Daily Scoop: March 11, 2013 – Monday’s here again, too soon

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Nicole Kline

Happy Monday, everyone! The weekend flew by too quickly, as always. I’m happy to say I had a great birthday, though! Friday night, we went to a friend’s going away party, and he got me a surprise birthday cake! Saturday I had to do homework, which made me sad, but then went to play board games with some friends, which made me happy! And then Sunday was a book club meeting, and after that Dead Space 3 all night, interrupted only by The Walking Dead. Good friends, good fun, good cake!

Let’s see… what kind of deals are there? Well, Best Buy has some sales going on right now, including Starcraft II for $19.99. GameStop is having some sales as well, like Aliens: Colonial Marines, Crysis 3, Forza Horizons, and Far Cry 3 for $39.99 each.

There are quite a few t-shirts available to pick from today!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Halo 4: Castle Map Pack to be available on April 8

Posted on March 11, 2013 by John Scalzo

Microsoft has announced that the Certain Affinity-developed Castle Map Pack for Halo 4 will be available on April 8. Like the previous two packs, the Castle Map Pack has been priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10). In addition to three new maps, the Castle Map Pack will include nine new Achievements totaling 250 Gamerscore.

The maps of the Castle Map Pack (“Daybreak,” “Outcast,” and “Perdition”) will be medium-to-large sized and “emphasize vehicular warfare and large battles over open spaces.” According to Microsoft, “team strategy is key to successfully conquering the battlefield” in these three maps.

You can check out the trailer above for a sneak peek at the Castle Map Pack or you can find more details about all three maps after the jump. Or you can head down to this year’s PAX East convention (March 22-24) and give the Castle Map Pack a try at the Microsoft booth.

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Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Xi3’s unofficial Steam Box, the Piston, set to launch this holiday season for $999

Posted on March 11, 2013 by John Scalzo

piston-consoleThe “Steam Box” wars have begun.

While Valve’s official Steam Box likely won’t be in stores until 2014, Xi3 has announced that their version of the PC-based console, the Piston, will be available this holiday season for a price of $999.99. Does a thousand bucks sound a bit steep for a “console”? Well, Xi3 actually agrees with you and will slash the price to $899.99 if you pre-order it between now and Sunday, March 17.

“Clearly, the computer/video gaming market is huge, both in the personal computer and traditional console markets,” said Jason A. Sullivan, President and CEO of Xi3. “That being said, we believe there is a crying need for a machine that captures the best of both worlds, with the upgradeability of computer gaming rigs and the design and form factor of consoles. We believe our Piston consoles do exactly that—deliver the beauty and small size of consoles with the upgradeability of computers.”

The standard Piston console will include a 128GB SSD hard drive, but additonal models will be available that include a 256GB SSD ($1,339.99) or a 512GB SSD ($1,749.99).

Posted in News, PC |

Gearbox adding sixth playable character to Borderlands 2

Posted on March 11, 2013 by John Scalzo

Gearbox showcased a new trailer for the next piece of Borderlands 2 downloadable content at this weekend’s SXSW Interactive festival. The trailer promises a new playable character who is proficient in melee attacks as well as being a bringer of mayhem:

Deep beneath Pandora… An experiment has escaped…Bandits beware… A new vault hunter is coming… More mayhem awaits…

It’s unknown if this new character will be released as part of the next full expansion or as a separate download like Gaige the Mechromancer.

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

Weekly Warp-Up: Rumors in the Spring Air

Posted on March 10, 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…

It’s a glorious day in the northeast. No snow and plenty of sun. But before you head outside, a bunch of rumors are swirling around the game industry and some of them are pretty juicy.

For example, Mojang is considering a version of Minecraft on one or more PlayStation platforms after their exclusivity contract with Microsoft is over. But I’m sure you’re a seasoned rumor connoisseur, and you want something even juicier than that. OK.

How about upheaval at LucasArts and possible trouble for Star Wars 1313? Or possible chaos at Visceral Games and the cancellation of the yet-to-be-announced Dead Space 4 (EA denies this, by the way). We’ve also got another Deus Ex domain sighting, this time for Deus Ex: The Fall. And Take-Two is developing “an extensive pipeline of unannounced titles.” Can you say next-generation consoles? I knew you could.

And none of this has even touched on the SimCity server mess. EA is fighting with their fanbase over the possibility of refunds while also making plans to give away a free game to make up for the game’s “dumb” launch.

Also, you shouldn’t pre-order a PS4 yet, trust us on this. There’s more news from the week that was (and more importantly, more rumors) after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Releases: GOW: Ascension, SC2: Heart of the Swarm, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, More

Posted on March 10, 2013 by John Scalzo

newreleases031213

A pair of dueling sequels highlight this week’s new releases.

Kratos returns in a God of War prequel that brings multiplayer to the series for the first time. God of War: Ascension is available as a standalone game and also as part of a new PS3 system bundle that include Ascension and the previously released God of War Saga. Also new on store shelves this week is StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion in the StarCraft II trilogy saga.

And speaking of sequels, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is also available this week for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. And speaking of snipers, Sniper Elite V2 comes to the PC this week, almost a year after first appearing on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Finally, the 3DS will receive another Monster High game thanks to Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze.

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

Boomshakalaka! Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman are on fire in this NBA Jam parody

Posted on March 10, 2013 by John Scalzo

Someday, historians may write about Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea as the beginning of a basketball diplomacy program that opened up the secretive nation to the rest of the world. For now though, he’s just the tattooed and pierced weirdo who shared courtside seats with a dictator at an exhibition game.

Naturally, this lead someone to mashup Kim Jong-un’s famed athletic abilities with the extreme stylings of NBA Jam. The “North Korean All-Stars” are lead by Kim Jong-un’s flawless skillset (10 out of 10 in Speed, Power, Shoot, Dunks, Steal, and Block) against a “Pathetic Americans” team that includes Mark Jackson and Sarunas Marciulionis of the 1996-97 Denver Nuggets.

Can you guess the final score? Let’s just say it makes Kim Jong-il’s purported 11 hole-in-ones on the golf course seem realistic.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

SXSW: Pachter predicts next-gen games will cost $70

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Bret Morace

sxsw2013Michael Patcher, a video game industry analyst for Wedbush Securities Research, has predicted that games for both the next Xbox and the PS4 will cost $70. The infamous Patcher was speaking at a panel at the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX and the quote originally appeared on the Twitter feed of GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley:

This might be news to Sony as Jack Trenton, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s President and CEO, has previously stated that the PS4, “will offer games with prices ranging from $0.99 to the more traditional $60 range.”

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