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
Pucca’s Kisses Game plants a wet one on the Wii Shop
This week’s Nintendo Download is getting into the spirit of Valentine’s Day thanks to the new WiiWare release Pucca’s Kisses Game.
Pucca’s Kisses Game is an “interactive cartoon” that tells the tale of a young woman in love with a ninja and the lengths she’ll go to to cover that ninja in kisses. It’s like a ninja love story!
While Pucca’s Kisses Game is the only WiiWare release this week, it’s joined by a trio of new games in the DSiWAre Shop. Treasure Hunter X is a platformer set in a treasure-filled cave; Oscar in Toyland 2 is a platformer on a mission for missing toys; and Panda Craze is a platformer starring a panda. If you love platformers, this week’s DSiWare update might be for you.
More information on all four of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon game details, teaser trailer roll out
I’m sure you’re shocked, absolutely shocked, to discover that Activision is hard at work on a game adaptation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The trilogy-capping entry in the Transformers film saga will be released this Summer and Transformers: War For Cybertron developer High Moon Studios has been hard at work on the PS3 and Xbox 360 edition for about a year now. The developer used this weekend’s New York Toy Fair to tease out a few details of the game to IGN along with that nifty trailer above.
According to Game Director Sean Miller, Dark of the Moon will feel instantly familar to anyone that played War For Cybertron as the game will feature a similar control and gameplay scheme. It will also feature an online multiplayer mode similar to War For Cybertorn, although Miller wouldn’t confirm or deny any game modes beyond Deathmatch.
Instead of following the movie’s script, the Dark of the Moon game will act as a prequel to the film, taking players through Detroit, Siberia and other locations. There will also be a third transformation option, Stealth Force, that IGN joked didn’t look very stealthy.
The Transformers: Dark of the Moon film will be released in theaters on July 1st and you can expect the PS3/Xbox 360 game to launch in a similar timeframe. A DS/3DS/Wii version is also in the works at Behavior Interactive.
Weekly Nintendo Download features Spot the Differences!, SCAT, more
As a young kid in the 80s, I knew even then that S.C.A.T. was an… odd… name for a game. Thankfully, the NES game didn’t involve bodily waste and instead was a shooter in the Contra mold. Anyway, this is all just to say that S.C.A.T. (which stood for Special Cybernetic Attack Team) is available on the Virtual Console this week.
Spot the Differences!, a picture comparing game, is the lone WiiWare original this week. Although demo versions of Lit and Urbanix will be available to download from the Wii Shop Channel as well.
The DSiWare Shop will receive a quartet of new games this week: G.G Series: Dark Spirits, a side-scrolling shooter; Boom Boom Squaries, a puzzle game; 505 Tangram, another puzzle game; and Shawn Johnson Gymnastics, a gymnastics simulator.
More information on all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Special unlock for early purchasers of Pokemon Black & White
Nintendo is on a mission: to make sure Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White Version have as big of a launch as possible. To do it, they have announced today that anyone who purchases the fifth generation of Pokemon games from its March 6 release date up until April 10, 2011 will receive a Liberty Pass through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The pass allows them to catch the cute little guy pictured to the left (throwing up the V for Victory), the Mythical Pokemon Victini. The Victory Pokemon Victini is allegedly the first to be both Psychic and Fire-based (two of my favorite varieties in one) and has the Victory Star ability, which increases the accuracy of itself and other Pokemon the trainer is using in battle. This is actually a pretty great ace to have for some of the three-member battles being introduced in Pokemon Black & White.
Pokemon Black & White Versions add more than 150 new pocket monsters to the Pokedex and will be available in the U.S. on March 6, 2011 for $34.99 on the Nintendo DS.
Posted in News
Tagged DS, Pokemon Black/White
First trailer for Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
The MTV Multiplayer blog has an exclusive first look at Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. You can follow the link to view it or you can just play the video right here.
In the video, you’ll be treated to a Lego-ized version of Jack Sparrow’s grand entrance from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The game will include levels from all three current Pirates movies as well as the upcoming On Stranger Tides.
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean will be released for the DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 this May.
Kirby returns to the Wii, DS in 2011
Kirby’s Epic Yarn was one of 2010’s biggest surprises. Gamers everywhere loved the patchwork look of the game which had many of them in stitches (pun intended!).
But after a Nitendo investor’s briefing, it appears the company is wasting no time bringing the little puffball back. HAL Laboratory is developing a currently untitled Kirby Adventure game for the Wii that gives Kirby a variety of different hats. A trailer showcasing the side-scrolling gameplay is available at Nintendo Japan’s website, but it’s also available in a larger format on YouTube, which you can watch right here:
As you can see from the trailer, each of the hats gives Kirby a new power including Link’s Cap (which allows Kirby to swing a sword), a flame cap (that calls a dragon) and a cowboy hat (that gives him a lasso).
The trailer is very similar to one that Nintendo released years ago for an untitled Kirby title for the GameCube. Perhaps this game is that game reincarnated?
And on a final Kirby-related note, Nintendo included a new Kirby game for the DS in their quarterly list of upcoming titles, but no other details were revealed.
Posted in News
Tagged DS, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Wii
Disney Interactive cuts jobs
Disney Interactive is currently downsizing, apparently in a pretty substantial way, as nearly half of its 700 member staff may be getting the boot. Disney calls the layoffs a “restructuring process” in its statement. Variety reports that many were anticipating the layoffs as many key players left the division last year, including Graham Hopper, who spent the last eight years building the studio into a formidable entity in the gaming industry. New talent is coming in to upper management, including John Pleasants, CEO of Playdom, which Disney acquired last year. Disney’s current CEO Bob Iger said Pleasants would “focus on turning those businesses into profitability” and “diversifying our presence in the business, so we’re not reliant on one platform that’s obviously facing challenges.”
While terms can have multiple connotations in the business context, he may be referring to last year’s Epic Mickey, which released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, a console that is notoriously difficult for third party developers to find success on. Epic Mickey was panned critically, but is apparently the fastest selling game in Disney Interactive’s history, pushing 1.3 million copies last December.
Nintendo Download for 1/24/2011
Whether you like roller skating, fishing, or getting your poker face on, with or without furries, hit the jump for details on all the titles in this week’s Nintendo Download. (more…)