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
Shovel Knight Amiibo will be available in US on January 8 (but EU gets it on December 11)
I’m sure everyone that fell hard for Shovel Knight on the Wii U and 3DS last year was hoping to find a little shoveler of their own under the Christmas tree this year. Alas, it’s not to be… unless you live in Europe, that is. Yacht Club Games has announced that the Shovel Knight Amiibo figure will be available across Europe on December 11, but we in North America will have to wait until January 8. The developers apologized for this slight delay in a post on their official website, but they also want their fans to know that “it will not be a limited run, so please don’t feel pressured into importing or buying from scalpers.”
But once you get your hands on the Shovel Knight Amiibo figure, you’ll be able to unlock a full Co-Op Campaign (Wii U Only), five new Co-Op Challenges (Wii U Only), five new single-player Challenges, and the Custom Knight Creator:
Deep Customization with Custom Knight!
- Level up to a max level of 50 by finding treasure!
- Earn relics in an all new way while uncovering all-new relics, abilities, and powers you never thought possible!
- Customize the look of your Shovel Knight with cool and crazy cosmetic options!
- Use your Custom Knight seamlessly between Nintendo 3DS and Wii U!
Much like the platform-exclusive content available for Shovel Knight on the PS4 and Xbox One, the Co-Op Campaign, Custom Knight Creator, and new Challenges will only be available on Nintendo platforms.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Shovel Knight
Minecraft is coming to the Wii U on December 17; Nintendo-exclusive add-ons in the works
The whimsical world of Minecraft and Nintendo’s colorful sensibilities seem like a match made in heaven. So the frustration that many Nintendo fans feel at the game’s absence from the Wii U is understandable. But that all changes on December 17 when Minecraft: Wii U Edition will be added to the Wii U eShop.
Priced at $29.99, Minecraft: Wii U Edition will include Off-TV Play and six of the most popular add-on packs (Battle & Beasts 2 Skin Pack, Natural Texture Pack, City Texture Pack, Fantasy Texture Pack, and Festive Mash-up Pack). A huge number of additional add-on packs will be available for Wii U owners on December 17 too:
- Festive Skin Pack
- The Simpsons Skin Pack
- Doctor Who Skins Volume 1
- Doctor Who Skins Volume 2
- Star Wars Classic Skin Pack
- Star Wars Rebels Skin Pack
- Star Wars Prequel Skin Pack
- Mass Effect Mash-Up Pack
- Skyrim Mash-Up Pack
- Plastic Texture Pack
- Candy Texture Pack
- Cartoon Texture Pack
- Steampunk Texture Pack
- Pattern Texture Pack
- Greek Mythology Mash-Up Pack
- Halloween 2015 Mash-Up Pack
Finally, Nintendo and Mojang also announced that they will collaborate on at least one Minecraft add-on pack in the near future. Minecraft: Mario? Minecraft: Zelda? Minecraft: Metroid? Neither company is talking just yet, but I can’t wait to find out what they have planned.
New Releases: Devil’s Third, Earth Defense Force 4.1, Earth Defense Force 2, More
We’ll probably never learn the truth about what happened with Devil’s Third‘s. But development on the third-person action game is finally complete and the game will be released for the Wii U this week. Originally announced in 2010 as the first game from Tomonobu Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios, Devil’s Third was scheduled to launch in 2012 before a series of development difficulties and THQ’s bankruptcy created a huge bottleneck. No one’s really sure what happened in the intervening years, but eventually, Nintendo stepped up and agreed to publish Devil’s Third exclusively for the Wii U. Even with that relationship in place, the publisher has been extremely quiet about Devil’s Third over the last year.
Also on the “New Release Shelf” this week are a pair of bug-bashing sci-fi games: Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair for the PS4 and Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space for the Vita. XSEED Games has stepped in for D3 Publisher and completely reworked Earth Defense Force 2025 for the PS4, while also publishing the second game in the series in North America for the first time.
Finally this week, EA is expanding The Sims 4 with The Sims 4: Get Together.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U
Tagged Devil's Third, Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space, Earth Defense Force 2025, The Sims 4
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins Game of the Year at 2015 Game Awards
After racking up more nominations than any other title, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt easily waltzed away with the “Game of the Year” prize at the 2015 Game Awards. Held last night in Los Angeles, the game also secured the “Best Role Playing Game” statue during the awards show, as well as “Developer of the Year” honors for CD Projekt Red.
While The Witcher 3 is known for its size, two smaller games also managed to win multiple awards last night. Sam Barlow’s Her Story took home the Game Award for “Best Narrative” and “Best Performance” for actress Viva Seifert. Meanwhile, Rocket League reached its goal by winning for both “Best Independent Game” and “Best Sports/Racing Game.”
Nintendo had a good Game Awards as Splatoon took home a pair of awards for its unique take on the multiplayer shooter (specifically, “Best Multiplayer” and “Best Shooter”). Nintendo also won “Best Family Game” for Super Mario Maker.
Many other titles took home a trophy last night including Mortal Kombat X (“Best Fighting Game”), Life Is Strange (“Games For Change Award”), Ori and the Blind Forest (“Best Art Direction”), and Lara Croft Go (“Best Mobile/Handheld Game”). And Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain won “Best Action/Adventure Game” and “Best Score/Soundtrack,” though host Geoff Keighley explained that he wasn’t able to accept either award as Konami had barred him from the event.
While that turn of events was a bit shocking (and frankly, rather petty), the biggest surprise may have been that Bethesda’s Fallout 4 was completely shut out at the 2015 Game Awards.
A complete rundown of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Xenoblade Chronicles X, Pokemon Picross, Dementium Remastered, more
After a year of surprising new games (Splatoon, Super Mario Maker) and surprising delays (The Legend of Zelda Wii U, Star Fox Zero), Nintendo is finally ready to close out 2015 with what might be their biggest game for the Wii U yet… Xenoblade Chronicles X. The open world sci-fi adventure is packed with mechs, aliens, space battles, and the near extinction of the human race. And that’s just the beginning… the planet of Mira holds many surprises.
Try to forget about next week’s release of Devil’s Third, it causes havoc with my whole intro.
The 3DS eShop is home to a handful of interesting games this week as well. Nintendo is merging their Picross series of picture puzzle games with Pokemon this week in Pokemon Picross. Players will be able to tackle 300 standard puzzles, a “significantly” more difficult Advanced Mode, and Daily Training puzzles. On the opposite end of the cute and cuddly scale is Dementium Remastered, an enhanced remake of Renegade Kid’s first-person horror title.
Finally this week, we swing back around to the Wii U for the release of Trauma Team, a surgery sim from Atlus, and the first third-party Wii game to be added to the Wii U eShop.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Xenoblade Chronicles X
FAST Racing Neo will be available for Wii U on December 10
Shin’en Multimedia has announced that FAST Racing Neo, their sequel to 2011’s FAST Racing League and a spiritual successor to the F-Zero franchise, will be released exclusively for the Wii U on December 10 with a $14.99 price tag:
#FAST Racing Neo – The wait is (almost) over!
Release Date: December 10
Price: 14.99€/14.99USD/10.99GBP
#WiiU #eShop pic.twitter.com/YtQiizr7f1
— Shin'en Multimedia (@ShinenGames) December 2, 2015
Nintendo has encouraged the F-Zero comparisons by hosting demo stations of Shin’en’s sci-fi racer at this Summer’s E3 Expo and PAX Prime, helping FAST Racing Neo become one of the most visible “Nindies” in the process.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged FAST Racing Neo
Get your fill of aliens, mechs, and monsters in the Xenoblade Chronicles X launch trailer
Nintendo and Monolith Soft will release Xenoblade Chronicles X this Friday, so now seems like the perfect time to dive into a meaty launch trailer for the sci-fi game. Clocking in at more than three minutes, the trailer will give viewers a glimpse at several big moments from the game including character introductions, lush alien locales, monstrous mechs, and several absolutely enormous space battles. There’s also a rather spoilerific stinger at the end, so if you’re the sort who needs to go in fresh, close the video when you hit the three-minute mark.
Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released exclusively for the Wii U on December 4.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Xenoblade Chronicles X
Rive pushed back to 2016 by Two Tribes
Netherlands-based Two Tribes has announced that their side-scrolling shooter, Rive, will miss its planned 2015 release date. Instead, the game will launch sometime in 2016 for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One. Designer Collin Van Ginkel gave a very direct explanation for the delay on the company’s website: “The reason why we’re moving it to 2016 is simple… we’re not done yet.”
Ginkel added:
Since moving to a three man team early last year we had to rediscover how to handle things with less man-power. This means a lot of tasks have to be handled sequentially, instead of spread throughout the team. If we need a new trailer, the level designs stall for two weeks. If we decide to attend PAX or EGX with a booth, the entire project is paused for several weeks. It’s frustrating, especially since it means we can’t let you play the final game yet, but it’s our current reality and we are adamant to make Rive the absolute best game we’ve ever created.
Two Tribes has also released a trio of new screenshots for Rive. You can find them at their website.