Most Recent: Xbox 360

EA working on “exciting” new FPS

Posted on February 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts held their quarterly financial briefing yesterday and their CEO, John Riccitiello, revealed a small slice of the publisher’s 2011/2012 plans. Riccitiello has vowed to return EA to the top of the heap when it comes to first person shooters and he revealed that the company has a secret shooter in the works:

“This year, with the trail end of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 still doing well, Medal of Honor doing well, Crysis and Bulletstorm, we’re clearly going to make more progress on our goal, and that’s before we get to what I think is going to be a very exciting entry later in the year that we’re not yet announcing.”

The briefing also revealed that EA has three games planned for the 3DS launch window (The Sims 3, Madden NFL Football and FIFA Soccer) with a plan to release two of three alongside the 3DS hardware on March 27. This is our first confirmation of any 3DS launch day titles, even if it is still a bit of a guessing game.

Finally, EA used the briefing to gloat a bit. They announced that five of their 2010 releases, FIFA 11, Medal of Honor, Madden NFL 11, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, have all sold more than five million copies apiece. And even though it’s only been available for a week, EA also announced that Dead Space 2 has already sold two million copies, nearly doubling the sales figures of the first game.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Dead Space 2 Review: Eviscerates the Hype With a Frighteningly Good Game

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Nicole Kline

EA’s Visceral Games got the attention of the gaming community back in 2008 with the original Dead Space. The universe has since expanded, spawning comics, novels, animated movies, and a Wii rail shooter. Dead Space 2 is a superior game to the first one, but not at the expense of it. The original is excellent, but the second took every aspect of the first game and made it better, from the character development to the navigation in zero gravity. Even the story and characters have a depth the first did not and, to make matters even better, now there’s multiplayer, bringing Necromorphs to life in unimaginable ways. Isaac Clarke is back, and – despite a little issue of not remembering what happened in the last three years since the first game ended – he’s tougher than ever. The sequel has better graphics, better guns, and better mechanics – but does it live up to the hype that’s been building up around the series for more than two years? (more…)

Posted in PC, PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New details emerge for From Software’s Project Dark, officially titled Dark Souls

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

At the last Tokyo Game Show, From Software revealed their next game, tentatively titled Project Dark. As the spiritual successor to their last big hit Demon’s Souls (which was the spiritual successor to King’s Field), it should come as no surprise that the game is now officially titled as Dark Souls. The game will have familiar aspects from Demon’s Souls’ characteristic co-op and versus online play, as you can feel the “gentle presence” of others playing the game and leave behind messages. Instead of a set of classes to choose at the beginning, players will be able to develop their own characters, utilizing an even wider selection of equipment and magic. Also gone is the concept of a central hub connecting the various levels, as this time they will all be seamlessly connected; when you step out of a cave and see a castle in the distance, you’ll eventually be able to get inside the walls and see what’s hidden within. The one thing definitely carrying over from Demon’s Souls is the grueling difficulty and immensely satisfying sense of achievement through learning from your mistakes.

I burned lots of hours on an imported version of Demon’s Souls before it came out in the states, and I’m embarrassed to say I still haven’t finished the game. Looks like I’ll have some grinding to do. Dark Souls comes out later this year on PlayStation 3 in Japan, with Namco Bandai publishing the game in the west for both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Source: Siliconera

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Sega Rally Online Arcade to race onto PSN/XBLA this year

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Just yesterday, Sega announced that it would be revamping the classic Sega Rally series in the form of Sega Rally Online Arcade – which was inspired by Sega Rally 3 and Sega Rally Revo. Sega Rally Online Arcade will feature full-fledged HD visuals and the ability to compete in races online, a feat never-before tackled by the Sega Rally titles.

In addition to online competitive play, Sega Rally Online Arcade will also offer the famed Time Attack and Championship Battle modes, achievement/trophy support, online leaderboards, and the combination of five drivers and 13 rally cars to choose from.

And as you may have guessed from the “Arcade” attached to the end of the title, the game will be available only on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade when it’s released later this year.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Kevin Tancharoen talks Mortal Kombat: Rebirth

Posted on January 31, 2011 by John Scalzo

Director Kevin Tancharoen recently sat down with Gamasutra and revealed that his awesome Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film caught the public’s attention by accident.

“I am not the most technically savvy YouTube person. What came out wasn’t the final product in my mind. I wasn’t done yet,” he told the industry blog. “It was still in its rough phase, but I couldn’t send a 2GB file over email, so my friend said I could create a private page on YouTube and sent it to him to review. It turns out it wasn’t that private.”

The interview also confirms that the web series will be spread out over nine episodes, instead of the previously announced ten, and that they will be between seven and ten minutes long (totalling a feature length running time of 63-90 minutes). All of the actors from Rebirth are currently in negotations to reprise their roles including Michael Jai White (Jax), Jeri Ryan (Sonya Blade) and Ian Anthony Dale (Scorpion).

Tancharoen is not alone in building the Rebirth universe as Mortal Kombat creator Ed Book is working very closely with the director. “We’re working together hand in hand, Tancharoen said. “I’ve got to admit, I had a little fanboy geek moment when I met him. I flashed back to when I was 12 or 13 and played the first game and was obsessed with it. He was very, very happy with the short. He knows it took liberties with the universe of Mortal Kombat, but was okay with that. It blows my mind.”

Filming on Mortal Kombat: Rebirth will begin in February with a “Spring” release planned on digital download services.

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

Hydrophobia Pure half-off this week, downloading enters you in $4,500 sweepstakes

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Dark Energy Digital’s Hydrophobia Pure will be half-off for only 400 Microsoft Points this week from January 31st to February 6th as part of a water-themed Deal of the Week promotion for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. In addition, anyone over the age of 18 who downloads the game will be entered into a sweepstakes sponsored by the developer. First place will be either a $4,500 cruise for a U.S. resident, or a $3,000 beach vacation and $1,500 susceptible to prize taxes and fees for a U.K. resident. 5 additional winners will receive 4,000 Microsoft Points.

Dark Energy Digital sure have been pushing Hydrophobia after it was met with mixed reviews, first by releasing a ‘Pure’ version of the game and recently with their Listening Post to gather more fan feedback. A few of us at Warp Zoned are personally rooting for the team, hopefully they’ll knock it out the park with the next episode of the series.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Mortal Kombat’s new X-Ray feature gives players an inside look, literally

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Wow. Just wow. As if I didn’t already have enough of a reason to check out the new Mortal Kombat game, NetherRealm Studios showed off their X-Ray fighting technology in a recent video. The X-Ray technology allows players to hone in on critical hits, fully displaying their effective blows. The video showcases spines bending backward and breaking, cracked ribs, shattering skulls, and organs being crushed.

While this addition only ascends the government’s attention to violent video games, it’s high time that Mortal Kombat had this kind of a face lift – through excessive punching of course.

This video also includes the first gameplay footage of Liu Kang from the upcoming reboot. The champ is here and he looks awesome.

Check out the video after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Releases: Rock Band Country Track Pack 2, More

Posted on January 29, 2011 by John Scalzo

I hope you’re still busy with Dead Space 2 as this week’s batch of new releases is nearly non-existent. Harmonix plans to bring the Rock Band Country Track Pack 2 to the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360… and that’s about it.

Oh, a Mr. Bean game is coming to the DS and Wii this week. I guess that’s something. Although it doesn’t appear in the release lists for every game retailer, so call ahead before searching for it at the mall.

The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found below.

DS

PC

PlayStation 3

Wii

Xbox 360

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