Shadow Realms has been canceled by BioWare

Posted on February 9, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Electronic Arts and BioWare unveiled Shadow Realms with quite a bit of fanfare during last year’s Gamescom expo… and now the multiplayer PC title is no more. BioWare Austin’s Jeff Hickman talked about the cancellation on the game’s official website, but didn’t list the reason behind EA’s decision:

While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.

In the original announcement, BioWare Austin said that Shadow Realms would have taken the form of a “4v1” RPG, which they hoped would evoke the pen-and-paper RPGs the team grew up playing. But even with the cancellation, the Austin team is being kept busy as Hickman revealed they’ve begun work on “ongoing enhancements” to Dragon Age: Inquisition. They will also provide development support on Mass Effect 4 and “other new IP.”

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Daily Scoop: February 9, 2015 – Unpub 5 Funover

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Nicole Kline

I have a massive funover right now, which is basically like a hangover, except it comes from fun. We had a ridiculous blast at Unpub 5 this weekend! But I have no voice, I’m exhausted, and my feet are killing me. WORTH IT.

There aren’t many deals happening this week, I’m afraid. Over at the Humble Store, you can pick up Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic for $8.49, Freaking Meatbags for $7.49, and early access to Moonstrum for $14.99.

Steam has over 100 new games on sale in their Weeklong Deals. You can get The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct for $10, Teslagrad for $2.49, and Tiny and Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers for $0.99. And don’t forget today’s Daily Deal, which is Jagged Alliance Flashback for just $7.49. Scoop ’em up!

Finally, let’s check out today’s shirts!

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

Nintendo wanted to make Harry Potter games back in 1998

Posted on February 9, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Believe it or not, but there was a time when the Harry Potter series was just a little-known book for children. First published in the UK In 1997, only 500 copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were printed as part of the book’s first printing. But over the course of its first twelve months of availability, children all across the country went crazy for Harry, and J.K. Rowling was able to auction off the adaptation rights to the novel for a huge sum of money.

According to Unseen64, Nintendo was one of the companies that pushed hard to obtain the Harry Potter license. Their initial pitch involved two games, a traditional third-person adventure game and another title based on the fictional sport of quidditch. If the pitch had been successful, both titles would have been released for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance. You can view some of Nintendo’s concept art from their presentation to Rowling at Unseen64.

Rowling ultimately chose Warner Bros. to create film adaptations of the franchise and Warner Bros. in turn picked Electronic Arts to create more than a dozen Harry Potter video games. But in some parallel universe, these exists a Harry Potter game created by Nintendo and I bet it’s amazing.

Posted in News |

RBI Baseball 15 will suit up for new-gen consoles, mobile devices, and PC this Spring

Posted on February 9, 2015 by John Scalzo

MLB Advanced Media has announced that the RBI Baseball franchise will get a sophomore season on consoles, mobile devices, and the PC. The retro-inspired RBI Baseball 15 will be available to download this Spring for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, as well as on iOS and Android devices.

Fans who picked up the first game were quite vocal about its many flaws, and MLB Advanced Media has promised to incorporate this feedback into the sequel. That means redone graphics, full stat tracking, customizable rosters, and several other new features:

  • Ballparks: Completely redesigned authentic Major League ballparks for all 30 franchises, each crafted with detailed design characteristics fans will easily recognize.
  • Full Rosters: Play with complete 25-man Major League rosters for all 30 teams, modifying your batting order or pitching rotation at any point. Set the active 25-man roster from each franchise’s 40-man roster.
  • Stat Tracking: Track batting and pitching statistics in season mode for the first time ever, including viewable team, player and season league leaderboards.
  • Online Play: Choose to play in online multiplayer mode in friendly and ranked games.
  • Gameplay Settings: Pick your competition level with Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty levels.

Even though RBI Baseball 15 is a download-only title, Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has signed on as the game’s “cover athlete.” MLB Advanced Media has also signed future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez to serve as a pitchman for the game.

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Q*Bert Rebooted will hop onto the PS3, PS4, Vita next week

Posted on February 9, 2015 by John Scalzo

Show of hands, who remembers Q*Bert? Anybody? Q*Bert was an alien-looking little guy who served as the main character of a mostly forgotten 80s arcade classic also known as Q*Bert. After players plugged their quarter in, they helped Q*Bert climb to the top of a pyramid of stacked cubes over and over again.

After an appearance in Wreck-It Ralph, Q*Bert will return in Q*Bert Rebooted. Originally released for Steam and mobile devices last year, Q*Bert Rebooted will be available to download from the PlayStation Store very soon.

In addition to the original arcade game, Q*Bert Rebooted’s main draw is the… wait for it… all-new Rebooted mode. Now, Q*Bert doesn’t just climb cubes, but hexagons as well. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Jason Sorensen of Loot Entertainment said that the five-way movement allows for “really interesting level designs, especially later in the game.” The game will also add a variety of new features to the time-tested franchise including “time and score challenges, new enemies with their own unique behaviors, new playable characters, power-ups, traps, and gem-collecting.”

Just how close is the PlayStation version of Q*Bert Rebooted? Very close. The game will be available for the PS3, PS4, and Vita as a Cross-Buy title next week on February 17.

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita | Tagged

Summer Camp might be released this Summer

Posted on February 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

According to IGN’s Game Scoop show, Gun Media’s Summer Camp might be released… wait for it… this Summer. Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbon One, the development team has enlisted Tom Savini, Harry Manfredini, and Kane Hodder to create the most authentic homage to Friday the 13th they possibly can.

You can watch IGN’s Daemon, Jared, Justin, and Brian discuss Summer Camp in the video above. But someone needs to let them know that asymmetric is not the same thing as asynchronous.

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Weekly Warp-Up: Liam Neeson Will Have His Revenge Edition

Posted on February 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…

The National Football League closed out the month of January by hosting Super Bowl XLIX to big ratings and even bigger profits. The game itself ended just as Madden NFL 15 predicted it would and a pair of video game-related commercials occupied fans in between the action. Sony’s spot for The Order: 1886 was a pretty-straightforward cinematic trailer but Liam Neeson’s seething hatred for a Clash of Clans player who bested him in the mobile game is the stuff of advertising genius. Beware BigBuffetBoy85, Liam Neeson will have his revenge.

The Warp Zoned staff similarly turned the page on the first month of the year with a look at What We Played in January 2015 and The Games of February 2015. And our UK Correspondent, Andrew Rainnie, published a double dose of Kickstarter analysis including the latest edition of his Kickstart This! column and an opinion piece that asks Kickstarters Need To Kick It Up A Gear.

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

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Posted in News |

New Releases: Evolve, Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, More

Posted on February 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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One of 2015’s most anticipated games, Evolve, will finally be available on store shelves this week. Originally scheduled for release last Fall, Evolve is the latest asymmetric shooter from Turtle Rock Studios, the team behind 2008’s well-loved Left 4 Dead, though it switches out zombies for a player-controlled Monster on an alien planet. Evolve will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One if that sounds like your kind of thing.

If you’re a handheld gamer, this week will also be a good time to head down to your local game store as Nintendo plans to release their New 3DS XL handheld in America. A slight refresh of the 3DS platform, the New 3DS will include built-on NFC support for Amiibo figures as well a second analog stick and a handful of additional input buttons. Nintendo will support their latest handheld with a trio of new titles including The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (a remake of the underappreciated N64 classic), Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (an enhanced re-release of the latest game in Capcom’s monster-hunting franchise, which was previously only available in Japan), and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy + (an enhanced re-release of the latest game in Bandai Namco’s aerial combat series).

All three games are also compatible with earlier 3DS hardware, though that won’t be the case for every New 3DS game going forward.

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