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.

Weekly Warp-Up: Hop Hop Edition

Posted on April 24, 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!
I hope you’re having a good day so far on this fine Easter morning. But I’ll bet it would be better after you check out our Mindjack contest and enter to win the Square Enix shooter. Now then, with the impending holiday, gamemakers kept their announcements pretty low key this week, but that didn’t stop the rumor mill from churning out some really good stuff instead.

To start out the week, American McGee revealed that American McGee’s Alice would be included with Alice: Madness Returns. EA confirmed this proclamation a few days later. Speaking of scary stuff, Capcom’s Masachika Kawata started talking about Resident Evil 6 and pledged that it would be “totally different.”

Kratos may be painting the town red (with blood!) soon enough as rumors point to a September 2012 release for God of War IV. And to finish up our theme, no matter what the rumors say, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees aren’t going to be added to Mortal Kombat anytime soon.

But frightening future games wasn’t the only subject of rumors this week. Another Wii 2/Project Cafe rumor made the rounds, claiming that Rockstar was the first developer to be given a dev kit and that they plan to bring Grand Theft Auto V to the system. And it looks like Nintendo may have the next generation console space to themselves for a while as Kotaku revealed that they have multiple sources predicting the PS4 and Xbox 720 won’t be ready until 2014… at the earliest.

In non-rumor news, we got a chance to talk with Kierin Chase, the Brand Manger for Dungeons & Dragons, on the future of the tabletop game, upcoming video game adaptations and our own fond memories of rolling the dice.

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

Posted in News |

Sony “re-building” PSN; back online in two days says anonymous source

Posted on April 24, 2011 by John Scalzo

Day four of the second PlayStation Network outage of 2011 is here and Sony still doesn’t have very many answers for us.

The latest statement from the company reveals they “are working around the clock to bring them both back online,” but that there’s still no timetable on when the PSN will be operational again. Apparently, part of the reason for the continued downtime is Sony’s desire to protect the PSN from future attacks as they are also “re-building [the] system to further strengthen [the] network infrastructure […] to provide the system with additional security.”

However, PlayStation Universe received an email from “a source with close connections to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe” discussing the latest round of attacks in a little more detail. According to the source, the PSN was hit with a LOIC attack, a specific type of denial-of-service attack that was previously used by Anonymous in their operations against Scientology websites and organizations that disapproved of WikiLeaks. Anonymous has denied responsibility for these attacks and claimed OpSony is over.

PSU’s tipster also gave a timeline for when we might see the PSN back online. He said “Japanese servers may be restored tomorrow while the U.S. and E.U. servers will likely be operational the following day.”

Posted in News, PS3, PSP | Tagged

Hitman: Absolution trademarked by Square Enix

Posted on April 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

Siliconera has unearthed a new trademark filing by Square Enix Europe for Hitman: Absolution. In light of IO Interactive’s recent Hitman 5 ARG, which pointed to an E3 2011 debut for the sequel, I’d guess that Absolution is the game’s official subtitle.

With E3 2011 just six weeks away, we won’t have to wait long to learn more about Agent 47’s next assignment.

Posted in News | Tagged

New Releases: Darkspore, More

Posted on April 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

After one of the biggest release weeks ever, the month of Apirl closes out with a wimper. EA’s action RPG Darkspore is the only new release of note and it heads a very short and uneventful list.

You can check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases right here to see for yourself:

PC

Wii

Posted in News, PC, Wii | Tagged

PSP Go lives on in America

Posted on April 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

After discontinuing the download-only handheld in Japan and Europe, Sony has told Joystiq that they have no plans to hustle the PSP Go off of store shelves in America.

In a very short, and to the point, statement, an SCEA spokesman told the site: “We are continuing production of PSP Go for North America.”

So if you really want a PSP Go, you’ll still be able to find one for the forseeable future.

Posted in News | Tagged

“Come get some!” with new Duke Nukem Forever trailer

Posted on April 22, 2011 by John Scalzo

Strippers! Ludicrous gibs! Extended urination sequences! Grotesque aliens! Lesbian makeout sessions! Monster trucks! This trailer is NOT SAFE FOR WORK because it’s too awesome!

Just like Duke.

Duke Nukem Forever will (finally) be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 14.

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

Mario & Sonic officially going to the London 2012 Olympic Games

Posted on April 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

When the first two games in a series sell nearly 20 million copies worldwide, a third is almost inevitable. And when said game involves Mario and Sonic, you can probably forget about the “almost.” A leaked logo for Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games appeared last week, and today, Sega and Nintendo made it official.

In development at Sega for the 3DS and Wii, the acronym-tastic MASATL2012OG will feature over 50 Olympic events including new sports such as soccer and equestrian competitions.

“These games bring together two of the most beloved characters in the history of the video game industry in Mario and Sonic. As veterans of both video games and Olympic games, they will arrive in London as a formidable team to provide fun, competitive sporting activities that friends and family members can enjoy together,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime.

A release date wasn’t revealed, but Nintendo and Sega promised they’ll announce one later this year.

Posted in News | Tagged , ,

Miyamoto: “Super Mario 3DS is a combination of Galaxy, Mario 64”

Posted on April 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

The 3DS’ lineup is slowly starting to fill out. Ocarina of Time 3D has been given a release date. Star Fox 64 3D has a date in Japan, with an American one sure to follow. And now, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed a little about the (currently untitled) Super Mario Bros. 3DS.

The famed developer told Edge: “It’s a combination of Super Mario Galaxy and [Super Mario 64]. It won’t convey the message if I talk to you today, but if you play it at E3 that will give you more understanding of what I’m talking about.”

Learning that the next 3D Mario game will play like the previous 3D Mario games isn’t too surprising. Nor is finding out that the raccoon tail in the game’s logo refers to the return of the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3: “The tail you mentioned on the logo – it’s what you think it is. You probably know what’s going to happen using that character.”

Miyamoto finished the interview by revealing that Super Mario Bros. 3DS will be brand new (“completely original” he says) and that it’s coming this year.

But I guess we’ll have to wait until E3 to learn more.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged ,