Xbox One + Halo: The Master Chief Collection System Bundle is now available

Posted on March 9, 2015 by John Scalzo

xboxonehalobundleAfter working out the majority of Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s technical problems, Microsoft quietly released a special Xbox One system bundle over the weekend that comes packaged with a digital download of the game.

Priced at $349, the bundle will also include a standard 500GB Xbox One console, a wireless controller, a headset, and a voucher for two free weeks of Xbox Live Gold. In case you’re unfamiliar with The Master Chief Collection, it’s the perfect primer for this Fall’s Halo 5: Guardians. The compilation includes all four “main” games from the franchise (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4) and Microsoft plans to make the Halo 3: ODST spinoff available as downloadable content in the near future.

The bundle is now available through the Microsoft Store and will slowly trickle out to other stores throughout the month.

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Street Fighter V is “tentatively” scheduled for a Spring 2016 release on the PC and PS4

Posted on March 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Were you at PAX East this weekend? If so, I hope you had a great time and that you’re using your immediate post-PAX hours to recover. If you were there, you might have seen Capcom’s booth at the show, which was selling a wide variety of merchandise in addition to hosting demos of several of the company’s newest games. The Capcom-Unity blog cataloged all the sale items, including a Street Fighter V shirt that was tagged with a description that read “Everyone is fired up for Street Fighter V coming to the PS4 and PC next Spring.” The offending text was quickly edited out of the blog post.

So did Capcom just accidentally announce Street Fighter V’s launch windows? Well, not exactly…

According to IGN, a response from Capcom stated that Spring 2016 is the “tentative release time” for the game. The publisher also stressed they have yet to make an official announcement for Street Fighter V’s release.

While we might have to wait a little longer for confirmation from Capcom, Spring 2016 sounds like a reasonable release date for Street Fighter V to me.

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Weekly Warp-Up: We’re At PAX East 2015 Edition

Posted on March 8, 2015 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…

Most of Warp Zoned’s staff is currently wandering up and down the aisles of the 2015 PAX East expo. We’ll have plenty to report after the show is over, but for now, you can keep tabs on all our coverage at the PAX East 2015 Hub.

So what else was going on in the game industry this week? Well, Valve opened GDC (yes, GDC also happened this week) by revealing their virtual reality headset, the Vive. Sony countered with a new look at their updated and improved Project Morpheus headset. In other GDC news, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor took home Game of the Year at the GDC Awards and Outer Wilds won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at this year’s Independent Games Festival.

Outside of GDC, the biggest news has to be that Avalanche’s Mad Max and Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will share September 1 as a release date. It’s rare to see two huge games launching on the same day like this and its even rarer for the announcements to share the same day.

Finally, before leaving on a jet plane for Boston, the Warp Zoned staff sat down and discussed What We Played in February and The Games of March. Also, Andrew Rainnie has filed his Kickstart This! report from across the Atlantic.

You can find the rest of this week’s news after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Releases: DMC Definitive Edition, Code Name: STEAM, Atelier Shallie: Dusk Sea, More

Posted on March 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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The second week of March steps up the number of new releases considerably from last week’s solitary new game. Here’s what gamers will be able to discover on store shelves this week:

A few additional new releases from this week can be found after the break.

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Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Xbox Store Today: White Night, Zombie Army Trilogy, OlliOlli

Posted on March 6, 2015 by John Scalzo

You’ll have a scary good time with today’s Xbox Games Store update as two horror titles (and one skateboarding game) are newly available for the Xbox One.

First up is White Night, a striking black and white exploration game that will force players to face their fear of the dark (it’s OK, you can admit it, we’re all scared of the dark). White Night will tap into another universal fear, creaky 1930s mansions, as it throws puzzles and survival horror scenarios at you. I really hope there’s not a creepy clown…

Also available on this fine Friday is Zombie Army Trilogy, Rebellion’s bloody spinoff of their Sniper Elite series. Hitler’s a zombie and his army of genetically modified undead hordes are overrunning Europe. And guess what, it’s up to you to stop him. Preferably by socking zombie Hitler right in his zombie jaw.

Finally, side-scrolling skateboarding sim OlliOlli kickflips onto the Xbox One this week. After debuting on the PS4 and Wii U, OlliOlli’s final stop completes the new-generation trifecta.

More information on all three of these games can be found after the break.

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Kickstart This! Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse, Glitch Hunter, Sneaky Ninja

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Andrew Rainnie

Recently in the UK, pressure has been building against HSBC Bank after the shoddy dealings and tax evasion tactics of their Swiss subsidiary. The US Government has previously brought the bank to account for its association with Mexican drug cartels, but so far the British government has only charged one person with tax evasion.

What has this to do with gaming? On the surface, nothing. But if all these ultra-rich people were paying their taxes instead of working so hard to avoid them, our fragile economy may have recovered quicker, wages may have risen, and more people would have spare money to spend on things they want, like funding games. It’s hard not to be bitter when developers work so hard to try and get a project off the ground, while some shady businessmen and shadier criminals pay dodgy banks to hide their money.

I digress. This week’s Kickstart This! features a trio of smashing titles, starting with action adventure game Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse, digital cyberpunk collectible card game Glitch Hunter, and stealth 2D platformer Sneaky Ninja.

Let’s sneak right in.

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Posted in Features, PC, Top Story, Wii U |

Harmonix will officially release Rock Band 4 for the PS4, Xbox One in 2015

Posted on March 5, 2015 by John Scalzo

Keep holding those lighters aloft, Harmonix has officially announced that the Rock Band franchise will play an encore on the PS4 and Xbox One sometime this year. The developer will partner with Mad Catz to produce an all-new range of plastic instruments for Rock Band 4, though Harmonix wants your old controllers to work with the new game. Not only that, but many of the downloadable tracks you’ve accumulated over the years (more than 2,000 in total) will work with Rock Band 4 as well. Harmonix is currently hard at work finalizing which tracks will be forward compatible for Rock Band 4, but rest assured, the game will have an extensive soundtrack of new songs as well.

“With Rock Band 4, we’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends,” said Harmonix CEO Steve Janiak. “Focusing on the core experience that our fans have told us they love allows us to evolve established gameplay in meaningful ways that we can’t wait to share with everyone later this year.”

To get long-time Rock Band fans ready to rock once more, Harmonix has added Frank Turner’s “I Still Believe” to the Rock Band Music Store today as a free download for Rock Band 3 and Rock Band Blitz. And if you’re attending this weekend’s PAX East expo, you can pre-order an exclusive Penny Arcade-themed guitar in person at Harmonix’s booth (#4224).

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , ,

Outer Wilds wins “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” at 2015 IGF Awards

Posted on March 5, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Outer Wilds, the first-person space exploration game from Team Outer Wilds, took home the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” during last night’s Independent Games Festival Awards presentation. The game also won the “Excellence In Design” award.

Other winners last night include Patrick Smith’s Metamorphabet (“Excellence In Visual Art”), Inkle Studios’ 80 Days (“Excellence In Narrative”), SuperChop Games’ Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure (“Excellence In Audio”), and Nathalie Lawhead’s Tetrageddon Games (the “Nuovo Award”). 11 Bit Studios’ This War of Mine was given the “Audience Award” while a team from the University of Southern California won the “Student Showcase” with Close Your.

You can find the complete list of winners in handy list format after the break.

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