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.

Nintendo Download: Splatoon 2, Boost Beast, Fate Extella The Umbral Star, more

Posted on July 20, 2017 by John Scalzo

Nintendo’s quest to make everyone love the Switch continues this week with the launch of Splatoon 2.

The team-based shooter will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop this Friday, and players will get the chance to compete in several different competitive multiplayer modes, as well as the cooperative Salmon Run mode, and a single-player Campaign.

Two other options are available through the eShop for Switch owners today, including Boost Beast, a match-3 puzzler from Arc System Works, and Samurai Shodown, a fighting game that was originally released for the NeoGeo in 1993.

Finally, Fate Extella: The Umbral Star will be available to download for the Switch beginning on Tuesday, July 25. Fate Extella: The Umbral Star is the first action game in the Fate series, as well as the first to appear on a Nintendo console.

You can learn more about all of these games (and the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop) after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Switch, Wii U | Tagged

The Catfish directors are in “final negotiations” to work on a Mega Man movie for Fox

Posted on July 20, 2017 by John Scalzo

If this story didn’t appear in The Hollywood Reporter, I would have assumed it was a hoax…

The reliable entertainment magazine is reporting that 20th Century Fox will team up with the directors of Catfish, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, to create a movie based on Mega Man. The pair are said to be in “final negotiations” with the studio, and will both write and direct the film.

The Mega Man movie will be produced by Chernin Entertainment and Masi Oka, the actor best known for playing Hiro Nakamura on Heroes.

While we await official confirmation from 20th Century Fox, we can set back and speculate what a Mega Man movie might look like. Joost and Schulman’s previous experience makes it likely that Fox wants to produce a live-action adaptation, but will the movie take its cues from the classic NES series or the more modern Mega Man X games? Who knows… maybe it’ll end up being a mix of both.

In addition to Catfish, Joost and Schulman have also directed Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4, and last year’s well-reviewed Nerve. A Mega Man movie adaptation would be their first big-budget project.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Motiga officially launches 5v5 hero shooter Gigantic for PC and Xbox One

Posted on July 20, 2017 by John Scalzo

Gigantic‘s Open Beta is coming to the end, and Motiga and Perfect World have announced that “Version 1.0” of their free-to-play “Hero Shooter” is available to download for the PC and Xbox One beginning today.

Today’s update will add Text Chat to the game, as well as new Packs, and Gigantic’s 19th Hero. Ramsay is “a cunning heavy-hitter brandishing a seriously lethal blade,” and he’s just the first of many new additions to the game. Motiga plans to add a new Hero to the game each month, in addition to other fixes and updates.

To celebrate Gigantic’s launch, Motiga is giving away several exclusive Skins for players who log in through Steam, Arc, or Xbox One/Windows 10. Steam players will receive a “Stone Relics” Skin for Beckett, Arc users will get a “Lightning” Skin for Tripp, and Xbox One/Windows 10 players will unlock an “Excelsior” Skin for Tyto the Swift.

“We’re thrilled to welcome all players to the vibrant world of Gigantic,” said Chris Chung, the CEO of Motiga. “The team has worked incredibly hard to develop an experience unlike any other. We hope you join us and the community of players who have fallen in love with the game and helped us throughout its development.”

If you’re not interested in Gigantic’s free-to-play business model, you can opt for the Ultimate Pack ($29.99) to gain access to all 19 currently-available Heroes, all future Heroes, and a variety of in-game bonus items (unique Skins, progression boosts, Fortune Cards, and Premium Currency). All Beta participants who purchased the Founder’s Pack will be upgraded to the Ultimate Pack, and all Steam and Arc users who purchase the Ultimate Pack will receive a free Starter Pack for a friend.

A Launch Trailer for “Version 1.0” of Gigantic has been embedded above.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged

Xbox Store Today: Runbow, What Remains of Edith Finch, Moon Hunters

Posted on July 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

A trio of new Xbox One games are now available to download today, and one of them in a freebie if you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber…

July’s mid-month addition to the Games With Gold catalog is Runbow, a multiplayer platform racer from 13AM Games. Originally released for the Wii U (and then later the PC and 3DS), Runbow offers eight-player local multiplayer (and nine players online) and a ridiculous single-player challenge known as “The Bowhemoth.”

Also available to download today is What Remains of Edith Finch, a mystery game that promises to offer “a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state.”

Finally today, Moon Hunters will make its Xbox One debut and it lets players experience multiple playthroughs of the same story to “see it from different angles and uncover new sides to characters, conflicts, and narratives.”

You can learn more about all of these game after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Telltale’s The Walking Dead will return for The Final Season in 2018

Posted on July 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Ahead of this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, Telltale Games has announced plans to produce one final season of The Walking Dead. Fittingly enough, it’ll be known as The Walking Dead: The Final Season, and the first episode will be available for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices in 2018.

Players will once again follow Clementine as she navigates a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies in The Final Season. A short teaser trailer has been embedded above, and Telltale also created an accompanying retrospective video detailing Clementine’s impact on the development team and the video game industry.

In a series retrospective released today in celebration of Comic-Con through Telltale’s Summer 2017 Update, the development team at Telltale sat down to reflect on the journey of series protagonist Clementine since the first episode premiered in April of 2012. In discussing the character’s path all the way through 2017’s conclusion of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Telltale confirmed that this fourth and final season would focus on Clementine in the lead role, allowing players to fully step back into the shoes of the fan favorite character.

“It’s going to be an amazing experience. Thank you all so much, from the bottom of my heart,” said the voice of Clementine, Melissa Hutchison. “It’s been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and so much love has been behind this whole experience. Good luck, I’ll be right there with you.”

Hopefully, we’ll learn more about The Walking Dead: The Final Season soon.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged ,

90s Arcade Racer becomes 90s Super GP… and it’ll be released for Switch, PC, PS4

Posted on July 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Remember The 90s Arcade Racer? The throwback racing game was previously in development for the PC and Wii U, and publisher Nicalis originally planned to release the game in 2013. But here we are four years later, and the game has several new destinations… and a new name.

According to its official website, The 90s Arcade Racer will now be known as 90s Super GP, and it’s now in development for the PC, PS4, and Switch. But don’t worry, its core theme remains:

Overview
It is the nineties, and there is time for arcade racing! 90s Super GP is soaked in the nostalgia of the greatest era of racing video games, when “realism” and tedious minutiae took a back seat to fantastic environments, hyperspeed drifting, and paint-scraping!

Offering three different racing classes and a variety of exciting gameplay modes, 90s Super GP skillfully combines the feel and aesthetic of classic arcade racers with the polish, physics modeling, and widescreen HD visuals of current-generation games.

Features

  • Intense stock car, supercar and formula racing in the style of the best arcade racers of the 1990s
  • Bright colors, crazy track layouts and dance music evoke the golden era of arcade racing games
  • Finely tuned driving physics with precision handling and old-school drifting
  • 12 unique vehicles with different attributes and customizable colors
  • Six dynamic and shortcut-filled courses, three of which have “Long” and “Short” variations
  • Arcade mode for quick races in any unlocked vehicle on any unlocked course
  • Championship Mode with four circuits in each of the stock, supercar, and formula racing classes
  • Local and online multiplayer modes, with online leaderboards

Nicalis isn’t ready to announce a new release date for 90s Super GP, but it’ll hopefully be available soon.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch | Tagged

RBI Baseball 2017 will be released for the Switch on September 5

Posted on July 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Major League Baseball Advanced Media has announced that RBI Baseball 2017, their retro-themed baseball simulation, will be released for the Nintendo Switch on September 5.

RBI Baseball 2017, which has long featured fast paced and fun gameplay, is a full nine-inning game in less than 20 minutes with easy-to-use controls. The game features Season, Postseason, Exhibition and Local Multiplayer, including season saving and simulation capabilities. All 30 MLB ballparks are rendered in stunning detail and teams feature the latest rosters in regular updates. Players can modify lineups with complete MLB rosters or classic rosters allowing them to play their games their ways.

RBI Baseball 2017 debuted for the PS4 and Xbox One earlier this Spring, and it’ll be available to download through the Nintendo eShop and as a boxed release at your favorite retailer. Both versions of the game will be priced at $29.99… a $10 premium over the same download on the PlayStation Store or the Xbox Games Store.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged

Telltale will premiere the first episode of Batman: The Enemy Within on August 8

Posted on July 19, 2017 by John Scalzo

Batman returns this Summer, as Telltale Games has announced that the first episode of Batman: The Enemy Within will be available to download in August.

Picking up where Batman: The Telltale Series left off (and the choices you made in that game can carry over to the sequel), The Enemy Within will ask the Caped Crusader to do battle with The Joker and The Riddler. New foes will also stalk the streets of Gotham, along with new allies to help finish the fight:

In this latest chapter, both Bruce Wayne and Batman will be forced into precarious new roles. The Riddler has returned to terrorize Gotham City, but his gruesome puzzles merely foreshadow an even greater crisis. With the arrival of a ruthless federal agent and the return of a still nascent Joker, Batman must navigate uneasy alliances while Bruce Wayne undertakes a perilous series of deceptions. Which of Batman’s new allies will you choose to trust? And how deep into the darkness will you let Bruce descend?

The first episode of Batman: The Enemy Within will be known as The Enigma, and it’ll be released for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices on August 8. A Season Pass Disc, which will include the first episode and downloadable access to all subsequent episodes, will be available in stores for the PS4 and Xbox One in October.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged ,