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.

BloodRayne: Betrayal added to PlayStation Store

Posted on September 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Sony’s PSN Play promotion continues with the addition of BloodRayne: Betrayal to the PlayStation Store. Everyone’s second favorite half-vampire (OK, dhampir), Rayne, returns in a 2D side-scrolling adventure that stirs up some awfully strong memories of Castlevania. It’s available to download for $14.99.

Joining BloodRayne on the new release list is Rugby World Cup 2011 ($49.99), a sports sim centered on the Rugby World Cup; and Skydrift ($14.99), which promises to “get [you] closer than ever before to the world of adrenaline pumping sky-racing.” Also available this week is a PSone Import version of Mega Man 4.

These new releases are pretty neat, but the real winners this week are PSN Plus subscribers, who will be able to download Plants vs. Zombies, Astro Tripper, Altered Beast and the PSone Classic Jet Moto for free.

Head over to the PlayStation.Blog for a complete look at all of this week’s new releases and game add-ons.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Sega sets an October 12 release date for Guardian Heroes

Posted on September 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Radiant Silvergun isn’t the only one of Treasure’s treasures that’ll be arriving on the Xbox Live Arcade soon. Sega has announced that Guardian Heroes, the developer’s awesome beat ’em up (originally released for the Saturn) will be available to download from the XBLA on October 12.

Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), Sega promises that Guardian Heroes “isn’t just about beating up bad guys, with a storyline full of twists and turns players will enjoy one of five completely unique boss fights, as well as more than half a dozen possible endings.”

To prove it, they’ve released a new gameplay trailer, which you can see above.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

See the Dragon Quest X debut trailer and two gameplay videos

Posted on September 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

UPDATE: The trailer has been pulled from YouTube by Square Enix.

I’m still reeling from last night’s reveal that Dragon Quest X will be an “online RPG” for the Wii and Wii U. Up is down! Black is white! Cats and dogs… you get the idea.

But for those of you who missed the live stream, some enterprising YouTubers have uploaded the game’s debut trailer and a pair of gameplay demos. You can check out the trailer above and the gameplay videos after the break, but hurry, Square Enix doesn’t like it when their trailers appear on YouTube unless they put them there. (more…)

Posted in News, Wii, Wii U | Tagged

Videogame History Museum completes first round of fundraising

Posted on September 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

The Videogame History Museum is one step closer to reality as the group behind it has completed their first round of fundraising via Kickstarter. The goal for this initial funding drive was a very modest $30,000, but donors easily surpassed that with a final pledged total of $50,266.

The funds will be used to spread the word that a video game history museum actually exists and to, hopefully, raise more money: “Kickstarter is just the beginning. The money that we raise here will be spent carefully and wisely to promote awareness of the museum collection and generate more revenue,” said John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli, the founders of the Videogame History Museum.

The Videogame History Museum does not currently have a permanent location to house its collection, but the founders hope to eventually settle down in Sunnyvale, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. There are several other institutions around the country that have begun the process of creating a video game museum including the Computer & Video Game Archive at the University of Michigan (which is open to the public) and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY (which has a very limited public display).

So with all of these competing museums, can we at least come to a consensus on whether its “videogame” or “video game”?

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Dragon Quest X revealed for Wii and Wii U

Posted on September 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

The future of the Dragon Quest series has been unveiled by Square Enix and Nintendo at a special media event in Japan that just ended. The two titans of the Japanese gaming scene have taken the wraps off of Dragon Quest X while also talking about the Dragon Quest Collection, a compilation of the first three games in the series (and their Super NES remakes), which will be released for the Wii in Japan on September 15. An American release is unlikely, but we can hope.

Dragon Quest X is being described as an “online RPG” similar to Dragon Quest IX. Players will be able to team up for multiplayer adventuring, but a strong single-player game will also be included. The game is being developed internally at Square Enix with Producer duties falling to Yosuke Saito (Drakengard, Nier).

Even with the “online” tag, the game looks to be a traditional entry in the Dragon Quest series with job classes, Slimes and turn-based battles. It also has a cel-shaded look that is very reminiscent of Dragon Quest VIII.

Best of all, Dragon Quest X will be available for the Wii and the Wii U. Yes, you read that right. The Wii U version will include enhanced graphics and cross-console play with the Wii version. The Wii version is currently scheduled for a 2012 release in Japan while the Wii U version is “TBA.” Hopefully they make it to America as well.

[Source: Siliconera (1, 2), Joystiq]

Posted in News, Wii, Wii U | Tagged , , ,

Weekly Warp-Up: Call of Duty XP Debrief

Posted on September 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…

The world’s first festival celebrating the world’s biggest first person shooter franchise has come to a close. That’s right, Call of Duty XP is over. But like any good war reporter, we’ve got all the big news to come out of the convention:

For those who couldn’t attend CoD XP, Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling took a camera to the show floor and put together a great walkthrough. Then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer mode was officially unveiled in a new trailer. That was followed up with an announcement of a lot of CoD-branded stuff coming this Fall alongside confirmation of what the game’s Hardened Edition will contain. Finally, we were treated to a few world premieres including a “Find Makarov” sequel and the grand debut of Call of Duty Elite‘s feature list.

Get Warp Zoned!
During the rest of the week the Warp Zoned staff took a look back at what we played during the month in the latest edition of Warpback and what we’re looking forward to in September with another jump into The Next Level. There’s also Episode 19 of the Warp Zoned Podcast, which focused on PAX Prime, Operation Rainfall and our love for the Mass Effect series.

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

Posted in News |

CoD Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition contents confirmed

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Everyone that attended the first ever Call of Duty XP festival will receive a coupon good for a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s “Hardened Edition” when it releases on November 8. For the rest of us, Activision has confirmed exactly what will be included in the “Hardened” steel packaging. It’ll include…

  • The aforementioned SteelBook packaging.
  • A One-year subscription to Call of Duty Elite.
  • Call of Duty Elite in-game bonuses including emblem, playercard, weapon camouflage, clan XP boost and more.
  • Exclusive PS3 “Animated Timeline” theme.
  • Exclusive Xbox 360 “Spec Ops Juggernaut” Avatar outfit.
  • 100-page field journal with military sketches and written entries detailing the Modern Warfare saga.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game disc with exclusive artwork.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “Hardened Edition” is available to pre-order now for $99.99 at online retailers everywhere including Amazon.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Find Makarov sequel premieres at Call of Duty XP

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision’s two-day Call of Duty event, Call of Duty XP, is just about coming to a close in Los Angeles. During the two-day festival celebrating COD, the publisher unveiled a sequel to the awesome Find Makarov fan film.

Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish was created by We Can Pretend, the same production team behind the first fan film. Although, now that they have Activision’s blessing, it’s not really a fan film anymore, is it? Three other companies assisted on the Soap-centered tale: Meteoric, The Junction VFX, and Stealing Time.

You can check it out above and hopefully we’ll get more of these videos as part of Activision’s new Call of Duty Elite TV initiative.

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