Most Recent: News

CD Projekt pushes the release of The Witcher 3 into 2015

Posted on March 11, 2014 by John Scalzo

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CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was one of the first games announced for the (then nameless) next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Originally scheduled to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC in late 2014, CD Projekt RED confirmed today that the release of The Witcher 3 has been delayed.

In an open letter to fans and shareholders, the Managing Board of CD Projekt RED has revealed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will now be released in February 2015. The development team believes that the delay will give them enough time to create the game that gamers expect from them:

We recently reexamined what we had achieved thus far, and faced a choice about the game’s final release date. The decision we made was difficult, thoroughly considered, and ultimately clear and obvious. We could have released the game towards the end of this year as we had initially planned. Yet we concluded that a few additional months will let us achieve the quality that will satisfy us, the quality gamers expect from us. Consequently, we have set the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for February 2015.

The full text of the letter can be found after the break. (more…)

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Sony sends DriveClub “back to the drawing board”

Posted on March 11, 2014 by John Scalzo

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When Sony and Evolution Studios originally announced DriveClub during the PS4 reveal event, it was expected to be a launch title for the next-generation system and a stopgap before the next entry in the Gran Turismo series. Instead, the game’s release was pushed back into February, with plans to launch it alongside the PS4’s Japanese debut. That date came and went, and now the game has been delayed indefinitely.

Speaking to IGN, Scott Rohde, Sony’s Head of Software Product Development, has revealed that DriveClub is undergoing a massive overhaul. More specifically, Evolution is going to take it “back to the drawing board” to ensure it represents the great game the studio originally set out to make when it is finally released:

“What I will say is that it all comes back to that fundamental principle, and that’s that we want to build great games,” Rohde said. “And we really don’t want to release a game before it’s ready. And sometimes, this happens in the normal course of business, where we think we’re on track to deliver what we think is going to be a great game, and when we get closer, we realize that we’d be doing everyone a disservice if we shipped it before it was ready.”

“So, I think that at PlayStation, perhaps more than at other places, we’re willing to kinda eat that [cost],” Rohde continued, “and go back to the drawing board and make sure the game is great before we ship it. And that’s what’s going on right now with that game.”

An unnamed Sony representative would also tell IGN that more details about DriveClub’s future will be revealed soon. So hopefully we won’t have to wait long to find out the game’s new release date.

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Double Fine treats us to a Costume Quest 2 announcement

Posted on March 10, 2014 by John Scalzo

Double Fine has begun development on their first sequel as the Tim Schafer-led studio announced today that Costume Quest 2 will be available for the PC and consoles this October. The developer has partnered with Midnight City, Majesco’s indie publishing label, to bring gamers back to the world of one of their first hits:

In Double Fine’s triumphant return to Auburn Pines, our candy-crazed crusaders Wren and Reynold must once again protect Halloween from untold horrors, and grown-ups! Your favorite trick-or-treaters will come armed with a new batch of costumes they wear to transform into giant super powered fantasy Hallowarriors. Yeah, we totally just made that up. Fans of the original can look forward to a sweet upgraded battle system and a story that is unmistakably Double Fine.

Tim Schafer is absolutely thrilled about the return of Costume Quest: “Whenever Halloween came around, I felt like something was missing. No matter how many pumpkins I carved, apples I bobbed, or candy I ate, it just couldn’t fill the big spooky hole inside of me. But then I realized what was missing: I needed more Costume Quest. And also, I really wanted a T-Shirt with glowing skulls on it.”

While it doesn’t include any glowing skulls, I recommend checking out Costume Quest 2’s wacky “Announcement Trailer” above.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Daily Scoop: March 10, 2014 – On the eve of many games

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Nicole Kline

I know I’ve already talked about this a lot, but tomorrow is going to be off the hook. Dark Souls II, TitanFall, and TowerFall: Ascension are all coming out. The gaming world is going to explode, and I am really excited.

Whew. Anyway. Not that you need to spend your money on anything else with all of that happening, but in case you aren’t getting any of those games, I’ve still got some deals for you! Amazon has a few new digital deals this week, including Forced for $7.49, the Hell Yeah! Collection for $9.74, and Renegade Ops for $3.74. Scoop ’em up!

There’s not much other than that… the Daily Deal at Steam is Grim Dawn for $20.09, and the Humble Store has Vertiginous Golf for $14.99 and Post Master is $11.21, among others.

And now, time for t-shirts!

(more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Gone Home is coming to consoles this year

Posted on March 10, 2014 by John Scalzo

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The Fullbright Company has announced (via their blog) that they plan to bring Gone Home to consoles this year. The console edition of Gone Home will be published by Majesco’s indie imprint, Midnight City.

Gone Home is an adventure game told from the first-person perspective of Kaitlin Greenbriar, who has returned to her Oregon home and found it deserted. As Kaitlin explores the empty house, players attempt to piece together what happened to the rest of the Greenbriar family.

Gone Home was one of 2013’s most critically celebrated titles, garnering multiple nominations from the the DICE Awards, GDC Awards, and the BAFTAs. Fullbright was not ready to announce a release date or possible platforms for the console port, but they’ve confirmed that more information will be available soon.

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Marvel is creating a connected universe of games too

Posted on March 10, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Ladies and gentlemen, time to light your cigars, the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” is about to get a baby brother. Speaking at this weekend’s SXSW Festival, Marvel’s Vice President of Games, TQ Jefferson, revealed that the company is working on linking all of their video game projects through a similar shared universe:

“You might have noticed that certain similarities and threads touch from one game to the next. Much like you see in publishing and film, we’re trying to build a gaming universe connected by common elements and narrative into a larger gaming initiative.”

Obviously, this new gaming initiative is still in the early going as the publishing rights to several recent games based on Marvel properties, including Deadpool, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes, were licensed to outside companies. However, Marvel has shown great interest in expanding and updating Marvel: Avengers Alliance, a free-to-play title for mobile devices that tied in with the Avengers film. Perhaps that will be the seed from which their connected gaming universe will grow.

The future of Marvel’s game development ambitions may lie with their parent company, the Walt Disney Company. But Disney, and their Disney Interactive division, hasn’t had much success in developing games in-house. Disney Infinity sold like gangbusters, but the company passed on developing new Star Wars games and doesn’t appear to have any new titles in the works aside from Disney Infinity 2.

[Source: Variety]

Posted in News |

Weekly Warp-Up: Time Is On My Side Edition

Posted on March 9, 2014 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…

The clock is ticking ever so slowly away from Winter, but things sped up last night as we’ve sprung forward thanks to Daylights Savings Time. Even though time has skipped a beat, or an hour, you can still skip backwards and check out What We Played in February. When we weren’t playing, we managed to put together our very first Monthly Recap video as well. Hopefully, this is the first of a lot more video content to come from the Warp Zoned stuff. Oh, and for all you forward-thinkers out there, we also put together a look at The Games of March.

Speaking of lost time, Dan Hobbs recently reviewed Eidos Montreal’s Thief reboot and he wants the developers to return all the time they took from him. Finally, I dug into a few beloved puzzle games (including Threes, Dr. Mario, and Tetris) and asked why they’re so beloved. The secret is A Playing Card With Fangs or “How Puzzle Games Use Characters to Get in Our Heads.”

More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)

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New Releases: TitanFall, Dark Souls II, Yoshi’s New Island, More

Posted on March 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

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It’s finally here. After a boatload of E3 awards and a hugely successful beta, Respawn’s TitanFall is ready to bring man versus mech multiplayer to the PC and Xbox One this week. And if you haven’t picked up an Xbox One console yet, don’t forget that the Xbox One + TitanFall Bundle will also be available on Tuesday.

If you haven’t upgraded to a next-generation system yet, you’ll probably be pleased to know that From Software will bring Dark Souls II to the PS3 and Xbox 360 next week. If you’re waiting on the PC version, it’ll be available at the end of April.

Finally, Nintendo will make the 3DS a Yoshi-er place this week with the release of Yoshi’s New Island and Tecmo Koei will continue the popular Atelier with the release of Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky on the PS3.

A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

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