Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- “Animal Crossing” and Undertale” Lead the Way for New Book Series About Games at University of Chicago Press
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)
All Articles: DS
Mortal Kombat decapitates the competition in April NPD report
It’s no secret that the video game community has responded to NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat reboot with a resounding “I love it.” But like Shao Kahn taunting a clearly inferior kombatant, the game also emerged on top of The NPD Group’s April 2011 sales report. And according to a tweet from Kombat creator Ed Boon, the game sold over 1,000,000 copies during the month. Flawless victory indeed.
April 19’s other big release, Portal 2, teleported its way to the top of the list with a strong #2 showing. Of course, it’s important to point out that a good portion of Portal 2’s sales were digital downloads through Steam, which isn’t counted by the NPD.
But the biggest surprise from last month’s top ten might be the absence of Sony’s SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. The online shooter was also released on April 19th, one day before hackers took down the PSN. The service has yet to return and its offline status definitely contributed to SOCOM 4’s lackluster sales.
Hit the jump for the complete top ten of April’s bestselling games. (more…)
MDK 2 blasts onto Wii Shop today
One of the greatest action games of all-time, MDK 2, will be blasting its way onto the Wii Shop Channel today. More than a simple Virtual Console re-release, the game has been rebuilt for the Wii and Interplay has released the game as a full WiiWare title.
The DSiWare Shop will receive a trio of new games today, but none as cool as MDK 2. They include Mighty Milky Way, a puzzler from WayForward; GO Series: Tower of Deus, a dark and atmospheric 2D platformer; and Whack-A-Friend, a whack-a-mole game that uses the faces of your friends.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: 4/25/11
Did the Easter Bunny hippity hop his way to your house yesterday? It may be a day later, but Reggie Fils-Aime has donned his bunny ears and added three new games to the DSiWare Shop and one game to the WiiWare shop.
Hit the jump to learn more about Airport Mania: First Flight, Inchworm Animation, Ubongo and Word Searcher Deluxe. (more…)
Nintendo Download for 3/28/11
This week’s Nintendo Download is a bit thin as the consolemaker has no WiiWare or Virtual Console titles to add to the Wii Shop Channel.
However, this week will see the release of new demo versions of two previously available games: Dart Rage, a dart-throwing simulator; and Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 2, a “poetic brain-trainer” for the 3 to 5 set.
This week’s DSiWare releases include Simply Solitaire and Faceez: Monsters!. You can find out more about both of these titles after the break. (more…)
Guitar Hero III tops biggest moneymakers list
Guitar Hero may be dead (for now at least), but the franchise has certainly left its mark on the gaming world. In a report released by The NPD Group yesterday, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was crowned the king of all video games… in terms of total sales dollars that is. The music game has brought $830.9 million into Activision’s coffers, no doubt thanks to the expensive guitar bundle you see above.
Activision can also lay claim to the number two game on the list, Call of Duty: Black Ops (even though gamers have bought more copies of CODBLOPS than any other game ever). All told, the publisher snapped up half of the spots in the top ten.
But when it comes to printing money, the only other name that comes to mind is Nintendo. The consolemaker has four games in the top ten: both versions of Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii. The only non-Activision/Nintendo title in the top ten was MTV Games’ Rock Band.
Interestingly, no game on the list was released before 2007, but CNBC pointed out that the list may not be entirely accurate as Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 18 million copies back in 1990 (before The NPD Group started tracking game sales). Originally retailing for $50, the game’s $900 million dollar tally would surpass every other game on the list.
Hit the jump for the full top ten. (more…)
Natsume Championship Wrestling on VC this week
Back before every wrestling game had to have a WWE (or WCW or ECW or TNA) license to be successful, Natsume released Natsume Championship Wrestling during the Super NES-era and wrestling fans everywhere seemed to enjoy it. With WWE All-Stars scheduled for release next week, this new addition to the Virtual Console might be a good warm-up. It’s joined this week by the WiiWare release Arcade Essentials, “a collection of five classic arcade games.”
The DSiWare Shop will also receive two new titles this week: Shapo, a balancing puzzle game; and G.G. Series: D-Tank, a shooting game where players control a tank.
More information on all four games can be found after the break. (more…)
Captain America, Thor games go 3D, get new trailers
Captain America and Thor will be hammering into movie theaters this summer in Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, but Sega is also giving gamers the chance to control these titans of the Marvel universe in two tie-in games as well.
Yesterday, the publisher announced that Thor: God of Thunder would be released for the DS, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on May 3. They’ve also given a July 19th release date to Captain America: Super Soldier, which is also coming to the DS, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. A 3DS version is planned for both titles, but it won’t be ready until each movie hits Blu-ray/DVD this Fall.
And speaking of 3D, Sega has also revealed that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of both games will be playable in stereoscopic 3D. Because nothing says “duck!” like seeing Mjolnir or Cap’s Shield thrown directly at the screen.
Each game will support multiple 3D viewing options including anaglyph color mode using red and blue glasses for conventional displays, Side-by-Side & Top-Bottom modes for active shutter glasses and 3D televisions, and the higher resolution Frame Packing mode for HDMI 1.4 3D displays only on the PS3.
In celebration of the release date announcement, Sega has unveiled a new trailer for each game. Check them out after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged 3DS, Captain America: Super Soldier, DS, PS3, Thor: God of Thunder, Wii, Xbox 360
Preview Pack – Capcom’s Okamiden, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Super Street Fighter IV 3D
Many fans at PAX East were disappointed to find that the Chibiterasu special edition plushies sold out the first day. But what they weren’t disappointed about was the fact that Capcom’s DS/3DS lines were far shorter than those across the show floor at Nintendo. Mike Gutierrez and Nicole Kline got to check out Okamiden, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. (more…)
Posted in Previews
Tagged 3DS, DS, Okamiden, PAX East 2011, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Street Fighter IV