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
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- 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
Wii U Deluxe Set will come bundled with Nintendo Land in North America
Like in Japan, the Wii U will be released in the US in two different configurations. But the packages are slightly different on the right side of the Pacific.
The Basic Set (which is only available in white) will include 8GB of memory, a Wii U GamePad, an AC adapter, a Wii Sensor Bar, a stylus and an HDMI cable. Meanwhile, the Deluxe Set will include everything in the Basic Set, but it will also come bundled with Nintendo Land, 32GB of memory, a GamePad AC Charging Adapter, GamePad Stand, a Wii U Stand, and a special discount on all Wii U eShop games.
We’ll have more from Nintendo’s Wii U Media Event (like the price) all morning.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Nintendo Land
Wii U will launch on November 18 in US
The wait is finally over. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has announced that the Wii U will launch in North America on November 18. We’ll have more from Nintendo’s Wii U Media Event (like the price) all morning.
Nintendo Japan will also release New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land on December 8
So we know that the Wii U system will launch in Japan on December 8, but what games will our Japanese brethren be able to play on it? Right now, Nintendo has two games planned for release alongside the system’s launch: the side-scrolling New Super Mario Bros. U and minigame collection Nintendo Land.
At E3, Nintendo announced that Wii Fit U, Game & Wario, and Platinum’s Project P-100 would also be released on launch day. We’ll find out later this morning if that’s still the case, or if they’ve been pushed back into 2013.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land
Wii U system launching on December 8 in Japan
As promised Nintendo Japan has announced when gamers in Japan will be able to get their hands on the Wii U (see what I did there?) on December 8. The system will be available in two configurations, a black 32GB Premium Set (¥31,500/$405) and a white 8GB Basic Set (¥26,250/$338). A release date and price for the US launch will be announced later today.
Will initially reluctant to sell the Wii U GamePad separately, Nintendo Japan has confirmed the tablet controller will be available in stores for ¥13,440 ($173). Of course, one GamePad is included with every system, along with an AC adapter, a stylus and an HDMI cable. The Premium package will include all of that as well as a GamePad AC Charging Adapter, GamePad Stand, a Wii U Stand, and a one-year subscription to Nintendo Network Premium.
Nintendo Network Premium subscriptions (which are only available with the 32GB system) will receive free eShop Points as well as a 10% discount on all eShop purchases. The Pro Controller will also be sold separately, at a price of ¥5,000 ($64).
Again, the Wii U’s launch price and release date for North America will be announced later this morning, so it’s possible that prices on this side of the Pacific won’t be so high.
Wii U release date and launch price will be announced tomorrow
We all suspected it, but today, Nintendo confirmed that the Wii U’s launch price and release date will be announced tomorrow during their next Nintendo Direct presentation. Company President Satoru Iwata broke the news via Twitter (helpfully translated by Joystiq):
Good evening, it’s Iwata from Nintendo. Tomorrow at [3 AM Eastern Time] we’ll broadcast online the Wii U’s sale information. We’ll tell you when the Wii U will launch and how much for.
The US presentation will be hosted by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime and it’ll take place tomorrow as well, at the more reasonable hour of 10 AM (Eastern Time). You can watch the Big Reg do his thing online at Nintendo.com/wiiu or Facebook.com/WiiU.
Dev porting Mass Effect 3 to Wii U working on two additional Wii U games
Straight Right, the development team behind the Wii U port of Mass Effect 3, is taking their job very seriously. Speaking to Eurogamer, CEO Tom Crago said, “We’re very conscious of not wanting to mess up.”
While the executive has high hopes for his Wii U launch title, he also revealed that Straight Right has two unannounced games for the system in development, an original title and another port, for 2013:
“We’ve made a number of bets on the Wii U, so we’re certainly hoping that the platform comes strongly out of the gate. We’ve got two other titles in development. One of them is original, our own IP, and another is based on another big franchise that will come out in 2013. It’s a big title and you will have heard of it,” he teased.
Nice to know, but that could be anything!
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Mass Effect 3
Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online is “on hold”
Despite Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemont praising the Wii U numerous times this year, and with the company developing the very promising ZombiU as well as bringing Assassin’s Creed III to Nintendo’s new console, it seems work has stalled on the Wii U version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online. The official line from the game’s producer, Theo Sanders, is that the team wants to focus all of their energy on the PC version before work begins on any console version. His full statement can be read here:
“As of right now, the entire Ghost Recon team is focused on the PC version only. The Wii U version is on hold. If in the future we have an opportunity to address it again, we’ll make future announcements. But as of right now we’re focused completely on the PC version. It’s not a reaction to anything specific happening to Wii U. It was a really fun, cool platform to develop for. But you realise once you launch an online service that it’s an all-consuming effort, so we really wanted to have all hands on deck. It was the same dev team working on both SKUs, and we really wanted to focus on doing the PC version right.
It’s hard to say how the future will go for Ghost Recon Online. I think in the future, as different platforms evolve towards service models and towards being really online-driven, community-driven platforms, then we’ll definitely be looking at what our options are… I think it’s one of the strengths of the PC platform and I believe it’s something that all console manufacturers understand to be a strength of the PC platform, and will definitely be looking for interesting and innovative ways to bring their own experiences to.”
Despite the meek promise that the company may return to the project in the future, reading between the lines suggests something else is afoot, especially given all the references to online play in the PC market. It sounds as if Ubisoft is going to wait until after the launch of the Wii U to see if Nintendo’s new online system attracts the numbers deemed necessary to move forward with a free-to-play game.
With Nintendo due to make a major Wii U announcement next week, hopefully with more specific details on the system’s price and its launch date, lets hope it attracts more positive word of mouth than their E3 showing this year.
[Source: Video Gamer]
Posted in News, PC, Wii U
Tagged Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online
Double Fine’s The Cave is coming to Wii U too
While already scheduled for release on the PC, PSN and XBLA, Double Fine finally confirmed during their PAX Prime presentation that their upcoming game The Cave will also be coming to the Wii U. The downloadable title will be a great compliment to the GamePad’s screen.
With the usual brand of humour associated with Double Fine’s Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer, the title has been described as “an adventure game so odd and compelling that it can only be described as odd and compelling.”
“The concept of The Cave has been bouncing around in my head for many, many years, and then the little voices that tell me to do things said it was time to make the game,” explained Gilbert. The game itself is said to utilise concepts from Gilbert’s own 1987 classic, Maniac Mansion, with the player able to select three playable characters (from a group of seven) including a knight, a monk, a pair of street urchins, a time traveller and a hillbilly, to enter the magical talking titular Cave. Each character will have their own personality and traits used to solve the puzzles found within.
[Source: CVG]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged PAX Prime 2012, The Cave