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.

InFamous: Festival of Blood, PixelJunk SideScroller added to PS Store

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Sony has updated the PlayStation Store with the final “Only On PSN” selections: InFamous: Festival of Blood and PixelJunk SideScroller.

In InFamous: Festival of Blood, a vampiric virus has swept through New Marais, infecting everyone, including Cole McGrath. Festival of Blood is a standalone expansion, meaning it doesn’t require InFamous or InFamous 2. The game also includes the new User Generated Content tools and vamps out with a nice $9.99 price tag (PS Plus subscribers get it for an even nicer $7.99).

PixelJunk SideScroller is Q-Games’ take on the side-scrolling shooter. And as you’d expect from the development team, they turn the genre on its head with “luminescent visuals, incredible bosses, and unforgettable powerups and weaponry.” PixelJunk SideScroller has also been priced at $9.99 with a 20% discount for PS Plus users.

A ridiculous number of additional new releases have been brought to the PS Store this week including Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, Daytona USA, Worms: Crazy Golf, and downloadable versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Homefront, and MX vs ATV Alive.

More information on all of this week’s new releases and game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation.Blog.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged ,

Metallic Rose, Midnight Blue DSi XL bundles coming November 6

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

While the 3DS will be the hot handheld this holiday season (for those of us not holding off until the Slide Pad is integrated into a 3DS2), Nintendo is still pushing the DSi XL. In fact, they’ve announced two new colors for the jumbo-sized portable: Metallic Rose and Midnight Blue.

As you can see from the box art above, both bundles will include a copy of Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, as well as a trio of pre-installed titles: Brain Age Express Math, Brain Age Express Arts & Letters, and Photo Clock.

The bundles will be available on November 6 at a price of $169.99 apiece.

Posted in DS, News | Tagged

Your first GTA5 rumors: It’s set in Los Angeles, has multiple playable characters

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Grand Theft Auto V has officially existed for just a few hours now, but rumors are already beginning to fly about its setting.

Kotaku is reporting that “a source familiar with the game” has told them the game will set in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles. The west coast was last seen in a GTA game in 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Kotaku is also hearing that the game will have multiple playable characters, a first for the series.

And don’t forget our own GTA5-flavored rumor, solid proof of a 2012 release date, courtesy of statements made by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

It’s on like Donkey Kong in G4’s Kart Driver

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

The second movie in the G4 Films Epictober Film Festival, “Kart Driver,” doesn’t have anything to do with karts, driving or Taxi Driver, but Drew Daywalt’s film is also one of the coolest takes on Donkey Kong ever.

Protip: This one is packed solid with references to Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Can you spot them all?

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

WB Games detects 4.6 million copies of Batman: Arkham City shipped

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

It looks like The Joker really does get the last laugh as WB Games has announced that 4.6 million copies of Batman: Arkham City have been shipped worldwide since its launch a week ago. The massive success of Arkham City likely gives it the highest first-week sales total for any game released in 2011.

“Batman: Arkham City is one of the best action adventure games, proven by the tremendous reviews, and it further establishes the Batman brand as a marquee franchise for our growing business,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Rocksteady Studios went above and beyond in delivering an incredible game and the support of the entire team at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment drove the excellent campaign a game like this deserves.”

“The true test for any game is what the players think and we have been thrilled by their reaction to Batman: Arkham City,” said Sefton Hill, Game Director at Rocksteady Studios. “The team at Rocksteady put every ounce of effort into making the best Batman experience we possibly could, so we are overwhelmed by the incredible feedback from the community.”

Batman: Arkham City is now available for the PS3 and Xbox 360. A PC version is also in the works and will be released November 15.

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

Grand Theft Auto V announced; trailer coming 11/2/11

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

I’ll bet this comes as a surprise to everybody! It’s not like we’ve known a sequel to one of the bestselling games of all-time was in the works for ages or anything.

OK, enough lame Internet comedy, Rockstar Games has officially announced Grand Theft Auto V! The developer’s homepage has been completely taken over by the GTA5 logo (and check out the five dollar bill-styled “V”) with a further announcement that the game’s first trailer will be released on November 2.

No other details were revealed, but I think we can infer a few things. It’s likely coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 (and probably the PC as well). Also, previous statements by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick point towards a 2012 release.

For everything else, I guess we’ll have to wait until next week.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

The Duck Hunt dog makes Cujo look like a puppy in “The Hunt”

Posted on October 24, 2011 by John Scalzo

The G4 Films Epictober Film Festival may be the greatest thing ever. Or at least, the greatest thing ever this week. Taking three classic games and giving them the horror movie treatment, the short film series opens with “The Hunt,” a bloody riff on Nintendo’s Duck Hunt.

Who among us didn’t fire off a few bursts of invisible Zapper fire at the Duck Hunt dog after he snickered at our poor aim? It’s for that director Sam Balcomb created “The Hunt.” Who’s laughing now dog?

G4 will follow “The Hunt” with two more films including tomorrow’s “Kart Driver” and Wednesday’s “The Birds of Anger.”

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Rumor: Microsoft trade show schedule dates new Kinect hardware, next Xbox for 2014

Posted on October 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

Take this one with a huge grain of salt, but tumblr blog MS nerd has posted a leaked trade show schedule for Microsoft that covers every expo from now until the end of 2014. This treasure trove of data reveals release dates for Windows 8 and Windows 9 as well as info on the next Xbox and a Kinect refresh (both scheduled for 2014).

The most important conferences/dates appear to be E3 2012 (“Xbox SDK, 3G Kinect games announce”), E3 2013 (Xbox “loop” announce), Build 2013 (Xbox “loop” launch), E3 2014 (Kinect HP2 announce, Xbox PU announce), and Nov 2014 (Kinect HP2 launch, Xbox PU RTW).

While these acronyms go unexplained, allow me to take a stab at it. The short timeframe between the Xbox “loop” announcement and its launch likely points to another Xbox Live refresh or some other rebranding scheme. The 2014 dates are much more interesting as Kinect HP2 may possibly stand for “Hardware Profile 2” (meaning a redesign/upgrade for the Kinect sensor) and the Xbox PU may refer to a “Powered Up” Xbox (also known as the Xbox Next among rumormongers). Of course, this is all just speculation on my part.

The full Microsoft conference schedule can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One |