Vita is region-free, world rejoices

Posted on September 19, 2011 by John Scalzo

Shuhei Yoshida, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, has taken to Twitter and confirmed that the Vita will be region-free when it releases in Japan later this year. That’s good news for early adopters and even better news for fans of the systems’s quirky Japanese fare, much of which will never make it to America.

The Vita will be released on December 17 in Japan in two different flavors: a $390 3G/wi-fi model and a $325 wi-fi model. An American release date has yet to be announced, but early 2012 is the current assumption.

Posted in News, Vita |

Return to the Moon for another CoD Black Ops Rezurrection trailer

Posted on September 19, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision and Treyarch have reopened the Call of Duty Zombie Labs for another live-action look at the new and creative ways they’ve developed to dispatch zombies in zero gravity. Needless to say, it’s pretty gruesome.

After the public service announcement, we’re treated to another video of “Moon,” The newest zombie-infested Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer map. It’s part of the Rezurrection map pack, which also includes all four Zombies maps previously seen in Call of Duty: World at War.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection Pack is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and will available to download for the PC and PS3 on September 22.

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

Netflix adding games, redubs disc-by-mail service “Qwikster”

Posted on September 19, 2011 by John Scalzo

After the company’s recent streaming price hike debacle, Netflix has decided to make more changes to their business model.

Announced by CEO Reed Hastings on the company’s blog, Netflix will formally split their rent-by-mail and streaming services in the next few weeks. The streaming service will retain the Netflix name while the disc-by-mail service will now be known as “Qwikster.” Qwikster will also add a video game option (specifically PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 games) at that time. No pricing for game rentals was announced, but the option was described as “similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray,” which costs an additional $2 per month.

“Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done,” Hastings said.

Other changes will also be coming to the dual services. Besides formally splitting the company names, Netflix and Qwikster will also have completely separate movie queues, rating options, billing procedures and contact information for each user. So if you subscribe to both and need to change an email address or credit card number, you’ll have to do it in two places.

Hastings, and new Qwikster CEO Andy Rendich, have created a short video explaining all of these changes, which you can find after the break. In it, the two executives also apologize for the “arrogance” of the previous price hike and promise that things will be different this time.

Whether or not things will be different, you know GameFly just went into panic mode.

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Posted in News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Weekly Warp-Up: TGS 2011 Edition

Posted on September 18, 2011 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…

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The Tokyo Game Show is in full swing and we’re still sorting through all the news that escaped from Japan’s biggest video game showcase. But we also turned our attention to some of the pre-TGS festivities, including Nintendo’s 3DS Conference. The worldwide debut of the 3DS Slide Pad and all the new game announcements were the subject of Episode 21 of the Warp Zoned Podcast. We also spent a little bit of time discussing Resident Evil Revelations and the game’s new TGS trailer. Apparently no one can support Rachel’s breasts.

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

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Posted in News |

EA pulls the lever on full Battlefield 3 “Operation Guillotine” trailer

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Chris Urie

Just when you thought Battlefield 3 couldn’t look more amazing, they release the “Operation Guillotine” trailer, showcasing Xbox 360 gameplay for the first time. I am struck speechless. So rather than waste your time reading anything that I have to say, which would be superflous, go watch the trailer. Go ahead… What are you doing still reading this?! Watch it!

Battlefield 3 is out October 23 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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

NIS America bringing Neptunia MK-II, Clan of Champions, Disgaea 3 Vita, more to US

Posted on September 18, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

NIS America hosted a special press event at the Tokyo Game Show to announce a slew of new titles for the PS3, Xbox 360, Vita and mobile platforms.

First up, the publisher will be bringing Disgaea: Netherworld Unbound to Android devices in late 2011. It is basically an Android version of the original Disgaea game, but it also allows players to purchase extra characters, items, and features. The Disgaea series will be coming to another handheld device as well, the PlayStation Vita. Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention will arrive in Spring 2012 and is said to feature new characters, stories, items and a Vita-specific control scheme.

NIS is also teaming up with Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man, and Acquire, the developers of Tenchu, to bring Neptunia MK-II and Clan of Champions to the US. Neptunia will be a PlayStation 3 exclusive, set for release in spring 2012. Clan of Champions, as it is tentatively titled, has no release date yet, but it will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. JRPG aficionados, REJOICE!

[Source: Joystiq, GameSpot]

Posted in Mobile, News, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

New Releases: Gears of War 3, Persona 2, Kirby Mass Attack, More

Posted on September 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Are you ready to finish the fight with the Locust and the Lambent? I hope so because Microsoft and Epic Games plan to release Gears of War 3 in three different configurations this week: a standard edition, a Limited Edition and a $150 Epic Edition. A Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 console bundle is also on the schedule.

Atlus is making a different hugely anticipated game available this week with Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2: Innocent Sin for the PSP. Innocent Sin was originally released on the PSone in Japan, but has never made it to America until now.

Rounding out this week’s big releases is a pair of DS games: the crazy platforming of Kirby: Mass Attack and and monster-raising of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2.

Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break.

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

Katamari Damacy Vita TGS trailer is all about shapeshifting

Posted on September 16, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

Namco Bandai’s trailer for Katamari Damacy on the PlayStation Vita is light on info, heavy on the quirkiness, but all around awesome. See the Prince roll around and listen to the announcer shout, “STRETCH! SHRINK! STRETCH! SHRINK!” in Japanese. It would seem that the newest addition to the series is the ability to shapeshift. When thinking about the Vita’s dual touchscreen features, I get perhaps a little too excited about the gameplay possibilities.

Check out the video up top and try to figure out if that’s a giant man-baby that the Prince encounters. No release date has been given, but I’m already rarin’ to go roll my balls over junk.

Posted in News, Vita | Tagged