Videogame History Museum completes first round of fundraising

Posted on September 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

The Videogame History Museum is one step closer to reality as the group behind it has completed their first round of fundraising via Kickstarter. The goal for this initial funding drive was a very modest $30,000, but donors easily surpassed that with a final pledged total of $50,266.

The funds will be used to spread the word that a video game history museum actually exists and to, hopefully, raise more money: “Kickstarter is just the beginning. The money that we raise here will be spent carefully and wisely to promote awareness of the museum collection and generate more revenue,” said John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli, the founders of the Videogame History Museum.

The Videogame History Museum does not currently have a permanent location to house its collection, but the founders hope to eventually settle down in Sunnyvale, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. There are several other institutions around the country that have begun the process of creating a video game museum including the Computer & Video Game Archive at the University of Michigan (which is open to the public) and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games at the Strong Museum in Rochester, NY (which has a very limited public display).

So with all of these competing museums, can we at least come to a consensus on whether its “videogame” or “video game”?

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Dragon Quest X revealed for Wii and Wii U

Posted on September 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

The future of the Dragon Quest series has been unveiled by Square Enix and Nintendo at a special media event in Japan that just ended. The two titans of the Japanese gaming scene have taken the wraps off of Dragon Quest X while also talking about the Dragon Quest Collection, a compilation of the first three games in the series (and their Super NES remakes), which will be released for the Wii in Japan on September 15. An American release is unlikely, but we can hope.

Dragon Quest X is being described as an “online RPG” similar to Dragon Quest IX. Players will be able to team up for multiplayer adventuring, but a strong single-player game will also be included. The game is being developed internally at Square Enix with Producer duties falling to Yosuke Saito (Drakengard, Nier).

Even with the “online” tag, the game looks to be a traditional entry in the Dragon Quest series with job classes, Slimes and turn-based battles. It also has a cel-shaded look that is very reminiscent of Dragon Quest VIII.

Best of all, Dragon Quest X will be available for the Wii and the Wii U. Yes, you read that right. The Wii U version will include enhanced graphics and cross-console play with the Wii version. The Wii version is currently scheduled for a 2012 release in Japan while the Wii U version is “TBA.” Hopefully they make it to America as well.

[Source: Siliconera (1, 2), Joystiq]

Posted in News, Wii, Wii U | Tagged , , ,

Weekly Warp-Up: Call of Duty XP Debrief

Posted on September 4, 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…

The world’s first festival celebrating the world’s biggest first person shooter franchise has come to a close. That’s right, Call of Duty XP is over. But like any good war reporter, we’ve got all the big news to come out of the convention:

For those who couldn’t attend CoD XP, Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling took a camera to the show floor and put together a great walkthrough. Then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer mode was officially unveiled in a new trailer. That was followed up with an announcement of a lot of CoD-branded stuff coming this Fall alongside confirmation of what the game’s Hardened Edition will contain. Finally, we were treated to a few world premieres including a “Find Makarov” sequel and the grand debut of Call of Duty Elite‘s feature list.

Get Warp Zoned!
During the rest of the week the Warp Zoned staff took a look back at what we played during the month in the latest edition of Warpback and what we’re looking forward to in September with another jump into The Next Level. There’s also Episode 19 of the Warp Zoned Podcast, which focused on PAX Prime, Operation Rainfall and our love for the Mass Effect series.

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

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Posted in News |

CoD Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition contents confirmed

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Everyone that attended the first ever Call of Duty XP festival will receive a coupon good for a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s “Hardened Edition” when it releases on November 8. For the rest of us, Activision has confirmed exactly what will be included in the “Hardened” steel packaging. It’ll include…

  • The aforementioned SteelBook packaging.
  • A One-year subscription to Call of Duty Elite.
  • Call of Duty Elite in-game bonuses including emblem, playercard, weapon camouflage, clan XP boost and more.
  • Exclusive PS3 “Animated Timeline” theme.
  • Exclusive Xbox 360 “Spec Ops Juggernaut” Avatar outfit.
  • 100-page field journal with military sketches and written entries detailing the Modern Warfare saga.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game disc with exclusive artwork.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “Hardened Edition” is available to pre-order now for $99.99 at online retailers everywhere including Amazon.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Find Makarov sequel premieres at Call of Duty XP

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision’s two-day Call of Duty event, Call of Duty XP, is just about coming to a close in Los Angeles. During the two-day festival celebrating COD, the publisher unveiled a sequel to the awesome Find Makarov fan film.

Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish was created by We Can Pretend, the same production team behind the first fan film. Although, now that they have Activision’s blessing, it’s not really a fan film anymore, is it? Three other companies assisted on the Soap-centered tale: Meteoric, The Junction VFX, and Stealing Time.

You can check it out above and hopefully we’ll get more of these videos as part of Activision’s new Call of Duty Elite TV initiative.

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

Call of Duty Elite Premium features detailed

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

Call of Duty XP is in full swing and fans are being treated to a host of unique experiences such as the chance to run through Modern Warfare 2‘s “The Pit” training course and play paintball in a replica of the “Scrapyard” map. But accompanying these activities is some fresh Call of Duty news, like the detailed features of a premium Call of Duty Elite membership.

Should you opt to pay $49.99 a year for Elite status (or jump on the Hardened Edition of MW3, which includes a yearlong subscription to Call of Duty Elite), you’ll be able to access:

  • A year’s worth of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 DLC available monthly during the “nine-month DLC season”
  • Daily competitions for in-game/real-world prizes
  • 24/7 Competition calendar
  • Clan Competition
  • Up to 24 minutes of HD gameplay video capacity
  • Call of Duty Elite TV videos including Ridley Scott’s “Friday Night Fights” and DumbDumb’s “Cocked Hammers” and “Noob Tube!”

These are just some of the premium features that were detailed at Call of Duty XP. For a full list of what the free and premium plans have to offer, as well as a comparison chart, visit CallOfDuty.com.

The Call of Duty Elite free and premium memberships will launch with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on November 8, 2011.

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

New Releases: Resistance 3, Dead Island, Star Fox 64 3D, More

Posted on September 3, 2011 by John Scalzo

The calendar has turned over to September and we know what that means… the stingy Summer of games is over and the Fall release rush is finally here! This week’s new release slate blows away almost everything we’ve received in the last three months. There’s truly something for everybody:

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, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged , ,

Get CoD Modern Warfare 3-branded stuff this fall including an Xbox 360, Jeep, Mountain Dew

Posted on September 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Sure, you’re planning to pick up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 this November. But do you plan to make your life revolve around the shooter franchise? Well, Activision is hoping that you do.

First up, they’ve got a special Modern Warfare 3-themed Xbox 360 system. The system will be priced at $399.99 and include a 320GB hard drive, two controllers, a Bluetooth headset, special startup and shutdown sounds and a copy of the game. The controller and the headset will both be available separately as well.

So you’ve got the game and you’ve got the system, but how do you plan to get to the store? Jeep is hoping you drive there in a 2012 Call of Duty Special Edition Wrangler. The custom four-wheeler was designed with input from Modern Warfare 3 developers. The development team also helped out with the creation of the new Mountain Dew Game Fuel Tropical flavor. Finally, every package of Doritos you purchase in October will include an offer for Double XP in Modern Warfare 3.

All of these products will be available after the game’s November 8th launch. But I gotta wonder, where’s the Call of Duty-branded guns?

Posted in Etcetera, News, Xbox 360 | Tagged