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.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood wins Writers Guild Award

Posted on February 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and its writing team of Patrice Desilets, Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May (Story); Jeffrey Yohalem (Lead Script Writer); Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood and Matt Turner (Script Writers) won the Writers Guild Award for Videogame Writing last night.

Facing stiff competition from Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, God of War III, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Singularity, the Ubisoft Montreal-developed Brotherhood has been praised for the way it wove real-life political figures into its story and its shocking ending.

Interestingly enough, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood wasn’t even nominated in the Best Writing category for the Game Developers Choice Awards or the Outstanding Achievement in Story category for the AIAS’ Interactive Achievement Awards.

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Angry Birds flying onto 3DS this year

Posted on February 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

A series of tweets on Rovio’s Twitter account have revealed that the publisher is bringing all three versions of Angry Birds to the 3DS this year.

The games (Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio) will be downloadable through the 3DS’ eShop (which doesn’t come online until May). It’s unknown if they’ll be bundled together, or sold separately as individual games. This news comes one day after Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime slammed $1 mobile games, though he referred to Angry Birds as “a great piece of experience.”

Hit the break for all the non-angry Rovio tweets that confirm this news. (more…)

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New Releases: Mario Sports Mix, Test Drive Unlimited 2, You Don’t Know Jack, More

Posted on February 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

After you’re done watching the Packers and Steelers in tomorrow’s Super Bowl, Mario and friends has five more sports for you to enjoy with Mario Sports Mix on the Wii.

Also available this week is Atari’s open world racer Test Drive Unlimited 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) and the return of the irreverent trivia series You Don’t Know Jack (DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360).

Speaking of returns, Dr. Kawashima is back in the brain training game with Body and Brain Connection, an Xbox 360 Kinect exclusive. And finally, Tecmo Koei plans to release Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll, an action RPG for the PS3.

The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

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Ridge Racer Unbounded burns out on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 in 2012

Posted on February 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

Everyone seems to love the Burnout series. And Namco Bandai seems to love it so much that they’ve decided the next entry in the Ridge Racer series should follow in the tire tracks of one of Burnout’s famous wrecks.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is their Burnout-inspired racer and it’ll be released in 2012 on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The game will be developed by Bugbear Entertainment, the team behind the equally irresponsible FlatOut series.

For a sneak peak at all the Unbounded racing action, hit the break for a teaser trailer featuring Ridge Racer’s famous race girl Reiko. (more…)

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All future Fallout: New Vegas DLC hitting PC, PS3, Xbox 360 at the same time

Posted on February 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

Bethesda has revealed that Fallout: New Vegas‘ “Dead Money” expansion will be available for the PC and PS3 on February 22.

Dead Money was originally released as a limited time exclusive on the Xbox Live Marketplace back in December.

While Dead Money’s PC/PS3 release is good news, the better news is that the publisher has revealed they have three additional downloadable expansions planned for New Vegas. And they’ll be released simultaneously on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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First Battlefield 3 trailer reveals Fall 2011 release date

Posted on February 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

One day after canceling Battlefield 1943, DICE has released the first trailer for the upcoming Battlefield 3. Not only that, but they’ve also announced a release window for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 shooter: Fall 2011.

Electronic Arts and DICE will be revealing more about Battlefield 3 at this year’s Game Developers Conference (February 28 – March 4). But be sure to check out the trailer above in the meantime, it’s pretty intense.

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Dungeon Siege III storms stores on May 31

Posted on February 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

The Obsidian Entertainment-developed Dungeon Siege III has been given a release date by Square Enix. The action RPG series will make its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360 for the first time (along with a version for the PC) on May 31st.

To celebrate the release of Dungeon Siege III, Square Enix has partnered with leading game retailers to offer a ton of unique bonuses for gamers who pre-order.

Hit the break for a complete rundown of all the pre-order plunder. (more…)

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Bing adds playable games to search results

Posted on February 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Remember how awesome it was when Google transformed their logo into a playable version of Pac-Man to celebrate the dot-muncher’s 30th anniversary? Well, Microsoft and the UK arm of their Bing search engine have gone one better. Actually, they’ve gone 45 better as they’ve added 46 playable casual games to Bing’s search results (casual games have been available on Bing US since last year). I’m not sure if it’ll break Google’s ironclad grip on the search engine market, but I know I’ll be using Bing a little more often (up from never) from now on.

Players (searchers?) will also be able to log in to the games using Facebook or Windows Live, letting them share and compete against their friends’ best scores.

The full list of playable games on Bing can be found after the break. (more…)

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