Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Top Story
17 Random Thoughts About the Nintendo Switch (and its Launch Lineup)
It’s much too early to say for sure, but it looks like Nintendo is off to a great start with the Switch. The Wii U had bit of a hot start as well, but something feels different this time. Perhaps it’s the near-universal acclaim that Breath of the Wild has received. Or maybe it’s the interesting selection of exclusive launch titles that you can only get on the Switch.
Whatever the reason, after a week with the Switch, I’m enjoying it very much. And that’s not the only thought that popped into my head over the last seven days… (more…)
The Video Game Canon: Super Mario 64
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with an exploration of all the ways Nintendo tried to teach the world about 3D games with Super Mario 64. Here’s a teaser…
For Mario’s first foray into “The Third Dimension,” Nintendo wanted to ensure that everything was perfect. In fact, the Nintendo 64, its unique three-pronged controller, and the controller’s analog stick designed to better simulate 3D movement were all created with the needs of Super Mario 64 in mind.
Nintendo had good reason to be worried about getting all of the details just right, as most video gamers had never even seen a 3D platformer before Super Mario 64. Aside from a few experimental titles from the late 80s and early 90s, 3D movement was only found in a handful of titles on the market at the time, the most famous of which was probably EA’s Fade To Black. Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, which included pseudo-3D movement, beat Super Mario 64 to store shelves by about five weeks, but a majority of the game took place on a 2D plane.
So Nintendo used Super Mario 64 as an opportunity to introduce players to what was, in their mind, an entirely new genre. Shigeru Miyamoto’s exacting attention to detail helped mold every part of the game. The first interaction players had with the game was the appearance of an actual cameraman (Lakitu the Cloud), and instructions on how to control the camera’s angle with the diamond-shaped set of C-Buttons on the right side of the Nintendo 64 controller.
Actually, let me back up… the very first thing most players experienced after booting up Super Mario 64 was the interactive Mario face on the Title Screen. Miyamoto saw fit to even offer players a primer on polygons as the squares, rectangles, and rhombi that made up Mario’s face could be grabbed and manipulated in dozens of different ways. In a way, “It’s-a me, Mario! Hello!” was a coded message that encouraged players to jump right into this new 3D world.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Posted in DS, Features, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Wii, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario 64
The Games of March 2017
Well, it’s no surprise that here at Warp Zoned, we’re all talking about the same thing: Nintendo’s Switch! Nicole didn’t manage to snag a pre-order because she is some kind of newbie, but everyone else got one. Read on to see what they’ll be playing as soon as they pick up their Switch consoles! (more…)
Warpback: What We Played in February 2017
The month of February was a cold one, but at least we had our games to keep us nice and warm! We all did a little bit of dipping into our various backlogs, trying to get some gaming done before so many other games we’re looking forward to hit the shelves. Hit the jump to see what games we were playing here at Warp Zoned in February! (more…)
Interview: Serving Up Conversation About Joysticks, Pints, and Kickstarter With the Owner of Glasgow’s First Arcade Bar
One of the rare delights of following projects on Kickstarter is when you spot someone trying to build something in your own town or city, be it a video game, an album, a film, or, in this case, a bar. There is an instant, and intimate, connection of homegrown pride and creative curiosity. That’s especially true after Super Bario popped up on my radar late in its campaign.
For my sins, I never contributed to Super Bario when the project was live, despite my love of both video games and tasty craft beer. The arcade bar occupies a small space on King Street in Glasgow, Scotland, in an area teeming with art and creative spirit. It backs onto the Tron Theatre, while directly opposite there is Trongate 103, home to Glasgow Print Studio, Street Level Photography, and the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre.
I have now become a patron of the bar, and try to pop in when I can, enticing friends who love video games, or those who remember being a kid standing before that monolith of entertainment… a cabinet of wood and a CRT display flickering sprites into our awestruck eyes.
Super Bario has proven to be a great success, a space for gamers to chill and enjoy a drink while sucking in the sweet smell of nostalgia. Amidst the craziness, I managed to chat with co-owner Shaun Murawski, who along with Scott McLauchlan and George Black, conceived of the arcade bar back in 2015, and fought hard to make it a reality with the backing of 166 donors. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, Retro, Top Story
Double Dragon IV Review: Still Cyclone Kicking After All These Years
It’s 2017… How do you review a game like Double Dragon IV?
Designed by Arc System Works as a direct sequel to Double Dragon II: The Revenge (the events of the third game chronologically take place after the first), Double Dragon IV recreates the franchise’s NES-era look down to the last pixel. Even after playing it, if you had told me that Technos (the original developer behind the series) found an unfinished Double Dragon sequel from 1991 and released it last month as a brand new game, I would have believed you. But in a way, that’s exactly what they did.
Though it was only announced in December 2016, Arc System Works recruited a good portion of the original Technos team to help bring their vision for Double Dragon IV to life. Director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Producer Takaomi Kaneko, Character Designer Koji Ogata, Programmer Kei Oyama, and Composer Kazunaka Yamane all signed on to help bring the sequel to life.
But is it a good game in these early months of 2017? Umm… (more…)
Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Double Dragon IV
The Video Game Canon: Halo: Combat Evolved
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at Microsoft’s first attempt to enter the console market and the birth of Halo: Combat Evolved. Here’s a teaser…
Microsoft is usually portrayed as the stodgy suit in contrast to Apple’s hip turtleneck, but would you believe that the first Xbox prototype was built on a whim by a quartet of guys from the company’s engineering department?
Kevin Bachus, Otto Berkes, Seamus Blackley, and Ted Hase first took their “DirectX Box” to Ed Fries, the head of Microsoft’s video game division, in 1998. Even though everyone in the world had played a dozen hands (or more) of Windows Solitaire, Microsoft wasn’t a big player in the game development arena at the time. Similar to today’s line of console-like PCs, the original “DirectX Box” was an off-the-shelf Windows PC with a video card and a hard drive that hid the Windows-ness of the system from the player.
Before the “DirectX Box” could move forward, Fries and his team had to fight off a challenge from a separate team within Microsoft that had worked with Sega to produce some of the system software for the Dreamcast. They were pushing for the company to create a more traditional console (no Windows, no hard drive), and Bill Gates himself ultimately stepped in to give his blessing to Fries and his “DirectX Box.”
[…]
[Eventually,] Microsoft toted their Xbox prototype, which was a massive X-shaped silver box with a glowing green core, to the 2000 Game Developers Conference, and officially announced their intention to take over the living room (with an assist from Bill Gates and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). A few months after that, the company purchased Bungie Studios and their upcoming game, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Posted in Features, PC, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: Combat Evolved
The Video Game Canon: Space Invaders
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at the simple, yet addicting, tricks that Taito used to create Space Invaders. Here’s a teaser…
“Drop down, increase speed, and reverse direction!”
Somehow, the writers of Futurama found a way to sum up the essence of Space Invaders (in 2002’s “Anthology of Interest II”) with a single succinct sentence. And yet, in the days and years after its release in 1978, the game was considered something of a phenomenon. Even today, an oft-repeated urban legend claims that obsessive Space Invaders fans caused a shortage of the 100 yen coin in Japan.
Obviously, dropping a coin into an arcade slot will keep it in circulation, so it would have been impossible for Space Invaders to be the cause of any shortage. Though one thing those obsessive fans did do was raise the profile of the game’s titular aliens so that now they’re something of a mascot for all video games.
But it all started with, “Drop down, increase speed, and reverse direction!” Which as a formula was later refined and improved upon by Namco when they created Galaxian and Galaga.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Posted in Features, Retro, Top Story, Video Game Canon
Tagged Space Invaders