Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Melissa Niedringhaus
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Episode One free to download on iOS for a limited time
Telltale Games announced today that the iOS version of “Ice Station Santa,” the first episode of Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space, is free to download for a limited time.
In addition, all of the follow up installments in the collection are available for $2.99, or 40% off their original price.
If you’re a fan of the series, and have been wondering if getting Sam & Max on your iDevice is worth it, remember that there’s a ton of iOS-specific content like a competitive Whack-Da-Ratz minigame, and a sound board that allows you to create your own mix of words straight from the game.
To download it now, be sure to check out the Sam & Max: Beyond Space and Time page on the iTunes Store.
Bethesda Softworks announces Elder Scrolls MMO
Bethesda Softworks today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, which will be the first Elder Scrolls game that allows players to explore the vast world of the Elder Scrolls with others in a massively multiplayer online setting. The game has been in development for the Mac and PC since 2007 by ZeniMax Online Studios, whose staff has worked on games like Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, Ultima Online and The Sims Online.
Matt Firor, game director of The Elder Scrolls Online, states that his team has been “Working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted.”
The world’s first look (including a teaser trailer and screenshots) at The Elder Scrolls Online will take place over at GameInformer.com throughout the month. As you can see to your left, the game has also been selected to grace the cover of the June issue of the mag (which will be shipped to subscribers on May 8).
Even ore information about the game will be available in the coming months, so to keep up with updates, check out the official Twitter account and Facebook page for the game, or the Bethesda forums, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Bethesda has given The Elder Scrolls Online a 2013 release date.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged The Elder Scrolls Online
Rockstar announces multiplayer DLC plans for Max Payne 3
Today, Rockstar announced a bunch of multiplayer DLC for Max Payne 3 that will be made available in the coming months, and a “Rockstar Pass” that can be preordered now through Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network.
The first available DLC will be the The Local Justice Map Pack, which is coming in June, and will include the Police Precinct map for Gang Wars, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Payne Killer modes. It will also have two additional maps for Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Payne Killer, new avatar items, multiplayer challenges, and more.
Packs that will be available this summer, but whose dates have yet to be announced, are the Disorganized Crime Map Pack, Deathmatch Made In Heaven Mode Pack, Hostage Negotiation Map Pack, and the New York Minute Co-Op Pack.
The Painful Memories Map Pack and Trickle Down Economics Map Pack will be available in the Fall.
The Rockstar Pass will set you back 2400 Microsoft Points or $29.99 on the PlayStation Network or PC, and will get you access to all available content at a 35% discount compared to buying the packs separately.
For more information on all the DLC options, check out Rockstar’s DLC page on the Max Payne 3 official site.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Max Payne 3
Skype announces video calling availability on the PlayStation Vita
On Tuesday, Skype announced that PS Vita system owners can now download the Skype application for free from the PlayStation Store. Both Wi-Fi and 3G models will support video and voice calling capabilities.
The application runs in “background mode” while you play games or use other applications, and will give you a notification when you receive a call. If you’re in the middle of a game or or browsing the web, it will “pause” your activity to allow you to take your call, then return to you to whatever you were doing when you’re done. Additionally, the PS Vita has rear and front facing cameras, both of which you can utilize during a Skype call.
Essentially, your PS Vita has just been turned into a wi-fi phone. Which is pretty awesome…
Online retailer to share part of used game profits with publishers
It’s a well known fact that video game publishers have never been comfortable with the used game side of video game retail. In recent years, publishers have even gone so far as to create counter measures against used game sales like restricted downloadable content or codes to play online.
A new online retailer, EKGaming.com, wants to change all of that and create a “healthy circle of life” for video games. EKG plans to do business completely online instead of having brick and mortar locations so it can keep it’s overhead low, and pass those savings onto consumers in the form of higher trade-in value for games, and share 10% of used game sales with publishers.
Mike Kennedy, CEO of EKG, thinks putting more money into publisher’s pockets could generate more willingness to take risks on new and exciting IPs, “Publishers are spending record amounts of cash on new game development. This increase in dev costs is steering them in directions that don’t necessarily jive with gamers, causing them to take less risks on new and potentially exciting IP’s or game mechanics and sticking with tried and true properties that are more of a guarantee.”
EKG is in the beta stage, and hopes to partner with a local big box retailer to allow gamers to trade in games and have immediate access to new ones, while the used games are funneled through EKG’s online marketplace.
Posted in News
My Golden Age of Gaming
Once upon a time and long, LONG ago, I stood with my little brother, my face pressed against a glass case at Electronics Boutique, looking at all of the precious gray cartridges inside. We wanted Super Mario Bros. 3, but the gentleman behind the counter informed us that it was all sold out, and we walked out of the store in tears.
My young brain scrambled for an alternative, and once we arrived at the spot the car was parked, I reminded my mother that the local movie rental place had started renting video games, and begged her to take us there to see if THEY had the game. I informed her I was likely to die if I didn’t somehow get a copy THAT DAY, and I was certain she didn’t want to kill her eldest child. Clearly irritated, she started to tell me no, but my quivering lower lip must have changed her mind, because she told me to shut up and get in the car instead.
All of the copies of Super Mario Bros. 3 but one had been rented, and I held the remaining copy to my chest as though it was a life preserver and I was adrift in the ocean, surrounded by sharks. When we got home, I put it right in the NES and turned it on. I even let my little brother play a few levels when I was tired or frustrated. I think this was the point of no return for me, when I realized gaming was what I wanted to do in my spare time, and no other leisure activity would do. I was a gamer. (more…)
Posted in Features, Top Story
Tagged PAX East 2012
New iPhone app allows anyone to build their own games, no coding required
Today, Engineous Games released a free game creation tool for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad called Sketch Nation Studio that allows you to create your own iOS game with no technical background required.
The five “genres” of games you can make currently are Up-Jumping, Down-Jumping, Horizontal Jumping, Horizontal Running, and Horizontal Flying. But who or what will be doing all this jumping or flying?
You can draw your own characters using in-app drawing tools, or take snapshots of drawings on paper with your device’s camera and import them. You can share your art with other players within the game, which allows you to collaborate with friends if you’re into that.
There are three modes, with varying degrees of depth. Simple Mode allows you to quickly create a basic game. Advanced Mode gives more control, and allows you to customize wvery aspect of gameplay. Stand Alone Mode allows you to actually sell your game on the App Store for a small profit.
Sketch Nation Studio is free, but downloading user-generated games and art costs virtual currency called Sketch Bucks. You earn these Sketch Bucks if a game or art you created is downloaded or if you play games. There’s also the option of purchasing them in-app if you don’t want to upload content.
CBS Interactive partners with TwitchTV and MLG to join the growing eSports community
CBS Interactive has announced exclusive partnerships with video game broadcasting network TwitchTV and eSports league Major League Gaming (MLG) to add coverage of competitive gaming to their portfolio of consumer media.
Jim Lanzone, President of CBS Interactive, thinks eSports, or competitive gaming, is one of “hottest trends in video”. In recent years, mainstream news sites are starting to regularly provide coverage of competitive gaming events in the US and Europe.
TwitchTV attracts 12 million unique viewers a month, and will receive exclusive advertising support from CBS Interactive with this deal. In the same monthly period, MLG broadcasts 750,000 game matches, and streams them to hundreds of thousands of people in more than 170 countries. These numbers will only grow thanks to the deal’s promised support from CBS Interactive’s other Internet destinations including CNET, GameSpot, and TV.com.
CBS Interactive hopes this partnership will allow them to provide coverage of eSports to an “engaged” audience, and grant them better access to the 18-25 male demographic.