Lee is Wolverine and The Hulk and Reed Richards and many others, all rolled into one. Check out the trailer above and watch as he drops the hammer (sometime quite literally) on the supervillain community in the game.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes will be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on October 18. A PS4 version will be released on November 15 and an Xbox One edition will follow on November 22.
New Releases: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, NHL 14, Killzone: Mercenary, More
For everyone that missed Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories the first time around, Square Enix has combined them both into a new high definition re-release known as Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix. As you may have guessed, it’s in stores this week. Also available this week is NHL 14. The only remaining official hockey game will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Other new releases this week include Killzone: Mercenary, the first game in the series for the Vita; and Puppeteer, a game about puppets for the PS3.
Finally this week, The Elder Scrolls Anthology brings Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim together in massive multi-disc PC collection. And EA will release The Sims 3: Movie Stuff, probably the last Sims 3 “Stuff” expansion before next year’s release of The Sims 4.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360
Tagged Killzone: Mercenary, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, NHL 14, Puppeteer
Keiji Inafune gives console editions priority in Mighty No. 9 stretch goals
Another day, another Mighty No. 9 update.
Keiji Inafune’s spiritual successor to Mega Man is running wild on Kickstarter. The side-scrolling platformer crossed $1.6 million in pledges this morning and the cash flow shows no signs of slowing down. Because of that, and a “passionate” outcry from fans, Inafune has announced a slight reworking of the previously announced stretch goals.
Three of goals (Two More Stages, Mac/Linux Versions, and New Game Plus & Turbo Mode) have already been reached and are locked into place. But the threshold to unlock the “PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U Versions” goal has been shifted downward, from $2.5 million to $2.2 million. And the mystery stretch goals have been pushed off the chart, for now. The new stretch goal lineup looks like this:
- REACHED – $1.2 Million: Two More Stages
- REACHED – $1.35 Million: Mac and Linux Versions
- REACHED – $1.5 Million: New Game Plus and Turbo Mode
- $1.75 Million: The Making of Mighty No. 9 Video Documentary
- $2.2 Million: PS3/360/WIIU Versions
If pledges continue to be made at this rate, it won’t be a question of if Mighty No. 9 comes to consoles, but when.