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: August 23, 2012 – A lovely day for gaming

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Nicole Kline

It’s a gorgeous day today, and would be spent perfectly indoors playing video games with the windows open, perhaps with a frosty beverage at hand and a fuzzy, sleepy kitty on your lap. Alas, it is also a Thursday, which means work is where most of us are. Sigh…

Not much in the way of deals today, other than video game stuff for under $10 at Amazon. Check that list out! It goes on for pages and pages!

One totally awesome shirt up today… (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

ResidentEvil.net features trailer released as RE6 goes gold

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Resident Evil 6 has gone gold, and Capcom has released a trailer for the new ResidentEvil.net service that they showed at last week’s Gamescom. RE.net is a free online service that is aimed to extend the playability of the game through site unlockables, events online, stat tracking, and some kind of WWE-themed gold belt that you can get for winning matches. Check out the trailer above for full details.

Resident Evil 6 will be out on October 2 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: August 22, 2012 – Encounters!

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Nicole Kline

A new Dungeons and Dragons Encounter season begins tonight! We go deep into the Underdark to Menzoberranzan, where drow wait with their mystery and intrigue. Intrigue us, foul creatures! We demand it. I’ll be one of the Dungeon Masters this season, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time. The last time I tried to DM was when I was a teenager playing second edition. I didn’t want to have to do the math for the weight of carrying rations, so I made the priest in the group pray for a Sizzler to appear whenever they got hungry.

True story.

Anyway, nothing really in the way of deals today. I mean, you can troll Amazon for bonus offers and discounts and stuff like I do every day, or you can spend your life donating to awesome Kickstarters instead. You have the power.

Just one little t-shirt for you today, folks! (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Daily Scoop: August 21, 2012 – Board games

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Another Tuesday, another board game night. Tonight we’re going to try out Blood Bowl Team Manager again, and possibly play some Bang. I also just got my copy of The Last Story, so we’ll see if that wins out over Sleeping Dogs. Oh, and Ryan Littlefield scored me an extra Gamecube controller, and my dear boyfriend Anthony has been talking a lot of trash about Mario Kart: Double Dash. Decisions, decisions…

Want some deals? Well, I’ve got one – Max Payne 3 is on sale for 46% off. I’m not going to tell you how much that costs. Get a calculator! No, it’s like, $30-something dollars. Or something.

Anyway, check out these awesome t-shirts and stuff! Yeah! Also… PORTAL UNDERWEAR. You heard me. (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop |

Diablo I and II creator has social media fight with Blizzard devs

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Nicole Kline

David Brevik, creator of Diablo and Diablo II, expressed some of his feelings on Diablo III to IncGamers during Gamescom.

“I have very mixed emotions about it. On one hand I am sad that people haven’t enjoyed Diablo because it’s a love, a passion, and it’s obvious people still have a giant love and passion for Diablo… That makes me feel great.

I am sad because people are outraged and… some of the decisions they have made are not the decisions I would make, and there have been changes in philosophy and that hasn’t gone over very well…

I am also a little happy… I hate to say, [but] it shows that the people that were involved in Diablo really did matter, and so I am happy that it has come to light that how talented that group was, how unique and special… when the people leave the game changes, and it shows how critical people are in this industry.”

So basically, to me, what he’s saying is: they made some design choices I wouldn’t have, and people are upset, and while that is a bummer, I am actually sort of pleased, because it means that what I built, and what I made, was important and meant something. Right? General idea?

Well, some of the Diablo III devs were pretty hurt over it, and had a public exchange via Facebook (which was captured by Reddit). Click the image above to enlarge it and cringe a bunch.

Since this argument needed more social media avenues, former Diablo II producer Mark Kern jumped in on Twitter: “Gotta say, that Jay Wilson, never having been at Blizzard for D1 and D2 and never having met Dave Brevik, has no place to say what he did. Dave Brevik created 2 genre-busting, award winning, world-loved Diablo games. Jay Wilson has done ____ with Diablo 3. Fill in the blanks. Blizzard arrogance has reached new heights.”

Facebook and Twitter have made it easier than ever for people to stick their feet directly into their mouths. Do not pass go, do not reach Paragon level.

[Source: IGN]

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Electronic Arts for sale?

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Electronic Arts is “quietly exploring a sale,” according to the New York Post.

Two private-equity companies, KKR and Providence Equity Partners, have approached EA “about a potential transaction.” According to International Business Times, Providence is already a major shareholder in ZeniMax Media, which has id Software and Bethesda under its umbrella. While this doesn’t mean they’d be a good home for EA, at least they have experience buying up game companies. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I can’t decide.

EA’s current market price is $13.42 a share, but according to the Post, they’ll do the deal for $20 a share. The article mentions mobile and casual games as the reason for the stock drops, but the real issue in gamer’s hearts is how much EA is raking consumers over the coals for DLC – especially when they’ve rushed a game before it’s finished. Just read these comments over at Slashdot to get an idea of gamer’s gripes. Most of you will be nodding your heads in agreement.

Posted in News |

Tokyo Jungle comes to America in September

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Did you watch that trailer for Tokyo Jungle? No? Well, you should.

I’ll wait.

Watch it yet? Ok, good. Then you saw the words “Urban based animal survival genre.” It’s like they took Twelve Monkeys and made only the above-ground part, with the wild animals running around all over Philadelphia, into a video game. There are “over 50 playable animals ranging from Pomeranians to Lions” in the game, according to the PlayStation Blog. There were baby chicks, and some dogs about to get it on, and was that a kangaroo attacking a tiger?

Wait a minute… did they say Pomeranians? I’m not sure what is going on here. All I know is that Tokyo Jungle comes to the PlayStation Network (priced at $14.99) on September 25.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Sports Champions 2 moves into stores on October 30

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Nicole Kline

The sequel to 2010’s Sports Champions will be out on October 30, according to the PlayStation Blog. The team is hard at work “giving the game one final coat of polish and squashing bugs right now,” says Senior Producer, Jeremy Ray. If only bug squashing were a sport!

Sports Champions 2 will have Bowling, Boxing, Golf, Skiing (what???), Tennis, and new Archery, as well as an avatar creator, so you don’t have to use those ludicrous caricatures anymore. There’s something called Party Play as well, and I have no idea what’s going on in that image above, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts those two things are related. Whatever. Just give me a bow and arrow and let me achieve zen and sore upper arms!

Posted in News, PS3 |