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Upsets abound in Round 2 of Madden NFL 12 voting
The second round of voting for the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete is complete and a ton of top seeds have been knocked out.
Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew (#3), Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (#2), Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward (#2) and San Diego’s Phillip Rivers (#1) have all escaped the Madden cover curse been voted out by the fans. The survivors of the second round include several Cinderella stories, though Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers is still alive as well in round three:
Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Danny Woodhead (#4)
Jamaal Charles (#6) vs Peyton Hillis (#10)
Adrian Peterson (#9) vs Drew Brees (#4)
Michael Vick (#3) vs Patrick Willis (#10)
Voting for the third round begins today and runs through April 11th at ESPN.com/maddenvote.
The Next Level: The Games of April 2011
April is upon us! The Warp Zoned staff barely made it out of March alive – between PAX East and the release of the 3DS, we’ve had a lot on our collective plates. We’re all looking forward to April, which will give us a chance to catch up on what March unceremoniously dumped on our laps, as well as give our wallets a little break. There are a few huge releases coming out this month, though, and we’re trying not to freak out too much over them. So here’s what we want to play next month. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, PS3, PSP, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs
Moon Diver, Free Realms, Rush ‘N Attack on PlayStation Store this week
It’s another huge week for PlayStation Store updates.
Yesterday, Sony added seven PlayStation 3 games to the store including Split/Secend, the reality TV racer; Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot, a new take on Konami’s other side-scrolling shooter series; Chime Super Deluxe, an enhanced version of the popular puzzle game; Sonic The Hedgehog, the first game from Sega’s signature speedster; Free Realms, the free-to-play MMORPG; Moon Diver, a new sword-swinging side-scroller from the creator of Strider; and Episode 2, “Get Tannen!”, of Back To The Future: The Game. Wow. That’s quite a list.
The portable PlayStation Store also got a big update this week as four PSP games were added. They include new releases WWE All-Stars, The 3rd Birthday and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky as well as a PSP release of Dragon’s Lair.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break or at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged Moon Diver
No surprises in first round of Madden NFL 12 cover voting
The first round of the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote has ended with few surprises. The higher ranked seed won in every matchup except for #7 Ray Rice (who lost to #10 Peyton Hillis) and #8 Julius Peppers (who lost to #9 Adrian Peterson).
Voting for the second round has begun today at ESPN.com/maddenvote and with it comes a few very interesting matchups:
Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Sam Bradford (#8)
Danny Woodhead (#4) vs Hakeem Nicks (#5)
Maurice Jones-Drew (#3) vs Jamaal Charles (#6)
Matt Ryan (#2) vs Peyton Hillis (#10)
Phillip Rivers (#1) vs Adrian Peterson (#9)
Drew Brees (#4) vs Mark Sanchez (#5)
Michael Vick (#3) vs Andre Johnson (#6)
Hines Ward (#2) vs Patrick Willis (#10)
Voting for round two continues through April 3rd.
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.
Final Fantasy IV: Interlude is around 15 hours, maturity returns to original FFIV
The Super Nintendo. The PlayStation. The Game Boy Advance. The Nintendo DS. Going on its fifth platform, Square Enix is still giving you reasons to buy Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. One such reason is Final Fantasy IV: Interlude, an all new game set to connect the original IV with its WiiWare sequel, The After Years. The PlayStation Blog revealed that this new connected story will be “weighing in at 15-odd hours of new gameplay.” I’d be happy if a downloadable game gave me 15 hours, so it’s excellent for this episode to be more like a full game.
Another feature may be of more note to RPG purists: the PSBlog portrays this version of the game as its “pure, uncensored form,” specifically denoting skimpy outfits and mature references. This is actually a big deal. For example, Final Fantasy VI directly translated is almost a completely different game than American players were used to, dealing with issues of prostitution, teen pregnancy, and suicide. No word if “Spoony Bard” will return (it did), but expect a nice package when FFIV: The Complete Collection releases for PSP on April 19.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Ghostbusters, PlayStation Move Heroes answer the call on PlayStation Store
Welcome to one of the biggest PlayStation Store updates ever!
It’s possible you’re too busy playing the newly released SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals beta to notice, but Sony added seven games to the store yesterday and another two to the PSP store. But first things first, the Spring Fever 2011 sale continues this week with discounts on Tetris (now $4.99, regular price $9.99) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (now $9.99, regular price $19.99).
As for the new releases, check ’em out:
- Ghostbusters: Sanctum Of Slime – A top-down twin-stick shooter starring the Ghostbusters and this week’s “spotlight update” to boot.
- Swarm – An action platformer from HotHead Games.
- Battle: Los Angeles – A first person shooter based on the hugely popular new movie.
- Premier Manager – A front office simulation of Europe’s numbe one soccer league.
- DC Universe Online – The superhero MMO is now downloadable.
- PlayStation Move Heroes – Everyone’s favorite Sony mascots (except for Kratos) go head-to-head-to-head in this Move-powered crossover.
- Legend of Mana – It’s not as cool as Secret of Mana, but it’s definitely a PSone Classic.
As I said, the PSP store also received two updates: Hoard, a dragon-powered “action strategy” title; and the increasingly illnamed Dissidia 012 [duodecim]: Final Fantasy.
Hit the jump for more details on all of this week’s releases or visit the PlayStation.Blog for a full rundown of all the new game add-ons. (more…)