Author: Nicole Kline

Nicole Kline is Warp Zoned's Senior Editor. She first began preparing for the job by climbing a milk crate to play Centipede in an arcade. You can find her on PSN under the name toitle or you can email her at nicole AT warpzoned DOT com.

Daily Scoop: May 21, 2014 – GameLoop this weekend

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Nicole Kline

I’ve been a super busy lady the last few months, and this month is no exception. On Saturday, my friend Ray Merkler and I will be at University of the Arts for an event we co-organize, called GameLoop Philly. It’s an all-day unconference for game developers, and it’s an amazing time. If you’re local and interested, you should absolutely come!

It’s a new day, which means it’s a new Humble Daily Bundle! This one is simply called “Flying.” Pay what you want for Race the Sun; pay more than the average to unlock Guns of Icarus Online. You can get the final unlock, Strike Vector, if you pay $10 or more.

If you’re into platforming, you better hurry up and jump on the Humble Weekly Bundle! You’ve got one more day to pay what you want for Shank 2, Blocks that Matter, and Bit.Trip Runner. Pay more than $6 to unlock Bit.Trip Presents… Runner 2, Megabyte Punch, and Fly’n. And pay $10 or more to unlock King Arthur’s Gold and Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition.

As always, Steam has a few good deals as well. Their Midweek Madness sale is $14.99 for The Banner Saga (or $3 more for the deluxe). Agarest: Generations of War is their Daily Deal, on sale for $5.09.

And now, some midweek t-shirts! (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Next 33 1/3 book will focus on Super Mario Bros. soundtrack

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

supermariobros33 1/3 is a book series by Bloomsbury Publishing that focuses on albums by all manner of artists, including The Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, The Who, and more. There are 96 books in the series so far, and they’re about to announce 14 more, to be released in 2015 and 2016.

Today, they made an exciting announcement: they’ll be releasing a book in the series about Koji Kondo’s Super Mario Bros. score!

Author Andrew Schartmann takes us through the various external factors (e.g., advances in technology, Nintendo’s marketing tactics) that coalesced into a ripe environment in which Kondo’s musical experiments could thrive. He then delves into the music itself, searching for reasons why our hearts still dance to the “primitive” 8-bit tunes of a bygone era.

Schartmann is no stranger to writing about Nintendo’s famous 8-bit scores – he’s the author of last year’s Maestro Mario: How Nintendo Transformed Videogame Music into an Art. His 33 1/3 title will be out in May 2015.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Wasteland 2 will be released in August

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

wasteland2InXile Entertainment posted a massive Kickstarter update today about Wasteland 2. The most important part of the update was that the game will be available in just a few months, at the end of August of this year.

That’s not all they’ve updated – they also made a massive update to the beta. “This update adds the final major area of Arizona, meaning the Wasteland 2 beta now includes all Arizona maps, which is approximately half the entire game!” You can get early access now through Steam, even if you weren’t a Kickstarter backer.

Wasteland 2, sequel to Wasteland and predecessor to the Fallout series, made $2,933,252 (more than three times their goal) on Kickstarter back in April of 2012. Check out more details at Kickstarter or on Steam, or just wait until the full game releases in August.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Child of Light will launch on Vita on July 1

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Ubisoft is bringing its gorgeous new RPG, Child of Light, to the world of handheld. On July 1, you’ll be able to visit – or revisit – the beautiful world of Lemuria on your PlayStation Vita.

If you can’t wait until then to play as the charming and lovely Aurora, you can play Child of Light right now on PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. No word yet on whether the Vita version will be cross-buy with the current PlayStation Network version. More details can be found at the Ubi Blog.

Posted in News, Vita | Tagged

Insomniac pledged $7,500 to Amplitude campaign and they want you to do the same

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Nicole Kline

Back in the PlayStation 2 era, Harmonix made Frequency and Amplitude, arguably some of the best rhythm games of their time. Harmonix decided to launch a Kickstarter to remake Amplitude in HD, but with just a few days left, they’re still woefully short. And that’s where Insomniac Games has stepped in to try to save the day.

Insomniac wrote fondly about Harmonix, saying “For a long time, Guitar Hero and Rock Band competitions were a weekly, if not daily, occurrence around the office,” and referring to FreQuency and Amplitude as “two of our favorite music games, and two of the best PlayStation 2 games of all-time.”

With all that fondness, Insomniac pledged $7,500, the “your song in our game” level, to the Amplitude Kickstarter, and they are urging everyone to join in and help make this remake a reality. With their pledge, they’ve chosen their song, Crazy Ride, to be added to the game.

How about you? Did you pledge already? While I’m sure there are few of us who can pledge at $7,500, there are still lots of great levels to pledge at, and plenty of cool rewards to get. Check it out!

Posted in News, PS3, PS4 | Tagged

Daily Scoop: May 19, 2014 – Birthday-filled weekend!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Nicole Kline

This weekend was an exciting one filled with birthday cake and homework! The former was delicious but the latter was tiring. I didn’t get a chance to play many video games, but I did learn a card game called 9 Holes of Golf, which was a lot of fun! I teamed up with my six-year-old cousin and we beat everyone else. Domination!

There’s a new Humble Daily Bundle, of course. This one’s called the Melee Bundle. Pay what you want for Guilty Gear Isuka. Pay more than the average to unlock Vanguard Princess. And finally, pay $10 or more to unlock Blade Symphony.

There’s also a new Daily Deal over at Steam. Today only, you can get Race the Sun for $3.39. Scoop it up!

What better way to start off the work week than with a few good t-shirts? (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Daily Scoop: May 16, 2014 – More cheap games

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Nicole Kline

It’s day four of the Humble Daily Bundle, and they’re not slowing down! Today it’s the Humble Indie Re-Bundle 8. Pay what you want for Dear Esther, Capsized, Awesomenauts, Thomas Was Alone, and Little Inferno. Pay more than the average to unlock Hotline Miami, Proteus, Tiny & Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers, English Country Tune, Intrusion 2, and Oil Rush. And it includes most of the soundtracks as well.

That’s not all. Steam’s got two amazing sales going on right now. Their Weekend Deal is The Stanley Parable, on sale for $7.49. Their Daily Deal is Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut for $4.99. Scoop all of these up!

Let’s end this with some t-shirts, shall we? (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Daily Scoop: May 15, 2014 – Nearly the weekend

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Nicole Kline

We’re so close to the weekend, I can practically taste it! Anthony Amato and I have been working so hard on getting our game ready for IndieCade, and now that it’s been submitted, I hope to have some time to play games this weekend. After I do my homework and write all my articles, of course!

Let’s talk deals! There are lots of new bundles once again – Indie Royale has the Debut 13 Bundle. Pay the minimum for Toxic Bunny HD, The Howler, Data Hacker – Initiation, Memories of a Vagabond, Age of Conquest III, and ONE DAY for Ched. Over at Humble Daily Bundle, they’re showcasing The Banner Saga! Pay what you want for artwork and the starter pack; pay $10.78 to unlock the Variations starter pack; and pay $15 or more to unlock the entire game.

But wait: there’s more! There’s a brand new Humble Weekly Bundle as well – this one’s all about platforming! Pay what you want for Shank 2, Blocks that Matter, and Bit.Trip Runner. Pay more than $6 to unlock Bit.Trip Presents… Runner 2, Megabyte Punch, and Fly’n. Pay $10 or more to unlock King Arthur’s Gold and Mark of the Ninja: Special Edition.

And now, time for t-shirts! (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |