Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Xbox One
Madden NFL 20 goes back-to-back as the best-selling game of August 2019
The month of August was fairly light on new releases, so naturally, it looks like the game industry went through a lighter period on the business side of things as well.
According to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), EA Sports’s Madden NFL 20 topped the list the best-selling titles for the month, repeating its victory from July (I guess you could say the developer went for two). The rest of the Top 20 was littered with repeat entries, but most surprisingly of all is that Minecraft earned the #2 spot, more than seven years after its retail debut.
The other big story to come out of the Top 20 was Nintendo’s continued dominance of the Summer. The consolemaker placed nine Switch games in the Top 20, including Platinum’s latest project, Astral Chain, at #10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (#4), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (#5), Super Mario Maker 2 (#6), Mario Kart 8 (#7), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#12), Super Mario Party (#16), Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (#17), and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (#18) were the other Nintendo titles to crack the list.
However, the overall industry felt a bit of a dip in August 2019, totaling $666 million in sales, an 18% drop versus August 2018.
You can find a full list of best-selling games from last month after the break. (more…)
Capcom reveals first teaser trailer for Resident Evil: Project Resistance
As promised, Capcom rolled out the first full teaser trailer for Resident Evil: Project Resistance yesterday, and as we all suspected from the leaked footage, it appears to be another crack at creating a team-based spinoff akin to 2003’s Outbreak, 2012’s Operation Raccoon City, and 2016’s Umbrella Corps.
Capcom will reveal more details about Resident Evil: Project Resistance later this week at the Tokyo Game Show, and the game is currently in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Resident Evil: Project Resistance
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is here… and so is a new Launch Trailer
Square Enix launched Final Fantasy VIII Remastered for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One today, and the publisher also produced a new Launch Trailer for the re-release, which has been embedded above.
While the RPG was a massive hit in 1999, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered marks the first time its been actively available in more than 20 years (save for a short PC print run in 2000). So it’s possible that fans won’t be as familiar Squall as they are with other Final Fantasy protagonists:
About Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered celebrates its 20th anniversary by bringing the cherished RPG to modern platforms, featuring newly rendered visuals that bring the game’s beloved characters to life like never before. Players step into the shoes of SeeD recruit Squall Leonhart and resistance fighter Rinoa Heartilly as they work together to save the world from the military nation of Galbadia.Final Fantasy VIII Remastered’s Enhancements
- Battle Assist: The ability to always have maxed out HP and ATB, and trigger Limit Breaks at any time.
- No Encounters: An enemy encounter option that allows players to enjoy the storyline uninterrupted. While enemy encounters are turned off, players can still enjoy the story event battles.
- 3x Speed Boost: Play through the game with three times the speed.
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is available to download now and it’s been priced at $19.99 on all platforms.
Capcom will unveil Resident Evil: Project Resistance at Tokyo Game Show 2019
Capcom has announced that they plan to unveil Resident Evil: Project Resistance (which is probably just a working title) at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
The official website for Project Resistance promises that the first teaser trailer for the game will be available to view online at 11:00 AM (Eastern Time) on September 9th. The site also said that fans attending this year’s Tokyo Game Show (which runs from September 12th through the 15th) will be able to watch a gameplay demonstration at Capcom’s booth, as well as pre-register for a chance to test out the demo for themselves at the show.
Resident Evil: Project Resistance is currently in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and we’ll learn more about it next week.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Resident Evil: Project Resistance
Shovel Knight gets upgraded to 16-bit as Yacht Club Games announces Shovel Knight Dig
Shovel Knight is back! After ceding the spotlight to three members of The Order of No Quarter in Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, and King of Cards, the blade-wielding hero is returning in a full-fledged new sequel.
Shovel Knight Dig picks up right where the first game leaves off, as Shovel Knight chases the diabolical Drill Knight down underground in an SNES-styled game that features “meticulously crafted” levels stitched together using procedural generation, so every playthrough will be slightly different. Yacht Club has more details about Shovel Knight Dig, which has been in development for “more than a year,” at their official website:
When Drill Knight and his dastardly digging crew blast apart Shovel Knight’s peaceful campsite and steal his loot, he grabs his trusty Shovel Blade and starts tunnelling after them! Meet new friends and foes, visit strange lands, and outfit yourself in your quest to keep the entire land from collapsing underfoot! Jump, slash, and dig your way down an ever-changing chasm of mystery in Shovel Knight Dig, an all-new Shovel Knight adventure!
Shovel Knight Dig will feature new Knights to battle (including the aforementioned Drill Knight and the mushroom-themed Spore Knight) and other new characters to interact with. But don’t worry, plenty of familiar faces can be found in the Announcement Trailer, which has been embedded above.
Shovel Knight Dig is being co-developed by Yacht Club Games and Nitrome, with Jake Kaufman once again providing the soundtrack. The game still has “quite a ways to go,” so we have no clue when it’ll be released, but we do know that it’s in the works for the PS4 and Switch (and likely the PC and Xbox One as well).
Attendees at this weekend’s PAX West convention will be able to test out Shovel Knight Dig for the first time at Yacht Club’s booth.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged PAX West 2019, Shovel Knight Dig
Shovel Knight Showdown will brawl its way to release in December
Shovel Knight Showdown began life as “Battle Mode,” a distant Stretch Goal that was added to the very end of Shovel Knight‘s Kickstarter campaign. But with the platformer’s final expansion nearing release, developer Yacht Club Games has finally been able to more fully turn their attention to the four-player brawler.
For starters, Shovel Knight Showdown has moved well beyond its beginnings as a simple “Battle Mode.” The full-fledged game got a new full-fledged trailer today, with glimpses at the game’s single-player Story Mode, as well as the addition of Mona, Plague Knight’s potions expert. Yacht Club talked more about it on their official website:
Shovel Knight Showdown has grown to be a robust and delightful multiplayer and singleplayer adventure. It’s full of new stories and revelations, goofy humor, great multiplayer level design, beautiful character art, varied playstyles, and frenetic battles. We really put our all into crafting this wholly new experience and we can’t wait for you to give it a shot!
Shovel Knight Showdown will be available as a free download this December if you own Shovel Knight on the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, or Xbox One. It’ll also be available as a standalone download on the PC, PS4, and Switch, and as part of the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove retail compilation for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Fans who are staking out a spot at this weekend’s PAX West convention in Seattle will also want to swing by Yacht Club’s booth to try out Shovel Knight Showdown before its released.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged PAX West 2019, Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight Showdown
Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released in December
Yacht Club Games delivered Shovel Knight to fans all the way back in 2014, and they’ve spent the rest of the decade fulfilling a Kickstarter campaign promise to produce additional campaigns starring three of the game’s villains. Those expansions did a lot to fill out the world of Shovel Knight and they’ve helped make the main character something of an international superstar.
But now the developers are ready to close the book on Shovel Knight’s first adventure this December with the release of Shovel Knight: King of Cards.
A fittingly jampacked new trailer for King of Cards has been embedded above, as the developer said (on their official website) that the expansion will be the biggest Shovel Knight adventure yet:
King of Cards marks our grandest adventure yet, and we hope the trailer whets your appetite for the banquet of adventure which awaits! It has more levels, mechanics, secrets, and content than any Shovel Knight game to come before it. It’s a spectacle, crammed to the coffers with ideas- it’s the biggest game we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally, finally play it. We’ve used everything we’ve learned in the past to make this game shine. We hope that you’ll find it both a delightful return and a fitting sendoff to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight owners will be able to download the King of Cards expansion for free for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One, though it’ll also be released as a standalone game for the PC, PS4, and Switch.
And if you haven’t dug into the Shovel Knight series yet, Yacht Club will package the original game and all four expansions together into a special retail edition, known as the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
In the meantime, fans will be able to test out a demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at this weekend’s PAX West convention.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged PAX West 2019, Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight: King of Cards
Capcom announces Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection for January 2020 release
Capcom has released three Legacy Collections for the expansive Mega Man saga so far, and early next year they’re dipping even deeper into their archives with the release of the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection in January.
Originally released for Nintendo handhelds throughout the 2000s, the six games in the Zero/ZX series (Mega Man Zero, Mega Man Zero 2, Mega Man Zero 3, Mega Man Zero 4, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man ZX Advent) are well-regarded by Megafans for their challenging platforming sections, interesting visuals, and unique story that takes place hundreds of years after the X series.
Capcom will give Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection players the option to tone down the franchise’s famous difficulty with an optional Casual Scenario Mode, as well as mid-mission save points. All six games in the Legacy Collection will receive an optional graphical upgrade, and Capcom is also adding a Gallery with more than 600 pieces of production art, a Music Player with original music and new arrangements, and a mysterious new Z Chaser Challenge Mode:
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection brings the Zero and ZX series’ challenging boss battles, fast-paced platforming, and precise combat from hand-held to full-sized screens for the first time. Nostalgic players can choose to play using the original sprite art, or they can bash some bots using the new optional HD-smoothing filters. New players looking to cut a path through the Zero and ZX series’ stories can also use the optional Casual Scenario Mode to reduce each game’s difficulty, and Save Assist system to create save points mid-mission for a more approachable narrative experience.
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on January 21, 2020. An Announcement Trailer has been embedded above.