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StarCraft Remastered will launch this Summer; Blizzard will release original StarCraft for free later this week

Posted on March 27, 2017 by John Scalzo

The original StarCraft can be credited with a lot of things. It revolutionized the real time strategy genre… it lead to the birth of esports… it further cemented Blizzard’s status as one of the best developers in the world. This weekend, the developer confirmed plans to re-release the seminal game this Summer in an enhanced and expanded edition known as StarCraft Remastered:

The remastered graphics and audio will bring a modern look and feel to the timeless classic, with widescreen UHD support for up to 4K resolution. Other updates will include new illustrations to enhance storytelling in the StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War campaign missions; advanced matchmaking; full connectivity to Blizzard’s gaming network for social features and updates; cloud saving for campaign progress, custom maps, replays, and keybinds; support for eight new languages in addition to the original five; and more.

While Blizzard is modernizing StarCraft’s presentation, they were also quick to point out to fans that the actual gameplay experience won’t be changing:

While these improvements will bring StarCraft to the modern era, gameplay and balance have been precisely preserved, for an experience that will feel identical to veteran players.

“StarCraft is a pure distillation of Blizzard’s DNA… its story, its balance, and all the little details reflect our long-running commitment to epic entertainment, and it’s been a staple in competitive gaming and esports for almost 20 years,” said Blizzard’s CEO, Mike Morhaime. “With StarCraft Remastered, we’re modernizing the original game’s visuals, audio, and online support to ensure that players can enjoy StarCraft for another 20 years and beyond.”

In addition to announcing StarCraft Remastered, Blizzard also confirmed plans to repackage the original StarCraft, and its Brood War expansion, as the StarCraft Anthology. If you’ve never played StarCraft before, you’ll be interested to learn that this classic collection will be free to download, and it’ll be available sometime next week.

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Weekly Warp-Up: Some Game Publishers Are Already Thinking About E3 2017…

Posted on March 26, 2017 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…

Warp Zoned debuted a new feature this week, Weekend Pipeline, and it’ll provide a quick overview of the weekend’s upcoming in-game events, retail bargains, game conventions, and esports events every Friday.

But some publishers don’t want to just look ahead to the weekend, they want to start talking about the E3 Expo in June. And earlier this week, EA revealed that their EA Play event will include appearances from Star Wars: Battlefront 2, a new Need For Speed, FIFA 18, Madden NFL 18, alongside several other surprises.

Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie reloaded Kickstart This! for another round and focused on the open-world adventure Pine.

Finally, a little retro gaming is on the menu as we explore the PlayStation/Nintendo 64/Dreamcast roots of Spider-Man in “It Came From 200X,” as well as how piracy makes the world go round in a “Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time” essay about The Secret of Monkey Island.

More news from the rest of the week can be found after the break. (more…)

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New Retail Releases: MLB The Show 17, RBI Baseball 2017, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5, More

Posted on March 26, 2017 by John Scalzo

Play Ball!

Opening Day is just a few days away, and game publishers are getting ready to trot their annual baseball sims onto the retail field. So step up to the plate with Sony and check out the Ken Griffey Jr-fronted MLB The Show 17 for the PS4, or have a catch with MLB Advanced Media and their Corey Seager-fronted RBI Baseball 2017 for the PS4 and Xbox One.

Also set to be released on store shelves this week is Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, a repackaging of both Kingdom Hearts compilations from the PS3, now for the PS4. So if you’re itching to replay Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Herts: ReChain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep… here’s your chance.

Further down this week’s retail list, we’ve got the GameStop-exclusive Has-Been Heroes, which will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The roguelike action/strategy game was developed by Frozenbyte and features a bumbling band of knights protecting a pair of princesses.

Finally this week, Infinifactory is a first-person sci-fi puzzler for the PS4, and the action RPG Vikings: Wolves of Midgard brings a Norse twist to the Diablo formula on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

That’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we’ll be back later this week with the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Weekend Pipeline: 3/24/17 – Crazy Sales and Awesome Cons

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Weekends can be a real drag if you neglect to schedule in some well-deserved rest and relaxation. But with the hustle and bustle of the work week, all too often news of current events, you know, the ones we actually care about, sometimes escapes us.

Don’t let the usual drudgery tie you down when there’s so much more that you could be doing. Here’s what’s going on in the world of video games, and why you might want to take a few hours out of your weekend to check some of them out. (more…)

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Xbox Store Today: Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, 88 Heroes, more

Posted on March 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

The weekend is almost here, and here’s what Microsoft added to the Xbox Games Store earlier today…

SNK is well-represented in the most recent Xbox Games Store update. Two of the publisher’s early fighting games, Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting, have been remade for the Xbox One as part of the ACA NeoGeo series. I remember dropping quite a few quarters on both these games in the early 90s, and now’s my chance to see if they still hold up.

Also available to download for the Xbox One today is 88 Heroes, a side-scrolling platformer from Rising Star Games. Players will take control of 88 different superheroes and do battle with Dr. H8 over 88 levels of “platform-hopping, enemy-smashing, and danger-dodging.”

Finally today, Teyon will bring Worlds of Magic: Planar Conquest to the Xbox One. Worlds of Magic is a 4X turn-based strategy game where players will “find cities, raise armies, cast spells, and create powerful magical artifacts in [their] bid to become the Supreme Sorcerer Lord.”

You can learn more about all of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox One |

Meet Sara Ryder in this new Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer

Posted on March 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Though players could customize Commander Shepard in dozens of different ways, EA and BioWare definitely treated the main character as the face of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Even “FemShep” got her own special edition for Mass Effect 3. But Ryder, the star of Mass Effect: Andromeda, is still something of a blank slate to most gamers. The game’s latest trailer doesn’t do much to dispel this mystery, but it does introduce fans to “Sara Ryder,” the official female version of the game’s main character:

Put on the uniform of the Pathfinder as Sara Ryder and fight for humanity’s new home. Explore dangerous worlds, keep your crew alive, and unravel the mysteries of Andromeda. The journey begins now. How far will you go?

Mass Effect: Andromeda is now available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

EA’s EA Play event at E3 2017 will include Star Wars: Battlefront 2, a new Need For Speed, FIFA 18, Madden NFL 18, and more

Posted on March 24, 2017 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts has announced that they’ll once again play host to EA Play, their E3-adjacent mini-conference, in Los Angeles this June.

The publisher will take over the Hollywood Palladium from June 10th through the 12th, and tickets will go on sale at noon (Eastern Time) on April 20. EA also wants to connect to their fans who can’t make it to LA, and they’re planning to broadcast multiple live reports from the show floor at EA.com.

EA Play will give in-person attendees and viewers at home a first look at the publisher’s upcoming slate of games including Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Need For Speed 2017, Madden NFL 18, FIFA 18, and NBA Live 18.

And as you might have guessed, several surprise announcements are also being lined up for EA Play.

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Quake Champions’s “Burial Chamber” Arena looks like it was ripped right out of Doom

Posted on March 23, 2017 by John Scalzo

A new trailer from Bethesda Softworks and id Software recently unveiled “Burial Chamber,” another Arena set to be included in Quake Champions. While previously-released video footage of the free-to-play shooter had some similarities to last year’s Doom reboot, this Arena looks like it was teleported in directly from the bowels of Hell:

Arena: Burial Chamber
The bones of a massive beast decorate the entry to this massive tomb. Hazardous platforms at the Perilous Outcropping dot the sea of lava, providing an ideal sniping spot for those skilled enough and brave enough to make the leap. With its winding tunnels and low ceilings, the claustrophobic grave sites of the Molten Underground offer up the opportunity for heavier Champions to do some serious splash damage, while the Lava Falls could provide an excellent chokepoint for skilled tacticians. Just be careful to avoid being pushed into the lava, which is a prevalent threat throughout the map.

Quake Champions will be available later this year, but the developers are currently seeking participants for an upcoming Closed Beta. If you’re interested in trying out Quake Champions before its official release, you can sign up for a chance to receive an invitation at Bethesda.net.

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