Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Alex Foote
Rumor: Whore of the Orient development is on hold
Staff from Team Bondi, the development team behind LA Noire, have once again suffered layoffs. And, according to unconfirmed reports, the development of their upcoming open world title, Whore of the Orient, has been put on hold.
After the release of LA Noire, Team Bondi went into administration, and the studio suffered a huge number of layoffs. The remaining staff members were hired by KMM (the production company behind Happy Feet), and started development on Whore of the Orient, a detective thriller set in the 1930s.
Whore of the Orient was announced in 2011, and Brendan McNamara (studio boss at Team Bondi), went on record and said the game was “one of the great untold stories of the twentieth century.” It was rumored that Warner Bros. was on board as publisher, but a KMM spokesman said they’re still in the process of finding a publisher. Rockstar Games was responsible for publishing LA Noire, but relationships were torn between the two teams shortly after its release.
In light of these unconfirmed lay-offs, it seems production has stopped on the title, but the studio apparently still remains open. Obviously, we hope this isn’t true and production of Whore of the Orient continues soon.
[Source: MCV Pacific]
Posted in News
Tagged Whore of the Orient
Deadpool release date and pre-order bonuses announced
Marvel Entertainment and Activision’s Deadpool: The Game will be available in stores on June 25 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and the PC (that’s new!). Developed by High Moon, the studio behind Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, the first game starring Marvel’s epic comic hero (and all his awesomeness) will presumably be available in the UK & Europe shortly after. But for everyone who plans to purchase it in North America, Activision has announced a pair of pre-order bonuses.
GameStop is offering:
- Merc with a Map Pack – “GRT Plaza” and “Inside the Tower” Challenge Maps
- Two Exclusive Suts – “D-Pooly” and “Uncanny X-Force”
- “The Most Epic Digital Wallpaper Ever!” – Yes, he’s riding a ****ing unicorn! (US Only)
Meanwhile, Amazon is offering a $5 credit towards select Marvel graphic novels, and an exclusive digital coversleeve and wallpaper.
Will you be picking up Deadpool when it arrives this summer?
What is going on in these bizarre teasers from Bethesda?
Yesterday, the publisher behind Skyrim, Dishonored, and Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks, dropped a bizarre teaser on Vine for something, but what is it teasing? The video features images of barbed wire and a record playing over some music by Bach:
Today, they uploaded another bizarre video. This time we get burning flowers, and what also looks like man a hanging from a tree… (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged The Evil Within
Atari shuts down Test Drive developer Eden Games
The Lyon-based, Atari-owned studio Eden Games has been shut down. The developer behind Alone in the Dark and the Test Drive: Unlimited series had been placed into liquidation at the start of the year according to a report from Eurogamer.
In May of last year, rumors were filtering through that the studio had closed. Then, Atari made a statement saying that they wanted to “make it clear that the studio has not closed and that we will continue to support the console and PC games of Eden Games.” A number of Eden Games employees were let go two years ago, causing the remaining staff members to temporarily go on strike. A new developer, Blossom Minds, emerged from this strike.
The last title developed by Eden Games was 2011’s Test Drive Unlimited 2.
Posted in News
Injustice: Gods Among Us launch trailer comes out punching
With literally days to go before Injustice: God Among Us flies into stores, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has unveiled the final trailer that will be released for the title.
Injustice: God Among Us launches on the April 16 in the US then April 19 in Europe on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii U.
Posted in News, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Injustice: Gods Among Us
Project X Zone’s first English language trailer is appropriately wild
For the first time ever three publishers have teamed up to bring you “the ultimate cross over.” Namco Bandi, Capcom, and Sega have put their resources together to give us the ultimate strategy RPG.
Project X Zone is a follow up to 2005’s Namco X Capcom (which never made it out of Japan). It has a roaster of over 50 characters to choose from, featuring the likes of Mega Man X‘s X and Zero, Devil May Cry‘s Dante and Demitri Maximoff, Resident Evil‘s Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, Vitura Fighter‘s Akira Yuki and Pai Chan, and Tekken‘s Jin Kazama and Ling Xiaoyu.
Project X Zone will be available only for the 3DS on June 25 in North America, followed by a July 5 in Europe. The game is already available in Japan.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Project X Zone
Free-to-play Ridge Racer: Driftopia coming this year to PC, PS3
Namco Bandai has unleashed the first details of Ridge Racer: Driftopia, the next installment in their infamous Ridge Racer series.
Driftopia will be a free-to-play title and will be available on the PS3 and PC later this year. As the name suggests, Driftopia is all about the skilful art of drifting, and looks like it’s set within Unbounded’s Shatter City (which makes sense, seeing as how Bugbear Entertainment is also handling development duties on Driftopia).
“At Namco Bandai Games we are committed to embracing new business models alongside the still vital traditional retail sector,” said Olivier Comte, Senior Vice President of Namco Bandai Games Europe. “Free-to-play is playing an increasingly important role, so it’s very exciting to be bringing one of our most successful franchises to the free-to-play space for everyone to enjoy.”
Like all free-to-play titles, Namco Bandai will be adding microtransactions into the game. Driftopia will give the player the option to pay for car upgrades to drift ahead of the competition.
Dark Souls II gets a second trailer
From Software and Namco Bandai have released a new trailer for Dark Souls II, its second since the title was announced at the Spike TV Video Game Awards back in December.
This trailer includes some gameplay footage (sort of), and you can get a general idea on how the game is going to look during gameplay. It also doesn’t give anything away about what you’re going to be doing while playing the game. But, we’re sure that it’s going to get you excited, as it did us.
Dark Souls II is set for a 2014 release on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dark Souls II