Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: PSP
FIFA Soccer 13 will bring the innovation this Fall
EA Sports has officially announced that FIFA Soccer 13 will be available this Fall on the… deep breath… 3DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360, and iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad.
The latest addition to EA’s footie franchise promises to take a few revolutionary steps forward with an improved Career Mode, improved online play, and more than 500 officially licensed teams (clubs in soccer-speak).
The publisher has also revealed that big changes are coming to the on-field action, which you can read more about after the break. (more…)
Prototype 2, Kinect Star Wars lead April 2012 NPD report
Activision’s Prototype 2 took the top spot in the latest NPD report of bestselling games. Another new release, the Xbox 360-exclusive Kinect Star Wars, “did the Han Solo” all the way up to #2.
The remainder of the list is overflowing with familiar faces from last Fall including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (#3), NBA 2K12 (#5), and Just Dance 3 (#9). It wasn’t a Fall release, but Mass Effect 3 continues to hold strong at #8 now that the controversy over the game’s ending has come to… an end.
In terms of dollars made, the game industry suffered a 32% drop in overall sales from April 2011 ($630.4 million versus $930.9 million) when Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat ruled the charts.
You can check out the NPD Group’s complete list of bestsellers for April 2012 after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Just Dance 3, Kinect Star Wars, Mario Party 9, Mass Effect 3, MLB 12: The Show, NBA 2K12, NPD, Prototype 2, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13
Daily Scoop: April 16, 2012 – Summer’s here!
Summer has arrived early here in Philadelphia! I’m trying not to melt today as the degrees continue to rise. Though it will be hotter than this in hell, which is where I’m going after the three games I played this weekend of Cards Against Humanity. They aren’t kidding when they say it’s a party game for horrible people.
There are some new deals at Amazon today, both on Sony products. First up is Aksys’ Fate/Extra Limited Edition, which is on sale for $27.99. Then there’s 33% off Twisted Metal, bringing it down to $39.99. If you’ve been waiting to join Sweet Tooth, now’s the time!
One particularly amazing gaming shirt today… so amazing I really, REALLY want to buy it… (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, PSP
Mass Effect 3 tops NPD bestseller report for March 2012
Whether you loved Mass Effect 3‘s ending or you hated it, one thing’s for certain, BioWare made a ton of money selling you the game. In what should be a surprise to no one, Mass Effect 3 took the top spot in The NPD Group’s report of the bestselling games in March 2012.
Even though March was a bit of a slow month for new releases, the remainder of the top ten is populated almost totally by games released in the last four weeks including Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (#2), MLB 12: The Show (#3), SSX (#5), Street Fighter X Tekken (#6), Mario Party 9 (#7), Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (#9), and Major League Baseball 2K12 (#10).
Whew!
Hit the break to see the full top ten, including the pair of holdovers from the February 2012 report. (more…)
Posted in DS, News, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Major League Baseball 2K12, Mario Party 9, Mass Effect 3, MLB 12: The Show, NBA 2K12, NPD, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, SSX, Street Fighter X Tekken
SOCOM developer Zipper Interactive closing down
Zipper Interactive, the development team behind the SOCOM franchise, MAG, and the recent Vita release Unit 13, has announced their closure via Twitter:
After 17 years it’s time to head off into the sunset. A sincere thank you to all our fans for everything you’ve done for us. Farewell.
Zipper’s parent company, Sony Computer Entertainment, responded to the closure with a statement to Game Informer:
The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within SCE WWS. Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita. Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 and Unit 13 will continue to be supported, including the new Daily Challenges in Unit 13.
Best of luck to the former Zipper employees, a team as talented as they were will catch on somewhere, if they haven’t already.
Class of Heroes 2 Kickstarter campaign aims to improve localization for Japanese RPGs
For those of you who rend your clothing over the sheer amount of awesome games in Japan that will never appear on American store shelves, here’s a chance to support the hard working people in the localization business!
MonkeyPaw Games and Gaijinworks have announced the acquisition of Class of Heroes 2, a dungeon crawler-style RPG for the PSP, as well as a Kickstarter campaign to fund gameplay improvements and a limited edition deluxe package. The overall goal, though, is to attempt to bring more import titles to western markets, and what better way to do so than with the support of hardcore fans?
Gaijinworks President Victor Ireland (yes, the same Victor Ireland from Working Designs), calls this the “craziest deluxe pack” he’s ever done, and if you’re a collector at all, you know Working Designs basically invented the concept of the super premium collectors edition with the pack-in soundtrack.
The Grand Tier pledges get even crazier than plush toys or signed posters; for a generous enough pledge, you might get a trip to Japan to meet the creators of the game, or a two-night stay in Los Angeles, tickets to E3, and dinner with MonkeyPaw and Gaijinworks.
So check out the Kickstarter campaign page to see all the crazy bonus stuff you could get for your support!
Atlus-published PSP games get huge price drop on PSN
Atlus wants to takeover your PSP or Vita with their “Re-Vita-lized PSN Price Drop Event.” The publisher has slashed the prices of their PlayStation Network games by 25-50%, meaning that now is the best time to dive into a quirky Japanese RPG (or several, which I’m sure Atlus would prefer).
Here’s the full list of “Re-Vita-lized” titles and their new prices:
- Persona (New Price: $19.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin (New Price: $29.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Persona 3 Portable (New Price: $19.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Knights in the Nightmare (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Riviera: The Promised Land (New Price: $9.99, Original Price: $14.99)
- Yggdra Union (New Price: $9.99, Original Price: $14.99)
- Class of Heroes (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $39.99)
- Crimson Gem Saga (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Hexyz Force (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $29.99)
- Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble (New Price: $14.99, Original Price: $39.99)
Posted in News, PSP, Vita
Tagged Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin
EA killing online multiplayer for Burnout Revenge, EA MMA, others
Electronic Arts has announced another round of online multiplayer server shutdowns. As always, the publisher claims that these games are played by less than 1% of all players who play EA games online.
Notable among this batch is EA Sports MMA, both for how recent it is (it was released less than 18 months ago) and because of the fact that it required an Online Pass for its multiplayer mode.
I suppose it can debated whether EA has to right to shut down a for-pay multiplayer server, but for now, here’s the rest of the server shutdowns:
- Boom Blox: Bash Party (Wii)
- Burnout Revenge (Xbox 360)
- Create (PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- EA Sports Active 2.0 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp (Wii)
- EA SPorts MMA (PS3, Xbox 360)
- FIFA Soccer 10 (PSP, Wii)
- The Godfather II (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
- Need For Speed: ProStreet (PS3, Xbox 360)
- The Saboteur: The Midnight Club (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Spare Parts (PS3, Xbox 360)
All of the games in the above list will go offline on April 13, 2012.