Warp Zoned Presents
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Daily Scoop: July 18, 2014 – The weekend is here!
It’s Friday, hooray! And that means getting time to finally relax after a long week. There are tons of things going on in Philly, but the truth is, I kind of just want to go home and play video games and maybe eat some water ice. That’s OK, right?
The most important thing you need to know right now is that the Indie Royale Blasting Off bundle just got a very awesome addition – PHL Collective’s Clusterpuck99! This awesome eight-player local competitive game is one you’ll definitely want to add to your collection. The bundle is worth it just for that game alone!
There are a few new sales at the Humble Store as well. They’ve got Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing Transformed for $4.99, Euro Truck Simulator 2 – Going East for $6.49, and Anomaly Defenders for $6.99. And at Steam, the Daily Deal is Prototype 2 for $9.99, and the Weekend Deal is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for $14.99.
And finally, t-shirts!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
The Evil Within’s release moves up a week early to October 14
The release date for The Evil Within is moving again. After delaying the game’s release from August 26 to October 21, Bethesda has now revealed that it’s moving up a week and will be available in stores on October 14.
The Evil Within is in development at Shinji Mikami’s new studio, Tango Gameworks. The game will mark Mikami’s return engagement to survival horror, and it is his first foray with the genre in almost a decade (since 2005’s Resident Evil 4).
The Evil Within is in development for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Doom 4 is a reboot and will simply be titled Doom
QuakeCon kicked off last night and fans in attendance got their first look at Doom 4, which id Software and Bethesda are officially calling Doom. That’s right, it’s a reboot. But reports from the packed auditorium (no recording was allowed and Bethesda has announced they will not publicly release the demo video) tell a tale of a Doom that returns to its roots.
According to Game Informer, id’s Marty Stratton introduced the video by saying: “You’ll see crazy demons. Unbelievable mechanical demons built through secret and corrupt UAC experiments. Demons like Hell Knights, the Cyberdemon, Revenant, and many more. Whether these demons are something familiar or something totally new, each of them is designed to create a unique combat experience, regardless of whether you are fighting against it, killing it, or being killed by it.”
Stratton also said that Doom is not about taking cover, but “charging forward with nothing in your way of slaughtering that next demon.” With this, the demo video began and showed a new Doom for a new century. The Marine battled zombies and demons with familiar looking weapons (shotgun, double shotgun, Plasma Gun) and was able to perform a variety of melee fatalities on fallen foes. But just like the original game, more demons can teleport in to add to the chaos. Thankfully, the chainsaw will also make a return appearance in the new Doom and Stratton said that players can carry as many weapons as they want.
It’s unknown is colored keys will make a return in the new Doom, but locked doors will definitely play a part. At one point in the demo, the Marine was blocked by a lock that required a handprint. Rather than drag over the body of a nearby scientist, the Marine pulled off his arm and slapped the hand down on the scanner. Also new is the inclusion of a double jump to reach higher platforms. Finally, Stratton let QuakeCon attendees know that the new Doom will include some kind of multiplayer mode, though they weren’t ready to talk about it just yet.
While the game itself is decidedly old school, the technology under the hood will be state-of-the-art. Doom will run on the brand new idTech 6 engine and is in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. No release date was announced, but I imagine it will be later rather than sooner. More details on the Doom beta, which was offered as an incentive for those who pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order, will also be revealed at a later date.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016)
June 2014 NPD: Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 are the top-selling titles once again
Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 once again reign supreme over the monthly sales chart as The NPD Group has confirmed the two titles were #1 and #2, respectively, in their June 2014 top-selling games report. The two games were part of a trend that included other May releases such as Minecraft (#3) and Wolfenstein: The New Order (#7).
The only June releases to crack the top ten were EA Sports UFC (#4) and Tomodachi Life (#9),
With Microsoft’s Kinect-less Xbox One hit store shelves in June, so the battle between the next-generation heated up just as the thermometer did. According to Joystiq, the PS4 once again topped the Xbox One, though all console sales more than doubled (a 106% increase, to be exact) the month of May. Ultimate, the entire industry saw a 24% increase in sales over the last month… and that includes a big jump in Wii U hardware sales too.
You can view the complete top ten chart for the month of June after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, EA Sports UFC, FIFA 14, Grand Theft Auto V, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, NPD, Tomodachi Life, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Xbox Entertainment Studios will close; Atari doc, Halo: Nightfall, Halo series will continue
William Goldman, the screenwriter of The Princess Bride, once said, “In Hollywood, no one knows anything.” Today, Microsoft is feeling that uncertainty as the software giant has announced they plan to lay off 18,000 people over the next 12 months. Over 12,000 employees in Microsoft’s Nokia division account for the vast majority of jobs affected but, according to Re/code, the company’s film production studio at Xbox Entertainment Studios will also close.
Xbox Entertainment Studios had barely gotten their original programming schedule off the ground before the closure notice came down. An app that included a comprehensive look at the Bonaroo musical festival was released in June while the studio’s first series, Every Street United, is currently airing and will conclude in August.
Some of the originally programming Microsoft had planned will continue even after the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios. First and foremost, Halo: The Television Series and the Ridley Scott-produced Halo: Nightfall be released as scheduled. And with filming already finished, the documentary examination of Atari’s New Mexican landfill, Atari: Game Over, will also be completed.
The fate of the remaining projects in the studio’s “Xbox Originals” series is unknown, though it’s likely that many will be canceled. Sony still plans to move ahead with their own original programming initiative beginning with this Winter’s Powers.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: Nightfall
InSomnia Kickstarter campaign reaches its goal a week early
Good news for Russian indie developer Studio MONO this morning, as their Kickstarter campaign for InSomnia, a self-described “Dieselpunk” RPG, surpassed its goal of $70,000 this morning, a full week ahead of schedule. “The team and I are very happy with the continued support from our backers. To reach our initial funding target at this stage is amazing and we’re now extremely excited about the possibility of reaching further stretch goals,” said lead developer Anatoliy Necrasov.
This news comes in contrast to their first Kickstarter campaign in late 2013, which raised only $5,000 towards the then-MMO version of InSomnia. The game now promises a real-time RPG experience that can be played either alone, or as a team in co-operative mode. The story takes place on a gigantic retro-futuristic space station, in a 400-year search for a new planet to house what’s left of the human race. Studio MONO is currently planning a December 2015 release for InSomnia.
Best of all, a playable tech demo of InSomnia is available on their Kickstarter page.
Go behind the scenes with 2K Australia and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
“The Making of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel” is a new great documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes on what is probably my most anticipated game of this year. This is “Episode 1: To the Moon,” which talks about how the project was brought to life, and the relationship that exists between 2K Australia and Gearbox Software. It’s mostly talking, but there are some great glimpses of the game in really early form. It’s gorgeous.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be out on October 14th for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Daily Scoop: July 17, 2014 – Destiny beta
The Destiny beta begins today for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners. Well, Sony players would already be in it, if it weren’t for the PSN being down. It’s a great game from what we’ve seen so far, so I’m not surprised at the network-crashing high volume.
What else is going on today? The Humble Weekly Bundle is brand new – it’s the Simulators 2 bundle! Pay what you want for Universe Sandbox, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, and Out of the Park Baseball 14. Pay $6 or more to unlock Turbo Dismount and Tropico 4: Steam Special Edition. And finally, pay $10 or more to unlock Euro Truck Simulator 2, which includes a debut of the Fantasy Paint Jobs Pack.
There’s also a lot happening at Steam. The Daily Deal today is early access to Starpoint Gemini 2 for $16.74. The Weekend Deal is Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition for $24.99, which lasts until Monday at 10am PST. And since Quakecon started today, their special deal is Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition for $10.19.
Just one shirt today, but it’s a good one!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News