Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Author: John Scalzo
Warner Bros. is creating a Mortal Kombat X tie-in web series
It’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see Mortal Kombat: Legacy III now that Kevin Tancharoen has departed the web series that became an Internet sensation after the director publicly released a proof-of-concept short by accident. But Warner Bros. is picking up the slack with the creation of a new Direct-To-Internet production house, Blue Ribbon Content.
Blue Ribbon’s first project will be a live-action web series that ties in to the story of the upcoming Mortal Kombat X. Like the game, it will pick up after the events of 2011’s Mortal Kombat and “[showcase] some of the franchise’s most storied characters, [as well as] introducing a new generation of fighters.” As of now, Warner Bros. isn’t ready to reveal who they have in mind for the cast or the director’s chair.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015. Presumably, this new web series will be released in a similar timeframe.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Mortal Kombat X, Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Xbox Store Today: Fantasia: Music Evolved, The Legend of Korra, Just Dance 2015, more
There’s all kinds of fighting available in this week’s Xbox Games Store update. Today’s releases include kung fu fighting, dance fighting, and zombie dance fighting. OK, there’s no zombie dance fighting in The Walking Dead Season 2, but here’s what you can find on the Xbox Games Store as of today:
- Fantasia: Music Evolved (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Harmonix is back with a new Kinect-powered musical adventure… and this one is based on Disney’s Fantasia.
- The Legend of Korra (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Activision and Platinum Games have teamed up to release the first game based on the popular animated series.
- Just Dance 2015 (Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Ubisoft’s popular dancing franchise is back for another encore. Now with even more Ariana Grande.
- The Walking Dead Season 2 (Xbox One) – The second season of Telltale’s post-apocalyptic saga makes the leap to the Xbox One.
- F1 2014 (Xbox 360) – Codemasters is back with another Formula One simulation.
More information about all of these games (and many more) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Fantasia: Music Evolved, Just Dance 2015, The Legend of Korra
Double Dash’s Yoshi Circuit returning in first Mario Kart 8 DLC
Nintendo of Japan has confirmed that Yoshi Circuit, which was originally included in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on the GameCube, will be part of the retro Egg Cup in the upcoming “Legend of Zelda X Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack.” You can get a glimpse of the revamped Yoshi Circuit, as well as Tanooki Mario’s Tanooki Buggy, in the newly released trailer above. Link and Cat Peach will also be added to the racer roster thanks to the DLC pack, along with Mario’s B Dasher, Link’s Master Cycle, and a kart based on Captain Falcon’s hovercraft from F-Zero.
“The Legend of Zelda X Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack” will be priced at $7.99 when its released in November.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Mario Kart 8
The Legend of Korra, Just Dance 2015, Samurai Warriors 4, more added to PS Store
It’s another full week for the PlayStation Store as more than a dozen games are now available to download across the PS3, PS4, and Vita through Sony’s digital storefront:
- The Legend of Korra (PS3, PS4) – Activision and Platinum Games have teamed up to release the first game based on the popular animated series.
- Just Dance 2015 (PS3, PS4) – Ubisoft’s popular dancing franchise is back for another encore. Now with even more Ariana Grande.
- Samurai Warriors 4 (PS3, PS4, Vita) – Koei Tecmo is cranking out a ton of new entries in their Warriors series and another one is now available for the PS3, PS4, and Vita.
- Shadow Warrior (PS4) – A reboot of the wild FPS from the 90s, now available on consoles for the first time.
- The Walking Dead Season 2 (PS4) – The second season of Telltale’s post-apocalyptic saga makes the leap to the PS4.
- F1 2014 (PS3) – Codemasters is back with another Formula One simulation.
More information about all of these games (and many more) can be found after the break. And, as always, a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Just Dance 2015, Samurai Warriors 4, Shadow Warrior, The Legend of Korra
First Alien: Isolation add-on, Corporate Lockdown, will be available on October 28
Just in time for Halloween, Sega has announced that the first Alien: Isolation add-on, Corporate Lockdown, will be released on October 28. Priced at $7.99, the add-on will add three new Challenge Maps and a brand new character in an arc that takes place before the events of Isolation:
In Corporate Lockdown, Seegson Executive Ransome has learnt that he has been abandoned by his paymasters. Knowing that the Torrens is on the way, he decides to make his escape and hitch a ride on board, taking decoded Nostromo data with him. However, while escaping he wants to tie up a few loose ends…
Across three new Challenge Maps (“Severance,” “Scorched Earth,” and “Loose Ends”), players are challenged to compete against others through Alien: Isolation’s online leaderboards, to escape the station in the fastest possible time or attain the top score through numerous side quests and hidden bonus objectives. New to Corporate Lockdown is the addition of Gauntlet Mode where players are challenged to top the Gauntlet Mode leaderboards by completing all three Challenge Maps back-to-back without dying.
Corporate Lockdown will also be available as part of the Alien: Isolation Season Pass, which can be purchased for $29.99, a 25% discount versus purchasing all give planned add-on packs separately.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli brings zombie-killing mobsters to Kickstarter
There are too many zombie games. You know it. I know it. Actual dead people know it. But there are still ways to make zombie games interesting. For example, you could do what Crazy Monkey Studios did and create a hand-drawn side-scrolling shooter where 1920s mobsters shoot zombies while spouting wiseguy catchphrases. To finance their project, Crazy Monkey has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Guns, Gore & Cannoli that concludes on November 17. They’re seeking $30,000 and, as of this writing, have currently collected a little under $800.
Need more convincing? The developer has also made a demo version available on the game’s official website and released this fantastic plot summary:
Welcome to Thugtown in the roaring twenties. A city run by two rival mafia families who skirmish over every inch of the city to distribute their illegal liquor. Meet Vinnie Cannoli, a hard-boiled gangster who comes to Thugtown to straighten a few things out. Vinnie is sent to a messed up city, looking for a “goodfella” who’s gone missing since the zombie-outbreak. Nothing that can’t be solved with a kind word with the local gangsters though. Especially when you’re packing a Tommy gun and a double barrel shotgun to be a little more persuasive. There’s only one thing that’s holding him back… Every friggin’ lowlife in the city turned into a flesh-eating maniac. This is survival horror, wiseguy style… Capiche?
If they reach their goal, Crazy Monkey plans to release Guns, Gore & Cannoli for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One in early 2015.
US, European release of Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea planned for 2015
Koei Tecmo has confirmed that the third game in the “Dusk” sub-series of Atelier RPGs from Gust, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea, will be released for the PS3 in the US and Europe in 2015. The publisher wouldn’t get any more specific than that, but the previous two games in the series took about nine months to go from Japan to the west. If the pattern holds for Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea, so we should see it on store shelves sometime in April.
Here we confirm that Atelier Shallie is coming in 2015. You can buy the items at our @MCMExpo sales desk! #KTfamily pic.twitter.com/NrRy0WVbhL
— KOEI TECMO EUROPE (@koeitecmoeurope) October 20, 2014
Once its released, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea will be the 16th entry in the overarching Atelier series.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea
Activision releases CoD: Advanced Warfare launch trailer two weeks before its launch
Activision is not bound by your plebeian idea of a calendar with its rigid structure of months and days… they’ve got a new Call of Duty to sell. So if they want to release Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s “Launch Trailer” more than two weeks before its actual launch, then they can. This trailer, like all the others released for the game so far, opens with a snarling pronouncement from Jonathan Irons (Kevin Spacey), the head of Private Military Contractor that seems to be equal parts Tony Stark and Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Advanced Warfare was developed by Sledgehammer Games and is the first game to be released as part of Activision’s new three-team development rotation. Treyarch will get their turn next year with Infinity Ward coming back around in 2016.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be released on November 4 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.