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
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- 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
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- 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)
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All Articles: Wii
Sony has settled with “Kevin Butler” in trademark infringement lawsuit
Sony Computer Entertainment and actor Jerry Lambert, better known as Sony spokesman “Kevin Butler,” have come to an agreement in the trademark infringement lawsuit Sony filed against Lambert in October.
In the lawsuit, Sony alleged that Lambert appeared as “Kevin Butler” in a commercial for Bridgestone while promoting their “Buy Four Tires, Get a Wii” contest. In the commercial, Lambert’s character was dressed in a white lab coat, a big difference from the business attire usually worn by “Kevin Butler.” Sony also filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone for creating the commercial, which is still pending.
Under the terms of the settlement, Lambert admitted that his contract with Sony should have prevented him from appearing in the Bridgestone ad alongside a Wii system. He also agreed with Sony that his appearance in the commercial created confusion for viewers who strongly link him with the “Kevin Butler” character.
Lambert has also agreed not to appear in any video game-related ads for the next two years and, for the next two years after that, he will clear any video game-related ad appearances with Sony first.
[Source: MediaPost News]
Pandora’s Tower coming to North America this Spring thanks to XSEED Games
Pandora’s Tower is coming to North America! This Spring! XSEED Games is bringing the long-awaited JRPG for the Wii to our shores in just a few months.
Who do I thank first? XSEED, the publisher who brings us so many great games we’d never see? Operation Rainfall, the amazing team that helped bring Xenoblade and The Last Story into our arms? I’m certainly not going to thank Nintendo, who could have done this a million months ago.
I guess I’ll just thank the CEO of XSEED, Shinichi Suzuki, who had this to say in the press release: “It’s fantastic to be bringing such a highly-anticipated title like Pandora’s Tower to such a vocal fan base… North American gamers have been very patient in waiting for this game to be released, and we’re confident they will be pleased when they get their hands on the title.”
We’re confident, too. What could we not like about a “tale of unfortunate circumstance” that includes a character who “succumbs to a wretched curse during a festival performance,” and then transforms into a monster? The love of her life fights to save her, battling through thirteen towers and fighting monsters to reverse her transformation. Just watch this European trailer if you’re not convinced.
Posted in News
Tagged Pandora's Tower, Wii
Nintendo sold $300 million worth of Wii U hardware in 2012
What do you do when you want to brag about the sales of your latest system, but it sold less than your previous system? First, you stop talking about unit sales of your previous system and, second, you start touting the total amount of money your new system made.
Watch closely…
Nintendo has announced that the two Wii U hardware bundles have generated $300 million in sales during the last two months of 2012. The company’s newest system is now in the hands of nearly 890,000 gamers in the US.
Nintendo also wants you to know that the Wii only managed to generate $270 million in sales during its first 41 days on sale. So you see, the Wii U is clearly more popular! But wait… the Wii’s lower price means that Nintendo actually sold over a million Wii systems in 2006. Or over 100,000 more than the Wii U at the same point in its lifecycle. Whoops.
It’s still way too early to declare the Wii U a failure (or a success), but these kinds of half-truths when it comes to sales numbers never end well.
Oh well, at least New Super Mario Bros. U is a huge hit with over 580,000 copies sold.
Posted in News
Tagged New Super Mario Bros. U, Wii, Wii U
Nintendo launching Wii Mini in Canada on December 7
It looks like Nintendo isn’t done launching new consoles. After the Wii U’s release on November 18 (and the upcoming European launch on November 30), Nintendo plans to release the Wii Mini exclusively in Canada for $99.99 on December 7.
So what exactly is the Wii Mini? It’s a Wii system in a smaller form factor featuring a matte black finish with a red border. The included Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk also feature bright red plastic.
The catch is that the Wii Mini is a Wii-only system. That means no GameCube support and no Internet capabilities either. That’s not ideal for a serious gamer, but it looks so snazzy!
Nintendo Download: Wii U Roundup, Zelda II, Crashmo, more
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Nintendo is dishing out a ton of new eShop content thanks to their first Wii U games update as well as a handful of 3DS, DSi, and Wii games.
This week, Wii U owners got the chance to download five eShop titles including the dreamy Chasing Aurora, the white-hot Little Inferno, the high-defintion remake Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition, the twin-stick shooter Nano Assault Neo, and the puzzle platformer Trine 2: Director’s Cut. Almost two dozen Wii U retail games were also added to the eShop including New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and more.
3DS owners have their own batch of games to be thankful including another puzzle platformer (Crashmo) and the underappreciated Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Hit the break for more details on all of these games as well as this week’s new DSi and Wii downloads. (more…)
The Last Story is XSEED’s most successful game ever; price drop announced
Nintendo is the proud publisher of some of the bestselling video games of all time. Super Mario Bros. 3 has sold 18 million copies. Wii Fit has moved 22 million. The original Super Mario Bros. produced 40 million in sales as the pack-in game for the NES. Wii Sports has done 80 million in sales due to a similar arrangement with the Wii. A little RPG like The Last Story never stood a chance.
So Nintendo passed on publishing the game in North America and XSEED Games stepped in. Since its August release, The Last Story has gone on to become XSEED’s most successful game release ever. Though it surely hasn’t sold anywhere in the neighborhood of Nintendo’s biggest hits.
Sales figures for The Last Story weren’t released, but XSEED plans to celebrate by publishing a second printing of the game at a new low price of $29.99.
This new edition won’t contain the art book or the custom packaging of the Special Edition, but if you can still find that in stores, it’s received a price drop as well. The limited Special Edition can now be had for $39.99.
Posted in News
Tagged The Last Story, Wii
Nintendo is done with Wii development
We all suspected as much, but Bill Trinen, Nintendo’s Director of Product Marketing, has confirmed it… Nintendo has no plans to develop any additional games for the Wii.
Speaking to GameSpot, Trinen revealed the sad news that the company’s most successful console ever is counting down to its final days.
GameSpot: Is Nintendo developing internally any Wii games? Are there any projects in the pipeline?
Trinen: No, there are not right now.
This means that Kirby’s Dream Collection, which was released in September, will go down as the last Nintendo-published game on the system. This also means that the action RPG Pandora’s Tower remains in limbo and will likely not make its way across the Pacific (unless a kindly third party publisher steps up again).
Nintendo Download: Paper Mario Sticker Star (on Sunday), Pokedex 3D Pro, more
Welcome to your weekly dose of new Nintendo Downloads. Here’s what you’ll be able to download today (and one game on Sunday):
Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS eShop) – Available Sunday, November 11. When an accident scatters stickers across the land, Mario sets off on an adventure to repair a torn world. Searching Forests, Deserts and Mountains, Mario collects stickers to solve puzzles and battle monsters. Flatten characters, roll out towns and walk through living, breathing dioramas.
Pokedex 3D Pro (3DS eShop) – The Pokedex 3D Pro application is an upgraded version of the original Pokédex 3D application, exclusively available in the Nintendo eShop for $14.99. It includes detailed information about more than 640 Pokemon from the Pokemon video game series. The Pokedex 3D Pro application also includes in-depth sorting, comparison and ranking tools, as well as comprehensive details about the moves each Pokemon can learn, and how and when each Pokemon evolves.
Johnny Hotshot (3DS eShop) – After being warped into the world of one of Johnny’s favorite arcade games, Cowboy Hotshot, Johnny must take on the role of sheriff and purge the town of the bandits led by Mr. Wang!
Dress To Play: Cute Witches! (3DS eShop) – Make a little witch and design her outfit in the dressing room. When you finish, get ready to set off on an adventure as your character flies away on her broomstick to a peaceful world inhabited by fantasy characters.
A demo of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion has also been added to the 3DS eShop ahead of its November 18 release. Be sure and check it out along with the rest of this week’s Nintendo Download, which can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged 3DS, DS, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Wii