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
Nintendo Download: Rayman Legends Challenges App, Mega Man IV, More
Rayman Legends may have been delayed until August to put it on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but Ubisoft has made good on their promise and added the Wii U-exclusive Rayman Legends Challenges App to the Wii U eShop. It’s a free download that includes access to four of the game’s levels: Land of the Livid Dead, Neverending Pit, Infinite Tower, and the GamePad-controlled Murfy’s Dungeon. If that weren’t enough, weekly online challenges are also included in the Challenges App.
Also available this week, on the 3DS eShop, is Mega Man IV, the Blue Bomber’s 1992 NES adventure.
Hit the jump for more details on both of these titles as well as three other new games released as part of this week’s Nintendo Download. (more…)
Nintendo won’t hold a traditional E3 Press Conference this year
The times they are a-changin’. Commentators have questioned the “need” for E3 as game makers and game players have grown more connected thanks to the Internet. Nintendo, owing to the existence of their already ridiculously popular Nintendo Direct presentations, has slammed one more nail into the idea of E3 as we know it by deciding to not hold a traditional E3 Press Conference this year.
Instead, the House of Mario will host a series of mini-meetings during E3 week, including a huge Nintendo Direct presentation that will be focused on their software lineup for the U.S. market. Smaller events for distributors and the press will also be held.
Nintendo has already confirmed that a handful of major Wii U and 3DS will be on display at this year’s E3 Expo including the next 3D Mario game, Mario Kart Wii U, Super Smash Bros. 4, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2.
Star Wars, Marvel characters may be added to Disney Infinity in the future
“Series 1” of Disney Infinity is very focused focus on the studio’s animated efforts. Most of the figures announced so far have been pulled from the worlds of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, and Cars. But the Skylanders-like game also has a “real world” side represented by characters from Pirates of the Caribbean. And much like Jack Sparrow’s search for rum, many Disney fans have asked of Infinity… “Where’s Marvel and Star Wars?”
According a GamesIndustry International interview with Bill Roper, General Manager at Disney Interactive, there’s a chance that the Marvel universe and a galaxy far, far away could find their way into Infinity:
“”I think the beauty of something like Infinity is that it’s a platform that we’re building. So we don’t try to be coy about it – we’ve done a lot of work about identifying the properties that we felt would really make the platform sing at launch, but I never discount any possibilities with the vast array of characters and worlds that we can tap into across the company,” Roper said. He later singled out Star Wars as a possibility: “[The Star Wars acquisition] was definitely exciting when that [news] came down from within the company. We love the potential for Infinity – we always joke, well, ‘the possibilities are infinite’.”
While that’s far from confirmation, the Disney brass are clearly thinking about it. And with the extensive film schedule the company has planned for the Star Wars saga and the Avengers: Phase Two initiative, I think it makes perfect business sense to add characters from Marvel and Star Wars to Infinity sometime down the road (perhaps Summer 2015… when both The Avengers 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII hit theaters).
The Disney Infinity “Starter Pack” will be available for the 3DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on August 18.
Rumor: Batman: Arkham Origins to have a multiplayer mode
According to reports on Kotaku, the third instalment of the Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Origins, will include a multiplayer mode which will allow players to take on the role of the game’s villains.
Kotaku says that “two independent sources” contacted them, of which one of them had contacted them before with some “pre-reveal tips” about the game that proved to be accurate.
The report states that you will take control of Bane’s and the Joker’s goons. In at least one of the multiplayer modes, players will be given the task of killing The Dark Knight and his sidekick, Robin. The villains said to be included in the multiplayer mode are Killer Croc, Deadshot, Firefly, Black Mask, Deathstroke, and “some kind of Electroman character” – who will possibly end up to be revealed as Electocutioner.
Batman: Arkham Origins will will swoop down for the Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 25.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist’s Wii U features are declassified in this new trailer
The latest trailer for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist showcases some of the in-game abilities that have been made easier to execute using the Wii U GamePad.
Marking targets and drone piloting are just two things that you can expect to use the Wii U GamePad for in Blacklist. It really looks like Ubisoft has enhanced the gameplay experience by using the Wii U GamePad instead of giving the system a straight port.
Ubisoft is targeting a release date of August 20 in North America, August 22 in EMEA regions, and August 23 in the UK for Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Nintendo continues to take steps to become the indie developer’s best friend
The fact that some major games are not coming to the Wii U has been making headlines recently, although in the case of the poorly reviewed Dead Island: Riptide and Aliens: Colonial Marines, this may prove to be a blessing. However, the lack of third party titles heading to Nintendo’s new console, whether they be amazing or awful, has meant many people are dredging up Nintendo’s past reputation for having poor relations with other developers. The company is clearly aware of this, and is taking steps to ensure their future by aiding indie developers who wish to produce titles for the Wii U eShop.
At the Full Indie Summit in Vancouver last week, Dan Alderman, Nintendo of America’s Manager of Business Development, explained the steps Nintendo is taking to ensure developing for the Wii U is an easier process than the stringent steps companies had to follow for its predecessor. Back in the days of WiiWare, developers were required to have a business office, rather than the bedroom some games are born from. They would also only receive payment if the game managed to sell above a certain target and concept approval was required. Developers were often encouraged to use the Wiimote’s motion controls.
All of this red tape has been thrown out, replaced with an easy questionnaire that studios can fill out if they are interested in attaining a license to develop for the Wii U. There are no other charges in developing for the eShop beyond obtaining a business license. In fact, Nintendo will gift the Unity Pro 4 engine to developers free of charge, something that could be very beneficial to the many Kickstarter projects who budget for the engine in their donation target.
Many critics have already ruled the Wii U out of the next generation race. Yet it seems that rather than worry about the AAA titles not coming to their console, such as EA’s Battlefield 4, Nintendo is fostering relations with the next generation of developers and programmers. This move may manage to spell success for its home console at a grass roots level, while larger developers buckle under the pressure of making games with overblown budgets.
[Source: Destructoid]
BioShock Infinite is exceptional atop the March 2013 list of bestselling games
Good news everyone! The NPD Group (via Game Informer) has released their report on the best-selling games of March 2013 and they’ve confirmed that total game sales saw a 2% increase over March 2012. That’s the first year-over-year increase since November 2011. So good job game-buying public!
BioShock Infinite was the top-selling game of the month, just ahead of Square Enix’s Tomb Raider reboot. New games dominated the list as eight of the top ten titles were released in March. Only Call of Duty: Black Ops II and NBA 2K13 managed to fight through the new release wave to earn a spot in the top ten.
Here’s the complete list of the top ten best-selling games in March 2013:
1. BioShock Infinite (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
2. Tomb Raider (Xbox 360, PS3)
3. Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360)
4. God of War: Ascension (PS3)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
6. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
7. MLB 13: The Show (PS3, Vita)
8. NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
9. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U)
10. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
Wii U Release Dates: Pikmin 3, Game & Wario
They missed the Wii U’s “launch window,” but Pikmin 3 and Game & Wario finally have release dates, courtesy of yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation.
Game & Wario will be available in stores and on the Wii U eShop on June 23, just in time for Summer vacation. The first trailer for the minigame collection can be viewed above.
Pikmin 3, which was originally in production for the Wii, will finally make its way onto store shelves (and the Wii U eShop) on August 4.
With new release dates for Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Shin Megami Tensei IV also announced yesterday, it’s shaping up to be the Summer of Nintendo.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Game & Wario, Pikmin 3