Kanye Zone
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''Kanye Zone'' is a
browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on c ...
developed by Otter Spice Productions. It was released on March 9, 2012, and involves the player controlling a bumper in order to prevent an image of American musician
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
's head from entering a circle of increasing size, referred to as his "zone". The game incorporates sound clips from West's song "
Niggas in Paris "Niggas in Paris" ( edited for radio as "In Paris" or simply "Paris"; censored on the album as "Ni**as in Paris") is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaborative album ''Watch the Throne'' (2011). The song is built ar ...
", and its premise is a parody of the song's lyrics. Created by roommates Michael Frederickson and Stephen Barlow and inspired by 1980s video games, ''Kanye Zone'' received considerable media attention: Frederickson was interviewed by
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, and several other news outlets reported on the game, some praising its simplicity and addictiveness. In May 2013, a follow-up game, titled ''Pitbull Party'' and based on the rapper
Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
, was released.


Gameplay

The player's left and right
arrow keys Arrow keys or cursor movement keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor (computers), cursor in a specified direction. The term "cursor movement key" is distinct from "arrow key" in that ...
and
space bar The space bar is on the bottom center of the keyboard The space bar, spacebar, blank, or space key is a key on a typewriter or alphanumeric keyboard in the form of a horizontal bar in the lowermost row, significantly wider than all other keys. ...
control a bumper that moves around a purple circle.
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
, represented by his head, attempts to enter the circle while repeatedly rapping "Don't let me into my zone", and the player must hit him with the bumper—this causes him to disappear in a burst of
dollar sign The dollar sign, also known as peso sign, is a symbol consisting of a capital " S" crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or ), used to indicate the unit of various currencies around the world, including most currencies denominated "pes ...
s, and the player is rewarded with cash, added to a total displayed on the webpage. A
silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
of Kanye's head shows where he will next spawn, and an arrow inside it indicates what direction he will travel in. Play continues this way, with Kanye getting faster and the zone getting bigger, until the player fails to prevent Kanye from entering the zone, when they are presented with a message declaring they have lost; an image of rapper
Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
's head joins that of West, and the lyric "I'm definitely in my zone" is heard. If the player's cash score is high enough, it is added to a leaderboard on the right of the page.


Development

The game was created by
roommates A roommate is a person with whom one shares a living facility such as a room or dormitory ''except'' when being family or romantically involved. Similar terms include dormmate, suitemate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in Britis ...
Michael Frederickson—a
technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...
at
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
—and Stephen Barlow using
HTML5 HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
. The two heard Kanye West's song "
Niggas in Paris "Niggas in Paris" ( edited for radio as "In Paris" or simply "Paris"; censored on the album as "Ni**as in Paris") is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaborative album ''Watch the Throne'' (2011). The song is built ar ...
" and became "obsessed" with the lyric "Don't let me into my zone" (which is probably a reference to West's "artistic zone"), and what it would mean to do so. It was inspired by 1980s games such as
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
, as well as the 1972 game
Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...
. They noted that although they tried to make the rest of the game "flashy", the zone had to be "this unremarkable geometric form" so as not to be distracting. Frederickson mused that the nature of Kanye's zone is "the whole question of the game", and agreed that it was "almost a philosophical question". Frederickson called West, the inspiration for the game, an "arrogant man who purports to know everything", and said that in the game he " dmitssome ignorance" as he "doesn't know exactly what'll happen if he gets in the zone." The fact that the player begins the game with $50,000 is a reference to the "Niggas in Paris" lyric "What's 50 grand to a mothafucka like me, can you please remind me"—the amount represents nothing.


Release

''Kanye Zone'' was released on March 9, 2012 by Otter Spice Productions, and Michael Frederickson promoted it at the
Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
. Following its release, ''Kanye Zone'' reached the front page of the
social news Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
website
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
, causing its creators to lose approximately US$700 after much
traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
was driven to the website, and necessitating the
compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression *Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a c ...
of its contents; the next day,
advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
were added to the page. Although two million games had been played in under a month, the game was not very profitable, as the creators made only eight dollars off the game. The developers have since created a store selling various items adorned with a picture of the "zone", which Frederickson describes as "purple circles on everything". Although Kanye West has not contacted him, Frederickson was interviewed about the game by
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's ''
Hive A hive may refer to a beehive, an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species live and raise their young. Hive or hives may also refer to: Arts * ''Hive'' (game), an abstract-strategy board game published in 2001 * "Hive" (song), a 201 ...
'', which said it is "the best video game ever created based on a pop song and/or artist" and compared it to other games based on the song "
Margaritaville "Margaritaville" is a 1977 song by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett from the album ''Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes''. This song was written about a drink Buffett discovered at Lung's Cocina del Sur restaurant ...
" and the band
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
—he described the interview "unthinkably disproportionate to the interest of ''Kanye Zone''"; it even verged into the discussion of a
film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. He was also a guest on the British video gaming radio show ''
One Life Left One Life Left is Europe's first and only dedicated videogames FM radio show. It is presented by Ste Curran, Simon Byron and Ann Scantlebury. Earlier host Robert Howells stopped appearing on the show, to be later replaced by Simon. It includes ne ...
''. Luke Plunkett of ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' called the game a "perversely addictive thing", and ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
''s Jacob Moore said it is "as basic as it can get, but that won't stop you from wasting hours of your day." ''
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
'' dubbed ''Kanye Zone'' "the dumbest game you will spend 20 minutes playing" and "a hilarious low impact game in the tradition of early
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
". In March 2012, Frederickson stated that he was not yet working on a
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to the game; however, on May 31, 2013, ''Pitbull Party'', a follow-up to ''Kanye Zone'', was released. Based on
Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
's song " Don't Stop the Party" and released by Otter Spice Productions, it involves maneuvering Pitbull's head between scratches on turntable
records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...
.


Shutdown and Reopening

In December 2022, the game was replaced with a message stating: ''Hello,'' ''For abundantly obvious reasons, Kanye Zone has been taken down. This site is an elaborate joke that is no longer funny.'' ''We appreciate you dropping by.'' The replacement of the game was done in response to Kanye West's public praising of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and his
anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
remarks. But as early as July 2023, the game was reopened, and the website went back to functioning as it once did.


See also

* " Fishsticks"—a ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' episode that also parodies West


References


External links


''Kanye Zone''

Otter Spice Productions
{{Kanye West 2012 video games Browser games Internet memes Cultural depictions of Kanye West Parody video games Single-player online games Video games based on real people Video games developed in the United States