Most Recent: News

MAG’s 256-player extravaganza turns 1

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Zipper Interactive’s innovative First Person Shooter is reaching its first birthday and we’re all invited to the party. Starting tomorrow, January 26th, through January 30th, MAG will be hosting 256% in-game queue and “Happy Hour” bonuses, and both Domination and Acquisition game modes will have faction-neutral maps, meaning that the defenders on those maps will not necessarily be the local faction. Also in the community spirit, Zippers QA team will be online from 10am-5pm Pacific Time for a “Play Live with Zipper” event when it all kicks off tomorrow, January 26th.

MAG received positive reviews, boasting incredible map design, deep customization, and having achieved a 256-player game that actually works. The problem is mainstream shooter fans were turned away by the overall lack of visual polish in graphics and animation. The ones who stayed were never given instructions on how to utilize the command structure, and the game rarely played out how it was supposed to, as squad leaders who knew what they were doing were a rare commodity. The game is a mixed bag with only a small dedicated community left. You can expect our thoughts on MAG one year later in the coming days here at Warp Zoned.

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Champions Online: Free For All launches today

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Another MMO has been bit by the free to play bug today, as Atari. and Cryptic Studios release the Champions Online: Free For All update for their lauded MMO title. Essentially, the game itself is intact and free, but things like Adventure packs, items, powers, and costume pieces can be bought from the in-game or web-based C-Store. Existing players can continue, and new players can opt into, regular subscriptions as Gold Members for $14.99 a month with “most” of the game’s content as well as some extra features.

Lord of the Rings Online went free to play a few months ago and the team members have boasted extremely positive results with the new business model. With no credit card needed, and the entire game world open to you, there’s really no reason for any MMO enthusiast to shy away from this one.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies Soundtrack available now

Posted on January 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Say what you want about Call of Duty: Black Ops, but the game has a great soundtrack. So great that Activision has released a soundtrack of songs from the Zombies Mode on Amazon, iTunes,the Zune Marketplace and other digital retailers.

Titled Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies Soundtrack, the album includes 17 tracks of undead-themed tunes. Each track can be downloaded separately for 99 cents each with the whole album priced at $11.99.

Thirty-second samples of each track are available at Amazon.

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Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime calls in March 23 release, new trailer

Posted on January 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

When there’s something strange in the neighborhood… Who you gonna call? WARP ZONE-ED!

I know, I know, it doesn’t exactly fit the rhyme scheme.

But that’s OK, because you can check out the new trailer for Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and see how the real ghost chasers do it. No location is too scary… whether it’s inside a building, on city streets, in underground sewers or at the graveyard, the Ghostbusters bust ghosts because bustin’ makes me feel good.

You know what else makes me feel good? Knowing the game’s release date. According to a Tweet by publisher Atari, the game will be available to download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade on March 23. A PC release is also planned, but no date was listed.

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Disney Interactive cuts jobs

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Disney Interactive is currently downsizing, apparently in a pretty substantial way, as nearly half of its 700 member staff may be getting the boot. Disney calls the layoffs a “restructuring process” in its statement. Variety reports that many were anticipating the layoffs as many key players left the division last year, including Graham Hopper, who spent the last eight years building the studio into a formidable entity in the gaming industry. New talent is coming in to upper management, including John Pleasants, CEO of Playdom, which Disney acquired last year. Disney’s current CEO Bob Iger said Pleasants would “focus on turning those businesses into profitability” and “diversifying our presence in the business, so we’re not reliant on one platform that’s obviously facing challenges.”

While terms can have multiple connotations in the business context, he may be referring to last year’s Epic Mickey, which released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, a console that is notoriously difficult for third party developers to find success on. Epic Mickey was panned critically, but is apparently the fastest selling game in Disney Interactive’s history, pushing 1.3 million copies last December.

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XBL Marketplace MEGA Sale on 2K/Rockstar Content

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Major Nelson’s blog has the report: The XBL Marketplace has more content on sale right now than you can shake your virtual fist at (sorry, Kinect joke)!

If you’ve been stingy about buying add-on content like I have, now’s your time to take advantage! Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare pack is discounted, along with Borderlands and Grand Theft Auto IV content. The complete list is after the break and the sale ends January 31st. Save yourself some money by spending some money!… Go figure. (more…)

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New Resistance novel coming; Resistance 2 spoilers unavoidable

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Nicole Kline

In case you hadn’t already had the ending of Resistance 2 spoiled for you in every single description of Resistance 3, I’m going to spoil it for you right now. Nathan Hale is dead. Now that it’s out of the way, I can tell you about Resistance: A Hole in the Sky, which fills in the gaps in the story between the end of the second game and the beginning of the third game. The book, written by William C. Dietz (who you may remember from Resistance: The Gathering Storm), will detail what Joseph Capelli was up to before the start of the third game’s story, and it will be released this summer, giving you plenty of time to read it before the game launches.

Speaking of the game, according to the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac Games is hard at work on both Resistance 3 and Ratchet and Clank All 4 One. There’s an upcoming media demo in London followed by GDC in San Francisco. There will also be screenshots, gameplay video, and…get this…some hands-on time for the press. I’ll be jealously covering it from the East Coast.

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Final Fantasy XIII-2, Versus XIII, Type-0 detailed in Dengeki

Posted on January 25, 2011 by John Scalzo

Andriasang has dug deep into the latest issue of Japanese gaming Dengeki PlayStation and unearthed a ton of new details about most of the titles Square Enix had on display at their 1st Production Department Premier event last week.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will take place after the end of Final Fantasy XIII in Gran Pulse. According to the magazine, the sequel will be “more dark and mysterious” and will focus on the goddess Etro.

Final Fantasy Type-0, the PSP game formerly known as Agito XIII, will feature a heavy focus on magic. The Dengeki report reveals that the game’s theme revolves around the theme of “Magic in Action” which basically states that swords and axes are good in a pinch, but magic is your real weapon.

Finally, Final Fantasy Versus XIII got short shrift once again. Director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that Versus XIII won’t be released until after XIII-2 and Type-0, but he did say we might learn more about it at E3.

For the full info dump on all three titles, be sure to check out the Andriasang report.

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