Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Mike Gutierrez
Dissidia 012 pre-order bonuses unlock alternate costumes for Cloud and Tifa
The pre-order bonuses for Tetsuya Nomura’s latest assault on logical game titles, Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, have been detailed, and offer new costumes for two of the series’ most beloved characters.
Fans of Kingdom Hearts will be pleased to know that Cloud’s darker iteration in the Final Fantasy/Disney cross-over will be available via download code when you pre-order the game from GameStop. Amazon junkies will be able to unlock an “enforcer” costume for Tifa Lockheart from Final Fantasy VII, based on illustration’s by the beloved series character designer Yoshitaka Amano. As Nomura designed the characters for FFVII, not Amano, the costume is somewhat of a cool “what if” for more die hard connoisseurs.
Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy will be available on March 22 for the PSP. No news if Square’s recent attention to the PSN will lead to a digital release, but the last Dissidia was available on the PlayStation Store.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy
Tee up on March 8 for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters demo
If you have a fetish for green jackets, you might want to check out the demo for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, coming March 8 to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.
The demo includes “Play Now,” where you play as Tiger on the last hole on the last day of the tournament, at the Augusta National’s par-4 18th hole. “Road to the Master’s” mode lets you play five holes, at the new TPC San Antonio Oaks course, appearing for the first time in the series. As EA likes to do with their demos nowadays, you can already start earning XP for the full game by sharing the demo with your friends, and completing the five holes allows you to bypass the EA Sports Amateur Tour and go straight to the National Tour. In addition to San Antonio Oaks, the demo showcases a couple other new features for the game, including the voice talent of Masters announcer Jim Nantz and True View mode, where you swing in first person, much like last year’s definitive John Daly’s ProStroke Golf.
It’ll be interesting to see if EA can top ProStroke’s highly immersive combination of first-person gameplay and PlayStation Move. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters will be available March 29 for Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, with full PlayStation Move support.
Oh, and my right arm’s just a little longer than my left…
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters
Dead Space 2: Severed priced and dated, new trailer freaks me out
EA announced today that Dead Space 2: Severed will be released on March 1 for the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace for $6.99 and 560 MS Points. This expansion contains two new story chapters featuring Gabe Weller and Lexine Murdoch from the rail shooter Dead Space: Extraction, which we loved the crap out of. The good news is their voice actors appear to be returning; the bad news is I think they’re screwed. The trailer above shows them returning to The Sprawl of Dead Space 2 (which we REALLY loved the crap out of) around the same time Isaac Clarke is struggling there, and Weller appears to have an awesome and unique security suit. The trailer is full of terrifying images and glorious fanservice, so if you’re a devout follower of the Church of Unitology, you absolutely have to check this out. I got goosebumps.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dead Space 2
New Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer, pre-order bonuses detailed
I’m really torn about Battlefield 3. I’ve been a huge fan of the Bad Company series and certainly lost a lot of time in Battlefield 1943, but I don’t feel I’ll be up for the true sequel to the original franchise. Without a PC to run it, I’m kind of disappointed the console versions will only support up to 24 players, which is what we’ve come to expect in Bad Company. Getting the same scale as the console spin-off just feels like I’m not getting the authentic spirit of the game.
In any case, DICE gives us another amazing trailer showcasing the new engine and features for the game. Frostbite 2, their “next-generation engine for current-generation platforms” sports some seriously impressive lighting, as well as destruction that seems a lot more unpredictable this time. The gameplay shown is standard – a little running, a little gunning, but it displays the return of going prone, something a few players complained about being absent in Bad Company.
The official Battlefield 3 site has also revealed the first tidbits about pre-order bonuses: reserving the game will net you the “Back to Karkand” expansion, including four legendary maps from Battlefield 2, weapons and vehicles, unique rewards, new achievements/trophies, and more. That’s a pretty big pre-order bonus; it sounds as robust as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam (which was excellent). Battlefield 3 is scheduled for release this Fall 2011 on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Battlefield 3
Test Drive Unlimited 2 patches incoming, first DLC pack will be free
We gave Test Drive Unlimited 2 a decent score, but the game wasn’t free of issues, and it certainly had a couple bugs. Network issues, exploits, and corrupt saves have been fixed on the PC version, even repairing some corrupted save files, and console patches are in the pipeline at Sony and Microsoft. Taking it one step further, Eden Games have announced that the first DLC, the “Exploration Pack,” featuring Lancia Stratos version Rallye, 1969 Dodge Charger, and new wrecks to explore will be available for free. Eden wants you all to know, “the team spends a great deal of time looking at community feedback, so please keep posting your comments to the official TDU2 forums and we look forward to seeing you in Ibiza.”
Sounds like a good PR move on their part, and free DLC is always a good thing. There’s no date on when those patches will be certified or when the Exploration Pack is coming, but stay tuned for more Test Drive Unlimited 2 info.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Test Drive Unlimited 2
Pokemon Black & White getting special DSi bundles
March 6 will no doubt be a special day when the latest generation of Pokemon games launches with Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White Version. If you want to make that day just a little more special, you can grab yourself one of the snazzy bundles pictured left.
Each bundle will come with a version of the game, with a matching DSi sporting new legendary Pokemon Reshiram and Zekrom etched on them. Rounding out the bundle is a custom Pokemon carrying case for your system. Playing the game on a DSi also allows you to use the new video chat feature in the game, the Xtransceiver. The package will sell for a $179.99 suggested price.
If I weren’t so hooked on Pokemon Heart Gold or perfectly fine with my launch DS Lite, this would be a very, very appealing bundle. Pokemon Black and White finally arrive on American shores March 6.
Posted in DS
Tagged Pokemon Black/White
6.37 million copies of Gran Turismo 5 are out in the wild
Polyphony Digital has released new shipment figures for Gran Turismo 5, and it seems the game has lived up to the success of the franchise. Since releasing late last November, 6.37 million copies of the game have shipped to retailers. Granted, that’s not how many copies have been actually sold, but it’s an impressive figure nonetheless. If you combine that with the 5.2 million of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, the series has shipped over 11 million units this generation alone.
GT5 was a fantastic game and it’s great to see the final product enjoy this kind of success after so many years of work went into it. Unfortunately, my time is consumed by another PS3 exclusive right now.
Posted in News
Tagged Gran Turismo 5
Stacking Review: Yertle Ain’t Got Nothing on Double Fine’s Puzzler
In a space where a million small studios are trying to make the next big hit, world-class developer Double Fine productions returns to the downloadable scene with Stacking. From the mind of Art Director Lee Petty and under the mantle of the legendary Tim Schafer, this puzzle-solving adventure game combines pleasantly appealing visuals and intuitive gameplay with the social commentary and quirky humor of the era of silent films. (more…)