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.

Destiny: Rise of Iron, Batman: Episode 2, Dear Esther, more added to PS Store

Posted on September 21, 2016 by John Scalzo

This week, it is your destiny to play Destiny: Rise of Iron (PS4), the final expansion to Bungie’s interstellar multiplayer shooter. With Destiny 2 on track for a 2017 launch, the developer is closing the door on the first game with an earthbound episode that takes place in the Plaguelands, an area teeming with Fallen mutants who now “scavenge the tombs of the Golden Age.”

And speaking of new episodes, Telltale is back with another entry in their Batman saga, Batman: The Telltale Series (PS4). In Episode 2: Children of Arkham, Bruce Wayne is hounded by the knowledge that his fight might have been involved in Gotham’s criminal underworld, while Batman must deal with “an old friend [who is] now a dangerous adversary.”

Finally this week, the developer behind Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, The Chinese Room, will bring their first game to the PS4. In Dear Esther: Landmark Edition, players will explore a “remote and desolate” island while a man reads letters to his deceased wife, Esther.

More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a quick stop at the PlayStation Blog will reveal all the details about this week’s new add-ons and discounts. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita | Tagged ,

Here’s 15 minutes of Metal Gear Survive gameplay from Tokyo Game Show 2016

Posted on September 20, 2016 by John Scalzo

Without Hideo Kojima at the helm, Konami’s Metal Gear Survive didn’t receive the warmest of receptions when it was revealed last month. But the publisher is pressing forward, and they even held a splashy gameplay demonstration for the zombie-centric spinoff during last week’s Tokyo Game Show.

The 15-minute video is now available online, and it focused on a co-op mission dedicated to “co-op stealth, infiltration and defense tactics, and special new equipment and weapons”:

In this world exclusive, Metal Gear Survive takes to the stage for the first time at TGS 2016. Join a squad of four players as they work together on a mission to infiltrate a dilapidated compound and then defend it from the onslaught of relentless creatures. Using co-op stealth, infiltration and defense tactics, and special new equipment and weapons, the squad provides a glimpse of both new and familiar survival gameplay elements that form Metal Gear Survive.

Metal Gear Survive will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime in 2017.

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

New Rez Infinite trailer introduces Area X

Posted on September 20, 2016 by John Scalzo

Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s weird vision of trippy music and techno visuals helped Rez become a cult favorite for the Dreamcast and PS2 in the early 2000s. And now he’s back with Rez Infinite, a remastered version of the original game for the PS4. But Mizuguchi also plans to add several new features to Infinite, including PlayStation VR support and the mysterious “Area X.”

Earlier today, the developer tried to explain the thought process behind “Area X” to the PlayStation Blog, while also unveiling a new trailer for the game…

Area X is a new level we’ve added just for Rez Infinite.
Area X is an experiment.
Area X is Rez, but it’s also not Rez… it’s something new.

Like classic Rez, Area X is a designed to be a focused, replayable experience, that uses simple shooting mechanics as a means to induce “synesthesia,” an effect where perceiving something with one sense triggers another sense – like you can “see sounds,” or “hear colors” (as pioneered by influential Russian artist and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky).

But other than that basic foundation, the team and I decided to throw away the rest of the formula and start fresh, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay, building Area X through experimentation and iteration – try something, keep what worked, throw out what didn’t, try again – much in the same way United Game Artists and I created the original Rez so many years ago. Our goal was to create something that evoked the same excitement as Rez, but at the same time, something that felt unique. Something new. Something special all its own.

Rez Infinite will be released exclusively for the PS4 on October 13.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged

Forza Horizon 3’s Launch Trailer drifts into view

Posted on September 20, 2016 by John Scalzo

Microsoft is very proud of the accolades that Forza Horizon 3 received during this year’s E3 Expo. And that’s probably why developers Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios collected all 29 of them to help kick off the game’s Launch Trailer.

But if you’d prefer to try it out for yourself before you buy, a demo of Forza Horizon 3 is now available to download through the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One.

Forza Horizon 3 will be released for the PC and Xbox One, as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, on September 27.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged

Pokemon Company CEO confirms Pokemon game is in development for the Nintendo NX

Posted on September 20, 2016 by John Scalzo

pokemon-header

A Pokemon game is officially coming to the Nintendo NX.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Tsunekazu Ishihara, the CEO of The Pokemon Company, confirmed that the developer is hard at work on a game for Nintendo’s next console. “We will make games for the NX,” he said.

Ishihara’s announcement comes on the heels of a rumor published by MCV in August that said Nintendo and Game Freak plan to launch a Pokemon game for the NX in 2017. The executive didn’t discuss release timing for the first Pokemon game on the NX, but it’s reasonable to assume that Nintendo wants it to be available as close to the console’s launch as possible.

However, the executive dropped a second bombshell by also lending further credence to the persistent rumor that the NX is a console/handheld hybrid, telling the newspaper: “The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a handheld device.”

With the NX scheduled to launch in March 2017, Nintendo is widely expected to announce more details about the console sometime soon. But the exact “when” of that announcement will probably remain a mystery for a bit longer.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged

Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding will be released before 2019

Posted on September 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

deathstranding-header

Hideo Kojima’s default setting seems to be “enigmatic,” but the developer is definitely turning it up a notch for his next project, Death Stranding. Aside from the fact that it stars a (nearly nude) Norman Reedus, we don’t know much of anything about it.

But Kojima was prepared to answer questions this past weekend during a Q&A at the Tokyo Game Show, and according to IGN, he even (sort of) confirmed a release date for the game:

“It will be out before the Olympics,” said Kojima, referring to the Tokyo 2020 Games. He then went on, “To go a little further, there is a movie called Akira, and it will be out before the year in which Akira is set.”

Akira takes place in the year 2019, so it’s likely that Death Stranding will be released in 2018. Probably. Maybe. It’s at this point where I want to reference a movie of my own and quote Kyle Reese from The Terminator: “One possible future. From your point of view. I don’t know tech stuff.”

Moving on, Kojima also revealed that players will be able to tackle Death Stranding as a single-player experience, or as some kind of online multiplayer title. But he didn’t want to get too specific, only saying, “It will be a different kind of online play than anything we’ve seen before.”

Finally, the developer confirmed that Death Stranding will include a female protagonist, though no one has been cast for the part as of yet.

Posted in News, PC, PS4 | Tagged ,

The Gears of War 4 Launch Trailer is here… three weeks ahead of its launch

Posted on September 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

Narrated by Marcus Fenix and soundtracked by a cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” the Gears of War 4 Launch Trailer has arrived… three weeks ahead of the game’s planned launch on October 11.

Those 21 days and nights will give us plenty of time to digest this new trailer, which includes the reappearance of Augustus “Cole Train” Cole and the Locust. And it looks like there’s a very real chance that Marcus Fenix won’t make it to the end credits.

Gears of War 4 will be released for the PC and Xbox One, but fans who purchase it digitally through the Xbox Games Store will receive both versions as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere program.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged

Take a look at Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age’s TGS 2016 trailer right here…

Posted on September 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

Final Fantasy XII isn’t as well-loved as some entries in the long-running RPG series, but fans will get a chance to play through it one more time next year after Square Enix launches a high definition remake exclusively for the PS4. Announced earlier this year, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will include enhanced graphics and the new Zodiac Job System that was introduced in the International Zodiac Job System re-release of the game, which was only available in Japan.

Over the weekend, Square Enix unveiled a new trailer for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show, giving fans a closer look at “some of the newly re-mastered visuals and environments as well as gameplay in action.” The trailer’s been embedded above, so be sure and check it out.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged ,