Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Features
Warpback: What We Played in December 2015
Another year is in the books and so is another month of gaming with your friendly neighborhood Warp Zoned staffers! In addition to hiding from the (not-so) wintry weather to work on our backlogs, we also found our stockings overflowing with new games after hanging them from the chimney with care. If you’re looking for a few end-of-year recommendations, look no further than after the break. (more…)
Warp Zoned’s 2015 Golden Pixel Awards: Honoring Our Favorite Games From Last Year
The conventional wisdom will tell you that 2015 was a down year for games and that all the good stuff got pushed back to 2016. But how can you trust the conventional wisdom when last year featured a ridiculously entertaining string of good games starring kid squids, gothic hunters, glitchy sci-fi heroes, and the lone survivor of a nuclear war. And all that’s before you dip into the millions of user-created levels from Super Mario Maker.
Yup, we think 2015 was a pretty great year for games, especially the ones that took home some hardware during our annual Golden Pixel Awards… (more…)
Posted in Etcetera, Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Alphabear, Axiom Verge, Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Broforce, Earthbound Beginnings, Fallout 4, Guitar Hero Live, Her Story, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Mortal Kombat X, N++, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Until Dawn
Kickstart This! Deserted, Wanda: A Beautiful Apocalypse, Night City Assault
Kickstarter recently released a long-awaited Fulfillment Report, an independent analysis of its crowdfunding activities by Professor Ethan Mollick of the University of Pennsylvania. While the report contains a lot of interesting data, the number many media outlets are focusing on is the 9% failure rate of fully-funded projects. The report has this to say about the numbers:
Is a 9% failure rate reasonable for a community of people trying to bring creative projects to life? We think so, but we also understand that the risk of failure may deter some people from participating. We respect that. We want everyone to understand exactly how Kickstarter works — that it’s not a store, and that amid creativity and innovation there is risk and failure.
Let’s look at this another way. 91% of projects across all categories succeed and deliver. What industry can say that? There is an old adage in the film industry that mentions that 7 out of 10 features lose money, two break even, and one film makes enough money to cover the loss. This is almost the opposite.
Personally I have yet to support a successful project, video game related or otherwise, that has not delivered after receiving my funds (or at least been on course to do so). Yes, I practise what I preach and donate on crowdfunding sites. I recently had an update from lead developer James Fletcher about his long-gestating project Knite and the Ghost Lights. In a nutshell, he had to put the project on hiatus to work for six months so he could support his family and then return to the game. Despite waiting longer than I thought I would for the game, James’ commitment to do six months of commercial work in order to realise his dream keeps my faith alive in the crowdfunding community. There are people out there who seek to con others, but that’s why we have columns like Kickstart This!
So what games are we urging you to back this time around? We start off with RPG action-adventure Deserted, before shining a light on not one but two games from Australia. The first is cutesy robot puzzler Wanda: A Beautiful Apocalypse, while the second is the Streets of Rage-inspired RPG beat ‘em up Night City Assault. (more…)
The Games of December 2015
Other than Xenoblade Chronicles X, there’s not a lot we’re hyped up for this month at Warp Zoned. That’s is probably a good thing, since most of us have picked up quite a few new games during this year’s Black Friday sales. And we also need to hit up that backlog as well! Read on to see what else we’re talking about playing in this cold month of December. (more…)
Warpback: What We Played in November 2015
We played a little bit of everything here at Warp Zoned this month, from brand new heavy hitters like Fallout 4 to freemium games in the 3DS eShop like Nintendo Badge Arcade. We were busy little gamers and we loved every second of it! Read on to see the full list of what we played in November. (more…)
Kickstart This! The Nullpoint, Cold Blooded, Grey Night, Failsafe
Good day Warp Zoned readers young and old, and welcome to another re-launch of our Kickstart This! feature, where we direct your bedazzled eyes to our top picks currently duking it out on the crowdfunding platform for cash, credit, and respect.
“But didn’t you relaunch a short while ago?” I hear you cry. And yes, yes we did, but the weekly format felt forced and oversaturated by games picked simply because they had launched. Even though there are over 600 gaming projects currently live at the moment, we try and pick ones that we as gamers want to play. But we’re also journalists, so we want to highlight projects that have gone the extra mile. But there is no secret recipe that defines the term “extra” here. It could be a development team’s unbridled passion, a unique gaming experience, or something that just tickles our taste buds. Whatever it is, it gets us really excited, and, we won’t lie, there are simply not enough projects that do this to justify a weekly post.
So instead we’re switching to two posts a month, a happy medium between the old and new formats. (more…)
The Games of November 2015
The Warp Zoned crew is all in agreement about one game for November, and that’s Fallout 4! We mention a few others, but let’s face it: we’re all excited to leave yet another vault. Read on to see what else we have to say about the coming month! (more…)
Warpback: What We Played in October 2015
We were all over the map in the month of October here at Warp Zoned! We played everything from mobile games to major releases and had a blast along the way. From Alphabear to Shovel Knight, to Rocket League and Persona 4: Golden, we played it all. Read on to see our full list of gaming from last month! (more…)