EA Sports UFC will launch on June 17; Bruce Lee pre-order offer announced

Posted on April 7, 2014 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts has announced that EA Sports UFC will enter the retail octagon on June 17 and it’s bringing “The Father of Mixed Martial Arts,” Bruce Lee, with it.

Gamers who pre-order the game on the PS4 or Xbox One will receive a code to unlock “The Dragon” from the get-go. And in a great move by EA, If you aren’t interested in pre-ordering EA Sports UFC, you can still unlock the legendary actor and martial artist as a playable fighter by completing the game’s Career Mode on Pro difficulty.

“I am so excited about this opportunity to bring my father back to video games!” said Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter. “I’m thrilled that fans can now interact with him in a new way. The EA Sports UFC development team has been incredible to work with, and they’ve done a great job capturing the look and feel of my father. I think people will love getting a chance to fulfill a fight fantasy by playing Bruce Lee in the new UFC game.”

“It has always been part of our vision to have Bruce Lee, the most iconic martial artist of all time, in the first ever EA Sports UFC,” said Brian Hayes, the Creative Director at EA. “The team is very excited and tremendously honored to have the privilege of bringing Bruce Lee to life in our game. We’ve been working closely with the Bruce Lee team to ensure we represent the legend with as much visual and gameplay fidelity as possible.”

I wonder if Bruce Lee’s famous tracksuit will be an unlockable outfit…

Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel URL discovered; game rumored to be in development at 2K Aus

Posted on April 7, 2014 by John Scalzo

borderlands-11Back in February, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told Polygon that Borderlands 3 is definitely not in development at the developer. But that doesn’t preclude a different team from working on a sorta-sequel.

British retailer GamePointsNow has revealed that they somehow learned that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a new game that takes place between the first and second games, is in development for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 at 2K Australia:

Set on the moon of Elpis and Hyperions ominous H shaped moon base, the game sees Handsome Jack in the days when he was just a humble programmer called John, hunting a powerful alien artefact (what else!!). Players will be able to select one of Jack/Johns four lieutenants to play as in Athena The Gladiator, Wilhelm The Enforcer, Nisha The Lawbringer and Fragtrap, a militarised claptrap.

Since Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes place on a moon, the lower gravity and lack of oxygen will effect combat in a big way. Players will be required to keep track of how much oxygen they have left (Doom 3 featured a similar mechanic) and enemies can be instantly incapacitated if they’re deprived of their air supply. The reduced gravity also opens up the game to jetpacks and encourages players to blast their foes into the stratosphere with a well-placed grenade. And what would a new Borderlands game be without a few new weapons? This set of Vault Hunters will be outfitted with Moonraker-like lasers (naturally) and a “Cryo” freeze ray.

GamePointsNow was unable to narrow down a release date for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, but they guessed that a Fall launch seems most reasonable as the game is said to be in development for previous-generation consoles. And with Gearbox more-than-likely set to announce a new game at PAX East 2014, I’m pretty confident the Pre-Sequel is a real thing.

Lending further truth to the rumor is a Whois lookup for BorderlandsThePreSequel.com. The highly unusual domain was registered on March 24, just in time for this weekend’s PAX East convention.

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

The Simpsons did a Minecraft couch gag last night

Posted on April 7, 2014 by John Scalzo

If you’ve slipped away from The Simpsons, you might be unaware that the long-running show did a couch gag based on Minecraft last night. Swiping Minecraft’s logo font, last night the show was presented as “Simcraft: Parodies Are Easy!” A truncated version of the opening then followed the Simpson family past the statue of Jebediah Springfield, Lard Lad Donuts, and the tire fire until they’re greeted by Moe the Creeper. I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. The intro is available to view on YouTube (for now) thanks to “SuperNecocheaBros.” But if you’d prefer to wait for an official upload, the full episode will begin streaming on Fox.com on April 11.

Someone who did see the opening last night was Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson, who has mixed emotions about The Simpsons using his creation:

Honestly, I’m not sure I know either. The couch gag was neat, but the blockiness of the characters and the world didn’t really resemble Minecraft. And YouTube is full of fan-made Simpsons/Minecraft mashups that take place within the actual game. Just take a look at this excellent version of the entire opening by 8lack7ight.

Or maybe I’m just one of those crotchety Simpsons fans who checked out a few seasons ago.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: No Foolin’ 2014 Edition

Posted on April 6, 2014 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…

April Fool’s Day 2014 was fairly low-key as far as gaming pranks go, but we still found a few that made us snicker. The best of this year’s jokes, by far, was IGN’s “Optimus Prime DLC” for TitanFall. It’s not real, but it should be. We were also pretty charmed by Blizzard’s trio of gags including the Flappy Bird parody Happy Reaper.

But the cruelest prank might be Phil Fish’s tease that development has resumed on Fez II. The outspoken developer hasn’t confirmed that his April 1st tweet was a joke, but it seems likely. I’ve got higher hopes for the accidental unveiling of Blood Dragon III: Vietnam War 2. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was famously announced on April 1st last year and the teasing tweets from developer Dean Evans this year make me believe that a sequel will be officially announced soon.

Instead of spending time sifting through April Fool’s Day jokes, the Warp Zoned staff recounted What We Played in March 2014 and selected our picks for The Games of April 2014. We also reviewed Earth Defense Force 2025. Spoiler alert… it’s pretty fun.

Did anything real happen this week? Yes! More news from the week that was can be found after the break.

Press Start to Continue →

Posted in News |

New Releases: TitanFall Xbox 360, Lego The Hobbit, Kinect Sports Rivals, More

Posted on April 6, 2014 by John Scalzo

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After a month-long delay, EA and Respawn Entertainment are finally ready to launch the Xbox 360 version of TitanFall.

If giant mechs duking it out on the battlefield isn’t your thing, you might be interested to know that WB Games will release the awkwardly-titled Lego The Hobbit this week. The game will be available on Tuesday for the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One with a Wii U release set for April 22. A PC version of the game will be also be downloadable this week through Steam.

Finally, Microsoft will bring Kinect Sports Rivals, their motion-controlled sports franchise, to the Xbox One for the first time and Nintendo will join forces with Disney to bring the Disney Magical World life sim to the 3DS this week.

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break.

Press Start to Continue →

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

The Kingpin, Black Cat, Green Goblin fight Spidey in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game

Posted on April 5, 2014 by John Scalzo

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is absolutely packed with villains and the video game tie-in won’t be any different. Spider-Man will go head-to-head with The Kingpin, Black Cat, Electro, Green Goblin, and possibly a few others when Activision and Beenox release The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 29 (a 3DS version is also in the works). Serving the role of Yoda to Spidey’s Luke will be Kraven the Hunter (surely after a fight where our hero mistakes Kraven for a bad guy).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will open in theaters on May 2.

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Bethesda reveals more about the Doom 4 beta

Posted on April 5, 2014 by John Scalzo

doomBethesda has revealed a few more details about the Doom 4 beta access that will accompany all pre-ordered copies of Wolfenstein: The New Order when its released on May 20.

According to a post on the Bethesda Blog, the Doom 4 beta will be only be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A cross-platform game like The New Order makes financial sense in 2014, but I can see why Bethesda wants to get away from that by the time Doom 4 is available. So what does this mean for those who pre-purchase Wolfenstein: The New Order on the PS3 or Xbox 360? PS3 buyers will receive a PS4 beta invite, while Xbox 360 buyers will similarly receive an Xbox One invite.

Bethesda has also confirmed that an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required to join the Xbox One beta. Conversely, a PlayStation Plus subscription will not be required to access the beta through the PS4. Something to think about when making your Wolfenstein: The New Order pre-order decision.

More details about the Doom 4 beta will be available at a later date and, in case you were wondering, Bethesda doesn’t plan to announce anything specific related to Doom 4 for the foreseeable future.

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Evolve, Borderlands 2 Vita playable at PAX East 2014

Posted on April 5, 2014 by John Scalzo

evolve-header

2K Games has announced (via the 2K Blog) that they will have two games playable on the PAX East show floor during next week’s convention. But gamers who attend either of the company’s panels might be in for an additional surprise.

Evolve, the multiplayer shooter from Turtle Rock Studios, will be the centerpiece of 2K’s PAX East presence. Players will be able to control the game’s four alien hunters as well as the alien itself as they battle for supremacy in the jungle. Congoers will also be able to get their hands on the Vita version of Gearbox’s Borderlands 2, which should be available sometime this Spring.

And speaking of Gearbox, as expected, developers from the company will host their annual Sunday morning panel at PAX East. Much discussion of Borderlands 2 will ensue along with “a few more surprises.” Hmm, I wonder if Gearbox plans to announce a new game during their panel? After all, we know they have multiple games in development.

However, we definitely don’t have to wonder what will happen at the Firaxis panel, which will be held on Saturday. 2K has assured us that the developer behind the acclaimed Civilization series and XCOM: Enemy Unknown will give the attended audience “a glimpse into the latest projects of the studio.”

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