Grave Gamer News & Views — warner bros interactive

Batman: Arkham Knight Falls into 2015

Get it? “Knight Falls”? Because Knightfa– All right, to hell with it. Thought I’d bring some Bat-Puns to the table since this announcement means it’s a dark day for the Dark Knight.

Originally meant to release October 14th this year, Rocksteady’s next-gen only end-cap to their Arkham Trilogy – probably my most anticipated game of the year (pre-E3, of course) – has been officially delayed into 2015. When in 2015? Sometime.

Delays seem to be as common as DLC and manual-less game boxes these days. But the last time Rocksteady was nervous about launching an unpolished product, they took six extra months and delivered unto the world Arkham Asylum in all of its Batman-y, freeflow fighting glory.

Besides, after E3 next week, something tells me the Fall season is going to be jampacked with things to burn my money on. It’ll be like a viking funeral. Except the boat is my wallet and the archer shooting flaming arrows at my money is the seventeen-year-old associate at Gamestop who doesn’t know they’re getting dropped after the season is over. Exactly a viking funeral in other words.

Toasty! NetherRealm Announces Mortal Kombat X!

After weeks of teasing from series ko-kreator, Ed Boon, and an indirect leak from a Sutherland of all places, today brings us the official reveal of Mortal Kombat X.

While targeted consoles haven’t been named, the tag to go along with the trailer states the sequel is “fueled by next-gen technology” to ”create an unprecedented Kombat experience” (To...

Dying Light Runs All the Way to February 2015

Developer Techland’s open-world, free-running survival horror, Dying Light, has suffered a delay, pushing the game’s release way the hell away to February 2015.

Having already given us a dose of zombie bashing action in Dead Island, Techland is diligent on expanding on that title’s concepts in Dying Light. Familiar to fans of that uneven but still fun game are a disaster-strewn open-world, a heavy focus on melee combat featuring DIY weaponry, and, of course, a shitload of the mortally-challenged coming at you.

However, Dying Light’s signature mechanic – the ability to seamlessly traverse your environment by scaling buildings, hopping obstacles, and other assorted parkour heroics – is exactly why Techland is taking extra time on the game’s brewing cycle.

“We believe the Natural Movement element of our game will change what you expect from the genre, and we don’t want to sacrifice any of its potential by releasing too early,” said the game’s staff on their official site. “This quality-focused thinking underlines all our development choices and we hope you share our belief that the gameplay must always come first.”

It’s probably no small feat the studio is planning to launch Dying Light on five different platforms between the current and last generations (oh, yes, friends; the current-gen is now last-gen and the next-gen is now current. Can you dig it?).

I think this one is truly, truly promising. I find myself more in support of delaying the game to get it right than I am impatient I won’t get to club some zombies with ridiculous goddamn weapons earlier. Dead Island had great ingredients, but the final, rushed dish left most with a rotten taste in their mouth. We’ll see if Techland perfected their recipe… *sigh* in 2015.

Did Keifer Sutherland Just Konfirm a New Mortal Kombat?

Hollywood actor Keifer Sutherland, Son of Donald, famous for such films as Young Guns and Young Guns II – and nothing else… I SAID NOTHING ELSE – let slip that production on a brand new Mortal Kombat game may be well underway.

Equipped with the stunning ability to convey pretend emotion better than you convey actual emotion, Keifer is no stranger to video game voice work, having already laid down his signature gruff vocals for 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War.

More recently, he’s taken over the role of Big Boss (aka Naked Snake, aka Punished Snake, aka Faintly Reminiscent of Snake Plisken Snake) in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In discussing his latest gaming gig with IGN, Keifer nonchalantly mentions his involvement in a new Mortal Kombat.

“I did Mortal Kombat, and that’s such a huge game, but it’s so not like [MGSV],” said the Son of Donald. The Mirrors star also said working on MK was a breeze compared to over a year of effort on The Phantom Pain (as well as its prelude Ground Zeroes).

Warner Bros. and NetherRealm were unavailable for comment – did you expect anything less? The general assumption was that NetherRealm would return to their brutally beautiful fighter given the positive reception 2010’s Mortal Kombat reboot garnered. Whether its next-gen, cross-gen, or even a direct followup – remember, the series is prone to more spin-off’s than fucking CSI – is up in the air.

What’s series co-creator, er, “ko-kreator” Ed Boon got to say on the matter?

I’m so glad I have friends who will Stand By Me.

— Ed Boon (@noobde)

February 22, 2014

That’s better than a konfirmation.

Gaze Upon These Shadow of Mordor Screens

Hobbits, men, elves, ornery tree persons; behold Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. If you missed it, Shadow of Mordor is an action-adventure game tucked between the going-on’s of The Little Man Finds a Ring and The Little Man’s Nephew Destroys That Ring Trilogy.

The story follows a ranger named Talion that comes back from the dead to goof Sauron up for murderlizing his family. Not per the norm, Talion brought Wraith-like abilites back from the grave with him. Some of these powers can be evidenced up above (one of his powers is Orc face-melting, seemingly… Hopefully).

Newly announced, of course, means it’s nowhere near release, but watch for more info as this one treks its way toward current and next-gen consoles in the new year.