Weekly Warp-Up: Fallout 4 Wins Big at 2016 DICE Awards

Posted on February 21, 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…

Awards season kicked off this week and Fallout 4 looks to be an early frontrunner thanks to its “Game of the Year” win at the 2016 DICE Awards. But don’t forget about Rise of the Tomb Raider; Lara Croft’s latest adventure won the 2016 Writers Guild Award for “Outstanding Videogame Writing.”

Of course, it’s easy to look backwards. It’s much harder to predict the future. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that The Witness will likely be part of this conversation next year. If you need further convincing, I think Sam Sheldon’s recently published review is a good place to start.

More stories from this past week can be found after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Releases: Far Cry Primal, PvZ Garden Warfare 2, Mega Man Legacy Collection, More

Posted on February 21, 2016 by John Scalzo

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A trip back to the Stone Age, anthropomorphic plants with guns, and a compilation of some of the greatest platformers ever sit atop this week’s new release roundup.

Publishers are easily swayed by trends and it’s not hard to slot many of the most popular shooters of the last 15 years into three well-defined eras. After Medal of Honor, everyone rushed to produce a shooter set during World World II. After Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the hardware and tactics of the modern military became the focus. And after Deus Ex: Human Revolution, many shooters have seen shifted to the “not-so-distant future.”

But Ubisoft wants to go back… even further back than the European Theater. And that’s why Far Cry: Primal (PS4, Xbox One) features a battle between warring tribes of Stone Age warriors. Trading machine guns and laser rifles for stone knives and spears, Far Cry: Primal also lets players train a prehistoric tiger to do their dirty work for them.

And on the subject of bizarre shooters, EA and PopCap Games are back this week with another entry in the Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare saga. Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PC, PS4, Xbox One) is a time-hopping trip that also adds back in the single-player modes that its predecessor was lacking.

Finally this week, Capcom brought together the first six Mega Man games for the retail release of the Mega Man Legacy Collection (3DS, PS4, Xbox One). If you didn’t play it last year, you should definitely stop putting it off.

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break.

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Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged , ,

Xbox Store Today: Wondershot

Posted on February 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

It’s time for yet another Xbox Games Store update as Wondershot is now available to download for the Xbox One. The overhead arena battler is a very crowded genre on the digital storefront, but Wondershot’s unique hook is that players are only given a single shot during battles. So if you miss with your arrow or boomerang or slingshot, you’ll have to go get it and try again. Good luck.

More information about Wondershot can be found at the Xbox Games Store or right here:

Xbox One Games

Wondershot ($12.99)
Wondershot is a local multiplayer battle arena! You have only one ammo and one life to defeat your opponent. If you miss your shot, your ammo will be lost on the map and you need to pick it up without dying. You can play one to four players. Each round, your weapon changes and the map does too.

Posted in News, Xbox One |

Daily Scoop: February 19, 2016 – It’s the end of the week as we know it

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Nicole Kline

There is a lot to celebrate today! The main thing is that I got through this difficult week. Last week was very hard, and catching up with everything this week was trying. But I am almost at the weekend, and that in itself feels like a miracle!

There are some good deals in the Humble Store right now. Pick up The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is $4.99, Legend of Grimrock is $5.09, and No Pineapple Left Behind is $8.99, among others.

The Weekend Deal at Steam is Farming Simulator 15, which you can get right now for just $7.49, or get the Gold Edition for $14.99. The Daily Deal is Solarix, which you can get for $9.99.

Just three t-shirts today. Hit the jump to check them out!

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Posted in Daily Scoop |

Smite will be available for PS4 soon; Closed Beta begins in March

Posted on February 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

Hi-Rez Studios has announced (via the PlayStation Blog) that Smite, their popular PC and Xbox One MOBA, will soon be available for the PS4. Closed Alpha testing began today, and a Closed Beta will begin in early March. Players interested in joining the Closed Beta should head over to Smite’s official website for a chance to receive a beta key.

The PS4 version of Smite will include five free gods (Ymir, Thor, Neith, Guan Yu, and Ra), and any gods available in the free rotation. Currently, the game includes “more than 70 playable gods and mythological creatures from eight different pantheons around the world,” and they will all be unlockable with enough Favor (in-game currency) or Gems (real money). Smite devotees on the PS4 will also be able to receive a number of exclusive character skins such as…

  • Link your PS4 account to your PC account to receive a “Worlds Collide” skin for Norse god Odin.
  • All PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive a “KuKu4” skin for the Mayan snake deity Kulkulkan skin.
  • And if you purchase the PS4 Founder’s Pack, you’ll receive a “C4codemon” skin for Norse god Ymir.

The Smite Founder’s Pack will be available for $29.99 after the Closed Beta begins and it’ll include 400 Gems and a “Soldier of Fortune” skin for Ares.

Posted in News, PS4 | Tagged

Let Nintendo help you decide which version of Fire Emblem Fates to buy with this chart

Posted on February 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Fire Emblem Fates is now available on store shelves and the 3DS eShop, but it’s understandable if you still haven’t decided between Birthright or Conquest.

The story in Fire Emblem Fates will veer off in widely different directions depending upon which half of the story you play. Selecting Birthright will align your character with the Hoshido and pit you against the corrupted King of Nohr beside a family of strangers. But if you pick Conquest, you’ll side with your adoptive homeland and struggle to change it from within.

I’m sure Nintendo would prefer it if you purchased both sides to the story, but the consolemaker is realistic enough to realize that most players will make a choice when confronted with Birthright and Conquest. They even produced this handy flowchart to ensure that players make the most informed decision possible:

Whichever path you choose, the other will always open to you as a downloadable expansion available through the 3DS eShop. And a third scenario, Revelation, will be released on March 10.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged

Fallout 4 wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 DICE Awards

Posted on February 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

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The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences held their annual DICE Awards ceremony last night, and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 emerged from The Vault to take home “Game of the Year” honors. The expansive open world RPG also won in two other categories, “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction.” However, it wasn’t a sweep for the post-apocalyptic adventure.

A trio of other games took home three awards last night including Moon Studios’s Ori and the Blind Forest (“Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction”), Psyonix’s Rocket League (“Sports Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay,” and the “DICE Spirit Award”), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (“Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” and “Outstanding Technical Achievement”).

While the ceremony featured plenty of revelry and merriment, last night’s DICE Awards were also a bittersweet affair as Satoru Iwata was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished business leadership of Nintendo. And Hideo Kojima, who recently parted ways with Konami after more than three decades with the company, was named to the AIAS’s Hall of Fame.

A complete list of this year’s winners (which also includes Super Mario Maker, Mortal Kombat X, Star Wars: Battlefront, and many more) can be found after the break.

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

CoD: Black Ops III Awakening Pack will be available for PC, Xbox One on March 3

Posted on February 18, 2016 by John Scalzo

callofdutyblackops3-awakeningActivision and Treyarch have announced (via Twitter) that PC and Xbox One owners will be able to download the Awakening Pack, the first expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops III, on Thursday, March 3.

The Awakening Pack will include four new multiplayer maps (“Skyjacked,” “Splash,” “Gauntlet,” and “Rise”), as well as a brand new entry in the ongoing Zombies saga (“Der Eisendrache”). Players will be able to purchase the Awakening Pack as part of Black Ops III’s Season Pass (priced at $49.99) or as a standalone download (priced at $15).

The expansion has been available to download for the PS4 since February 2.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox One | Tagged