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
Nintendo Download: Moon Chronicles Ep2-Ep4, Dig Dug, Kami, more
The final three episodes of Moon Chronicles, Renegade Kid’s space-based first person shooter, have been added to the 3DS eShop today. Players have the option of purchasing episodes individually (priced at $4.50 apiece) or they can grab the Season Pass at a steep discount ($9.00 for the remaining three episodes). Moon Chronicles is joined on the 3DS eShop today by Kami, a paper-folding puzzler that was a hit on mobile devices last year.
Over on the Wii U eShop, a pair of Bandai Namco favorites from the NES era are now available to download. Dig Dug is the classic underground digging game where players are tasked with pumping up a variety of enemies until they explode. Mappy-Land is slightly less well-known, but the ridiculously hard platformer is sure to ring the nostalgia bell for some players.
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 Moon Chronicles
Kickstart This! Elventales, Threshold, Maestros of the Anthymn
After an extended Christmas break, Kickstart This! is back with a vengeance, sifting through the crowdfunding projects of early 2015 to find those few that stand out from the digital masses. And even better, Kickstarter has now dropped Amazon payments in favour of payment system Stripe, which means not only is it easier for developers to set up payments, but there are also fewer steps for players to make them. Everyone wins.
This week there is top-down RPG Elventales: A Path Foreseen, beautiful hand-painted 2D platformer Threshold, and finally, episodic fantasy adventure tale Maestros of the Anthymn.
Let the adventure begin! (more…)
Lego Jurassic World teaser trailer promises June 2015 release date
WB Games has unveiled a teaser trailer for Lego Jurassic World and it includes everything you could ever want from the intersection of Legos and dinosaurs. There’s a recreation of the famous water glass scene, funny dinosaurs, and a short-armed Tyrannosaurus gag. We’ve also learned that players will be able to play as a Lego dinosaur to (presumably) terrorize patrons of the park.
“As ardent fans of Universal’s Jurassic Park films, we are thrilled with the opportunity to finally bring Lego dinosaurs to life for the first time in a videogame in Lego Jurassic World,” said Tom Stone, the Managing Director at TT Games. “Imagine playing as the ominous Lego T. Rex, roaming the grounds of Isla Nublar, smashing Lego bricks and battling with other dinosaurs… this game is bound to bring out the kid in all of us.”
Lego Jurassic World will be released this June for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Sega to institute layoffs, early retirement program as company continues to struggle
Sega (which officially does business under the Sega Sammy Holdings name) has been dealing with financial difficulties for some time, but it looks like their latest round of problems will result in some big changes for the company.
Sega’s Board of Directors met this morning and hammered out a restructuring plan that they believe will help the company’s financial position in the future. Unfortunately, a key part of that plan will involve an unspecified number of layoffs and a voluntary early requirement program that the company will offer to 300 employees. Some of the layoffs will come from Sega of America, which will be moving from its current headquarters in San Francisco to a smaller facility somewhere in Southern California.
The restructuring, which is expected to be completed by the Summer, will also lead to a new focus on downloadable titles developed for smartphones and the PC. Sega is also heavily involved in big budget and mid-tier on consoles and the PC, but it’s currently unknown how this plan will affect the company’s internal development teams.
Nintendo Download: Metroid Prime Trilogy, Gunman Clive 2, Shadow of the Ninja, more
With its incredibly tiny print run, Metroid Prime Trilogy is rightfully considered the Holy Grail of Wii games. GameStop even commissioned a second printing and sells used copies of the game for upwards of $50.
Prepare to say goodbye to all that nonsense.
Nintendo added Metroid Prime Trilogy to the Wii U eShop today and they’ve tagged the game with the much more wallet-friendly price of $19.99. However, if you purchase it before February 5, you’ll only have to pay $9.99, which is an absolutely unbelievable deal.
Shadow of the Ninja, a great platformer from the NES days, has also made its way to the Wii U eShop today. It might remind you a bit of Ninja Gaiden, but I remember really liking it back in the day. 3DS owners will also get the chance to download Shadow of the Ninja today. Speaking of the 3DS, the stylish shooter Gunman Clive 2 is now available to download as well as a Code Name: STEAM demo.
More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. (more…)
WB Games announces Lego Jurassic World and Lego Avengers
WB Games has announced that Lego Jurassic World and Lego Avengers are both in development at TT Games for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Both games will be released in 2015, though the Avengers game will debut a bit later than you might expect.
Lego Jurassic World will launch in June, just ahead or just after Jurassic World‘s theatrical opening on June 12. The game will include levels based on all four films including Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, and Jurassic World. Most important of all, do you realize what this means? Lego Muldoon mumbling “Clever girl…” before getting eaten by Lego Raptors!
Meanwhile, Lego Avengers will be released in the Fall, presumably around the same date as The Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s Blu-ray/DVD debut. Like Lego Jurassic Park, Lego Avengers will include levels based on The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Finally, WB Games made two other Lego-related announcements this morning. First, the publisher confirmed that Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin will be available for the 3DS and Vita on March 24. And second, they revealed that Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will be released for mobile devices this Summer.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Lego Avengers, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Lego Jurassic World, Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin
Mario Maker may be delayed as Wii U reaches 9.2 million in sales
Nintendo updated investors on the Wii U’s life-to-date sales performance yesterday and, as of December 31, 2014, 9.2 million Wii U consoles have been sold. This is well behind the sales curve of the Wii, which had sold close to 45 million consoles during this point in its life cycle.
In other bad news, it looks like Mario Maker, a game that lets players create their own Mario courses inspired by Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, has been delayed. Originally pegged for a “1st Half of 2015” release, the game is now listed in Nintendo’s release calendar as “TBA 2015.”
However, it’s not all bad news. The company posted a 59.5 billion yen ($504 million) profit for their fiscal year to date and a number of games are selling really well including Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby (a lifetime total of 9.35 million copies sold), Super Smash Bros. For 3DS (6.19 million copies sold), Mario Kart 8 (4.77 million copies sold), and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U (3.39 million copies sold).
Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age 3 lead all nominees at 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards
Another major award show has announced their 2014/2015 nominees and, once again, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor lead the pack. This time, we’re discussing the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards, where each game has secured five nominations apiece.
Naturally, both games are competing for the Game of the Year prize, alongside Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, and Shovel Knight. Dragon Age: Inquisition was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” and “Excellence in Design and Direction.” Shadow of Mordor is up for most of the same secondary awards, except swap out “Excellence in Gameplay” for “Excellence in Animation.”
The winners of the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards will be announced on Saturday, March 14 as part of the SXSW Gaming Expo, which runs from March 13th through the 15th in Austin, Texas. The first list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Shovel Knight, Tabletop Games