Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
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: Switch
New Retail Releases: Sonic Mania Plus, Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, Tempest 4000, More
Gotta go fast… to get your first look at this week’s new retail releases.
Sega is bringing Sonic Mania to retail stores this week as Sonic Mania Plus for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The side-scrolling homage to Sonic’s 90s heyday is a beautiful mix of new and old, and Sega is enhancing the package with new characters, an Encore Mode, and a 32-page artbook.
Also available to purchase this week for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One is Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, which sends Finn, Jake, BMO, and Marceline on a pirate-themed adventure across the Land of Ooo.
But speaking of retro resurrections, Atari is bringing the tube shooter to the PS4 and Xbox One this week with the release of Tempest 4000. Original designer Jeff Minter returns to provide more trippy visuals and intense shooting action.
And finally this week, NIS America will launch Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded for the PS4 and Switch. This “definitive edition” of the roguelike dungeon-crawler will include “a ton of new content” for Reimu Hakurei to discover on her adventure.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with a look at all the new additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Sonic Mania, Touhou Genso Wanderer
Nintendo is planning “further updates” for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe already includes dozens of tracks and characters from across Nintendo’s wide stable of franchises. But it’s about to get even bigger sometime in the near future.
Shinya Takahashi, the General Manager of Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning and Development division, recently sat down to talk about some of his favorite Switch games in a new video on Twitter. Before discussing his love for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2, the developer confirmed that “further updates” are coming soon to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe:
Now you are able to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe using the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con Motorbike. So whether you’ve been using bikes in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or not, please try playing with the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con Motorbike. There will be further updates for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so please look forward to it.
Personally, I’d love to see Samus Aran make her Mario Kart debut in a future update (she wouldn’t even need a kart!).
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Mario Kart 8
Octopath Traveler, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Hand of Fate 2, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
It might be the middle of Summer, but it’s a big week for the Nintendo eShop…
Switch owners have been waiting patiently for another epic RPG to grace the console, and it looks like they might get their wish with tomorrow’s release of Octopath Traveler. The retro-styled RPG was created by Square Enix… and it features 2D sprites, 3D special effects, and eight overlapping stories. RPG fans might also want to be on the lookout for Hand of Fate 2, which drops players into a “living boardgame” and asks them to defeat the enigmatic Dealer. Hand of Fate 2 will be released for the Switch on Tuesday, July 17.
But don’t worry, Nintendo has no plans to sit this week out, as the consolemaker will bring Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker to the 3DS and Switch for the first time on Friday the 13th. Originally released for the Wii U in 2014, Captain Toad is a puzzle-adventure game that’s built up a fervent (but small) fanbase over the years.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, Let’s Sing 2018, Radio Hammer Station, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Octopath Traveler
Fortnite Season 5 kicks off with a dimension-hopping trailer (and a new song from Joywave)
Epic Games launched the Season 5 update for Fortnite today, giving players the chance to find out what’s going on with all those crazy portals:
Worlds collide in Season 5! A viking ship, desert outpost, and ancient statues have appeared on the island, changing the world of Fortnite as we know it. Hop in an ATK (All Terrain Kart) with your squad and uncover all new mysteries and locations. New Season, New Battle Pass.
Epic also teamed up with Joywave to provide music for the battle royale game’s spacey new trailer, and you can hear a snippet of the band’s new single, “Blastoffff,” in the Launch Trailer embedded above. If you like what you hear, you can also find an “Audio-Only Video” for the full song after the break. (more…)
Slam Land will be available for the PC, PS4, Switch on August 7
Bread Machine Games has announced that Slam Land, their wildly surreal hybridization of Smash Bros. and basketball, will be released for the PC, PS4, and Switch on August 7. Up to four players will be able to compete each other in the game’s three modes, as they all try to amaze the Giant Blue Man:
Dunk your friends to amaze a giant blue man in Slam Land, a magnificent new 4-player couch fighting/party game by Bread Machine Games.
Select your fighter and punch, grab and DOUNK! your way through five modes, ten levels, and a surreal world overseen by a benevolent (?) giant whose only amusement in life is to witness sporting and majestic slams.
You can prepare yourself for Slam Land’s launch next month by watching the new trailer embedded above.
Digital Extremes is bringing Warframe to the Switch
Yesterday, Digital Extremes announced that they’re bringing their popular online shooter, Warframe, to the Switch sometime in the not-too-distant future. The developer is partnering with Panic Button (the team behind the Switch conversions of Doom, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and Rocket League) to Nintendo’s newest console.
Like many other online shooters, Warframe will be free-to-play on the Switch, but here’s a refresher course on the game in case it slipped under your radar until now…
With more than 38 million registered players worldwide, the cooperative, free-to-play hit Warframe is a third-person online action game set in an evolving sci-fi world soon to be available on Nintendo Switch. Warframe gives players the chance to master the Warframe armor as the enigmatic Tenno, a race of ancient warriors wielding blade and gun, who are awakened from centuries of cryo-sleep by the mysterious guide, Lotus, to restore order throughout the Solar System.
Warframe features more than 35 unique Warframes, hundreds of weapons and thousands of customization options, the ability to upgrade weapons armor and items using a flexible mod system, and the ability to join clans, nurture pets, and explore massive new open worlds.
Warframe’s Switch debut doesn’t have a release date as of yet, but you can view the Announcement Trailer embedded above.
Pocket Rumble, 20XX, Shining Resonance: Refrain, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
It’s another big week for the Switch eShop, as more than two dozen games will be added to the digital storefront over the next seven days. But three of those games stand out above all the rest.
Available to download today is Pocket Rumble, a 2D fighter from Cardboard Robot Games that was heavily inspired by the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
But Switch owners who wait until next Tuesday, July 10, will have to chance to download Shining Resonance: Refrain, the latest entry in the Shining saga from Sega, or 20XX, a roguelike homage to Capcom’s Mega Man franchise.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Another World, Pato Box, Super Rock Blasters!, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged 20XX, Pocket Rumble, Shining Resonance: Refrain
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection comes to the Switch on November 13
An SNK 40th Anniversary Collection was announced for the Switch earlier this year, and now publisher NIS America has confirmed that the compilation will arrive in stores on November 13.
With games like Crystalis and Ikari Warriors leading the way, the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection will include more than a dozen classics from the SNK vault, with additional titles set to be revealed in the coming months:
- Alpha Mission (Console/Arcade)
- Athena (Console/Arcade)
- Crystalis (Console)
- Ikari Warriors (Console/Arcade)
- Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (Console/Arcade)
- Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue (Console/Arcade)
- Guerrilla War (Console/Arcade)
- P.O.W. (Console/Arcade)
- Prehistoric Isle (Arcade)
- Psycho Soldier (Arcade)
- Street Smart (Arcade)
- TNK III (Console/Arcade)
- Vanguard (Arcade)
- More to be Announced…
But for now, you can check out the latest trailer for the game, which has been embedded above.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged SNK 40th Anniversary Collection