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.

WB Games will bundle together the Lego Marvel Collection for PS4 and Xbox One on March 12

Posted on February 5, 2019 by John Scalzo

WB Games and TT Games have announced they’ll be bundling together all three Lego Marvel games for the PS4 and Xbox One later this Spring.

The Lego Marvel Collection will include Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, and Lego Avengers. The compilation will also include all previously-released downloadable content for all three games:

In Lego Marvel Super Heroes, players take on the role of their favorite Marvel characters Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, as they assemble in a completely original story. Players will battle against some of the most menacing Marvel Super Villains, including dastardly Doctor Octopus, the ghastly Green Goblin, the ruthless Red Skull, the vicious Venom, Thor’s vexing brother, Loki, as well as the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 picks up directly where Lego Marvel Super Heroes left off featuring a completely original branching storyline co-written by award-winning comic writer Kurt Busiek. This story brings together a diverse roster of iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains from different time periods and realities including Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Cosmo the Spacedog, Cowboy Captain America, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Green Goblin, Groot, Gwenpool, Hawkeye, Howard the Duck, Hulk, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Rocket Raccoon, She-Hulk, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Thor, and many more. Players can roam and explore 18 different Marvel locations within the incredible Open Hub World of Chronopolis, from the vibrant jungle of Wakanda to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt, along with Asgard, Attilan, Knowhere, the Coliseum, Hala, Hydra Empire, Kang’s Citadel, K’un-Lun, Lemuria, Manhattan, Medieval England, Noir New York, 2099 Nueva York, Old West, The Swamp, and Xandar.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers features storylines from the critically-acclaimed film Marvel’s The Avengers and its sequel Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and players can unlock more than 200 characters, including Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man. The game features a unique take on open world gameplay, with eight different environments to explore within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the expansive streets of Marvel’s New York, as well as Asgard, Barton’s Farm, Malibu, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base Exterior, Sokovia, South Africa and Washington, D.C. Players can freely roam around these open world locations in any way they’d like, such as super jumping off skyscrapers with Hulk, speed running over water with Quicksilver or even play as giant characters, like the menacing Fing Fang Foom, who can grow to the size of tall buildings.

The Lego Marvel Collection will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on March 12.

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

Apex Legends is a new Battle Royale game from Respawn and it’s available to download right now

Posted on February 4, 2019 by John Scalzo

Respawn Entertainment is breaking into the Battle Royale scrum with Apex Legends, a free-to-play game for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One that takes place within the Titanfall universe (but which doesn’t actually include any Titans).

Available to download right now, Apex Legends will feature a variety of unique characters who will compete against each other to be the last one standing (and to collect loot, of course):

Overview
Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play* Battle Royale shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier. Master an ever-growing roster of diverse Legends, deep tactical squad play and bold new innovations that level up the Battle Royale experience… all within a rugged world where anything goes.

Features

  • A Roster of Legendary Characters: Master a growing roster of powerful Legends, each with their own unique personality, strengths and abilities that are easy to pick up but challenging to truly master.
  • Build Your Crew: Choose your Legend and combine their unique skills together with other players to form the ultimate crew.
  • Strategic Battle Royale: Use your abilities (and your wits) to make strategic calls on the fly, adapting your crew’s strengths to meet new challenges as the match evolves.
  • Genre-Evolving Innovation: Experience a brand-new array of innovative features that level up the Battle Royale genre, including Respawn Beacons, Smart Comms, Intelligent Inventory and an all-new way to drop into the action with Jumpmaster deployment.
  • Sweet, Sweet Loot: Drop in and loot up with a host of powerful weapons, diverse attachments and useful armor to protect you in battle. After the fight, collect a wealth of cosmetic options for personalizing your character and weapons, and unlock new ways to show off during the match.

Respawn has uploaded a trio of new trailers to help you learn more about how Apex Legends works. A Cinematic Trailer, a Gameplay Trailer, and a Gameplay Deep Dive Trailer have all been embedded after the break. (more…)

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

2K Games hires Dead Space’s Creative Director to lead new Silicon Valley development team

Posted on February 4, 2019 by John Scalzo

2K Games is expanding once again as the publisher has announced the establishment of a brand new development studio in Silicon Valley. The studio doesn’t yet have a name, but we know that Michael Condrey, formerly of Visceral Games and Sledgehammer Games, will serve as its President.

Condrey is a well-known name in the industry, and he previously served as Creator Director for Dead Space, as well as three games in the Call of Duty franchise (2011’s Modern Warfare 3, 2014’s Advanced Warfare, and 2017’s WWII).

“At 2K, we offer our collective audience a variety of engaging and captivating entertainment experiences. We continually seek opportunities to empower and invest in the right people and ideas,” said David Ismailer, the President of 2K Games. “Michael’s unparalleled creative, production and leadership accolades are well-documented and deserved. We are greatly inspired not only by his passion but the potential for his new studio to complement our existing portfolio and development expertise. We welcome Michael to the 2K family and look forward to seeing our new Silicon Valley studio flourish in the months and years to come.”

Condrey added: “Great games come from the passion of a team driven by the pursuit of quality and the empowerment of an independent studio model. 2K’s studios have creative and technical autonomy, backed by a world-class infrastructure of support, and that offers the perfect recipe to build a new studio and craft experiences that will lead the next generation of gaming for fans everywhere. David and the dedicated people at 2K and Take-Two have an extensive history of rich and established brands, as well as a long tenure of executive leadership committed to supporting the ambitions of their independent studio teams.”

Condrey and his team are currently hard at work on an unannounced project that’ll be announced at a later date.

Posted in News |

New Retail Releases: Etrian Odyssey Nexus, Yo-Kai Watch 3, God Eater 3, More

Posted on February 4, 2019 by John Scalzo

The 3DS will be briefly back in the spotlight this week as a pair of new retail releases will launch for Nintendo’s handheld.

Atlus will release Etrian Odyssey Nexus, an RPG that includes ” ore classes, characters, gameplay systems, and labyrinths than any other game in the series.” The game is so jammed full of content that the publishing is calling it “The Definitive Etrian Odyssey Experience.”

Also set to launch for the 3DS this week is Level-5’s Yo-Kai Watch 3. The third game in the series will feature a series of cases for a pair of “Yo-Kai Detectives” to solve. Players will also meet the first “American Yo-Kai” in a land known as BBQ.

Finally this week, Bandai Namco will release God Eater 3 for the PS4, the first game in the popular monster-hunting franchise designed exclusively for current-generation consoles.

A complete look at the rest of this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)

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Madden 19 flubs Super Bowl LIII prediction as the Patriots defeat the Rams 13-3

Posted on February 4, 2019 by John Scalzo

There were a lot of big moments at Super Bowl LIII, but they all seemed to be happening on the defensive side of the ball, and that is not what Madden NFL 19‘s official Super Bowl Simulation promised.

The latest entry in EA Sports’s long-running franchise predicted that the Los Angeles Rams would push past the New England Patriots in a tight-knit (but high-scoring) game. But instead of a 30-27 shootout that ultimately favored the west coast franchise, the Patriots managed to stumble their way to victory in real life thanks to a fourth quarter touchdown and a winning score of 13-3. That minuscule scoring line actually made it the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever.

Super Bowl LIII was one for the old guys as Tom Brady became the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl (at age 41), and Bill Belichick did the same as the oldest coach to win “The Big Game” (at age 66). With six Super Bowl Championships, the Patriots tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as the most successful football franchise of all time.

But there’s no joy at EA Sports, for this loss drops Madden’s predictive powers to 10-6 since the publisher first ran an official Super Bowl Simulation in 2004. But EA Sports’s picks have been especially bad in the last six years, correctly picking the winner only twice.

For those keeping track at home, that’s worse than a coin flip.

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

Sony will release Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son for PlayStation VR later this year

Posted on February 2, 2019 by John Scalzo

Get your torches and pitchforks ready, Sony has announced they’re working on a sequel to Groundhog Day…

But perhaps put them down, as the story’s continuation will actually be a game sequel and not a movie that couldn’t possibly live up to the original. Announced earlier today, Sony will release the PSVR-powered Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son for the PS4 sometime this year.

Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son is in development at Tequila Works, and rather than rope in Bill Murray, the game follows Phil Connors Jr. as he becomes trapped in his own time loop. More details about how it’ll all work are available on the PlayStation Blog thanks to Creative Director Raul Rubio:

In Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son, you’ll play the charming but arrogant Phil Connors Jr., who grew up in the shadow of his father — a man who spent a lifetime repeating a single day until he had made it perfect. But for Phil Jr., today is the worst day of his life. He’s trapped back home in Punxsutawney, the small town he thought he’d escaped — where he can’t even get a decent cappuccino — and he’s going to have to repeat the day over and over until he learns the true value of friends and family.

Like the film, the game will branch out into wildly different scenarios depending on the choices made by Phil (no word yet if the game will include a variety of gruesome suicide options):

This game contains a time loop mechanic with multiple branching narratives, as well as individual meaningful stories that we can build upon. It also includes the same dark humor of the original film, letting us play around with the inherent instinct of every VR player to mess with everything around them. James Siciliano of Rick and Morty and Joshua Rubin of Telltale lent their expertise to help us build this original story from the world of the beloved movie. We have developed an ever-changing experience through deep branching narrative gameplay and full interaction with all NPCs. Because what would you do with eternity if there were no tomorrow?

Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow this morning, so that means Spring is right around the corner. Unfortunately, the rodent doesn’t control Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son’s release date, and all we know for sure is that it’ll be available “later this year” through the PlayStation Store.

Posted in News, PS4 |

13 Nintendo-published games for the Switch have sold more than 1 million copies

Posted on February 1, 2019 by John Scalzo

Nintendo-branded products have always taken up a hefty portion of Santa’s sack, and 2018 was no different as Switch sales were huge during the holiday season.

Nintendo sold 15.05 million Switch consoles during the last quarter of 2018, bringing the platform’s total install base to 32.27 million. Consumers also spent the last three months stocking up on software, purchasing 63.51 million games from October through December.

Two games stood out last quarter on the sales charts, as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 12.08 million copies and the combined might of Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! sold 10 million copies. All told, 13 Nintendo-published Switch games have joined the vaunted “Million-Seller” club during this fiscal year (April 2018 – December 2018):

Title Apr 18 – Dec 18 Sales Total Sales
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 12.08 Million 12.08 Million
Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee!
Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu!		 10 Million 10 Million
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 5.8 Million 15.02 Million
Super Mario Party 5.3 Million 5.3 Million
Super Mario Odyssey 3.35 Million 13.76 Million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 3.21 Million 11.68 Million
Mario Tennis Aces 2.53 Million 2.53 Million
Splatoon 2 2.25 Million 8.27 Million
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze 2.08 Million 2.08 Million
Kirby Star Allies 1.16 Million 2.42 Million
Octopath Traveler
(US + Europe Only)		 1.08 Million 1.08 Million
Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit 1.06 Million 1.06 Million
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker 1.05 Million 1.05 Million

Even Nintendo’s dedicated handheld was still kicking along in 2018 (albeit slower than before). 3DS owners scooped up 1.07 million copies of Mario Kart 7 during the April through December period, bringing its total to 18.11 million copies sold.

Nintendo’s current fiscal year will end on March 31, and the consolemaker will announce their full-year sales figures sometime in April or May.

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NetherRealm konfirms that Kano will appear in Mortal Kombat 11

Posted on February 1, 2019 by John Scalzo

Mortal Kombat fans, lend me your ears…

Kano, the leader of the Black Dragon Clan and nemesis to Sonya Blade, will be joining Mortal Kombat 11 as a playable character. NetherRealm Studios delivered the news yesterday via Twitter, likely in lieu of Wednesday’s canceled Kombat Kast stream. The polar vortex hit Chicago particularly hard and the developer moved the broadcast for the “safety of [their] team.”

Mortal Kombat 11’s first Kombat Kast will now be held on Tuesday, February 5, at 4:00 PM (Eastern Time), and we’ll likely learn more about the game’s roster then.

And don’t forget, Mortal Kombat 11’s launch is coming up very soon after that. It’ll be available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on April 23.

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