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.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Fruit Ninja VR, more added to PS Store

After more than a year of teasing, Clementine will return to our screens this week in Telltale’s The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, which is now available to download for the PS4 through the PlayStation Store. The special two-part premiere, Ties That Bind, will also introduce us to Javier, the co-protagonist of this post-apocalyptic tale.

It’s not all doom and gloom in this week’s PlayStation Store update, as WayForward plans to reintroduce gamers to Shantae’s side-scrolling adventures in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. Available to download now for the PS4 and PS Vita, Half-Genie Hero brings back the character’s “devastating Hair-Whip Attack” in another bid to save Sequin-Land.

Finally this week, a handful of PlayStation VR games are now available to download including Fruit Ninja VR, which gives players a virtual samurai sword and asks them to slice and dice a wide variety of oranges, melons, and grapefruits “without all the mess.”

More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And, as always, a complete listing of this week’s new add-ons and discounts is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS4, Vita | Tagged

CoD: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack will be available for PS4 on January 31

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will receive its first downloadable expansion from Activision and Infinity Ward on January 31. The Sabotage DLC Pack will be available first for PS4 players, and as expected, it’ll include four new multiplayer maps and a new Zombies chapter.

For Zombies fans, “Rave in the Redwoods” will give players the chance to dance with the dead in an “abandoned lakeside summer camp”:

“Rave in the Redwoods,” the next thrilling chapter of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare zombies experience, continues the macabre narrative while transporting players into a new decade: the 1990s. Willard Wyler, the enigmatic movie director villain, returns and has trapped the protagonists inside another one of his twisted horror films. The four playable characters from the original story also return, but with fresh, over-the-top roles, as they learn more about Wyler’s evil plot while fighting all-new varieties of the undead in an abandoned, lakeside summer camp where zombie ravers have taken over and turned the grounds into a techno-fueled illusion. “Rave in the Redwoods” is a tense, spooky thrill ride with shocking twists, surprises, and a slew of new Easter eggs for players to discover.

And the new multiplayer maps will include several futuristic options, including a re-imagining of the “Afghan” map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:

Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack

  • Noir – A dark, grimy city map inspired by futuristic Brooklyn at night, Noir is a classic three-lane map set against a backdrop of a dystopian future, filled with cafes and parks surrounding a brutal downtown warzone.
  • Neon – A virtual training center designed for urban warfare, Neon is a unique, digitized battle arena where cars and other structures spawn out of thin air and enemies dissolve into hundreds of pixels when defeated. Middle lane sightlines will cater to long-range players while the outsides of the map allow for quick counter-attacks in close-quarter action.
  • Renaissance – Set in Northern Italy, Renaissance pits players against each other on the narrow streets of Venice surrounded by classic architecture and buildings that promote continuous action through the canals and neighborhoods of this iconic city.
  • Dominion – A re-imagining of the classic Afghan map from Modern Warfare 2, now set on Mars, Dominion retains all the memorable landmarks and gameplay of the original, anchored by the crashed ship in the center, with a few enhancements designed to take advantage of the new movement system.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Sabotage DLC Pack is priced at $49.99, though PS4 players will also have the option to purchase each expansion as a standalone download for $15 apiece. If history repeats itself, PC and Xbox One players will likely be able to download the Sabotage DLC Pack sometime in early March.

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

Finalists for The Steam Awards announced; Voting begins on December 22

The bean counters at Steam have tabulated your nominations and announced the finalists for the first-ever Steam Awards. We don’t know if this is something the game retailer plans to do every year, but we’ll all be able to cast our votes later this week.

Voting for the Steam Awards will begin on Thursday, December 22, at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time) with “The ‘Villain Most In Need Of A Hug’ Award.” Fans will have 24 hours to choose between Borderlands 2, Dead by Daylight, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, and Portal 2. Voting for a new category will open up once a day until Friday, December 30, which is when Steam will open up voting for the fan-created categories.

The winners will be announced on New Year’s Eve, and the complete list of finalists can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PC | Tagged , , , , ,

Nintendo won’t release post-launch DLC for Super Mario Run

Million of people have downloaded Super Mario Run since it launched on the iOS App Store last week, but it looks like Nintendo doesn’t have any plans to add additional content to the game in the weeks and months ahead.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a Nintendo representative said, “The company [doesn’t] plan to release additional content, either free or paid.”

However, Nintendo did release a series of holiday-themed Decorations for the game’s “Kingdom Builder” mode earlier this week, so perhaps this decision isn’t as set in stone as it sounds.

Posted in Mobile, News | Tagged

Mega Man’s NES adventures will be released on mobile devices in January

It’s hard to be a Mega Man fan nowadays, and that’s because the Blue Bomber hasn’t starred in an original game since the release of Mega Man 10 all the way back in 2010. But after the successful launch of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection last year, Capcom has announced plans to bring the character’s NES adventures to mobile devices in January 2017.

Revealed yesterday on the Capcom-Unity blog, the games will be available for Android and iOS devices, though it’s currently unknown how Capcom plans to tone down the brutal difficulty of Mega Man’s classic adventures and make them playable with a touchscreen:

  • Mega Man Mobile – The evil Dr. Wily must be stopped in this classic action platformer, the original Mega Man!
  • Mega Man 2 Mobile – Dr. Wily resurfaces to threaten the world again! Only Mega Man can stand in his way.
  • Mega Man 3 Mobile – Fight berserk robots on uncharted planets. Mega Man must set a course for space to resolve this mysterious crisis.
  • Mega Man 4 Mobile – A year has passed since Mega Man’s battle in space. A new enemy appears – Dr. Cossack.
  • Mega Man 5 Mobile – Manic robots cause chaos in the city. How is Proto Man involved? Only Mega Man can find out!
  • Mega Man 6 Mobile – The Global Robot Alliance is formed, but this newfound peace is threatened by a new foe – the enigmatic Mr. X!

Capcom is encouraging fans to sign up for a Pre-Registration List to receive “special offers” and “to be one of the first to be notified when the game is available.”

Posted in Mobile, News | Tagged ,

Rumor: WB Montreal cancels unannounced Suicide Squad game to work on Batman game starring Damian Wayne

Most fans of Rocksteady’s critically-acclaimed Batman: Arkham trilogy took a pass on WB Montreal’s prequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, which was originally released three years ago. Since then, the developer has been quietly working on two other games set in the DC Universe… but one of them has likely met its demise.

According to a new report on Kotaku, WB Montreal had been working on the Suicide Squad game (which was also hinted at during Arkham Origins’s end credits). However, the supervillain team-up was canceled so the developer could devote more time to their other project, Batman: Damian Wayne:

We don’t know much about WB Montreal’s Damian Wayne game, which was also rumored earlier this year. We’d originally heard that it would be revealed at the beginning of December, but given the studio shakeup, it’s not surprising that they haven’t announced it yet. This Batman game may not be out for a while.

In DC Comics canon, Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. Like his mother (and, let’s be honest here, his father), Damian is a tad unhinged. So as a teenager, he reunited with his father to learn how to fight crime. Presumably, this is the angle that WB Montreal’s game will take.

But as Kotaku believes, it might be a while before we hear anything official about Batman: Damian Wayne from WB Games.

Posted in News |

See a full 17-minute match from Friday the 13th: The Game in this new gameplay video

Jason Voorhees went on a blood-spattered rampage in the Friday the 13th: The Game trailer that Gun Media released earlier this year at PAX West. Well, good news, the publisher is back with another look at the game… though the slasher icon is a bit less kill-happy.

Late last week, Gun Media sat down to play a full Friday the 13th match with IGN First. Focusing on the camp counselor’s efforts to survive, they set traps, repaired the phone, found the car, and tried to escape a gruesome death by machete. Did they survive? You’ll have to watch the video to find out for yourself.

Friday the 13th: The Game will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Early 2017. It’ll be followed by a free single-player expansion in the Summer.

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

Two new Dragon Quest XI trailers unveiled for Switch, PS4, and 3DS

Square Enix debuted two new trailers for Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time at last week’s Jump Festa in Japan. The massive new RPG is currently in development for the 3DS and PS4, though Nintendo Japan finally confirmed that it will also be available for the Switch.

The Cinematic Trailer, embedded above, will introduce fans to the game’s main characters and some of the new monster designs. Meanwhile, a new Gameplay Trailer, available after the break, gives fans a look at the 3D open world of the PS4 version and the more retro stylings of the 3DS version.

Dragon Quest XI: In Search of the Departed Time will be released sometime in 2017 in Japan. It’s unknown when, or if, the RPG will make its way to North America. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, PS4, Switch | Tagged