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.

Ubisoft is developing another game based on James Cameron’s Avatar

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Avatar is nearly ten years old, and practically absent from the current pop culture landscape, but director James Cameron continues to insist that he’ll release the first of four sequels to his Oscar-nominated sci-fi spectacle in 2018. Today, Ubisoft announced it’ll be accompanied by a brand new Avatar game, which is in development at Massive Entertainment.

Massive Entertainment is best known for their work on Tom Clancy’s The Division, and they plan to work closely with Cameron’s Lighstorm Entertainment to bring recreate Pandora for players:

The new game will return PC and console players to the Avatar universe, using Massive’s Snowdrop engine – also used in The Division and the upcoming South Park: The Fractured But Whole – to bring Pandora’s unique terrain and inhabitants to life. It was after seeing a Snowdrop-run game prototype, in fact, that Avatar creator James Cameron and Lightstorm agreed to the partnership.

“With the power of Massive’s Snowdrop engine, and the team’s passion and obsessive focus on detail, we know they’re the right group to bring the beauty and danger of Pandora to life,” Cameron told the UbiBlog.

Representatives from Massive Entertainment are in attendance at this year’s Game Developers Conference, and hope to hire a number of new developers to help them work on this Avatar project. You can find a list of open positions at their official website.

Massive’s Avatar game is currently without a title or a release date, however, we do know it’s in the works for “PC and consoles.”

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

Here’s the first trailer for SteamWorld Dig 2… launching this Summer on the Nintendo Switch

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Developer Image & Form has been talking up their Nintendo Switch debut and a new entry in the SteamWorld series for a few months now. But… surprise, surprise… the two games are actually one and the same.

SteamWorld Dig 2 will pick up right where the first game left off and launch for the Switch this Summer. According to an FAQ on their official website, Image & Form also plans to bring the game to other platforms later in the year:

Grab your pickaxe and dig into the sequel to the award-winning SteamWorld Dig! A platform mining adventure forged in MetroidVania flames. In search of her lost friend, a lone steambot and her unlikely companion must dig deep, gain riches, and explore an underworld riddled with danger. But time is running short…

In addition to viewing the debut trailer, fans will get a chance to go hands-on with SteamWorld Dig 2 at a number of conventions and conferences this Spring including the Game Developers Conference (which kicked off on Monday in San Francisco) and PAX East (which opens its doors in Boston on March 10).

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged , ,

More than 60 “Nindies” are in development for Nintendo Switch including SteamWorld Dig 2, Runner 3, Yooka-Laylee, and more

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Nintendo presented their first-ever Nindies Showcase for the Nintendo Switch today, and promised that more than 60 games from independent developers will be available for the console in 2017. This includes a staggering number of exclusives and timed exclusives such as…

  • Image & Form’s SteamWorld Dig 2, which will be available first on the Switch this Summer.
  • Choice Provisions’s Runner 3, which is in development exclusively for the Switch, and will be released this Fall.
  • Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine, a side-scrolling shooter that’ll be released for the Switch first this April.
  • Team Shifty’s Mr. Shifty, an overhead action game that’ll also be available first for the Switch this April.
  • Cardboard Robot’s Pocket Rumble, a retro-styled fighting game that’ll only be available to console owners on the Switch this March.

Other highlights from the Nindies Showcase include confirmation that Yooka-Laylee will be available for the Switch “soon” and that Blaster Master Zero will be released simultaneously for the 3DS and Switch on March 9.

Nintendo’s complete Nindies Showcase presentation has been embedded above, and you can learn more about all the games featured in the video after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Switch | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft will launch Xbox Game Pass subscription service this Spring

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

It looks like Microsoft will challenge Sony’s PlayStation Now subscription service in a big way with the Spring, because the consolemaker announced their own Xbox Game Pass this morning.

Unlike Sony’s service, the Xbox Game Pass does not stream games to your console. Instead, subscribers will gain access to full-game downloads of more than 100 titles for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. But like Netflix, new games will be cycled into the service every month, while older titles will be cycled out.

However, subscribers interested in purchasing any game offered through the Xbox Game Pass will be able to do so at a hefty discount.

Naturally, Microsoft themselves will supply many of the games available to download through the Xbox Game Pass. But the consolemaker has also recruited a huge number of third-party publishers to participate including 2K Games, 505 Games, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, Sega, SNK, THQ Nordic, and WB Games. And the first wave of available titles will include Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16, and Soul Calibur II.

The Xbox Game Pass will be available later this Spring and Xbox One owners will be able to subscribe to the service for $9.99 a month.

Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is getting a $300 Mithril Edition at GameStop

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Yesterday, WB Games announced that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be released in August, but the publisher has also partnered with GameStop to produce a wallet-busting special edition of the game for the PS4 and Xbox One.

Priced at $299.99, the Mithril Edition will include a huge statue of a Tar-Goroth Balrog battling against a Carnan Drake, as well as access to “Gold Edition” downloadable content, and lots of other loot:

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Mithril Edition

  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Gold Edition in Exclusive Steelcase
    • Nemesis Expansion: Outlaw Tribe
    • Nemesis Expansion: Slaughter Tribe
    • Story Expansion: Blade of Galadriel
    • Story Expansion: Desolation of Mordor
    • In-Game Item: Gold War Chest
  • Limited Edition 12″ Tar-Goroth Balrog Vs Carnan Drake Statue
  • Magnetic Ring of Power in Premium Case
  • Official Game Music Soundtrack
  • Cloth Map of Mordor
  • Collection of Exclusive Lithographs
  • Tribe Sticker Pack
  • In-Game Item: Mithril War Chest (Exclusive)
  • Collector’s Box

If you’re uninterested in yet another towering statue, but are looking forward to more in-game content for Shadow of War, WB Games is selling the Gold Edition of the game by itself for $99.99. A download-only Silver Edition will also be available for $79.99.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be released on August 22.

Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

Peter Moore leaves Electronic Arts to run Liverpool FC

Posted on February 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Only a small handful of video game executives can be considered “household names,” but I think it’s safe to say that Peter Moore belongs in that club.

Moore’s working life began with almost two decades of service at Reebok before he joined Sega in 1999. Though he didn’t have a video game background, Moore helped launch Sega’s Dreamcast, and eventually moved the company out of the console business altogether. He became a fixture at the E3 Expo after signing with Microsoft in 2003, and his colorful antics (including getting a tattoo of the Halo logo to promote Halo 2‘s release date) endeared him to the public.

Moore moved on again in 2007 and took over EA Sports as its President. Ultimately, he would ascend the corporate ladder and become the company’s Chief Operating Officer, as well as the “Chief Competition Officer” for EA’s eSports efforts. But now, the video game industry has to say goodbye to Peter Moore because he’s leaving Electronic Arts to become the CEO of the Liverpool Football Club.

Andrew Wilson, EA’s CEO, shared a few thoughts on EA.com about Moore’s departure:

Peter has been with us here at EA for nearly 10 years, and I consider myself privileged to have had the opportunity to work alongside him for that entire journey. If you’ve seen him on stage, or follow him on Twitter, or have ever read an interview with him, you will have a sense of Peter’s wit and charisma. What you should also know is that he is an unbelievable teammate, a tireless leader for our people, and his deep appreciation for great games and the passionate players in our communities is unwavering.

Above all, through his time at EA, Microsoft and Sega, Peter has been a statesman and advocate for our industry.

Moore was pretty busy during his last few weeks at EA, announcing Madden NFL 18, FIFA 18, NHL 18, NBA Live 18, and EA Sports UFC 3 earlier this month.

Posted in News |

Double Dragon IV Review: Still Cyclone Kicking After All These Years

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

It’s 2017… How do you review a game like Double Dragon IV?

Designed by Arc System Works as a direct sequel to Double Dragon II: The Revenge (the events of the third game chronologically take place after the first), Double Dragon IV recreates the franchise’s NES-era look down to the last pixel. Even after playing it, if you had told me that Technos (the original developer behind the series) found an unfinished Double Dragon sequel from 1991 and released it last month as a brand new game, I would have believed you. But in a way, that’s exactly what they did.

Though it was only announced in December 2016, Arc System Works recruited a good portion of the original Technos team to help bring their vision for Double Dragon IV to life. Director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Producer Takaomi Kaneko, Character Designer Koji Ogata, Programmer Kei Oyama, and Composer Kazunaka Yamane all signed on to help bring the sequel to life.

But is it a good game in these early months of 2017? Umm… (more…)

Posted in PC, PS4, Reviews, Top Story | Tagged

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition gets serious in this new Story Trailer

Posted on February 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

Bulletstorm was something of a goofy romp when it was originally released back in 2011, but you’d never know it from the brand new Story Trailer that Gearbox and People Can Fly unveiled today for Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. Even the official plot description from the publisher sounds oh so serious now:

In Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, players step into the boots of Grayson Hunt after a crash landing on an abandoned resort planet forces him to make a hard choice: survival or revenge. An exiled member of the elite assassin group Dead Echo, Grayson’s blind desire for vengeance finds his crew stranded on Stygia where he can finally confront the commander behind his betrayal — or get his team off the planet alive. Decimate throngs of Stygia’s mutated inhabitants, performing masterful kills throughout the single-player campaign — or one of 30 competitive score-challenge and 12 co-operative multiplayer maps — using the game’s unique “Skillshot” system, which rewards players for executing the most creative and deadly kills imaginable.

In development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, the remaster will include “hi-res textures, increased polygon counts, sterling audio, smoother framerates,” and an option for 4K resolutions on the PC and PS4 Pro. The Full Clip Edition edition will also include all of Bulletstorm’s previously-released downloadable content.

Players looking for Bulletstorm’s goofy sense of humor will still get it if they pre-order the Full Clip Edition and activate the Duke Nukem’s Bulletstorm Tour expansion. The special mode will replace Grayson Hunt with Duke Nukem, and feature a new script voiced by the legendary Jon St. John.

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition will be released on April 7.

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