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 Sports Club, Toki Tori, Kid Icarus: Uprising, More
Wii Sports is back! Wii Sports Club: Tennis and Wii Sports Club: Bowling, the high definition and online-enabled remakes of the Wii’s flagship pack-in game, are now available as individual downloads. Each Wii Sports Club title is priced at $9.99, but if you’d rather not own each individual sport, Nintendo plans to also offer a Wii Sports Club “Day Pass.” Priced at $1.99, the Day Pass will give players access to all available Wii Sports Club sports for a 24-hour period. Baseball, Golf, and Boxing will be available at a later date.
Also available on the Wii U eShop today is Toki Tori. Based on the popular Game Boy Color title of the same name, Toki Tori was a puzzle platformer that was originally released before puzzle platformers were cool.
Over on the 3DS side of the store is the long-awaited digital release of Kid Icarus: Uprising. I could have sworn this happened months ago, but I guess not. If you haven’t picked up Pit’s latest adventure yet, now’s your chance to do it without leaving the house.
More details on all of these games, as well as many more (including Wario’s Woods), can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Wii Sports Club: Bowling, Wii Sports Club: Tennis
Activision shipped $1 billion worth of copies of CoD: Ghosts to stores
It’s another billion dollar day for the video game industry… sort of.
Activision has announced they shipped more than $1 billion worth of copies of Call of Duty: Ghosts to retail outlets across the world for the game’s launch yesterday. The $1 billion figure doesn’t include download revenues from Ghosts, which also launched on Steam, the PSN, and the Xbox Live Store yesterday. It’s unknown how many of those copies have been sold to fans (or even how many copies “$1 billion” represents), but I’m going to guess that both numbers can be rounded up to “a lot.”
The literal pile of money that Activision is sitting on right now will only grow in the next few weeks as CEO Bobby Kotick reported that Ghosts is GameStop’s “most pre-reserved next gen title.”
Not known for his humility, Kotick also told reporters, “The [Call of Duty] franchise has never been more popular.”
Infinity Ward offers up another look at CoD: Ghosts’ Extinction Mode
Call of Duty: Ghosts is available in stores today (for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360) and, as one last appetizer before the main course, Infinity Ward has released a new trailer for Extinction Mode dubbed “First Contact.” Watch as a squad of soldiers defends Earth against a slimy alien menace and then they… become an appetizer for the aliens. Whoops. Maybe the aliens can ask Kang and Kodos for some culinary tips.
The developers at Infinity Ward also sat down with GameSpot to deliver an extended look at Extinction Mode, which you can view after the break. And don’t forget, Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available for the PS4 and Xbox One later this month. (more…)
The AAA Game: Where It’s Been, Where It’s Going, and Did It Kill the Mid-Tier Game?
An edited and updated version of this article is now available at Video Game Canon.
With a new generation of consoles almost upon us, there is the worry that the spiraling budgets and massive teams required to create AAA games is hurting the industry. But for all the hand-wringing about how the AAA game is detrimental to mid-size developers, no one can seem to agree on what exactly a AAA game is or when the AAA designation was even first used. In attempting to solve this etymological mystery, I found that the AAA designation shares much in common with Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s obscenity test from a 1964 case: “I know it when I see it.” But I also found out that “Will the AAA game survive?” is probably the wrong question to ask. (more…)
New Releases: CoD: Ghosts, Guided Fate Paradox, Castlevania: LoS Collection, More
You hear that? That’s the sound of freight train coming down the track. It’s got “Call of Duty: Ghosts” (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360) painted on the side and all the other publishers have gotten out of the way. Activision’s juggernaut of a franchise dominates this week’s new releases, but a few other games will find their way into stores over the next seven days.
Also available this week is The Guided Fate Paradox from NIS America. This RPG is a PS3 exclusive and, like all NIS games, it’s full of the crazy. Just how weird does it get? Well… “Players take on the role of high school student Renya Kagurazaka who has become a god by winning a lottery in a mall.”
Finally, Konami has bundled together Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (and all of its DLC) and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD into a single package on the PS3 and Xbox 360. The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Collection also includes a playable demo of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, which is scheduled for release next year.
You can find the complete list of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
Nintendo Download: Wii Fit U, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Castlevania IV, more
All you health fanatics, get ready, Nintendo will add Wii Fit U to the Wii U eShop tomorrow. The company is billing the title as a “Trial Version” because the free download will expire on December 1. If you want to continue your fitness goals with your Wii U, you’ll have to purchase a Wii Fit U Fit Meter, which will be available in stores (for $19.99) starting tomorrow.
If you’d prefer to spend your Wii U time in a sitting position, Nintendo has added plenty of other games to the eShop as part of this week’s Nintendo Download. Beginning today, the digital version of Lego Marvel Super Heroes can be purchased for the 3DS and the Wii U. The Virtual Console is also alive and well this Halloween with the scary Super Castlevania IV (Wii U) and the spooky Milon’s Secret Castle (3DS).
Beginning next Tuesday, November 5, Nintendo will add the family friendly Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (3DS), Ben 10 Omniverse 2 (3DS, Wii U), and Power Rangers Megaforce (3DS) to their online store.
More details on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Wii Fit U
Battle aliens in Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Extinction co-op mode
Treyarch may have the market cornered on zombies, but Infinity Ward is bringing something new to the Call of Duty franchise with Ghosts: aliens.
The recently revealed “Extinction” mode is a co-op mode for one-to-four players “featuring a unique blend of fast-paced survival action, FPS base defense, scavenging, and class leveling.” Players will battle with horrible shock troopers known as Scorpions and attempt to breach an alien hive with a mini-nuke. It looks to be a close encounter of the awesome kind.
Call of Duty: Ghosts will be released for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on November 5. PS4 and Xbox One versions will follow in mid-November.
New Releases: Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV, Sonic: Lost World, More
It took a little bit longer than usual, but we’re finally in the middle of the Fall gaming avalanche.
This week, gamers can look forward to Battlefield 4 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the next entry in DICE’s popular shooter series; Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360), the next entry in Ubisoft’s popular stealth series; and Sonic: Lost World (Wii U, 3DS), the next entry in Sega’s sometimes anger-inducing popular platformer series.
Also available this week is…
- The Wii Fit U Fit Meter, Nintendo’s stylish exercise gizmo designed for the free downloadable version of Wii Fit U (which will also be available this week).
- The first wrestling game published under the 2K Games banner WWE 2K14 (PS3, Xbox 360).
- The console version of Angry Birds Star Wars (3DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360).
- The latest platformer starring Pac-Man, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (PC, Wii U, Xbox 360)
A complete list of this week’s new game releases can be found after the break. And remember to keep an eye on “New Releases,” because we’re just a little over two weeks away from the launch of two new consoles. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Angry Birds Star Wars, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Sonic: Lost World, WWE 2K14