Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Mobile
Tumblestone will bring back the multiplayer puzzle game this Fall
The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, besides having one of the coolest company names in the business, released The Bridge to almost universal acclaim last year on the PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Now they’re back with their next game: Tumblestone.
Tumblestone is a multiplayer match-3 puzzler that looks like a mashup of Bust-A-Move‘s cannon and Puzzle Fighter‘s block-filled stack. Like any good multiplayer puzzler, matching three squares of the same color will dump them on the player to your right and the last one standing wins. In addition to the main multiplayer mode, Tumblestone will also include a cooperative multiplayer mode, several single-player modes, and multiple cannon operators on the character select screen (presumably, each will have their own skillset when it comes to manning the cannon).
Tumblestone is currently scheduled to be released this Fall for PC platforms (PC/Mac/Linux) via Steam. The game will also be released for tablets and the Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360) at a later date. If you want to give Tumblestone a playthrough before its released, Ty Taylor of The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild will appear at this weekend’s SXSW festival and April’s PAX East expo to demonstrate the game’s multiplayer mode.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, Xbox 360
Tagged PAX East 2014, Tumblestone
PopCap forms “HD Team” to bring Peggle 2 and an original game to consoles
The “HD Team” within PopCap Games that produced the recently released Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare will continue their work in the console realm.
“PopCap is now structured in the way we have standard PopCap mobile development and then PopCap HD, which is entirely focused on bringing games to PC and console,” Gary Clay, PopCap’s Marketing Manager said.
The team definitely has their plate full. In the near term, they plan to create new content for Garden Warfare, with the first update available in March. They are also working on an update to Peggle 2 as well as porting the game to additional consoles besides the Xbox One. Finally, PopCap HD is also developing an original console game unrelated to any previous PopCap property.
Looks like my dream of a Heavy Weapon sequel has been dashed once more.
[Source: Digital Spy]
First Shin Megami Tensei game coming to iOS next month
“The struggle between law and chaos… what is right and wrong?”
For the first time, the original Shin Megami Tensei will be available in the United States! Atlus is bringing the first game in the series to the iOS App Store, giving mobile gamers a chance to get addicted to these games. Now you can start from the very beginning and spend 40-60 hours with your favorite device: your phone.
For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, here’s a synopsis:
Step away from clear notions of good and evil, right and wrong. There are demons in the world, but whether they are ally or enemy depends on player actions. In Tokyo 199X, a mysterious murder leads to the emergence of demons and an escalating global conflict thanks to the rise of a charismatic rebel leader in possession of a demon army, and external forces that wish to crush such threats with extreme measures. As the protagonist, players have an unusual ability (via computer program) to communicate with and recruit demons to fight for them. As they collect demons, the program will allow you to store, summon, and fuse them to create the right team to negotiate the ever-changing balance of powers, and fight for the kind of world you ultimately wish to live in.
Shin Megami Tensei will be available on the App Store on March 18 for $7.99.
Next Tony Hawk game is exclusively in development for mobile devices
It has been revealed that Tony Hawk’s new game, which he teased last week, will be a mobile exclusive. Hawk confirmed to Bloomberg that he is working on a mobile game now: “We’re working on a game for mobile devices this year.”
“We’ve never gone exclusively in that direction yet so I’m excited because, with the amount of time people are spending on their phones and their tablets playing games, we’ve never had our own game in that space so I’m excited to provide one finally,” Hawk continued.
According to CVG, Hawk told CNBC in October of 2013 that he wanted to see his series on mobile platforms, because so many people are playing games there. “You just have to adapt and you have to realise where people are going to actually play their games,” Hawk said. “It used to just be Nintendo and PlayStation, and now it’s all kind of devices. So you’ve got to learn to adapt what you know from the technology into those areas. I’ve been wanting to do a mobile game for a long time.”
Hawk had previously told IGN that he wanted to bring his games to next-generation consoles as well, so who knows – maybe there are PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U versions in the mix somewhere down the line as well.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Tony Hawk's Shred Session
Warner Bros. is making a Minecraft movie
What kind of film could you create out of a video game with no characters, no plot, and no consistent world from player to player? I don’t know, but when you’re talking about the most popular game in the world, Warner Bros. is willing to give it a try. Deadline is reporting that the movie studio has reached a deal with Mojang to create a movie based on Minecraft.
The Minecraft movie will be produced by Roy Lee, who is one of the masterminds behind this year’s massively popular The Lego Movie. Jill Messick, a producer on Mean Girls, will also help bring Minecraft to the silver screen. It is much too early to discuss writers, directors, or actors, but might I suggest Quentin Tarantino for all three? Nah, I’m only joking… I think.
Warner Bros. is no stranger to the world of video games. In addition to producing the next Mortal Kombat movie, the company is one of the few to find success in game publishing thanks to its WB Games label.
The Walking Dead Season 2: A House Divided will be released next week
Telltale Games has announced that the second episode of The Walking Dead Season 2, “A House Divided,” will be available to download for the PC and the PS3 (from the PlayStation Store) next Tuesday, March 4. The game’s Xbox Live Arcade and iOS App Store release date will be confirmed “at a later date.” But I’d bet good money that both versions will be available sometime around March 4.
For “A House Divided,” Telltale has tapped Michael Madsen to play the mysterious Carver. What does Carver want? You’ll have to play the game to find out. Like the previous episodic editions, The Walking Dead Season 2’s second episode has been priced at $4.99. All five episodes from Season 2 can also be pre-purchased through the $19.99 Season Pass. If you plan to follow the entire story of Clementine’s survival, it’s a good deal.
Vita owners will be happy to learn that Telltale also confirmed that The Walking Dead Season 2 will be released for Sony’s handheld. The first two episodes will be available to download in late March.
Beatbuddy will be swimming onto consoles and tablets soon
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, one of our favorite games from 2013, won’t be confined to the PC for much longer. The game’s developer, Threaks, has exclusively told us that Beatbuddy will soon be swimming onto “tablets and consoles.” Which tablets? Which consoles? Threaks’ Wolf Lang wouldn’t say, but I’m hoping the answer will eventually be “all of them.”
Lang would go on to say that the tablet version will appear first as development on the console edition continues. Threaks is very proud of the touch controls they’ve developed for Beatbuddy as he also said, “The touch controls we developed almost play better then the game pad!”
If you want to see what all the fuss is about right now, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians was recently added to Humble Indie Bundle 11 and it can be yours if you pay more than the average (currently $4.64). In addition to Beatbuddy, the bundle includes a ridiculous number of great games including Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, Monaco, Guacamelee, and many others.
More details on the tablet edition of Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians will be released ahead of this year’s GDC conference.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, GDC 2014
Candy Crush creators King officially abandon their “Candy” trademark
In a move that makes all the sense in the world, King, creators of the massive mobile hit Candy Crush Saga, withdrew their trademark for the word “Candy,” per the US Patent and Trademark Office. When word got out last month that the developer had filed a trademark application for the word, it sparked a furor in the gaming community. Is this sudden change of heart due to all the bad press King has received due to their actions? They aren’t willing to say, but they did release this statement to Kotaku:
King has withdrawn its trademark application for Candy in the U.S., which we applied for in February 2013 before we acquired the early rights to Candy Crusher. Each market that King operates in is different with regard to IP. We feel that having the rights to Candy Crusher is the best option for protecting Candy Crush in the U.S. market. This does not affect our E.U. trademark for Candy and we continue to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP.
Our long national nightmare is over (for now).
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged candy crush saga