Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- “Animal Crossing” and Undertale” Lead the Way for New Book Series About Games at University of Chicago Press
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: Switch
The Outer Worlds will venture forth to the Switch on March 6
Obsidian has announced that The Outer Worlds will make its way to the Nintendo Switch on March 6. They shared the good news with their fans earlier today with a new post on their official website:
Greetings employees of Halcyon,
We are excited to share with you that a new wave of colonist are preparing to join us in the Halcyon Colony soon, as The Outer Worlds is coming to Nintendo Switch on March 6.Whether you choose to zap foes with your shrink ray or charm them with smooth-talking abilities, we know you will make The Board proud. And the fact that you will be able to complete your tasks anywhere you go with the Nintendo Switch is something that makes The Board happy.
The Outer Worlds will be available on the Switch exclusively through the Nintendo eShop (though a Retail Edition packed with a download code will also be available).
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged The Outer Worlds
Celebrate the Lunar New Year this weekend with Tetris 99’s next Maximus Cup
The Lunar New Year began on January 25, but Tetris 99 players should get ready to celebrate this weekend as Nintendo has announced that the 11th Maximus Cup event will begin bright and early on Friday, January 31, at 2:00 AM (Eastern Time).
Tetris 99 players who participate in this Maximus Cup event will be competing in a “Point Stacking Challenge,” and the 999 players with the most Event Points will receive 999 Gold Points (about $10) to spend in the Nintendo eShop.
As usual, Event Points will be distributed on a sliding scale. 100 Points will go to the 1st Place finisher in each match, with 50 Points for 2nd, 30 Points for 3rd, 20 Points for 4th–10th, 15 Points for 11th–30th, 10 Points for 31st–50th, 5 Points for 51st–90th, and 1 Point for 91st-99th.
This weekend’s Maximus Cup event will conclude in the wee morning hours of Tuesday, February 4, at 2:00 AM (Eastern Time). Good luck to everyone planning to participate!
Descenders will catch air on the PS4 and Switch in 2020
Publisher No More Robots has announced that Descenders, RageSquid’s procedurally-generated downhill biking game, will be released for the PS4 and Switch sometime in 2020. Originally released through Early Access for the PC and Xbox One in 2018, Descenders has received more than a dozen major updates over the last two years, and was upgraded to “Version 1.0” in 2019:
Descenders is extreme downhill freeriding for the modern era, with procedurally generated worlds, and where mistakes have real consequences. Will you lead your team to glory and become the next legendary Descender?
Descenders is a fast-paced extreme downhill biking game that’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master.
In addition to Descenders’s digital debut on the PS4 and Switch, the game will also be available this year as a special Retail Edition thanks to a co-publishing agreement with Sold Out. More information about the Retail Edition will be announced at a later date.
Posted in News, PS4, Switch
Tagged Descenders
Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling game of the 2010s
The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella has one more list of best-selling games for us… the best-selling games of the 2010s.
Originally posted on Twitter, the chart was topped by Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, but the majority of the list was dominated by Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. Seven of the ten slots were claimed by the shooter series, leaving only two remaining places for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 (#7) and Mojang’s Minecraft (#10):
Best-Selling Games in 2010-2019
1. Grand Theft Auto V
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
6. Call of Duty: Ghosts
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
8. Call of Duty: WWII
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
10. Minecraft****** All Digital Sales Not Included
****Digital Sales on PC Not Included
While the Call of Duty franchise remains a perennial presence on the sales charts, there’s no guarantee it’ll have the same impact on the 2020s. After all, the best-selling game from 2000-2009 was Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the best-selling game of 2019
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has dominated the sales charts throughout October, November, and December. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella declared it the best-selling game for all of 2019 as well (via Twitter). But many of this year’s biggest titles managed to crash their way into the Top Ten.
A few yearly sports updates, NBA 2K20 and Madden NFL 20, finished just behind Activision’s shooter. Another franchise FPS, Borderlands 3, slid in at #4. And rounding out the Top Five was NetherRealm’s blood-spattered sequel, Mortal Kombat 11.
The lower half of the Top Ten gave us a few games we’ve seen before, as 2018’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate meleed its way to the #7 slot, while 2017’s Mario Kart 8 shifted into the #10 slot. In between, you could find Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (#6), Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III (#8), and Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (#9).
While none of Nintendo’s new releases made the list, the consolemaker was responsible for the two most-successful pieces of hardware in 2019. The Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of the year, while the Switch Pro Controller was the best-selling accessory.
You can view the full list of 2019’s best-selling games in handy list format after the break. (more…)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare goes 3-for-3 as the best-selling game of December 2019
December 2019 came and went without any major new releases, which left a big opening for Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to threepeat as the best-selling game of the month. And according to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), that’s exactly what happened.
It was a good holiday season for all as multiple games from Electronic Arts (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at #2, Madden NFL 20 at #3, FIFA 20 at #13, and Need For Speed Heat at #15) and Take-Two Interactive (NBA 2K20 at #4, Grand Theft Auto V at #11, and Red Dead Redemption 2 at #12) fought their way into the Top 20. But with ten titles in the Top 20, it was Nintendo that claimed the most spots on the list. Luigi’s Mansion 3 ranked the highest at #5.
You can find the full list of best-selling games from December 2019 after the break. (more…)
Get your first look at The Joker’s Mortal Kombat 11 appearance in this new trailer
With the most nominations in the field, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is heading into this year’s Oscars as the odds-on favorite for “Best Picture.” But the character always has something else in his bag of tricks, and earlier today, NetherRealm Studios unveiled the first trailer for The Joker’s upcoming appearance in Mortal Kombat 11.
Like his appearances in the Injustice franchise, The Joker’s latest incarnation looks to be an agile fighter who carries around a crowbar and a set of comically-large boxing gloves. But The Joker always wants to leave ’em laughing, so it’s fitting that he also has one of the best Fatalities I’ve ever seen.
The Joker will be available for Kombat Pack owners on January 28, with a full release scheduled for February 4. He’ll launch alongside the DC Elseworlds Skin Pack, which includes DC-inspired Skins for Noob Saibot (The Batman Who Laughs), Baraka (Killer Croc), and Kitana (Catwoman). A separately-available “Time Lord of Apokolips” Skin will also transform Geras into the spitting image of Darkseid.
Mortal Kombat 11 is currently available for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Google Stadia.
Death Stranding and Control take control of the 2020 DICE Awards with 8 nominations apiece
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) has announced the nominees for this year’s DICE Awards, and Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding and Remedy’s Control lead the way with eight nominations apiece. As you might expect, both games were nominated for “Game of the Year,” and they’ll be competing against ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium, Mobius Digital’s Outer Wilds, and House House’s Untitled Goose Game for the big prize.
“On behalf of the Academy, I want to thank our peer panelists, who always dedicate their time, energy, and expertise in evaluating and selecting 2019’s best games,” said Meggan Scavio, the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. “To all of the finalists… a big congratulations on continuing to push the boundaries of storytelling, creativity and technical innovation. We can’t wait to celebrate your achievements at the 23rd Annual DICE Awards!”
A complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break, and the winners in all categories will be announced during the DICE Awards ceremony (which takes place during the DICE Summit) on February 13. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Control, Death Stranding, Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, Untitled Goose Game