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
Michel Ancel says Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development
Despite a whole decade since Ubisoft’s original appeared, it seems that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will prove naysayers wrong by climbing into the cold light of day. However, unlike the recent HD re-release on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network, the franchise will be seeking a home on the next generation of consoles, if we are to believe Michel Ancel, the original game’s creator. He has (once again) been quoted as saying the game is in “the active creation stage,” explaining further:
“I can say that it’s a very ambitious game and we need some tech to achieve that ambition. We focus on the game. We create it first, then we’ll see what can run it. We don’t say 2013 because we don’t know when it will come. We’re working to create a great game and it needs more tech.”
However, it has been four years since Ubisoft debuted a teaser trailer for the sequel at their short-lived Ubidays conference in 2008. A short time before that, Ancel himself stated at the Video Games Live show in Paris that BG&E2 had been in development for 18 months, suggesting that the project was perhaps put on hiatus, only to be revived by the original’s HD re-release in 2011, but retooled for the next generation. Could it be they are gearing it up for release on Nintendo’s Wii U (or perhaps the PS4 or Xbox 720)? The Wii U’s tablet controller would certainly be a good match with Jade’s camera.
[Source: Destructoid]
Blockbuster UK has 25 Wii U games in its database
With E3 just a month away, the Wii U rumors are going to start heating up and that includes this latest bit of news… Blockbuster’s UK arm has added 25 Wii U titles to its inventory database.
None of the titles have release dates, and most were previously announced, but there are a few surprises including a Marvel Super Heroes game, something titled Shield Pose, and a game simply known as “Zombie.”
Here’s the complete list of Wii U games in Blockbuster UK’s system. All unannounced titles are listed in bold.
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Batman: Arkham City
- Darksiders II
- Dirt 3
- F1 All-Stars
- Game Party
- Just Dance 4
- Killer Freaks from Outer Space
- Marvel Super Heroes
- Metro: Last Light
- Monsters Party
- New Super Mario Bros. Mii
- Ninja Gaiden 3
- Pikmin 3
- Rabbids Party Land
- Raving Rabbids
- Rayman Legends
- Shield Pose
- Sports Connection
- Tekken
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 6
- Your Shape 2013
- Zombie
[Source: Go Nintendo]
Wii U launch date, price won’t be announced at E3 2012
During their most recent quarterly financial briefing, Nintendo reconfirmed that the Wii U will appear in its “final form” at this year’s E3 Expo. The publisher also revealed that the system’s launch lineup will be announced at the big show.
Nintendo itself has yet to announce any launch titles for the Wii U, but third party publishers such as Sega (Aliens: Colonial Marines), Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed III), THQ (Darksiders II), Tecmo Koei (Ninja Gaiden 3), and WB Games (Batman: Arkham City) all have games lineup up for the system’s launch.
However, those attending E3 (and all of us watching at home) won’t hear anything about when the Wii U will launch or how much it’ll cost during the show. Nintendo is saving that information and will announce them sometime after E3 but before the system’s “year-end sales season” release.
3DS, Wii U retail games to be sold digitally… starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2
The 3DS eShop just got a whole lot cooler. Nintendo has announced that, beginning this August, the online store will offer downloadable versions of retail games. First on the list… New Super Mario Bros. 2.
Like current 3DS eShop downloads, downloadable retail games must be stored on an SD card and will only be playable on the handheld they were purchased on. If you’re one of those people who are still uneasy about using a credit card on the Internet, brick-and-mortar retailers will also sell download codes for 3DS digital downloads. Best of all, retailers can set the price for a download code just as they can for a cartridge game, so we might see some big sales for downloadable 3DS games.
Nintendo also announced that “Onitore,” the game more popularly known as Brain Age: Devil Training, will receive a US release and that it too will be available sometime this year as both a retail release and a digital download.
Finally, Nintendo confirmed that the same retail/digital download deal will apply to Wii U games when the system launch’s this Fall. So shoppers will be able to download any Nintendi-publisher Wii U title at the same time the game is released in stores.
Hey! Nintendo can finally say they’ve one-upped Sony and Microsoft in the online arena for something!
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Brain Age: Devil Training, New Super Mario Bros. 2
More on Mario for Wii U; Pikmin 3 to debut at E3 too
After confirming that Mario would make his Wii U debut at this year’s E3 Expo, Eurogamer has dug a bit deeper, revealing a not-too-surprising detail about the game.
According to a Nintendo representative, the Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U that the publisher plans to bring to E3 2012 will be heavily based on the New Super Mario Bros. Mii tech demo they displayed at E3 2011. If you recall, New Super Mario Bros. Mii was very similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but it added Miis as playable characters and bumped the graphics up to HD quality. Not exactly groundbreaking, but if it’s half as fun as New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I’ll take it.
Pikmin 3 will also appearing at this year’s E3 Expo for the first time. Originally announced by Shigeru Miyamoto as a Wii title back in 2008, the game has been kept hidden by Nintendo ever since. With the jump to the Wii U, it looks like they’re finally ready to show if off.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2012, New Super Mario Bros. U, Pikmin 3
Super Mario Bros. Wii U to debut at E3 2012
This is both the biggest surprise in the history of surprises and a news story so yawn-inducing in its obviousness that it almost doesn’t need to be said. But here goes.
An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto was published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo this morning. During the interview, Miyamoto confirmed that a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U will make its debut at this year’s E3 Expo. But since it’s not official until it’s in English, Eurogamer asked Nintendo to reconfirm the news… and they did!
“In a recent interview, Mr. Miyamoto confirmed that a new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U system will be shown at this year’s E3 Expo,” a Nintendo spokesperson said. “We’ll have more to announce about our plans for the E3 Expo at a later date.”
In addition to the unnamed Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii U, Nintendo has another Mario game, a 2D sidescroller for the 3DS, in the works as well.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2012, New Super Mario Bros. U
Aliens: Colonial Marines Hands-On Preview: The Xenomorphs Say “Game Over, Man!”
One of the longest lines at PAX East was the one for the Aliens: Colonial Marines booth, which had one of the best experiences on the show floor. No, they weren’t offering free mohawks, but they were hosting a developer-led demonstration of the single-player campaign, followed by a hands-on preview of the multiplayer… against those same developers. Sadly, we didn’t get to play as the xenomorphs, but that didn’t detract from the experience at all. And it’s scarier being hunted down by killer aliens when you know they’re far smarter than AI could ever be. (more…)
Posted in PC, Previews, PS3, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Aliens: Colonial Marines, PAX East 2012
Aliens: Colonial Marines is officially part of movie canon; Wii U version “is not a port”
We learned two very interesting things about Aliens: Colonial Marines at this weekend’s PAX East.
One, the Sega-published shooter has been inducted into the “official canon” of the Alien universe by 20th Century Fox. Chris Faylor, the Community Manager for developer Gearbox Software, told us that all previous expanded universe material (including the novels, the comics, and all the Alien vs Predator stuff) has been thrown out. The only productions currently considered canon are the first four films (yes, even Alien 3), Aliens: Colonial Marines, and maybe Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (since there’s still the possibility it’s not a prequel).
We also chatted with Matt Powers, a Senior Producer on the game for Sega, about the Wii U version of the game. Powers initially referred to the game as “the Wii U port” and Faylor rushed back over to scold him, telling us: “I hate that word. The Wii U version is not a port. Remove it from your vocabulary.”
After that rather tense exchange, we tried to get Powers to talk more about how the Wii U controller would come into play. With the Community Manager standing over his shoulder, he would only say that “there are interesting things you can do with the Wii U controller” and “for an Aliens game, you can probably guess what some of those things are.”
For the non-diehards in the audience, Powers was (wink, wink) likely referring to the famous radar display Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, and the rest of the Colonial Marines used to track the xenomorphs in the film.
Aliens: Colonial Marines is expected to launch sometime this Fall.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Aliens: Colonial Marines, PAX East 2012