Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: PSP
Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2, Assassin’s Creed II lead PlayStation Store update
Sony has performed their weekly update of the PlayStation Store with lots of new games and lots of discounts for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Those new games include a downloadable edition of Assassin’s Creed II: Deluxe Edition (which features all of the DLC) and Capcom’s platforming sequel Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2. Also available this week is Atari’s puzzler The UnderGarden and Tales From Space: About A Blob, another puzzler (and just for Plus users for now).
Mega Man 2 is this week’s lone addition to the PSone Classic Imports section.
The PSP Store will receive a trio of games this week, one-on-one fighter Samurai Showdown and minis versions of Wackylands Boss and the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break with a full rundown of this week’s downloadables at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PSP
Tagged Assassin's Creed II, Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection releasing April 19
In a big day for Square Enix PSP release dates, the company has also announced Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection will arrive at retail (again: no PlayStation Store) on April 19, 2011. The game combines Final Fantasy IV with updated graphics and sound in the style of the FFI & II PSP remakes, as well as the first retail packaging of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. It would’ve been nice to have the style and expanded story of the Nintendo DS remake of FFIV, but hopefully this version will be a little more true to the original experience.
2011 also marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IV, first released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo (and under the confusing name Final Fantasy II in the United States). The game is widely recognized as a milestone for storytelling in RPG’s and video games.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Celebrate The 3rd Birthday on March 29, 2011
The long awaited third entry in the Parasite Eve franchise, The 3rd Birthday, will be coming to U.S. retailers on March 29, 2011 for the PlayStation Portable. Players will assume the role of series protagonists Aya Brea as she seeks to rid 2012 Manhattan of the hideous creatures known as the Twisted. Square Enix has also announced that Yvonne Strahovski of the NBC series “Chuck” will voice the heroine. And in other voice cast news, the mysterious Kyle Madigan will be played by Jensen Ackles of “Supernatural.”
“I was immediately interested when Square Enix approached me with the opportunity to play Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday,” said Strahovski. “I love Aya – she’s strong, driven and ready to take on the world.”
Unfortunately, no mention of a downloadable version for the PlayStation Store has been announced, leaving PSP Go owners like myself out of luck. I have no idea why Square Enix, one of the biggest partners to PlayStation in the past, releases almost none of their PSP games digitally; I guess it’s just a sign of the times.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged The 3rd Birthday
Final Fantasy Type-0 trailer released, badassity incoming
Okay, so I watched the trailer for the Kingdom Hearts 3DS game earlier this morning, as well as the Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer… but I have to say, this Final Fantasy Type-0 preview may just embody a lot of what the latest Final Fantasy games have been missing.
It looks as though a more traditional “RPG” atmosphere returns in Type-0, with castles, heroes equipped with swords, boxy-shaped mechs, and… dare I say it… a dragon?! It is hard to tell – as always – what the battle system will exactly be, but it seems that abilities can be assigned to buttons, possibly making Type-0 more of an action-RPG.
Though most of the portable Final Fantasy excursions seem to become a general flop, Type-0 looks to have quite a bit of promise. As old advertisements would say: “But don’t take my word for it!” Check out the trailer up above.
Posted in News, PSP
Tagged Final Fantasy Type-0
PlayStation Store Update for 1/25/11
If for some reason you’re a deranged rail shooter fanatic who has no interest at all in buying Dead Space 2, Dead Space: Extraction in High Def glory is now available for you on the PlayStation Store. Most of us will probably just stop by to check out the Bulletstorm demo.
Disney Interactive cuts jobs
Disney Interactive is currently downsizing, apparently in a pretty substantial way, as nearly half of its 700 member staff may be getting the boot. Disney calls the layoffs a “restructuring process” in its statement. Variety reports that many were anticipating the layoffs as many key players left the division last year, including Graham Hopper, who spent the last eight years building the studio into a formidable entity in the gaming industry. New talent is coming in to upper management, including John Pleasants, CEO of Playdom, which Disney acquired last year. Disney’s current CEO Bob Iger said Pleasants would “focus on turning those businesses into profitability” and “diversifying our presence in the business, so we’re not reliant on one platform that’s obviously facing challenges.”
While terms can have multiple connotations in the business context, he may be referring to last year’s Epic Mickey, which released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, a console that is notoriously difficult for third party developers to find success on. Epic Mickey was panned critically, but is apparently the fastest selling game in Disney Interactive’s history, pushing 1.3 million copies last December.
Final Fantasy XIII-2, Versus XIII, Type-0 detailed in Dengeki
Andriasang has dug deep into the latest issue of Japanese gaming Dengeki PlayStation and unearthed a ton of new details about most of the titles Square Enix had on display at their 1st Production Department Premier event last week.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 will take place after the end of Final Fantasy XIII in Gran Pulse. According to the magazine, the sequel will be “more dark and mysterious” and will focus on the goddess Etro.
Final Fantasy Type-0, the PSP game formerly known as Agito XIII, will feature a heavy focus on magic. The Dengeki report reveals that the game’s theme revolves around the theme of “Magic in Action” which basically states that swords and axes are good in a pinch, but magic is your real weapon.
Finally, Final Fantasy Versus XIII got short shrift once again. Director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that Versus XIII won’t be released until after XIII-2 and Type-0, but he did say we might learn more about it at E3.
For the full info dump on all three titles, be sure to check out the Andriasang report.
Posted in News, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360
Tagged Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy XV
Hulk Hogan runs wild on WWE All-Stars box
THQ has released the official boxart for WWE All-Stars and it features eight of the biggest wrestlers of yesterday and today.
Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior will be joined by “Macho Man” Randy Savage and The Rock on the legends side of the box while John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston represent the modern-day superstars.
The best part of this news is that THQ hadn’t announced Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior as part of the game’s roster, so this is a welcome surprise.
WWE All-Stars (and Hulkamania) will run wild on the PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PS2 and PSP this March.