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
New Super Luigi U DLC expansion transforms New Super Mario Bros. U this year
Luigi rarely gets a chance to shine on his own, but 2013’s “Year of Luigi” celebration should all that. In addition to a slew of 3DS games starring Mario’s taller brother, the green-suited one will star in “New Super Luigi U,” a massive New Super Mario Bros. U expansion set for release later this year.
New Super Luigi U will transform every level found in New Super Mario Bros. U into an alternate version playable by Luigi, and Luigi alone. Which is why, according to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, there’s “Brothers” in the title. Mr. Iwata also revealed that this DLC package is “similar [in size] to the development of full software” and will take a bit of time to develop.
New Super Luigi U should be available to download from the Wii U eShop sometime this year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U
Nicalis picks up Kickstarter project The 90s Arcade Racer
Nicalis is well known for bringing VVVVVV, NightSky, and Cave Story to Nintendo platforms over the past three years. And they’re likely going to to continue their goodwill streak with their first Wii U project, The 90s Arcade Racer.
The 90s Arcade Racer started life as a Kickstarter project that was originally headed to the three PC platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Nicalis stepped in and offered to back the developer, Antonis Pelekanos, with additional resources and the ability to publish the game on iOS and Android devices as well as the Wii U eShop.
As you can see from the trailer above, The 90s Arcade Racer takes its cues from the classics of the 90s arcade including Daytona USA, Sega Super GT, and Indy 500.
Blending the best bits of those three games together, The 90s Arcade Racer will include stock cars, supercars, and open-wheel racers in a game that features three tracks and “a nice blend between reality and fantasy. All while keeping with the 90s theme.”
The 90s Arcade Racer is expected to be available in November or December of this year.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, Wii U
Tagged 90s Super GP
WB executive confirms Batman: Arkham Asylum 3 will be released in 2013
Time Warner is a massive company, so it’s not surprising that their video game division, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, got short shrift during their most recently quarterly financial report. But the one bit of video game news we did get was a doozy.
John K. Martin, Time Warner’s Chief Financial Officer, confirmed that Batman: Arkham Asylum 3 is in development and will be released this year:
[W]e also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise. So all in all, we expect Warners to post another very strong year in 2013.
Martin did not say if Rocksteady would be the team behind Arkham Asylum 3, but there’s plenty of previous rumors to fuel a little speculation on this one. That includes the possibility Arkham Asylum 3 will be set in the Silver Age or that it’ll feature a title from all those domains that WB Games registered last month.
Whatever it turns out to be, for now, we can all say, “Holy awesome announcement, Batman!”
Pokemon Scramble U set for eShop release in Japan this Spring
Nintendo has announced the first Pokemon game for the Wii U and, sadly, it’s not the high definition open-world RPG everyone was hoping for. Instead, it’s a new entry in the Pokemon Scramble series of melee brawlers.
Pokemon Scramble U will include all 649 Pocket Monsters, along with a four-player multiplayer mode and the ability to display over 100 Pokemon on screen at once. That is a truly royal rumble.
Right now, the game will be available on the Japanese eShop this Spring. An American release hasn’t been announced yet, but come on, it’s Pokemon (and the first two games in the series were released in America as Pokemon Rumble and Pokemon Rumble Blast).
[Request: God is a Geek]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Pokemon Rumble U
Activision confirms Call of Duty 10 will be released in 2013
Are you sitting down? You might want to sit down. Activision has announced something shocking at their quarterly financial conference.
A new Call of Duty game is in the works and will be released this Fall.
OK, that’s not very shocking. But Activision did announce Call of Duty 10 yesterday. That part’s true, however, we don’t know much about it at this point. Even the developer is a mystery. While 2013 is an “Infinity Ward year,” Activision has confirmed that Neversoft, Raven, and Sledgehammer are all working on Call of Duty-related projects. But here’s everything we know for sure, courtesy of Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg:
“The Call of Duty franchise continues to set the bar for innovation and we expect the new Call of Duty game in development for 2013 to raise that bar even higher.”
Even with that tiniest speck of confirmation, I will hazard a guess that Call of Duty 10 will be released for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U sometime this November.
[Source: GameSpot]
Nintendo announces ZombiU + Wii U console bundle
Ubisoft’s ZombiU is one of the unquestioned successes of the Wii U’s early life. The game has given the zombie genre a new twist and it has made more than a few gamers interested in the game of cricket. Hoping to hook new Wii U purchasers in the same way, Nintendo has announced its first special system bundle: the ZombiU Deluxe Set.
The ZombiU bundle comes with all the contents of the original Deluxe Set including a black Wii U system with 32GB of storage space, a Wii U GamePad, a copy of Nintendo Land (albeit as a download instead of as a disc), and an HDMI cable. It also includes a copy of ZombiU (naturally), a ZombiU-themed art book, and a Wii U Pro Controller. All this can be yours for $389.99 (a savings of $70 if all items were purchased separately)!
The ZombiU Deluxe Set will be available on February 17.
Skylanders Swap Force brings customizable figures to the franchise
Skylanders Giants is less than four months old and Activision is already ready to announce the next game in the series. Skylanders Swap Force will make its worldwide debut this weekend at the 2013 Toy Fair. Taking up residence in booth 3061, Activision will unveil Swap Force’s 16 new customizable characters at the Javits Center in New York City.
Here’s some of the new features that the kiddies can look forward to in Skylanders Swap Force:
Swap Force builds upon the success of the franchise’s signature gameplay with an all-new innovative play pattern — swapability — that gives kids more choice than ever before by letting them swap the top and bottom halves of the toys to create their own characters. The game lets Portal Masters reconfigure 16 Swap Force characters into more than 250 unique combinations. Kids can mix and match characters’ powers and moves, and then bring them to life in the game. Fans of the franchise also can play Skylanders Swap Force with their entire collection of characters from both Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants, now with the added capability of jumping.
Skylanders Swap Force is in development at Vicarious Visions and will likely be released this Fall for every platform imaginable.
Ravens win as Madden Super Bowl Simulation is scary accurate this year
EA Sports’ Madden NFL Super Bowl Simulation is always pretty close to the final result, but this year’s prediction was so scarily accurate that some might be wondering if the fix was in. As prognasticated by Madden NFL 13, Super Bowl XLVII ended with a Baltmore Ravens victory over the San Francisco 49ers. But the simulation also accurately served up a wide variety of indiviudal moments from the game:
- The 49ers were held to a field goal in the first quarter.
- Joe Flacco threw a touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin.
- The Ravens put the game away with a Justin Tucker field goal.
- The margin of victory was three points (34-31 in real life versus 27-24 in the simulation)
- Joe Flacco was named the Super Bowl MVP.
But of course, no simulation could have predicted the 34-minute blackout that overtook the game or that the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer would be super good (Benedict Cumberbatch just needs to be in every movie… ever). With this correct prediction, the Madden Super Bowl Simulation improves to 8-2 since EA Sports began making picks in 2004.