Hydrophobia Prophecy out on Steam today with a flood of new features

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The PlayStation Network version won’t be coming for some time due to obvious reasons, but Dark Energy Digital is proud to announce that the latest iteration of their water-obsessed odyssey, Hydrophobia Prophecy, is now available on Steam. Revealed back in April, this version is an absolute tidal wave of new content, including “upgraded graphics, brand new gameplay mechanics, exclusive new levels, a reworked back story, a dramatic new ending, recast voice acting and much, much more.” Also included is Darknet, an upgraded version of their Listening Post, which allows you to give direct feedback during any part of the game.

Dark Energy Digital has taken serious strides to augment the original Hydrophobia since it was released to mixed reviews. We at Warp Zoned wish them nothing but success with this overflowing vessel of content.

Posted in News, PC, PS3 | Tagged

Confirmed: Video games are art (at least according to federal government)

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The great debate of our medium of choice has raged for quite some time now: are video games art? Can video games be art? Should they even try to be? Roger Ebert has most notoriously declared no, that in spite of his inexperience with video games, they cannot be art. Earlier in the year, the Smithsonian discredited him, with its upcoming “Art of Video Games” exhibit and now the Federal Endowment for the Arts is doing the same.

For the fiscal year 2012, the Federal Endowment for the Arts is expanding its category The Arts on Radio and Television to become The Arts in Media.This new category encompasses art delivered via satellite, over the internet, through mobile devices, and now includes “digital games.” You can apply for a federal grant here to develop, produce, or nationally distribute your work.

After more than three decades, I think it’s safe to say video games have passed the “fad” phase and are now becoming a substantial area of historical pop culture. I personally can’t wait to see what new initiatives like the Smithsonian and the Federal Endowment spring up next.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

MDK 2 blasts onto Wii Shop today

Posted on May 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

One of the greatest action games of all-time, MDK 2, will be blasting its way onto the Wii Shop Channel today. More than a simple Virtual Console re-release, the game has been rebuilt for the Wii and Interplay has released the game as a full WiiWare title.

The DSiWare Shop will receive a trio of new games today, but none as cool as MDK 2. They include Mighty Milky Way, a puzzler from WayForward; GO Series: Tower of Deus, a dark and atmospheric 2D platformer; and Whack-A-Friend, a whack-a-mole game that uses the faces of your friends.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break.

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Daily Scoop: May 9, 2011 – The PSN outage continues

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Nicole Kline

The ApocalyPS3 is still in full swing, with Sony now admitting the service will likely not return “fully” until May 31. In case you hadn’t noticed, May 31 is 22 days from now. That is a ridiculous amount of time for the PSN to be down, bringing their total downtime to well over a month. I’m not sure what their welcome back package is going to include, but I think for some people, it’s going to need to offer to pay for the therapy they’re in right now as they’re going through multiplayer withdrawal.

And now, onto the deals! Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars for the Wii. It’s $34.99 down from $49.99. I would definitely recommend it for the fan of the Lego games in general – sure, if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all, but they’re really enjoyable either way. I’ve been playing the 3D version on the 3DS and it’s been a pretty fun time!

Also, Brink is coming out tomorrow, and Amazon’s running a $10 promotional credit on that, as well as cutting $5 off the price tag on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. They’ve also upped the promotional credit for L.A. Noire to $15 for both PS3 and 360 versions. Click here for a full list of all bonus offers at Amazon right now.

Today’s daily t-shirt is courtesy of Ript, and it’s called A Moogle We Can Believe In:

Can we say Moogle/Chocobo ’12?

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 |

Sony “uncertain” on PSN return date, targeting May 31

Posted on May 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

Brace yourselves PlayStation 3 owners, Sony has some bad news about the PSN outage. Shigenori Yoshida, a Sony Japan spokesman, has told Bloomberg that the company is “uncertain” on when the PlayStation Network will be back online.

Oh, it gets worse.

Yoshida went on to say that the target date for the restoration of all services is May 31, nearly six weeks after the service first went down on April 20th. While that’s the deadline, it’s still very possible Sony will have the PSN back up and running sooner than that. Though they previously expected online play to be ready by Friday, May 6.

And there original estimate of the outage on April 20th was “a day or two” so perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath for May 31st either.

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Keiji Inafune tricked Capcom into publishing Dead Rising, Lost Planet

Posted on May 9, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s almost fitting that Keiji Inafune, best known as the creator of Mega Man, is the proud owner of a giant pair of brass balls.

Two of Inafune’s more recent projects, Dead Rising and Lost Planet, have become big moneymakers for Capcom. But the company didn’t have the utmost confidence in them when development began. In fact, the publisher canceled both games when they were still in the prototype stage. Expecting this outcome, Inafune and his team continued work on the games in secret and he went back to his bosses a second time. Not wanting to lose all the money Inafune spent on developing both games, Capcom executives gave the go-ahead to push them into full production.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Inafune was prepared to be fired for his act of treason. But he did it to fight back against a rule at Capcom that mandated that 80% of the company’s output had to be a sequel to a previously released game. So all those Street Fighter/Resident Evil/Mega Man sequels? They were the result of an actual company policy to sequelize everything. That explains so much.

Inafune believes his work on Dead Rising and Lost Planet (and their eventual blockbuster sales numbers) saved Capcom from bankruptcy. We’ll never know for sure, but if the father of Mega Man said it, I believe it.

[Soruce: Andriasang]

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Weekly Warp-Up: Happy Mother Brain Day

Posted on May 8, 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…

Get Warp Zoned!
As the PlayStation Network outage enters its second week we examined the the thing that started it all, Sony’s decision to remove Other OS from the PS3, in Why Other OS Isn’t Worth Bringing Back (Much Less Stealing Credit Cards Over).

While PSN users continue to curse Sony and Anonymous, Xbox Live users are having a blast with the Gears of War 3 beta. We gave our hands-on impressions of the beta last week, and now we’re back with the Gears of War 3 Beta Survival Guide so you can get the most out of the beta’s remaining time.

Finally, we took a look at the declining institution that is the licensed game in The Balcony is Closed: Whatever Happened to the Licensed Game? That’s right, I said institution. I miss the avalanche of licensed games that would arrive every year. For an example of current licensed games, check out the Games of May to hear about Thor.

Oh, and don’t forget to call your mother, even if she’s the Mother Brain, because it’s Mother’s Day!

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

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Posted in News |

Saints Row 3 character creator announced

Posted on May 7, 2011 by John Scalzo

Ninja? Pirate? Ninja-pirate? Naked ninja-pirate? The choice is yours…

First off, that’s the greatest opening to a press release in… well, pretty much ever. Secondly, ninjas and pirates are almost totally identified by what they wear, so there can never be a “naked ninja-pirate.” Although, I suppose if anyone could pull it off, Johnny Depp could.

All this talk of pirates and ninjas is because THQ has revealed the Saints Row Initiation Station, a standalone character creator that’ll be made available for free ahead of Saints Row: The Third‘s holiday release. But pirates and ninjas running around Steelport will seem relatively normal next to some of the other character ideas THQ has suggested:

  • Your favorite train wreck celebrity-turned reality TV star
  • Your least favorite overpaid prima donna professional athlete
  • A cape-wearing superhero (or villain)
  • Cowboys and Indians
  • A Dominatrix and her sex slave
  • Tag-team wrestling partners with sordid pasts

Players will be able to use the Initiation Station to create as many characters as they can come up with. These characters can then be uploaded and shared with all your closest friends. You can even download someone else’s character and change it to suit your own twisted imagination.

Oh yeah, Saints Row 3 is going to awesome. Or at least awesomely bizarre.

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