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
Monolith Soft hiring en masse for an upcoming Wii U project
We’ve all been so excited about the third party developers supporting the Wii U that sometimes we forget about Nintendo’s own first party studios. One would hope the best of the best would be gearing up to work on the new platform, and it seems that Monolith Soft is doing just that.
The once Xenogears, then Xenosaga, now Xenoblade developer is accepting applications for nearly every position under the sun, from 3D artists to 2D artists, planners, and even office staff. Monolith Soft got some pretty nice visuals out of the Wii on its last project, it will be interesting to see what they can do with the Wii U.
Any other studios or franchises you’d like to see on the Wii U? If Nintendo got a license for Shining Force from Sega and had their own Camelot Software Planning (the original developers) make it, I would literally throw my PS3 out the window.
Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U is “several years” away
One of the highlights of Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference was the announcement of a new Super Smash Bros. game for the 3DS and Wii U. It was also revealed that the games will be developed by Kid Icarus: Uprising mastermind Masahiro Sakurai. But Sakurai recently informed Famitsu (and translated by 1UP) that gamers shouldn’t expect them anytime soon.
“Right now, we’re devoting all our manpower to working on Kid Icarus. We’ve got no plans whatsoever — we’ve got two new games out in the open when there’s no extra time to work with them at all. It makes me cringe, and I’m not sure it’s the smartest thing to make gamers wait for several years, but the early announcement was made chiefly in order to attract new team members.”
So the next Smash Bros. is “several years” away? Ouch. Let’s hope Sakurai and his team at Project Sora can find the right people to fit in with the group as they work on the fourth Smash Bros. game.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Gabe Newell talks Half-Life 2: Episode 3 release date, Wii U development
Valve’s big boss, Gabe Newell, joined Al Gore to deliver a keynote address at yesterday’s Games for Change Festival. In addition to big talk about where games can take society, Newell answered a few queries on where Valve itself plans to go.
Expectedly, Newell was asked about the status of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and when it would be coming out. Instead of holding up a massive sign reading “When It’s Done,” Newell replied “If you know enough to ask the question, you know enough what the answer is.” A clever quip to be sure, but I still think Newell needs a giant sign with the words “When It’s Done” on it.
Valve’s fearless leader also talked a bit about the Wii U and even hinted that Nintendo’s next system may have a place in future Valve development:
“Wii U seems to be a lot more powerful than the previous generation. It sort of fits better into the scalability in terms of graphics performance and CPU performance, so I think it’ll be a lot easier for us to fit it into our scalability model.”
“We’ve always loved Nintendo. Now it’s a lot easier to look at Wii U and have it fit within that framework.”
So I guess the question is now, “When will Half-Life 2: Episode 3 be released on the Wii U?”
Posted in News, PC, Wii U
Tagged Half-Life 3
BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3 lead Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2011 nominees
Game Critics Awards have announced the nominees for E3 2011 and while none of them are surprising, it does give a glimpse of what the biggest games are going to be in the coming year.
BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3 lead the pack with four nominations a piece, while fan favorites like Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City sit among the next tier with three nominations each. As far as publishers go, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment lead the industry with a commendable fourteen nominations each, while the Xbox 360 holds the most nominations on a platform, with a whopping 55 total. Ironically, the PlayStation Vita debuted with seven, while the well-established Wii only garnered two, down twelve from last year’s awards.
For the full list of nominees as well as more interesting fact breakdowns, head over to the official site here.
Posted in 3DS, DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, BioShock Infinite, E3 2011, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Dragon Quest X may go HD on Wii U
Many long-time fans were disappointed to learn that neither Dragon Quest IX nor Dragon Quest X would be heading to the PlayStation 3. Given what Level-5 did for the series on the PS2, one could only salivate at the idea of a HD Dragon Quest. However, that dream just might become a reality.
Andriasang reports that Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada faced a good deal of harsh questions today, such as if Dragon Quest Collection will actually sell, given it features un-updated ports of the Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) versions of the games. Wada responded yes, since they’re being left untouched to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary. But another question came up, asking to know the logic of releasing DQX, a flagship title, on the Wii, a console past its prime.
Wada responded by stressing the importance of considering releasing the game on both the Wii and the upcoming Wii U. He also disclosed that Square Enix is already investigating their technical options when it comes to Nintendo’s HD platform.
Warp Zoned Podcast Producer Ryan Littlefield and I were discussing the potential uses for the Wii U’s controller for RPGs specifically, and I’m thinking the map system in DQVIII could make a great move here. While your favorite podcast personalities remain speculating, we can expect to learn more details about Dragon Quest X later this year.
Posted in News, Wii, Wii U
Tagged Dragon Quest X, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Warrior II, Dragon Warrior III
Sega exec hints at HD Sonic on Wii U
A week ago, Sega’s Executive Vice President of Marketing told GameSpot that Sonic Generations wouldn’t be coming to the Wii U. This was surely disappointing news for many Sonic fans.
Thankfully, Mike Hayes, the President of Sega West has some good news to balance it out. Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, he revealed that the company plans to bring a high definition Sonic game to the Wii U, possibly in time for the system’s launch:
“That controller is absolutely brilliant and we have to think of innovative ways to use it. We’re doing high definition Sonics, we’re doing obviously Aliens: Colonial Marines, so you can bring them across, and that’s relatively low cost, which is good news.”
So it’s not Sonic Generations, but it’s HD and it’ll be ready for release in about a year… maybe. Figuring out what’s going on with the Wii U is hard.
Mark Hamill NOT retiring as Joker after Batman: Arkham City
Last year, Mark Hamill said, regarding his role as The Joker in the upcoming Batman: Arkham City, “this will be my last, there’s no question about that. But it’s the last hurrah.” Hamill clarified his thoughts on the matter last night on Twitter, explaining, “only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting.”
Hamill has been voicing the character since 1992 across nearly every medium possible. Much like his counterpart Kevin Conroy’s portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne, Hamill’s performance is held to be more in line with the comics than the movies have been.
But this new announcement likely means that Rocksteady is already prepping Batman: Arkham Asylum 3 or DC is working on a new Joker-centric Batman cartoon. Either way, woohoo!
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham City
Devil’s Third delayed to 2013, Wii U release likely
Even though his game wasn’t playable during last week’s E3 Expo, Tomonobu Itagaki is still hard at work on his first post-Team Ninja game, Devil’s Third. Published by THQ, the game was originally targeting a 2012 release date, but Itagaki revealed that early 2013 is a much more realistic release date.
The developer also stated that his team at Valhalla Game Studios and THQ wants to bring the PS3 and Xbox 360 title to the Wii U as well. Nothing is ready to be announced yet, but the two companies are “actively looking into it.” Itagaki said that he’s very excited about the possibilities the Wii U can offer.
Finally, the developer confirmed we’ll learn more about Devil’s Third at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
[Source: Andriasang]
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Devil's Third