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.

Wii U box art design for games discovered on GameStop, Amazon.ca

Another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place as a pair of online retailers have leaked out our first look at the box art design for Wii U games.

Assassin’s Creed III and Avengers: Battle For Earth were both spotted at Amazon.ca while GameStop accidentally unveiled the cover for FIFA Soccer 13. The consistency of the design across both retailers means that it’s unlikely these boxes are mockups or work-in-progress designs.

The two-toned semi-circle is identical to the game box design that Nintendo used during the GameCube era (albeit with teal and yellow instead of black and silver). And it’s possible that Nintendo is switching up their case color of choice again as GameStop shows FIFA 13 with a teal-colored case.

It’s not earth-shattering news, but as I said, one more piece of the puzzle has fallen into place. Hit the jump for a larger look at the Wii U box art design of Assassin’s Creed III. (more…)

Posted in News, Wii U |

THQ cancels Del Toro’s Insane; director retains IP rights

THQ President Jason Rubin just announced that the company has canceled Insane, the first game in a planned trilogy from director Guillermo Del Toro and developer Volition. “We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo Del Toro,” Rubin said.

Insane was first announced during the 2010 Spike TV Video Game Awards, so the game was in development for at least two years before getting the axe. With Del Toro retaining the IP rights to the game, he would legally be able to take the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 title to other publishers if he wanted to. However, it’s likely that Volition’s contirbution to the project would stay with the publisher.

THQ never talked about Insane much after that day, but Del Toro described it as a “Lovecraftian Thing” to the MTV Multiplayer Blog before the announcement.

[Source: Joystiq]

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

Rise of the Triad reboot will be cheap, have free DLC, and may come to consoles

Apogee Software has been tinkering with the idea of a Rise of the Triad reboot for years and we finally got our first look at it during last weekend’s QuakeCon. If you were a teenager in 1995, this is quite possibly the best news ever. Some would even say that it’s ludicrously good news.

More good news emerged from the show floor when Apogee announced that the Rise of the Triad reboot would be priced at $14.99. Developer Interceptor Entertainment is also working on a ton of additional downloadable content for the game (including an expansion based on Rise of the Triad: The Hunt Begins) that they plan to give away for free.

Finally, Apogee and Interceptor haven’t ruled out a console port, so PS3 and Xbox 360 owners may get their hands on ROTT someday.

[Source: Destructoid]

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Sony to release God of War Saga, InFamous Collection on August 28

It looks like the Ratchet & Clank Collection won’t be the only compilation of classic titles Sony has planned for an August 28 release. The publisher has just announced plans to package together an InFamous Collection and the God of War Saga on that day as well. Both Collections will be available for a super-low price of $29.99 each.

The InFamous Collection will include both games in the series, InFamous and InFamous 2, as well as InFamous: Festival of Blood, a formerly PSN-exclusive title. In addition to the games, “additional character costumes, power ups and weapon styles” and “extra missions” will be included in the compilation.

The God of War Saga will include five games: God of War, God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. This package will also include “exclusive bonus content.”

Finally, Sony revealed that more Collections will be released this Fall.

Posted in News, PS3 |

Way of the Samurai 4 coming to PSN on August 21

XSEED Games has announced that Way of the Samurai 4 will be available on the PlayStation Store in all of its nut-punching glory on August 21. The download-only title will be priced at $39.99 and, according to XSEED, will include branching storylines and multiple endings.

It will also include the weirdness that the Way of the Samurai series is known for, as the game’s tagline makes clear: “Be the hero Amihama deserves… or just run around like a maniac.”

Yeah, our unnamed hero obviously ain’t Batman. Though he does carry a bunch of wonderful toys…

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Look to the Future Edition

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…

It’s our monthly calendar turn here at Warp Zoned as we push out the latest edition of Warpback, or What We Played in July 2012, and our look at next month’s biggest games in The Games of August 2012.

Looking out even further into the future, we got a peek at four games that’ll be part of this Fall’s Wii U launch lineup. I don’t know why most of these games skipped E3, but you’ll be able to play them on your brand new Wii U this November (or whenever the sytem launches): Family Party 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade, FIFA Soccer 13, Madden NFL 13, and Mass Effect 3

Finally, we went really far into the future and came back with the Premiere Edition of Kickstart This!, our semi-regular look at the best the crowdfunding platform has to offer.

Want more news from the future… buy a crystal ball! Or you could just hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)

Posted in News |

John Carmack: “Doom 4 will be done when it’s done”

John Carmack, id Software’s founder and chief Technical Director, told the assembled masses at this weekend’s QuakeCon that Doom 4 “will be done when it’s done.”

The existence of Doom 4 was confirmed back in 2008 and this vague progress report is nothing new. At one point, parent company Bethesda Softworks even denied the game was ever officially announced.

Work on the title appears to be well underway now though, with Carmack stating that id’s entire mobile team has been tasked with completing Doom 3: BFG Edition. After that game’s October launch, the entire company’s resources will be devoted to the development of Doom 4. Unfortunately, a side effect of these redoubled efforts towards Doom 4’s development will result in the end of mobile game development at id.

However, Carmack also reassured fans that the company will move back into mobile development “at the appropriate time.”

[Source: Game Informer, Polygon]

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Releases: Persona 4 Arena

After a veritable bounty last week, this week the new release calendar is limited to a single new game.

That game is Atlus’ Persona 4: Arena, a 2D fighter based on the popular PS2 RPG. It was developed by Arc System Works and it’s available on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

If a Persona 4 fighter doesn’t thrill you, there’s always this week’s downloadable content (including Sony’s Sound Shapes and Microsoft’s Hybrid) to look forward to.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged