Most Recent: PS3

Deus Ex: Human Revolution inspired by Blade Runner, RoboCop and… Professor Layton?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Warp Zoned Staff

Eidos Montreal set up shop at this weekend’s PAX East show to talk about their upcoming game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The prequel to the Warren Spector-created series will be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 23.

We had an opportunity to sit down with Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas at the show. During the interview we talked about the challenges of reviving an older franchise, their unique relationship with Square Enix, Warren Spector’s feedback, and what influenced the team during the development of the game:

Dugas: [W]e look at everything around. Of course, we looked at Blade Runner, we went back even to RoboCop. We even watched Johnny Mnemonic again.

Warp Zoned: Ohhh no!

Dugas: Haha, yeah, but there are good ideas in that, even though it’s not a great movie, so you really need to have an open mind. And even the not so good stuff might be interesting anyway. We also went into Japanese anime like Ghost in the Shell, but also things like Solty Rei. I don’t know if you heard of that, it’s more obscure.

We also went into books about transhumanism, real stuff that’s non-fiction. Watched a lot of documentaries about a lot of things. So our sources of inspiration weren’t necessarily sci-fi driven, they were about everything that relates to our game. Like anticipation of the future, transhumanism, how to create good cyber punk setting, it was all over the place.

Even Professor Layton inspires me! (laughing) I love that game!

You can read our full interview with Jean-Francois Dugas right here.

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

Crysis 2 demo, Hard Corps: Uprising, Parasite Eve on PlayStation Store this week

Posted on March 14, 2011 by John Scalzo

A PlayStation.Blog weekly feature, “The Drop,” has given us a sneak peek at what games will be available to download tomorrow from the PlayStation Store.

While not a full game, the biggest addition to this week’s PSN update is the PS3 version of the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo. Another huge demo available this week is Mortal Kombat. The sample was made available to download for PlayStation Plus users last week, but now every PS3 owner will have a chance to test out the Mature-rated fighter. Finally, a demo of the minigame crossover PlayStation Move Heroes is also in the works for the Tuesday update.

If you’re more interested in full games, you can find three in this week’s PSN update. PS3 owners will be able to download the Contra prequel Hard Corps: Uprising along with the “building and brawling mash up” Slam Bolt Scrappers. And PSone Classics collectors will be thrilled to learn that Parasite Eve will be added to the service this week ahead of The 3rd Birthday‘s March 29 release.

And speaking of PSP games, this week’s PlayStation Store update sees the release of five of them: Shooter Gods Eater Burst, RPG Jikandia: The Timeless Land, sports sim Major League Baseball 2K11, puzzle racer Vertigo and the fighting game Dissidia 012 Prologus: Final Fantasy.

Posted in News, PS3, PSP | Tagged , , ,

Mortal Kombat earns its Mature rating

Posted on March 13, 2011 by John Scalzo

Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon has been promising that the upcoming reboot would be a brutal and hardcore return to the franchise’s Mature-rated days. Today, the ESRB revealed that he has kept his promise by awarding Mortal Kombat an M For Mature.

The rating was handed out for “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity and Strong Language,” which is about what you’d expect to see in a Mature-rated Mortal Kombat. Although the full Rating Summary makes it look like the kombatants will be allowed to swear for the first time:

This is a fighting game in which players engage in one-on-one battles against characters from the fantasy-based Mortal Kombat universe. Players compete in a series of combative rounds in order to advance to different matches throughout the game. Players use swords, guns, chains, spikes, and supernatural attacks (e.g., fire, ice, lightning) to defeat a cast of human-like characters.

After an opponent is defeated at the end of a match, players have the option to perform finishing moves called ‘Fatalities.’ Many of these finishing moves depict over-the-top instances of violence: impalement, bone-crushing body snaps, execution-style gunshots to the head; large blood-splatter effects occur during these sequences, staining characters’ bodies and the ground. Several of these exaggerated finishing moves depict characters getting dismembered, ripped or sliced in half, stabbed, set on fire, or set to explode. During the course of the game, female characters sometimes wear revealing outfits that expose large amounts of cleavage; one female fighter is depicted partially nude, covered by a costume of thin cloth strips. Language such as ‘f**k’ occasionally appears in the dialogue.

Mortal Kombat will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on April 19.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Releases: Homefront, Okamiden, Yakuza 4, More

Posted on March 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

The Spring thaw is doing more than raising the mercury in your thermometer, it’s also bringing more big games to stores.

This week, THQ’s Red Dawn-inspired war game, Homefront, will be released on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. In fact, Red Dawn director John Milius was heavily involved in the creator of Homefront’s storyline.

Other big name releases this week fall into a few well known franchises:

  • Capcom will release Okamiden, pint-sized spinoff of Okami, for the DS
  • Sega brings Kazuma Kiryu back to America (but keeps the game’s Japanese sensibilities intact) in Yakuza 4 (PS3).
  • Andre Agassi serves up his first video game appearance in over 15 years in Top Spin 4 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360).
  • And finally, Sega will release Total War: Shogun 2 on the PC.

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

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

Release Dates: Child of Eden, Arcana Heart 3

Posted on March 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

Release dates for Child of Eden and Arcana Heart 3 have snuck out of this weekend’s PAX East.

According to Joystiq, an Ubisoft representative has alerted them to the news that Child of Eden will be available on June 14 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The musical motion game is being developed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Q Entertainment and will include Kinect support.

Meanwhile, Scrawl has learned that Arcana Heart 3 will be available to download from the PlayStation Network on April 5. An Xbox 360 version of the all-female fighting game has also been given a rating by the ESRB, but only the PSN version has been officially announced.

We’ll have more from PAX East all weekend.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Naughty Dog: Uncharted 2 train level and collapsing building will “look like child’s play”

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Senior Editor Nicole Kline and I are right now at the Naughty Dog Panel, “The Making of an Announcement – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception“. We got to see part two of the 2-Player Productions and Naughty Dog collaboration detailing how Uncharted 3 came to be revealed. After the credits roll, a slight tease plays where a developer talks about how they’re taking players to new environments and situations they haven’t seen before. At the end, he proclaims the infamous train level and collapsing building segment shown at E3 will look like “child’s play” compared to what’s in the new game.

That’s a pretty bold statement considering how big those moments were in 2009. The team clearly gets across they’re under a lot of pressure in the video, so hopefully they’ll deliver when Uncharted 3 releases on the PlayStation 3 November 1, 2011.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged ,

Red Faction: Armageddon blows **** up real good with Ruin Mode

Posted on March 11, 2011 by John Scalzo

Do you love the sound of breaking glass? Then Red Faction: Armageddon‘s “Ruin Mode” is for you:

Introducing Ruin, Red Faction: Armageddon’s mode dedicated to pure destructive mayhem. Choose your weapons, enter the arena, and unleash hell. Chain together explosive combinations for bonus points, and compete with your friends’ high scores on the online leader boards in Challenge Mode. Or engage in untimed Free Play rounds in which you explore the surface and seek out its most destructive secrets. As you destroy all that you see around you, your creativity will be rewarded.

Check out the trailer above to get a taste of Ruin Mode or play it for yourself at THQ’s booth (#956) if you’ve got tickets to this weekend’s PAX East.

Red Faction: Armageddon will be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 31.

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

Mass Effect 2 Review: Shepard’s Back and There’s Gonna Be Trouble

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Adam Woolcott

It was one of the best-reviewed games of 2010. It received many accolades and dozens of Game of the Year awards. Now… Mass Effect 2 is finally available on the PlayStation 3, one year after its initial release on the PC and Xbox 360. The late-releasing port is usually a wasted venture that appeals to a small subset of gamers who own just that platform, but BioWare has done everything it can to make it appealing to those who haven’t yet experienced the game. Whether it’s touching up the visuals (check), using it to demonstrate the engine that’ll be used in Mass Effect 3 (check), or including $20 worth of bonus content (check), Mass Effect 2 for PS3 is in many ways the prototypical “Game of the Year” re-release… only in this case it’s done specifically to satisfy PS3 owners that have been waiting an entire year to play one of 2010’s best games. (more…)

Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story | Tagged