3DS sells 4 million in 2011; New Mario Party, Pokemon announced

Posted on January 3, 2012 by John Scalzo

It’s no secret that the 3DS is not selling as well as Nintendo would like…

Sorry, wrong article. That was actually the opening sentence to our news report on the 3DS’s August price drop. Needless to say, it doesn’t quite apply on the third day of 2012, as Nintendo has announced that they sold four million 3DS handhelds in the US in 2011.

Besides the sales turnaround of their newest portable system, Nintendo had a very good year last year. Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land became the first games to sell a million copies on the 3DS while The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword also pushed a million on the Wii.

To ensure that the 3DS continues printing money, Nintendo wasted no time in announcing that two of their biggest franchises, Mario Party and Pokemon, will make the jump to the handheld in the near future.

The word “duh” comes to mind. As does the word “cha-ching.”

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii | Tagged , , , ,

Daily Scoop: January 3, 2012 – I’m back!

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Whew! It’s been a long time, friends. I have been busy doing so much! Christmas and the celebration of the New Year coming in were both absolutely wonderful. I finally got a Tokidoki purse, my mom surprised me with a Pandora bracelet (which I’m nervous to wear!), and my amazing boyfriend made me a Blood Bowl team! The Nurgalos are now a real, official team, and not just a modgepodge of other people’s minis. I was the happiest girl in the universe on Christmas! And for New Year’s Eve, we went to a local bar and rang in 2012 with some good friends and good beers. It was a delight.

And the happiness continues! First I’d like to say Happy Birthday, Warp Zoned! We turned a year old on January 1, and it was a proud and wonderful moment. Thank you for everyone who made it possible!

And now, a few tiny deals and, of course, some t-shirts! Today’s Deals of the Day are all PC downloads from 2K Games! Duke Nukem Forever is $15.32, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition is $24.95, L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition is $12.49, and The Stronghold Collection is $19.95.

GameStop is also having some sales – they’ve currently got a 50% off accessories sale, as well as a $75 gift card offer with these Xbox 360 consoles. Time to spend all that holiday cash burning a hole in your pocket!

I’ve got two t-shirts for you today:

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Rumor: Wii U tablet controller will double as an e-reader

Posted on January 2, 2012 by John Scalzo

I think you can file this rumor under “painfully obvious,” but Forget the Box is reporting that the Wii U’s tablet controller will do more than play Wii U games. Gamers will also be able to use it as an e-reader for books, magazines, newspapers, comics, and strategy guides. While the report cites an unnamed friend at a New Year’s party, it sounds too plausible not to be true. After all, we already know Nintendo plans to offer iPad-like apps that can be played independently of the Wii U system.

Forget the Box’s source also revealed this service will migrate to the 3DS when it’s ready for primetime.

In going toe-to-toe with Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Apple’s iBooks, and Amazon’s Kindle, the Wii U tablet will use Nintendo nostalgia as its trump card. Besides a standard array of books, magazines, and newspapers, Nintendo will offer back issues of Nintendo Power, classic NES/SNES/N64-era instruction booklets, and the ridiculously awesome Player’s Guides they published back in the 90s.

Again, while Nintendo hasn’t officially announced e-reader capabilities for the Wii U tablet controller, this just sounds right. But we’ll have to wait until this year’s E3 Expo to find out for sure.

Posted in News, Wii U |

Warpback: What We Played in December 2011

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Warp Zoned Staff

With the busy busy holiday season, the only hardcore gaming some members of the Warp Zoned staff did in December involved the office Secret Santa gift exchange. But others still did plenty of playing and that’s what we’re here to talk about today.

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Posted in Features, Top Story |

Weekly Warp-Up: Another Year Older and What Do You Get…

Posted on January 1, 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…

Warp Zoned launched exactly one year ago today! So thanks to our readers for sticking with us through those early growing pains and our talented staff of writers for turning out some good articles. And thanks to all the game developers out there for giving us something to write about. I know everybody says this, but this year is going to be even better, so we hope to see all of you again in 2012.

To close out our first year, we used this week to hand out the 2011 Golden Pixel Awards. Did your favorite game win? There’s only one way to find out.

And if you want to get a jump on 2012, be sure to check out The Official Mega-Super-Awesome Video Game Release Calendar for 2012.

Hit the jump for the rest of the Weekly Warp-Up.

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Posted in News |

Here’s the most pirated PC, Wii, Xbox 360 games of 2011

Posted on December 31, 2011 by John Scalzo

TorrentFreak has posted a list of the five most pirated games on the PC, Wii, and Xbox 360 (apparently, PS3 games aren’t pirated enough to be counted). Congratulations Crysis 2! You’re the most popular game that no one wanted to pay for (but still wanted to play) in 2011!

In addition to Crysis 2’s “victory” over the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as the most pirated game of 2011, we also learned that Super Mario Galaxy 2, Gears of War 3, and Xenoblade Chronicles were popular with pirates. Arr matey! Nintendo should have announced a North American release date for Xenoblade a tad earlier.

Notably absent from the list is GOTY stalwarts Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

But here’s the full list:

Top 5 Pirated PC Games
1. Crysis 2 (3,920,000 downloads)
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (3,650,000 downloads)
3. Battlefield 3 (3,510,000 downloads)
4. FIFA 12 (3,390,000 downloads)
5. Portal 2 (3,240,000 downloads)

Top 5 Pirated Wii Games
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1,280,000 downloads)
2. Mario Sports Mix (1,090,000 downloads)
3. Xenoblade Chronicles (950,000 downloads)
4. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (870,000 downloads)
5. FIFA 12 (860,000 downloads)

Top 5 Pirated Xbox 360 Games
1. Gears of War 3 (890,000 downloads)
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (830,000 downloads)
3. Battlefield 3 (760,000 downloads)
4. Forza Motorsport 4 (720,000 downloads)
5. Kinect Sports: Season Two (690,000 downloads)

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

New Releases: PSP Dual Packs, NFL Blitz

Posted on December 31, 2011 by John Scalzo

Welcome to 2012! We’re starting things off a bit slowly in the first week of the new year with just three new releases. Well, actually, it’s six games being re-released as part of Sony’s PSP Dual Pack program.

New in stores this week you’ll find…
PSP Dual Pack: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge + Twisted Metal: Head-On

PSP Dual Pack: Patapon + LocoRoco

PSP Dual Pack: Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee and Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip

And that’s it. Though PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade fans will also be able to download the rebooted NFL Blitz this week, but more on that later.

Posted in News, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 |

The Official Mega-Super-Awesome Video Game Release Calendar for 2012

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Warp Zoned Staff

Dick Clark is in Times Square and the big ball will drop in less than 36 hours. That’s right folks, 2011 is coming to an end. But all that means is that 2012 is (quite literally) right around the corner. And with it comes a huge new year of gaming. In 2012, we’ll witness the launch of the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Wii U. We’ll also welcome back the bullet-time action of Max Payne, the knee-cracking excitement of NFL Blitz, and a rousing return to the world of BioShock. There’s also the tomb raiding rebirth of Lara Croft, another count of Grand Theft Auto, the first Kid Icarus game in over two decades, and the gravity-defying feats of Inversion.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what else we’ll be playing in 2012 (Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments)…

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Posted in 3DS, DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Top Story, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 |