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.

Weekly Warp-Up: The Eye of the Storm 2014 Edition

Posted on August 3, 2014 by John Scalzo

No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…

I know it’s been out for more than a month, but I was finally able to put pen to paper and pump out a Shovel Knight review that is befitting of this amazing game. Yacht Club Games had a Kickstarter success on their hands almost from the word “go” and they delivered in a way that not even the crustiest sea salt could have imagined.

If you’re looking for the next great Kickstarter success story, perhaps its in Andrew Rainnie’s latest edition of Kickstart This!

If you’d rather take a closer look at games that currently available (or soon will be), you’d do well to dive into Warp Zoned staff picks for What We Played in July 2014 and The Games of August 2014.

More news from the week that was (including a little Comic-Con spillover and a pre-Gamescom roundup) can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News |

New Releases: Ultra Street Fighter IV, Sacred 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Posted on August 3, 2014 by John Scalzo

ultrastreetfighteriv-header

It’s name isn’t quite as ridiculous as Super Duper Street Fighter IV, but Capcom will release Ultra Street Fighter IV this week. The publisher claims that PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 game will be the final Street Fighter IV update, but you can never can tell with Capcom.

Also this week, Deep Silver will release the action RPG Sacred 3 for the PS3 and and Xbox 360. In a surprising reversal from the usual “delay delay delay” that most game publishers specialize in, the release of Sacred 3 was actually pushed up multiple times. You gotta hand it to Deep Silver, they seem to have their stuff together.

Finally this week, the video game adaptation of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie will be released exclusively for the 3DS by Activision. The trailers for the new movie frighten and confuse me and I don’t think I even knew this game existed until last week sometime. But if the movie somehow turns out to be a shell of a surprise, we can all go back and check out the tie-in game.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

“You’ve Been Chosen” again to watch BioWare’s latest teaser trailer entitled “Spark”

Posted on August 1, 2014 by John Scalzo

BioWare is continuing their “You’ve Been Chosen” series of teasers, ahead of a planned Gamescom 2014 reveal, with “Spark.”

The “Spark” trailer centers around a disturbed teen drawing circles in a diner while his phone keeps ringing. After the teen silences his phone for a third time, lightning begins raining down inside the diner. Finally, a hooded figure looks in on the teen and a tagline, “Do You Know They Are Watching,” flashes across the screen.

What does it all mean? I’m still leaning towards demons. BioWare will unveil exactly what we’ve been chosen for during this year’s Gamescom convention on Wednesday, August 13.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged ,

Microsoft has “big surprises” planned for Gamescom 2014

Posted on August 1, 2014 by John Scalzo

Microsoft has big plans for this year’s Gamescom convention. The Xbox behemoth has a slew of presentations planned including a major Xbox Briefing on Tuesday, August 12 at 8:00 AM (Eastern Time). A teaser video above gives us a taste of what we can expect to see including Evolve, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Sunset Overdrive, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Forza Horizon 2, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Project Spark. The video also promises that we will get to see some “big surprises” at the show, one of which is surely Remedy’s Quantum Break.

What else will Microsoft unveil at Gamescom? You’ll have to tune in to see for yourself, but you’ve got plenty of options. The consolemaker will livestream their briefing through your Xbox console and Xbox.com and daily highlights will also appear on YouTube.

Gamescom 2014 officially kicks off on August 13.

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

Indie Megabooth is bringing 36 games to Gamescom 2014

Posted on August 1, 2014 by John Scalzo

The Indie Megabooth is going international as the game showcase has announced that they plan to bring 36 indie games to this year’s Gamescom convention, which will take place from August 13-17 in Cologne, Germany.

The Gamescom installation will include indie favorites such as Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, Below, Broforce!, Dragon Fin Soup, and Super Time Force Ultra as well as a variety of newcomers with a “particularly exciting European flavor.” If you’re attending this year’s Gamescom, here’s what you can expect to find in the Indie Megabooth (which will be in Hall 10.1):

  • Affordable Space Adventures (Knapnok)
  • Alpha Muse (Current Circus)
  • Armello (League of Geeks)
  • Back to Bed (Bedtime Digital Games)
  • Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians (Threaks)
  • Below (Capy)
  • Broforce! (Free Lives)
  • Chroma Squad (Behold Studios)
  • Cosmonautica (Chasing Carrots)
  • Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)
  • Dex (Dreadlocks Ltd)
  • Dragon Fin Soup (Grimm Bros)
  • Dungeon of the Endless (Amplitude Studios)
  • Endless Legend (Amplitude Studios)
  • Fearless Fantasy (Enter Skies)
  • Forced 2: The Rush! (Beta Dwarf)
  • Gang Beasts (Boneloaf)
  • Inside My Radio (Seaven Studio)
  • Machineers (Lohika)
  • Out There: Omega Edition (Mi-Clos)
  • Renowned Explorers: International Society (Abbey Games)
  • Rive (Two Tribes)
  • Robocraft (Freejam)
  • Shadowrun Online (Cliffhanger Productions)
  • SpeedRunners (Double Dutch)
  • Super Time Force Ultra (Capy)
  • Swords & Soldiers II (Ronimo Games)
  • Tengami (Nyamyam)
  • The Next Penelope (Aurelien Regard Games)
  • The Talos Principle (Croteam)
  • TRI (Rat King)
  • Tristoy (Uniworlds Game Studios)
  • Typoman (Headup Games)
  • Unclaimed World (Refactored Games)
  • Wander (Wander MMO)
  • Wayward Souls (Rocketcat)
  • Where is My Heart? (Schulenberg Software UG)

You can head over to the official Indie Megabooth site for more details on all of these games as well as a booth map. And if you can’t make it to Gamescom, don’t forget, the Indie Megabooth selections for PAX Prime 2014 will be announced very soon.

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

PlayStation Now open beta is available… Now

Posted on July 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

Sony has officially launched the PlayStation Now open beta, so if you’re interested in streaming PS3 games to your PS4 via a very expensive rental system, now is the time.

PlayStation Now currently offers over 100 PS3 games to rent through the PS4 interface. In the weeks ahead, the app’s availability will expand to include the PS3, Vita, PlayStation TV, and select Sony Bravia televisions released this year. According to the PlayStation Blog, the consolemaker eventually plans to offer PS1, PS2, and PS4 games through the streaming rental service as well.

But how does it all work? Sony has said that games will be available for rental periods of four hours, seven days, 30 days, and 90 days. As you can see in the video above, most 4-hour rentals are priced at $3-$5. Longer rentals will cost more money and Darksiders is shown as $15 for 90 days (which is actually a terrible deal considering you can buy it from Amazon for under $14). As a way to provide value, most rentals include any add-on content that was released post-launch. Trophy support and online play (even against players who own the real game) is also included with each rental.

As this is an open beta, Sony plans to listen to fan feedback and make changes in response to that feedback. First on the list is some kind of subscription plan, though details about what it will include and how much it will cost will be revealed “soon,”

Posted in News | Tagged

Sheik, Ruto, and Darunia star in the latest Hyrule Warriors trailers

Posted on July 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

Koei Tecmo Japan has unveiled three more character trailers for Hyrule Warriors and, this time, Shiek, Ruto, and Darunia take center stage.

Sheik is Zelda’s alter ego from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and cuts through a group of Stalfos with ninja-like precision. She also uses a mystical harp to lay waste to the horde with her musical talents.

Two more Ocarina of Time alums star in the other two trailers, which are both available after the break. Ruto is the Princess of the Zoras and, as you’d expect, she uses a lot of water-based attacks during her time in the spotlight. Darunia’s trailer features the Goron King going to town on a group of enemies with a massive hammer.

Hyrule Warriors will be available exclusively for the Wii U on September 26. But if you can’t wait that long, Nintendo will highlight Hyrule Warriors during their next Nintendo Direct broadcast, which is scheduled for Monday, August 4 at 11:00 PM (Eastern). (more…)

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged

Nintendo Download: Mega Man Battle Network, Lego Ninjago: Nindroids, more

Posted on July 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

nintendoeshop-header

After busting up the 3DS eShop during “Mega May,” Capcom’s longtime mascot will take a swipe at the Wii U in August. Every week, a classic Mega Man game will be added to the Wii U eShop. Best of all, they’re kicking things off today, on what is technically the last day of July, with Mega Man Battle Network. Battle Network Mega Man’s first foray into RPGs and it launched an entire series of games as well as multiple spinoffs. Perhaps we’ll see some of them again over the next few weeks.

A different kind of robot warrior stars in this week’s major 3DS release, Lego Ninjago: Nindroids. The latest Lego game from WB Games and TT Games, it’s based on the television show of the same name and transports the Lego Ninjago ninjas into a sci-fi setting.

Other games added to the eShop today include….

  • XType Plus (Wii U), a vertically-scrolling shooter.
  • Frederic: Resurrection of Music (Wii U), a piano-playing game of “musical duels.”
  • IQ Test (Wii U), a puzzling game to challenge your intellect.
  • Tangram Attack (Wii U), a Tangram-type puzzler.
  • Steel Empire (3DS), a portable remake of the Genesis/GBA shooter.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U | Tagged