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
Axiom Verge is officially coming to the Wii U and Xbox One in 2016
Tom Happ has been tiptoeing towards an announcement about his future plans for a while now, but today the developer confirmed that Axiom Verge will be released for the Wii U and Xbox One sometime this year.
Axiom Verge is a “Metroidvania” that takes much of its inspiration from the Metroid half of that portmanteau, as Happ’s side-scroller puts players in the shoes of Trace, a scientist trapped on an alien world. Trace will need to do whatever it takes to escape, but he’ll also do it with style on the Wii U and Xbox One, because Axiom Verge took home multiple statues during our annual Golden Pixel Awards.
Presumably, Wii U and Xbox One owners will receive the same game that PS4 and PC fans have been enjoying since last Spring, as no platform-specific special features were announced.
Posted in News, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Axiom Verge
Two Tribes will retire after the release of Rive in September 2016
Two Tribes has announced they’re calling it quits after they release their upcoming side-scrolling shooter, Rive, this September. Writing on their official website, the company’s three remaining members believe they don’t have a place in the video game industry anymore:
Long story short (grandfathers like to digress!): when running a company, you need to be on top of your game, not just in terms of the product you’re making, but business-wise too. And we just aren’t on top of the games business anymore. Therefore, it makes sense to focus our attention elsewhere, perhaps even outside the games industry. We simply don’t know yet; but we do know that Rive is going to be our parting gift to you and we’re making damn sure it’s going to be an awesome one!
Rive will be the final game produced by Two Tribes, though the developer said they will continue to provide support for all of their previously released games. A new trailer for Rive, which is in development for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One, has been embedded above.
Good luck to everyone at Two Tribes, I sincerely hope you’re able to go out with a bang.
New Releases: Pokken Tournament, EA Sports UFC 2, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, More
Put your dukes up, this week’s new release report is looking for a fight…
Nintendo and Bandai Namco kick things off with Pokken Tournament, a Wii U adaptation of the relatively recent arcade game. If you’ve ever wanted to take control of your favorite Pokemon as they battle it out, now’s your chance.
A bit more down to Earth, but featuring fighters who are equally bizarre (cough Mike Tyson cough), is EA Sports UFC 2. EA’s second trip inside “The Octagon” for the PS4 and Xbox One promises a more realistic fighting experience and deeper Career options.
Also available this week is Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for the 3DS. While the two mascots won’t be trading blows, the Olympics always bring out a strong sense of competition for the whole world. And Mario versus Sonic is a fight that’ll probably never be settled.
Finally this week, Terraria is now available as a retail release for the 3DS, and Need For Speed will race onto the PC.
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged EA Sports UFC 2, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Need For Speed, Pokken Tournament, Terraria
Far Cry: Primal was the best-selling game of February 2016
It’s time to listen to the mastodon roar as Ubisoft’s Far Cry: Primal was declared the best-selling game of February 2016 by The NPD Group. Proving that players might be in the market for more titles that feature pre-modern warfare, Far Cry: Primal beat out Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which took the #2 slot.
Several other new releases broke into the top ten last month, including Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 at #4 and Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright at #9. But the most surprising result might be the less-than-stellar debut of Capcom’s Street Fighter V. Even after a big push from Sony, the much-hyped fighting game was only able to punch its way to #7.
Sales of new PS3 and Xbox 360 games continued to drop last month, and total retail spending on new games slipped 10% from February 2015. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD’s Liam Callahan said: “New physical software trends suffered due to a sharp decline in seventh generation consoles of 52% despite the 14% (or $28 million growth) in eighth generation software. Portable software also had a drop of 30% due to a poor comparison to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, which coincided with the launch of the New 3DS.”
A complete look at last month’s top ten best-selling titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Fallout 4, Far Cry: Primal, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Avengers, Minecraft, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, NBA 2K16, NPD, Street Fighter V
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture leads with 10 nominations at the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) bestowed some absolutely rapturous acclaim on Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture yesterday. The game, which was developed by The Chinese Room and released exclusively for the PS4, was nominated in ten categories for this year’s BAFTA Games Awards.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will obviously be competing for “Best Game” at the 2016 BAFTAs, and also for “Best British Game,” “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Game Innovation,” “Music,” “Original Property,” and “Story.” Two nominations in the “Performer” category (one for Merle Dandridge and one for Oliver Dimsdale) round out its double digit list of accolades.
However, five other games (Fallout 4, Life Is Strange, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) are also up for “Best Game” and any one of them could easily steal the spotlight from Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
We’ll find out who takes the top prize on Thursday, April 7, when comedian Dara O’Briain returns to host the festivities, which will be televised via Twitch and BAFTA.org. The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Star Ghost, Mega Man Battle Network 6, Bravely Second demo, more
Wii U and 3DS owners will get a chance to try out a procedurally-generated space shooter, a Game Boy Advance classic, and an exclusive bonus adventure that’s part of an upcoming RPG…
Star Ghost is a procedurally-generated space shooter for the Wii U that was developed by Rhys Lewis, a developer that was formerly employed employed by Rare and Retro Studios. Also available this week for the Wii U is Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar / Cybeast Gregar, which was originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2005, and is the final game in the Mega Man Battle Network series.
Finally this week, Square Enix will bring a Bravely Second: End Layer demo to the eShop for the 3DS. In “The Ballad of the Three Cavaliers,” players will return to the land of Luxendarc and embark on an exclusive adventure with Yew, Magnolia, Janne, and Nikolai that won’t be available in the full version of the game. Players will even be able to earn bonuses that’ll transfer to Bravely Second when its released on April 15.
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Bravely Second: End Layer
Aonuma wants to do “something new” with The Legend of Zelda Wii U
For a game that’s less than nine months away, we certainly don’t know a whole heck of a lot about The Legend of Zelda Wii U. It’s rumored to be an “open world” game, and the art style is certainly beautiful, but that’s about it. Thankfully, Producer Eiji Aonuma recently saw down with Famitsu (via Kotaku) to briefly give fans a window into the development process.
Aonuma revealed that his team is currently in the “end stages of development” and that he’s editing character dialogue and in-game text… just as he did near the end of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword‘s development. He also said that he wants fans to get “something new” out of The Legend of Zelda Wii U:
According to Aonuma, the keyword this time is “something new.” Ocarina of Time was a huge leap for the Zelda series and since then Aonuma explained, “I think the base of our secret sauce has always been Ocarina of Time. But this time, the change in flavor will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food. Perhaps, players will be surprised.”
“Please look forward to it, because I think we’ll be able to make ‘something new’ like Ocarina of Time was,” Aonuma added.
I’ve got to admit, I’m a sucker for a good food analogy and describing the game as “Western style food” will only fuel the “open world” rumors. Whatever happens, we should all be playing The Legend of Zelda Wii U by the end of the year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Today’s Super Mario Maker update adds Keys, Skewers, Super Expert Mode, more
Nintendo updated Super Mario Maker again today and added three new items to Create Mode, a new difficulty mode, more Character Costumes, and an update to the official website. Ready, here we go…
- Skewers – Those ridiculously crazy columns from Super Mario World, are now available by shaking a Thwomp.
- Keys and Key Doors – Available by shaking a P-Switch, Keys and Key Doors can now hide parts of a level behind a lock.
- Pink Coins – Much like Yoshi Coins in Super Mario World, shaking a Coin will now give players access to Pink Coins, which turn into a Key after all of them have been collected in a level.
- Character Costumes – A dozen new Character Costumes have been added to Super Mario Maker including Tetra from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
- Super Expert Mode – After completing the 100 Mario Challenge on Expert, players will be able to tackle another random assortment of courses dubbed “Super Expert” by the community.
- Super Mario Maker Bookmark – Nintendo will make a number of changes to the site, including adding a World Records search.
You can get a glimpse at all the changes made to Super Mario Maker today in the trailer embedded above.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker