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.

Michael Fassbender will play Desmond in the Assassin’s Creed movie

Posted on July 9, 2012 by John Scalzo

Michael Fassbender has made quite a name for himself with science fiction fans over the past year, taking over the role of Magneto in X-Men: First Class and as the synthetic David in Prometheus. Today, the British actor paired up with Ubisoft Motion Pictures for his next sci-fi role, as Desmond in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie.

Fassbender will actually be performing triple duty on the film. In addition to his role as Desmond, he’ll also play one of Desmond’s ancestors as well as producing the movie through his production company, DMC Film. It’s currently unknown if the film will follow Altair, Ezio, Connor, or an entirely new character in the Assassin’s fight against the Templars.

“Michael Fassbender was our first choice to play the franchise’s iconic hooded hero. Michael is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor,” said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Paris-based Ubisoft Motion Pictures.

It might be a while before we see the Assassin’s Creed movie as Ubisoft Motion Pictures has yet to select a writer or director for the project.

[Source: Variety]

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Paul McCartney writing music for Bungie’s next game

Posted on July 9, 2012 by John Scalzo

bungielogo

Earlier this year, Sir Paul McCartney revealed that he was composing music for an unnamed developer. After everyone got over the shock of a former Beatle working on a video game, we all kind of put it out of our minds. There were actual games to be played after all.

But over the weekend, McCartney dropped a bomb. The unnamed developer that he’s working with is actually Bungie. That’s right, Bungie, the creators of the Halo series:

While the game he’s composing went unmentioned, we can assume that it has something to do with Destiny, Bungie’s sci-fi shooter for the Xbox 360, PS3 and next-generation systems. I guess we don’t know that for sure, but something tells me Paul McCartney didn’t just drop by the Bungie offices to hang out.

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Legally Speaking Edition

Posted on July 8, 2012 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…

Another week of hot, hot temperatures has drowned out all of this week’s news stories. So don’t expect a lot from this week’s Weekly Warp-Up.

Sure, we’ve got our look at The Games of July 2012, but the biggest story this week is that the European Union Court of Justice has ruled that downloadable games can legally be resold. How will this work? Will gamemakers roll out a reselling system in North America too? Does that mean “delisted” games like Smash TV on the Xbox Live Arcade will become collector’s items? The whole thing is very exciting.

For more exciting news (well, less exciting that this), hit the jump. (more…)

Posted in News |

New Releases: NCAA Football 13, Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure, Ice Age 4, More

Posted on July 7, 2012 by John Scalzo

It is hot. Like, too hot. Too hot to do anything but complain. And complain we will, as we’re in the dog days of Summer and the new release slate is ridiculously bare. Game publishers will eventually jump onto the “Summer Blockbuster” mentality, I just wish they’d do it sooner.

This week’s big new release is NCAA Football 13 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. It’s joined by Sega’s 3DS rhythm game, Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure and the multiplatform movie tie-in game, Ice Age: Continental Drift – Arctic Games.

Hit the jump for a few more new releases. (more…)

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

Activision announces Walking Dead FPS based on the TV show

Posted on July 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

With Telltale hard at work on their episode adventure series based on The Walking Dead comic, Activision has announced a first person shooter based on the television show… which is also in development for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 and will also be titled The Walking Dead. Oh, and Activision’s game will also serve as a prequel story that takes place before Rick Grimes wakes up in his hospital bed.

Because that’s not confusing for gamers AT ALL.

Activision’s Walking Dead game will be developed by Terminal Reality and will follow the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle, as they work their way towards Atlanta. Players will control Daryl, who will be carrying his trusty crossbow, but “players will need to carefully manage food, ammunition and supplies as they make their way through the game.” Other characters will meet Daryl and Merle on their journey and it’ll be up to the players to decide if they can tag along.

The Walking Dead (the first person shooter) will be released sometime in 2013.

[Source: IGN]

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

XBLA Friday Update: Frogger Hyper Arcade Edition

Posted on July 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

Konami is giving Frogger the same neon-coated makeover that Namco Bandai has lavished on several of their classic franchises in Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition, a special Friday update to the Xbox Live Arcade.

Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition promises all new game modes and even a special Contra-style mode:

Frogger’s coin-op thrills are back and better than ever! Jump into the action with classic and brand-new game modes that expand on Frogger’s classic run-and-dodge gameplay. Customize your game board with different skins, from the modern neon style of HYPER ARCADE to the 8-bit sprites from Castlevania and even CONTRA! Throw down against friends or the CPU in up to 4 player matches to find out who’s really the top frog!

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Namco Bandai announces US, European release for Tales of Xillia

Posted on July 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

First released in Japan in 2011, Namco Bandai has announced that the next Tales game, Tales of Xillia, will make its way to North America and European countries in 2013. The PS3 exclusive is the 13th “Mothership” game in the Tales franchise.

The news was broken today by the official Tales Twitter feed:

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

New Rambo game will be playable at Gamescom

Posted on July 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

With most of the big guns skipping Gamescom this year, they’ve left an open space that’ll be filled by the biggest gun of all… Rambo!

UK publisher Reef Entertainment has been very quiet about the game since announcing it last August, but they plan to bring a playable build of the action game to this year’s Gamescom expo. This year’s Gamescom expo will be held n Cologne, Germany from August 15-19.

Reef Entertainment Commercial Director Craig Lewis said: “We [are] dedicated to creating a video game for consoles and PC that will allow Rambo fans and gamers across the globe to really get under the skin of Rambo and wield his iconic weapon-set in battle.”

Rambo doesn’t have a release date and no American publisher has stepped forward to claim the game yet.

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