Most Recent: Wii

Daily Scoop: May 9, 2011 – The PSN outage continues

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Nicole Kline

The ApocalyPS3 is still in full swing, with Sony now admitting the service will likely not return “fully” until May 31. In case you hadn’t noticed, May 31 is 22 days from now. That is a ridiculous amount of time for the PSN to be down, bringing their total downtime to well over a month. I’m not sure what their welcome back package is going to include, but I think for some people, it’s going to need to offer to pay for the therapy they’re in right now as they’re going through multiplayer withdrawal.

And now, onto the deals! Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for the Wii. It’s $34.99 down from $49.99. I would definitely recommend it for the fan of the Lego games in general – sure, if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all, but they’re really enjoyable either way. I’ve been playing the 3D version on the 3DS and it’s been a pretty fun time!

Also, Brink is coming out tomorrow, and Amazon’s running a $10 promotional credit on that, as well as cutting $5 off the price tag on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. They’ve also upped the promotional credit for L.A. Noire to $15 for both PS3 and 360 versions. Click here for a full list of all bonus offers at Amazon right now.

Today’s daily t-shirt is courtesy of Ript, and it’s called A Moogle We Can Believe In:

Can we say Moogle/Chocobo ’12?

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

New Releases: Brink, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, MX vs ATV Alive, More

Posted on May 7, 2011 by John Scalzo

After moving up its launch date up week, Bethesda and Splash Damage are ready to release their parkour-inspired shooter Brink on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

If you’d rather travel by sea, then you should know that Disney and Lego Captain Jack Sparrow will release Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on every current system (3DS, DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360) this week. Perhaps wall running and boating aren’t for you. Then you’d be well to know that THQ is bringing their latest off-road racing title, MX vs ATV Alive, to the PS3 and Xbox 360 this week.

Moving on from the “ways to get around” theme, Sega has Virtua Tennis 4 set to be released on the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 while Deep Silver is bringing Duke Nukem: Critical Mass to the DS. Let’s hope it doesn’t take forever for our next helping of Duke.

Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)

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

The Balcony is Closed: Whatever Happened to the Licensed Game?

Posted on May 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

In case there was any doubt, Thor and his mighty hammer have officially opened the 2011 Summer movie season today. What will follow is four months of blockbusters that will be heavy on action and even heavier on reviews comparing their visuals to video games. But as Hollywood and Redmond trade ideas back and forth, the once great institution that is the licensed game has gone by the wayside.

Okay, “once great institution” might be the nostalgia talking, but licensed games were always plentiful, even if they weren’t always good games. We all know the story of Atari practically bankrupting themselves to produce the woefully bad E.T. game for the Atari 2600. And Acclaim’s history of low review scores (and eventual bankruptcy) could be attributed to the company’s string of licensed games.

But titles like GoldenEye and The Chronicles of Riddick prove that a licensed game doesn’t have to be a cheaply made cash-in. They can be classics. Yet their number is decreasing, even as gamemakers have embraced the trappings of Hollywood during the development process. (more…)

Posted in DS, Features, PC, PS3, Top Story, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Next Week on Rock Band 3: Foo Fighters! Oh, and Run DMC too!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Adam Woolcott

Long-time fans of the Rock Band franchise are well aware that the Foo Fighters are one of the most prolific bands in the game – there’s well over twenty of their songs available in the Rock Band store. That number is set to increase this coming Tuesday, as the Foo Fighters are bringing four new tracks to Rock Band 3. That’s not all, however, as hip-hop legends Run-DMC make their Rock Band debut. Previously, they were only available in 2008’s Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Anyway, here’s what’s on tap for Tuesday, May 10th:

  • Foo Fighters – “Long Road to Ruin”
  • Foo Fighters – “Rope” X
  • Foo Fighters – “Stacked Actors”
  • Foo Fighters – “Walk”
  • Lordi – “Hard Rock Hallelujah”
  • Run-DMC – “King of Rock”

“King of Rock” is an amazing pick, though hopefully this leads to their “Walk This Way” collaboration with Aerosmith. Otherwise, my only disappointment is the inclusion of just one track from the great new Foo Fighters album “Wasting Light” – hopefully more will appear in the future… like, you know, the entire album. In addition to the all-new tracks, there’s two previously available Foo Fighters songs being enhanced for Pro Guitar:

• Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench”
• Foo Fighters – “The Pretender”

As always, each song will retail for 160 Microsoft Points, 200 Wii Points, or $1.99 on PlayStation Network… though as I said last week, the availability on PS3 depends on whenever PSN is up and running again. The two “legacy” updates for the older Foo Fighters tracks will set you back half the cost of a full song, as will the Pro Guitar upgrade for “Rope.”

Tune in next week for another run down of Rock Band 3 goodness!

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

THQ releasing uDraw HD, Saints Row 3 in 2011; Drive-By canceled

Posted on May 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

THQ used their quarterly financial call to reveal a bit more about its 2011-2012 release slate.

For this year, the publisher is readying MX vs. ATV Alive for release this month, Red Faction: Armageddon on June 7, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine for August and UFC Personal Trainer sometime this Summer. Towards the end of the year, THQ plans to release Saints Row: The Third and the next WWE game along with bringing their uDraw GameTablet to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Speaking of Saints Row, after the call, the publisher told Joystiq that Saints Row: Drive-By (the franchise’s 3DS/PSN/XBLA spinoff) was canceled. Bummer.

But 2012 is looking great for THQ as they revealed that they have several major releases planned including the unannounced UFC Undisputed 2012, Darksiders 2, Tomonobu Itagaki’s Devil’s Third, Metro 2033: Last Light and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.

Finally, the publisher publicly commented on Nintendo’s next console: “[THQ is] excited about the prospect of new hardware next year and look[s] forward to working on that system.” Got an opinion of which of THQ’s 2012 releases will make the leap to the Wii 2/Project Cafe? Let us know in the comments.

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

The Next Level: The Games of May 2011

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Warp Zoned Staff

After a wild April that saw major havoc being wreaked on the PlayStation Network and several high profile releases in Mortal Kombat, Portal 2 and SOCOM 4, it’ll be hard for May to compete. And with a slew of delays, the already slim May slate has gotten even slimmer over the last few weeks. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t on the brink of something big. So join us in la-la-land for a look at what we want to play in May: (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, Features, PC, PS3, PSP, Top Story, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Nintendo Download: Bingo Party Deluxe, Rival Turf!, more

Posted on May 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s Monday morning and the weekly Nintendo Download is here, on schedule and as uneventful as ever.

This week sees the release of Bingo Party Deluxe on the Wii Shop Channel and Rival Turf! (formerly of the Super NES) on the Virtual Console.

The DSiWare Shop has received a trio of new games: priate puzzle-action game Ikibago; the action RPG Anonymous Notes: Chapter 2 – From The Abyss; and the slef-explanatory Picture Perfect Pocket Stylist.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in DS, News, Wii |

Redbox to offer game rentals nationwide in June

Posted on April 30, 2011 by John Scalzo

Redbox, those ubiquitous red kiosks that offer DVD rentals for $1 per day, will begin renting games nationwide on June 17.

Redbox began a test of video game rentals in selected cities back in August and the company is now ready to expand video game availibility to 21,000 machines nationwide. The rental selection will include “top releases [and] popular family and kids titles” for the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, so don’t expect them to stock the latest games from Atlus or XSEED. At $2 per day, game rentals will be slightly more expensive than DVD rentals.

“Redbox will make discovering the latest games as easy as a trip to the local grocery, convenience or drug store,” said Joel Resnik, Vice President of Games at Redbox.

You can check the game availability of your local Redbox machine at Redbox.com/games.

Posted in News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |