Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: News
Square Enix’s Avengers Project will make its public debut at E3 2019
It’s been more than two years since Marvel and Square Enix first announced their ambitious Avengers Project. Unlike the rapidly expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe (eight films have opened since the announcement, including the saga’s temporary finale, Avengers: Endgame), we haven’t learned much of anything about the game as neither the comics giant nor its developers (which include Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal) have felt the need to publicly discuss it in all that time.
Today, Marvel finally broke the silence and confirmed (via Twitter) that The Avengers Project will make its public debut ahead of this year’s E3 Expo. Representatives from Square Enix will reveal the game for the first time during their Square Enix Live presentation on June 10th.
Interestingly, the tweet also referred to the game’s title as Marvel’s Avengers:
Tune into Square Enix Live E3 2019 for the worldwide reveal of "Marvel’s Avengers"! ?️ The event begins June 10th at 6pm PT: https://t.co/SCYMbJYt8j #SquareEnixE3 #Reassemble #PlayAvengers pic.twitter.com/2fWM6ekUue
— The Avengers (@Avengers) May 29, 2019
The Avengers Project (or Marvel’s Avengers, if you prefer) is believed to be in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game doesn’t currently have a launch date, but Square Enix has said they plan to release multiple games before the end of the year.
The Pokemon Company is working on Detective Pikachu 2 for the Switch
Detective Pikachu was a surprise hit on the 3DS in 2018, and this year’s film adaptation lead to more than one critic referring to it as “The Best Video Game Movie Ever.” That’s a strange stance to take in a world where the Mortal Kombat movie exists, but the franchise’s tough-talking version of Pikachu has certainly struck a chord with fans.
Naturally, The Pokemon Company wants to cash in on the phenomenon and they’ve announced that Detective Pikachu 2 is currently in development for the Switch:
The release of the Pokemon: Detective Pikachu movie has left fans wanting more of the famous Pokemon sleuth. The Pokemon Company announced today that Creatures Inc. has plans to create a new entry in the Detective Pikachu video game series, this time for Nintendo Switch. The original Detective Pikachu game for the Nintendo 3DS ended on a cliffhanger and this upcoming game will be a conclusion to that story.
With The Pokemon Company also hard at work on this Fall’s Pokemon Sword and Shield, they weren’t ready to announce a release date for Detective Pikachu 2 just yet. Hopefully we’ll learn more about the deerstalker-wearing crimefighter’s next adventure soon.
Konami unveils full game lineup for Contra Anniversary Collection
We still aren’t sure when Konami plans to release the Contra Anniversary Collection, but we now know which games made the cut. As revealed on IGN, the compilation will include the first seven games in the series, as well as three regional variants.
Contra on the NES was a completely different game from its earlier arcade incarnation, but the version released in Japan for the Famicom was just as unique, adding between-level cutscenes and updated visuals. Konami will include all three versions as part of the Contra Anniversary Collection.
In Europe, Konami swapped out the Contra name and launched the franchise under the Probotector banner, replacing Bill and Lance with robotic doppelgangers known as RD008 and RC011. Contra III: The Alien Wars is probably the high watermark for the franchise, and it made its European debut as Super Probotector: Alien Rebels. Two years later, Contra: Hard Corps was released across the pond in a much easier version known simply as Probotector. All four games will be included in the Contra Anniversary Collection.
Rounding out the compilation is the arcade-only Super Contra (and it’s NES adaptation, Super C), as well as the portable Operation C:
Games Included in Contra Anniversary Collection
- Contra (Arcade – North America)
- Contra (NES – North America)
- Contra (Famicom – Japan)
- Super Contra (Arcade – North America)
- Super C (NES – North America)
- Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super NES – North America)
- Super Probotector: Alien Rebels (Super NES – Europe)
- Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis – North America)
- Probotector (Sega Mega Drive – Europe)
- Operation C (Game Boy – North America)
Like the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Konami will add six Japanese variants to their Contra compilation through a free update. These variants include Contra (Arcade), Super Contra (Arcade), Super C (Famicom), Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super NES), Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Mega Drive), and Operation C (Game Boy).
The Contra Anniversary Collection will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One sometime this Summer.
Doom: Sigil “MegaWAD” from John Romero is now available to download
John Romero recently delayed the release of Sigil, his new “MegaWAD” for 1993’s Doom, a few weeks ago. But the famed developer returned late last night to confirm that the new levels for the groundbreaking first person shooter are now available to download from his official website.
Doom fanatics interested in playing Sigil before anyone else will have to spring for the Soundtrack Pack, which includes the expansion and a digital download of the soundtrack from Buckethead, for €6.66 (a little over $7.00 in US currency). Everyone else will need to wait for Sigil’s free download, which will be available on May 31.
As a “MegaWAD” for Doom, Sigil will add nine new levels to the game that Romero helped co-create with John Carmack, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack in the early 90s.
Romero left id Software after the completion of Quake in 1996, but he’s been slowly working his way back into the shooter genre in recent years. In 2016, he released a pair of standalone maps for Doom (“Tech Gone Bad” and “Phobos Mission Control”) and he’s also working on an original shooter (with Adrian Carmack) known as Blackroom.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Doom (1993)
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie pushed back to 2020 so filmmakers can “make Sonic just right”
The first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie gave fans all the 1990s nostalgia they could stomach. There was “Gangsta’s Paradise” on the soundtrack and Jim Carrey doing his Jim Carrey thing as Dr. Robotnik, but the CGI rendering of Sega’s Blue Blur was just as bad (and downright nightmare-inducing) as we all expected it to be.
Somehow not anticipating this reaction, the producers vowed to change Sonic’s look before the film opened in November.
Unfortunately, we’re just a few days away from Memorial Day right now and there is definitely not enough time left for the film’s animators to transform the character into something that’s acceptable to fans. So director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter today to confirm that Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will now be released on February 14, 2020:
Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019
Presumably, we’ll get a look at the new Sonic sometime in the next few months.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Sonic the Hedgehog
Rumor: Disney is FINALLY making a movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
If you’re looking for one story that best captures what made the old “Star Wars Expanded Universe” special, it’s hard to go wrong with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
The Xbox game (which was later also released for the PC) was developed by BioWare and it took the Star Wars in sometimes startling new directions… and one those jumps was directly into the past. Knights of the Old Republic took place nearly 4,000 years before the original Star Wars, though players could still expect to find massive starships, snarky droids, Jedi Knights, and Sith Lords. Just after the release of Attack of the Clones, many fans latched onto Knights of the Old Republic as a Star Wars prequel done right.
Now, it looks like beloved characters as Revan, HK-47, Ordo, and others will finally be making their way to the big screen.
Buzzfeed is reporting that “three sources close to the project” at Lucasfilm have confirmed that a movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is currently in the works. The film is currently being written by Laeta Kalogridis (who also has credits on (Avatar, Shutter Island, and Alita: Battle Angel), and if it’s successful, it could spawn an entire KOTOR trilogy.
Disney, the current owner of the Star Wars franchise, refused to comment, but they’ve definitely got a desire to create more Star Wars stories. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a new game from Respawn, will launch this Fall. Around the same time, Jon Favreau’s The Mandolorian television series will debut on the Disney+ streaming service. And after that, Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo Ren will put an end to the Skywalker saga in this December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Further down the line, the first movie in a new trilogy from Games of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will premiere in 2022. Rian Johnson, the director of The Last Jedi, is also working on his own trilogy, but it doesn’t yet have a release date.
Where a Knights of the Old Republic film would even fit into this schedule remains to be seen.
ChessFinity is the Chess-based “Endless Runner” you’ve always wanted
Chess is the regal and sophisticated “Game of Kings” that has captivated players for more than a thousand years. Meanwhile, the “Endless Runner” is a platformer subgenre that rose to prominence only within the last decade. Naturally, someone has mashed them together to create the first game “that combines the rules and figurines of traditional Chess with the thrill of an endless runner.”
Produced by THQ Nordic’s HandyGames division, ChessFinity is currently in development for iOS and Android devices. The procedurally-generated game’s first trailer has been embedded above, and it looks about how you’d expect it to look, with players attempting to navigate a “road” littered with opposing pieces:
ChessFinity retains what makes Chess the “Game of kings,” the strategic masterpiece board game that has been played for centuries all over the world, and combines this with a new spin on how you as the player approach Chess. You won’t be confronted with an all-too smart AI that keeps on destroying your army nor with an experienced player. In ChessFinity, you’ll be confronted with procedurally-generated challenges that get harder and harder but are always beatable. Every time you play, you’ll get better and better and leave a high score for others to beat.
During the game, you can always swap to a piece that fits the situation best… of course, the mighty queen has the most movement options, but she can’t jump like a knight can. Sometimes, it may be best to sacrifice one of your pieces… we’re looking at you, pawn.
ChessFinity will be available to download for iOS and Android devices soon.
Mortal Kombat 11 was the best-selling game on all platforms in April 2019
The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella has given us a look (via Twitter) at the best-selling games from April 2019.
Unsurprisingly, Mortal Kombat 11 KOed the competition as the top game during the period. And according to Piscatella, NetherRealm’s fighter also became the first game to sit atop the charts as the best-selling individual game on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in the same the month.
Not far behind was Sony’s Days Gone. The post-apocalyptic action game was developed by Sony Bend, and while it might have been overshadowed by some of the other titles in the consolemaker’s catalog, it landed in the #2 spot for April.
The remainder of April’s best-selling games chart is made up of a lot of titles we’ve seen before, including recent releases MLB 19: The Show (#3), Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (#4), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (#7), and perennial mainstays Grand Theft Auto V (#6) and Minecraft (#14).
You can find a full list of best-selling games from April 2019 after the break. (more…)