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.

Here’s the Batman: Arkham City system specs for your Batcomputer

Posted on October 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

WB Games and Rocksteady may have pushed the PC release of Batman: Arkham City back to November 15, but they claim its to make the best game possible on the PC. But will your PC be able to run it? After all, few of us have the Bruce Wayne billions required to cobble together a Batcomputer. Or even a Jokercomputer for that matter.

Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7
CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.4 Ghz
RAM: 2GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA 8800 or ATI 3800 with 512MB of VRAM
Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (100% DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
Hard Drive: 17.5GB free disk space
Input Devices: 100% Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard

Recommended System Requirements
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7
CPU: Dual-Core CPU 2.5 GHz
RAM: 4GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or ATI Radeon HD 6850 with 768MB+ of VRAM (DirectX 11 compatible)
Sound: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible sound card (100% DirectX 9.0c-compatible)
DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
Hard Drive: 17.5 GB free disk space
Input Devices: 100% Windows XP/Vista or 7 compatible mouse and keyboard or Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

More details about the PC-exclusive features found in Batman: Arkham City are available at GeForce.com.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Adventuring at BlizzCon 2011

Posted on October 23, 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…

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Blizzard’s annual BlizzCon festival is underway this weekend and company executives have revealed loads of new details about World of Warcraft, a new WoW expansion, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and Diablo III. But before we delve deeper into the snowstorm of news, let’s look back to earlier in the week when we made the argument Why I Hate Hearing the Words “Borderlands and Fallout 3 Are the Same Game”.

Oh, and speaking of snow, we cannonballed through a lot of it in this Hands-On Preview of Need For Speed: The Run.

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

Posted in News |

Battle of the Modern War Games: Battlefield 3 launch trailer

Posted on October 22, 2011 by John Scalzo

Have you chosen your side in the battle of the modern war games? EA and DICE will release Battlefield 3 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 next week. To celebrate, they’ve created a launch trailer that is super intense. More intense than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s launch trailer? Maybe, but that’s up to you to decide.

However, Battlefield 3 does have one major point its favor. The trailer (and game, obviously) features everyone’s favorite Secret Service agent. That’s right, Glenn Morshower of “24” plays a General that’s even been modeled to look like him.

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

Battle of the Modern War Games: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 launch trailer

Posted on October 22, 2011 by John Scalzo

Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “the most anticipated game in history?” Activision’s marketing department sure seems to think so. And while that makes a nice headline in a press release, it’s probably overselling the latest CoD game just a bit. Especially with the near simultaneous release of DICE’s Battlefield 3. But I’ve got to admit, the game’s launch trailer is packed with enough ominous voiceovers and explosive setpieces to make an impression on non-fans.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released for the DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on November 8.

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

SSX shreds into stores on February 14

Posted on October 22, 2011 by John Scalzo

Love is in the air. Oh, and something else is in the air too. I think it’s a snowboarder using a wingsuit to get big air during a deadly descent. Yup, SSX is back.

EA has announced that SSX will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 14, 2012, just in time for Valentine’s Day. And because the publisher loves us all, they’ve also released a new trailer for the game dubbed “Survive It.”

Hopefully, no one will get snowed in on the wintry release date.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Releases: Battlefield 3, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, Pokemon Rumble Blast, More

Posted on October 22, 2011 by John Scalzo

The war begins this week as DICE’s Battlefield 3 will be published by EA on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The game will have two weeks by itself on store shelves before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 returns fire on November 8. Have you chosen a side yet?

Also available this week is a Kirby game that we all thought was cancelled back in the GameCube days, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land. It’ll be available on the Wii this week, and yes, that’s Kirby wearing a Link hat and wielding a sword that looks suspiciously like the Master Sword. Nintendo will also unleash the melee-battling of Pokemon Rumble Blast on the 3DS.

A ton of smaller games will also make it onto store shelves this week including Namco Bandai’s Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3, Xbox 360), Sega’s The House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut (PS3), Disney’s Disney Universe (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), Atlus’s The Cursed Crusade (PS3, Xbox 360) and Telltale’s Back to the Future (PS3, Wii).

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, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , ,

Sign up for WoW Annual Pass, get Diablo III absolutely free

Posted on October 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

Blizzard made a ton of big announcements at this year’s BlizzCon, but none so big as their thank you to World of Warcraft fans in the form of the World of Warcraft Annual Pass. While it may sound like just a new subscription plan, there’s a bit more to it that that.

To qualify for the Annual Pass, you must have registered a full version of World of Warcraft before October 18. Signing up for this subscription service (which is payable in 12 monthly installments) will then commit you to a year’s worth of WoW. Sounds pretty standard so far, right? But here’s where the awesomeness comes in.

All Annual Pass subscribers will receive a free copy of Diablo III, an exclusive WoW mount (Tyrael’s Charger), and guaranteed entry in the beta test for the next WoW expansion (the just-announced World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria).

That’s Blizzard saying “thank you” to all current WoW subscribers. You can sign up for the Annual Pass at Blizzard.com now.

Posted in News | Tagged , ,

Blizzard announces next WoW expansion: Mists of Pandaria

Posted on October 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

Kung fu pandas… where does Blizzard come up with this stuff? OK, believe it or not, the Pandaren race of kung fu pandas has been a part of Warcraft lore since Warcraft III. But they’ve been absent from the series since World of Warcraft launched in 2004. But now they’re back and they’re taking a starring role in the MMORPG’s fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria.

“Players have been asking to see the Pandaren in World of Warcraft since the game’s launch, and we’re excited to finally be able to give them a proper re-introduction to Azeroth,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to the new playable race and class, Mists of Pandaria contains a huge amount of new content, and we’re looking forward to sharing more information about all of it at BlizzCon and beyond.”

No release date has been announced for the expansion, but it will add a bevy of new features including a new class, a higher level cap, new zones and Dungeon Challenge Modes. Check out a full list of all the new features after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC | Tagged ,