Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Mike Gutierrez
Mortal Kombat introduces the Challenge Tower, wants you to cry
The newest feature revealed by NetherRealm Studios for the upcoming Mortal Kombat is the Challenge Tower. We could make a news post detailing all the insane scenarios shown and described in the trailer above (Test Your Might, Test Your Sight, etc), but you really should just see it for yourself. My favorite is when Mileena offers Scorpion a Teddy Bear, which he refuses. Frustrated at how long she spent making it, the two have no choice but to battle it out.
Mortal Kombat will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on April 19, with a PlayStation Plus-exclusive demo planned for March 8.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
Resistance 3 multiplayer detailed at GDC, beta coming soon
Insomniac made waves at GDC today when they shed some light on the multiplayer for the latest installment of their alternate history, sci-fi shooter series, Resistance 3. Probably the biggest change is the reduced scale. Resistance: Fall of Man wowed players at the time with up to forty players per game at a constant frame rate, and Resistance 2 upped that to 60. Things are being considerably toned down and focused now, as the third game will have intimate, 16-player battles. Insomniac made this decision from fan feedback and seeing just how fun the gameplay was on the smaller maps.
Another big feature will be loadout customization, where players can spend unlock points to develop their repertoire. The defining aspect of the progression system seems to be the abilities, and they come in four flavors. The first two are Abilities (Support and Tactical), which allow you to distribute ammo, enhance your team’s radar, or dash really quick to get out of a tight spot. The second set are Attributes, which come in Personal and Combat flavors. These appear to be your standard perks like faster reloading, but also really interesting options like having the series’ trademark leapers burst from your corpse upon death.
I got a lot out of Resistance 2, it was worth much more than the $60 price tag if you ask me, but it hasn’t aged considerably well in this age of shooters, and I’m glad the match sizes will be more personable. I’m worried they may be missing the point on the progression system, though. Call of Duty popularized the mechanic, but they always made the abilities you earn at high levels a lot harder to effectively utilize than the all-purpose abilities you start out with. Having players augment them as they gain experience may be a little hard to balance. In any case, we’ll be looking out for Resistance 3 when it launches on PlayStation 3 on September 6 later this year.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Resistance 3
Mortal Kombat demo coming to PlayStation Plus next Tuesday
Sony’s been trying really hard to get you to jump in on their subscription-based service PlayStation Plus, and today they deliver another enticing offer in that effort. Mortal Kombat will arrive on the PlayStation Store next Tuesday, March 8 for Plus subscribers only. Regular PSN users will get a chance to download it a week later. The game will be compatible with Automatic Download, so make sure you turn the feature on so your PS3 can achieve sentience and download it on its own.
The demo features Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Mileena, and Sub-Zero as they battle it out on two ultra-vintage stages: The Pit and The Living Forest. You can get in on these fights with both single player and one-on-one Versus modes. And, of course, Fatalities and the new X-Ray Mode are included. Finally, for all you affluent technophiles, yes, the demo will support 3D.
The PlayStation Blog invites players to experience the joy of over-gory Fatalities, which it calls “once-controversial.” I’m not so sure about that. Seeing Kung Lao pull his victims legs-first towards his spinning razor hat to be dissected like some horrible biology experiment is an image I simply can’t get out of my head. Maybe listening to the iconic theatrical theme song of the series will help me stay sane until Mortal Kombat releases for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 19. I hope.
WB Games has said that the Mortal Kombat demo will be released on the Xbox Live Marketplace at a later date.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
Minecraft wins IGF Best Game, hipsters rejoice
The International Coalition of Trendy Gamers have taken to the streets of pretension as Minecraft has won the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival’s Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game (wow that was long), in addition to the Audience Award, voted by the community. The winners were announed at the IGF Pavillion at the Game Developers Conference today, and you’ll be able to play the winners at their expo booths until the conference ends tomorrow.
Other notable winners include Amnesia: The Dark Descent, winning the award for Technical Excellence and Excellence in Audio. Gaijin Games’ BIT.TRIP.RUNNER took home the Excellence in Visual Art and Desktop Dungeons locked up the award for Excellence in Design. Nidhogg‘s developer Messhof received the $5,000 Nuovo Award, “which honors abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which ‘advances the medium and the way we think about games.'”
GDC’s producers created the IGF to encourage innovation in the medium and recognize the best independent minds in gaming.
Double Fine announces Trenched for XBLA
The next game from Double Fine was announced at GDC with the reveal trailer you see above. Trenched will be a hybrid tower defense and third person action game (sound familiar?), taking place in an alternate World War I. Players take the controls of mechs to fight off aliens known as the Monovision. There’s no release date, but you’ll be able to start the fight on Xbox Live Arcade sometime this year.
Saints Row: The Third coming Holiday 2011
Fans of the over-the-top, open-world crimefest that is the Saints Row series will be pleased to know the latest entry, Saints Row: The Third, will be available this Holiday season for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
The game will take a turn for the series, as the player will begin as already being the head of a criminal organization, with all of the benefits that go along with it, instead of starting from the bottom. “There’s no delivering pizza, no shuttling family members about in a long series of taxi missions. Instead, you take all the power of the Third Street Saints and you take the world by storm,” said Executive Vice President of Core Games (what?) Danny Bilson of THQ. We could take it a step further and say it’ll take video game forums by storm, as after the last two iterations of each franchise, many hold that Saints Row has surpassed Grand Theft Auto.
More information will be available when the April issue of Game Informer hits subscribers’ mailboxes soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Saints Row: The Third
InFamous 2 allows you to make your own missions, beta coming in April
Sucker Punch really doesn’t want you to stop playing InFamous 2. “No matter how many missions and mini-missions and systemic opportunities and branching story lines we add to the game, eventually the story ends,” said Development Director Chris Zimmerman (not Kris Zimmerman). To make sure the game never leaves your PS3, they announced today at GDC that InFamous 2 will provide the means for you to play, create, and share user-generated missions. The interface looks similar to the creation wheel in ModNation Racers as you can select props, enemies, and determine how the mission will play out. The trailer showcases defending and escort scenarios, and the developers tease that you’ll be able to create pure stealth objectives and even disc golf by substituting frisbees with cars.
A limited beta will begin in early April which you can sign up for starting March 14. Some of the best created levels during this time will even show up on the final version of the game. InFamous 2 launches on PlayStation 3 June 7, with an insane special edition.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged InFamous 2
3DS getting new Super Mario Bros., Netflix, and free access to AT&T Hot Spots
At the Nintendo GDC keynote today, President Iwata announced a triumvirate of features that greatly increase the value of the Nintendo 3DS. The first won’t surprise anyone: Shigeru Miyamoto will be making a new Super Mario Bros. title for the handheld. Slightly surprising is that the Super Mario Galaxy team is working on it, so expect a high quality (and high reviewed) adventure from everyone’s favorite plumber.
Secondly, Netflix will be available for the platform, in much the same way it operates on the Wii. Finally, and possibly most important, all 3DS users will receive automatic and free access to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots across the country when they use the SpotPass service after a May update.
Also part of the May update will be the eShop, which will grant access to a lot of the features we’ve been hearing about like 3D Hollywood trailers, the internet browser, classic Nintendo titles updated in 3D, and Game Boy/Game Boy Color games. Two things we didn’t expect are titles from TurboGrafx-16 and Sega’s Game Gear, the latest development in the ongoing love affair between the two prior rivals. The Game Gear was the first handheld Sega tried to go up against Nintendo with. While clunky and requiring tons of batteries, it offered impressive graphics in full color. Hopefully some Shining Force Gaiden games will show up on the store.
The 3DS is already a technical powerhouse with a fairly solid launch lineup, but these three new announcements make it even more appealing. You may want to pre-order yours soon for the March 27 release date, as it may sell out here just as fast as it did elsewhere.
Posted in 3DS, Etcetera, News
Tagged Super Mario 3D Land