Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Switch
Sumo Digital will bring arcade-inspired Hotshot Racing to PC and consoles this Spring
From 2004’s OutRun 2 all the way up to last year’s Team Sonic Racing, developer Sumo Digital has spent the majority of their long history producing some of the best arcade-style racing games in existence. And today, the UK-based studio announced their next major project… the retro-inspired Hotshot Racing.
Previously known as “Racing Apex,” Hotshot Racing will be co-developed by Lucky Mountain Games and published by Curve Digital. The game will feature multiple racers, as well as online multiplayer for up to eight players, four-player local splitscreen, and an amazing polygonal style that’ll pop off the screen at 60 frames per second:
Curve Digital is delighted to unveil the colourful retro-inspired racing game, Hotshot Racing, from Lucky Mountain Games and experienced racing genre stalwarts, Sumo Digital. Hotshot Racing channels classic arcade racers sporting colorful polygonal visuals, boost-fueled drift gameplay and a silky smooth 60 frames per second in the game’s single-player modes regardless of platform.
Hotshot Racing is set to emulate and expand upon the classic ‘90s arcade racing game formula featuring eight different hotshot drivers to choose from (each with their own personality and multiple varied four-wheeled rides), 16 personality-filled sun-baked tracks from across the globe, and multiple game modes for players to prove their driving prowess.
Hotshot Racing will be released this Spring for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. And be sure to peek a glimpse at the Announcement Trailer embedded above.
Control leads the way with seven nominations at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards
The SXSW Gaming Awards will once again play a big role in the annual Austin arts festival, and this year’s nominees were announced earlier this week.
Remedy’s Control and Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding lead the way with seven nominations apiece, but Kojima’s latest mindbender won’t be competing for “Video Game of the Year.” Instead, Control will do battle with Capcom’s Devil May Cry 5, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium, From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for the coveted award.
Winners at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined by a split vote between the festival’s advisory board and a public poll, which is now open at SXSW.com through Sunday, February 23.
This year’s ceremony will be held on on Sunday, March 15, and it’ll be hosted by Wil Wheaton and Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s Janina Gavankar. All SXSW registrants will be able to attend the ceremony as part of their festival ticket, and the rest of us will be able to tune in to the festivities via SXSW’s Twitch channel.
You can find a complete list of this year’s nominees in all categories after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Control, Death Stranding, Devil May Cry 5, Disco Elysium, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Tabletop Games
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is the best-selling game of January 2020
We’re less than 12 months away from the launch of next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and consumers have started to react accordingly. According to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), consumers spent $678 million on video games, consoles, and accessories in January 2020, about a 26% drop versus January 2019.
But there were still a few big moneymakers in the first month of the year, starting with Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, which was the best-selling game of the month. It was followed by some of 2019’s most popular titles, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (#2), Madden NFL 20 (#3), and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (#4).
While none of these games are available for the Switch, Nintendo’s newest console held on as the best-selling console platform during the month, besting the aging PS4 and Xbox One.
Another highlight for Nintendo from the January 2020 sales report was Ring Fit Adventure, which broke into the Top 10 for the first time (at #9). That’s impressive, but it’ll be a very long time before it catches Grand Theft Auto V, which continued to sell well in its 196th month of availability (it appeared on the list at #5).
You can find the full list of best-selling games from January 2020 after the break. (more…)
House House’s Untitled Goose Game wins “Game of the Year” at 2020 DICE Awards
I guess The Goose can cross “Win a Few Major Awards” off of its To-Do List. And that’s because House House’s Untitled Goose Game won “Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game,” “Outstanding Achievement in Character,” and “Game of the Year” at this year’s DICE Awards.
While the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’s voting body (which is comprised of more than 30,000 members) loves The Goose, it was Remedy’s Control that took home the most statuettes last night. Predictably, the outstanding action game won “Action Game of the Year,” as well as “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction.” Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding was the only other game to win multiple awards, with the AIAS honoring it with “Outstanding Technical Achievement” and “Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design.”
A nice array of other games were also big winners at the 2020 DICE Awards, including Sayonara Wild Hearts (“Portable Game of the Year”), Apex Legends (“Online Game of the Year”), Super Mario Maker 2 (“Family Game of the Year”), Mortal Kombat 11 (“Fighting Game of the Year”), Baba Is You (“Outstanding Achievement in Game Design”), and more.
The complete list of winners and nominees for the 2020 DICE Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
February’s Nintendo Switch Online update includes two SNES games previously-unavailable in US and two NES oddities
Later this month, a pair of Super NES games that were previously-unavailable in the US and a pair of oddball NES titles will be added to the SNES and NES apps available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.
Super NES fans will be able to try out Pop’n TwinBee (the sixth game in the colorful shooter series), which never made it to the US after Konami released it in Japan and Europe in 1993. It’ll be joined by Smash Tennis, a tennis simulation that was published by Namco in 1994.
Nintendo fans in North America should be much more familiar with the two NES games coming to the online service, though it’s possible you may have skipped over them in the early 90s. Shadow of the Ninja is a side-scrolling action game that has become something of a cult classic in the last three decades, while Eliminator Boat Duel is an aquatic racing game that a lot of people seem to remember but few played.
More information about all four games can be found right here:
Super NES
Pop’n TwinBee – The sixth game in the TwinBee series, this vertically scrolling shooter takes place in a cute, poppy setting. TwinBee and WinBee hear that the great Dr. Murdock has lost his wits, so they set off to return him to his normal self. This game was originally released in Japan and Europe in 1993, but this will be its first release in the U.S.Smash Tennis – In Smash Tennis, the controls may be simple, but there’s plenty of room for skill! With strong shots, weak shots, lobs and eight different court types, you can develop all sorts of approaches, unlocking the deep strategies of tennis. This game was originally released in Japan in 1993 and Europe in 1994, but this will be its first release in the U.S.
NES
Shadow of the Ninja – In the midst of disorder and oppression, two shadow warriors rise to the people’s cry for help. Choose to play as one of two ninja masters from the Iga clan as they infiltrate enemy front lines. Master tactics of stealth as you acquire additional weapons and power-ups in order to overthrow an evil emperor and destroy his wicked empire, solo or with a friend.Eliminator Boat Duel – In this powerboat racing game, get behind the wheel of one of the fastest machines on the water to earn boatloads of in-game cash. Drivers earn thousands of dollars for competing, and you’ll use your winnings to repair and upgrade your boat to push your competitive edge to its maximum. A little aggression goes a long way – just try not to get sunk yourself, or you’ll be swimming back to dry land.
All four games will be available to download through Nintendo Switch Online’s NES and Super NES apps beginning on February 19.
Super Crush KO Review: A Pretty Great Pastel Puncher
Vertex Pop is a developer that first appeared on my radar in 2015 after the release of their debut game, We Are Doomed. The excellent twin-stick shooter used a graphical style reminiscent of paper cutouts to build its unique world, and paired it with the chill soundtrack that helped slow down the often frantic action.
We Are Doomed was followed two years later by Graceful Explosion Machine, a side-scrolling shooter that cemented the papery look and relaxing tunes as something of a house style for the developer, while also breaking out as one of the first big “Nindies” on the Switch.
That house style is once again on full display in Super Crush KO, a classically-styled beat ’em up that’s been drenched in Vertex Pop’s signature pastel palette. (more…)
Posted in PC, Reviews, Switch
Tagged Super Crush KO
Switch launch for The Outer Worlds has been delayed due to the coronavirus
Private Division has just announced that the upcoming Nintendo Switch debut of The Outer Worlds has been indefinitely delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The Outer Worlds was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, and it was originally released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2019. At the same time, Private Division contracted Virtuos, a Chinese developer that specializes in porting games to new platforms, to bring the game to the Switch sometime this year. But the outbreak has forced a temporary closure of their office, and they’ve been unable to continue work on the game, which means it’ll miss its previously-announced March 6 launch date:
We’re delaying @OuterWorlds on Nintendo Switch due to the coronavirus impacting the Virtuos team working on the port, to provide them enough time to finish development. We’ll now be releasing the physical version on cartridge. Once we have a new launch date, we’ll let you know!
— Private Division (@PrivateDivision) February 6, 2020
According to Private Division, everyone at Virtuos is doing OK, and they plan to announce a new release date soon. In the meantime, the publisher also confirmed that all retail copies of The Outer Worlds for the Switch will ship with a game cartridge in the box instead of the planned download voucher.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged The Outer Worlds
Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle will come to PS4 and Switch on February 20
Arc System Works has announced plans to re-release more than a dozen NES classics in a new compilation featuring the Double Dragon and Kunio-Kun (River City Ransom) franchises.
Set to launch later this month, the Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle will contain 18 games in all, including 11 Kunio-Kun games that were never released outside of Japan, as well as all three Double Dragon games (Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones), and four Kunio-Kun games that US fans might be more familiar with (Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, River City Ransom, Crash ‘N the Boys Street Challenge):
Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle, consists of 18 titles including seven Double Dragon and Kunio-kun vintage games from the 80s and 90s, and all 11 Kunio-Kun classic titles from the Family Computer Disk System that have been localized into English for the first time ever. Game genres vary from side-scrolling action, beat ’em up, sports, and action RPG. Online play mode is available for all titles, and a total of 55 in-game missions are waiting for you to obtain nicknames and avatars to show off to your friends! Can you complete all the games?
The Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle will be available to download for the PS4 and Switch beginning on February 20, and you can learn more about the games included in the compilation after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Switch
Tagged Double Dragon