The Frames Per Second Fight is Just the Return of the Bit Wars… We All Need to Move On

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Josh Griffiths

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Unlike many in the video game community, I don’t have fond memories of gaming as a child. It wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 when I got a PS2 for Christmas that I got serious about my gaming. Before that, video games were an entirely foreign concept to me, though I did play my sister’s Super Nintendo from time to time. We’d play Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, and Paperboy 2; it was the only time when we weren’t trying to kill each other. My dad was into games back then too, playing old adventure games like Riven and Myst.

As my interest in gaming grew, so too did my interest in gaming’s history. Time and time again in my halfhearted and aimless research I became aware of the fanboy subculture. In those days, I was a Sony fanboy, but the art of emotionally investing in a multi-million dollar company that didn’t care about its individual customers was more refined in the height of the Sega and Nintendo wars.

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Posted in Opinions, PC, PS4, Retro, Top Story, Xbox One |

CD Projekt will add New Game Plus to The Witcher 3 soon

Posted on July 27, 2015 by John Scalzo

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CD Projekt has been supplying The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a steady stream of downloadable content since the game’s release in May. And the developer even has two major expansions planned… one for this Fall and one in 2016. But first they plan to add a New Game Plus mode to the main game.

Writing on Facebook, the developer says that New Game Plus is on the way, but it won’t be available this week. And as with the rest of the recent DLC drops, it’ll be available for free.

CD Projekt must have listened to a lot of fan requests for New Game Plus as the NPD Group recently confirmed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the ninth-best-selling game of 2015 so far.

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

Final Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC pack, Reckoning, will be available next week

Posted on July 27, 2015 by John Scalzo

Activision and Sledgehammer Games have announced the fourth and final downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the Reckoning Pack, will be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on August 4.

I’m sure you know the drill by now. The Reckoning Pack will be available for free to everyone who has previously purchased the Season Pass. A standalone download will also be available for $14.99 through the Xbox Games Store. For their investment, players will receive access to four new multiplayer maps and the concluding chapter of the Exo Zombies co-op campaign:

  • Overload: Enjoy the grand view of downtown New Baghdad from this exotic compound, complete with fountains, gardens and decorative plasma lamps. The map’s multiple levels and long perimeter site-lines highlight medium to long-range combat, and firing a shot at the lamps will send enemies flying in a burst of energy.
  • Quarantine: Following a deadly viral outbreak, the island has been converted into a biological testing center. This medium sized map’s tight corners dial up the speed and open areas combine to allow for any style of gameplay. Activate the map-based scorestreak to unleash a devastating ship-fired missile strike.
  • Fracture: Discover what secrets are locked in the ice in this arctic excavation site. Take refuge behind wind turbines and heavy equipment through large combat areas cradled on the shelf of a glacier. Stay alert as the timed event cracks the ice sheet, sending one lane sinking to the depths.
  • Swarm: Reconstruction is underway in Seoul, South Korea, congesting narrow corridors of this small to medium sized map with vehicles and equipment. Take position in war-scarred storefronts that provide plenty of cover over the streets or flank the enemy through close quarter interiors in the center of the map.

And in the final episode of Exo Zombies, “Descent,” John Malkovich’s Oz will rise from the dead to do battle with Bill Paxton, Bruce Campbell, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal during their escape from the Atlas aircraft carrier.

PC, PS3, and PS4 players will likely be able to get their hands on the Reckoning Pack in early September.

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

Nintendo details Splatoon’s big August update

Posted on July 27, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Nintendo has been talking about Splatoon‘s big August update since before the game’s May 29 launch. Today, they finally detailed exactly what’ll be included in the update (see below) and when it’ll be available (August 5).

Most importantly, the update will include two brand new matchmaking modes: Squad Battle and Private Battle. In Squad Battle, players can join up with their friends in all of Splatoon’s Ranked Battle modes. These two-to-four player Squads will then be randomly matched against other Squads. Private Battle is, as the name implies, a private battle between friends. Two-to-eight players can join up to battle it out on any map, in any game mode, and with any combination of players (1v1, 4v4, 4v1, 3v2, etc).

The August update will also add two new weapon types to the game for those looking for a fresh style of play. The Slosher is a grenade launcher-like weapon that will allow players to “hurl ink straight ahead at an impressive range” with a bucket. If you’d rather go “Full Arnold,” the Gatling-like Splatling can produce short blasts of “all-powerful ink” when its fully charged.

Finally, Nintendo will add more than 40 pieces of Gear to the shops in Arowana Mall and raise the level cap in both Regular Battle and Ranked Battle. Players can now reach Level 50 (raised from Level 20) in Regular Battle and S or S+ (both higher than A+) in Ranked Battle.

In case you missed it, Nintendo is still adding content to Splatoon ahead of the August update. This weekend saw the release of the Camp Triggerfish map and a pair of new weapons (E-Liter 3K Scope and Neo Splash-O-Matic). Not only that, but additional maps, weapons, and at least one new game mode (Rainmaker Ranked Battle) will be added to the game throughout the Fall.

Posted in News, Wii U | Tagged

Pre-order WWE 2K16 to play as The Terminator

Posted on July 27, 2015 by John Scalzo

Just days after confirming (via IGN) that Hulk Hogan won’t be part of WWE 2K16, 2K Games has announced that two versions of The Terminator will be included as a bonus for those who pre-order the game. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was actually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, will return to voice the T-800 in two different incarnations: 1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

“I’ve achieved many things in my life, but I’ve always said success means staying hungry and pushing the limits,” said Schwarzenegger. “I was honored to join the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year, and now I’ll continue my WWE legacy with one of my biggest film roles immortalized in WWE 2K16. Match the Terminator against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Seth Rollins, or Daniel Bryan, and there’s only one possible outcome: Hasta la vista, baby!”

You can watch Arnold and a variety of WWE wrestlers recreate the iconic opening scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day in the trailer above.

WWE 2K16 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 27.

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

Mortal Kombat X was the best-selling game in the first half of 2015

Posted on July 27, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Fortune has scoured the last six months of data from The NPD Group to assemble a definitive list of the best-selling games from the first half of the year.

Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly when you realize just how few games have been released this year, NetheRealm’s Mortal Kombat X took the top spot. The latest game in the long-running series paved the way for WB Games’s complete domination of the sales chart. The publisher secured four spots in the half-year top ten including Batman: Arkham Knight (#6), Dying Light (#7), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#9). Arkham Knight’s appearance on the list is even more impressive as it was released in the last week of June.

Among the holdovers, Grand Theft Auto V (#2), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), and Minecraft (#5) all broke into the top five. It’s likely that all three will stick around for the year-end list as well.

The complete top ten list can be found right here:

Bestselling Games in the First Half of 2015
1. Mortal Kombat X
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Battlefield Hardline
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Minecraft
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
7. Dying Light
8. NBA 2K15
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
10. Super Smash Bros. For 3DS / Super Smash Bros. For Wii U

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Weekly Warp-Up: Can You Escape From the Man-Sized Cabinet?

Posted on July 26, 2015 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…

The Summer of 2015 continues its rather lazy trajectory and so little is happening in the game industry right now that an out-of-work comedian was able to capture our attention all week with the released of a browser-based text adventure. Of course, this out-of-work comedian is none other than Stephen Colbert and his “Colbert Nation” is dedicated in ways that few fandoms are. So play a few rounds of Escape From the Man-Sized Cabinet this weekend and watch out for the monster with a bear trap for a head.

Also this week, Bethesda reminded the public they’ll be selecting names for a Doom Alpha Test soon. And Nintendo UK unveiled a Super Mario Maker Limited Edition that’ll include a 30th Aniiversary Mario Amiibo.

More news from this week (including a Hideo Kojima conspiracy theory and Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s release date) can be found after the break.

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Posted in News |

New Releases: Lost Dimension, Legend of Kay, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend Vita

Posted on July 26, 2015 by John Scalzo

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We say goodbye to July 2015 with a trio of new retail releases this week…

  • Lost Dimension is the latest tactical RPG from Atlus. Set to be released for the PS3 and Vita, Lost Dimension asks players to join the ranks of SEALED, “eleven psychics with superhuman abilities,” who are doing battle with The End. But watch out, at least one of those psychics is a traitor!
  • Legend of Kay Anniversary resurrects the ten-year-old PS2 game for a new generation of players on the PS4 and Wii U. This new version of the game has received a graphical makeover, but the cat is still kung fu fighting.
  • Finally this week, Arc System Works’s latest fighting game, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend, will be released for the Vita.

That’s it for retail releases, but a handful of additional games will be available throughout the week on the digital storefronts from Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Steam.

Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U | Tagged ,