NetherRealm’s Ed Boon still wants to do a fighting game starring “horror icons”

Posted on June 21, 2016 by John Scalzo

netherrealmstudios-logoAfter Freddy Krueger’s post-launch inclusion in Mortal Kombat was announced back in 2011, Creative Director Ed Boon revealed that when he was employed by Midway, his team considered including characters such as Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers in a special horror movie-themed entry in the series.

With three-fourths of his wishlist now playable in 2011’s Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat X, Game Informer once again pitched Boon on a fighting game filled with “horror icons” ahead of last week’s E3 Expo, and the famed developer still seems into it:

When asked about the possibility of using this trend of guest characters to throw them all together in one big horror icon showdown, Boon was not dismissive of the idea. “Yes, yes! You know, as we’ve been accumulating them, that idea has been coming up more and more frequently,” he says. “You brought it up and a few other people have brought it up like ‘why don’t you do a horror movie fighting game?’ Maybe one day we’ll do it.”

It’s five years later and I’d still sell my soul to make this game become a reality.

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Daily Scoop: June 20, 2016 – I have returned from E3!

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Nicole Kline

It’s been a long, crazy week for me! I flew to Los Angeles early Monday morning and stayed there for E3, then flew to Columbus for Origins Thursday night and stayed there until last night. I’ve never been happier to see my apartment! I just want to sleep for a week now. But truthfully, E3 really invigorated me when it comes to games, and there are so many new ones I want to get and old ones I want to add to my backlog!

Speaking of games, there are lots of great deals today. There are two bundles at Humble right now, and both are ending soon. The E3 2016 Digital Ticket has less than a day left. Pay what you want for a 30-day subscription to Twitch, Psychonauts, Mountain, 500 Amazon Coins for the Amazon Appstore, the E3 Pack for WildStar, the PC Booster Pack for Warframe, the Starter Pack and TV Head for Guns Up!, Beta Access and the Sensonium Pack for Super Senso, the E3 pack for Armored Warfare, the Exclusive E3 Digital Ticket Bundle for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – First Assault Online, 40 Chests for Pathfinder Adventures, and the Helper Pack and Exclusive Lord of the Labyrinth Title for Neverwinter. There are two more levels as well, loaded with more add-ons, licenses, and games!

There are just a few days left for the Humble Neo Geo Encore Bundle. Pay what you want for Art of Fighting 2, Fatal Fury Special, King of the Monsters, Metal Slug 2, Samurai Shodown II, Sengoku 3, The King of Fighters 2000, Baseball Stars 2, Blazing Star, and Ironclad. Beat the average to unlock The Last Blade, Pulstar, Metal Slug, Metal Slug 3, Shock Troopers, Neo Turf Masters, The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition, Twinkle Star Sprites, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, The King of Fighters 2002, and the Neo Geo 25th Anniversary Soundtrack. Pay $10 or more to unlock Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad, Samurai Shodown V Special, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Metal Slug X, and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. Whew! That’s a ton of games!

There are some deals happening at Steam as well. The Midweek Madness is Crashlands, which is $11.99. The Daily Deal is Pillars of Eternity, which is on sale for $17.99 for the Hero Edition, $23.99 for the Champion Edition, and $35.99 for the Royal Edition.

Just a few shirts today! Hit the jump to check them out.

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Players can go straight to the final boss in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Posted on June 20, 2016 by John Scalzo

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Nintendo has described The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as an “open-air” adventure, but just how open will the game’s world be? Well, when Polygon spoke to Producer Eiji Aonuma at this year’s E3 Expo, he revealed that players can start a new game and head directly for the final boss:

“Users may not actually get the full story depending on how they play this game and how they strategize and solve puzzles,” producer Eiji Aonuma told Polygon. “Users are able to go to the very end goal without revealing why Link woke up the way he did and where he did. Whether you want to reveal the storyline and find out why Link woke up, or you want to just go straight to the goal, that’s an option totally up to the user.”

While I’m sure a successful attempt at beating Breath of the Wild like that will make a great speedrun video some day, Aonuma thinks players who try are a bit on the “crazy” side:

“Anybody who can go straight to the goal without doing anything else — there’s two possibilities,” Aonuma said. “Either they’re a really good gamer, or they could be somebody that’s a little bit crazy. But it’s not impossible. I created the game like that.”

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will released for the Wii U and NX sometime in 2017.

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Developer Lilith tries to explain Allison Road’s cancellation

Posted on June 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

A few weeks ago, Lilith revealed that Allison Road, their first-person horror game partially inspired by PT/Silent Hills, had been canceled. Earlier this weekend, the development team supplied something of an explanation for the unexpected news on Facebook:

After a long consideration between Team17 and ourselves, we have reached a mutual agreement to end our collaboration on publishing Allison Road under Team17’s Games label.

Sometime things pan out differently than expected as game development and publishing have so many layers of complexity… We’d like to especially thank everyone for their support through-out, it has and will always be appreciated!

There’s no beating around the bush here… Lilith’s “explanation” for the cancellation is extremely vague and doesn’t explain much of anything. In all likelihood, Allison Road, like PT/Silent Hills before it, will become one of those games where the mystery of “What happened?” can never fully be explained. It’s sad that it had to happen to such a promising-looking title, but it’s the way of the world sometimes.

UPDATE: Publisher Team17 sent a similarly-worded statement to VG247 earlier this morning. We still don’t know what happened.

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Weekly Warp-Up: The A-Z of E3 2016

Posted on June 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

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…

The 2016 edition of the E3 Expo has come to a close, so it’s time to look back on the weeklong festival upcoming games with our annual alphabetical rundown of everything from the show floor, the press conferences, and the pre-Expo hype period. You can find Warp Zoned’s E3 A-Z after the break, but first let’s talk, about that polarizing “Beginning Hour” demo for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

Looking ahead, Sony will bring a little piece of E3 to stores across the country next weekend with their plan to install PlayStation VR demo units in hundreds of retail outlets. We even got a sneak peek at next year’s E3 Expo when Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned that he’s working on “A New Kind of Mario.”

But the future is now, and the A-Z of E3 2016 is available after the break.

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New Retail Releases: Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE, Mighty No. 9, Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, More

Posted on June 19, 2016 by John Scalzo

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The major game publishers clearly didn’t want to compete with the annual E3 Expo last week, but a number of them are back this week with a handful of intriguing new titles.

Leading the way is Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE, an Atlus/Nintendo collaboration for the Wii U that mashes together characters you’d find in a Fire Emblem game with the mood of a Persona title.

Nintendo is also getting ready for the Summer Games this week with the release of Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games for the Wii U. Players will get to try out 14 Olympic sports including soccer, track, and rugby.

Another highly-anticipated title this week, though for very different reasons, is Mighty No. 9 for the PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One (it’ll also be available digitally for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360). Keiji Inafune’s tribute to the Mega Man franchise has been facing development woes since the very beginning, and it’ll be interesting to see how the final product came together.

Elsewhere on store shelves this week will be The Technomancer, an action RPG for the PS4 and Xbox One from Spiders; and MXGP 2, the latest motorcycle racer from Milestone, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Finally, Microsoft will re-release Minecraft: Xbox One Edition in a special “Favorites Pack” bundle that includes the base game and seven additional add-ons (Battle & Beasts Skin Pack, Battle & Beasts 2 Skin Pack, Natural Texture Pack, City Texture Pack, Fantasy Texture Pack, Festive Mash-up, and Halo Mash-up).

We’ll be back later this week with a look at all the new additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.

UPDATE: The release of The Technomancer was pushed back a week to June 28.

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Xbox Store Today: Tour De France 2016, Bard’s Gold

Posted on June 17, 2016 by John Scalzo

xboxgamesstore-logoThe 2016 Tour De France will pedal into view in just two weeks, so Cyanide Studio is back with their latest adaptation of cycling’s biggest event in today’s Xbox Games Store update. Tour De France 2016 for the Xbox One includes all 21 stage from this year’s event and players will need to become proficient in attacking, sprinting, and counter-attacking to claim the yellow jersey.

Also available this week is Bard’s Gold, a side-scroller for the Xbox One that serves as an homage to 90s platformers such as Rainbow Island, Rick Dangerous, and Alex Kidd.

More information on both of these games can be found right here, courtesy of the Xbox Games Store:

Xbox One Games

Tour De France 2016 ($49.99)
Embody the greatest cycling champions competing to conquer the yellow jersey along the 21 official stages of a Tour De France 2016, packed with exciting new features! Experience the emotions of a pro-rider by attacking, sprinting, counter-attacking; picking the best trajectories and taking the best tactical decisions to lead your teammates to victory. Take to the road in solo, compete against your friends, or play in co-op on the same screen.

Bard’s Gold ($4.99)
Bard’s Gold is a challenging platformer that let’s you explore eerie worlds in a quest for a Goblin that stole your gold. Help the Bard to overcome the dungeon’s many dangerous perils and use your new-found treasures to improve your character and to buy new weapons and gear!

Posted in News, Xbox One |

Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy will be added to PlayStation Store on July 18

Posted on June 17, 2016 by John Scalzo

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In addition to further revealing Detroit: Become Human, Qunatic Dream had something else to talk about during this year’s E3 Expo. The cinematic developer revealed that Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy will be released for the PS4 next month as part Sony’s PS2-On-PS4 program.

Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy is a mind-bending adventure game that was originally released for the PS2 in 2005. Like all PS2-On-PS4 upgrades, the re-release will include visuals remastered in 1080p and full Trophy support. Priced at $14.99, the game will be available worldwide on July 18 as a downloadable title through the PlayStation Store:

Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy was originally released in an “uncut” version internationally, and slightly edited for its North American release. It’s currently unknown which version of the game will be added to the PlayStation Store next month.

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