USC is the top school for Video Game Design

Posted on March 1, 2011 by John Scalzo

For its April 2011 issue, GamePro teamed up with The Princeton Review to determine the best Video Game Design Study programs in North America. The University of Southern California (USC) took the top spot in both the undergraduate and graduate school rankings. The University of Utah, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Drexel University also appear on both lists.

The rankings were compiled through a survey that covered a wide range of topics, from academics and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements. The quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure was also examined as well as scholarship, financial aid and career opportunities. In total, more than 150 schools offer some kind of Video Game Design coursework.

The complete top ten for both undergraduate and graduate programs can be found after the break. More information on the schools selected can be found at the GamePro article or at The Princeton Review report.

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Catherine is coming to America

Posted on March 1, 2011 by John Scalzo

Atlus has confirmed that Catherine, their sexually-charged adventure game for the PS3 and Xbox 360, will be released in North America this Summer.

Right now all we have to go on is a teaser website for the game located at CatherineTheGame.com. The page includes the game’s boxart (which will be unique to each platform) as well as pre-order links to Amazon, GameStop and Video Games Plus. The Amazon link actually lists a more specific release date: July 26. But I’m sure we’ll find out the official release date very soon.

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1 in 3 US/UK adults are ‘mobile phone gamers’

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Information Solutions Group, on behalf of PopCap Games, announced today the findings of a survey exploring the tremendous shift towards mobile phones in the video game industry. According to the study, 33.6% of all adults in the United States and United Kingdom constitute ‘mobile phone gamers,’ having played a game on their phone at least once in the last month. Probably the most staggering finding is that this demographic considers their mobile phone as their primary gaming device, “leapfrogging video game consoles and personal computers in less than two years.” Of course, a lot of people who play games on their mobile phones probably weren’t your typical gamer to begin with, so the traditional manufacturers probably don’t have too much to worry about. Also of note is that 52% of respondents have played a game on their mobile phone at least once.

The study concludes that not only is mobile phone gaming prolific, it’s growing at an astonishing rate – the numbers have gone up dramatically since the last study they did in 2009. Still, I’m sure most of us continue to prefer their DS or PSP, despite the Xperia Play coming out next month blurring the lines between a mobile phone and traditional gaming handheld. You can view the full findings of the survey here.

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Vagrant Story joining Square Enix’s PSOne Classics tomorrow

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

If you’ve been watching Warp Zoned over the last week or so, you’ve probably seen me geek out about all the awesome content Square Enix has been bringing to the PlayStation Store. Xenogears made the transition last week, Parasite Eve got an ESRB rating to do the same, and Tactics Ogre got a digital PSN release for the PSP. Now, they’re re-releasing another legendary title from the same team behind Tactics Ogre. Vagrant Story, which is estimated to take place some time after Final Fantasy Tactics and thousands of years after Final Fantasy XII, is finally coming to the US PlayStation Store as a PSOne Classic. Already released on the European PlayStation Store a few months ago, Vagrant Story is an action RPG/dungeon crawler, noted for its beautiful music and heavy focus on weapon customization. Highly immersive, it’s also known as one of the harder Square games from the golden age of PlayStation RPG’s.

While Vagrant Story may be less of a surprise than Parasite Eve or Xenogears, this is certainly an exciting time for classic RPG fans. Anyone wanna take bets on the next one? I’ll be hoping for Dragon Quest VII. Let us know in the comments which classic Square Enix game you’d like to see next.

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Announcement announcement: Valve to show off Steam’s Big Picture Mode at GDC this week

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

As we like to say in our Weekly Warp Up, “no, that’s not a typo.” Valve has circulated a press release teasing Steam Big Picture Mode, a way to enjoy Steam’s ever-increasing features from any TV or computer display in the house via your PC or Mac. “Controller support” and “navigation designed for television interaction” have been vaguely mentioned, but the company has promised more info to be released at GDC throughout the week. Stay tuned in to Warp Zoned for whatever the heck this thing ends up being.

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Gaikai offering public demos of Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, and more

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Cloud computing and game streaming sure have come a long way, and today Gaikai is offering public demos of the service for some of the hottest titles out. Going to their official website can give you access to the Mass Effect 2 demo via pop up, provided your connection is fast enough and you have the latest Flash and Java updates (more info here). It seems to be all EA titles available now, as you can check out The Sims 3 and Spore on the service at the links provided. Completing the survey here unlocks access to the Dead Space 2 demo. Oh, and Second Life is currently running as well. It’s recommended you access the service via a wired connection.

Streaming game services like Gaikai and OnLive have been touted by some as the future of the industry, a kind of no-console utopia. The service is currently in beta to select members, and they plan to start embedding demos of games onto news sites like the one you’re currently visiting right now.

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Sony announces Rochard for PSN, first Recoil Games title

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

It took a while to get off the ground, but Recoil Games has officially announced their first title, Rochard, published by Sony Online Entertainment, exclusively for the PlayStation Network. Recoil was founded a few years ago by members of Remedy Entertainment, the developers of Alan Wake and the Max Payne series. Rochard will be a side scrolling puzzle/platformer focusing on space miner John Rochard as he attempts to find his missing friends and dispatch space pirates at an excavation site where an alien structure was discovered. Instead of focusing on space marines, Rochard is just an everyday miner who needs to use his tools to overcome challenges, injecting sarcastic humor whenever he can.

The good folks at Recoil are at GDC this week, so hopefully more info on the game will surface soon. Rochard is scheduled for a Spring release on the PlayStation Store.

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Serious Sam 3 goes boom this Summer

Posted on February 28, 2011 by John Scalzo

Croteam has been doing serious work on the third game in the Serious Sam series since 2009. Today, they unveiled the first screenshots of their labor and announced that Serious Sam 3: BFE would be released on consoles and the PC this Summer. There’s no word yet on what the BFE stands for.

Serious Sam 3 will actually be a prequel to the first game in the series and it’ll tell the tale of how Sam Stone first became “Serious” battling Mental’s forces back in 22nd century Egypt. While the game is powered by a brand new engine and sports a more realistic look, Serious Sam 3 is still all about the boom… or in the words of Croteam: “No cover systems, no camping – it’s just you and them. All of them.”

But that’s not to say there won’t be a few new tricks up Sam’s sleeveless shirt. This time around Sam will be able to perform melee attacks and take on the campaign mode with 15 of his closest friends. A variety of Versus Modes and new enemies round out Serious Sam 3’s big package.

When asked about the sales prospects of Serious Sam 3, the game’s publisher, Devolver Digital was very excited: “Holy crap, I am going to make a boatload of cash of this game,” said Fork Parker, chief financial officer at Devolver Digital, the Serious Sam 3: BFE publisher. “I mean that’s what this is all about, right? If this thing comes out in the summer my wife is totally getting the tit job she’s been asking for.”

Serious Sam was originally created to fill the void left by the continuing delays of Duke Nukem Forever, so it’ll be very interesting to see the two titans of the “gratuitous gunplay” genre go head-to-head in the marketplace this year.

Check out the first screenshots of Serious Sam 3: BFE after the break.

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