Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: DS
Nintendo Download: Mario & Sonic at 2012 Olympics demo, Mutant Mudds, more
Here’s your Nintendo Download for the week:
Mutant Mudds (3DS eShop) – Armed with a heavy-duty water cannon, Max must vanquish his nemeses, the Mutant Mudds, by blasting and hovering his way across the soiled landscape to seek out mysterious Water Sprites.
Nintendo has also uploaded a demo of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games to the 3DS eShop.
Flipper 2: Flush the Goldfish (DSiWare) – A little boy has been kidnapped by an evil monster, there is no time to waste! Flush has to act quickly and resque his best friend and owner. Luckily Flush has a super secret robot suit… that will make things easier!
Lola’s Alphabet Train (DSiWare) – Learning the alphabet has never been more fun than in Lola’s Alphabet Train – the most exciting educational kids’ game! Designed for 3-7 year olds, The Alphabet Train is actually five exciting games in one.
Newton vs. The Horde (WiiWare) – Scientists are being attacked by a horde of vicious monsters. Use physics to squash, skewer and explode those nasty creatures and do whatever you can to help our scientist friends survive.
Daily Scoop: January 24, 2012 – All-day Gold Box Event!
Wee! Amazon’s got an all-day Video Game Gold Box Event for us! Here’s the dilly, yo:
6 AM PST/9 AM EST: Bring your eyepatch and sword for this exciting DS adventure – It’s Lego Pirates of the Carribbean for Nintendo DS for just $14.99!
8 AM PST/11 AM EST: A multiplayer Dance-Fitness game for Wii that gives players a great full body workout in a fun dance class environment!
11 AM PST/2 PM EST: Enjoy the biggest game release of all time
Our guess… Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, duh!
3 PM PST/6 PM EST: Enjoy this Wii fitness game with your entire family!
6 PM PST/9 PM EST: Rock out with your own guitar.
Our guess… Rocksmith
8 PM PST/11 PM EST: “I Gotta Feeling”… this game will make you move.
Our guess… The Black Eyed Peas Experience
And their Deal of the Day all day is Dead Island, which you can get today only for $25 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Whew. Scoop ’em up!
Today’s gamer t-shirt is sure to make Dr. Who fans happy: (more…)
Nintendo Download: Resident Evil Revelations demo, Lock N Chase, more
While Resident Evil Revelations, and the Circle Pad Pro accessory, are still a few weeks away, gamers will be able to give it a try starting today thanks to the new 3DS demo program!
But don’t let me make you think a demo is the biggest addition to the various Nintendo download services today. The Big N has also added one of my favorite Game Boy games, Lock N Chase, to the 3DS eShop. Lock N Chase may be a Pac-Man clone that replaces the generic maze with a bank and dots with cold, hard cash, but it is also ridiculously fun.
Here’s what else you’ll be able to buy from the Nintendo Download today:
Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors (WiiWare) – The legend of Stonekeep requires a new hero: you. Explore creepy dungeons, defeat monsters and take their loot in this fantasy RPG.
Anne’s Doll Studio: Gothic Collection (DSiWare) – Dress up a stylish doll by choosing from a wide range of Gothic-style dresses and accessories.
Gaia’s Moon (DSiWare) – Something strange is causing changes to the balance of energy in Gaia. Use your skills to discover who’s behind these changes and return harmony to the Gaia system.
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii
Tagged Resident Evil Revelations
New Releases: Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition
We continue our slow slog through a January that’s almost completely devoid of new releases.
This week, the biggest new game available is actually a game that’s over a year old. Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition is a super-sized version of the PS3 racing sim that includes the “new and improved features and functionality from all downloadable game updates through Spec 2.0 right on the disc.” If you love racing sims and, for some reason, haven’t purchased GT5 yet, then this is the version to get.
The only other new release available this week is Kids Learn Spelling and Grammar: A+ Edition, an educational cartridge for the DS.
Sigh. Maybe something interesting will come along next week…
Posted in DS, News, PS3
Tagged Gran Turismo 5
Shocker: Modern Warfare 3 leads December NPD list
The NPD Group has released their list of the bestselling games in December and, once again, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 tops the list. The shooter was joined in the top ten by its comrade in arms, Battlefield 3, which gunned down the number five slot.
The rest of the list includes a cross-section of some of this year’s absolute biggest games including Just Dance 3 at #2, Skyrim at #3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations at #7, and Batman: Arkham City at #10. And Nintendo’s 3DS is finally coming alive with two titles in the top ten: Mario Kart 7 at #4 and Super Mario 3D Land at #9.
Here’s the complete NPD Top Ten for the month of December 2011:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC)
2. Just Dance 3 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3)
3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
5. Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
6. Madden NFL 12 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)
7. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
8. NBA 2K12 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
9. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
10. Batman: Arkham City (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Just Dance 3, Madden NFL 12, Mario Kart 7, NBA 2K12, NPD, Super Mario 3D Land, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Nintendo Download: Zen Pinball 3D, Hip Hop King, more
Are you ready for today’s Nintendo Download? This week, we’ll get new games featuring pinball, hip hop, the world’s greatest thief, and more pinball…
Zen Pinball 3D – (3DS eShop) – Zen Pinball 3D for Nintendo 3DS brings an incredible stereoscopic 3D experience to the acclaimed video game pinball series for the first time, featuring four original, beautifully crafted tables.
101 Pinball World (DSiWare) – Complete special objectives to earn fun bonuses as you shoot your ball through pipes, up ramps and around mind-blowing obstacles. Choose from 2 game modes, Quick Play and Random, and blast through over 100 fun tables on 4 exciting worlds filled with eye-popping details.
Hip Hop King: Rytmik Edition (DSiWare) – Create rhythmic and melodic themes or compose whole songs using more than 170 carefully selected sound samples of drums, percussion, bass, melodic instruments and phonograph scratches.
Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral (WiiWare) – Bad news, detective! There’s trouble in Moscow, Russia. St Basil’s Cathedral has disintegrated! All that’s left is a giant pile of sand. Carmen Sandiego is back and only you can foil her V.I.L.E plans. Travel the globe, solve brain-twisting math puzzles, and catch the villain behind the Crumbling Cathedral.
Zelda Producer: Gameplay comes first, where a game fits in timeline is a coincidence
You didn’t think the arguments over the Legend of Zelda’s official timeline were over did you?
After revealing the official timeline to the English-speaking world, GlitterBerri has continued to translate Hyrule Historia on a page-by-page basis. Through her (and her team’s) work, she has discovered that the official timeline is not quite the pre-planned story bible that some fans hoped it would be.
Instead, on page 238, series producer Eiji Aonuma falls back on the traditional Nintendo party line. He confirms that the gameplay hook of a Zelda game is created first and where it fits within the timeline is actually just a coincidence:
Chapter 2, “The Full History of Hyrule,” arranges the series in chronological order so it’s easier to understand, but from the very beginning, Zelda games have been developed with the top priority of focusing on the game mechanics rather than the story. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the first installment of the series I was involved in, the main theme was how to create a game with pleasant controls in a 3D world. Or in the DS game, Phantom Hourglass, the focus was having comfortable stylus controls. Finally, in the most recent game, Skyward Sword, we focused on an easy way to swing the sword using the Wii motion plus.
Thinking of that way of developing the games, it may be correct to say that the story is an appendix to that. I even think that setting Skyward Sword as the “first story,” was merely a coincidence.
So the bottom line is that “The Official Zelda Timeline” is nothing more than an after-the-fact creation used to make Hyrule Historia more enticing to fans. And that’s fine. The timeline as stated still fits together rather elegantly.
But I have to admit, knowing that there was never a plan does put a bit of a damper on the timeline. Especially since Skyward Sword had been billed as the “first story” in the Zelda series since it was announced.
Nintendo Download: January 5, 2012
Welcome to another week of Nintendo downloads of games you’ve never heard of. Well, that’s not entirely true. The completely free Swapnote application for your 3DS is a pretty cool little instant messaging system. Scribbling on the 3DS with a stylus sure beats trying to coax a text message out of my cell phone!
Here’s what else Nintendo has made available to download this week:
Samurai Sword Destiny (3DS eShop) – Encounter deadly ambushes, invade enemy castle rooftops and square off against seemingly indomitable opponents to find your missing brother.
Quick Fill Q (DSiWare) – Q is a spherical creature who rolls on without stopping. Players must use swift thinking and precise controls to fill holes that are in his way so Q can keep on rolling.
3 Heroes – Crystal Soul (DSiWare) – As the Crystal Champion, you must protect the kingdom of Crystennia by defeating monsters and collecting various kinds of natural energy released by them.
Zombii Attack (WiiWare) – In an infected metropolitan city over-flowing with hungry zombies, you must stay alive armed with a only a giant slingshot and ammo such as anvils, tires, experimental highly-explosive z-bombs and even the undead themselves.