Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Xbox One
Xbox.com listing confirms The Predator as a playable character in Mortal Kombat X
Something tells me WB Games and NetherRealm Studios are rather angry with Microsoft right now. An Xbox.com listing for Mortal Kombat X‘s Kombat Pack Season Pass has confirmed that the Predator will be added to the game as a downloadable guest character:
Kombat Pack grants early access to four new playable characters and skin packs. Stalk and slash your opponents as Horror Icon Jason Voorhees, or play as Predator, the Ultimate Hunter. Two Klassic Mortal Kombat characters complete the offer. Each playable character comes with a themed skin pack including three new skins for select characters. Also includes The Samurai Pack available on April 14th 2015.
The Predator’s Mortal Kombat X cameo was first rumored back in February, though NetherRealm’s Creative Director, Ed Boon, teased an appearance from the dreadlocked hunter in July. Now that the Predator is official, we can all ponder what new tack NetheRealm will take on “If it bleeds, we can kill it!”
It’s unknown when the Predator will make his Mortal Kombat X debut (Jason Voorhees was previously described as “the first” DLC character), but the game itself will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 14. The game will also be released later this Summer on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Mortal Kombat X’s sixth Kombat Kast reveals Mileena, Takeda, Kung Jin, Quitalities, more
NetherRealm Studios hosted another “Kombat Kast” yesterday to pull the curtain back a bit more on Mortal Kombat X. Derek Kirtzic, Steve Brownback, and Tyler Lansdown covered a lot of ground in this episode, so let’s not waste any time…
At nine minutes in, we’re treated to our first extensive look at Mileena, including her three variations. Players who pick Mileena will be able to use “Ethereal,” which is heavy on teleportation tricks, “Piercing,” which will add unique sai attacks to her repertoire, and “Ravenous,” which drops the mask and lets Mileena make literal lunch out of her opponent.
At 19 minutes in, Takashi Takeda makes his Mortal Kombat X debut. Takeda is the son of Kenshi and pupil of Scorpion, so his fighting style borrows from both of them. His “Shirai Ryu” variation mimics Scorpion with teleports and his own take on the “Get over here!” spear. His second variation, “Lasher,” gives Takeda electrically-charged whips. And “Ronin” adds Kenshi’s penchant for swordplay to the character.
At 32 minutes in, the developers talk about game modes, including the re-introduction of Test Your Luck, a mode that adds “hundreds” of different modifiers to a fight, three-to-seven of which are chosen randomly before the fight begins. Kustom Kombat takes the randomness out of Test Your Luck by allowing players to choose which modifiers they’d like to use. The full list of modifiers was briefly shown, which hinted at a few unannounced characters including Kabal, Cyrax, Rain, Smoke, and Stryker. This quintet might not make it into the final game, but at the very least, their special moves will. The three develoeprs also confirmed that PS3 fight sticks will be compatible with the PS4 version of Mortal Kombat X during this segment. Sorry, Xbox One owners.
At 47 minutes in, the Kombat Kast shifted focus back onto another new character, Kung Jin, a descendant of Kung Lao. His three variations include “Ancestral,” which features powered-up arrow attacks, “Bojutsu,” which features staff-based attacks, and “Shaolin,” which adds a chakram throwing weapon to his arsenal.
Finally, at 59 minutes in, NetherRealm revealed the Quitality, a new kind of Fatality that explodes your opponent’s head if they quit on you in an online match. The Quitality is not meant to punish the person who quits, but rather, to give the person who stayed in the game a sense of satisfaction.
Mortal Kombat X is a little less than four weeks away and will be released on April 14 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A PS3 and Xbox 360 version will follow in the Summer.
Rumor: Hideo Kojima to leave Konami after release of Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain
Are you ready for some DRAMA and INTRIGUE? GameSpot is reporting that Hideo Kojima might be leaving Konami after the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
According to GameSpot, a source within Konami is claiming the publisher wants to push Hideo Kojima out of Kojima Productions along with other senior staff. The insider said Kojima’s employment with the company has already been terminated, and that he’s currently serving out the rest of his contract on a temporary basis. It was also stated that he is being prevented from promoting The Phantom Pain. This report comes on the heels of a shutdown of the Kojima Productions Twitter account and the removal of Hideo Kojima’s name from the official Metal Gear Solid website. Kojima’s name was also removed from a list of Konami executives as the publisher moves to a “headquarters-controlled system.”
Konami, of course, has denied these reports and issued a full statement to GameSpot:
“As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business. Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.”
It’s important to note, as GamesRadar did, that there’s no actual proof that Kojima is leaving Konami or that he’s being pushed out. Right now, everything being reported is conjecture, hearsay, and circumstantial evidence. In the end, this could all turn out to be nothing.
After the completion of The Phantom Pain, which will be released on September 1, Kojima was expected to devote his energy to Silent Hills and a collaboration with director Guillermo Del Toro. But right now, all we can do is wait for any “future announcements” from Konami.
You’re all clear, kid! Star Wars: Battlefront will debut at Star Wars Celebration on April 16
Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm have announced that Star Wars: Battlefront will make its public debut during next month’s Star Wars Celebration. Beginning on April 16 and running through April 19, the Star Wars Celebration will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
Writing on the game’s official website, EA’s Community Team said:
We could not think of a better or more appropriate place to debut the game officially for the first time than the premier event that celebrates the Star Wars universe and the legions of fans who have fallen in love with it.
Star Wars: Battlefront will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Fall, presumably just before Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters in December.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront
Xbox Store Today: Battlefield Hardline, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Fruit Ninja Kinect 2, more
Big franchises rule the day in this week’s Xbox Games Store update.
EA is bringing back the Battlefield franchise this week with Battlefield Hardline, which is now available to download for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Since they’re busy working on a proper Battlefield 5, DICE tagged in Visceral Games for this installment, which focuses on the eternal battle between cops and criminals.
Also available this week is Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, an Xbox One remake of a PSP game that was originally released only in Japan back in 2011. As if that weren’t incentive enough to try it out, Square Enix has also packed the game with a playable demo of Final Fantasy XV.
If you’re into episodic gaming, Capcom has released Metamorphosis, the final chapter in the Resident Evil Revelations 2 saga, while Telltale has countered with the second episode of Tales From the Borderlands, Atlas Mugged. Both games will be available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Finally this week, you can wave your hands in the air like you just do not care as you play Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 on the Xbox One. How do you like them apples? Which aren’t going to cut themselves, after all.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break and a complete rundown of this week’s Xbox Live Gold discounts can be found at Major Nelson’s blog. (more…)
CoD: Advanced Warfare Ascendance Pack coming to Xbox One, Xbox 360 on March 31
Activision has announced Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will receive its second downloadable expansion, the Ascendance Pack, beginning on March 31. As always, Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will get first crack at the DLC. PC, PS3, and PS4 players will likely gain access to the add-on content sometime in late April or early May. The Ascendance Pack will feature four new multiplayer maps including an alien crash site, an apartment complex down under, a Pauly Shore-less biodome, and a illegal robotics chop shop:
Perplex: Venture to the streets of Sydney and battle through a five-story modular apartment complex. With elevated vantages and tight corridors, Perplex is small-to-medium sized map that fits variety of play styles. Construction drones will shake things up, however, as they shift apartment modules and create new strategic pathways.
Site 244: An alien craft has crash-landed beneath Mt. Rushmore, USA, making for an awesome medium-to-large sized three-lane map littered with extraterrestrial debris. Gain a competitive edge by earning the map-based scorestreak to open an alien spore that enhances your perks and exo abilities.
Climate: Settle in to your dome away from home in Climate… a lush climate-controlled biodome. With a circular layout with a central island structure for teams to fight for control of, Climate keeps the pace of the action high. The tides can turn, however, when the rivers begin to rage and become a treacherous obstacle.
Chop Shop: Discover the seedy underbelly of the unauthorized exoekeleton trade in Chop Shop, a medium-sized industrial complex with a devastating map-based scorestreak: the Advanced Repulsion Turret.
The Ascendance Pack will also add the OHM directed energy hybrid weapon and a brand new Exo Zombies chapter, “Infection,” that finds the four survivors “on the outskirts of the mutant-ravaged Atlas Corporation facility and facing new, never-before-seen enemies.” John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal will once again supply their voices to the cooperative game mode.
According to Activision, the first gameplay trailer for the Ascendance Pack will be unveiled on March 29 during the Call of Duty Championship.
Heart Machine will release Hyper Light Drifter on PC in 2015, consoles may slip to 2016
The good folks at ICXM‘s TIC Podcast recently got the chance to speak to Alex Preston of Heart Machine. The ensuing discussion got right to the heart of why everyone’s excited for Hyper Light Drifter, Preston’s retro-styled action RPG.
But Preston also delivered some bad news. Because of the game’s ambitious scope (backers obliterated Hyper Light Drifter’s $27,000 Kickstarter goal with $645,158 in pledges), it may not make it out in 2015 as originally planned. According to the interview, Preston still wants to release the PC version this year, but the console launch of Hyper Light Drifter will likely be pushed into 2016:
TIC Team: With so many games releasing this year, we know it can be hard to find a perfect time to release.
Alex Preston: We have not yet announced the release date. We have only said 2015 for PC first. Consoles take some time so, for example, Xbox One has a certification process that you have to go through. There are hundreds of things on that list you have to make sure are good to go on that system. It takes time. We’re a small team to do that. We want to get it out the door on PC first and we will give ourselves the correct amount of time after. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes it takes much longer depending on the certification process. It’s all about getting it on the platform as quickly as we can, but doing it the right way. That stuff can be really intense and expensive.
TIC Team: It sounds like we will see it on the Xbox One in 2016.
Alex Preston: It’s possible. We’re trying to get it all out as quickly as possible. We can’t rush the certification process. We don’t want to release a broken game. We don’t want to release a bad game. We’ll take the time that we need to. Those are the realities of it and those are the goals.
After its PC release, Hyper Light Drifter will ultimately be released for the PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One. However long the game’s development takes, it’ll probably be worth it. A closed beta was held last year for Kickstarter backers and we loved it.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions will double in size with free “Evolved” expansion
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is already the biggest Geometry Wars game by far, but it’s about to get a whole lot bigger. Sierra and Lucid Games have announced the game will receive a free expansion on March 31 that’ll add 40 Adventure Mode stages, a 20-stage Hardcore Mode that eliminates Drones and Supers, and an expanded Classic Mode. A new Drone (Sweeper), a new Super (Detonator), and improvements to the level progression system in Adventure Mode will also be added to the game.
The Evolved expansion will nearly double the amount of content currently available in Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions when it is released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One players.
Appropriately enough, the update will expand the game’s title to Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved after March 31 as new players will be able to purchase the expansion and the original game as a single download. Its $14.99 pricetag will remain the same.