Hitman: Intro Pack Review: For Better or Worse, the Same Old Hitman

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As long as I have been playing the Hitman games, I have always been struck by the strange dissonance between the way the series is marketed and the way it actually plays. In adverts, cutscenes, and promotional art, Hitman games are always presented as offering a power fantasy in which you play as a globetrotting, sharply-dressed, dual pistol-wielding assassin. This is strange because, as anyone who has played a Hitman game will tell you, the games are actually much more about dressing as an engineer and rigging an oven to explode, or disguising yourself as a waiter and spiking your target’s drink with a laxative so that you can murder them in the privacy of the bathroom. This pattern holds for IO Interactive’s new entry in the Hitman series, and, for fans at least, this is good news. Even if this game is something of a known quantity, it does still manage to deliver that same incredibly cool feeling that comes with watching a chandelier “accidentally” fall on your target and walking out without anyone suspecting foul play.

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Daisy Ridley is “in talks” to play Lara Croft in rebooted Tomb Raider film franchise

tombraiderrebootartAngelina Jolie’s portrayal of famed video game explorer Lara Croft is iconic. But, if you can believe it, almost a generation has gone by since the first Tomb Raider film and a reboot of the film franchise has been in the works since 2011. While there hasn’t been much done in the way of pre-production (there’s no script yet), Daisy Ridley told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday at the Empire Awards that she has been (to use Hollywood lingo) “in talks” to potentially headline the new movie. That’s right, Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens might be jumping into another popular franchise. Not bad for an actor who until recently was relatively unknown.

Her costar in The Force Awakens, John Boyega (maybe better known as rogue Stormtrooper Finn), even endorsed the idea of Ridley portraying Lara Croft after allegedly playing the most recent Tomb Raider game, 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider, and immediately envisioning her in the role. “She should be [Lara Croft],” he said Sunday.

While this is pretty cool news, keep in mind it’s all still up in the air. Ridley stressed she had not been offered the role, so fans of hers should keep their fingers crossed but maybe not hold their collective breath just yet. Things in Hollywood do have a way of falling apart even when there are more concrete plans on the horizon. I’m still holding out for a Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man 4. (Not really, but you know. It’s one of the great tragedies of recent cinema, is it not? I ask you!).

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Daily Scoop: March 21, 2016 – GOG.com Insomnia Sale starts today!

This weekend was wonderful! I played so many tabletop, board, and video games that my head is spinning. I also took out the trash, washed the dishes, made coffee, did laundry, and got some errands done! Oh, and I started season 2 of Daredevil, of course. I’m not a monster.

You have less than a day left to get the Humble Jumbo Bundle 6. Pay what you want for Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas, Shadowrun Chronicles – Boston Lockdown, and Warmachine Tactics – Standard Edition, as well as a coupon for 10% off Humble Monthly. Beat the average to unlock Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, Dreamfall Chapters, Magicka 2, Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!, TransOcean: The Shipping Company, and Shadowrun Returns. Pay $12 or more and also get the Definitive Edition of Grey Goo.

There are 271 new Weeklong Deals happening at Steam. RPG Maker VX Ace is $6.99, Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball is $3.99, and Retro-Pixel Castles is $4.99. The Daily Deal is the Serious Sam Complete Pack bundle, which has a ton of Serious Sam content and is just $9.99.

There’s also an absurd sale happening over at GOG.com. It’s their Insomnia Sale, and it starts today, March 21, at 2:00 PM GMT. There are lots of discounts, and if you buy 10 games, you get a random extra game for free!

Hit the jump to check out today’s new t-shirts!

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

No more delays… development is officially complete on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

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It took a little longer than expected, but Naughty Dog announced this weekend that development on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is complete (or “gone gold” as they say):

Since the beginning, Naughty Dog has referred to Uncharted 4 as the “final game” starring Nathan Drake, which has caused many people to wonder if this is the end for the roguish adventurer. But like superhero comics, death is rarely final in video games.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was originally expected to launch for the PS4 last Fall, before being pushed back to March 18, then April 26, and now finally to May 10.

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow developer is working on a strange new adventure

mercurysteam-2Mercury Steam, the developer behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has unveiled a countdown clock for their next game, which is set to expire on April 15 at noon (Eastern Time).

The clock is embedded in an interactive section of their official website, which refers to the game (or perhaps just a portion of it) as the “Lira Expedition.” The developer also revealed a trio of teaser images (a devilish figure, a ruined temple, and the pilot’s cabin of a mecha) that can be found after the break.

Dave Cox, a former Producer at Konami and one of the driving forces behind the Lords of Shadow games, will join Mercury Steam for this project. Besides working on Castlevania, Cox also contributed to recent entries in the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid franchises before leaving the company in 2014. But his dream was always to resurrect Contra for a new generation of gamers.

I don’t think that’s happening, but I can dream.

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

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards

sxsw-logoCD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was on target once again as it collected another “Game of the Year” win this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Awards. In addition to its big win, The Witcher 3 won two other awards: “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in Narrative.”

The Witcher 3 faced stiff competition from several of last year’s other big releases, including Bloodborne and Rise of the Tomb Raider, both of which won a pair of 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards. From Software’s gothic RPG was recognized for its gorgeous environments in the “Excellence in Art” and “Excellence in Design” categories. Meanwhile, Lara Croft herself was named “Most Enduring Character” and her tomb raiding skills were honored with an “Excellence in Animation” win.

Finally, Her Story picked up some more hardware this weekend, winning SXSW’s “Mobile Game of the Year” award.

A complete look at all of this year’s winners can be found after the break.

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Telltale revealed a few details about their Batman series… including that it’ll debut this Summer

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A team from Telltale Games took the Batplane down to Austin this weekend to talk to the crowd at SXSW about their upcoming Batman series. While it’s still too early for a sneak peek at the game, Telltale was able to confirm the first episode will be available sometime this Summer. A quick recap of the presentation was also posted to the Telltale Blog, where the developer revealed that players will spend just as much time with Bruce Wayne as they will with Batman:

Batman is the perfect character for the studio to explore in a Telltale series, giving the team the opportunity to dive deeper into the mind of the man behind the mask. Each night, Bruce Wayne chooses to change Gotham for the better. The team wants to explore what the consequences are of the player’s actions when decisions made as Bruce have a critical impact on his nightly crusade as Batman, and vice versa. Certain key situations will give the player the decision to approach a scene as Bruce or Batman, with consequences for both sides.

They would go on to say that their Batman game won’t be tied to any existing continuity, and that the Bat Family (Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc) won’t play a large role in the story. However, they did announce that Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, GCPD officer Renee Montoya, and reporter Vicki Vale would all appear in the game. Naturally, the game’s villains are currently a closely guarded secret within the halls of Telltale.

Some of these characters will interact with both Bruce Wayne during the day, and Batman at night. And how players handle these interactions could change the outcome for certain characters. Whatever decisions you make, they’ll have serious consequences as Telltale also said that their Batman series will be rated Mature and have a “cinematic approach [that] will feel more akin to an R-rated film.”

Holy bursting anticipation, Batman!

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

Weekly Warp-Up: A Bunch of Stuff Happened at GDC 2016…

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…

The annual Game Developers Conference took place earlier this week in San Francisco, and as you’d expect, it dominated the headlines all week. But before we talk about the future, let’s flashback to last year as this year’s GDC Awards honored The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as “Game of the Year,” while the IGF Awards selected Her Story as the recipient of the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize.”

But GDC is always about what’s next and the next “next thing” is most definitely virtual reality. So Oculus took center stage at the gathering of developers and announced that the Oculus Rift will launch with 30 games on March 28. Not to be outdone, Sony confirmed their PlayStation VR headset will launch in October and that it’ll be priced at $399.

But I think it was Microsoft who made the most announcements at GDC, including confirmation that’ve enabled Cross-Network Play between players on an Xbox One, a Windows 10 PC, and “other networks.” The consolemaker also pulled back the curtain on more than three dozen ID@Xbox games which will be released in 2016 and heavily implied that The Behemoth’s Pit People will also be available this year. However, the biggest bit of noise that Microsoft made at GDC may have been the afterparty they threw featuring dancers in bikini tops and miniskirts. That decision was… let’s go with ill-advised.

Finally out of GDC, the Princeton Review has published their list of the best colleges for Game Design, with the the University of Utah and the University of Central Florida coming out on top.

Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, I’d like to direct you to our first part in a new series, It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games, and a review of Broforce.

You can read all about the rest of the week that was after the break.

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