It was a long time coming, but the mythical day finally arrived: Diablo III was released on May 15 to much fanfare. Over the ensuing weeks, I’ve poured less time than I wanted to into the game, deterred by my inability to sign into the servers and play the game. You must be online at all times and signed into Battle.net in order to play, so when servers crash, even your solo campaign is brought to a grinding halt. In spite of the constant server maintenance, annoying lag, and abrupt changes made to gameplay, I still had plenty of fun. But the question remains: was Diablo III worth the long wait?
Over the weekend a rumour spread like wildfire across the internet, that Retro Studios, the geniuses behind the Metroid Prime trilogy, were making a new entry into Nintendo’s furry Star Fox universe, entitled Star Fox United.
It started on the 4Chan imageboards, where several dubious screenshots were posted, along with a retro-looking logo. The story was first picked up by Go Nintendo and others quickly followed suit.
However, the images disappeared almost as soon as they arrived, like a giant explosion in the vacuum of space. Most seem to believe it was a hoax, but there is a little part of me praying this is true. I would love a Nintendo version of Mass Effect, mixing flying missions with third or first-person shooter quests. I can imagine seeing the HD detail of Fox’s fur blowing in the kickback from his gun.
For the moment though, it looks to be a dream upon the stars.
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was always designed as an ongoing project. And it looks like Mojang and port developer 4J Studios are getting ready to deploy the first major update to the game soon. Microsoft didn’t say when soon would be, but they did announce what features (Autosave!) and bug fixes (Clay!) we can look forward to.
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…
The 2012 E3 Expo is over! While the ESA doesn’t know when (or where) the 2013 edition will happen, it should be a corker of a show. E3 2013 promises to include the second wave of Wii U titles as well as our first look at the PS4/Orbis and the Xbox 720.
While this year’s E3 wasn’t quite that action-packed, it did include a number of promising games, and you can read all about them after the break.
Hitman: Absolution Game Director Tore Blystad spoke to IGN during this week’s E3 Expo and the subject of the “Attack of the Saints” trailer naturally came up. It’s true, Blystad did apologize, but it was the kind of non-apology apology that the public usually finds infuriating. However, in this case, I think it was the right thing to say.
“We’re sorry that we offended people – that was truly not the intention of the trailer,” Blystad said.
Of course that wasn’t the intention of the trailer. Yes, they were nuns. And yes, they were wearing stripper heels and leather bodysuits underneath their habits. I can understand how that could offend someone. But the fact that the discussion looped around to “IO hates women,” when the scene is clearly aping imagery Quentin Tarantino has been putting in his films for decades was just bizarre. Blystad even says as much later in the interview:
“The Hitman games as a series has always been extreme in many ways. The religious themes have been there from the very beginning, along with outlandish party scenes. And there are a lot of movie influences in Hitman: Absolution, like Tarantino and Rodriguez. The grindhouse theme is something that we’re using throughout the game. It tends more towards sixties exploitation movies – these were a fascination [for us] because they were so extreme.”
Hitman: Absolution will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 20.
Did Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs steal E3 2012? Depending on who you talk to, yes, yes it did. The PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 game currently doesn’t have a release date, but it does offer an interesting hook for an open world game: A hero who does more damage with his hacking skills than with a gun.
But he definitely also knows how to handle a machine gun, as you can see in the extended gameplay demo above. Want more Watch Dogs? Hit the jump to view the game’s rather stylish announcement trailer.
While Nintendo affixed a “U” on the end of all their Wii U games, Ubisoft’s ZombiU has to take the prize for the most ridiculous reference to Nintendo’s next console. Say it real fast. Sounds kind of like Zom-Wii U doesn’t it?
Wacky title aside, ZombiU also looks to put the “survival” back in the survival horror genre. Using the Wii U GamePad, every time a player looks into their bag or attempts to access an in-game computer, the camera will shift to the tablet controller, ensuring players split their attention between both screens to live.
I’ve got to admit, that’s a pretty great use of the Wii U GamePad. If you missed the E3 trailer above, be sure to give it a watch now.
I’m sure E3 week has left you ready for all the games coming out this Fall (and beyond), but don’t forget, we’ve got a whole Summer of new releases ahead of us!
New releases like Suda 51’s crazy cheerleader/zombie/rock and roll mash-up, Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3, Xbox 360).