Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Retro
Nintendo Download: Pokemon Snap, Spheroids, and more
Before Pokemon Go let fans take pictures of their Pokemon in the real world, Pokemon Snap offered a similar “Pokemon on Safari” experience on the Nintendo 64. Originally released in 1999, players wandered the game’s countryside and used a camera to “capture” wild Pokemon on film. Pokemon Snap owners could even take their Memory Card to Blockbuster Video and print out a copy of their prize-winning photograph.
While you might be shaking your head at “Memory Card” and “Blockbuster Video,” Pokemon fans will probably be happy to learn that Pokemon Snap is now available to download through the Wii U eShop as part of today’s Nintendo Download.
Also available to download for the Wii U today is Spheroids, a side-scrolling platformer where blockheaded humans battle spherical aliens.
More information on Pokemon Snap, Spheroids, and the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Inside leads the way with six nominations at 2017 GDC Awards
The organizers of the Game Developers Conference have announced the nominees for the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards, which will be held on March 1 at 9:30 (Eastern Time). Playdead’s Inside tallied six nominations, including “Game of the Year,” “Best Narrative,” “Best Design,” “Best Visual Art,” “Best Audio,” and the “Innovation Award.”
Competing with Inside for “Game of the Year” honors this year is Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Arkane’s Dishonored 2, and Campo Santo’s Firewatch.
Double Fine’s Tim Schafer will host the GDC Awards this year for the sixth time. He previously hosted the ceremony in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.
The full list of nominees, and a huge number of Honorable Mentions, can be found after the break. (more…)
Pokemon Sun/Moon were the best-selling games on Amazon in 2016
Earlier this week, Steam provided a quick glimpse at the best-selling games available through the storefront in 2016. Besides The NPD Group’s monthly reports on gaming’s retail sector, it might be the best window into what sells and what doesn’t that we have.
However, Amazon also published a list of best-selling games from 2016 earlier this week, and naturally, it features a considerably more console-centric bent. Nintendo’s Pokemon Sun and Moon reigned supreme, taking the #1 and #2 spots. Final Fantasy XV was the best-selling PS4 game (#3 overall), while Madden NFL 17 claimed the Xbox One’s highest ranking (#5).
You’ve got to go all the way down to #18 to find the best-selling Wii U game (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD), and the only PC game on the list is Overwatch (#46). No Vita games managed to crack Amazon’s Top 100 (which also included console bundles and accessories), but the Wii version of Just Dance 2017 checked in at #21.
The complete list of Amazon’s best-selling games from 2016 can be found after the break. (more…)
The Video Game Canon: An Introduction and The Top 100 (Version 1.0)
The Video Game Canon is a statistical meta-ranking of dozens of “Best Video Games of All Time” lists that began in 2017 with Version 1.0, and the ranking has been updated several times since then. Which game is #1? There’s only one way to find out…
Is it possible to rank the greatest video games of all time in a “scientific” way? Do you just throw the question to so-called experts and let them hash it out in a no-holds-barred debate? Or is there some way to create a “Video Game Canon” that the wide-ranging community of developers, critics, and players can all agree on?
Probably not. But we can try.
Since gaming’s earliest days, dozens of publications have tried to sort through the noise and compile their own list of “The Best Video Games of All Time.” By analyzing all of these attempts at ranking the greatest games and combining them into a single list, we can apply a little scientific rigor to the process and possibly create a “Best Video Games of All Time” list that everyone can agree on.
Before we go any further, let me just say… no matter how we try to justify it, it’s impossible to prove, by “science” or otherwise, that one game is definitively better than another. My attempt at adding “science” to the mix is just a way to add some zing to the numerical formula doing all the work behind the scenes.
Ideally, this project will give us the chance to look back at the history of video games reflected through some the medium’s greatest titles. The list itself will serve as something of a road map to help us learn how the best games of all time are connected to each other, to better appreciate how players interacted with video games in the past, and to explore what video games might become in the future.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com for all future updates to this project and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Nintendo Download: Mario Kart 64, Castlevania Dracula X
Even though it’s Thursday, only two new games were added to the Nintendo eShop today. But Nintendo is definitely going with quality over quantity this week, as both can rightly be called stone-cold classics, and one would make an excellent party game for your New Year’s Eve bash this weekend.
Originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, Mario Kart 64 was the second game in the Mario Kart franchise and the first time it achieved perfection. Now available to download through the Wii U eShop, Mario Kart 64 featured the debut of four-player Battle Mode, as well as the infamous Blue Shell.
New 3DS owners will be able download Castlevania: Dracula X beginning today. Serving as a precursor to Symphony of the Night, Dracula X was released in extremely limited quantities for the Super NES back in 1995, but that won’t be a problem with the 3DS eShop edition.
More information on both games can be found after the break. (more…)
Home Alone gets the 8-Bit Cinema treatment in their latest video
Maybe it’s just me, but the “set traps to capture bad guys” genre of games seems like it should be bigger. There’s Night Trap and Tecmo’s Deception series, but I’m having trouble coming up with any others.
Even though Christmas was a few days ago, it’s still a great time for Christmas movies, and 8-Bit Cinema has gifted us their latest video… Home Alone. This time, the “What If It Was A Game?” troupe has transformed Kevin McAllister’s battle against the Wet Bandits into an overhead action RPG similar to The Legend of Zelda (naturally, The Old Man is portrayed by Old Man Marley).
While 8-Bit Cinema normally gives new and classic movies the game adaptations they never had, several different games based on the Home Alone franchise have been released over the years, including one for the NES. The real game is a side-scroller, but it’s functionally identical to 8-Bit Cinema’s adaptation.
Rob Gronkowski mocks Madden Curse in new video for Madden NFL 17
The 2016-2017 NFL regular season comes to an end this weekend, but Rob Gronkowski won’t be part of it. The freakishly good tight end for the New England Patriots suffered a back injury a few weeks ago and was placed on Injured Reserve on December 3.
Gronk started this season as the “Cover Athlete” for Madden NFL 17, and some would place his bad luck at the feet of the infamous Madden Curse. But you won’t hear that argument from him. Instead, you’ll get this gloriously ridiculous new video of his daily routine… which includes a pep talk for his rubber ducky, a hearty breakfast of Gronk Flakes (they really exist, by the way), and a little Madden NFL 17. It might not be the Super Bowl, but Gronk’s sense of humor hasn’t skipped a beat.
Maybe he can even give Conan O’Brien a call and play some more Mortal Kombat X after the talk show host’s kids go to bed.
Nintendo files another trademark application for Eternal Darkness
Video game fans looking for a good scare have been captivated by Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem since it was released for the GameCube all the way back in 2002. Developed by Silicon Knights and published by Nintendo themselves, the game’s unique psychological scares and sanity effects made it stand out in the crowded horror genre.
Now, it looks like there’s a possibility that Nintendo might bring the franchise back, as the consolemaker filed a trademark application for “Eternal Darkness” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on December 20.
While this is great new for horror fans everywhere, it’s not a guarantee that Nintendo is planning a sequel or a re-release of the original game. Back in 2013, the company filed a very similar trademark application with the USPTO, and nothing ever came of it.
But with the pending launch of the Nintendo Switch (and the rumored addition of GameCube games to the Virtual Console), maybe this time will be different.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem