Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Wii U
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.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Serial Cleaner, Syberia 2, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
There’s one more big game coming to the Switch this year… and Nintendo’s Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will be available to download beginning tomorrow. The epic RPG closes out a huge first year for Nintendo’s newest console, and fans of the franchise can’t wait to explore the strange land of Alrest.
Other Switch games available to download this week include Serial Cleaner, a 70s-set crime scene cleanup simulator; Syberia 2, a Switch re-release of the classic adventure game; and Nine Parchments, a spellcasting action game from Frozenbyte.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including a few Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Serial Cleaner, Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Pokemon UltraSun/UltraMoon help Pokemon franchise surpass 300 million copies sold
The Pokemon franchise began in 1996 with the (Japanese) launch of Pokemon Red and Green. Since then, The Pokemon Company has added 74 more games to the franchise, including Pokemon UltraSun and UltraMoon, which launched for the 3DS on November 17. And according to the developer, the initial sales of those two games have pushed the Pokemon franchise’s lifetime sales tally above 300 million copies sold.
To celebrate, they’ve released a brand new “Accolades Trailer” for Pokemon UltraSun and UltraMoon, which is embedded above.
This milestone places the Pokemon franchise among some very exclusive company, as Nintendo’s Super Mario franchise is the only other game franchise to surpass 300 million in total sales. However, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto and Activision’s Call of Duty will likely join the “300 Million Club” soon, as both franchises are currently sitting at around 250 million copies sold.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Resident Evil Revelations 1 + 2, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
Nintendo rests for no holiday! Because it’s Thursday, the consolemaker just dropped a massive update on the Nintendo eShop.
This week, iOS and Android users will be able to download Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Nintendo’s “free-to-start” entry in the whimsical life simulation series.
But Nintendo fans should be extra thankful for Capcom this week. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which was originally released for the DS in 2008, will receive a 3DS re-release. And Resident Evil Revelations and Resident Evil Revelations 2 will make their Switch debut this Tuesday, November 28.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including a few Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Animal Crossing Mobile, Resident Evil Revelations, Resident Evil Revelations 2
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Super Mario Odyssey are October 2017’s best-selling games
A northeastern cold snap proves that Fall is all… as does the massive number of new releases that cracked The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from October 2017. WB Games’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of War lead the way at #1, but it was closely followed by Assassin’s Creed Origins at #2, Super Mario Odyssey at #3, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole at #4.
Nintendo actually had a huge month, placing four titles in the Top 20 (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#15), Mario Kart 8 (#16), and Fire Emblem Warriors (#17) were the others), as well as owning the top two hardware platforms. However, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall industry sales still dropped 11% versus October 2016 to $825 million:
With interest in the Switch and the Super NES Classic still sky-high, Nintendo hardware managed to account for two-thirds of the hardware sales generated. That being said, NPD noted that Sony’s PlayStation 4 is still the best-selling hardware platform year-to-date. Furthermore, in the accessories category, the black DualShock 4 wireless controller was both the best-selling accessory of October, and the best-selling accessory year-to-date.
The complete Top 20 from October 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed Origins, Destiny 2, FIFA 18, Fire Emblem Warriors, Forza Motorsport 7, Gran Turismo Sport, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 18, Mario Kart 8, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, NBA 2K18, NHL 18, NPD, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Super Mario Odyssey, The Evil Within 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, WWE 2K18
Skyrim, Pokemon UltraSun/UltraMoon, Rive, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
Nintendo Switch owners will be able to hit the road with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim beginning this week. Even though Bethesda’s massive RPG adventure is more than five years old, the fact that it’s now available to download from the Nintendo eShop is still exciting news.
Another diverse batch of games for the Switch will also available to download this week, including a food-based monster battler (Battle Chef Brigade… out November 20), a racing simulation (Gear Club Unlimited… out November 21), and a side-scrolling shooter from Two Tribes (Rive: Ultimate Edition… out now).
3DS owners will also have something new to play this week with the launch of Pokemon UltraSun Pokemon UltraMoon on November 17. Based on last year’s Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, they’ll be the last mainline Pokemon games to appear on the 3DS. Finally this week, the River City Ransom franchise returns on November 21 with the release of River City: Rival Showdown.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including a few Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Pokemon Sun/Moon, Rive, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim