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.

Nintendo Download: Zen Pinball 3D, Hip Hop King, more

Posted on January 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

Are you ready for today’s Nintendo Download? This week, we’ll get new games featuring pinball, hip hop, the world’s greatest thief, and more pinball…

Zen Pinball 3D – (3DS eShop) – Zen Pinball 3D for Nintendo 3DS brings an incredible stereoscopic 3D experience to the acclaimed video game pinball series for the first time, featuring four original, beautifully crafted tables.

101 Pinball World (DSiWare) – Complete special objectives to earn fun bonuses as you shoot your ball through pipes, up ramps and around mind-blowing obstacles. Choose from 2 game modes, Quick Play and Random, and blast through over 100 fun tables on 4 exciting worlds filled with eye-popping details.

Hip Hop King: Rytmik Edition (DSiWare) – Create rhythmic and melodic themes or compose whole songs using more than 170 carefully selected sound samples of drums, percussion, bass, melodic instruments and phonograph scratches.

Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral (WiiWare) – Bad news, detective! There’s trouble in Moscow, Russia. St Basil’s Cathedral has disintegrated! All that’s left is a giant pile of sand. Carmen Sandiego is back and only you can foil her V.I.L.E plans. Travel the globe, solve brain-twisting math puzzles, and catch the villain behind the Crumbling Cathedral.

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii |

Binary Domain puts your favorite robot movies in a blender on February 28

Posted on January 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

Mixing imagery and plot points from I, Robot, Blade Runner, and The Terminator, Binary Domain looks like it’ll tread some familiar territory when its released for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

But the game also looks ridiculously cool… and why shouldn’t it? The game was created by the same mind who made the Yakuza series into a worldwide sensation after all.

Definitely be sure to check out the trailer above and shed a single tear (to prove you’re not a robot) over the game’s slight delay to February 28 (it was originally scheduled for release on the 14th).

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

XBLA Today: Amy, Choplifter HD

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

One of today’s Xbox Live Arcade additions should be familiar to anyone who checked out the PlayStation Network update yesterday. While another will debut on the XBLA today before making its way to that other download service next week.

Choplifter HD (which is also available on the PSN) can now be downloaded from the XBLA for 1200 Micorsoft Points ($15). The game, which is an HD remake of an Atari 2600 classic, puts players in the shoes of a rescue pilot:

In Choplifter HD, players take on the role of an up and coming rescue pilot asked to join the elite, international helicopter rescue team. Pilots will be trained to command a variety of helicopters with offensive capabilities including missiles and mini-guns, as well as a very vocal co-pilot. Combining reality with elements of fantasy, the more than 30 rescue missions will range from captured military prisoner extraction to saving survivors of viral outbreaks.

Meanwhile, Amy (which will give PS3 owners some undead deja vu next week) is now available to download from the XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):

The city is infected! Walking corpses sniff the air, flaring out anything still alive. There is only one thing keeping you from running for your life. A special little girl holds your hand… You’re not going anywhere without her. Amy offers you a tense, innovative and immersive experience in survival horror gaming. Play two original characters who alone are desperately fragile, but united become a force capable of confronting the denizens of a living hell. Get ready to become infected.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

MGS: Snake Eater 3D streaks into stores on February 21

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Naked Snake returns for his first ever 3DS adventure, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, on February 21.

More or less a straight port, the 3DS remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 features an exclusive “camouflage photography system” that will allow players to create their own camo patterns for Snake. Using the 3DS’ camera, these patterns can also be taken from real world pictures.

In other words, how long do you think it’ll be before Naked Snake becomes, quite literally, a naked Snake?

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D will also support the upcoming 3DS Circle Pad Pro. The add-on’s second stick will be used to assist players with targeting the minions of Cobra Unit.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged

Sony’s Kaz Hirai denies PS4 announcement at E3 2012

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Round and round we go, where the rumor carousel stops, only Kaz Hirai knows. The Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman took to the stage at CES and shot down all the “PS4 at E3 2012” rumors in one fell swoop.

Once again citing the “ten-year life cycle” that the PS3 was designed with, Hirai hints that the PS3 isn’t going anywhere for a long, long time:

“[W]e are not making any announcements at E3,” Hirai said. “I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

Oh well. It’s looking more and more likely that the Wii U will be the only next generation console to make an appearance at this year’s E3.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged

Final Fantasy Origins, Choplifter HD added to PlayStation Store

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

The first two chapters of the Final Fantasy saga were added to the PlayStation Network yesterday. With the addition of Final Fantasy Origins to the PSone Classics line, Square Enix has also ensured that all nine PSone games in the franchise are now available to download from the store. Speaking of Final Fantasy, a Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo was also made available to download yesterday.

Also available this week is Choplifter HD, “a classic arcade adventure, reimagined in stunning HD!” Players will be able to pilot their chopper through frantic war zones while rescuing survivors and raining down destruction.

Here’s what else you can grab from the PlayStation Store this week:

PSN Games

Crazy Machines Elements ($9.99)
Hundreds of totally wacky chain reactions are just waiting to be created! Experience the latest chapter in the international, multi award-winning Crazy Machines series: “Elements”. This time with next gen visuals!

PS3 Full Games

Sports Champions ($29.99)
Sports Champions will let you and your friends physically engage in an array of competitive sporting activities as you go head to head in six events. With the easy to use PlayStation Move motion controller, anyone can crush, spike and smoke the competition in the ultimate sports showdown.

Toy Story 3: The Video Game ($19.99)
In the Toy Story 3: The Video Game help Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the toys ensure no toy gets left behind. Dive into all new heroic adventures in Story Mode or let your imagination run wild in the exciting new open world of Toy Box Mode.

And for a full rundown of all the new game add-ons and demos available this week, head over to the PlayStation Blog.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Modern Warfare 3 Content Season trailer hints at single-player expansion

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Are you ready to go behind-the-scenes of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Content Season, specificially the new maps, “Liberation” and “Piazza?” Then you’re in luck, as Infinity Ward has released a video detailing all of the work the team is putting into the first of 20 content drops they have planned for Modern Warfare 3 in 2012.

Most interesting of all is the fact that Robert Bowling, Community Manager at Infinity Ward, strongly hinted that the team is planning at least one expansion to the single-player campaign when he summed up the new content that’ll be available for Modern Warfare 3: “Awesome multiplayer, new Spec Ops missions, extensions to the story, new game modes that we can add…”

The last (and so far, only) time a Call of Duty game received a single-player expansion was 2004’s Call of Duty: United Offensive.

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

Nine months of CoD Modern Warfare 3 DLC announced

Posted on January 10, 2012 by John Scalzo

You knew they were coming, and now, Activision has announced the details of the first two downloadable maps for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Scheduled to drop January 24 for Xbox 360-owning Call of Duty Elite subscribers, “Liberation” and “Piazza” will bring the war to Central Park and a serene Italian villa. In “Liberation,” players will find “a vast, militarized landscape, ripe for long-range sniper and LMG fire, with mounted turrets on either end that lend power to anyone brave enough to expose themselves in exchange for deadly firepower.” Meanwhile, “Piazza” is considered “the idyllic Italian getaway that is anything but, where tight corners and branching pathways pose great risk at every turn.”

Call of Duty Elite users will also receive a variety of content drops throughout 2012. At least once per month, Activision plans to unleash a new piece of content on the CoD Elite community. In addition to the maps, another piece of content will launch in mid-February with two more scheduled for March. All told, at least 20 pieces of DLC will be released for Modern Warfare 3 between now and September.

All of the CoD Elite content drops will be available first for Xbox 360 owners with PC and PS3 subscribers getting them “at a later time.”

But speaking of March, that’s how long non-Call of Duty Elite subscribers will have to wait to get their hands on these maps, when the first “Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection” will be made available for download.

That’s the sound of Activision selling many more CoD Elite subscriptions. Dismissed!

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