Daily Scoop: January 13, 2014 – More digital deals

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Well, that was a lovely weekend, wasn’t it? The weather was perfect, the days are getting slightly longer, and the gaming is absolutely exquisite. We played so many games this weekend that my head is spinning. And Anthony Amato has gotten addicted to a neat Lego program that is sort of like Autocad but for Legos, which is mind blowing. All in all, a brilliant time! I hope you also were able to play lots of games, and that one of those games was Torchlight II, and that you then bought the game. If that’s the case, you should leave me a comment so we can be Steam friends and play together!

Speaking of digital games on the cheap, Amazon has Ace Patrol Pack for $5.99, Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons for $7.99, and How to Survive for $7.49, among others.

The Humble Store has a new deal as well – Nidhogg is on sale for $11.99 – and there are also some digital deals at Steam. Today’s deal is Surgeon Simulator on sale for $3.39. Scoop ’em up!

And, of course, I’ve got some t-shirts for you:

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Crossed Purposes’ Best of 2013 podcast is up, featuring Warp Zoned’s Nicole Kline

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Nicole Kline

crossedpurposesThere’s a brand new episode of No Avatars Allowed up over at Crossed Purposes, featuring yours truly! Ian Riley, Josh Wise, and I discuss the best, the worst, and the weirdest moments in gaming in 2013. It’s a long one, but worth a listen, especially the ones that we can’t quite come to an agreement on!

Check out the episode here!

Posted in News |

SimCity Offline Mode will be included in next update

Posted on January 13, 2014 by John Scalzo

simcity-header

Even though EA claims that SimCity included as “always-online” requirement because it was developed as an MMO, the publisher plans to cut the online cord with the next update. According to a post on the official SimCity blog, when Update 10 is made available to players, it will add the ability to play offline in a new “Single Player Mode.”

Patrick Buechner, the General Manager of Maxis, had this to say about Single Player Mode:

Yes, Offline is coming as a free download with Update 10 to all SimCity players. When we launch it, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without the need for an internet connection. We are in the late phases of wrapping up its development and while we want to get it into your hands as soon as possible, our priority is to make sure that it’s as polished as possible before we release it. So, until then… testing, testing and more testing. As one of the final steps, we’re putting Offline into the hands of some of our most hardcore players, the DevTesters. This group of volunteers is going to put Offline through its paces before we release it.

EA and Maxis plan to reveal more details about SimCity’s offline mode soon.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: PlayStation Now… or Later Edition

Posted on January 12, 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…

Now that all the blogs and news sites have handed out their year-end awards, it’s time for the game industry organizations to wave their magic wands and declare what was great in 2013. Three major groups announced their nominees this week including the Independent Games Festival, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the Writers Guild. If you haven’t played The Last of Us, Gone Home, Tearaway, or Grand Theft Auto V yet, these groups really think you should.

The annual CES expo was also held this week in Las Vegas and we got our first glimpse at Sony’s streaming service, PlayStation Now, as well as the WWE Network.

There’s more news to be bad from the week that was after the break.

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Posted in News |

Daily Scoop: January 10, 2014 – Torchlight II weekend

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Steam is offering Torchlight II free-to-play this weekend until Sunday at 1PM PST. On top of that, it’s on sale for just $4.99, or get a four-pack for $14.99 – that’s 75% off! We’ve been playing this game a lot lately, and I can assure you that this is a pretty great deal.

There’s also a sale going on at GOG.com that’s just called Adventures NOW! The sale includes Tales of Monkey Island for $5.24, Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse for $5.24, and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures for $2.99.

And now, time for shirts!

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Retro and Monolith Soft hiring… What does Nintendo have planned?

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

nintendologo

Two of Nintendo’s shining subsidiaries, Retro Studios and Monolith Soft, have both been busy advertising to fill several positions this week.

First up, Xenoblade Chronicles developer Monolith Soft (translated by Siliconera) is urgently seeking a Game Planner, Town Planner, and Battle Algorithm Planner. The advert also called for people with experience in A.I. programming, as well as seeking battle animation designers. These roles are presumably for the Wii U title X, which seems to be related to the Xenoblade world. However, that game has a tentative release date sometime this year, so if the posts are for that project, it may mean that Monolith Soft is gearing up for crunch time or, more worryingly, that the RPG will be delayed. However, if you like your glass half full, it could mean that Monolith has something other than X in the works.

More recently, Zach Works, a recruiter for Nintendo, tweeted about a hiring spree at Retro’s Austin based offices.

While the company is still tweaking Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, that game is due out on February 21, so any hiring now would have to be for a completely new project. Could it be that Retro is returning to the Metroid series? Or will the company be moving on to another franchise in Nintendo’s massive library?

Two words: Star Fox.

We can but dream.

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged ,

2014 Writers Guild Awards nominees announced

Posted on January 10, 2014 by John Scalzo

wgaThe Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Award. The award, which honors “Outstanding Achievement in Writing for Videogames,” will be given out on Saturday, February 1 during the 2014 Writers Guild Awards ceremony.

This year, the writers behind Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, God of War: Ascension, The Last of Us, and Lost Planet 3 will all battle it out for the award. A full list of every nominated writer can be found right here:

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
Story by Darby McDevitt, Mustapha Mahrach, Jean Guesdon
Lead Scriptwriter: Darby McDevitt
Scriptwriter: Jill Murray
AI Scriptwriter: Nicholas Grimwood
Scriptwriter Singapore: Mark Llabres Hill

Batman: Arkham Origins (Warner Bros. Interactive)
Narrative Director: Dooma Wendschuh; Writer & Senior Narrative Designer: Ryan Galletta
Writer: Corey May

God of War: Ascension (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by Marianne Krawczyk
Additional Writing: Ariel Lawrence

The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by Neil Druckmann

Lost Planet 3 (Capcom)
Head Writer: Richard Gaubert
Writers: Orion Walker, Matt Sophos

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

3DS Release Dates: Yoshi’s New Island (3/14), Disney’s Magical World (4/11)

Posted on January 10, 2014 by John Scalzo

nintendologo

Whatever your opinion of the Wii U is, it’s impossible to ignore the great year the 3DS had. According to Nintendo, more than 16 million 3DS games were sold in stores and through the eShop in 2013. Also, more than 11.5 million 3DS (and 2DS) handhelds have been sold in the US since the system launched.

So what does Nintendo have planned for 2014? Well…

Yoshi’s New Island will be released on March 14. The game is being produced by Takashi Tezuka, who was the Creative Director of the first game in series, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. In the game, players can expect to see “Yoshi [reunited] with Baby Mario in a gorgeous landscape to help him to safety.” The game will also include “flutter jumps, ground pounds and egg throws, along with some new actions that use the unique features of [the] 3DS.”

The never-before-announced Disney Magical World will also be available this year. On April 11, players will be able to take control “dozens of Disney characters in a variety of Disney-themed worlds.” They can also “customize their characters with hundreds of Disney-themed outfits and accessories, all while managing a cafe, planting crops and collecting Disney character cards.”

And, of course, Bravely Default is still on track for a February 7 launch and Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy has been penciled in for a February 28 release.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged