Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
- Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality – Uncanny Magazine (2025)
- ‘I Could Make “Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game” and Maybe It Would Eventually Get Taken Down’ – Devs Reveal Why the Consoles Are Drowning in ‘Eslop’ – IGN (2025)
Most Recent: Wii U
Latest Nintendo Direct dates Fire Emblem: Awakening, Brain Age 3DS, more
Another Nintendo Direct presentation is in the books and, while we didn’t get to see anything new, we did get a good idea on when some of next year’s big 3DS and Wii U titles will be available.
Hosted by Reggie Fils-Aime, the Nintendo of America President revealed that Lego City: Undercover, Game & Wario, and Wii Fit U will all be available in early 2013. They’ll be joined by a Google Maps Street View app, which will be available on the Wii U eShop.
The Big N also reiterated that Pikmin 3 is no longer a “launch window” title and will instead be released in Spring 2013. Also available next Spring will be Wii U Panorama View an entertainment app available exclusively on the Wii U eShop. A demo of the travelogue-like game will be made available to download before its release.
Over on the 3DS side of things, we’ve learned that Fire Emblem: Awakening will be released on February 4 and Brain Age: Concentration Training will be in stores less than a week later, on February 10. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is still scheduled for a Spring 2013 release.
Finally, two 3DS eShop titles were highlighted: Tokyo Crash Mobs, a Bust-A-Move-like game that involves throwing Tokyo residents into a mob of people; and Harmonite, an action platformer from Pokemon developer Game Freak that looks wild.
That’s it from this Nintendo Direct episode. If you want to see it for yourself, the video has been embedded above.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Brain Age: Devil Training, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Game & Wario, Lego City Undercover, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Pikmin 3, Wii Fit U
CoD Black Ops II has made a lot of money since its release
Activision is in full-on brag mode when it comes to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The publisher previously reported that the shooter sequel set a sales record for single day sales. Now they’ve happily informed the world that Black Ops II has made more than $1 billion in sales in its first 15 days of release.
For the record, that’s one day quicker than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Of course, that’s likely due to the fact that the Black Ops II “Care Package” sold for $180 while Modern Warfare 3’s “Hardened Edition” was priced at a much more modest $100.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick used this announcement to continue to talk up Call of Duty’s dominance versus films like Star Wars, Avatar and Harry Potter. But that kind of comparison is really just ridiculous, as we saw last year.
New Releases: Far Cry 3, Mass Effect Trilogy, Resistance Collection, More
The month of December is typically a slow one for new game releases, but that hasn’t stopped Ubisoft from bringing Far Cry 3 to the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 this week.
This week will also see the release of the Lord of the Rings-inspired MOBDA Guardians of Middle-Earth. The game will make its debut on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade, but a boxed PS3 copy will also be available.
If you’d prefer something a bit more substantial, two trilogies will be available on the PS3 for the first time: BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy and Insomniac’s Resistance Collection.
Also available this week is a quartet of multiplatform games making their Wii U debut: Rise of the Guardians, Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, Rapala Pro Bass Fishing, and The Avengers: Battle For Earth.
Finally, gamers can check out Power Rangers Super Samurai for the Xbox 360 and Family Party 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade for the Wii U this week.
Nintendo Power’s last issue goes out in style
The final issue of Nintendo Power’s nearly quarter-century-long run is being delivered to subscribers now. It’s even possible to say that it’s the end of an era. Thankfully, Nintendo is sending their beloved official magazine off with a rather fitting tribute.
A Reddit user has posted a picture of the final cover and the claymation figures depicting a key moment in New Super Mario Bros. U that bears an uncanny resemblance to the cover of the first issue.
Yup, this is definitely the end of an era. Also, these tears running down my face are because of allergies. Yup, definitely allergies.
Nintendo confirms 3D Mario, Zelda games in development for Wii U
Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that pre-planning for a Legend of Zelda game for the Wii U had begun within Nintendo at this year’s E3 Expo. But Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, has revealed even more about the publisher’s future plans for two of their biggest franchises.
Speaking to IGN, Iwata announced that both a 3D Mario game and a Zelda game are in the works for the Wii U:
“We will announce the launch schedules for new 3D Zelda and Mario games in the future, but this is not the right opportunity for me to indicate when we will make such announcements,” Iwata said.
Nothing more was said, but I have a strong feeling that E3 2013 is going to be very interesting.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Deathstroke brings his skills to Injustice: Gods Among Us
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios have been pretty quiet when it comes to Injustice: Gods Among Us over the last few months. Today, the publisher and developer confirmed that DC’s Deathstroke will make an appearance in the game.
Deathstroke is an assassin who is best known as an enemy of the Teen Titans. He’s also no stranger to the fighting game arena as he appeared in 2008’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in April 2013.
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Injustice: Gods Among Us
Nintendo sells 400,000 Wii U consoles in first week
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has confirmed to the CNET that the Wii U launch was a sellout. According to Fils-Aime, more than 400,000 Wii U consoles have been sold since the system launched on November 18.
“Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock,” Fils-Aime said. “Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they’re selling out immediately.”
For comparison’s sake, Nintendo managed to sell 300,000 Wii consoles in the same timespan. Not bad for a six-year-old system that has lived in the shadow of the PS3 and Xbox 360 for years.
Just Stop! Consoles Are NOT Headed For a Crash
When the Internet decides to collectively believe something that’s just not true, we have to cry out… Just Stop! This is what’s making a Warp Zoned editor rip his computer from the wall in frustration today…
Over the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen more than a few articles bemoaning the financial health of the retail games sector. Analysts and journalists have been carrying on about how this is the end of the line. That even with a generational jump looming, the gaming community has abandoned disc-based games for their iGadgets and their free-to-play Facebook counterparts.
No! Just Stop! YOU. ARE. WRONG. (more…)