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
Shovel Knight digs into a slight delay and will miss March 31 release date
There’s no joy in Shovelville, for Yacht Club Games has delayed Shovel Knight. Originally scheduled to be released on March 31, the developer has confirmed (via Kickstarter) that a slight delay has befallen the game. Don’t worry, it’s just a few weeks:
So, we hemmed and hawed, and made a Super Important Executive Decision. This update is to let everyone know that Shovel Knight will be missing March 31 by a few weeks to make sure it’s a world class experience, and can release on all platforms simultaneously. This isn’t a major delay, or a long one; it’s simply a stretch of time to get everything polished and aligned. While major development is quickly drawing to a close, there are still some external factors, like submission preparation, which need a little bit more breathing room before the game goes live.
In order to ensure a simultaneous release on the 3DS, Wii U, and PC, Yacht Club has decided to hold off on a new release date announcement until once they get a certification go-ahead from both Nintendo and Valve.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, Wii U
Tagged Shovel Knight
Nintendo Download: NES Open Golf, Blok Drop U, more
Nintendo continues to populate the Virtual Console in this week’s Nintendo Download. NES Open Tournament Golf, one of the first “Mario Sports” games, will be available to download through the Wii U and Adventure Island II, one of the NES’s great platformers, is now available for the 3DS.
In original games this week, the Wii U will receive Blok Drop U, a bite-sized puzzle game that is played directly on the Wii U GamePad.
And there’s two new games over on the 3DS eShop. The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths is an adventure game based on the 1980s anime and Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger is a hidden object game that tasks the player with finding items in a park.
More details on all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Watch Dogs will have its release day on May 27
After a false start last Fall, Ubisoft has announced that Watch Dogs will finally be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on May 27. A Wii U release will follow at “a later date.”
To celebrate the release date news, Ubisoft has released a new “Story Trailer” for Watch Dogs that delves deeper into why main character Aiden Pearce is using his hacking skills to take down Chicago’s organized crime syndiate.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game will be available on April 29
Activision has announced that the game adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 29… three days before the movie of the same name opens in theaters.
But if you’d prefer to look super-stylish as you punch burglars and bad guys in the face, you may want to consider pre-ordering the game on the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, or Xbox One. Activision has partnered with GameStop (and GAME in the UK) to offer the Web Threads Suit Pack to pre-purchasers. The Web Threads Suit Pack includes four special suits for Spider-Man, each of which bestows a bonus on his face-punching abilities. The four suits included in the pack are:
- The cutting-edge, red and gold “Iron Spider Suit”
- The stellar, blue and white “Cosmic Spider-Man Suit”
- The all-consuming Venom-like “Black Suit”
- The pulp-style “Spider-Man Noir Suit”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the beginning of an entire “Spider-Universe” of movies from Sony Pictures, so perhaps we’ll see all those suits on the big screen someday.
PopCap forms “HD Team” to bring Peggle 2 and an original game to consoles
The “HD Team” within PopCap Games that produced the recently released Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare will continue their work in the console realm.
“PopCap is now structured in the way we have standard PopCap mobile development and then PopCap HD, which is entirely focused on bringing games to PC and console,” Gary Clay, PopCap’s Marketing Manager said.
The team definitely has their plate full. In the near term, they plan to create new content for Garden Warfare, with the first update available in March. They are also working on an update to Peggle 2 as well as porting the game to additional consoles besides the Xbox One. Finally, PopCap HD is also developing an original console game unrelated to any previous PopCap property.
Looks like my dream of a Heavy Weapon sequel has been dashed once more.
[Source: Digital Spy]
Retro Studios confirms they’ve got a new Wii U game in the works
Retro Studios recently completed development on and released Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The developer has yet to announce their next move, but they have confirmed (via GameSpot) that they’ve got a new Wii U title in the works and that production began after development on Tropical Freeze was completed in November. However, Retro’s President and CEO, Michael Kelbaugh, couldn’t reveal any specifics about the unannounced game. And he purposely attempted to downplay its identity by stating how fun all of the company’s previous projects were:
“We love working with Donkey Kong. It’s a great character. It’s a lot of fun. We love working with Metroid Prime, with Mario Kart; those are fun, fun games to work on. So, you know, you can’t lose,” he said. “Every one of those IPs have been a lot of fun to play with and work on and [we’d] love to come back to them sometime.”
So is Retro working on the oft-rumored Metroid Prime 4/next Metroid game? Or perhaps that “American Legend of Zelda” is more than just wishful thinking. There’s even the possibility that they’re helping put a last-minute shine on Mario Kart 8. Whatever Retro’s next project is, Kelbaugh sees a lot of untapped potential in the Wii U and believes the system is a “powerhouse”:
“Unfortunately, the perception is that it’s not a very powerful machine,” Kelbaugh said about the Wii U. “That’s just not true. It’s a powerhouse. It’s more than adequate to make great games on.”
With any luck, Retro’s next game will hopefully be announced at this year’s E3 Expo.
Nintendo Download: Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
While the Professor Layton series will continue in some form, tomorrow’s addition of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy to the 3DS eShop marks the end of the good Professor’s tenure as the face of the franchise. Also available on the 3DS eShop this week is Tappingo, a puzzle game of a different sort. Taking a bit of inspiration from Minesweeper, Tappingo is can be downloaded today.
Over on the Wii U eShop, Wii U owners will have a chance to download My Farm, a cartoony farm simulator.
Finally, the NES game Renegade is now available on both the 3DS eShop and the Wii U eShop. Renegade is the first game in the long-running “Kunio” series (which is better known in America as the River City Ransom series).
More details about all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate descends on PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360 on April 1
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition brings the handheld content to high definition, replete with 2.5D graphics. It will also have 5.1 surround sound, voice acting, a new map, and a new hint system as well.
The storyline, in case you missed it the first time around, is pretty typical Batman fare: Blackgate Prison, a place full of baddies Batman put there, is having a rebellion, and the only man who can stop it is the caped crusader. Those who played Batman: Arkham Origins can continue the story of that game here.
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition will be released for the PC (through Steam), PlayStation 3 (through the PSN), Xbox 360 (through the Xbox Live Marketplace), and Wii U (through Nintendo’s eShop) on April 1 for $19.99.