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.

Naughty Dog details Grounded Bundle, the final DLC for The Last of Us

Posted on April 16, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Naughty Dog is readying the third (and final) DLC release for The Last of Us, and now they’re finally ready to talk about it. The Grounded Bundle will be available as a free download for Season Pass holders and as five separate DLC packs for everyone. All Grounded Bundle content will also be included in The Last of Us Remastered for the PS4.

The centerpiece of the Grounded Bundle is Grounded Mode ($4.99), a brutal new challenge for the single-player campaign that ups the difficulty to new heights. According to Naughty Dog, the AI in Grounded Mode is “relentless, smart, and brutal” making survival “near impossible.” To showcase their toughness, players will receive a new Trophy upon the completion of Grounded Mode.

The bundle will also include the Reclaimed Territories Map Pack ($9.99), which will add four new maps to the game’s multiplayer mode. “Wharf,” “Capitol,” “Coal Mine,” and “Water Tower” will reintroduce players to locations that are “familiar yet unfamiliar” to those who have completed the single-player campaign.

The Grounded Bundle will include five new weapons. Four will be available as part of the Survivalist Weapon Bundle ($5.99) and a single gun, the Full-Auto Rifle, will be available as a free download for all The Last of Us players. If you spring for the Survivalist Weapon Bundle, you’ll receive the Specter, Double Barrel, Enforcer, and Launcher.

Finally, a pair of Skills packs ($3.99 each) will be included in the Grounded Bundle. The Situational Survival Skills Bundle will enhance your maneuverability while the Professional Survival Skills Bundle will make you a more deadly combatant.

Naughty Dog has announced a release date for the Grounded Bundle yet, but they did announce that the Last of Us Season Pass will no longer be available after May 13, so a May/June release (ahead of the Remastered version’s “Summer” launch) is likely.

More details about all the maps, weapons, and Skills can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PS4 | Tagged

Final Fantasy XIV: Realm Reborn, Trials Fusion, Beyond: Two Souls, more added to PS Store

Posted on April 16, 2014 by John Scalzo

playstationstorelogoSony dumped another huge pile of games onto the PlayStation Store yesteday. Let’s start digging through the goodies…

Square Enix has officially launched the PS4 version of their MMO, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It is available in a standard edition and a Collector’s Edition. And speaking of special editions, Ubisoft has added Trials Fusion to the store and it is also available in two editions on the PS4 (a standard edition and a Deluxe Edition, which includes the Season Pass).

Board games were also big in yesterdays update as Backgammon Blitz is now available for the PS3, PS4, and Vita (sorry, there’s no Cross-Buy option). If you’re looking for more brainteasers, Pure Chess and That Trivia Game were both released for the PS4.

What else… a little over six months after its retail release, Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls is now available to download for the PS3. Meanwhile, EA Sports has made 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil available to download for the PS3 on the same day as its retail release. And Vita owners will surely want to know that Dead Nation has finally come to Sony’s handheld.

We’re barely scratching the surface of this week’s PlayStation Update. More information about all of this week’s releases can be found after the break and a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

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

Evolve Hands-On Preview: Testing Turtle Rock’s Co-Op Monster Mash

Posted on April 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

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When THQ went belly up a year ago, one of the most sought-after prizes was Evolve, a then-unannounced cooperative shooter from Turtle Rock. Ultimately, 2K Games paid more than $10 million to acquire the publishing rights to the project. As the publisher behind the popular Borderlands series, 2K knows a thing or two about cooperative shooters, and they saw something special in the new game from the team behind Left 4 Dead. That something special was “The Monster,” a player-controlled behemoth that the four-player co-op team has to hunt down. I recently had a chance to play Evolve at PAX East 2014, and it’s beginning to look like 2K’s $10 million was money well spent. (more…)

Posted in PC, Previews, PS4, Top Story, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Soda Drinker Pro announced for the Xbox One

Posted on April 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

It blows my mind that Soda Drinker Pro is a real game and not some kind of insane April Fool’s joke. Unless it’s both. Whatever it is, Soda Drinker Pro is about to get more real as developer Will Brierly has announced that he plans to bring it to the Xbox One (with full Kinect support) in the very near future.

Soda Drinker Pro on the Xbox One will include the 100 original soda drinking simulations as well as 10 bonus levels exclusive to the Xbox One. Also on tap for the next-generation port is a “hyper-realistic simulation mode,” Achievements, and “other surprises.” One of those surprises is the inclusion of a “500% larger version” of Brierly’s previous game, Vivian Clark.

Brierly is bubbling over with excitement now that the news is official: “We are truly excited to have the opportunity to release Soda Drinker Pro for the Xbox One. We have been working hard to fine-tune the fluid dynamics, from the condensation on the cup to the carbonated bubbles that float up the straw, this is something we are so proud to release for the Xbox One!”

I admit, I don’t really get it. Perhaps Soda Drinker Pro is just an absurd entryway into the much more surreal Vivian Clark. But somebody must understand it, as Brierly posed with Soda Drinker Pro cosplayers who attended this past weekend’s PAX East convention.

Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Super Time Force will be released in “late May/early June”

Posted on April 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Joystiq caught up with Nathan Vella, the President of Capybara Games, at PAX East 2014 and they managed to get him to talk about the release window of Super Time Force. According to Vella, the game will be submitted to Microsoft for certification soon and, because there’s no multiplayer mode and just a single Leaderboard, it should sail through rather quickly. So he expects the game to be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 sometime in “late May or early June.”

Super Time Force has suffered multiple delays over the last year, but Vella also said they were needed to create the kind of game players expected to play: “It was always cool, the original game jam game was cool, but what we’ve turned it into is what I think people expected when they saw the very first trailer.”

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

Michel Ancel teases concept art from Beyond Good & Evil 2

Posted on April 15, 2014 by John Scalzo

I know it’s been a long time, but Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development at Ubisoft under the direction of Michel Ancel. Further proof of the game’s continued existence was delivered by Ancel himself a few weeks ago during a Q&A session with BG&E Myth. At 2:06 in the video above, Ancel unfurls a poster showing Jade’s new character design. The image shows Jade wearing clothes and in a pose very similar to traditional Japanese drawings of samurai and ronin.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 is in development for next-generation consoles and will be released eventually. Probably a few years from now after several more teases like this one.

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There are two Bumblebees in the latest Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark trailer

Posted on April 14, 2014 by John Scalzo

Activision’s Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this year and it will combine the world of Michael Bay’s Transformers films (including this Summer’s Age of Extinction) with High Moon’s War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron series. The game’s latest trailer makes good on this promise with two versions of the little yellow robot that could: Bumblebee. The two never meet, but both “Earth” Bumblebee and the more lovable “Cybertron” Bumblebee will make an appearance in Rise of the Dark Spark.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is in development at Edge of Reality and it will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in June. A slighty different version of the game is also in the works for the 3DS at WayForward Technologies.

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Firaxis announces Civilization: Beyond Earth at PAX East 2014

Posted on April 13, 2014 by John Scalzo

2K Games previously promised that the next game from Firaxis would be revealed at this year’s PAX East convention and the publisher and developer did not disappoint. During Saturday’s Firaxis panel, the developer revealed Civilization: Beyond Earth, a spiritual successor to their 1999 title Alpha Centauri. Firaxis was unable to use the Alpha Centauri name for Beyond Earth because the rights currently reside with Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher.

“The heart and soul [of Alpha Centauri] lives at Firaxis. For all the fans of Alpha Centauri, this is the game we’ve made for you,” Co-Lead Designer Will Miller said during the panel.

Civilization: Beyond Earth will feature a unique “skill web” system for its science fiction concepts, which will result in the creation of radically different civilizations as players replay the game over and over again. As of now, the game is expected to be available this Fall on the PC.

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