Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 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
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: Wii U
Nintendo Download: Wii Party U, Scram Kitty, Moon Chronicles, more
This week’s Nintendo Download wants you to Scram! No! Wait! Come back! I’m just talking about Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails, an overhead shooter from Dakko Dakko, that is now available to download through the Wii U eShop.
It’s joined this week by a trio of puzzle games as Wii Party U (a minigame collection that was originally released for the Wii U last year), Color Zen (a shape-based puzzler), and Adventures of Lolo (a great “move the blocks” puzzler from the NES era) are now also available from Nintendo’s digital storefront.
3DS owners will be able to download four new games today. The four games include Renegade Kid’s Moon Chronicles, a first person shooter that is a remake of the cult favorite DS game Moon; Mega Man IV, a Virtual Console re-release of the Game Boy platformer; Arc Style: Baseball 3D, a simplistic baseball game from Arc System Works; and Candy Match 3, a match-3 puzzler (just how many of these does the 3DS have?).
More information on all of these titles (as well as Deep Sea Creatures on the DSiWare Shop) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Moon Chronicles, Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails, Wii Party U
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! Review: I Don’t Know Why I Bothered
I had a lot of fun with 2012’s Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage!? on the 3DS. It was a cute little game that was a lot like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, except with Adventure Time characters instead. WayForward returned with another game based in the Land of Ooo, Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!, last year. The game, the first for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, is an overhead dungeon-crawler that lets you play as several different characters instead of just Finn and Jake. I was super excited to play as Lumpy Space Princess because, well, she’s LSP, and she’s the best. But even being able to play as my favorite character didn’t make the game any better. (more…)
Square Enix considering “overseas expansion” for Dragon Quest X
Dragon Quest X was released for the Wii exclusively in Japan in 2012. Since then, it’s availability has expanded to include the Wii U, Windows PC, and Android tablets, but again, only in Japan. That might change soon.
During a financial briefing this morning, publisher Square Enix has confirmed that “expansion to overseas market [for Dragon Quest X] is under consideration.” Square Enix is focusing this possible expansion primarily on other countries in the Asian region, but it could apply to North America and Europe as well. The series has done well on this side of the ocean before and the successful launch of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn might encourage Square Enix to give Dragon Quest X western launch.
However, the same financial briefing also revealed that Square Enix plans to launch multiple “large‐scale online titles developed by Western studios” during their current fiscal year (which runs from April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015). Several “large-scale” projects are known to be in development at Square Enix’s western studios including Hitman 6, Deus Ex: Universe, and a next-gen sequel to the Tomb Raider reboot. Square Enix is also in line to publish Just Cause 3, an unannounced game that has been quasi-confirmed by developer Avalanche on multiple occasions.
So prepare yourself to be knee deep in Square Enix-published games (hopefully including Dragon Quest X) very soon.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Dragon Quest X
Here’s Why Nintendo Should Get Into the Movie Business
Nintendo is doomed! Doooooooommmmmmmed!
What? No. This is not going to be that kind of editorial. Per their latest financial report, Nintendo is sitting on a warchest of $10,997,600,854. Even though the company posted a major operating loss in their most recent financial quarter, they could still keep the lights on for 24 years just by dipping into their piggy bank. And while they might be conservative, they’re not as conservative as people like to think. Nintendo’s video game business was just an offshoot of their attempt to manufacture toys in the late 70s, which came after they tried operating a taxi service and running a hotel. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Mega Man II, Mega Man III, Wario Land 4, more
“Mega May” continues with the release of Mega Man II and Mega Man III on the 3DS eShop. Both games were originally released for the Game Boy in 1992 and were partially based on Mega Man II, III, and IV for the NES. In other retro gaming news… Wario Land 4, the first (and only) game in the series to be released for the Game Boy Advance, has been added to the Wii U eShop.
If you’re looking for something original, the 3DS eShop is now home to two brand new RPGs. Grinsia is a retro-inspired dungeon crawler and The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll is an RPG with augmented reality elements. Also available this week on the 3DS is Parking Star 3D, a parking lot sim.
Three new games were also added to the DSiWare Shop today. Jewel Match and Jewel Quest IV: Heritage are both puzzle games of the “match-3” variety and Sokomania 2: Cool Job is an overhead maze puzzler that stars a deranged-looking warehouse foreman.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Continue Countdown #3 – CoD Advanced Warfare, MS @ E3 2014, Mario Kart 8, More
The film industry uses the opening of blockbuster season to signify the start of Summer. Meanwhile, the video game industry sets its seasonal clock by Activision and the announcement of the next Call of Duty game. This year’s entry stars Kevin Spacey and the staff of Warp Zoned took the time to debate his inclusion in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in the latest episode of “Continue Countdown.”
After that, the trio of Editor-In-Chief John Scalzo, Staff Writer Mike Ryan, and special guest Adam Woolcott talked about the expunging of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and the unearthing of Atari’s E.T. landfill. Next, they examined Microsoft’s Xbox Originals film production plan and their possible E3 2014 announcements before turning to Nintendo and Fatal Frame 5‘s Japanese exclusivity, Mario Kart 8‘s free game deal, and Super Smash Bros. 4‘s Best Buy debut. Finally, we say goodbye to Bob “Mario Mario” Hoskins.
9 Topics… 30 Minutes… And Go!
Posted in Etcetera, PC, Podcast, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, E3 2014, Fatal Frame 5, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Hyrule Warriors will be released in Japan this Summer and in US by year’s end
Even though the trailer embedded above is the only glimpse of Hyrule Warriors we’ve gotten since the game’s December announcement, Tecmo Koei and Nintendo have revealed that the game will be released very soon.
During a financial briefing (via Siliconera) yesterday, Tecmo Koei revealed the Omega Force-developed game is set for a Summer 2014 release in Japan. Nintendo held their own financial briefing yesterday and they confirmed that Hyrule Warriors would be released in the US before the end of the year.
So we don’t know anything new about Hyrule Warriors today that we didn’t already know five months ago, but at least it’s still on track for a 2014 release.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Hyrule Warriors
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will transform into a released game on June 24
Activision will release Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark on June 24, three days ahead of the fourth film adaptation, Transformers: Age of Extinction. Rise of the Dark Spark won’t be a traditional tie-in game and will instead merge the movieverse with the High Moon-developed War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron games.
Even though Rise of the Dark Spark is just seven weeks away, we still don’t know much about it. But that hasn’t stopped GameStop from beginning to take pre-orders for the game. If you pre-purchase Rise of the Dark Spark, the game retailer will grant you access to the Weathered Warrior Pack, which includes two characters (Skywarp and Thundercracker) and two weapons (the Glass Gas Cannon and the Electro Bolter) for use in the game’s Campaign and Escalation Mode.
The Weathered Warrior Pack will be included with pre-orders of the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One editions of Rise of the Dark Spark. The game will also be available on June 24 for the Wii U and 3DS.