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.

2012 IGF Awards add XBLA Prize

Posted on December 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

The organizers of the Independent Games Festival have announced that they’ve partnered with Microsoft to create the XBLA Prize.

The prize is open to any entrant in the Main Competition or the Student Showcase. And the IGF entrant who wins the XBLA Prize will receive a “guaranteed first-party publishing deal to release the selected title on Microsoft’s Live-enabled platforms, including the Xbox Live Arcade, Windows Phone, and Windows.” Funding to complete the title will also be offered to the winning development team.

Microsoft’s Ted Woolsey, Head of First Party Publishing for XBLA, said, “Playing a role in empowering creative, independent developers, and then delivering the fruits of their labor to a wide fan base on Xbox 360, Windows Phone and soon Windows 8 is an amazingly rewarding job for me and the publishing teams at Microsoft Studios. We can’t wait to see what will come next!”

The 2012 IGF Awards will be handed out during next year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 7th, 2012. The complete list of entrants for next year’s IGF Awards can be found here.

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

Xbox 360 Dashboard update is MIA

Posted on December 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Somebody alert Chuck Norris! The Fall 2011 Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 is missing in action. The update, which should have been available this morning, has been “slightly delayed” by a mysterious problem.

Thankfully, Microsoft’s Major Nelson has been documenting the process on his Twitter feed, though it doesn’t look like we’re any closer to figuring it out:

FYI: The timing for Xbox 360 dashboard update has been slightly delayed. I’ll have a status update later today

Thanks again for your patience. I won’t have additional details until later today. The moment I have new information, I’ll share it w/ you

I’ll share additional details when I have more to share. Until then, thanks for you patience.

We are still working to get the release out. Stay tuned, we’ll have an update this afternoon (PT) on when it will begin rolling out.

No new information to report yet. My earlier update is still the most current

Posted in News, Xbox 360 |

Epic Games to unveil something “fresh” at Spike TV VGAs

Posted on December 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

With the Gears of War series coming to an epic close, Epic Games’ Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski, has confirmed that the developer will unveil their next project at the Spike TV Video Game Awards. CliffyB was cagey, but it sounds like his team at Epic’s North Carolina headquarters will be launching a new property not connected to any of their existing franchises.

Quouth CliffyB: “We have something new in store for you. It’s an entirely fresh and new experience.”

The Spike TV Video Game Awards will air this Saturday, December 10, at 8 PM.

Posted in News | Tagged

Xbox 360 Dashboard update is almost live

Posted on December 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

The latest Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 will go live tomorrow on Xbox Live. Marc Whitten, the Corporate Vice President of the Xbox Live division, has decided to commemorate the launch of the Windows 8-inspired design with a letter to the community:

Dear Xbox Live Members,

Today, we’re launching a new Xbox 360 experience that connects you with your favorite entertainment and games like never before and makes finding and enjoying entertainment as simple as it should be.

It’s a vision we shared at E3 and I’d like to thank you for all of your valuable feedback along this incredible ride and share a little more about what we have in store this holiday – from Beacons, cloud storage and Facebook sharing, to our latest entertainment offerings…

The entire letter can be found at Major Nelson’s blog.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 |

PS3 exclusive The Last of Us to debut at Spike TV VGAs

Posted on December 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

The “World Premieres” at the Spike TV Video Game Awards are usually rife with sequels, but there’s always a few original games to stoke our fever for new stories. This year’s broadcast, which is scheduled for Satuday, December 10 at 8 PM, will include a PS3-exclusive known as The Last of Us.

The teaser trailer above features archival footage of riots and the aftermath of a global pandemic while a voice talks about the world that was before revealing it’s “all gone.” Another video, a 14-second closeup of an ant, is available at the game’s official website.

I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but I want to find out.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

First Xenoblade Chronicles trailer: “Sorry I kept you waiting”

Posted on December 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

As the US announcement trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles builds to a crescendo, one character tells another, “Sorry I kept you waiting.” It’s possible this is just a random line that fit well with the flow of the trailer, or it’s Nintendo subtley saying “we’re sorry” to all its fans. I prefer the latter explanation.

Either way, the first Xenoblade Chronicles trailer is suitably epic for what may be the Wii’s swan song. It’ll be available exclusively at GameStop stores next Spring.

Posted in News, Wii | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Sharing is Caring Edition

Posted on December 4, 2011 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…

Get Warp Zoned!
This week, the Warp Zoned staff shared a summary of the games they played in November, in the latest edition of Warpback, or What We Played in November 2011. Descriptive bunch, ain’t we?

But Nintendo of Japan has decided to share something this week as well. Something even better than a “What We Played” list. Nintendo has announced they’ll be bringing Xenoblade Chronicles to the US (exclusively through GameStop) in 2012. After all this time, a fan campaign to bring one of Nintendo’s Japanese properties over to the US has finally worked! Next up, a renewed Mother 3/Earthbound 2 campaign! Who’s with me?

Hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)

Posted in News |

New Releases: Fortune Street, Adventures of Tintin, Just Dance 3 for PS3, More

Posted on December 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

2011 continues to wind down, but a steady trickle of bigtime games continue to make their way onto store shelves.

This week, players will get a chance to try out Nintendo’s board game mashup, Fortune Street (Wii); Ubisoft’s latest movie-to-game adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360); and the PS3 version of Just Dance 3.

Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,