Author: Nicole Kline

Nicole Kline is Warp Zoned's Senior Editor. She first began preparing for the job by climbing a milk crate to play Centipede in an arcade. You can find her on PSN under the name toitle or you can email her at nicole AT warpzoned DOT com.

Daily Scoop: February 24, 2014 – Lots of digital deals

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Nicole Kline

I spent the weekend alternating between writing and gaming. Anthony Amato and I have been playing a ton of Torchlight II recently, which we’ve been having a blast with. What game fills your weekends?

If it’s deals you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place! First up, my friends over at Ghost Crab Games are in the latest Groupees bundle. Pay what you want (minimum $1, suggested $5) for their game, Drive to Hell, as well as Paper Dungeons, Savage: The Shard of Gosen (Alpha Game) with the OST, Monster Challenge Circus, Trace Vector, Heroes of a Broken Land, Spice Road, Magicians & Looters, and Battlepaths. They’re unlocking more games and soundtracks as they sell more bundles, so go buy it!

Amazon has a few sales happening right now. You can get Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for $29.99, Gran Turismo 6 for $39.99, Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded for $9.99, Metro Last Light for $19.99, and Moshi Monsters: Katsuma Unleashed for $6.05.

There are also lots of sales happening at the Humble Store, as always. Saints Row IV is $24.99, Tetrobot and Co. is $4.79, Blocks That Matter is $1.99, Metro Last Light is $19.99 (that’s two places it’s on sale!), and Dead Island: Riptide is $14.99. And you still have time to get the Indie Royale Bundle. Pay the minimum for Crater Maker, Doom and Destiny, Millennium 4 – Beyond Sunset, You Still Won’t Make It, Strategic War in Europe, Spirited Heart Complete, and Kill Fun Yeah, with the added Pathogen Wars.

Steam has some new Weeklong Deals, with the best by far being Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit for $3.75. And one of my favorites, Hammerwatch, is just $4.99. Scoop ’em up!

Not many shirts today… in fact, just one!

(more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

IndieCade East 2014 After-Report: Day 3 – I’m Out of Cliches

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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Sunday was the third and final day of IndieCade East 2014 and, like all great events, it was bittersweet to see it end. There were plenty of great talks and workshops, another full day of Show & Tell games, and an amazing event called the GameSlam in which developers had three minutes to pitch their games quickly and succinctly. We spent most of our time at the GameSlam and checking out some of the talks before heading back home to Philadelphia. (more…)

Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, Top Story |

Daily Scoop: February 21, 2014 – Happy Friday!

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Hooray for Friday! It’s so close to the weekend. I plan on playing a lot of video games. What are you going to play?

There’s just one major deal today – Call of Duty: Ghosts is 50% off at Steam, marking it down to $29.99 for the weekend. Not only that – it’s also free to play all and double XP all weekend. I know I’m going to check it out!

There are a few good shirts today as well!

(more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

IndieCade East 2014 After-Report: Day 2 – The Belly of the Beast

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

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Day two of IndieCade 2014 was nonstop action and fun. There was an area sectioned off from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM for “Show & Tells,” where developers could show off unreleased games and conference-goers could playtest prototypes. There were dozens of amazing games to check out, and that’s just what we did. (more…)

Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Top Story |

Daily Scoop: February 20, 2014 – Digital deals galore

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

There are so many deals today that I’m just going to hop right in!

Anyway! Amazon’s digital deals are out of control right now. Kingdoms of Amalur + DLC Bundle is $9.99, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is $4.99, and Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning DLC: The Legend of Dead Kel and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – The Teeth of Naros DLC Pack are $2.99 each. They’ve also got a Digital Tribe Games pack for $2.99, which includes Cargo Commander, Insecticide, Kung Fu Strike, Legendary, Roogoo, Rush Bros., and Velvet Assassin.

Not enough for you? Don’t worry, there’s a brand new Humble Weekly Bundle. Pay what you want for Dead Reefs, Mystery Series: A Vampire Tale, Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure, and Aura: Fate of the Ages. Pay $6 or more for Dark Fall: The Journal, Dark Fall 2: Lights Out, The Book of Unwritten Tales: Digital Deluxe Edition, The Book of Unwritten Tales: Critter Chronicles Collectors Edition, Jack Keane 2: The Fire Within, Deponia, and Edna & Harvey: The Breakout. Pay $15 to also unlock The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief Digital Deluxe Edition.

Still not enough for you? Check out the new Indie Royale Bundle. Pay the minimum for Crater Maker, Doom and Destiny, Millennium 4 – Beyond Sunset, You Still Won’t Make It, Strategic War in Europe, Spirited Heart Complete, and Kill Fun Yeah.

OK, really. That’s it. That’s all you get today. Well, I mean, other than t-shirts.

(more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

XSEED will bring Ragnarok Odyssey Ace to PS3, Vita on April 1

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

XSEED went into detail on the PlayStation Blog about all of the new features coming to Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, which will be releasing for PlayStation 3 and Vita on April 1.

The original game, which was designed to be played on the go, pits players – alone or with up to three friends – against giant bosses in a Norse-themed world. Played can “use their gravity-defying powers to fly circles around the giants and take them apart piece by piece.” Sounds amazing, right? But with Ace, there have been loads of added features, including more options for character customization, elite-level AI mercenaries, Ace skills (new job-specific powers), and even a brand new dungeon after chapter 9, which was the end of the original game. This is a lot of content: “the new Tower of Yggdrasil has 400 floors… each of which changes its layout with every visit.”

The developers have also added “a variety of enhancements that make Ragnarok Odyssey more convenient to play,” including a new, easier merchant system and new control schemes, “and, Thor’s name be praised, the benefits of weapon refining are no longer random.”

Ragnarok Odyssey Ace will be released digitally and physically on April 1 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. The PS3 version will cost $39.99, while Vita owners will have two options – the physical limited edition (which comes with a soundtrack CD) for $39.99, or the digital edition all by itself for $34.99.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita | Tagged

Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us documentary is available from Amazon for free

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s immersive, third-person action survival game, took the world by storm last year. It was almost universally loved and won many awards. But the Dogs were coming off of years of making Uncharted games, and it wasn’t the easiest road.

Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us is a documentary that follows the developers on their journey to create this game. It was previously available to Season Pass holders, but right now, it’s available for free on Amazon. It’s 95 minutes long, and will fill that hole you’ve had since you finished the Left Behind DLC.

UPDATE: The entire film has been posted to YouTube as well. Watch it right here after the break. (more…)

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3 | Tagged

First gameplay video of The Order 1886 revealed

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

“The wall dividing life and death… it is so thin.”

So says the narrator in this first gameplay trailer of The Order 1886 over at Machinima’s Inside Gaming. Ru Weerasuriya, the CEO and Creative Director and Ready at Dawn, sat down for an interview to discuss some of the decisions they made while designing the game.

One of the most interesting points is about the developers not falling into a typical trope – instead of having the player control Lafayette, the rookie, they decided to have them control Gallahad, who has far more experience within The Order. They came to the decision organically, Weerasuriya said. The best person “to live the story” was “someone with experience, who saw the world the way it was, and will see the world the way that it is in the future… Lafayette would have too many questions.”

The Order 1886 will be out later this year for the PlayStation 4.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged