Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Retro
Fear Effect Sedna, Scribblenauts Showdown, Bravo Team, more coming to PS Store this week
Welcome to this week’s PlayStation Store update, which sees the return of two classic franchises in radical new guises.
Square Enix will resurrect the Fear Effect franchise this week with the PS4 launch of Fear Effect Sedna, an independently-produced sequel that ditches the run-and-gun gameplay of the original games from 2000-2001 and replaces it with a slower-paced strategic style. Meanwhile, WB Games is bringing back the Scribblenauts franchise after a slightly shorter absence in Scribblenauts Showdown, a multiplayer-focused minigame collection for the PS4.
Also this week, Supermassive will release Bravo Team for the PS4. The PlayStation VR headset is required for The co-op shooter, which tries to immerse players deeper into a war-torn Eastern European city.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Scribblenauts Showdown
The Games of March 2018
Welcome to March, you’re cordially invited to a party for the Nintendo Switch’s first anniversary. While fans surely have plenty of backlogged Switch games to keep them busy, the consolemaker also has one new game on their schedule to mark this milestone. And if you’re a Switch owner, and you’re on the lookout for a new game, you might be interested in Kirby Star Allies.
Kirby’s adventures always feature a unique art style, and that’s something that’s very much in vogue with a few other games set to launch this month including The Behemoth’s Pit People and Level-5’s Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Elsewhere on the release calendar, after a short delay, it looks like Ubisoft is ready to delve deep into the heart of a doomsday cult in Far Cry 5.
Why is the Warp Zoned staff looking forward to these games? You can find out after the break, along with a complete release schedule for all of this month’s new releases. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Vita, Xbox One
Tagged Far Cry 5, Kirby Switch, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, Pit People
Outlast, Subsurface Circular, Scribblenauts Showdown, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
The Nintendo Switch’s eShop got a little scarier this week.
With the launch of Outlast: Bundle of Terror, which contains the original game and its Whistleblower expansion, players can take Red Barrels’s demented romp through an insane asylum on the go for the first time. Also now available for the Switch is Subsurface Circular, a text-based detective game from Mike Bithell (the creator of Thomas Was Alone).
And on Tuesday, Switch owners will be able to download Scribblenauts Showdown, a multiplayer party game spinoff of the long-running franchise.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Outlast, Scribblenauts Showdown
ESRB to add “In-Game Purchases” descriptor to games with loot boxes and DLC
In response to the growing furor over loot boxes, especially their similarity to gambling, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has announced plans to create a new descriptor for “In-Game Purchases.”
According to the ESRB, the “In-Game Purchases” label will be affixed to any game that gives players the chance to purchase loot boxes, in-game currency, subscriptions/season passes, and other downloadable content (such as bonus levels, skins, upgrades, and music) with real money.
“The video game industry is evolving and innovating continually, as is the ESRB rating system. ESRB’s goal is to ensure that parents have the most up-to-date and comprehensive tools at their disposal to help them decide which games are appropriate for their children,” said Patricia Vance, the ESRB’s President. “With the new ‘In-Game Purchases’ interactive element coming to physical games, parents will know when a game contains offers for players to purchase additional content. Moreover, we will be expanding our efforts to educate parents about the controls currently at their disposal to manage in-game spending before their kids press Start.”
As part of their push to educate parents on loot boxes and other digital purchases, the ESRB will also launch ParentalTools.org, a new online resource that includes…
- A detailed introduction to the new “In-Game Purchases” and other interactive elements;
- Links to step-by-step guides for setting parental controls to help manage different aspects of video game use in the home, including money and time spent playing; and
- A link to the ESRB Ratings Guide that provides an explanation of ESRB’s three-part rating system.
Players should begin to see games with the “In-Game Purchases” descriptor in stores soon.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wins “Game of the Year” at 2018 DICE Awards
Nintendo was definitely the big winner at last night’s DICE Awards presentation. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awarded 11 victories to the consolemaker, including “Game of the Year” for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Link’s newest adventure also received accolades for “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Game Design,” “Game Direction.”
Studio MDHR’s Cuphead received several awards for its outstanding sound and visual at the 2018 DICE Awards, including “Original Music Composition,” “Animation,” and “Art Direction.”
Developers for several other games strode to the stage to collect multiple awards during last night’s ceremony. That list includes Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn (“Story” and “Technical Achievement”), PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (“Action Game of the Year” and “Online Gameplay”), Nintendo’s Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together (“Family Game of the Year” and the “D.I.C.E. Sprite Award”), and Oculus’s Lone Echo/Echo Arena (“Immersive Reality Technical Achievement” and “Immersive Reality Game of the Year”).
Congratulations to everyone who won big at the 2018 DICE Awards. A complete list of all the winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Pac-Man CE 2 Plus, Payday 2, SteamWorld Dig 2, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
I feel like I say this every week, but it’s another big week for the Nintendo eShop. Over the next seven days, 18 new games will be available to download for the Switch, including a few big games that have found a new home on Nintendo’s console/handheld hybrid.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus is one of those games, and Bandai Namco will bring the wild technicolor visuals of the Pac-Man Championship Edition sub-series to the Switch for the first time, while also adding an exclusive two-player co-op mode. Nearly five years after it was first released, Overkill’s co-op shooter, Payday 2, will also be released for the Switch this week
Switch owners interested in puzzle-solving will also have a few new games to choose from this week including Typoman, a wordy platformer, and Bridge Constructor Portal, a bridge construction game that takes place within the Portal/Half-Life universe.
Over on the 3DS side of the Nintendo eShop, Image & Form has launched SteamWorld Dig 2, their acclaimed MetroidVania, on Nintendo’s handheld current device.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, Payday 2, SteamWorld Dig 2, Typoman
Monster Hunter: World is king of the jungle… and the bestselling game of January 2018
The Monster Hunter franchise is an absolute phenomenon in Japan, and Capcom has been trying to replicate its success in North America since since Monster Hunter was released for the PS2 in 2004.
It might have taken more than a decade, but it looks like the series finally broke through with Monster Hunter: World, which was the best-selling game of January 2018. According to The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz), Capcom’s unique Action RPG helped push the industry to its best performance in January since 2011.
However, Capcom wasn’t the only publisher to post a monster-sized debut in January. Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Fighter Z fought its way to the #2 slot, beating out some of 2017’s biggest titles, including Call of Duty: WWII (#3) and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (#5).
All told, video game fans purchased more than $517 million in software, as well as $278 million in hardware. Microsoft’s Xbox One, Nintendo’s Switch, and Sony’s PS4 were neck-and-neck-and-neck, and total hardware sales crossed one million units during the month.
You can find the NPD’s recounting of January 2018’s top ten best-selling titles after the break. (more…)
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will open in theaters in November 2019
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has scheduled the theatrical premiere for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on November 15, 2019.
Tim Miller, most famous for directing Deadpool, is the Executive Producer on Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, which is said to include “a mix of live action and CGI to bring the character to life.”
Believe it or not, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will have an Oscar-nominated director behind the camera. Jeff Fowler was nominated for an Oscar for “Best Animated Short” in 2005 (for Gopher Broke), and he’ll be sitting in the director’s chair. He’ll be joined on set by screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who previously worked on a pair of Team Hot Wheels movies.
Sonic the Hedgehog has starred in several dozen games since his debut in 1991, so we have no idea what the movie will look like when it comes to theaters next year. But it should be interesting.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Sonic the Hedgehog