Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Mobile
IndieCade East 2014 After-Report: Day 1 – The Calm Before the Storm
This year’s IndieCade East was held at the Museum of Moving Image in New York City from Friday, February 14 to Sunday, February 16. There were dozens of games available to play – some were being showcased, while others were included in installments within the museum itself. There were also talks, including keynotes, and many of the game developers were on-hand to discuss their games… and check out what other people were making. It was an exciting weekend, and Warp Zoned was there to drink it all in. (more…)
Hitman’s mobile debut is a strategy game titled Hitman Go
The team over at Square Enix Montréal has announced that they are making a mobile game in the Hitman franchise. The new game is called Hitman Go, and they have described it as “a turn-based strategy game with beautifully rendered diorama-style set pieces.” You will be able to avoid your foes by “strategically navigat[ing] fixed spaces on a grid,” and all of your favorite toys will be available to you: “disguises, distractions, sniper rifles and even 47’s iconic Silverballers.”
The developers at Square Enix Montréal were given the chance to come up with a game that “still retained the essence of what a Hitman game is” and make it separate and yet in tandem with IO Interactive’s AAA Hitman game. They used a small team, pitched the idea to IOI, and voila! It’s nearly ready. “This was a lot of fun and we decided to develop something quite different and, we hope, totally unexpected.”
Well, I know I wasn’t expecting a Hitman mobile game, of all things. They don’t have a date yet, but their “next update may be sooner than you think as we’ve been working on something else here at Square Enix Montréal that fits perfectly within the Hitman fantasy.” My, they have been busy!
Angry Birds Stella will fly high this Fall
As promised yesterday, Rovio has revealed the first details about the newest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Stella. Is it supposed to be Angry Birds for girls? Don’t girls already love the Angry Birds games?
Anyway, Stella is a small pink bird and she’ll be joined in her battle against the crafty swine by her five “friends/frenemies,” who are currently without names. Wait, frenemies? Is it supposed to be Angry Birds for mean girls? Perhaps it’s an Angry Birds/Disney Princesses crossover thing as the big bird in the back is wearing a crown (is that Queen Stella?). And technically, there are no pigs in this image, so who knows if they’ll even be part of the game?
But one thing we do know is that Angry Birds Stella will be about “serious issues.” According to Rovio, Stella and her friends/frenemies will “have to deal with some serious issues in order to protect their friendship and the environment they live in.”
Angry Birds Stella will be available this Fall, presumably for mobile devices (though that’s also unconfirmed). Until then, Rovio has promised that regular updates will be available at the game’s official website. Seriously though, frenemies?
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Stella
Mysterious “New Angry Birds” game to be announced tomorrow
The official Angry Birds Twitter account has begun teasing the next game in the pig-hating series:
Big adventure with new birds coming soon! #NewAngryBirds pic.twitter.com/DWdZ7fBrXq
— Angry Birds (@AngryBirds) February 12, 2014
The game currently has no title, though Rovio has attempted to get people talking by tagging the post with the “#NewAngryBirds” hashtag. The image used to tease the untitled game is a bit on the mysterious side, so who knows what Rovio has planned for the “new birds.” They’re just silhouettes, but I’m liking the art style so far. And I’ll go out on a limb and assume it’s in development for mobile platforms.
A second tweet confirmed that Rovio plans to reveal more details about the game, including its title, tomorrow.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Stella
Square Enix trademarks “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” in the US
Get ready to start theorizing! Square Enix has trademarked “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” and “The Seeds of Salvation” here in the good old USA. What could it mean?
There’s plenty of speculation going around. Siliconera thinks it could be for remakes of Dragon Quest Monsters or Dragon Quest VII, or perhaps even a smartphone remake of Dragon Quest III. “Luminaries of the Legendary Line” could also be interpreted as an Americanization of the currently Japan-only Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes. The Wii/Wii U MMORPG is a huge hit in Japan and it’s suprising it hasn’t made its way across the Pacific yet. But I personally love what Technology Tell had to say about the alliteration:
As you may recall, the last four DS games in the series that we received were Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, and Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.
So yeah, both titles likely refer to future Dragon Quest games. And with so many games in the series, the possibilities are close to endless.
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us wins ten statues at 2014 DICE Awards
When Santa Claus asks if you’ve been naughty or nice, if you’re a game developer, you might want to answer “naughty.” During last night’s DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us took home the top prize in ten categories (out of 13 possible nominations). The only other game to win multiple awards was BioShock Infinite, which took home two (Action Game of the Year and Oustanding Achievement in Original Music Composition).
With such a big haul, The Last of Us naturally took home Game of the Year honors. The game also won Adventure Game of the Year, Oustanding Achievement in Game Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Story, Oustanding Achievement in Animation, Oustanding Achievement in Art Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Oustanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Character Performance (for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie).
A few other games did manage to wrestle a few awards away from Naughty Dog, but that’s mostly because The Last of Us didn’t qualify for every category. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Downloadable Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds won Handheld Game of the Year, and Plants vs Zombies 2 won Casual Game of the Year.
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Diablo III, FIFA 14, Forza Motorsport 5, Grand Theft Auto V, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Plants vs Zombies 2, Super Mario 3D World, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, World of Tanks, XCOM: Enemy Within
EA wrangled up in “ratingsgate” controversy over Dungeon Keeper
It seems that EA Games, everyone’s favourite publishing powerhouse, is intent on winning the title of Worst Company in America for a third year running. Not content with the bug-ridden release of Battlefield 4 and the lawsuits that arrived in its aftermath, the company has been accused of rigging the ratings system for the updated mobile version of Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper. The game, which has garnered less than stellar reviews, has employed a unique ratings system. When the in-game pop-up asks you to “Rate Your Experience,” gifting the game five stars will deliver you straight to the Google Play store. However, dare you wish to give the title a star rating below five, players will be whisked away, not to the Google Play store, but to an online feedback form, circumventing the Google Play store rating altogether.
The reason for this? An EA spokesperson has issued the following statement:
“We’re always looking at new ways to gather player feedback so that we can continue to improve our games. The ‘rate this app’ feature in the Google Play version of Dungeon Keeper was designed to help us collect valuable feedback from players who don’t feel the game is worth a top rating. We wanted to make it easier for more players to send us feedback directly from the game if they weren’t having the best experience. Players can always continue to leave any rating they want on the Google Play Store.”
As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. However, preventing players from offering a rating other than “Perfect” does not seem like a noble endeavour, no matter what the excuse is. If EA was really concerned about feedback, its developers could read the reviews left on the Google Play store. What this new feature amounts to is a deliberate circumvention of the ratings system in order to inflate the game’s score.
Players can choose to rate the game separately on the store outside the game, and as a result of “ratingsgate,” the one-star ratings are exploding. It seems that what we have witnessed is the ugly mutation of a cult classic into yet another freemium cash cow from EA’s mobile division.
[Source: Eurogamer]
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Dungeon Keeper
The 90s Arcade Racer development is going well; Summer 2014 launch planned
There’s been an update about The 90s Arcade Racer over at Nicalis news blog. The developer is excited to announce that porting the game from PC to Wii U is going well, despite having its “fair share of challenges.” There are a few things that aren’t translating to Wii U (and likely won’t be able to work on other consoles, either).
However, the developers have emphasized that “fidelity, image quality and a smooth framerate are our priorities,” and they are happy so far. The main goal for them is to make a “fun arcade experience,” and they want for there to be 30 cars you can race against in each race.
There’s no release date yet, but Nicalis’ goal right now is a mid-2014 release for The 90s Arcade Racer on the PC and the Wii U.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, Wii U
Tagged 90s Super GP