Weekly Warp-Up: Grab Bag Edition

Posted on September 15, 2013 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…

Usually, I can find some kind of unifying theme to the events of the most recent week, but not this week. So welcome to the “Grab Bag Edition” of the Weekly Warp-Up, please don’t be scared off by the randommness.

This week, we continued to dig into our Grab Bag of PAX Prime Goodies and came up with Hands-On Previews of Pokemon X/Y and the Borderlands 2 mini-expansion, T.K. Baha’s Bloody Harvest. Speaking of PAX Prime, the show floor is home to a ton of indie developers and we here at Warp Zoned love indie developers. It’s why we turn the spotlight on them at least once a month in our Kickstart This! column, which we did again this week.

Alright, enough with the ranom, you can find more news from this past week after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Releases: Grand Theft Auto V, The Wonderful 101, More

Posted on September 15, 2013 by John Scalzo

grandtheftautov-box-largeThis week’s edition of “New Releases” will be considerably shorter than normal because of one game: Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V. Almost every other publisher is taking the week off to avoid the PS3 and Xbox 360 juggernaut. The theme of GTA5 is “The Almighty Dollar” and with almost no competition this week, Rockstar will be sure to rake in a lot of them.

But Nintendo has never been a company that cares about what other publishers are doing, so they’ve slotted The Wonderful 101 into the calendar as the week’s other big release. The Platinum Games-developed strategic superhero squad simulation is available in stores today for the Wii U.

The remaining new releases are made up of a smattering of budget titles including Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver (3DS, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360), We Sing: 80s (Wii), Takedown: Red Sabre (PC), and a boxed copy of Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded (PC).

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

Full version of Legend of Dungeon now available

Posted on September 14, 2013 by John Scalzo

Robot Loves Kitty invited fans to play along as they released new builds of their PC-exclusive action RPG, Legend of Dungeon. Beginning in the Spring with the “Nearly Beta,” the team also released revisions known as the “Alpha Minotaur,” the “Alpha Nymph,” and possibly some others I may have missed. The official “Beta” version was uploaded for pre-purchasers at the beginning of August, so it was only a matter of time until the developers completed work on the final version of the game.

And like magic, the “Full Version” of Legend of Dungeon is now available on Steam as of yesterday, September 13.

The “Full Version” includes many new secrets as well as “an upgrade to monster AI, many new sound effects, and more weapons including a Shotgun and a Katana.” Robot Loves Kitty has also promised that the promised Unlockable Character Classes and Pet System will be available soon. Until then, enjoy the “Launch Party” trailer above.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

The Wonderful 101 Review: Another Golden Hit From Platinum Games

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Andrew Rainnie

wonderful101-header

With its crazy sense of style, colorful worlds, and oddball humor, The Wonderful 101 feels like Director Hideki Kamiya’s spiritual successor to Viewtiful Joe. As the title suggests, instead of controlling just one masked superhero, you take charge of a 100-strong battalion as the 101st member of the squad. So how does controlling an army of shape-shifting warriors handle?

In a word? Viewtifully.

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Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Wii U | Tagged

Mortal Kombat: Legacy II will begin on September 26

Posted on September 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

After missing its promised Spring 2013 release date, the first episode of Kevin Tancharoen’s Mortal Kombat: Legacy II will be available to watch through Machinima’s YouTube Channel on September 26.

The second season of the popular webseries has moved beyond the origin stories of Mortal Kombat: Legacy and into the tournament itself. If this trailer is any indication, the new season will be bigger and bolder than the one that came before.

And seeing Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa reprise his role as Shang Tsung and repeat his most famous line (“It has begun!”) just about made my day.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Quake 5 might be in development at id Software

Posted on September 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

idsoftwarelogoAn announcement was posted on the Bethesda Blog this morning, advertising a variety of job openings at id Software. While the famed development team’s troubles with Doom 4 have been well documented, these new job postings might give us a hint as to what’s in the works within the walls of id Software.

A job posting for a Lead AI Programmer states that prospective applicants would get a chance to work on “legendary id game properties” such as Doom and Quake. The people at id would also like to fill this job with someone who has “Next-Gen console experience,” preferably in the “first person shooter” or “action shooter” genres.

So what can we surmise from all of this? Well, id’s next project is likely the previously announced Doom 4 or the unannounced Quake 5. And if it is Quake 5, it’ll bring the franchise home after the Raven-developed Quake 4 and the Splash Damage-developed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. It’s a stretch, but it’s rare for job postings to specifically mention titles like this. We also know it’ll be a first person shooter that is likely in development for next-generation consoles in addition to the PC.

Hmm… finding out the next title from id Software is an FPS set in a familiar universe probably isn’t the big scoop I was hoping for.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Fable Anniversary pushed back to February 2014

Posted on September 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

fableanniversaryLionhead Studios has announced they won’t be able to release Fable Anniversary this Fall. The news was delivered via their official blog, with Lead Designer Ted Timmins saying, “[W]e need a little more time in order to meet our ambitions and give you, the fans, the best game possible.”

How much more time do they need? Timmins confirmed that Fable Anniversary will now be released in February 2014.

While this is disappointing for fans, this is especially bad news for Microsoft as Fable Anniversary was being positioned as the Xbox 360’s marquee title for the Fall. As of right now, only one disc-based game will be released for the Xbox 360 before the end of the year (Zoo Tycoon, which is also in development for the Xbox One). Microsoft also plans to publish several Xbox Live Arcade titles during the remainder of 2013 including the free-to-play Ascend: Hand of Kul.

I know launching a new console is hard, but Microsoft seems to be forgetting about the Xbox 360 awfully fast.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New releases lead the way in August 2013 NPD report of best-selling games

Posted on September 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

maddennfl25-sandersThe NPD Group has released their monthly report on the financial health of the video game industry and, good news, retail game sales in August 2013 increased 21% over the same period last year. The entire retail game industry (games, consoles, and accessories) raked in $521 million, an increase of 1% over August 2012. Though the report estimates this number accounts for only half of all video game spending in August when you factor in used games, rentals, digital sales, add-on content, subscriptions, mobile apps, and social network microtransactions that the NPD doesn’t track.

Most of the increase in game sales was due to a stronger than usual slate of August releases. In fact, only two games in the August top ten are holdovers from previous months (Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition at #5 and NCAA Football 14 at #7).

The remainder of the top ten is populated entirely by new titles: Madden NFL 25 (#1), Saints Row IV (#2), Disney Infinity (#3), Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (#4), Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (#6), Payday 2 (#8), Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (#9), and Pikmin 3 (#10).

If you’d prefer the top ten in list format, you can find it right here:

Bestselling Games in August 2013
1. Madden NFL 25 (Xbox 360, PS3)
2. Saints Row IV (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
3. Disney Infinity (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U, 3DS )
4. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
5. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox 360)
6. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)
7. NCAA Football 14 (Xbox 360, PS3)
8. Payday 2 (Xbox 360, PS3)
9. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS3, PC)
10. Pikmin 3 (Wii U)

[Source: GameSpot]

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