Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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
Pharrell Williams will curate the NBA 2K15 soundtrack
I’d like to believe that the timing of this announcement is because someone in 2K’s press relations department has a sense of humor.
2K Games has announced that Pharrell Williams will “curate” the NBA 2K15 soundtrack. Previously, this job has gone to LeBron James (NBA 2K14) and Jay-Z (NBA 2K13). Pharrell is best known for unleashing “Happy” on the world as well as singing background vocals on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and producing Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.”
“It was a cool experience. I tried to curate songs that were diverse but yet still proved to be motivational to gamers,” said Pharrell. “It was important to me that the music complemented the on-court action of NBA basketball in NBA 2K15. I hope everyone enjoys it.”
Pharrell’s NBA 2K15 soundtrack will be revealed later this Summer, but in a wonderful bit of synergy, “Weird Al” Yankovic released his latest album, Mandatory Fun, today. In addition to making “Blurred Lines” 100% less rapey with “Word Crimes,” Yankovic turns “Happy” into “Tacky” and he enlisted Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Kristen Schaal and Jack Black to help with the video. It’s a thing of beauty.
I’m sure Pharrell’s NBA 2K15 soundtrack will be just as interesting when the game is released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 7. Um… maybe not.
Mortal Kombat X DLC will include “at least one” guest fighter
Time to start speculating. After dropping the Raiden bombshell on Evo 2014 attendees, NetherRealm’s Ed Boon sat down with MadCatz to talk a little more about Mortal Kombat X.
During the course of their conversation, Boon revealed that downloadable characters will once again be on the table for Mortal Kombat X and that “at least one” will be a guest character from outside the franchise. Guest characters are all the rage in fighting games these days, with NethRealm leading the charge. Kratos was included in the PS3 and Vita versions of 2011’s Mortal Kombat while the Dream Master himself, Freddy Krueger, was later added via DLC. Mortal Kombat mainstay Scorpion was even used as a guest character in last year’s Injustice: Gods Among Us.
So who do you think will get the coveted guest spot in Mortal Kombat X? Boon has previously talked about his love of horror icons from the 1980s, so perhaps Jason will finally get a chance to “Finish Him!” Or perhaps those Kiefer Sutherland rumors are a harbinger of the 24/Mortal Kombat crossover we’ve all been dreaming about. As much as I love Stryker, Jack Bauer would cut his head off.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One sometime in 2015.
[Source: MP1st]
Captain Falcon, Lucina, Robin, Female Robin join the Super Smash Bros. 4 roster
Nintendo has announced that a few characters you may not be familiar with will be joining Super Smash Bros. For 3DS and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.
Captain Falcon (of F-Zero fame) has appeared in all three previous Smash Bros. games, so his inclusion in Smash 4 shouldn’t be much of a surprise. But new to the fighting franchise are three other characters revealed today: Lucina, Robin, and Female Robin. Lucina and Robin were two of the main characters in the recently released Fire Emblem: Awakening. Female Robin, as you may have guessed, is just a gender-swapped version of Robin. All three are quick sword fighters, with the Robins also having the ability to rain lightning bolts down upon their opponents.
There’s still three months to go before Super Smash Bros. For 3DS launches on October 3, so there’s plenty of time for Nintendo to announce additional playable characters for the next Smash game.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Skyward Sword’s Fi joins Hyrule Warriors in this new trailer
What do you do when you’ve created trailers specifically tailored around all the currently announced characters in your game? You announce more characters! And that’s just what Koei Tecmo Japan did when they revealed that Fi, the sword spirit from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, will be a playable character in Hyrule Warriors.
In a unique twist, Fi doesn’t use a sword in her fighting style. Instead, because she’s the physical personification of a magical sword, the character uses melee attacks to weaken the enemy mob before. Of course, in the end, she transforms into a sword and smashes down on the battlefield to take out those that remain. It’s pretty impressive.
Hyrule Warriors will be available for the Wii U on September 26. A part of me hopes the next character trailer will introduce everyone’s favorite cave-dwelling Old Man: “It’s dangerous to go alone… except for me!”
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Hyrule Warriors
Maya is all set to join Killer Instinct: Season 2 as a playable character
Iron Galaxy Studios is hard at work on the second season of characters for Killer Instinct, Microsoft’s free-to-play fighter for the Xbox One. During this year’s E3 Expo, the developer gave us a quick glimpse at TJ Combo, the first confirmed character for Season 2. This weekend, a second fighter joined the fray as Iron Galaxy confirmed (via their Facebook page) that Maya will also be included in Killer Instinct: Season 2 this Fall.
Maya is an Amazonian warrior who was first introduced in Killer Instinct 2, making her the first character from the sequel to be included in the Killer Instinct reboot. Cinder and Riptor remain the only two characters from the original Killer Instinct still unannounced for the new Killer Instinct. Hopefully, they’ll be officially announced soon.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Killer Instinct
Unreal Engine-powered Tekken 7 officially announced
It’s a weekend of big announcements as Bandai Namco has used the Evo 2014 tournament to announce that Tekken 7 is in development. No platforms were announced in the visually impressive teaser trailer, but we know that the game is powered by Unreal Engine 4, so I’d expect a launch on the PS4 and Xbox One. Though an arcade release isn’t out of the question either.
That’s all we know for now, but more information will be revealed during the Bandai Namco’s San Diego Comic-Con Fighting Panel on July 25. Maybe they’ll even use their time in the spotlight to explain what happened to Tekken X Street Fighter too… probably not.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Comic-Con 2014, Tekken 7
Weekly Warp-Up: Mid-July 2014 Edition
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
Are you following along with this weekend’s Evo tournament. The premier fighting game tournament in the world is in full swing and it gave us our first look at the Thunder God Raiden in Mortal Kombat X.
If fighting games aren’t really your thing, then check out this review of Anomaly Defenders from Troy Matsumiya and an editorial from Dan Hobbs, Ignorance Is Strength: Gaming’s Permanent War With Nazis, Terrorists, and PMCs, that examines the familiar faces that populate our favorite first person shooters.
Want more news from this past week? You can find it after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Raiden joins Mortal Kombat X… watch the gameplay trailer here
As promised, NetherRealm Studios revealed a new character from Mortal Kombat X during today’s Injustice: Gods Among Us final at Evo 2014. Or rather, they revealed an old character who will be playable in a new way… the Thunder God himself, Raiden.
Like all of the previously revealed characters, Raiden will have three distinct variations in Mortal Kombat X. “Thunder God Raiden” will be a combo-heavy take on the character that delivers powerful attacks with an emphasis on electrocution blasts. Meanwhile, “Displacer Raiden” uses a more defensive stance that, not surprisingly, relies on Raiden’s teleportation abilities. The final stance, “Storm Lord Raiden,” is the most unique. This version of Raiden creates lightning traps that merge to form a barrier between the Elder God and his opponent.
And stick around for Raiden’s Fatality, it’ll make your eyes pop out of your head.
Mortal Kombat X will be available sometime next year for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Presumably, we can expect many more of these reveal trailers to appear between now and then.