Dead Rising 3: Operation Broken Eagle available today

Posted on January 21, 2014 by John Scalzo

Dead Rising 3‘s first expansion, “Operation Broken Eagle,” will be available to download through the Xbox Live Store sometime today. To get players excited about the adventures of Commander Kane, a Spec Ops soldier in search of the US President, Capcom and Microsoft have released a brand new trailer for “Operation Broken Eagle,” which you can view above.

Operation Broken Eagle is the first of four “Untold Stories of Los Perdidos” that will be available for Dead Rising 3. They will be available as part of the Dead Rising 3 Season (priced at $29.99) or you can get them singly for $9.99.

Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged

Former Infinity Ward devs launch Kickstarter campaign for side-scroller To the Death

Posted on January 21, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Scary Mostro is a new development team that’s lead by Todd Alderman and Franceso Gigliotti, both formerly of Infinity Ward and Respawn Entertainment. They’ve teamed up with Cecil Kim and Justin Yun of Section Studios (who previously worked with Sony Santa Monica on God of War) to bring you To the Death, a side-scrolling brawler/shooter for PC platforms. The developers have just launched a Kickstarter campaign for To the Death and they are seeking $400,000 to make the game a reality.

To the Death will follow a pair of warriors who have fought… wait for it… to the death. In the afterlife known as “The Crawl” they continue their battle by blowing through wave after wave of enemies until they can meet in the middle for a futuristic duel featuring an arsenal of guns and swords.

In addition to a traditional two-player co-op mode, To the Death will feature a unique splitscreen head-to-head mode where each warrior will play through the single-player game separately before meeting at the final boss (and then a final duel… to the death). The developers believe that this head-to-head mode will allow each player to track what powerups the other is using and tailor their strategy accordingly.

If all goes well, Scary Mostro and Section expect to release To the Death for the PC, Mac, and Linux in May 2015. And if they receive over $750,000 in pledges, they plan to produce a PS4 and Vita version as well. Good luck gentlemen.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita |

Candy Crush Saga maker has trademarked the word “candy”

Posted on January 20, 2014 by John Scalzo

candycrushsaga-logoAre you secretly Brucer Banner (AKA The Incredible Hulk)? If so, you may want to skip this article as it will make you angry, very angry. And I don’t want any reason not to like you.

King, the publisher behind the massively popular Candy Crush Saga, has trademarked the word “candy.” They don’t own all rights to the word “candy.” You can still go to your local grocery store and ask the shopkeep for a big bag of candy. And you can still joke about how something is easier than taking candy from a baby. A huge proportion of this country’s strippers will also not have to change their stage names.

Sadly, King’s trademark covers practically everything else.

According to US Patent and Trademark Office, King’s trademark covers hundreds of items including “video game software,” “spectacles cases,” clothing of all kinds, “amusement parks,” all educational services or workshops, and “downloadable music files.” They actually believe that anyone that uses the word “candy” in a music file should have to pay them a royalty fee. And just in case you thought you were safe across the Atlantic, the publisher has also been granted a trademark on the word “candy” by the European Union’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) as well.

Surprisingly, few games actually use the word “candy” in their title, but according to Gamezebo, King has already sent cease and desist orders to those that do on the iOS App Store.

However, King’s victory (if you can call it that) is likely to be short-lived. According to the USPTO, their trademark has been approved, but not yet been published for opposition. And when it is, I imagine that the makers of Candy Land (which was first published in 1945) will have a problem with it. As they, and we all, should.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC | Tagged

Daily Scoop: January 20, 2014 – Last day for big PSN sales

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

I’m not sure if you heard about the amazing sales on the PlayStation Network, but you only have one more day to get in on the deals. Crysis 3 and Enslaved are $5, while Killzone Mercenary is $9, and there are even some cross-buy games, like Spelunky, that are $3.75.

You’ve also got just one more day to get the Humble Indie Bundle X. Pay the average for To the Moon, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Papa & Yo, and Runner 2. Pay more than the average to unlock Hoard, Strike Suit Zero, Toki Tori 2+, Reus, and Surgeon Simulator 2013.

There are also some great sales happening at Steam and Amazon. Steam has Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for $1.59 and Spec Ops: The Line is $7.49. Amazon has some great Digital Deals, including Dead Space 3 for $9.99 and Dead Space 3: Awakened for $8.49.

Whew, that’s a lot of deals. For t-shirts, hit the break!

Press Start to Continue →

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Here’s how to enable “Retro Mode” in Broken Age

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Nicole Kline

It seems everyone has forgotten how mad they are at Double Fine, because since the first half of Broken Age came out, all the Internet has talked about is how much they love it… and how to unlock the Easter Egg that will make the game look like a classic adventure game of old. The video above gives you a walkthrough of how to 8-bit this lovely game.

Backers of the Kickstarter are already running around the world joyously, but regular people can’t play it until January 28th. You can pre-order the game on Steam now for $22.49 (10% off).

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Incognita (now known as Invisible Inc.) early access alpha now available

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Incognita was one of our favorite games from PAX Prime, and the trailer above should show why. It’s a thrilling, fun strategy game, full of quick decisions and interesting graphics. I love the character designs, and while the new name – Invisible, Inc. – isn’t quite as cool as Incognita, I’ll still buy it.

Speaking of buying it, the game is now available for pre-order, which gives you early access to their alpha build. Klei Entertainment has priced the game at $19.99, but if you buy it now, you can get it for $16.99. You can also opt for the version that comes with the soundtrack for $19.99 (the soundtrack is not finalized yet, but you’ll get the tracks as they’re made available). Place your order through their website now. Buying now gives you a Steam key, but it can only be purchased through the official Invisible, Inc. site for now. You’ll be able to order the game on Steam once the Beta is available.

Keep in mind that if you pre-order it now, you’ll be playing the alpha version, which has some bugs, and could be tremendously different than the final version. But the bonus is that you’ll be able to play the game now, and give the developers feedback on what you think about it as they make updates. The game was fun back in September, so I can’t imagine how great it must be now.

The full version of Invisible, Inc. will be released sometime in 2014. Only the PC version is available now, but Klei says that more information on other platforms will be forthcoming.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: 2013 Money, Money, Money Edition

Posted on January 19, 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…

The NPD Group has released their findings on the state of retail video game sales for December 2013 as well as the 2013 Full-Year Report. Call of Duty: Ghosts was the big moneymaker in December while Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling game of 2013 as a whole.

Meanwhile, Nintendo delivered some bad financial news to their shareholders as they revealed that the 2013 sales forecast for the Wii U has been cut from nine million consoles to 2.8 million consoles. But that’s OK. They’re Nintendo… they’ll be fine.

More news from the previous seven days can be found after the break.

Press Start to Continue →

Posted in News |

Star Wars 1313 trademark abandoned by Disney

Posted on January 18, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Even though we all hoped that Star Wars 1313 might be released someday, it looks like LucasArts/Disney has instead fed the unfinished game to the Sarlacc. According to the Star Wars 1313 filing at the US Patent and Trademark Office, LucasArts/Disney abandoned the game’s trademark on December 23, 2013 by failing to apply for an extension.

Star Wars 1313 made its worldwide debut during E3 2012 and wowed critics and fans alike with its gritty new take on Coruscant’s underworld. After Disney purchased LucasArts, we learned that the game would have ultimately starred a young Boba Fett.

With 1313’s official cancellation, Star Wars fans will instead have to look forward to EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront and an untitled game in development at Visceral Games, both of which aren’t expected to be released until 2015 at the earliest.

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