Rift opening on PCs today, editions and pricing plans spout forth

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

We’ve been hearing about Rift for a while, but today Trion Worlds proudly announced the launch of their first game. This ambitious new MMORPG has players taking on the role of an Ascended hero brought back from the beyond to save a world under siege. The folks at Trion Worlds are really pushing this one, hoping it will raise the bar for the genre, boasting “unprecedented freedom of choice and epic social events in an ever-evolving world of dynamic conflict,” as stated by CEO Lars Buttler of Trion Games. The game is available in standard, digital collector’s, and retail collector’s editions for $49.99, $59.99, and $79.99, respectively. The monthly subscription fee is $14.99 a month with a special “Founders Pricing” plan allowing you to pay $9.99 each for a bundle of months.

I’m personally pleased to see this up and coming publisher release their first game, we all at Warp Zoned wish the best for Trion Worlds during this exciting time. Regrettably they won’t have a booth this year at PAX East but stay tuned for more information on their other exciting game, End of Nations, from the minds who brought you the original Command & Conquer games.

Posted in News |

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Hands-On Preview: I Have a Familiar Feeling About This

Posted on March 1, 2011 by John Scalzo

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost five years since the release of Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. After LucasArts and developer TT Games retold both trilogies in Lego form, most gamers assumed that the Star Wars story was over. But after forays in Gotham City and Hogwarts, TT Games is back with a third Lego Star Wars game, this time based on “The Clone Wars” cartoon.

Press Start to Continue →

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

Unity Android set to ease game ports, Androids selling faster than iPhones

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Unity Technologies announced today at GDC that their game porting technology for Android devices, Unity Android and Unity Android Pro are now available for puchase at their site. Unity Android boasts a one-click solution to porting games running on the Unity development platform, including iOS games, to Android. Hopefully this will go a long way towards reducing the differences between the two competitors as gaming services. Unity partially attributed the importance of this announcement to recent analyst reports indicating that Androids are now outselling iPhones worldwide, which probably isn’t news to some. This development comes alongside a study of just how fast mobile phone gaming is growing.

Unity has also spread to the PlayStation 3 last year, with yesterday’s announcement of Rochard being the first game to appear on the platform. It’ll be interesting to see if the game makes the jump to Sony’s Xperia Play, an Android-based phone. With over 400,000 developers and almost every major platform within its scope, Unity proclaimed themselves today as “the industry’s leading game development platform and middleware company.”

Damn.

Posted in Mobile, News, PS3 | Tagged

Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo out today on PC, back on 360, PS3 long forgotten

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

The multiplayer demo for Crysis 2 that launched a few weeks ago on Xbox Live is back, and this time the invasion has spread to PCs as well. You can download the demo for Windows here. In addition to the Skyline map, this version includes Pier 1 Imports 17, with the same two modes of Team Deathmatch Instant Action and Crash Site. Unfortunately there’s still no confirmation of the demo heading to the PS3 anytime soon, which is disappointing for many. Either Crytek is stuck in the 2007-thinking that only the 360 crowd likes shooters, or they’re scared to compete with another outstanding multiplayer offering.

In any case, it would be nice for a PSN demo to hit before the March 22 release date. Crysis 2 was a recurring game on Warp Zoned’s inaugural The Next Level as we looked ahead to the games of March 2011.

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Burger Time HD likely incoming for consoles and PC

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

An ESRB rating of E for Everyone popped up for Burger Time HD, with PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC as listed platforms. Good luck with the whole HD thing on Wii, unless Michael Pachter is finally getting his wish. The game has received many iterations over the years, but many will remember it as an NES classic, a kind of Donkey Kong for Epicureans.

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

Devil May Cry on its way to the big screen

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Screen Gems, the same studio who developed the Resident Evil films, picked up the license to adapt another Capcom franchise to movies: Devil May Cry. Kyle Ward, who wrote the upcoming Fiasco Heights for Universal, has been hired to pen the script. Screen Gems hopes to develop the property as another film franchise, much like Resident Evil. The movie will (obviously) revolve around Dante, who avenges his mother’s death by killing demons.

The Devil May Cry series has been knowing for pioneering the contemporary style of the hack and slash genre since the PlayStation 2. The Resident Evil films weren’t so bad, so hopefully the film won’t disappoint die hard fans as much as the proposed Ninja Theory reboot of the franchise has.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Skullgirls tearing up PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

If you’re a self-proclaimed “geeka” down with The Mary Sue site Senior Editor Nicole Kline mentioned in today’s Daily Scoop (or just a fan of arcade titles), you might want to keep an eye out on a new PSN/XBLA downloadable game. Autumn Games and Reverge Labs today announced Skullgirls, a 2D fighter with a brilliant comic-esque, “Dark Deco” art style. Players choose from eight deadly chicks to take on a series of opponents in order to claim the Skull Heart and become known as the Skullgirl (misleading title, there can be only one!). With contributions by comic artist Alex Ahad and tournament champion Mike Z Zaimont, the game has a variety of single and multiplayer modes, and even includes YouTube and Facebook support to allowing you to instantly upload your exploits and claim bragging rights.

The game certainly looks insane, with some great features to boot. Skullgirls will be available this summer on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and you can expect some more details soon (or you can check it out on the PAX East show floor).

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Daily Scoop: March 1, 2011 – Bejeweled Crazy!

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Nicole Kline

It’s March, HOORAY! Time for spring to get here already. And with Dead Space 2: Severed DLC and PixelJunk Shooter 2 coming out today, you bet that March is coming in like a lion. RAWR!

Today’s Amazon Deal of the Day in video games is a nice long list of PopCap Games: there’s Bejeweled 3 for PC and Mac, Bejeweled Twist for the Nintendo DS, Bejeweled Blitz and Bejeweled Twist for the PC, and Bejeweled 2 with Peggle for PC and Mac. All of the games are $12.99 down from $19.99, and will feed any Bejeweled addiction you might have. And for those Pac-Man fans out there, Pac-Man CE DX is 50% off on the XBLA. Seriously, March is starting off right!

Also of note today is the cool new website, The Mary Sue, “A Guide to Geek Girl Culture.” I was skeptical at first – many sites claiming to be friendly to girl geeks mostly just try to prove that they are the geekiest girls out there and create a strange sense of competition instead. But this site is legitimately awesome, and their articles – like “Real Comic Book Superheroes Who’d Be Better In the Sack Than Cosmo’s Fake Ones” – are ingenious. (Also, they were totally prepared for my skepticism, as their description says, “skeptical geek women, we know where you are coming from.” See? Awesome.)

The daily t-shirt scene is full of guns today – Tee Fury has a cool diagram of a Blaster (you know, that gun Han used to shoot Greedo first), and Ript Apparel has a kick-ass steampunk gun:

I’m partial to the steampunk revolver myself, even if it does bring up memories of that horrible game, Damnation. *twitch*

Posted in Daily Scoop |