Most Recent: News

Super Bonk added to Virtual Console

Posted on April 4, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s Monday morning and Nintendo has updated the Wii Shop Channel and the DSiWare Store with new games for all.

The biggest game in this week’s batch (or at least, the one with the biggest head) is Super Bonk. The Super NES classic was Bonk’s first (and in America, the only) foray onto the system.

If headbutting platformers aren’t your thing, the WiiWare service will see the addition of Planet Fish, a puzzle game set in an aquarium.

The DSiWare Shop will receive three new games this week: A Fairy Tale, a puzzle game where fairies have to save a magical kingdom; Absolute Baseball, a baseball management sim; and Anonymous Notes Chapter 1: From The Abyss, an episodic RPG with an “infinitely extending dungeon.”

More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, Wii |

Weekly Warp-Up: No Fools Edition

Posted on April 3, 2011 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…

Get Warp Zoned!
On Friday, the Internet lost its collective mind as the world celebrated April Fools’ Day. We dug through all the craziness in our April Fools’ Day Watch and, I have to admit, Smash M.N.C. would make an abosolutely game.

Earlier in the week had a lengthy chat with Kevin Schmitt, Lead Multiplayer Designer forSOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals. We got to talk extensively about the multiplayer, from game modes to progression paths, and how the buddy system plays a large role in the game.

But since it’s the end of the month, we discussed what we played in March 2011 in the very first Warpback compilation and we laid out our picks for the biggest games of April 2011 in the latest The Next Level.

Finally, we learned all about The Undead States of America, which was totally not an April Fools’ Day joke. OK, maybe it is. But if we all wish hard enough, it might become real.

Hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)

Posted in News |

Team Meat bites back at Microsoft for lack of support; but reality doesn’t support their complaints

Posted on April 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

supermeatboy-header

Team Meat recently sat down with Game Developer Magazine to talk about the development process behind their hit platformer Super Meat Boy. Summarized by Kotaku, the two-man team of Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes had some pretty harsh words to say about their relationship with Microsoft.

“We were told our price was too high, our visuals too rough and simply not as eye catching and flashy as the other Game Feast games Comic Jumper and Hydrophobia. Our hearts sank when we were informed that we were projected to sell as much if not less than Hydrophobia, which would be the second-highest grossing game of the Feast in their minds,” McMillen said.

McMillan would go on to complain that he felt Microsoft did not strongly support Super Meat Boy and that “the biggest mistake we made during SMB’s development was killing ourselves to get into a promotion [Game Feast] we would gain basically nothing from.” The duo also went on to say they never felt the game was given the attention it was promised. But wait… (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Leaked Forza 4 gameplay video is real, says Microsoft

Posted on April 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Forza Motorsport 4, with some neat Kinect-based features, was first shown off at last year’s E3 expo. Yesterday, April 1st, a new video showcasing some gameplay footage and more of the Kinect motion controls leaked onto the Internet. Microsoft could have passed the whole thing off as an April Fools’ Day hoax, but instead, they confirmed to CVG that the whole thing is real:

“The video in question was not intended for public distribution and may not accurately reflect features and functionality that ship in Forza Motorsport 4. We will have more to share on Forza Motorsport 4 in the near future.”

Just a guess, but I bet that “near future” reveal will be at E3 2011.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Capcom, Namco won’t interfere with the other’s Street Fighter/Tekken crossover game

Posted on April 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

While Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat is still just a pipe dream of teenagers from the 90s, Capcom and Namco Bandai are moving full speed ahead with their Street Fighter and Tekken throwdowns.

But if you were worried that making two separate games based on the battle would be overkill, fear not, because apparently the two publishers have agreed not to interfere with anything the other does with one of their most sacred franchises. Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono recently sat down with The Guardian to promote Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition and delivered the news in the awesome way that only he can:

When we first decided to go ahead with this project we agreed not to interfere with each other at all! So Namco Bandai has no say in anything we do in Street Fighter X Tekken and vice versa for Tekken X Street Fighter – we have no idea what that’s going to look like and we cannot object to whatever Namco does!

If they go down the Dead or Alive route and Chun-Li comes out rather sexy, we STILL can’t say anything!

This news was already awesome, but Ono’s example showing just how much freedom each developer has in developing their “X” game is something you rarely see in inter-company crossovers.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Jane McGonigal hosting “Find the Future” at New York Public Library

Posted on April 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

If you’ve ever wanted to pretend their was something strange in the New York Public Library, then PAX East 2011 keynote speaker Jane McGonigal has an alternate reality game for you.

The author and ARG designer will be spearheading “Find The Future” at the NYPL on May 20th. The event will honor the 100th birthday of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (yes, the one flanked by the big lions) by having gamers descend on the stacks in a scavenger hunt of great importance. If you want to participate in the event, you have to register at the NYPL’s website and be one of the 500 lucky players chosen by McGonigal and her team.

If you’re selected, you’ll be able to explore the collections of the Schwarzman Building on the night of May 20th and complete quests sent to you via mobile device. A completed quest will not include a treasure chest of immense wealth, but a QR Code that must be scanned to prove you solved the puzzle. According to Gamasutra, “the quests will also ask the players to consider literature and write pieces that will eventually be collected into a book that will go on display at the library.” If you’re not picked, fret not, for an online version of the “Find the Future” game will be available as well.

“Like every game I make, it has one goal: to turn players into super-empowered, hopeful individuals with real skills and ideas to help them change the world,” McGonigal said.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

BloodRayne: Betrayal goes 2D on PSN, XBLA this Summer

Posted on April 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Even Uwe Boll can’t kill the BloodRayne franchise (maybe it helps that Rayne is already undead). Majesco has announced that they’ve teamed up with WayForward (the developers of Contra 4 and Shantae: Risky’s Revenge) to resurrect the Nazi-killing vampire in BloodRayne: Betrayal.

Instead of the 3D action titles of olde, WayForward will be bringing BloodRayne: Betrayal to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade as a 2D side-scrolling hack ‘n slash. In what’s described as her “final mission,” the half-vampire teams up with a group of slayers to “stop an evil vampire massacre.” So is Majesco saying there are good vampire massacres? Hmm…

Betrayal will “[introduce] new characters and gruesome environmental puzzles” as well as include a “full arsenal of lethal weapons” in its quest for bloody vampire action. The game will also likely include co-op play as Rayne is said to team up with “a mysterious new friend” on her mission.

BloodRayne: Betrayal will be available to download this Summer.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

First Saints Row: The Third gameplay trailer

Posted on April 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Above, you’ll find the first 2.7 seconds of gameplay footage from Saints Row: The Third. Hopefully, THQ and Volition plan to release more information about the game, which is scheduled for a Holiday 2011 release on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, soon.

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