Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Mike Gutierrez
Double Fine Productions brings Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster to life on Kinect
This sounds like a match made in heaven. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions will be bringing Elmo, Cookie Monster, and your favorite childhood characters to Xbox 360 Kinect with Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster. Children and Parents join Sesame Street characters as they enter the world of the story book, Once Upon a Monster, making new friends along the way and learning life lessons to solve problems in the game.
Tim Schafer said, “Sesame Street had a profound effect on me, and many members of the Double Fine team, when we were children. So did video games. Now many of us are parents and we want to share with our kids the great experiences we had, but also the completely new ones made possible by cutting-edge technology like Kinect for Xbox 360. So it’s a labor of love on many levels.”
I’ll admit it – I seriously envy the kids who get to interact with such awesome concepts in new and innovative ways. Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is set for a Fall 2011 release date, and hopefully a tear jerking presentation at E3.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
Felicia Day to star in Dragon Age webisodes
It seems like releasing webisodes to promote a new game is the cool marketing trend as of late, and all of us at Warp Zoned are extremely excited for the Mortal Kombat series accompanying the game. BioWare is the next developer jumping on the opportunity, as a six-episode series for Dragon Age II, titled Dragon Age: Redemption is already in post-production and will be hitting the net this year. The project is under the creative direction of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild star, Felicia Day. Day, a self-proclaimed “organic gamer” (?) wrote the story for the heroine she portrays, Tallis (the same name as the production company), and chronicles this Elven assassin’s quest to capture a renegade magician. Directing is Independence Day associate producer Peter Winther and cinematography is being handled by John Bartley, who also worked on “Lost.” Day commented, “They are going to take this a step above what we have seen on the Web before,” so hopefully this won’t look like recorded footage of Day and crew awkwardly LARPing.
“Tallis is headstrong, she fights dirty, and she has a really sarcastic sense of humor… I wanted to bring a modern sensibility to a fantasy character in a fantasy world.” Expect Tallis to be like every hipster chick you know who’s constantly seeking male approval.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Redemption
PixelJunk Shooter 2 heating up PS3 on March 1
It may have taken a while since we reported on their podcast that PixelJunk Shooter 2 was nearly complete, but the game has a release date and it’s coming surprisingly soon – March 1. Mr. Dylan Cuthbert himself announced the good news on the PlayStation Blog, excited about bringing three entirely new worlds as well as the versus mode which Cuthbert describes as a “whole new game in itself.” Players will be able to choose from over 20 weapons and abilities when they square off, and Q-Games attributes this robust multiplayer offering for how long it’s taken to get the game out.
The Q-Games team is currently taking questions on the PS Blog, and you can also ask questions for their podcast, which is listed under Q-Games in our very own Guide to Gaming Videos on Youtube. Hopefully the new game will have the same $9.99 price point as the original.
By the way, we’re all being referred to as “PixelJunkies” from now on.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged PixelJunk Shooter 2
Activision merges toys and games with Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure
There sure are some strange people working at Activision. What’s their next move after cancelling series’ that they’ve done to death over the last few years? Announce a new entry in another one. It turns out their “all-new gaming universes that brings together the worlds of toys, video games and online play” is Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. The game will launch alongside a series of toys which you use as a kind of avatar in the game. By placing the toy on the “Portal of Power” (yes, you’re reading that right) you can bring that specific character into the game. Any achievements and experience you gain inside of the game will be embedded in the toy, which you can take with you and use on different platforms, on a mobile device, or even on the web. Placing two or more toys on the “Portal of Power” (really?) allows you to play co-op and versus modes. I have no idea how they pulled any of this off, but one thing I’m sure about is these games won’t be as fun as when Insomniac was making them on the original PlayStation.
I don’t know why Activision has this almost obsessive fixation on selling you peripherals to go with your games. First Guitar Hero, then Tony Hawk, and now Spyro. At least they’re not going overboard and releasing something completely exploitative like Call of Duty action figures.
Posted in News
Tagged Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Black Ops DLC makes its First Strike on PS3 March 3
If you’re a fan of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but not a fan of paying subscriptions in order to access content on discs you’ve already paid full price for, you’re in luck! Treyarch’s Community Mananger Josh Olin announced on the PlayStation Blog (despite great hostility from the PlayStation Nation) that the first map pack for Black Operations entitled ‘First Strike’ will be available on the PlayStation Store on March 3 for $14.99 (PC gamers will see it by the end of March). The game includes four new multiplayer maps – Berlin Wall, Discovery, Kowloon, and Stadium, the last of which also plays host for a brand new Zombies experience in Ascension. Presumably Steam will have a similar release date and pricing.
I went back to CoDBlOps on the PS3 recently and found nearly all of the network issues to be fixed; I’m not really sure why the naysayers on the PlayStation Blog are claiming it’s a broken game. Many of them make a good point, though: will this DLC even be relevant, considering it’s coming out mere days after Killzone 3 launches? Feel free to let us know in the comments or just check out the screenshots after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo 5, Project Gotham Racing spotted in the wild
Ok, this is legitimately weird. Apparently Eurogamer caught a “Channel 4” news report with Jonathan Cluts from Microsoft interacting with “hidden Kinect-like technology to change the appearance of a wall” at the company’s secret home of the future, Microsoft Home. Navigating through icons on the wall, he selected “Grandma’s Room.” What was more notable was that granny’s quarters were sandwiched between Project Gotham Racing and Halo 5, as pictured left. Other than displaying “Inside Halo 5” underneath the Icon, that’s all there really was mentioned of the games.
Microsoft Home is known as a showcase for future consumer products, and I think it’s safe to say everyone expects another Project Gotham Racing and certainly another Halo to be in development. While this is the first we’re hearing of the sequel to Halo: Reach (the now-presumed “Halo 4” in spirit), there have been strong indications that the original Halo: Combat Evolved will be remade this year. Some have speculated Bizarre Creations will return to Microsoft to work on PGR, but nothing has been heard of the studio since their parent company Activision recommended them for closure.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Halo 5: Guardians
Battlestar Galactica Online now in open beta
Bigpoint, the self-proclaimed “global market leader in browser-based massively multiplayer online games” (what?) has launched the open beta of the free-to-play, browser-based, space combat euphoria that is Battlestar Galactica Online. The Massively Multiplayer Online Space Combat Game (MMOSCG trademark Mike Gutierrez) tells an untold chapter in the latter half of the second season of the SyFy series as Colonial and Cylon forces are “stranded in an uncharted area of space.”
Players choose a side, go through training for the flight controls, then can begin getting into the meat of the game: exploring space, taking on missions, gaining experience, accessing the market, and customizing your avatar and ship. The game also provides some authenticity for fans as the game incorporates Bear McCreary’s (wow I love that name) score, the likeness of various actors, and the schematics by the show’s creators have been used to recreate the ships. Heiko Hubertz, CEO of Bigpoint proudly said, “We are confident that a new standard has been achieved – no longer should browser games be considered subpar to their console or PC-installed counterparts.”
That all actually sounds pretty awesome for fans of the SyFy series. Just don’t try to convince Senior Editor Nicole Kline it’s any good. You can check out the game here.
Hudson Entertainment closed for business
Maybe we shouldn’t have posted that Lost in Shadow review. The US branch of Hudson Soft, responsible for bringing their games to the states, is shutting down according to a blog post yesterday by brand manager Morgan Haro. Morgan attributes this to the incoming acquisition by Konami and its decision to incorporate Hudson’s staff into social gaming as we reported. What’s frightening though is Morgan claiming that all of their projects have been canceled, and we can’t tell if that means the existing games at their Japanese headquarters or the closing US division, as we thought their focus is localizing games, not so much making them.
Hudson was in the middle of porting TurboGrafx-16 games to the PSN, pledged to support Sony’s NGP, and even laid out a solid 3DS lineup for the end of the year. It would be a shame if Konami were to pass on Bomberman for the 3DS. Check out Morgan’s blog for more details, as well as an interesting read on the struggle for American divisions of Japanese game companies and the direction the industry is heading.
Posted in News