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
Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud will join Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U as a playable character
Nintendo’s inclusion of Pac-Man, Sonic, Mega Man, and Ryu in Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U has already made the fighting game THE destination for players looking to settle their “my favorite character can beat up your favorite character” arguments. But today’s announcement is probably going to shatter the Internet’s collective mind…
Final Fantasy VII‘s Cloud Strife will soon be added to the game as a playable character.
Cloud’s addition to Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U was announced today as part of Nintendo’s most recent Nintendo Direct presentation. It’s currently unknown when Cloud will approach the battlefield, but Nintendo will upload a special “Smash Broadcast” sometime in December with more details on the character and his Midgar Stage. Hopefully, Nintendo will announce a release date then. For now, you can get a sneak peak at the swashbuckling Cloud in the Nintendo Direct video embedded above.
And don’t forget, Nintendo previously committed to producing Amiibo figures for every Smash Bros. character, including those available exclusively as downloadable content. So an Amiibo figure of Cloud is likely in the works and will presumably be revealed soon.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Star Fox Zero will launch on April 22, 2016
Fans were definitely disappointed when Nintendo announced that Star Fox Zero would not be released in 2015 as originally planned. But the publisher seems to be using the extra time wisely and announced today that the game will launch exclusively for the Wii U on April 22, 2016.
The good news was revealed as part of today’s Nintendo Direct presentation, which also included a nice new trailer. It’s been embedded above so you can reintroduce yourselves to Star Fox, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Star Fox Zero
Nintendo Download: Nintendo Badge Arcade, Contra Advance, Stella Glow, more
Nintendo hosted a pretty packed Nintendo Direct presentation earlier tonight after updating the Nintendo eShop with a batch of new games. What did they add? Well…
- Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS) is a “fun-filled crane-machine game” that lets players create their own custom Home Menu Themes.
- Stella Glow (3DS) is a new RPG from Atlus that asks five witches to save the world with their “Song Magic.”
- Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX (Wii U) is a Virtual Console re-release of the Game Boy Advance remake of the great Super NES side-scrolling shooter.
More details about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Black Friday 2015 Video Game Deals: Best Buy
Black Friday is coming, is your wish list (and your wallet) ready? Here’s what you can expect to find at one retailer on November 27th…
The blue shirts of Best Buy have published their annual Black Friday circular, giving us a look at some of this holiday season’s best gaming deals. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Forza Motorsport 6, and Need For Speed have popped up in multiple ads and their $34.99 price at Best Buy is a decent discount.
However, the retailer’s absolute best deals are a pair of Xbox One system bundles. An Xbox One 500 GB packed with The Lego Movie Videogame and a Samsung 40″ LED TV will be available for $499.98 as a Friday morning “Doorbuster.” But if you miss out on that, Best Buy is also offering an Xbox One 1 TB with Rise of the Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and two Wireless Controllers for $349.99. Both of these bundles are fantastic deals.
Best Buy will open their doors for Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, at 5:00 PM. You can view their full ad at BestBuy.com or check out all the game deals after the break. (more…)
Black Friday 2015 Video Game Deals: Target
Black Friday is coming, is your wish list (and your wallet) ready? Here’s what you can expect to find at one retailer on November 27th…
Target is offering deep discounts on games in the “toys-to-life” genre like Skylanders SuperChargers, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, and Lego Dimensions this holiday season. They also plan to mark down big new titles like Guitar Hero Live, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Finally, if you’re in the market for a Wii U, the retailer will have a great bundle that includes digital download codes for Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.
Target will open their doors for Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, at 6:00 PM. You can view their full ad at BlackFriday.com or check out all the game deals after the break. (more…)
New Releases: Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, More
It is time. Bethesda is ready to open the Vault and unleash Fallout 4 on the world. The first-person RPG will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it’ll let players explore a post-apocalyptic New England and craft a new world to their heart’s content. And if that kind of openness and epicness doesn’t appeal to you, there’s always Super Mutants to shoot.
Bethesda has also partnered with Microsoft to offer a 1TB Xbox One + Fallout 4 Bundle in case you haven’t made your new-generation console decision yet.
Speaking of Microsoft, the consolemaker will also partner with Square Enix this week to exclusively launch Rise of the Tomb Raider for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Lara Croft’s next adventure will eventually make its debut on the PC and PS4 in 2016, but for now, you’ll need to raid tombs and make insane archaeological discoveries on a Microsoft platform.
Stepping out of the past and rocketing into the future, this week will also see the release of Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, the finale to Blizzard’s StarCraft II trilogy. Focusing on the Protoss, the standalone game will actually “unite the three races in the ultimate battle for survival against an ancient evil threatening all life in the universe.”
Finally this week, a pair of Wii U exclusives prove that Nintendo’s little corner of video gaming is still an interesting place to be. Nintendo themselves will publish Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, a board game that is changed and shaped as Amiibo figures and Amiibo Cards are dropped into play. And NIS America will release Rodea: The Sky Soldier, another skybound adventure from Yuji Naka, the creator of Nights Into Dreams.
The complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rodea: The Sky Soldier, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
Activision will develop Call of Duty “cinematic universe” and Skylanders animated TV series
Activision is going to Hollywood! The megapublisher has announced the formation of Activision Blizzard Studios, a new film and television studio that will create content based on their most popular game franchises. Nick Van Dyk, a former executive at Disney, will co-lead the studio along another executive who will be named later.
Not surprisingly, the first project from the studio will be an animated television series based on the Skylanders range of games and toys. A premiere date wasn’t announced, but the series is alreadyy in production and Activision has lined up an impressive voice cast including Justin Long as Spyro, Ashley Tisdale as Stealth Elf, Jonathan Banks as Eruptor, and Norm MacDonald as Glumshanks. Eric Rogers, a writer best known for his work on Futurama, will serve as the showrunner.
Activision Blizzard Studios is also hard at work on laying the groundwork for a Call of Duty “cinematic universe,” which they hope to launch with “a series of Call of Duty feature films as well as the possibility of television adaptations.” It takes guts to promise multiple movies, a television series, and an interconnected cinematic universe.
Bobby Kotick, Activision’s CEO, is confident that his new division can make it work: “Activision Blizzard is home to some of the most successful entertainment franchises in history, across any medium [and we] intend to approach film and television development with the same unwavering commitment to excellence we are known for in game development.”
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Skylanders SuperChargers
Nintendo Download: Yo-Kai Watch, Rodea: The Sky Soldier, Snoopy’s Grand Adventure, more
Are you ready to “catch ’em all” with the next big Japanese export? I hope so, because Nintendo and Level-5 will add Yo-Kai Watch to the 3DS eShop tomorrow. In Yo-Kai Watch, players will hunt down hundreds of “sometimes cute and usually mischievous” Yo-Kai that inhabit our world. These troublesome spirits can be recruited to battle other Yo-Kai, which will probably come in handy when your team takes on a three-headed boss.
Also available this week is Snoopy’s Grand Adventure, a new side-scroller for the 3DS and Wii U starring everyone’s favorite beagle and his avian companion Woodstock. They’ll jump, dance, and saunter through Snoopy’s imagination in search of lovable old Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
Finally, Rodea: The Sky Soldier will be available for the 3DS and Wii U beginning on Tuesday, November 10. Rodea: The Sky Soldier has a strong pedigree behind it as the game will be published by NIS America and was developed by Yuji Naka, the man behind Nights Into Dreams. Like Nights, Rodea is a skybound adventure where the player has to save the “Sky Kingdom” from the “mechanized forces of the Naga Empire.”
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Rodea: The Sky Soldier, The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure, Yo-Kai Watch