WIRE Buzz: Mortal Kombat joins hall of fame; Harry Potter AR launches beta; more

Today’s WIRE Buzz involves a Harry Potter AR game from the people behind Pokemon Go, a sax player from The Lost Boys, and the hallowed halls of the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

According to the National Museum of Play, four games are joining the best video games ever for eternity — and one is a lot more deadly than the rest. Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart, Colossal Cave Adventure, and Microsoft Windows Solitaire will all sit alongside The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, and Tomb Raider as lasting contributors to the world of gaming and the world of pop culture at large.

Mortal Kombat has been going strong since 1992, just like Super Mario Kart, while the text-based legend that is Colossal Cave Adventure came about all the way back in 1976. But we’re still talking about them or games that have been influenced by them to this day. In fact, the latest Mario Kart game did great sales numbers for the Nintendo Switch while Mortal Kombat 11 just launched. And even genre fans can respect a good schooltime-wasting game of Solitaire.

However, they may also be mourning the finalists that didn’t make the cut, which include the likes of arcade classics Centipede and Dance Dance Revolution, as well as home favorites like Half-Life, Myst, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. But don’t despair, gamers! There’s always next year and plenty of games to keep us occupied until then.

Perhaps some more magical games could fit the bill. According to Variety, Niantic’s Harry Potter: Wizards Unite — which is the AR company’s follow-up to its smash hit Pokemon Go — has begun the global launch of its beta.

Starting in Australia and New Zealand, the game focuses on recruiting players to stop “The Calamity” that would expose wizardkind to the magicless Muggles of the world. To do so, players navigate the real world and, using their phones, battle creatures from the Wizarding World much like Pokemon Go had players capture Pokemon. There’s Death Eaters and Dementors rather than Pikachus and Dragonites. Fortresses instead of Gyms. That kind of thing.

Fans in either of those two areas can download and play the game from the App Store or Google Play, to begin giving the company feedback — which is something they’re emphasizing about needing during the beta. “Please note this is a beta version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Features, available languages, design, and overall appearance are not final. The product might be buggy and unstable at times. We’re looking forward to your feedback so that we can improve the game experience.”

Those not down under wil have to wait until the game reaches the rest of the world, which they can do why pre-registering for the game or signing up for game notifications on the game’s official site.

Finally, a cult icon is still living the dream. The beloved Sax Man of The Lost Boys (not to be confused with the Sexy Sax Man of YouTube fame — though the latter did totally cop his style) won hearts and awoke sexualities with his hip-thrusting performance during the vampire film. And he’s still going strong.

According to Bloody Disgusting, musician Tim Cappello (the Sax Man in question) recently released his first solo album, Blood on the Reed, and is taking his shirtless swaying on the road. Beyond just signing his album, Cappello will also personalize it with a message — unless you’d rather catch him sometime this summer during his U.S. tour, the dates of which you can find below:

• July 12 – Philadelphia Pa – PhilaMoca
• July 19 – Austintown Oh – El Cowboy
• July 20 – Detroit Mi – City Club
• July 24 – Chicago – G Man Tavern
• July 26 – Des Moines Ia – The Fremont
• July 27 – Omaha Ne – The Sydney
• July 31 – Denver Co – Your Mom’s House 6PM
• Aug 2 – Salt Lake City Ut – Sugarspace
• Aug 7 – Seattle Wa – The Funhouse
• Aug 9 – Portland Or – The Lovecraft Bar
• Aug 14 – Santa Cruz Ca – The Blue Lagoon
• Aug 16 – Hollywood Ca – The Whisky A Go Go
• Aug 17 – Las Vegas Nv – 172 @ Rio Las Vegas
• Aug 23 – Dallas Tx – Three Links Deep Ellum
• Aug 24 – Austin Tx – The Lost Well
• Aug 28 – Atlanta Ga – The Masquerade

“This really is a labor of love for me,” Cappello wrote of the album. “I played pretty much every note on the record with some notable exceptions. Joan Cappello sang the background vocals with me, and on I Still Believe, I had lots of help. Michael Mancini produced it and played keyboards. Sammy Merendino played the drums, and Glenn Alexander played guitar.” Though he doesn’t mention it, hip action and abs were provided, of course, by Tim Cappello.

The American leg of Sax Man’s tour starts on July 12.