Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Author: John Scalzo
Confirmed: Kintaro, Kenshi, “Lady in Red” planned as Mortal Kombat DLC
UPDATE: NetherRealm Studios has confirmed to CVG that Kintaro, Kenshi and Scarlet, AKA the “Lady in Red,” will be the first three DLC characters.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: A purported scan from the May issue of GamePro is said to show the first three downloadable characters for Mortal Kombat.
The one-page image shows Kintaro, the four-armed Shokan boss from Mortal Kombat II; Kenshi, the blind swordsman first seen in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance; and “Lady in Red,” a mysterious new character that may or may not be new brand to the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Several red ninjas have made appearances in the Mortal Kombat universe universe. “Skarlet” was the fan name for a glitch that would change Mileena or Kitana’s costumes to red in Mortal Kombat. While “Ruby” fought alongside Ermac in an episode of the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm. There’s also Sareena, a female ninja who bares a strong resemblence to the “Lady in Red” that first appeared as a minor character in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Ed Boon has previously discussed who he’d like to see as DLC characters for Mortal Kombat and Kenshi was on the original list. So hopefully we’ll find out if this rumor is the real deal or just another “Hornbuckle” soon.
[Source: Hadoken.net]
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat
MetaCritic now aggregating developer scores
MetaCritic has added a new feature to their review score aggregation: Developer Scores.
The website, which in the past has been used to award or deny bonuses to developers, has created Developer Profiles for every credited member of a game’s production. The aggregate score for each developer pulls together the scores from every game they’re credited on, resulting in some often hilarious missteps.
For example, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has a score of 80 due to his supervisory role on all of the Mario spinoffs. Meanwhile, Cliff Bleszinski has a much better score of 86, but his credits are incomplete. Even video game voice actor extraordinaire Nolan North has a score. While the man’s voice work rarely has an effect on the final review score, he has still pulled down a respectable score of 73 (especially considering the fact he has Terminator Salvation on his resume).
The credits list for each developer is pulled from GameFAQs, a sister company to MetaCritic. Like the IMDB, GameFAQs encourages users to add and correct credits through a handy web form.
The credits list for any title can be found under the “Details & Credits” tab at the top of every game profile.
Posted in News
3DS thinks Jimmy Fallon has a female face
Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime took time off from his birthday celebration to appear on last night’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to promote this Sunday’s launch of the 3DS.
Fallon and Fils-Aime took part in some target practice in a shooting game that uses the handheld’s included AR Cards. The pair also played a round of Face Raiders, one of the system’s pre-loaded games. After Reggie took Jimmy’s picture, the 3DS analyzed it and reported to the show’s audience that Fallon has an “Adult Female Face.” Planned prank or Nintendo 3DS fail? You decide!
The 3DS will be in stores tomorrow. If you want one, I hope you’re already in line as you’re reading this.
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
Full House Poker Review: Avatars Playing Poker
Full House Poker isn’t Microsoft’s first try at creating a card-playing franchise on the Xbox Live Arcade. That distinction actually goes to the Tik Games-developed Texas Hold ‘Em, which was released way back in 2006. It seems that Microsoft has learned something in the ensuing five years, as Full House Poker is a superior game in almost every way; but is it a must-have XBLA release? I wouldn’t go “All In” on that bet. (more…)
Posted in Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Full House Poker
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.
THQ’s Homefront is a hit
THQ’s take on a Korean invasion of America in the 2027 has proven to be a hit with gamers across the globe. Described by company executives as one of the biggest games they’ve ever done, Homefront has now sold one million copies worldwide. THQ has also revealed that they’ve shipped 2.4 million copies of Homefront to stores since its release two weeks ago. So there’s plenty of copies out there if you want to become Homefront player #1,000,001.
“We are very pleased with strong worldwide shipments and sell-through for Homefront, and we continue to fulfill new retail orders for the game across the globe,” said Brian Farrell, THQ President and CEO. “Homefront is clearly resonating with gamers and we are certainly pleased with our initial sales results.”
Even before Homefront was released, THQ hinted that a sequel was in the planning stages. With the game crossing the million-seller mark already, expect to hear an announcement of Homefront: London any time now.
Guitar Hero III tops biggest moneymakers list
Guitar Hero may be dead (for now at least), but the franchise has certainly left its mark on the gaming world. In a report released by The NPD Group yesterday, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was crowned the king of all video games… in terms of total sales dollars that is. The music game has brought $830.9 million into Activision’s coffers, no doubt thanks to the expensive guitar bundle you see above.
Activision can also lay claim to the number two game on the list, Call of Duty: Black Ops (even though gamers have bought more copies of CODBLOPS than any other game ever). All told, the publisher snapped up half of the spots in the top ten.
But when it comes to printing money, the only other name that comes to mind is Nintendo. The consolemaker has four games in the top ten: both versions of Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii. The only non-Activision/Nintendo title in the top ten was MTV Games’ Rock Band.
Interestingly, no game on the list was released before 2007, but CNBC pointed out that the list may not be entirely accurate as Super Mario Bros. 3 sold 18 million copies back in 1990 (before The NPD Group started tracking game sales). Originally retailing for $50, the game’s $900 million dollar tally would surpass every other game on the list.
Hit the jump for the full top ten. (more…)