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
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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)
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All Articles: Wii
Madden NFL 13 picks the Ravens as the winner of Super Bowl XLVII
The football Nostradamus that is EA Sports’ annual Simulation Bowl has made its pick for Super Bowl XLVII and it’s the Baltimore Ravens. Using a copy of Madden NFL 13 running on an Xbox 360, the simulated game features Ravens narrowly defeating the San Francisco 49ers 27 to 24.
The simulation started slowly with both teams only managing a field goal apiece after the first quarter. The 49ers shot ahead 10-3 in the second quarter with a Frank Gore touchdown, but a Torrey Smith catch and a Ray Rice run put the Ravens up 17-10 at halftime.
The simulation was knotted up again near end of regulation after Joe Flacco tossed a TD to Anquan Boldin and the 49ers answered with another Frank Gore run and a Colin Kaepernick to Vernon Davis throw. But the simulation ended thanks to a field goal from rookie kicker Justin Tucker and an Ed Reed interception to put the 49ers away for good.
Joe Flacco was named the MVP of the Super Bowl simulation for his 19 of 27 completion rate, 260 yards, and two touchdowns.
EA Sports and their Madden NFL Super Bowl Simulation correctly picked last year’s winner (the Giants over the Patriots) and is 7-2 since they first began picking winners in 2004. We’ll see if they move up to 8-2 this Sunday.
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).