Author: John Scalzo

John Scalzo is Warp Zoned's Editor-In-Chief and resident retro gaming expert. You can email him at john AT warpzoned DOT com.

The 2010-2011 Video Game Awards Season

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Beginning with the Spike TV Video Game Awards in early December and culminating with last night’s BAFTA Games Awards, the 2010-2011 “video game awards season” has come to a close. And after four months of awards, acceptance speeches and arguments, we have a clearer picture of what really were the best games of the year.

The snobbier segments of the game community love to decry the Spike TV Video Game Awards as an embarrassment and not representative of the feelings of “real” gamers. Typically, the show’s world premiere trailers overshadow the actual awards themselves. But the event is spearheaded by Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV and the winners are voted on by a well-respected contingent of game journalists, so I guess it could be worse.

That said, this year’s Spike TV Video Game Awards “Game of the Year” was awarded to Rockstar’s epic western Red Dead Redemption. Keighley and company spread the love as the remaining major awards all went to other games: “Best PC Game” StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty; “Best PS3 Game” God of War III; “Best Wii Game” Super Mario Galaxy 2; “Best Xbox 360 Game” Halo: Reach; “Best Handheld Game” God of War: Ghost of Sparta; and “Best Downloadable Game” Costume Quest.

If Spike TV’s annual awards attempt to reach the mainstream, Time Magazine‘s top ten is the polar opposite, reaching into corners of the gaming world that are often ignored. This year’s selections are no different, including Alan Wake being awarded the #1 spot with iOS phenomenon Angry Birds at #2. The rest of the list was pretty typical, but the lack of Alan Wake’s spiritual twin, Heavy Rain, was the baffling part. Also, Limbo received its first love of the year-end awards with a sixth-place selection. (more…)

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Get a Nintendo history lesson this August

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

David Sheff’s 1993 book Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children is considered one of the great “behind-the-scenes” stories about the video game industry. It was updated once in 1999, but has since fallen behind the times, missing out on both the GameCube and Wii eras.

That’ll all change this Summer.

Penguin’s Portfolio imprint will publish Jeff Ryan’s Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America, a company history starting with the publisher’s early 80s entry into the American video game market all the way up to the Wii’s domination of this generation:

Nintendo has continually set the standard for video-game innovation in America, starting in 1981 with a plucky hero who jumped over barrels to save a girl from an ape.

The saga of Mario, the portly plumber who became the most successful franchise in the history of gaming, has plot twists worthy of a video game. Jeff Ryan shares the story of how this quintessentially Japanese company found success in the American market. Lawsuits, Hollywood, die-hard fans, and face-offs with Sony and Microsoft are all part of the drama.

Super Mario will be available as a hardcover, audiobook or eBook edition on August 4th.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Tiger Woods wins Morning Drive Showdown

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Tiger Woods appeared on The Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” this morning to talk a little bit about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters and also to challenge co-host Gary Williams to a single hole showdown. After being embarassed by Jimmy Fallon in a similar showdown on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, golf’s greatest player was able to redeem himself by shooting a par-4 to Williams’ quadruple bogey on the 10th hole at (a virtual) Augusta National.

Playing online over the PlayStation Network (though not using the new PlayStation Move functionality), Tiger even managed to talk some trash after Williams repeatedly missed the hole. After Williams’ fourth putt, he commented, “I have been practicing for literally three days on this game.”

Woods’ response was a playful “I can see.”

You can view the whole interview/showdown at The Golf Channel’s website. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters will be released for the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on March 29.

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Only 5% of 2010 games rated Mature, but account for 36% of all bestselling titles

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

The ESRB’s annual Rating Category Breakdown has revealed that the Entertainment Software Rating Board handed out 1,638 certificates in 2010. As expceted, the general audience ratings of Everyone (55%) and Everyone 10+ (18%) accounted for the vast majority of games. Teen-rated titles accounted for 21% while the Mature rating was awarded to only 5% of all 2010 games.

Even though Mature-rated games only accounted for a tiny percentage of new releases, they made up the bulk of game sales. In a Gamasutra report of 2010’s bestselling games per platform, 18 of the 50 games listed were rated Mature. As you may have guessed, most of these games were concentrated on the PS3 (six out of ten) and Xbox 360 (a whopping eight out of ten). And of course, Call of Duty: Black Ops just became the bestselling game of all-time.

So while Mature-rated games only take up a small amount of shelf space at the store, they are much more popular (on a per-title basis) than their Everyone-rated little brothers.

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Hitman 5 ARG sneaks up on us

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Since late February, the Hitman Forum has been tracking a possible alternate reality game related to the unannounced (but very much in the works) Hitman 5.

The forumgoers have cataloged a series of images that all bear conspicuous barcodes ending in “47.” The initial image, found in a catalog at the Sundance Film Festival, included a “Hitman Series” box of donuts. These images lead to other images and IO Interactive’s Community Manager has been there every step of the way to (unofficially) provide support in the search.

Eidos Interactive executives and Agent 47’s voice actor have both inadvertantly confirmed that a fifth Hitman game (and the first since 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money) is in development at IO Interactive. The Hitman Forum users haven’t cracked the code yet, but I’m sure this means an announcement will sneak up on us very soon.

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How Super Mario Bros. would look as an indie movie

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

We’ve already seen what the Super Mario Bros. saga would look like reimagined as a gangland tale, but what about if Mario was trapped in an indie movie?

We got the answer at this year’s South by Southwest festival as “Mario” recasts the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom in a movie of lost love (and a lot of drugs). It seems that Peach has run off with Bowser, the slick lizard who runs the local art gallery, while Mario is left to wallow in his own self-pity. But in the grand film tradition of hapless eccentrics who become heroes, Mario visualizes his future as a floating question box and proceeds to (literally) stomp on Bowser and his “Goombahs.”

Sadly, “Mario” was just made for fun by writer/director Joe Nicolosi, so it won’t ever become a real movie. But SXSW audiences (and gamers everywhere) have certainly embraced it.

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Hans Zimmer contributed to Crysis 2 score

Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts and Crytek have revealed that Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer lent a hand with the Crysis 2 score. Zimmer collaborated with existing composers Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu to create an “intense and dramatic” score.

“I was drawn to Crysis 2 because of Crytek’s passion for the project and the world they created,” Zimmer said. “And I am very happy with the outcome of our collaboration.”

An alien invasion in the year 2023 seems right up Zimmer’s alley after his amazing work on Gladiator, The Dark Knight and last year’s Inception. Moviegoers will next be able to hear his work in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The complete Crysis 2 soundtrack will be available to download from iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers on March 22nd (the same day the game hits the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360), but fans can preview the first track, “Intro,” at SoundCloud.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Mass Effect 2 named Best Game at 2011 BAFTAs

Posted on March 16, 2011 by John Scalzo

The final Game of the Year awards ceremony for 2010 releases, the BAFTA Games Awards, have been handed out in London and BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 has been named “Best Game.”

But aside from its big win, Mass Effect 2 was shut out during the rest of the show. Instead, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain took home the most trophies, three, for “Original Music,” “Story” and “Technical Innovation.” Heavy Rain’s heavy hand on the podium also resulted in a shutout for Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was nominated in an astounding six categories. Though, Treyarch’s shooter did capture the “GAME Award of 2010,” which is the only BAFTA award voted on by the public.

The other special award, the “BAFTA Ones to Watch Award,” was presented out to That Game Studio’s Twang.

Hit the jump for the complete list of winners. (more…)

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