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Call of Duty Elite beta begins

Posted on July 15, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision has announced that the Call of Duty Elite beta has begun and a “limited number” of invitations have been sent out.

Call of Duty Elite is the publisher’s new community service for the Call of Duty franchise and it’ll officially launch on November 8 alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. For now, Xbox 360-owning Call of Duty: Black Ops players will serve as guinea pigs during the beta test. Naturally, the service will expand to PC and PS3 owners after the official launch.

The Call of Duty Elite beta will test select features such as “stat tracking, the use of custom player groups, competitive events and video sharing.” The final beta, which Activision calls “a major upgrade,” will feature extensive clan support, a mobile/web app and video content created by top Hollywood talent.

“Call of Duty Elite is all about connecting our amazing fans around the globe in ways never before possible and we are excited to get their feedback so they can help us further develop, tune and test the service, as we head into our launch in November with Modern Warfare 3,” says Chacko Sonny, Studio Head, Beachhead Studio.

Activision will continue to release more Call of Duty Elite beta invites in the coming weeks.

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

Duke Nukem Forever takes a number two on June bestseller list

Posted on July 15, 2011 by John Scalzo

Duke Nukem Forever gives players the option to fish a turd out of the toilet bowl and smear it all over the walls of the game world. So it seems rather fitting that Duke’s latest adventure has landed in the #2 spot in The NPD Group’s list of bestselling games for the month of June. The Mighty Duke was toppled by Rockstar’s L.A. Noire; the detective yarn is celebrating its second straight month at the top after it lead the May NPD report as well.

A trio of other June releases also earned their way into the top ten. Sony’s InFamous 2 took the #3 spot, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D hookshotted its way into #5 and Cars 2 stopped for gas at #9.

You can find the full top ten after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Daily Scoop: July 15, 2011 – It’s Friday, I’m in love!

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Somehow, every time it’s Friday and I’m in a good mood, that Cure song is stuck in my head. I don’t mind, though – because it means it’s about to be the weekend! I’ve got a copy of A Dance with Dragons, some Just Dance, and I’m going to make a stop at the grocery store tonight to stock up on food. Wake me up on Monday!

Let’s see, deals, deals, deals… Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Sega’s Yakuza 4 for $24.99. Our very own Adam Woolcott had a lot of positive stuff to say about it, so I’d say scoop it up!

On the daily t-shirt front, Qwertee‘s “8 Bit Breakfast” delivers: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Warp Zoned Podcast: Episode 14

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Warp Zoned Staff

Welcome to Episode 14 of the Warp Zoned Podcast! Experience the full awesomeness as News Editor Mike Gutierrez, Senior Editor Nicole Kline, and Podcast Producer Ryan Littlefield are joined by Editor-in-Chief John Scalzo and Contributing Writer Chris Urie! The team discusses Sony’s recently revealed PSN Pass, and how they think it will effect the gaming community. What’s their final verdict? Are online passes the boon or bane of the industry? Find out on Episode 14 of the Warp Zoned Podcast, and don’t forget to send in your questions and comments to mailbag [at] warpzoned [dot] com!

Download Episode 14 Now.

And be sure to check back next week for Episode 15!

Posted in Podcast, Top Story |

CoD Black Ops Annilihation Pack coming to PC, PS3 on July 28

Posted on July 15, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision has announced that the Call of Duty: Black Ops Annihilation Map Pack will be available for the PC and PS3 on July 28, exactly a month after its Xbox Live launch.

“With Annihilation, the team at Treyarch and Activision has shown its continued commitment to bringing new and unique content to our fans,” said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia. “Players are getting four of the best multiplayer maps to date with Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo and Hazard. They also get a brand new dose of thrills in Shangri-La, our latest Zombies offering, packed with deadly traps and dark secrets buried within the shifting walls of an ancient and mysterious temple.”

As with the Xbox 360 release, the Annihilation Map Pack has been priced at $14.99 on the PC and PS3.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Review: Revisiting the Temple of Time

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Remember the first time you ever saw the Deku Tree? Remember how immersive Hyrule felt, with 64-bit graphics so realistic and detailed that you imagined you were actually inside Dodongo’s Cavern? Remember how pissed off you got with the Water Temple, how you couldn’t find that one last Small Key you needed to retrieve the Boss Key? It’s time to journey backwards a decade and a half to rediscover everything that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time held, and to experience the game in sleek, polished 3D. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Reviews, Top Story | Tagged

Zelda producer sees more room to innovate on the Wii

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

In an interview with Industry Gamers, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Producer Eiji Aonuma weighed in on whether Nintendo has done everything they could with the Nintendo Wii and its revolutionary motion control. Short answer: no.

It’s possible that this [Skyward Sword] could be one of the last titles for the Wii from Nintendo, but I certainly didn’t get the sensation that this is it – we’ve done everything we can. When making the game, it wasn’t even something I really paid attention to. We just focused on really expanding with motion plus and doing everything we could with that feature since it was sort of the backbone [of the project]. But there’s always more to iterate on, so gameplay possibilities will continue to grow regardless of system.

It’s been a long and interesting journey with the Nintendo Wii, a journey that’s now coming to a close with the coming Wii U. I can’t think of a better way to cap it off than with Skyward Sword, especially with all the Motion Plus innovations the game is promising.

Posted in News | Tagged ,

Ignition: El Shaddai “better” on a PlayStation 3

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Shane Bettenhausen of UTV Ignition sat down with the PlayStation Blog’s Jeff Rubenstein to discuss the highly anticipated El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. When Rubenstein raised the obligatory concern that the game may run worse on PlayStation than on Xbox, Bettenahusen put those fears aside, reassuring that the game will always run at 60 frames per second. He went on to say, “the controls just feel better. I always tell people that ‘by far, the lead SKU is PS3.’ It is a Japanese game, and in Japan, PlayStation is just so much more relevant than Xbox. It’s sold more than 10 times as many copies on PS3.”

No matter what controller you play it with, El Shaddai is certain to be a unique experience, as we’ve seen from the demo. Head over to the PlayStation Blog for the full interview, where they discuss the game’s Director Takeyasu Sawaki, the language options on the disc, and that Jason Isaacs, a.k.a. Lucious Malfoy, is voicing Lucifel.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged