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
Anonymous devs say Wii U isn’t as powerful as PS3/Xbox 360
Here’s a shocker… developers are unhappy with the processing power of the Wii U! Speaking anonymously to GamesIndustry International, several developers laid out their concerns about Nintendo’s next console:
“No, it’s not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360,” said one developer who’s been working with the Wii U. What does that mean? “The graphics are just not as powerful,” reiterated the source.
Another developer at a major company confirmed this point of view. “Yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360,” said the source. “There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”
If what they say is true, it could certainly hurt the Wii U’s standing among hardcore gamers. The PS3 and Xbox 360 will be six and seven years old, respectively, when the Wii U launches, so the public is expecting it to pack a decent processing punch. Nintendo has said they plan to publicly reveal the final form of the Wii U at this year’s E3 Expo. So we should learn just how powerful the “next-gen” system is then.
However, I think the real crime here is that neither complaint has the artistry of former Maxis developer Chris Hecker saying, “The way you manufacture a Wii is you take two GameCubes and duct tape.”
If you’re going to slam Nintendo, you better be creative about it!
Battlefield developer DICE is hiring for a next-gen game
Who wants to work in Stockholm?
DICE, the EA division of mad programmers that play with the Frostbite 2 engine and brought you titles such as Battlefield 3 and Mirror’s Edge, is looking for a senior software engineer to help them craft their next-gen titles. Next-gen as in PlayStation 4 (AKA Orbis), Xbox 720, and Wii U.
What do you need to work at DICE? Hit the jump to find out, complete with translations for those unfamiliar with video game employment vernacular. (more…)
Rumor: Wii U will launch on November 18
It’s probably best not to consider this a rumor. Instead, look at it as a really obvious prediction.
Wii U Daily is reporting that the Wii U will launch on November 18, 2012. The site claims that they’re in possession of an internal email from Japanese retailer Media Land that confirmed the North American launch date as well as a November 25 launch for Japan.
The questions start piling up when you read some of the site’s other highlighted stories, such as Grand Theft Auto 5 coming to Wii U in 2013. In that article, Wii U Daily cites a “Rockstar financial report” that not only confirms a Wii U version of Grand Theft Auto V, but a 2013 release date. Needless to say, no financial report was issued by Rockstar (or parent company Take-Two) recently and no release date for GTA5 was announced.
But the Wii U launch date might not be bogus. The Wii launched on November 19, 2006 and the GameCube launched on November 18, 2001. Nintendo just loves that weekend for launching new consoles in North America.
So whether or not the email exists, November 18 is probably the real launch date for the Wii U.
Rumor: Silicon Knights working on Eternal Darkness 2
Dennis Dyack, the President of Silicon Knights, recently sat down with GamesIndustry.biz to discuss his company’s legal squabble with Epic Games. He also hinted that the company’s next project, a “next generation” game will be a sequel to one of their most requested properties:
Dyack’s not ready to talk about the next-gen project, but given his comments on Eternal Darkness recently, we have a strong suspicion that Silicon Knights is actually working on the fan favorite.
“We’re really excited and we’re working on our next generation stuff. We’re working on an IP that’s our most requested and we’re really excited about that.”
Interestingly enough, Nintendo reapplied for the trademark to Eternal Darkness in February 2010, making Eternal Darkness 2 a very real possibility. Though it should be noted that Silicon Knights themselves own the trademark to Too Human, so we could also be looking at Too Human 2 (the franchise was planned as a trilogy after all).
Hopefully we’ll find out more at E3.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Shadow of the Eternals
Assassin’s Creed III tomahawks 2012 with first trailer, new details
As promised, Ubisoft has revealed the first details of this October’s Assassin’s Creed III. And that’s not all, the publisher also unveiled the game’s debut trailer, which you can find after the break.
Assassin’s Creed III will star Ratohnhaké’ton, an Assassin with Native American and British blood. Ratohnhaké’ton adopts the name Connor and takes the fight to the Templars from “the vibrant, untamed frontier to bustling colonial towns [to] the intense, chaotic battlefields” of the Revolutionary War.
Gamers expecting another yearly addition to the Assassin’s Creed canon will be in for a surprise as ubisoft confirmed that Assassin’s Creed III will be powered by a brand new engine. Dubbed Ubisoft AnvilNext, the engine is said to include “breakthroughs in visual quality, character models and artificial intelligence.” That’ll surely come in handy when Assassin’s Creed III launches for the Wii U as well, which Ubisoft also confirmed today.
Now then, on to that trailer. (more…)
Give me Assassin’s Creed III or give me death!
Ubisoft released the boxart for Assassin’s Creed III today and, as rumored, the franchise will be jumping forward to Revolutionary War times.
While we don’t know which of Desmond’s ancestors this is, the white robe shows he’s definitely an assassin. And the tomahawk and quiver show that he’s likely part Native American (or he was captured as a child like Mary Jemison). But Native American or not, that Redcoat’s brain is definitely about to get very drafty.
Assassin’s Creed III will be released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 30. More details will be revealed in a few days, probably during the Game Developers Conference.
Ready At Dawn creating new IP for next-gen consoles
It looks like Bethesda isn’t the only studio dabbling in next-generation development.
Ready At Dawn has announced they’re looking to fill multiple positions for a new project not of this generation. Exactly which platforms the developer’s next-gen game will appear on are still up in the air, but we do know it’ll be a third-person action/adventure. It also won’t be a sequel to an existing game as Ready At Dawn said the game will be “an exciting new AAA [intellectual property].”
Ready At Dawn is best known as the developer of the two PSP God of War games and the Wii port of Okami. So they’ve definitely built up some goodwill among action/adventure. And I can’t wait to hear more about their next (generation) project.
Bethesda hiring for “future-generation console” project
That’s right, the Wii U, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 720 aren’t next-generation systems, they’re “future-generation.” And Bethesda has a game in the works for at least one of them.
A job listing on parent company ZeniMax Media’s website revealed the following position today:
- Extensive experience programming and optimizing for the Xbox 360 and PS3
- Experience with DirectX 11 a plus
- Passion for making GREAT games, and being part of a GREAT team
- Ability to contribute innovative ideas towards all aspects of game development
- Must create amazing things with minimal oversight
- Experience playing Bethesda Game Studios games a plus
So what we can infer from this listing is that a PS4 and Xbox 720 release for this unannounced game is very likely with a PC release almost a certainty (it is Bethesda after all). And the requirement that applicants have experience playing Bethesda games possibly points towards a new entry in the Elder Scrolls or Fallout series.
I know it’s just speculation right now, but yes please!