First teaser for Titanfall 2 promises a PC, PS4, Xbox One launch and a June 12 reveal

Posted on April 11, 2016 by John Scalzo

EA and Respawn Entertainment officially announced Titanfall 2 today, and confirmed the game is indeed in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Unfortunately, this announcement is a bit short on details, though EA did unveil a pretty great teaser trailer for the game. Just 44 seconds long, the clip shows an escape pod being approached by a Titan with a big honking sword. I thought the “mech with a sword” scenes from Avatar were pretty silly, but I have a feeling that EA and Respawn can make it work.

We’ll learn more about Titanfall 2 during a “Worldwide Reveal” presentation that EA will host on June 12, as part of their Pre-E3 EA Play festivities.

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Evolution Studios joins Codemasters to form “UK racing powerhouse”

Posted on April 11, 2016 by John Scalzo

codemasters-logoEvolution Studios had been a second party developer for Sony Interactive Entertainment since 2008, but the consolemaker decided to shut down the studio at the end of March. Today, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that the entire team will be joining Codemasters to work on a brand new project.

“The core of the Evo team have been together for 15 years and we really love working together,” Evolution co-founder Mick Hocking said. “We all love racing, we’re all petrol heads. This is just an opportunity to bring those guys across, keep the team together, keep all that knowledge and all that expertise together, and combine it with the fantastic talent at Codemasters.”

“We’re looking to scale our business, we’re absolutely focused on racing, we want to only do AAA racing, which is exactly what these guys are about,” added Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier. “We share DNA, passion, talent. So it was sort of lucky that Sony took that decision, and I’m very happy about it. We were Ferrari and Mercedes, now we’re the same team.”

The rights to the MotorStorm franchise and DriveClub will remain with Sony.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One |

Square Enix will have playable demos of Final Fantasy XV, Star Ocean 5, I Am Setsuna, more at PAX East 2016

Posted on April 11, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Square Enix has announced they’ll have a big booth (#4044) at this year’s PAX East convention. The RPG specialists will have demo stations for more than ten new and upcoming titles on hand, and they also plan to host four panels focusing on their biggest franchises.

Fans of Agent 47 will find a triple shot of Hitman titles on the PAX East show floor as Square Enix will bring demos of Hitman, Hitman: Sniper – Death Valley Challenge Mode, and Hitman Go: VR Edition to Boston. A Hitman-themed panel will target congoers on April 23 as well. Attendees will also get the chance to play the action-packed adventures of Rico Rodriguez with a Just Cause 3: Sky Fortress demo.

For all the RPG fans out there, the publisher will have demo stations available for the upcoming Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and I Am Setsuna, as well as the currently available Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (a Heavensward panel will also take place on April 23).

Finally, racing fans will be able to burn rubber through demos of this June’s MXGP 2 and the recently released Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo.

Two more panels round out Square Enix’s PAX East preparations, including one that’s all about Lara Croft, and another that’ll look at the cast of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

The 2016 PAX East expo will kick off on Friday, April 22.

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Experience the sound of hungry monsters (and silence) in new Gears of War 4 trailer

Posted on April 11, 2016 by John Scalzo

The Gears of War franchise never met a melancholy trailer it didn’t like, and the latest trailer for Gears of War 4 is no exception.

Soundtracked to a somber cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” the trailer crosscuts between JD Fenix’s idyllic childhood with his mother, Anya Stroud, and father, Marcus, and a harrowing escape from one of the game’s nightmarish new monsters.

Microsoft premiered the 60-second clip during last night’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead, and it’s the latest in a string of recent Gears 4 news. In the last two weeks, we’ve also learned that it’ll be released on October 11 and that developer The Coalition plans to blow the lid off the game’s multiplayer modes at this year’s PAX East convention.

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Weekly Warp-Up: A Big Week for Bethesda…

Posted on April 10, 2016 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…

It was a big week for Bethesda as the publisher celebrated a big win for Fallout 4 at the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards. The post-apocalyptic RPG was named “Best Game” by the British Academy, beating out The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

Bethesda is also gearing up to release their next big hit, Doom, and we thought last week’s Closed Beta was a huge success. If you weren’t able to secure a beta key, you’ll get another chance to chaingun a demon on Mars next week with the Open Beta. Bethesda’s post-launch DLC plans for Doom were also revealed earlier this week.

Elsewhere around Warp Zoned this week, the staff got together to discuss What We Played In March and our picks for The Games of April. You can also spend this Sunday with a review of multiplayer physics puzzler Dreii.

More news from the week that was can be found after the break.

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New Releases: Dark Souls III, Bravely Second, Ratchet & Clank

Posted on April 10, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Just three new games will be available on store shelves this week… but they’re three of this Spring’s biggest.

Leading the way, of course, is Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls III. Available this week for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, developer From Software and Director Hidetaka Miyazaki are back to tell another story in their crumbling, yet strasngely beautiful, world. Players who purchase the “Day One Edition” will get a head start on the uber-difficult game thanks to the included Prima Starter Guide and soundtrack CD.

Gamers on the go will get the chance to try out a very different RPG this week, as Square Enix will team up with Nintendo to release Bravely Second: End Layer for the 3DS. This turn-based sequel will explore more of Luxendarc as players attempt to rescue Agnes Oblige from the evil Kaiser Oblivion.

Finally this week, Sony and Insomniac Games will bring back Ratchet & Clank in a reimagining of the duo’s original adventure. These reimagined elements (including new characters, new bosses, and new weapons) will also be on display later this month when an animated adaptation of Ratchet & Clank warps its way into theaters.

We’ll be back soon with a closer look at all of this week’s downloadable titles for the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.

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Insert Quarter: What Does the Return of Nintendo’s Red Logo Mean?

Posted on April 9, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.

During the Wii’s heyday, Nintendo dropped the iconic red coloring from their logo and switched to a sleek silver shade. Combined with the smooth white of the Wii chassis, the rebranding gave Nintendo an air of cool that is typically reserved for the design-obsessed Apple. But after a while, many fans began to feel that draining the color out of the logo drained some of the fun out of Nintendo.

Nintendo Enthusiast’s A.K. Rahming is one of those fans and he argues that Nintendo’s red resurrection might be a signal that the company is getting ready to bring back that fun-loving spirit with the upcoming launch of the NX:

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Nintendo is known for dropping major surprises, but the company’s latest surprise has a lot of folks in the gaming community quite pleased. Nintendo of America has recently done a full re-branding of their logo back to the classic red and white. The whole company transformed to the minimalist gray-white color scheme with the dawn of the Wii and DS era, and this branding went on to continue for the current Wii U and 3DS era (albeit with a little hint of color provided from the logos of both systems).

The full article is available for your perusal at Nintendo Enthusiast.

Posted in 3DS, DS, Insert Quarter, Retro, Wii, Wii U |

Register for the Pit People Closed Beta at PAX East 2016

Posted on April 9, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Just as they do every year, The Behemoth plans to set up shop at the 2016 PAX East expo to show off their latest projects. This year’s show kicks off on April 22, and the developer has announced plans to bring their upcoming turn-based strategy game, Pit People, to Boston.

In addition to hosting a playable demo of the game’s Co-Op Mode for the heaving crowds, The Behemoth will also give attendees the chance to sign up for the Closed Beta, which is expected to begin this Summer on the Xbox One (and later on Steam). If you’re unable to attend PAX East, the developer plans to open registration up to the rest of the world sometime after the convention is over.

We still don’t know when Pit People will be released for the PC and Xbox One, but Microsoft thinks it’ll be available sometime this year.

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