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
Nintendo confirms Wii U launch day lineup
Nintendo released a tentative launch window lineup after their Wii U media event on September 13. Today, the consolemaker has published the official launch lineup, which includes 23 titles available on launch day.
Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition, ZombieU, and a whole slew of other games will be available on November 18. At least nine more titles (including Madden NFL 13) will make their way to stores (or the Wii U eShop) before the month is over.
An additional 20 games have been tagged as “launch window” titles, meaning they’ll be available sometime before March 31, 2013.
Three games which were listed on the tentative list are no longer considered launch window titles: Zumba Fitness Core, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and (brace yourself) Bayonetta 2. Presumably, they’ll be available in mid-2013 or later.
Hit the jump for the Wii U’s official and complete launch lineup. (more…)
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Bayonetta 2
Assassin’s Creed team moving on to new projects, including more Assassin’s Creed
With the game nearing release, it appears the huge development team behind Assassin’s Creed III is moving onto other projects, or, in the case of Creative Director Alex Hutchinson, hoping for a holiday. Although he does admit that the world of the Assassins and Templars could soon tease him back:
“The franchise can go in many different directions and it’ll be much healthier for it. As for the team, they will now disperse through the company, taking on different roles on future projects. Some people are moving to different stuff in the universe. Some people are doing other stuff at Ubisoft. The amount of people and the type of people you need to start are the different than the people you need at an end of a project.
I’d love to do more Assassin’s Creed stuff, [but] not if it started Monday! But I always say that, then you go away for two weeks, and then someone says I have this idea, and you’re like that’s really cool, let’s give it a shot.”
So there you have it, more Assassin’s Creed is definitely coming along with other stuff, which is possibly Tom Clancy or Rayman-related since we’re talking about Ubisoft. Hutchinson has been with the series since the beginning and The Verge also gave him a chance to reflect on his baby:
“When you lay [the development process] out linearly you realize it’s huge. We might have made a monster. I think it’s fun as well. It’s kind of a nervous excitement. There’s still a bunch of stuff in there people don’t know about, which is fun. The idea that games can still have surprise left in them, that games can still have sense of wonder and discovery, I find really attractive.”
Wii U confirmed to be region locked
After their excellent Wii U media event earlier this month, with price details released alongside reveals for unannounced games such as Bayonetta 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Nintendo has potentially made a massive misstep with the confirmation that the Wii U will be region locked.
While it is hardly a surprise, every one of Nintendo’s previous home consoles has been region locked, it is disappointing given the public outcry by western gamers for titles only released in Japan. Of course, we all remember how that turned out for Wii owners. The system’s region lock, and Nintendo’s subsequent refusal to release certain games in the west, led to the successful Operation Rainfall campaigns for titles such as Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and (hopefully) Pandora’s Tower.
[Source: CVG]
Injustice: Gods Among Us gets a new trailer and an April 2013 release date
Just in time for the Tokyo Game Show, Warner Bros. Games and developer NetherRealm Studios have released the latest trailer for Injustice: Gods Among Us.
This DC Comics-derived fighting game brings together Batman, Superman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Harley Quinn, and more in a cataclysmic fight to the death, much like NetherRealm’s last game, the rebooted Mortal Kombat.
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in April 2013, exactly two years after Mortal Kombat first graced store shelves.
Activision will release a full Call of Duty: Black Ops II Zombies trailer on September 26
I assume you read the headline, but if not, here it is again. Activision will release a full-length trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s Zombies mode on September 26. You can check out a teaser trailer for the trailer (complete with a zombie bus) above.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 13. A Wii U version will be released a few days later on November 18.
Do you expect me to talk? No Mr. Bond, I expect a Goldfinger mission in 007 Legends
Activision has made a few dubious film choices for 007 Legends, their decades-spanning history of the James Bond franchise. Moonraker, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Die Another Day may have their moments, but they’re not considered the best of Bond by a long shot.
Thankfully, Activision’s final pick is the best Bond film of all-time… Goldfinger! The Fort Knox caper will include appearances from Auric Goldfinger, Oddjob, and Pussy Galore along with the crotch laser and a naked painted lady. Do you expect me to talk? Because if you do, I’ll say woohoo!
007 Legends will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 16 with a Wii U version scheduled for release in November.
Wii U Deluxe Set is already sold out at GameStop
Were you hoping to pre-order a Wii U Deluxe Set from your friendly neighborhood GameStop? Well, if you wanted to pick it up on launch day, you’ve already missed your chance.
Speaking to The Verge, GameStop employees in multiple states have confirmed that the system’s premium package is sold out companywide. It’s currently unknown if the retailer will receive a second shipment of Deluxe Sets sometime after November 18. As of this writing, the Basic Set is still available for pre-order (but who knows for how long).
I expect Michael Pachter to describe the Wii U launch as “doomed” any minute now.
Wii U games will be priced at $60
Bill Trinen, Nintendo’s Director of Product Marketing, spoke to GameSpot today and revealed that the majority of Wii U games will be priced at $59.99. This is in line with the average price of a PS3/Xbox 360 new release, but it’s a $10 increase over the Wii’s standard price of $49.99 per game.
This is good news for gamers as Amazon was using $99.96 as their placeholder price on most Wii U games this morning.