Max Payne 3 shoots up Sao Paolo on May 15

Posted on January 17, 2012 by John Scalzo

After years of false starts, delays, and possible cancellation, Rockstar Games has announced that, after one more delay, Max Payne 3 will be available in stores (for the PS3 and Xbox 360) on May 15 (May 18 for countries outside of North America)! PC gamers will have to wait until May 29 (June 1 for countries outside of North America) to get their hands on Max’s next case.

“Max Payne 3 brings powerful storytelling back to the action-shooter genre,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Rockstar Studios are delivering a game that’s both incredibly cinematic and very, very intense to play.”

Max Payne 3 takes the titular anti-hero outside his New York City home and drops him in the sunny landscape of Sao Paolo, Brazil. There, he works as a bodyguard for Rodrigo Branco, a wealthy executive. But trouble finds Max wherever he goes when Branco’s wife is kidnapped and Max is tasked with finding her.

In addition to the game’s new locale, Max Payne 3 will also add a multiplayer component to the series for the first time.

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Penny Arcade is getting into the video game news business

Posted on January 16, 2012 by John Scalzo

They created a fairly popular video game webcomic. They started an annual gaming convention that grew into a twice-yearly gaming convention. And on the side, they run a charity that helps sick kids. They are Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, creators of Penny Arcade, and now they’re making the jump into creating video game news.

Of course, Holkins and Krahulik don’t do anything small. Penny Arcade isn’t just fairly popular, it’s the biggest webcomic on the Internet. Their gaming convention, PAX, rivals E3 in size, scope, and respectability. And that charity? Child’s Play brought in $3.5 million last year.

To that end, the Penny Arcade pair have hired Ben Kuchera, the (now former) gaming editor of Ars Technica to head up their video game news coverage:

Tycho: We’re bringing him on to create industry coverage you can read without holding your nose, essentially; I want a perspective, I want a Curator for the Internet’s gaming content. In a couple words, I want something less insulting and disposable.

Kuchera and the Penny Arcade team are still working out the details on how his gaming coverage will be featured on the site, but his column should launch sometime in the next few weeks and new content will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Posted in News |

Did THQ cancel their 2014 lineup? One man thinks they did…

Posted on January 16, 2012 by John Scalzo

There’s a possibly apocryphal tale about former President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s philosophy on political mudslinging that goes something this:

LBJ: Tell the public my opponent has sex with pigs.
Campaign Manager: But that’s not true!
LBJ: I know, but let’s make him deny it.

Keep that in mind as you read this story.

Kevin Dent, the head of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Mobile Special Interest Group, was tweeting up a storm yesterday about THQ. According to Dent, the publisher first canceled Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online and then canned their entire 2014 lineup. Yes, 2014. As in, the games they plan to release two full years from now.

THQ went into damage control mode and sent out a statement denying Dent’s entire claim: “THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO.”

Now for the “make him deny it” part. THQ hasn’t been in good financial shape for a long time, but 2011 was acutally a good year for the company. Saints Row: The Third outperformed all expectations and while Homefront was critically panned, it still managed to sell a few million copies. That’s a tremendous success for an untested and unknown franchise.

On top of that, THQ currently doesn’t have a “2014 lineup.” The publisher has announced a few 2013 titles (the Warhammer MMO, Homefront 2, Insane), but 2014 is a big question mark. So tabling a few unannounced games for the time being while working out some financial difficulties is actually a pretty sound strategy.

But by making them deny it, Dent gets his name in the news.

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Weekly Warp-Up: Waiting Out the Drought Edition

Posted on January 15, 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…

The game industry has been the victim of a slow start in 2012, but that will end shortly as we begin a look at some of this year’s big new titles. That look includes a Hands-On Preview of Asura’s Wrath, Capcom’s God of War/Shadow of the Colossus mash-up that’ll be available this February.

For more games of 2012 (and a few from 2011), hit the jump to read the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up.

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Posted in News |

Starhawk public beta schedule flies into focus

Posted on January 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Sony plans to bring the futuristic warfare of Starhawk to as many PS3 owners as possible in the first few months of 2012 with a massive multiplayer beta. And if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, that window of opportunity will open in just three days!

Not a PS Plus user? Here’s a look at the complete North American Starhawk beta schedule:

  • January 17: All PlayStation Plus subscribers and all Private Beta participants (who haven’t erased their original Private Beta files).
  • January 31: Uncharted 3 beta key holders. These voucher codes were found inside of North American copies of Uncharted 3.
  • February 7: Visit GameStop and PlayStation on Facebook and see how you can get early voucher codes.
  • February 14: IGN.com readers (details to be revealed soon).
  • February 21: Everyone with a PlayStation Network account.
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New Releases: Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition

Posted on January 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

We continue our slow slog through a January that’s almost completely devoid of new releases.

This week, the biggest new game available is actually a game that’s over a year old. Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition is a super-sized version of the PS3 racing sim that includes the “new and improved features and functionality from all downloadable game updates through Spec 2.0 right on the disc.” If you love racing sims and, for some reason, haven’t purchased GT5 yet, then this is the version to get.

The only other new release available this week is Kids Learn Spelling and Grammar: A+ Edition, an educational cartridge for the DS.

Sigh. Maybe something interesting will come along next week…

Posted in DS, News, PS3 | Tagged

Xbox Live Achievements for The Simpsons Arcade Game uncovered

Posted on January 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Konami still hasn’t announced it, but Xbox360Acheivement.org sent their love down a well and came up with a dozen Xbox Live Achievements for The Simpsons Arcade Game.

The 12 Achievements lend further credence to the game’s existence as well as giving us a few hints about what to expect when Konami does finally announce it.

The “Mr. Sparkle” Achievement references a Survival Mode and the “Japanese ROM.” The Japanese version of The Simpsons Arcade Game featured a lower difficulty level and various other gameplay tweaks, so it looks like both will be playable in XBLA (and PSN) port.

Speaking of multiple difficulty levels, the “Excellent” Achievement confirms that in addition to the Japanese ROM the game will also include an Expert Mode and something called the “Individual Quarters Mode.”

Hit the jump to see the complete list of Achievements.
Hit the jump to see the complete list of Achievements.
Hit the jump to see the complete list of Achie…

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Uncharted 3 leads the 2012 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards with 12 nominations

Posted on January 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominees for the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards and, to save everybody some time, they just recycled the nominee list from 2010.

OK, not really. But a surprising number of games on this year’s ballot are part of franchises that took home some IAA hardware in 2010. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception leads all nominees with 12 nominations, just like Uncharted 2, which nearly swept the 2010 IAAs. Batman: Arkham Asylum won every award that Uncharted 2 didn’t in 2010, and so it goes in 2012 as Batman: Arkham City racked up six nominations this year.

Other games with more than five nominations include Portal 2 (ten), L.A. Noire (nine), Battlefield 3, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (six each).

Many of those multiple nominees (Arkham City, Skyrim, Portal 2, and Uncharted 3) will be involved in the five-way battle royale for the IAA Game of the Year award. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword rounds out the the category.

Hit the break for a complete list of every nominated game in all categories. And remember, the 2012 AIAS IAAs will be handed out during this year’s DICE Summit on February 9.

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