Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Ryan Littlefield
May’s Mystery: Forbidden Memories Review: Puzzled Pretender
Following the strong success of the Professor Layton series, the Londoner’s unique brand of puzzle and logic gaming has been picked up by other DS and 3DS titles. Many of the games in the genre seem to have struck a chord with a large and diverse audience of handheld gamers – something that the DS’ other lesser-known puzzle titles have failed to achieve. A few weeks ago the DS became home to another point-and-click logic puzzler, May’s Mystery: Forbidden Memories, a title that I had impulsively picked up to hold me over until the long-awaited Professor Layton and the Last Specter finally released. As expected, that’s all it was good for anyway. (more…)
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm trailer unburrows from BlizzCon 2011
Ah, StarCraft. It seems like only yesterday that StarCraft: Brood War was released, and the world first witnessed the haunting transformation of Sarah Kerrigan. A new trailer for the first StarCraft II expansion, Heart of the Swarm, has been released, depicting the panic spreading across the galaxy as the Queen of Blades makes her terrorizing return.
The trailer shows some pretty heavy cinematic content, and some intense gameplay scenarios. As always, Blizzard has included some new units and tactics into the new expansion. You can be sure that Major League Gaming is quivering in awe and joy right now. Unfortunately, there is no release date announced yet, as Blizzard pitches the standard “We are making this game as good as we can for the time being” line. One thing’s for sure though, this is going to be big.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Mass Effect 3 demo detailed, available January 2012
If you’ve been living and breathing Mass Effect since the release of the original game, this news is probably going to excite you.
BioWare has announced that a playable demo of Mass Effect 3 will be released in January 2012, featuring both single-player and multiplayer modes. Early access to the multiplayer portion of the demo will only be available to those who have redeemed the Online Pass included with Battlefield 3. And not to worry, this demo will be available in all regions and on any platform.
The duration of the demo’s availability is unknown at this point, but BioWare is saving that news until you calm your crew back down and get the Normandy under control. More details as to the demo’s early-access release date will be specified in November, says BioWare.
Also, don’t tell anyone – but it seems that BioWare will be announcing another way to gain early access with no purchase necessary. Take my word for it though, you’re probably going to want to buy Battlefield 3 anyway.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mass Effect 3
Payday: The Heist, Okabu, more added to PS Store
If you’re like me, you’re making sure you spend $60 in the Playstation Store this month in order to get the $10 credit back in November. Once I signed up for a three-month PS Plus subscription, I realized that it would be easy to drop the remaining $40 on a couple of games.
This week, that task gets even easier for anyone else reaching for that $10 credit. First of all, the initial PS2 titles on the PS Store are obviously still available (GrimGrimoire for $10? Sold!) and we’re getting some more neat content to choose from this week! Okabu is out this week – and looking pretty awesome too – as well as Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken. Both of these games are currently 20% off for PS Plus members as well. So you can save while you save on savings. Ahem, /x-zibit.
Dungeon Defenders also seems insane, and I am a sucker for anything tower defense. Sony is offering free Dungeon Defenders DLC for PS Plus members as well. Consider me convinced. Oh, and also, there’s some other game – Payday: The Heist. It’s probably fun, and has some clowns robbing banks. If you want to play through the first five minutes of The Dark Knight movie, maybe this would be a good purchase for you.
The Store is bursting with even more new releases including Beat Hazard Ultra, an “intense music driven twin-stick arcade shooter;” downloadable versions of Dead Space and Ridge Racer 7; the lovable adventures of Sam & Max: Beyond Time And Space; and the robot boxing of Real Steel.
There are still many discounts on Halloween/Zombie-themed games as well. Check ’em out, and enjoy your credit back in November! Also, look here for all the information about this week’s PlayStation Store update.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Payday: The Heist
PSN experiences a new user information breach – 93,000 affected
It appears that Sony’s favorite network hackers took the summer off to get outside and enjoy some nice weather reconvene on how to continuously screw over the general gaming public.
As of yesterday, Sony has experienced a new series of attempts to test username and password combinations in order to find matches between the two. According to Philip Reitinger, Sony’s SVP & Chief Security Information Officer, the login information was likely obtained from another source, site, or company – but for all we know, it could have even been some of the same information obtained during the Anonymous outbreak earlier this year.
Fortunately, Reitinger states that the overwhelming majority of the login username/password sets failed to match – even more reason to conclude that it may have come from the previous PSN breach. He mentions that only one tenth of a percent (0.1%) – or 93,000 – of the accounts across PSN, SEN, and SOE were affected, and those accounts have since been locked, due to minimal or no activity on most of those accounts. No credit card information is reported to be in danger.
For those accounts where the username and password returned a match, Sony will require a password change after the temporary lock is lifted.
Japanese PS Vita game list revealed!
Quite a bit of info about Sony’s new handheld has been released over the summer, but prospective buyers only had a few games to wrap their heads around. Now, a press release from Sony details a longer list of games, some additional system specifications – including battery life – and a list of accessories that will be available shortly after the system’s release.
First off, it looks as though the handheld’s battery life won’t be much better than that of the 3DS, with an expected gameplay life of 3-5 hours. It appears that charging the handheld from 0% battery life will take that same amount of time. Not too quick of a turnaround, it seems.
Most of the accessories are standard protocol – memory cards, earphones, etc. However, listed for Spring 2012 are a Vita Car Adapter and a Portable Charger. It looks like Sony is – at the very least – aware of the concern with battery life.
Anyway, onto the good stuff! Hit the jump for the list of games. (more…)
Want to claim your 3DS Ambassador titles? Here’s how!
Today marks the first day that Nintendo’s 3DS Ambassador Program goes into effect. I woke up this morning, opened my 3DS and immediately looked for the games that were promised to me, feeling upset when I saw no updates on the eShop. Well, here at Warp Zoned, getting your games as quickly as possible is a staple belief of ours. That’s why we’ve taken a literal 30 seconds to help you find your games in less than 30 seconds. The list of NES games available is included below.
If you purchased a 3DS system before August 12, here’s what you’ve gotta do: (more…)
Twisted Metal demo, Uncharted 3 3D trailer included on Priest Blu-ray
Recently, a Resistance 3 demo was featured on the Blu-ray version of Battle: Los Angeles. Now, a 3D trailer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will appear on the Unrated 3D Blu-ray version of Priest while the 2D Blu-ray disc will include a demo for Twisted Metal.
Priest is a a movie based off of a series of Korean graphic novels involving vampires, so we’re not sure what that has to do with treasure hunting or car battling. But movie aside, fans will be able to witness Nathan Drake in all his 3D glory for the first time, and Twisted Metal’s demo will let players in on a bit of action behind the wheel – though the demo won’t show any of the new changes that forced the game’s release date delay.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Twisted Metal, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception