Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Wii U
Super Meat Boy, The Escapists 2, Art of Fighting 2, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
While I’m sure you’re still excited about this morning’s Nintendo Direct Mini, the consolemaker also added a handful of new titles to the Nintendo eShop today.
The ultra-hard platformer Super Meat Boy rushed ahead of the pack, and is now available for the Switch with a brand new splitscreen Race Mode. It’s joined by Mouldy Touf’s jailbreak simulator, The Escapists 2, and a re-release of 1994’s Art of Fighting 2. Finally today, a playable demo of Dragon Quest Builders, Square Enix’s upcoming action RPG, is also available to download for the Switch.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including a few 3DS and Wii U titles) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Super Meat Boy, The Escapists 2
Warp Zoned’s 2017 Golden Pixel Awards: A New Beginning for Video Games
When we looked over the gaming landscape at the beginning of 2017, we opined that game publishers had done their best to wipe the slate clean throughout all of 2016. Many of gaming’s most mysterious projects were finally released, Nintendo closed the door on the Wii U, the VR revolution was in full swing, and upgraded versions of the PS4 and Xbox One were on the horizon.
In these first few days of 2018, I think it’s safe to say the last 12 months definitely fulfilled that promise. Nintendo’s Switch roared out of the gate in March and the consolemaker filled the calendar with big titles on “Day One” and throughout the rest of the year. Night in the Woods, Persona 5, and Golf Story told new kinds of stories that gamers had never seen before. Cuphead delivered a decidedly retro side-scroller packaged within a unique visual playground packaged. And someone even managed to create a fun Friday the 13th game.
It was quite a year, and you can find more of our favorites from 2017 after the break. (more…)
Posted in Etcetera, Features, PC, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Crash Bandicoot, Cuphead, Friday the 13th, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Injustice 2, Mario Kart 8, Night in the Woods, Persona 5, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Nintendo Power is back… as a podcast
It’s been five years since Nintendo pulled the plug on their official magazine, Nintendo Power, but bright days are ahead for the beloved brand. And that’s because Nintendo launched the very first episode of the Nintendo Power Podcast today.
Hosted by Chris Slate, the first episode delves into Nintendo’s big 2017 with Kit Ellis, the co-host of Nintendo Minute, and Damon Baker, the consolemaker’s Head of Publisher & Developer Relations. It also includes an extensive interview with Producer Eiji Aonuma and Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the minds behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
It’s unknown how often Nintendo will produce new episodes of the Nintendo Power Podcast, but I’m eagerly awaiting the next one. Each episode will be available through SoundCloud, iTunes, and the Google Play Store.
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Call of Duty: WWII leads a huge month for game sales as best-selling game of Nov. 2017
Fans have been asking to send the Call of Duty franchise back to the European Theater for years, and now that Activision has finally delivered, those same fans have gleefully opened their wallets. According to The NPD Group, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game in November, as well as the best-selling game in all of 2017 (so far).
Call of Duty: WWII’s launch helped push November 2017’s total game, hardware, and accessory sales to $2.7 billion, an increase of 30% over last year. Other big performers that fuled the last four weeks of sales included Star Wars: Battlefront II (#2), Assassin’s Creed Origins (#3), Super Mario Odyssey (#6), and a big debut for Need For Speed: Payback (#8).
The complete Top 20 from last month can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII, Destiny 2, FIFA 18, Grand Theft Auto V, Just Dance 2018, Madden NFL 18, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, NBA 2K18, Need For Speed Payback, NPD, Pokemon Sun/Moon, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Sims 4, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, WWE 2K18
Link rides a motorcycle in Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Champions Ballad DLC… which is now available to download
The Champions Ballad, the second expansion from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s Expansion Pass, is now available to download from the Nintendo eShop on the Switch and Wii U. Nintendo surprise-launched the DLC during last night’s Game Awards, while also introducing Link’s motorcycle in a new trailer:
In this second of two DLC packs that are part of the game’s Expansion Pass, players are granted access to a large new adventure featuring a never-before-seen dungeon, new insights into the background of the game’s four Champions, as well as a new high-mobility means of transportation. Once players complete the adventure, they will have the opportunity to traverse the enormous world of Hyrule on top of a motorcycle called Master Cycle Zero. The DLC will also grant access to nine new armor items for players to find, as well as the Ancient Saddle and Bridle items.
The Expansion Pass, which includes The Champion Ballad, as well as The Trial of the Sword, is now available to purchase for $19.99.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Game Awards 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wins “Game of the Year” at the 2017 Game Awards
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Cuphead, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice dominated this year’s Game Awards, which were hosted by Geoff Keighley last night in Los Angeles.
Breath of the Wild kickstarted the launch of the Nintendo Switch in a big way this past March, so it’s not surprising that it also won “Game of the Year” at the Game Awards. Link’s latest adventure also claimed victory in two additional categories last night, “Best Game Direction” and “Best Action/Adventure Game.”
Studio MDHR’s Cuphead was released to quite a bit of fanfare earlier this Fall, and the side-scrolling shooter delivered at the Game Awards with wins for “Best Art Direction” (thanks to its beautiful 1930s-inspired animation) “Best Independent Game,” and the fan-voted “Best Debut Indie Game.”
Finally, Ninja Theory has been touting Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice as their “AAA Indie,” and the game lived up to that billing with victories for “Best Audio Design,” “Games For Impact” (for a storyline that dealt with mental illness), and “Best Performance” for Melina Juergens’s voicework as Senua.
Congratulations to the development teams responsible for all this year’s nominees, and you can find a full list of the winners after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Game Awards 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
WWE 2K18, The End Is Nigh, Floor Kids, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
This week’s Nintendo eShop is here, and once again, a huge number of new games are now available to download for the Nintendo Switch.
Leading things off is 2K’s WWE 2K18. The wrestling sim makes its first appearance on a Nintendo console in several years, and fans will be able to compete in eight-man matches with “a new grapple carry system, new weight detection, thousands of new animations, and a massive backstage area.”
Also available to download today is The End Is Nigh, an “adventure platformer” from Edmund McMillen, and a spiritual successor to Super Meat Boy. Also this week, get down and get funky with Floor Kids, “a unique breakdance game featuring dance battles, freestyle gameplay, and funky beats.”
Switch owners will also find nearly 20 more new titles on the Nintendo eShop, including scrolling shooters (Dimension Drive and Gunbird), racing games (Riptide GP: Renegade), platformers (Slain: Back From Hell and Embers of Mirrim), mystery games (The Sexy Brutale), and more.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including a few 3DS and Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Staff of Polygon name their “500 Best Games of All Time”
Polygon recently celebrated its fifth birthday with a weeklong countdown of their choices for the “500 Best Games of All Time.”
Along with a high-profile roster of special guests (including Jeremy Parish, Susan Arendt, Jon-Paul Dyson, and Benj Edwards), the site’s staff put together this massive ranking of games that includes titles from nearly every platform and stretching back to the very beginning of the medium. They even set some ground rules:
We asked everyone to vote based on innovation, polish and durability, rather than simply personal taste. We cut games released in 2017 to eliminate recency bias. And we left out sequels that we deemed too similar to the games that came before them.
Collecting all those votes together, we then combed through the data for anomalies and came up with the final order you see here.
Polygon’s final tally looks very similar to our own “Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time,” and this includes their selection of Tetris as the #1 game of all time.