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
New Releases: The Smurfs 2
Welcome to the Smurfiest week of new releases ever. And why is that… because The Smurfs 2 is this week’s only retail release. The game will be released for the DS (but curiously, not the 3DS), PS3, Wii, Wii U, and the Xbox 360.
If the lack of new releases has left you feeling blue, don’t worry, the game industry’s many digital download services will surely have an additional batch of new games this week.
The Last of Us is first among June 2013’s best-selling games
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us cashed in on years of hype and some of the best reviews for a PS3 game ever (including a 7/7 from our own Andrew Rainnie) to emerge as the best-selling game of June 2013. Last month’s report from The NPD Group featured plenty of other new faces including Animal Crossing: New Leaf (#2), Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (#3, the first time its been available for retail sale), and Deadpool (#8).
Call of Duty: Black Ops II, NBA 2K13, and Battlefield 3 continue their lengthy runs as they sold enough copies to land at, respectively, #4, #5, and #9. The complete list of June 2013’s top ten best-selling games can be found after the break.
According to the NPD’s monthly report (via Game Informer), total retail sales of games, consoles, and accessories amounted to $593.3 million, a 15% decline from June 2012’s $700.6 million total. (more…)
Angry Birds Star Wars flies onto consoles, handhelds this October
Activision and Rovio are teaming up again to bring Angry Birds Star Wars to consoles and handhelds this Fall (hmm… which one is the Emperor and which one is Darth Vader?). The “saga” of birds batting pigs continues on the 3DS, PS3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360 this October.
In addition to high definition graphics, the console/handheld version of Angry Birds Star Wars will add 20 new levels to the game as well as new new competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes.
Angry Birds Star Wars will be released for consoles and handhelds on October 29.
New Releases: Shin Megami Tensei IV, Dynasty Warriors 8, Time and Eternity, More
It’s a “grab bag” week of new releases as there’s a little something for everyone.
Atlus is bringing their popular Shin Megami Tensei series (known as MegaTen to fans and well wishers) back to the 3DS with the fourth numbered entry in the series, Shin Megami Tensei IV. It will be joined by Time and Eternity, a hand-drawn PS3 RPG from NIS America, that other Japanese RPG powerhouse.
Fans of action games will be happy to know that another Dynasty Warriors game will be available in stores this week. Dynasty Warriors 8 will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. In other action news, somebody packaged all of the Serious Sam games together for the Xbox 360-exclusive The Serious Sam Collection.
Finally this week, Turbo: Super Stunt Squad, from DreamWorks and D3 Publisher, will be released on nearly every system known to man: 3DS, DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
Angry Birds Trilogy comes to Wii U, Wii on August 13
After releasing the game on the 3DS, PS3, and Xbox 360 last year, Activision plans to fling Angry Brids Trilogy onto the Wii U and Wii this August 13.
The Trilogy includes Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio, along with 40 hours of “bonus gameplay,” and 19 exclusive episodes. The Wii U version also includes high definition graphics, GamePad touchscreen controls, and Off-TV play.
Angry Birds Trilogy will be available for the Wii U and Wii on August 13.
Posted in News, Wii, Wii U
Tagged Angry Birds Trilogy
Pandora’s Tower Review: An Exquisite Passage
Pandora’s Tower is the third game published by Nintendo in Japan that has made it to North America thanks to the activist efforts of Operation Rainfall. It is also the one I was most excited for of the three. The strange, beautiful trailers filtering here from Japan intrigued me, and the combat system looked refreshing and different. While the graphics are limited on the Wii, the strength of both the gameplay and the narrative drew me in. When I finally played the game, it was even weirder than I’d expected, but even with the weaknesses, I felt my 25 hours were well spent. (more…)
Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Wii
Tagged Pandora's Tower
Injustice: Gods Among Us scores another sales knockout in the May 2013 NPD report
Yup, you can definitely tell we’re in a console transition period. Just a single new release was able to crack the list of the top ten best-selling games of May 2013.
Deep Silver’s Metro: Last Light was that game and the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 shooter was able to claim the sixth spot for the mutants of post-apocalyptic Russia. A pair of sorta-new releases helped push the profile of two titles that were originally released in years past. The 3DS version of Donkey Kong Country Returns lifted the game to #3 and the Wii U re-release of Lego Batman 2 helped the Brick Knight squeeze into the #10 slot.
According to Game Informer, sales of retail games are down 31% from May 2012 and retail sales are going to continue to drop as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony move towards an all-digital future. Althugh, to be fair, May 2012 did include the release of Diablo III, which sold a ton of copies at retail.
The NPD Group’s complete report on the top ten best-selling games from May 2013 can be found after the break. (more…)
Activision is bringing CoD: Ghosts, Destiny, Skylanders Swap Force to E3 2013
Activision has unveiled their E3 2013 lineup and, unlike past years, it is not an unwieldy behemoth that seems to go forever. The biggest third-party publisher is going laser-focused for this year’s expo and focusing on three titles: Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, Bungie’s Destiny, and the third game in their mega-popular Skylanders series, Skylanders Swap Force.
And speaking of Skylanders Swap Force, Activision also confirmed that the game will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One (because, of course it is) and that the 3DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360 versions will be available on October 13.
More details on all three of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)