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: July 22, 2011 – A challenger appears!

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Nicole Kline

So as everyone knows, I don’t have an Xbox 360. In fact, I’ve never owned any Xbox products, ever. I’ve been thinking about getting one, and I’ve officially started a “help Nicole get an Xbox 360” fund (which right now has about $150 in it). I’ve been debating on which one to get, and had almost settled on this puppy – until yesterday. Amazon announced the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars Bundle, and I totally lost it. A console that looks – and sounds – like R2D2?!?! And I only need $300 more! WOO!!

Anyway, onto the deals! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Logitech PlayStation 3 Vantage USB Headset for $19.99. Logitech makes great products, so if you’re looking for a good headset to use while playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, I recommend this one.

No t-shirts today, folks. It’s too hot to wear a shirt, anyway! The heat index right now is 111 degrees. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. Ever again. Or at least until it drops about 20 degrees.

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Daily Scoop: July 21, 2011 – Feeling hot, hot, hot

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Another record hot day is upon us here in Philadelphia. It’s supposed to get over 100 degrees both today and tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t melt when I have to go outside!

Not too much going on in deals today. Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Heatwave Interactive’s Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising for the PC. Marked down to $19.99 from $49.99, this MMORPG has “fully customizable estates,” in which your character can “begin the game with their estate at the foot of Mount Olympus” which has been “destroyed by an army of cultists.” Beat down those jerks and rebuild your estate!

There’s also a 20% sale going on over at Play-Asia.com – just become a member and reap the benefits of the sale!

Today’s Ript shirt, titled “Game of Blades,” is one I know a lot of you must buy: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PC |

Halo: Primordium to continue story of Forerunner Saga

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Halo: Primordium, the sequel to Halo: Cryptum and the second novel in the Forerunner Saga, will be coming out on January 3, 2012. Published by Tor Books, the novel – which will be available in both print and audio versions – will be penned by Greg Bear, who was also the author of Cryptum.

Fans at San Diego Comic-Con will be able to see the award-winning science fiction writer at two Halo panels, “Writing in Videogames: In-Game, Novels, Comics, and Other Franchise-Building Offshoots” (Room 32AB), and “Halo Universe” (Room 6BCF). Those panels are at 10 AM and 11:30 AM, respectively, on Friday, July 22. Also on Friday, at 2 PM, Bear will be at the Tor Books booth (#2707), where there will be a giveaway as well as signing of Halo: Evolutions books, totebags and posters.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Family Guy Online MMO announced by 20th Century Fox; customize your character today!

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nicole Kline

20th Century Fox has announced Family Guy Online today, a new MMO based on the popular television series. An open beta for this free-to-play, browser-based, 3D game will be launching later this year. Eager players can start customizing their own characters today at the game’s website. You can then annoy your Facebook friends even more by posting your character directly to your Facebook page. Lucky fans attending San Diego Comic Con can make characters right there on the show floor, and can get limited edition Family Guy Online posters signed by the mayor himself, Adam West.

Fans can explore all of Quahog, from Spooner Street to the Drunken Clam, and interact with characters from the show, including the whole Griffin family and all of their wacky neighbors. You can choose to either go solo in a single-player experience or team up with your friends. Fans will also be happy to hear that the show’s writers are a part of the development team.

The social online game production company, Roadhouse Interactive, is at the helm of development. Hosted on the Unity platform, the game will have “vibrant graphics,” and “the flexibility of the platform will allow the game writers and developers to continuously evolve the game play and content.”

I bet whoever made the call to bring Family Guy back on the air is celebrating right now.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Daily Scoop: Wednesday, July 20 – Every day should end with kittens

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nicole Kline

On my way home from work yesterday, I passed by a kitten adoption that was going down right on the street from someone’s car, and I got to hold two 1-month-old kittens. They were so sweet and tiny and lovable! And if I didn’t have two jealous cats, I probably would have brought one of them home. As it stands, I had to make due with just cuddling them. And I think everyone would be happier if their evening commute included holding sweet baby kittens!

Anyway! Back on track! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Nintendo’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii! It’s on sale for $29.99, which in the grand scheme of how often big Nintendo classics actually go on sale, is a pretty good deal. Pick it up if you like cute things and haven’t been able to love on any kittens lately!

Also worth noting is the crazy PSN sale happening right now. The most insane part of it is that you can get Borderlands and all of the expansions for $14.99, which is absolutely absurd. Buy this immediately if you do not have this game! It’s complete and total robbery, as in you are robbing them blind. This is a steal at twice the price! They’ve also got deals on two other 2K games – BioShock 2 and Mafia 2. You can get the DLC bundles for $10.99 and $14.99, respectively. Damn.

No game-related shirts today, but I have a fondness for today’s Tee Fury, which is called “Master’s Ruin,” and is described as a He-Man/Sailor Jerry mashup: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Wii |

Daily Scoop: Tuesday, July 19 – BioShock day!

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Nicole Kline

What I mean by BioShock day is that today heralds the release of the prequel novel, BioShock: Rapture! I’m hoping it’s a good one. It’ll be my first ever video game novel! I’ve wanted to start reading them for a while now, but I just never had the time. This one looks too good to pass up!

The Internet has some good deals for us today! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Aksys’ Record of Agarest War for the Xbox 360, on sale today at half price for $24.99. Also of note is the big Target sale on video games, which has a slew of games marked down to $27 (like Disney’s Epic Mickey), some marked down to $37 (like Child of Eden), and some at the seemingly random price of $37.99 (OK, just Duke Nukem Forever and both versions of L.A. Noire). Whew! Savings, savings, savings.

And I think today’s Tee Fury, “She Wants Revenge,” is destined for greatness: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Daily Scoop: Monday, July 18 – May I have this dance?

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Sadly, my dance is done… I finished reading A Dance with Dragons last night. Spoiler alert: there are dragons in it! And characters die. Martin is almost as bad as Joss Whedon.

Anyway, onto the deals! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Trion’s Rift for the PC. It’s only $9.99 down from $49.99 today, so if you’re looking for a cheap alternative to WoW, now’s your chance!! Amazon’s also got new weekly deals – there’s L.A. Noire for $37 on PS3 and Xbox 360 (which I think you should definitely buy), Super Monkey Ball 3D for $19.99, and two promotional credit deals – one is for $50 for the Xbox 360 250 GB console with Kinect, and the other is $25 for Kinect with Kinect Adventures. Not too shabby!

No gaming shirts today, but Tee Fury has an amazing Star Wars shirt: (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Beta Impressions: I Miss Being Among Thieves

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Nicole Kline

The beta for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has come and gone, with a slew of new features, weapons, maps, and characters. The concept of multiplayer in the Uncharted series started in 2009 with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and it’s clear that Naughty Dog has come a long way since then. But has all of their experience and hard work resulted in an improvement? Or is this series going to end up as another name on a long list of generic shooters? (more…)

Posted in Previews, PS3, Top Story | Tagged