Most Recent: News

Weekly Warp-Up: No Snow Bowl Edition

Posted on February 2, 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…

Super Bowl Ex-Ell-Vee-Eye-Eye-Eye begins in a few hours and it looks like all the gloom and doom a few weeks ago about fans freezing to death in their seats was a little overblown. The current weather forecast calls for a high of around 50 and a little bit of rain. It’s definitely a far cry from the blizzard Bowl that EA Sports and Madden NFL 25 predicted, so perhaps the Seahawks can defy the simulation and pull out a win.

But the biggest spectacle in sports has got nothing on the news that Microsoft has obtained the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games. They’ve entrusted the future of the franchise to Black Tusk Studios, though this deal may have killed their in-development “AAAA game.”

And speaking of business deals… Nintendo has a plan! It involves releasing Mario Kart 8 in May, DS games on the Wii U’s Virtual Console, and more third party licensing deals like Hyrule Warriors. That… that actually sounds a lot like their old plan.

But you can read all the rest of the new news after the break. (more…)

Posted in News |

New Releases: Bravely Default, Fable Anniversary, The Lego Movie, More

Posted on February 2, 2014 by John Scalzo

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This week’s New Releases Report kicks off with the long-awaited 3DS RPG Bravely Default. If you like your RPGs Japanese and old school, you’ll want to give Bravely Default a look. And in fact, the game is a semi-sequel to another throwback RPG, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. And speaking of throwback RPGs, Microsoft plans to release Fable Anniversary, their Xbox 360 remake of Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, this week.

Also available this week is the “Videogame” adaptation of The Lego Movie. You can hear a Lego version of Chris Pratt say “awesome” a lot on the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Finally, a trio of PC simulation games will soon be available for your purchasing pleasure including Civilization V: The Complete Edition, Airport Simulator 2014, and Professional Farmer 2014.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

Releasing’s as easy as breathing… Rambo: The Game to be released in EU in February

Posted on January 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

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He’s no tourist and Reef Entertainment has announced that John Rambo will make his grand return to video games next month. Rambo: The Video Game will be released throughout Europe on February 21 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The game will be released in North America sometime in March (Amazon says March 25).

Rambo: The Video Game will follow everyone’s favorite one man army as he tears his way through a game adaptation of First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III. To create the most authentic Rambo experience possible, Reef has packed Rambo: The Video Game with voice clips featuring Sylvester Stallone as Rambo and the late Richard Crenna as Colonel Trautman from all three films. The publisher will also include musical selections from each movie’s soundtrack in the game.

If you live in Europe, you can pre-order Rambo: The Video Game now. In addition to the game, you’ll receive two three-inch Rambo action figures based on the character’s appearance in First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II.

Nothing is over! But sadly, this news article is.

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

Pac-Man Museum will gobble up all your free time on February 25

Posted on January 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

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The Pac is back next month as Bandai Namco plans to bring Pac-Man Museum to the PlayStation Store (PS3) on February 25 and the Xbox Live Arcade and Steam on February 26. Sadly, the previously announced 3DS and Wii U versions of Pac-Man Museum have been canceled.

Pac-Man Museum compiles eight Pac-Man games into a single downloadable package. The collection includes 1980’s Pac-Man, 1982’s Super Pac-Man, 1983’s Pac & Pal, the side-scrolling Pac-Land, the isometric Pac-Mania, the puzzling Pac-Attack, 2007’s excellent Pac-Man: Championship Edition, the previously iOS-exclusive Pac-Man Remix, and the formerly arcade-only Pac-Man Battle Royale

Players who purchase Pac-Man Museum on any platform by March 31 will also receive Ms. Pac-Man for free. Beginning April 1, it will revert to the $4.99 price it currently carries on the PSN and XBLA.

A price for Pac-Man Museum has yet to be announced by Bandai Namco.

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

XBL Store Today: Halo: Spartan Assault for Xbox 360

Posted on January 31, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Microsoft previously said that Halo: Spartan Assault would be available to download from the Xbox Live Arcade sometime in January. Making it in just under the wire, the top-down shooter was added to the XBL Game Store today to fulfill Microsoft’s promise.

If you haven’t played Halo: Spartan Assault on a Windows 8 device or the Xbox One, here’s what you can expect:

Halo: Spartan Assault ($14.99)
Halo: Spartan Assault is a fast paced top-down shooter set during the timeline between “Halo 3” and “Halo 4,” progress your Spartan career as you engage in over 30 exciting Campaign missions using many of favorite Halo weapons, vehicles and armor abilities. Team-up on Xbox Live and fight with a friend against waves of the nightmarish Flood in the all-new online co-op multiplayer mode. Earn achievements, complete weekly Assault Ops and compete for the top scores in the leaderboards.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Space Pioneer could be flying onto Wii U too

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

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After a slew of doom and gloom articles, Nintendo’s Wii U may be finally finding its feet. During a recent investor’s meeting Nintendo announced that the Wii U is nearing the six million mark in sales, while both The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD and Super Mario 3D World have sold over one million copies each. And while the announcement that Mario Kart 8 would be revving its engines put fans into overdrive, another game was tentatively announced for the console.

Ambitious spacefaring project Space Pioneer, which featured in the most recent edition of Kickstart This!, will be released for the Wii U should the game reach its initial goal of $150,000. At the time of this writing, the Kickstarter campaign had reached just under $20,000, with 39 days to achieve the remained 87%.

Space Pioneer is being developed by Space Enigma Studios, and seeks to be an entertaining, as well as educational, experience, with a number of real world astronauts, architects, and scientists of various fields helping the studio realise a universe for players to explore and colonise. As well as the exploration, there will also be plot threaded throughout the narrative, driven by a mystery regarding some ancient artefacts. Given the talent involved, this could be the next Mass Effect.

Posted in News, PC, Wii U | Tagged

Microsoft wants to give you $100 towards an Xbox One… if you trade in your PS3

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

xboxone-ps3-tradeinIt is now an open secret that the gap between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is growing from a small crevice to a Grand Canyon. And Sony may soon to leave its competitor eating dust when its new console hits Japanese stores next month. In response, Microsoft has resorted to what some may see as desperate measures. They have started sending out emails offering PlayStation 3 owners $100 towards the cost of an Xbox One if they trade in their console at their local Microsoft Store by March 2.

Perhaps to make the offer look less self-serving, the $100 credit can also be obtained if you trade in an Xbox 360 S or Xbox 360 E system as well.

The move is very peculiar, especially as the cost of the new PlayStation 4 is almost $100 less than the Xbox One. Fans looking to upgrade to either next-gen console would be able to trade in their old ones at the likes of GameStop, without having to take part in Microsoft’s deal. The ill-conceived plan seems to indicate that the company is all too aware that it risks being left in second, possibly even third place, in the next-generation race.

The big question is, what will Microsoft do with all the PlayStation 3 consoles it receives?

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One |

Discless, 1TB, and White Xbox One consoles rumored

Posted on January 30, 2014 by John Scalzo

xboxone-logoMicrosoft has some big plans for the Xbox One in 2014… but I’m not sure anyone expected the rumors that flew out of Big Redmond today. According to The Verge, Microsoft plans to launch at least three new versions of their next-generation console this year.

First up, a TitanFall-themed Xbox One console will be released sometime this year, presumably in the Spring to tie into the game’s March launch. And speaking of March, an Xbox One update will be available that month that is expected to fix a variety of the system’s social functions.

More new system designs will follow in the Fall including a white version of the console in October (which is said to launch alongside Insomniac’s cartoonish shooter, Sunset Overdrive) and a massive 1TB version in November.

Finally, Microsoft’s biggest Xbox One move may not make into stores, but it is incredibly interesting. One of Verge’s sources has confirmed that Microsoft is testing a version of the Xbox One without a disc drive. There’s a very strong possibility the discless console will never be released to the public, but if it is, it will go a long way towards fulfilling the all-digital future that Microsoft promised us when the Xbox One was first revealed ahead of E3 2013.

Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged ,