Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: PS3
Nintendo Direct on 9/13… New NBA 2K18 cover revealed… Nintendo Switch might be getting an Achievement system
Morning! Nintendo will host their next Nintendo Direct presentation this week, 2K Games has unveiled the new Cavs-less cover for NBA 2K18, and the Switch might be getting an Achievement/Trophy system in a future update.
Full details after the break. (more…)
New Retail Releases: Metroid Samus Returns, Dishonored Death of the Outsider, NHL 18, NBA Live 18, NBA 2K18, More
Are you ready for some… video games? September is here, and so is the Fall gaming rush. Here’s what game publishers have lined up for release this week…
New entries in a big batch of sports franchises lead the way. EA Sports and 2K Games will square off on the basketball court with NBA Live 18 (PS4, Xbox One) and NBA 2K18: Early Tip-Off Edition (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One). Elsewhere on retail shelves this week, Konami goes for the goal with Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One), EA Sports comes around again with NHL 18 (PS4, Xbox One), and the checkered flag goes to NASCAR Heat 2 (PS4, Xbox One).
Samus Aran isn’t a sports star, but she can contort herself into a tight ball. The intergalactic bounty hunter will have to employ that trick, and many more, to defeat the Metroid menace in Metroid: Samus Returns. Originally released as Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy, this 3DS re-release boasts a beautiful new art style and revamped combat options.
Speaking of combat, Bethesda and Arkane return with another chapter in the Dishonored saga this week. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (PC, PS4, Xbox One) introduces players to a new protagonist, and asks them to kill a god. A big adventure also awaits players who take on NIS America’s Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, which will be available this week for the PS4 and Vita.
Finally this week, things take a turn to 2D with Ubisoft’s launch of Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition for the Switch.
A complete list of this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Splatoon 2 is swimming in green ink as the best-selling game from July 2017
The first year for Nintendo’s Switch continues to go swimmingly, and another exclusive release for the console has claimed the top spot in The NPD Group’s monthly tally of best-selling games.
Splatoon 2 was the top-selling game in July, beating out Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (#2) and a resurgent Grand Theft Auto V (#3). Three other Switch games managed to crack the Top 20, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#5), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#7), and Arms (#17).
According to GamesIndustry.biz, the Switch was also the best-selling console in July. Nintendo’s new device is so popular that it helped push monthly sales to $588 million, a 19% increase over July 2016.
The remainder of the Top 20 was made up of the usual suspects, including Tom Clancy games (Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege at #9 and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands at #11) and three Call of Duty games (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered at #12, Call of Duty: Black Ops III at #13, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare at #15).
The NPD’s complete “Top 20 Best-Selling Games” from July 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Arms, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy XII, Grand Theft Auto V, Injustice 2, Mario Kart 8, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Minecraft, NBA 2K17, NPD, Overwatch, Splatoon 2, Tekken 7, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Yacht Club will bring Shovel Knight’s King Knight campaign to PAX West 2017
Ready Thy Shovel!
Yacht Club Games has announced that Shovel Knight‘s final expansion/spinoff, the King Knight campaign, will be unveiled during this year’s PAX West expo:
You are hereby invited to join us on a royal adventure!
We'll be at PAX West Sep. 1st-4th with King Knight in our most glamorous game yet! pic.twitter.com/hsw70KH6Ib
— Yacht Club Games (@YachtClubGames) August 1, 2017
Yacht Club’s Nick Wozniak recently described King Knight’s campaign as “light-hearted” and “goofy,” so it likely won’t be as sad as Specter of Torment.
Shovel Knight’s King Knight campaign is expected to launch later this year, and will be available as a free expansion for all owners of the Treasure Trove bundle for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Xbox One, and mobile devices. The regal adventure will also be available as a standalone download on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
The 1-2 punch of Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 sit atop the best-selling games list for June 2017
Fighting game fans have proven, once again, that the genre is alive and well. According to the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games in June, Tekken 7 (#1) and Injustice 2 (#2) took the top two spots. Nintendo’s bizarro take on the genre, Arms, also made a strong debut in the #5 spot.
Speaking of the Switch, Nintendo’s newest console continued to push the game industry to new heights in June, as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#6) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#7) stayed in the top ten.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella said: “The Nintendo Switch has been the catalyst for year-to-date growth. Year-to-date, hardware spending has grown 19% versus 2016 to $1.4 billion.”
However, older titles also performed well in June, including Grand Theft Auto V (#3), Overwatch (#9), and Minecraft (#17). 2015’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III (#12) even managed to outsell 2016’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (#15).
A complete look at the Top 20 for June 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Arms, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, FIFA 17, Forza Horizon 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Injustice 2, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, MLB The Show 17, NBA 2K17, NPD, Overwatch, Tekken 7, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
PS Store This Week: Superhot, Fortnite, Orcs Must Die Unchained, more
The mob is marching on the PlayStation Store as three games that are all about crowd control will make their digital debut this week.
Team Superhot will bring their unique first person shooter, Superhot (and its VR-focused spinoff, Superhot VR), to the PS4 this Friday. Both games pit the player against an army of “Red Guys,” but don’t worry, “Time Moves Only When You Move” in Superhot.
Joining Superhot on the PlayStation Store this Friday is Fortnite, a new “action building” game from Epic Games. In Fortnite’s post-apocalyptic reality, players have to build up the defenses in their base, but also go on the offensive against the game’s mutant attackers.
Also available to download for the PS4 this week is Orcs Must Die! Unchained. An army of Orcs are making a beeline for your base, but players will be able to “slice them, burn them, skewer them, and launch them” in this tower defense game.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)
Max Brooks’s Minecraft: The Island novel is now available at bookstores everywhere
Mojang teamed up with Max Brooks (the author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide) to create the first official tie-in novel based on Minecraft. Titled Minecraft: The Island, the book is targeted at a younger audience and it’s available on store shelves today.
When writing Minecraft: The Island, Brooks found inspiration in classics like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe to tell his own tale of survival and mystery:
Washed up on a beach, the lone castaway looks around the shore. Where am I? Who am I? And why is everything made of blocks? But there isn’t much time to soak up the sun. It’s getting dark, and there’s a strange new world to explore!
The top priority is finding food. The next is not becoming food. Because there are others out there on the island… like the horde of zombies that appear after night falls. Crafting a way out of this mess is a challenge like no other. Who could build a home while running from exploding creepers, armed skeletons, and an unstoppable tide of hot lava? Especially with no help except for a few makeshift tools and sage advice from an unlikely friend: a cow.
In this world, the rules don’t always make sense, but courage and creativity go a long way. There are forests to explore, hidden underground tunnels to loot, and undead mobs to defeat. Only then will the secrets of the island be revealed.
You can read the first chapter right now at the novel’s official website.
Summer Games Done Quick 2017 raises more than $1.7 million for Doctors Without Borders
Summer Games Done Quick, an annual speedrunning marathon that benefits Doctors Without Borders, closed the book on another successful event this weekend. According to the organizers (via Twitter), Summer Games Done Quick 2017 smashed all expectations and managed to raise a total of $1,760,400 for the charity. That figure easily beat last year’s total of $1,294,139, and the bar has definitely been raised for Awesome Games Done Quick 2018 in January.
We here at Warp Zoned want to give a hearty congratulations to all the runners who took part in Summer Games Done Quick 2017, and all the donors who helped make it such a success. And in case you missed out on some of the amazing runs, you can rewatch the entire marathon right now on YouTube.