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
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.
Diddy Kong swings into Super Smash Bros. 4
Great news for fans of Diddy Kong – he’ll be joining the cast of Super Smash Bros. 4! According to this post in the Miiverse, the announcement was made to celebrate the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. They have also “increased Diddy Kong’s flexibility this time… [this is] how far his punches stretch during his strong side attack.”
Check out the Diddy Kong page for more images. Super Smash Bros. 4 is due out sometime this year for the 3DS and Wii U.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Nintendo Download: Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Weapon Shop De Omasse, more
Even though Sochi is in the middle of a heatwave, this week’s Nintendo Download is packed with ice and snow.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U leads this week’s new releases. The most famous gorilla in gaming has escaped the jungle and will be climbing snow-capped mountains in his latest adventure. And the entire Kong family (including Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky) is along for the ride.
Also available for the Wii U this week is a true NES classic, Ice Hockey. The American women may have missed out on the Gold Medal game in this year’s Winter Olympics, but it’s always a good time for Ice Hockey.
Over on the 3DS eShop, four new games are now available to download this week. Level-5’s Weapon Shop De Omasse, the last game in the “Guild01” collection to make it to America, leads the way. If taking on the responsibilities of a rhythmic weaponsmith doesn’t appeal to you, this week’s new releases also include Kung Fu Rabbit (a side-scrolling platformer), Quell Reflect (a puzzle game), and Sky Kid (another NES classic).
More details on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Weapon Shop De Omasse
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer
The continuity snarl that is the Transformers franchise makes the last half-century of Marvel and DC storytelling look neat and ordered by comparison. The series is rife with alternate universes and the executives in charge of this narrative morass have attempted to merge, split, and remerge the storyline since the 1980s.
The latest attempt at building an all-purpose Transformers universe is Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, the latest game adaptation of the long-running series from Activision. According to GameSpot, Rise of the Dark Spark will merge High Moon’s War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron continuity with Michael Bay’s Transformers films to tie-in with this Summer’s Age of Extinction. Sadly, High Moon won’t be developing the game. Instead, Activision has enlisted Edge of Reality to create the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One game. WayForward Technologies will develop a handheld version of the game for the 3DS.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer to coincide with the theatrical opening of Transformers: Age of Extinction.