Daily Scoop: January 9, 2012 – Another Monday

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Ah, Monday. You snuck up on me yet again! I’m going to start calling you Ninja Monday. Though I guess it probably doesn’t help that I barely got any sleep all weekend. I’m making it easy for you!

So what’s going on this stealthy Monday? Well, Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is very similar to what they had going on last week – it’s Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, which is just $19.99 for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. If you missed it last week, now’s your chance!

Amazon’s also got a new weekly deal up – 25% off of the Wii version of Aksys’ Bit.Trip Complete. It’s still pretty pricey at $29.28, but it’s a good game, so it’s worth it! You can also pick up a used Xbox 360 copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for $9.99 in the Amazon Warehouse this week.

Just one video game t-shirt for you today…

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Alan Wake, I Am Alive lead this year’s XBLA House Party

Posted on January 9, 2012 by John Scalzo

Toga! Toga! Toga! Toga! Break out the kegs and your finest bed linens, Microsoft is getting ready to hold another Xbox Live Arcade House Party this year.

While an official announcement is still forthcoming, Microsoft has added a House Party 2012 trailer to the XBL Marketplace highlighting this year’s games. The guests are a bit of a gloomy bunch, but futuristic warzones and darkness-based demons will do that to any life of the party:

  • Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, the downloadable continuation of Alan Wake’s battle against Mr. Scratch.
  • I Am Alive, the long-in-development post-apocalyptic game where you have to figure out how to survive “The Event.”
  • Warp, the story of a teleporting alien who is trying to escape from a government lab.
  • Nexuiz, a futuristic shooter taking place in a Victorian arena.

A start date for the 2012 House Party promotion wasn’t announced, but House Party 2011 ran from the middle of February through early March with one new release a week. I expect a release similar schedule this year.

And if you’re away from your Xbox, you can check out the trailer at Joystiq.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged , , ,

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition kills the kompetition on February 28

Posted on January 9, 2012 by John Scalzo

We all suspected it was koming, but today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment made the Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition official.

Mortal Kombat: Komplete will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 28, presumably for a bargain price. The package will include the original, award-winning game that was first released in April 2011, all four DLC characters (Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger), 15 Klassic Skins and three Klassic Fatalities (Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile).

If that weren’t enough, the box will also include a download code for a digital copy of the “Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired by the Warriors” soundtrack album and the 1995 Mortal Kombat film.

Awesomeality!

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus to launch with PS Vita on February 22

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Chris Urie

All you Ninja Gaiden fans can toss your shuriken into the air with jubilation because the release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus for the the Playstation Vita has been moved up to February 22 (making it a Vita “launch day” title instead of a “launch window” one). Just remember to dodge the inevitable hail of steel afterwards.

The Ninja Gaiden series is not known for coddling its players. In fact, it’s known for its controller-snapping difficulty. Thankfully, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus introduces “Hero Mode,” which dials back the level of thumb-crushing frustration so new players can slash their way through the story.

The game will also use quite a bit of the Vita’s new hardware features. It’ll take full advantage of the rear touchpad to power up Ryu Hayabusa’s moves and use the embedded gyro sensor to allow you to aim the bow with a tilt of the Vita. BE WARNED, you do not sling the Vita in order to activate the shuriken throw. Although, a Vita to the face could probably knock down the heftiest of your real world foes.

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Weekly Warp-Up: Winter Isn’t Coming Edition

Posted on January 8, 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…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Winter… except, not really. Winter is nowhere to be seen in my corner of the good old US of A and I bet it’s pretty warm where you live too. Take that, Game of Thrones!

But I’m sure it’s January and I’m sure I’m sure because the latest edition of Warpback, What We Played in December 2011, was published this week as well as our look ahead at The Games of January 2012.

Of course, you can also tell it’s January by all the next-gen console rumors that have begun to circulate. You can read up on all the juicy PS4, Xbox 720, and Wii U rumors after the break… along with the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up.

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Posted in News |

Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition power slides into your PS3 in two weeks

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Chris Urie

Did anyone seriously think that Gran Turismo 5 was lacking for content? With 1000 cars and 70 tracks, it already took 20 minutes just to figure out how much camber to dial in on the wheels and what sort of weather you wanted on the Top Gear Test Track. But, Polyphony Digital decided that you needed even more glorious cars, racetracks, and features.

On January 17, say hello to Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition. It’s for all of you petrol-heads that thought that Gran Turismo 5 didn’t have a long enough install time. Featuring the original game and all the online updates through Spec 2.0 right on the disc, it would be best pop it in before you go out Friday night to party like a race car driver. It might be ready by Sunday morning.

As a little bit of anti-freeze icing on your gasoline-flavored digital cake, included is a voucher for $20 worth of downloadable content including the Racing Car Pack, Car Pack 2, Course Pack, Racing Gear Pack, and Paint Pack..

All that for $39.99? That’s about $999,960 less than it would cost to actually have a Bugatti Veyron in your garage.

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New Releases: National Geographic Challenge! for PS3, More (sort of)

Posted on January 7, 2012 by John Scalzo

Did I not warn you last week that the month of January would be an incredibly slow time for new releases? I hope you believed me, as this week the only new releases we’re going to get are…

National Geographic Challenge! for the PS3. A National Geographic-themed trivia game that has been available on the Wii and Xbox 360 for a few weeks now…

Play 101: Premium Games Collection, a budget collection of minigames for the PC…

And My Pet Puppy 3D, a pet simulator for the 3DS (yes, another one).

Once again, the download scene will supply us with several interesting new games this week including the helicopter sim Choplifter HD and the freaky horror show that is Amy. We’ll have more on those later in the week.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3 |

Amy dated and priced, with a twist

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Nicole Kline

New survival horror game Amy has been dated and priced… well, kind of. The developers, VectorCell and Lexis Numérique announced that it would be released on January 10 on the PSN for $12.99, and on January 11 on the XBLA for $10/800 Microsoft Points.

Why the disparity in price? According to José Sanchis, CEO of Lexis Numérique:

“We decided to have a new approach to digital distribution by proposing heavy content at a very reasonable price because we believe price is a key issue, especially during hard economic times. Indeed, we believe Amy could have been sold a little bit higher. However, the issue we have to deal with is that a price in MS points doesn’t have the same value in all countries. Indeed, because of fluctuations between the dollar and the euro, 800 MS points are currently worth $10 in the US but €10 in Europe, which is about $12.8. As we have the same price in MS Points in all countries, there will be a difference of pricing whatever decision we make between countries and/or platforms. The pricing scheme we announced enables everyone to buy the game at a reasonable price with great value for the money, with an even greater deal for the XBLA gamers who indeed have it cheaper.”

The company currently has a poll on their Facebook page asking the community to vote on whether or not they should change the PSN price to $9.99, adding in that the PSN version will be delayed “at least one week” if the community votes to change the price.

This entire thing just seems silly to me, and smacks of shadiness. But the game does look really good, so I hope the community votes to lower the PSN price.

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