Author: John Scalzo

John Scalzo is Warp Zoned's Editor-In-Chief and resident retro gaming expert. You can email him at john AT warpzoned DOT com.

Assassin’s Creed III tomahawks 2012 with first trailer, new details

Posted on March 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

As promised, Ubisoft has revealed the first details of this October’s Assassin’s Creed III. And that’s not all, the publisher also unveiled the game’s debut trailer, which you can find after the break.

Assassin’s Creed III will star Ratohnhaké’ton, an Assassin with Native American and British blood. Ratohnhaké’ton adopts the name Connor and takes the fight to the Templars from “the vibrant, untamed frontier to bustling colonial towns [to] the intense, chaotic battlefields” of the Revolutionary War.

Gamers expecting another yearly addition to the Assassin’s Creed canon will be in for a surprise as ubisoft confirmed that Assassin’s Creed III will be powered by a brand new engine. Dubbed Ubisoft AnvilNext, the engine is said to include “breakthroughs in visual quality, character models and artificial intelligence.” That’ll surely come in handy when Assassin’s Creed III launches for the Wii U as well, which Ubisoft also confirmed today.

Now then, on to that trailer. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Madden NFL 13 Cover Nominees: AFC North

Posted on March 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Are you ready for some football? How about a long and drawn out fan vote to decide who will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Well, EA Sports has you covered on both.

With just two to go, the Madden-maker has continued to reveal each division’s nominees for the game’s cover. The 64-player tournament will initially include two players from each team. Beginning March 7, fans can head over to the ESPN SportsNation Facebook Page to decide who will represent each team in the final 32-player bracket.

Today’s nominees come from the AFC North:

Baltimore Ravens
Ray Rice or Terrell Suggs

Cincinnati Bengals
Andy Dalton or A.J. Green

Cleveland Browns
Joe Haden or Joe Thomas

Pittsburgh Steelers
Troy Polamalu or Ben Roethlisberger

I don’t think anyone’s surprised, but Peyton Hillis isn’t in the running for the Madden NFL 13 cover. The Madden Curse doesn’t statistically exist, but it’s hard to argue that anyone has ever been hit by it as hard as Hillis.

But among the actual AFC North nominees, I think Baltimore’s Ray Rice has the best shot at the cover. The Raven running back ran for 12 touchdowns, caught three more, and even threw one himself in 2011. That’s impressive.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Forza Horizon skids onto schedule in Fall 2012

Posted on March 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Microsoft has decided to pull an Activision and split the development of the Forza series between two studios. Games carrying the “Forza Motorsport” name will still be racing sims developed by Turn 10. But this Fall’s Forza Horizon will be handled by debut developer Playground Games and is definitely leaning more towards the arcade style of racing:

Forza Horizon is a fast-paced, pick-up-and-play racing game and the newest entry in the Forza Motorsport franchise. Available this Fall, the game is being created in partnership with acclaimed racing development studio Playground Games.

While you may not have heard of Playground Games before, you definitely know them by reputation. The team is made up of developers from Bizarre Creations (creators of the Project Gotham Racing series) and Black Rock (creators of Split/Second).

So it sounds like Forza Horizon is in good hands.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Get your first look at Halo 4 in this video

Posted on March 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Microsoft and developer 343 Industries (I originally wrote Bungie, that’s going to be a hard habit to break) have pulled back the curtain on Halo 4 with the video above. The video gives us a first look at actual in-game footage as well as the updated Battle Rifle, and some multiplayer tidbits.

Halo 4 will be available for the Xbox 360 this Fall.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Xbox.com outs Fable Heroes, release date for Fable: The Journey

Posted on March 5, 2012 by John Scalzo

Lionhead Studios is counting down to a big Game Developers Conference announcement tonight, but it looks like Xbox.com spoiled things a might early. Microsoft’s site for all things Xbox has revealed a release date for Lionhead’s Kinect-powered Fable: The Journey (September 4, 2012) as well as a product page for Fable Heroes. What is Fable Heroes you ask, read on young adventurer…

Fable Heroes is a fresh spin on the beloved Fable franchise in which up to 4 players play both cooperatively and competitively in this hack-and-slash adventure. Work together as heroes of Albion to defeat familiar foes and new enemies while collecting as many gold coins as possible to unlock upgrades, characters, and items in both this game and Fable: The Journey for Kinect for Xbox 360.

From the description, the game doesn’t sound too far afield from what the Fable series is known for. That is until you realize that Fable Heroes is a cartoony, four-player beat ’em up planned for release through the Xbox Live Arcade. There also appears to be a board game component akin to Mario Party. Say what?

Don’t believe me, check out the first screenshots after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged , ,

Madden NFL 13 Cover Nominees: NFC South

Posted on March 4, 2012 by John Scalzo

Are you ready for some football? How about a long and drawn out fan vote to decide who will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Well, EA Sports has you covered on both.

Every day this week, the Madden-maker has revealed each division’s nominees for the game’s cover. The 64-player tournament will initially include two players from each team. Beginning March 7, fans can head over to the ESPN SportsNation Facebook Page to decide who will represent each team in the final 32-player bracket.

Today’s nominees come from the NFC South:

Atlanta Falcons
Julio Jones or Matt Ryan

Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton or Steve Smith

New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees or Jimmy Graham

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LeGarrette Blount or Josh Freeman

In 2011, Drew Brees set single-season records for most passing yards, most games over 250 yards, most games over 300 yards, most games over 350 yards, most completions, and highest completion percentage. In short, the man was a passing machine and made quarterbacks like Josh Freeman and Matt Ryan look like rank amateurs. But I wouldn’t count out Cam Newton, he’s the kind of exciting young quarterback that EA Sports used to pick for the cover back when they did the picking themselves.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Everybody Loves Shepard Edition

Posted on March 4, 2012 by John Scalzo

No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…

We’re T minus 72 hours from the launch of Mass Effect 3 and Warp Zoned has gone a bit Shepard crazy. During our look back at What We Played in February 2012, the Mass Effect 3 demo came up a lot. So much so that we devoted an entire article to a Hands-On Preview of the tiny taste of Shepard’s next adventure. And you better believe Mass Effect 3 showed up in our article highlighting The Games of March 2012.

And if you think that’s the last you’ve heard of Mass Effect 3 in this edition of the Weekly Warp-Up, think again and hit the jump to read the latest from the week that was. (more…)

Posted in News |

Persona 4: Arena battles its way into stores in August

Posted on March 3, 2012 by John Scalzo

A short report from Aram Jabbari, Atlus’ PR Relations Manager, has revealed that Persona 4: Arena will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in August.

Jabbari also brought along three ultra-colorful screenshots as well as a promise that Atlus is “doing everything possible to retain the full English voice cast from Persona 3 and 4.” The publisher also isn’t ready to confirm or deny the status of the Japanese language track in the North American release, so don’t ask.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged