Weekly Warp-Up: Call Your Mother Edition

Posted on May 13, 2012 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…

On this Mother’s Day, let’s not forget the woman who put up with all the whining about how you’d just die without the latest video game doodad when you were 12 (having a Game Boy was very important to my existence, seriously). So give your mom a call, I can wait. Oh, and while you’re at it, if you’re a guy and you’ve got a girlfriend/wife, even if she’s not a mother, be nice to her today. Odds are you’ve whined about something game-related in the last few weeks that they didn’t care about. I know I have.

OK, we good? Great. I’ll bet your mom told you to put down those stupid video games and crack a book every once in a while. Thankfully, we can help. This week we studied Scarygirl’s Transformation From Graphic Novel to Game and reviewed the anti-mainstream screed Rise of the Videogame Zinesters.

Now you’ve made mom happy, it’s time to spend the rest of your Sunday catching up with our massive Hands-On Preview/Interview with Producer Dan Sochan of Square Enix’s Sleeping Dogs. It’s out this August and it may just make you say “Grand Theft What?” after you get a chance to try it.

Still need more game news? Check out the rest of the week that was with the Weekly Warp-Up.

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Posted in News |

Redbox will only rent first disc of Max Payne 3 on Xbox 360

Posted on May 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

If you were planning on renting Max Payne 3 from your local Redbox kiosk, then The Consumerist has some bad news for you. It seems that the rental machines will only stock the first disc of the Xbox 360 version, depriving gamers of the second half of the story.

Max Payne 3 is being split across two discs on the Xbox 360 (conversely, the full game can fit on one blu-ray disc on the PS3). Disc one contains the first half of the story and the multiplayer modes. The Story Mode concludes on the second disc. And Redbox has a longstanding policy of not carrying multidisc titles. Something had to give, and that something turned out to be disc two. There’s a warning on the game’s listing in the kiosk and on the Redbox website, but is that enough?

Here’s what a Redbox representative told The Consumerist:

Redbox kiosks are only equipped to rent out one disc per rental fee. Since customer feedback has told us that many of our game customers like to test out titles before they buy them, we’ve decided to offer Disc 1 of Max Payne 3 for Xbox 360 so that renters can try it out for a low daily rate. Disc 1 contains the entire online multiplayer mode and the first half of the extremely substantial single-player game. We think that’s a great deal for just a couple of dollars a day, and we’re excited to offer it! We’ve added a message on the website and on kiosk screens to let renters know about the limited game-playing.

Hmm, I think this is going to irritate a lot of people. But I guess the real question is, what’ll happen to all of those disc twos?

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Developing a “future generation” video game, LucasArts is

Posted on May 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

LucasArts has become the latest developer to jump into “future generation” game development after a job listing for a Graphics Engineer was discovered on Gamasutra. The game is described as an “Action/ Adventure Title,” but any further details are being kept tightly under wraps.

LucasArts hasn’t done much development in recent years, choosing instead to work with TT Games, BioWare, and Behaviour Interactive to create several new games based on the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises.

However, the company did internally develop Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II this generation. And the second one did end on a rather massive cliffhanger…

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

New Releases: Diablo III, Max Payne 3, Game of Thrones, More

Posted on May 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

It’s finally time to give the devil his due, Diablo III will be available in stores this week. With a whole mess of big releases, this marks the end of the “new game drought” that has been plaguing gamers all throughout the month of April. And Diablo III isn’t even the only long-awaited return this week…

  • Max Payne is back for another round of stylized neo-noir action in Max Payne 3 for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360.
  • George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones makes the jump to the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 courtesy of Atlus.
  • The Test Drive series returns to its roots in Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends (PS3, Xbox 360).
  • Rising Star Games makes it US debut with Cave’s sidescrolling shooter Akai Katana (Xbox 360).
  • And there’s Battleship, the game-based-on-the-movie-that-was-based-on-the-board-game is now available for the 3DS, DS, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

This week is so chock full of new releases, there’s even more after the break!

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Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , , ,

Face Off brings 1v1, 2v2 maps to CoD MW3 on May 16; Content Collection 2 coming May 22

Posted on May 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

Do you miss the olden days of FPS multiplayer when it was limited to 1v1 and 2v2? Well, Infinity Ward wants to bring those days back with Face Off Mode, the latest addition to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Two Face Off maps, “Erosion” and “Aground,” will be made available to premium Call of Duty Elite subscribers with an Xbox 360 on May 16. Face Off maps are designed to be “smaller, super-concentrated maps specially designed to encourage strategy, skill, and teamwork like never before.” All Xbox 360 owners will be able to try out these more intimate maps as part of Modern Warfare 3’s Content Collection #2, which will be added to the Xbox Live Marketplace on May 22. Two more Face Off maps, “Getaway” and “Lookout,” will also be included in Content Collection #2.

Five more maps will be included in Content Collection #2: three multiplayer maps (“Sanctuary,” “Foundation,” and “Oasis”) and two Special Ops missions (“Kill Switch” and “Iron Clad”). “Oasis” and the two Spec Ops missions aren’t available for CoD Elite subscribers yet, so it looks like the length of time that regular Modern Warfare 3 players have to wait to play these maps is shortening.

As always, PC and PS3 players will receive all of these maps at a later date.

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

Rumor: Lego Lord of the Rings game set for this Fall

Posted on May 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

When Lego sets based on the Lord of the Rings movies were first revealed, the collective Internet naturally assumed that a Lego Lord of the Rings video game wouldn’t be far behind. That assumption is one step closer to becoming a reality as Lego fansite BrickUltra has discovered a teaser poster for Lego Lord of the Rings: The Game.

The poster includes minifig versions of Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf along with logos from developer TT Games and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Several platform logos are also listed on the poster including the 3DS, Wii, Xbox 360, and a generic “PlayStation” logo. A Kinect trademark appears in the fine print along the bottom, so expect Kinect support as well.

Lego Lord of the Rings: The Game will likely be released this Fall, which will put in stores just in time for the Christmas rush and the opening of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.

Posted in 3DS, News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Skullgirls Review: Replace This Title With a Boob Joke

Posted on May 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Skullgirls is a weird beast. The game was created by Mike Zaimont, a tournament-level fighting game player, and Alex Ahad, an artist who specializes in a “dark deco” aesthetic. Together, they formed Reverge Labs, and their talents resulted in a hardcore 2D fighter that features a roster of bosomy girls that inhabit an absolutely insane anime-inspired world. This kitchen sink approach produces an interesting experience, but not necessarily an interesting game.

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Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Minecraft delivers a pickaxe blow to every XBLA sales record

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Chris Urie

Does it honestly surprise anyone anymore that Minecraft has done something amazing and awesome? In addition to being a refreshingly unique and enjoyable game that puts the player’s imagination front and center in their own cubically arranged world, it’s also become the fastest-selling game ever offered on the Xbox Live Arcade, both in terms of copies sold and money made.

That’s right, this little indie game has blitzed every XBLA sales record effortlessly to sit high on it’s laurels and reap the rewards. Which are more piles of cash for Markus “Notch” Persson to hurl at Tim Schafer and hopefully any other auteur to help get their arrestingly unique ideas out of their heads and onto consoles and PCs everywhere. Official figures weren’t released, but the Minecraft creator tweeted that more 400,000 had listed their names on the game’s leaderboard on Wednesday.

The previous holder of the 24-hour sales record was Trials Evolution, which was only able to call itself “the fastest-selling XBLA game ever” for three weeks.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged