Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: DS
Super Bonk added to Virtual Console
It’s Monday morning and Nintendo has updated the Wii Shop Channel and the DSiWare Store with new games for all.
The biggest game in this week’s batch (or at least, the one with the biggest head) is Super Bonk. The Super NES classic was Bonk’s first (and in America, the only) foray onto the system.
If headbutting platformers aren’t your thing, the WiiWare service will see the addition of Planet Fish, a puzzle game set in an aquarium.
The DSiWare Shop will receive three new games this week: A Fairy Tale, a puzzle game where fairies have to save a magical kingdom; Absolute Baseball, a baseball management sim; and Anonymous Notes Chapter 1: From The Abyss, an episodic RPG with an “infinitely extending dungeon.”
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
New Releases: Karaoke Revolution Glee 2, Carnival Games Kinect, Super Meat Boy, More
If March was a mad month for new game releases, then you can be forgiven if you didn’t realize April was dead on arrival as big releases are few and far between in the fourth month of the year.
Let’s see…
- There’s Karaoke Revolution Glee: Volume 2 on the Wii.
- 2K Games brings Carnival Games to the Kinect with Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do on the Xbox 360.
- And the Super Meat Boy: Ultra Edition (PC) is the first boxed edition of the insane platformer.
The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Spider-Man: Edge of Time slinging into stores this Fall
Scheduled to make its worldwide debut at WonderCon this Saturday, Activision has announced that Spider-Man: Edge of Time will be available this Fall.
Once again developed by Beenox, Edge of Time builds on the multi-world concept seen in the wallcrawler’s last game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. This time out, Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara) must reach across time to prevent the untimely death of The Amazing Spider-Man (Peter Parker).
“At Beenox, we are constantly listening to the fans and looking for new and creative ways to innovate the gameplay experience for them,” said Dee Brown, Studio Head, Beenox. “We want to create a totally distinct experience in Spider-Man: Edge of Time by working with Peter David [co-creator of the Spider-Man 2099 comic book series] on the story and creating this urgent, high-stakes experience where time is working against you and the fate of Spider-Man hangs in the balance.”
Like Shattered Dimensions, players will be able to control both Spider-Men as they attempt to fix the frabic of time. Gameplay details are currently harder to come by than a One More Day fan, but Activision is touting a “cause-and-effect” mechanic that is said to cause changes to one timeline as players make choices in the other.
Which platforms the game will be available for weren’t revealed, but Shattered Dimensions was released on the DS, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, so I’d expect a similar release schedule for Spider-Man: Edge of Time.
Cars 2: The Game races into 3D on PS3
Disney’s Cars 2 will be racing to theaters this Summer and, as expected, the Pixar production will be towing a video game adaptation behind it.
Cars 2 on the PS3 will take things a step further by bursting out of the screen in full 3D. If the game detects a 3D TV, the it will automatically adjust so gamers “experience 3D in every aspect of gameplay” including combat racing, menus and multiplayer.
“The advancement of 3D technology will allow us to immerse the player into the Cars 2 game environment in a whole new way,” said John Blackburn, vice president and general manager of Avalanche Software, developer of Cars 2. “The 3D effects will ratchet up gameplay in ways that will have fans’ hearts pounding when they embark on dangerous spy missions, while our innovative multiplayer with four simultaneous 3D ports will bring a whole new dimension to PS3 gaming.”
Cars 2 will be available for the DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on June 21st.
Nintendo Download for 3/28/11
This week’s Nintendo Download is a bit thin as the consolemaker has no WiiWare or Virtual Console titles to add to the Wii Shop Channel.
However, this week will see the release of new demo versions of two previously available games: Dart Rage, a dart-throwing simulator; and Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 2, a “poetic brain-trainer” for the 3 to 5 set.
This week’s DSiWare releases include Simply Solitaire and Faceez: Monsters!. You can find out more about both of these titles after the break. (more…)
New Releases: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, 3rd Birthday, WWE All-Stars, More
While the impending release of the 3DS still dominates the coming soon lists, there will be plenty of new games available when the calendar skips to the week ahead.
Fresh off Tiger Woods’ victory on Morning Drive, his namesake game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, will be available in stores this week for the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. It’ll be joined by Square Enix’s long-awaited PSP sequel to Parasite Eve, The 3rd Birthday.
More sports action dominates this week’s new releases including the arcade wrestling title WWE All-Stars (PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 and PS2!) as well as a pair of racing games: Shift 2: Unleashed (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) and NASCAR 2011 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360).
Finally, everyone’s favorite hack and slash series returns for another round of ancient Chinese warfare. I refer, of course, to Koei’s Dynasty Warriors 7 (PS3, Xbox 360).
The full list of the rest of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged NASCAR 2011: The Game, Shift 2: Unleashed, The 3rd Birthday, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, WWE All-Stars
Weinstein Company gets into the game business
Famous film brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have announced that their company, the creatively named The Weinstein Company, has started a video game division. The equally creatively named TWC Games will tap into the back catalog of The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films to develop and publish video games for mobile, social, and console platforms. Among the Weinstein/Dimension films that could get the game treatment are Scream, Hellraiser, Halloween and Children of the Corn.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if TWC Games teamed up with Freddy and Jason rightsholder Warner Bros. to create the ultimate slasher movie fighting game of Ghostface vs Pinhead vs Michael Myers vs “He Who Walks Behind the Rows” vs Freddy Kruegger vs Jason Voorhees? Considering the fact that Warner Bros. also owns Mortal Kombat maker NetherRealm Studios, it’s practically fate.
TWC Games will be working with Beefy Media, who has worked with Capcom in the past on a ton of projects, to bring their video game dreams to fruition. The consulting company will work with TWC Games to “foster relationships with publishers and create high quality games.”
Bob Weinstein, The Weinstein Company’s co-chairman, is thrilled about the announcement: “The video game marketplace is changing at such a rapid rate. With all of the digital platforms, there are so many opportunities to broaden our audience with compelling, high quality, cost-efficient, video game entertainment.”
Seriously, someone needs to convince Bob and Harvey to make that monster crossover happen.
Guitar Hero III tops biggest moneymakers list
Guitar Hero may be dead (for now at least), but the franchise has certainly left its mark on the gaming world. In a report released by The NPD Group yesterday, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was crowned the king of all video games… in terms of total sales dollars that is. The music game has brought $830.9 million into Activision’s coffers, no doubt thanks to the expensive guitar bundle you see above.
Activision can also lay claim to the number two game on the list, Call of Duty: Black Ops (even though gamers have bought more copies of CODBLOPS than any other game ever). All told, the publisher snapped up half of the spots in the top ten.
But when it comes to printing money, the only other name that comes to mind is Nintendo. The consolemaker has four games in the top ten: both versions of Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii. The only non-Activision/Nintendo title in the top ten was MTV Games’ Rock Band.
Interestingly, no game on the list was released before 2007, but CNBC pointed out that the list may not be entirely accurate as Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 18 million copies back in 1990 (before The NPD Group started tracking game sales). Originally retailing for $50, the game’s $900 million dollar tally would surpass every other game on the list.
Hit the jump for the full top ten. (more…)