Weekly Warp-Up: Nintendo Finally Launched the Switch…

Posted on March 5, 2017 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…

After a few months of teasing, Nintendo has officially unleashed the Switch on the world. The console/handheld hybrid seems to have had a successful launch, and the company is prepping fans for a second wave of titles with a new Nintendo Direct that confirmed more than 60 “Nindies” are in development for the machine, including SteamWorld Dig 2, Runner 3, Yooka-Laylee, and more. Capcom also announced that Ultra Street Fighter II will be released for the Switch on May 26.

Microsoft will attempt to compete with Nintendo’s latest console (and Sony, of course) with the launch of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service this Spring. This kind of “all-you-can-eat” download service has never been tried on a console before, and it should be very interesting to see how gamers react to it.

With all this talk about new games and new consoles, let’s not forget the Video Game History Foundation was founded to create a digital record of the industry’s past.

Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, we reviewed Double Dragon IV, and the staff got together to discuss What We Played in February and The Games of March.

Andrew Rainnie, UK Correspondent extraordinaire, sat down with the owner of Super Bario, the owner of Glasgow’s first arcade bar, for a conversation about Joysticks, Pints, and Kickstarter. And finally, the Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time rolls on with #3, Super Mario 64, and a look at the launch of the Nintendo 64.

Everything comes full circle, and the rest of the of the news from this past week can be found after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Retail Releases: Nier Automata, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Lego Worlds, More

Posted on March 5, 2017 by John Scalzo

It’s official… Nintendo’s Switch definitely sparked a stampede on retail stores last week. There’s nothing quite so dramatic happening in this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we do hry a new action RPG from Square Enix/Platinum, a new shooter from Ubisoft, an open-world Lego game, and the latest RPG in Koei Tecmo’s Atelier series.

Square Enix and Platinum Games named up for Nier: Automata, a followup to 2010’s Nier. Available exclusively for the PS4, the action RPG follows a team of Androids who’ve been sent to Earth to repel an alien invasion.

Also set to be released this week is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will join a team of Ghosts that are waging war against the Santa Blanca drug cartel. Promising players that “[they] decide how to play” and “every decision affects the world around you,” Ghost Recon: Wildlands promises to be a unique new entry in the universe of open-world shooters.

WB’s Lego Worlds is a tad more family-friendly, but it too offers a wide-open world for players to explore on the PS4 and Xbox One. Taking a cue from Minecraft, Lego Worlds features a prodcedurally-generated game world that’s made up entirely of Lego Bricks. Players can build unique creations brick-by-brick, but those with bigger visions will be able to drop in pre-built models to remake the entire landscape.

Finally this week, Koei Tecmo and Gust will release Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey for the PS4. The RPG is the 18th entry in the long-running Atelier series and serves as a direct followup to last year’s Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book.

That’s all for now, but we’ll be back throughout the week with a look at all the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

The Video Game Canon – Super Mario 64

Posted on March 3, 2017 by John Scalzo

Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with an exploration of all the ways Nintendo tried to teach the world about 3D games with Super Mario 64. Here’s a teaser…

For Mario’s first foray into “The Third Dimension,” Nintendo wanted to ensure that everything was perfect. In fact, the Nintendo 64, its unique three-pronged controller, and the controller’s analog stick designed to better simulate 3D movement were all created with the needs of Super Mario 64 in mind.

Nintendo had good reason to be worried about getting all of the details just right, as most video gamers had never even seen a 3D platformer before Super Mario 64. Aside from a few experimental titles from the late 80s and early 90s, 3D movement was only found in a handful of titles on the market at the time, the most famous of which was probably EA’s Fade To Black. Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, which included pseudo-3D movement, beat Super Mario 64 to store shelves by about five weeks, but a majority of the game took place on a 2D plane.

So Nintendo used Super Mario 64 as an opportunity to introduce players to what was, in their mind, an entirely new genre. Shigeru Miyamoto’s exacting attention to detail helped mold every part of the game. The first interaction players had with the game was the appearance of an actual cameraman (Lakitu the Cloud), and instructions on how to control the camera’s angle with the diamond-shaped set of C-Buttons on the right side of the Nintendo 64 controller.

Actually, let me back up… the very first thing most players experienced after booting up Super Mario 64 was the interactive Mario face on the Title Screen. Miyamoto saw fit to even offer players a primer on polygons as the squares, rectangles, and rhombi that made up Mario’s face could be grabbed and manipulated in dozens of different ways. In a way, “It’s-a me, Mario! Hello!” was a coded message that encouraged players to jump right into this new 3D world.

Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.

Posted in Features, Video Game Canon | Tagged ,

Xbox Store Today: Metal Slug, Nam-1975, Eekeemoo, Bloons TD 5

Posted on March 3, 2017 by John Scalzo

A quartet of new games are now available to download through the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One.

Fans of SNK and the NeoGeo might be interested in Metal Slug, the first entry in the company’s famed side-scrolling shooter franchise; and Nam-1975, an overhead shooter that takes place in the waning days of the war.

Eekeemoo: Splinters of the Dark Shard is also available to download today… it’s a third-person adventure game where players “solve puzzles, complete tasks, and battle monsters.” And finally, Bloons TD 5 is a tower defense game that’s now available for the Xbox One after previous stops on the PC, iOS, and Android.

More information on these titles can be found after the break.

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Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged

“12 In 1” Retro Freak console launches exclusively throughout Europe

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Those of us big on retro gaming had many consoles to play with before today including the RetroN 5, the RetroDuo, the SupaBoy, and the NES Classic Edition. But now, the retro gaming community can add another console to the list, the Retro Freak.

Sold exclusively throughout Europe at FunStock, the Retro Freak is a “12 In 1” retro gaming console that allows you to play all of your favorite classic video games from the PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Super Grafx, NES, Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. This is a big step up from other competing retro consoles, which tend to offer support for just the big three (NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis).

While that list doesn’t quite include all of the consoles from the 80s and 90s, it does account for the major players and a few of the lesser known, but equally fun, ones.

Adding to the Retro Freak’s cool factor is the ability to play emulated games stored on an SD card. So if you don’t have a physical version of the game, you can still play it so long as the (often less-than-legally-obtained) file is present on an SD card. With that same SD card, you can save your game’s progress, and pick up where you left off later.

The Retro Freak comes with a SNES style controller, a three pin UK plug and an EU two pin plug. The Retro Freak also features an HDMI output with HD upscaling capability, advanced emulation options such as cheats and multiple save states, and upgradeable firmware.

Posted in News, Retro |

THQ Nordic is bringing De Blob, Sine Mora EX, SpellForce 3, and more to PAX East 2017

Posted on March 3, 2017 by John Scalzo

THQ Nordic has announced plans to bring seven games to this year’s PAX East convention, including a newly-announced re-release of De Blob. The ultra-colorful puzzle platformer originally debuted on the Wii in 2008, and it’ll get a second life on the PC (via Steam) this Spring after its available to download on April 27.

Joining De Blob in THQ Nordic’s booth (#20037) will be Sine Mora EX, an enhanced re-release of the horizontally-scrolling shooter. Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Summer, THQ Nordic will bring a special High Score Challenge demo to PAX East for fans to try out. If you’re in Boston for the big show, the publisher will also be demoing a trio of RPGs on the show floor… the post-apocalyptic ELEX, the retro-inspired Battle Chasers: Nightwar, and RTS/RPG hybrid SpellForce 3.

Finally, THQ Nordic will have Weappy Studio’s This is the Police and the RTS Lock’s Quest on display.

PAX East is scheduled to begin on March 10, and you can learn more about the games that THQ Nordic is bringing to the show after the break.

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Daily Scoop: March 3, 2017 – Happy Switch Day!

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Nicole Kline

Happy Switch day, everyone! I’m getting reports in from everywhere that the console and games are amazing. I’m hoping to join all of you in a few weeks!

Let’s talk about today’s deals! Over at the Humble Store, you can get Tropico 5 – Complete Collection for $9.99, Stories Untold for $8.49, and Dungeons 2 for $7.99. The Daily Deal is Pixel Piracy for $3.49.

The Weekend Deal at Steam is all about the Far Cry franchise. For just $48.39, you can get a bunch that includes Far Cry, Far Cry 2: Fortune’s Edition, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, and Far Cry Primal. The Daily Deal is Fable Anniversary, which is on sale for $8.74.

Hit the jump to see all of today’s awesome t-shirt designs!

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

Sleeping Dogs lives on with a film adaptation starring Donnie Yen

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Brittney Williams

Remember Sleeping Dogs?  Sure you do… it’s that game that spent years in development hell. You know, the one that initially started off as the third installment in the short-lived True Crime franchise. It was that game that eventually got picked up by Square Enix and turned out to be one of the most amazing games of 2012. Well, apparently I’m not the only one who loved Sleeping Dogs, because Neil Mortiz of Fast and the Furious fame has opted to produce a movie based on the game.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, or have simply, for whatever reason, chosen to avoid playing Sleeping Dogs, here’s the rundown. Sleeping Dogs was a game released in August 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC. And it was later ported to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as one of the first Definitive Editions for the current generation of consoles.

The game centers around protagonist Wei Shen (played by Will Yun Lee), a Chinese-American cop who goes undercover for the Hong Kong Police Department to take down the local Triad organization. Shen finds his loyalties tested as he’s reunited with old friends and finds himself deeper drawn into the Triad underworld.

A free-to-play spinoff known as Triad Wars was scheduled to be release in 2015, however, it was canceled by developer United Front Games, which has since closed down. Square Enix retains the rights to Sleeping Dogs, but as far as the future of the franchise is concerned, the publisher has kept silent since the release of the Definitive Edition.

According to Deadline, the Sleeping Dogs movie will star Donnie Yen, a rather famous actor and martial artist in his native China. If you’re not familiar with Yen’s name, you certainly know some of his recent roles. The actor began to break into Hollywood features this year, and had memorable appearances in both Rogue One: Star Wars Story and XXX: The Return of Xander Cage.

Yen is an excellent choice for the lead, especially given the heavy use of hand-to-hand and martial arts combat featured throughout the game. And here’s hoping that an international interest in the upcoming Sleeping Dogs movie will generate a renewed enthusiasm for the game, perhaps compelling Square Enix to start working on a much-desired sequel.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged