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: Wii U
New Releases: Trials Fusion, 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, Conception II
Three new retail releases will compete for your gaming dollar this week…
RedLynx’s platform-racing series makes the jump to next-generation consoles with the release of Trials Fusion. The game will be available in a “Deluxe Edition” that includes a Season Pass so players can gain access to future downloadable content for both the PS4 and Xbox One.
Also available next week is 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The actual World Cup is still a few months away, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare yourself with EA’s quadrennial tie-in game.
Finally this week, Atlus will release Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars for the 3DS and Vita. If the title didn’t tip you off, Conception II features an absolutely insane storyline that includes evil gods, a group of god-fighting cultists, and a whole lot of baby-making.
Yup, definitely a Japanese RPG.
Posted in 3DS, News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, Trials Fusion
Nintendo Download: Lego The Hobbit, WarioWare, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Nintendo is continuing their monthlong Game Boy Advance blowout by adding two more games to the Wii U eShop: WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. WarioWare Inc. is the first game in the popular (and insane) series of microgame compilations, while Kirby & The Amazing Mirror is an action-adventure that stars four color-coded Kirbys in a game that’s very similar to Zelda: Four Swords.
Over on the 3DS, Lego The Hobbit is now available to download this week. It’s joined by several puzzle games, a futuristic racing game, a poker game, and Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, a wild new JRPG from Atlus (it’ll be available on Tuesday, April 15).
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Lego The Hobbit
Citizens of Earth is a turn-based RPG starring the Veep
Sadly, Joe Biden doesn’t star in Citizens of Earth. Instead, Eden Industries has created their own slick politician to lead a political party of 40 concerned citizens in their upcoming turn-based RPG. Taking nostalgic cues from Earthbound, and other 16-bit classics, Citizens of Earth asks the Veep to investigate some strange goings-on in his hometown:
The retro-inspired Citizens of Earth pits players as the second-highest-paid bureaucrat in the land. The game begins just after winning a long, drawn-out candidacy, and the VP returns to his hometown for some taxpayer-funded rest and relaxation. But after just one night passes, the VP awakens to find the world gone berserk! As elected official he has two responsibilities: investigate what’s caused people to go crazy… and delegate as much of the dirty work as possible. Citizens of Earth has 40 wacky citizens to recruit and send into battle.
The “way-too-jittery Barista, the ever-optimistic Weatherlady, the notoriously skeezy Car Salesman, and the ridiculously shy (and totally real) Sasquatch” are just some of the citizens of Citizens of Earth that the Vice President will be able to command. Eden Industries has promised the game will not include random encounters, but that it will have “hours of bonus content and optional side-quests to explore.”
Citizens of Earth will be published by Atlus and will be released as a downloadable title this September for the PC (through Steam), Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, and Vita.
Nintendo has another Mario game in development
Are you sitting down? You might want to sit down because Nintendo has confirmed that another Super Mario game is in development. Take a moment to compose yourself, this is a completely unprecedented and unexpected announcement.
OK, I kid because I love.
Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura of EAD Tokyo recently spoke to Edge, and confirmed the news that Mario will return. The pair was asked if the game would be released for the 3DS or the Wii U, but Koizumi shut that line of questioning down by saying, “That’s still a secret!” However, he did reveal that the team isn’t afraid to possibly shake things up: “There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.”
On that note, Motokura added that if the game is in development for the Wii U, it “might need to make even more use of the [Wii U] GamePad.” Interesting.
So we still don’t know much about the next Mario game, but we do know that it’ll be the 20th game in the long-running franchise. Can you imagine if Nintendo stuck with the Super Mario Bros. title scheme after all these years? The fact that this is technically the announcement of Super Mario Bros. 20 utterly amazes me. And hopefully we’ll find out more about it soon.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Direct from Nintendo… Super Smash Bros. 4 launches for 3DS this Summer, Wii U in Winter
They’re still not ready to reveal the final title, but Nintendo has confirmed that Super Smash Bros. 4 will be available for the 3DS this Summer with the Wii U release to follow sometime in the Winter. The news comes via a new Nintendo Direct video that included a multitude of other announcements:
- New Characters! Greninja, the final evolution of Froakie from Pokemon X/Y, will be included in a Smash Bros. game for the first time. It will be joined by returning favorites Zero Suit Samus, Sheik, Yoshi, and Charizard.
- Smash Run Mode! “Exclusive to the 3DS, four players have five minutes to enter a dungeon and explore the surroundings, fight enemies and obtain power-ups to enhance their fighters. Once the five minutes are up, all four fighters enter a battle arena using their newly equipped items and power-ups.”
- Custom Movesets! Players will be able to create custom movesets for all characters.
- Online Play! Online multiplayer will be included on both systems in two flavors… “For Glory” is a straight fight in Final Destination stages with no items, elevated areas, or platforms. “For Fun” includes random stages, items, and power-ups.
- Unique Stages! While the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game will feature similar stages, they will be unique on each platform. Wii U stages will be based on home console entries in a franchise while 3DS stages will draw inspiration from the handheld entries in the franchise.
- Bosses! Some stages will have boss characters that can be drawn into the fight. For example, the Rock Monster (AKA the Yellow Devil) will guard Dr. Wily’s Base.
- System Link! The 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. 4 will link up with the Wii U version in some way. More details later.
That’s all for now, but the complete Nintendo Direct video can be viewed above.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Thumbs-On Impressions: GelTabz Performance Thumb Gripz
While a fantastic piece of hardware, the DualShock 4 is not without its issues, the most pressing of which is the quality of the analog sticks. Many gamers have reported cases of the rubber peeling off the sticks. Sony even issued a statement that they are looking into the problem and offered to replace any damaged controllers as they are covered under the warranty. I have not experienced this problem with my DualShock 4, but I have had a different issue: the sticks are slippery as hell.
Sure, it could be my thumbs, but I don’t remember perspiring this much during a gaming session, let alone having overactive sweat glands on my fingers. The issue really comes into play when I’ve got the analog stick pressed for an extended period of time, like during the flying race levels in Lego Marvel Heroes or certain challenges in Rayman Legends. Or pretty much the entirety of Resogun. I’ve found myself losing a life or throwing myself off-course due to having to reposition my left thumb, which can be the difference between life and death, or getting a silver medal instead of a gold. (more…)
New Releases: TitanFall Xbox 360, Lego The Hobbit, Kinect Sports Rivals, More
After a month-long delay, EA and Respawn Entertainment are finally ready to launch the Xbox 360 version of TitanFall.
If giant mechs duking it out on the battlefield isn’t your thing, you might be interested to know that WB Games will release the awkwardly-titled Lego The Hobbit this week. The game will be available on Tuesday for the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One with a Wii U release set for April 22. A PC version of the game will be also be downloadable this week through Steam.
Finally, Microsoft will bring Kinect Sports Rivals, their motion-controlled sports franchise, to the Xbox One for the first time and Nintendo will join forces with Disney to bring the Disney Magical World life sim to the 3DS this week.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
The Kingpin, Black Cat, Green Goblin fight Spidey in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is absolutely packed with villains and the video game tie-in won’t be any different. Spider-Man will go head-to-head with The Kingpin, Black Cat, Electro, Green Goblin, and possibly a few others when Activision and Beenox release The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 29 (a 3DS version is also in the works). Serving the role of Yoda to Spidey’s Luke will be Kraven the Hunter (surely after a fight where our hero mistakes Kraven for a bad guy).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will open in theaters on May 2.