Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Outlast


New developer Red Barrels Games is bringing a new survival horror game to PCs titled Outlast. I'l let the trailer speak for itself (spooky, running, tense, okay I sort of cheated).

Created by an experienced team of mostly(?) Ubisoft vets, this title looks like it will definitely bring some excitement to the genre. Check out the trailer and then click over to the Red Barrels site for more info.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Crawling the Hill

Bitmob posted some quick impressions of WayForward's Silent Hill: Book of Memories for the PS Vita. In particular they point out the game's dungeon crawling style, and the series' history of trying to break gaming conventions. Its an interesting take on how Konami is trying to figure out what is next for Silent Hill without the work of Team Silent. Click over to read more...

The TV trailers are upon us


Lots of official and homebrew TV spots for Silent Hill Revelation 3D are popping up all over YouTube. Beyond the official commercials, some of the fan made trailers feature additional footage of note as well. Click through to YouTube to see the latest clips from the film, debuting in the US October 26.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Resident WTF?

I confess I was never was much of a Resident Evil fan. I didn't score my first PS1 until late 1998 (Bushido Blade was my must have game--BTW, thanks bro). My first RE game was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PlayStation, and I loved it. I was not a fan of the save system, but I found it less cumbersome than Dino Crisis, so I had my "in" to the premiere zombie game series.

Then I tried Resident Evil 2, and was like "wha... I already played this didn't I?" and I dropped it. In the PS2 era, I poked at Code Veronica a little--it scared the piss out of me, and I couldn't comprehend the controls before dying. I had other games I wanted to play by that time (thus began the backlog from hell). I have an unplayed RE:4 for the PS2--I keep promising myself to upgrade to the Wii version, but the dreaded backlog and parenting keep getting in the way.

Now, along comes the Jim Sterling and his less than favorable review of RE:6. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Sure, the reviews are all over the place if you check Metacritic. Which reviewers should you trust: the XBox 360 reviews or the PS3 reviews? Honestly, on Metacritic anything about a 70 is usually worth trying, but wow, Mr. Sterling is not a fan. Given that the series has never really clicked with me, I'm not surprised.

Click on over to read how Mr. Sterling really feels about Resident Evil 6.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Impressions of Memories

Website Rely on Horror has spent some time with the EU demo of Silent Hill: Book of Memories and has some favorable things to say. You will have you own chance to experience the game in the US of A when the demo releases in the States Tuesday, Oct. 2, but in the meantime, click over to read Rely on Horror's impressions.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

You got your Metal Gear in my Silent Hill


EuroGamer reports that Konami has asked Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima to contribute to the future of Silent Hill.

While no specifics have been stated, other than "ongoing talks," it seems that plans are afoot for Konami to continue to grow the series. I think this is a great sign for the future of Silent Hill, and something we have seen Konami actively pursuing for some time, with projects like the Wii's Shattered Memories, Wayforward's Book of Memories, and even Silent Hill: Origins.

Click on through to read more about the interview with Kojima.

Get Infested on the cheap

WayForward's Aliens: Infestation for the Nintendo DS is now crazy cheap at Amazon. If you have a DS or 3DS (XL, i, Lite, whatever), get over to Amazon now to pick up this great title for $11.91. Its well worth your time.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A taste of Memories comes lumbering to Europe

Silent Hill: Book of Memories has a demo coming to the PS Vita tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 26), if you live in Europe, according to Rely on Horror.

Book of Memories is WayForward's stab at multiplayer that Konami is hoping can freshen up their aging franchise and bring Silent Hill to a wider audience. I know that within the community this game is causing a lot of friction, but I applaud Konami for taking a chance, and I trust WayForward to give us something great--given their track record I don't think this will be a problem for them.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Amnesia: looking back to look forward

Frictional Games reflects back on the two years that have passed since they released Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Frictional opens up with a very honest discussion on the game's sales, piracy, modding, and the future of the franchise. It makes for some interesting reading on the business side that not many players are privy too. Click on over for the juicy bits.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Asleep at the wheel... or, OMG its The Walking Dead Plug it in and Play TV Game

 
The Walking Dead Zombie Hunter Video Game from Jakks Pacific has hit shelves at last!

Toys R Us even has a customer review for it from a Plug n' Play fan--note that the same review appears on Amazon. And, it looks like TRU currently sells it cheaper than Amazon.

Jakks has yet to update their site with any details on the game, which I think it kinda funny given the potential cash this thing could pull in if its not a complete piece of junk. The planned two-player double pack doesn't seem to be out yet either.



I'm just glad they got this out before Halloween.

A look back at Dementium: The Ward


NintendoLife has a nice, quick retrospective on the Nintendo DS game Dementium: The Ward. Now would be a good time to look back as well, because its sequel is in the process of being ported to Windows.

I've played a little bit of this title, and found it to be very atmospheric for a handheld game. I keep promising myself I'll go back and finish it one day.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Run, don't walk for this sale


Telltale's The Walking Dead is on sale at several online retailers through Thursday, August 30st. Both Steam and MacGameStore are offering a bundle of all five episodes of this downloadable title just in time for the release of Episode 3. At 40% off, these games are a steal at $14.99.

It was cheap enough for me to pull the trigger, and so far I have no regrets. These well reviewed games are well made, tense adventures and a nice change from the usual FPS games I play.

UPDATE: Friday, August 31 -- the sale may be over on Steam, but it runs until the end of Monday at MacGameStore for all you Mac users out there.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Hunted, never safe


Rockstar rarely plays it safe. Even its ping pong game has an edge, with its sweating, snarling competitors. You expect one of your opponents to shout an expletive, or throw his racket at you at any moment.

Much has been said about the Rockstar magic over the years--books have been written uncovering its naughty bits and manufactured controversies. I think my favorite stunt that Rockstar pulled was when they finally released Bully--a game that came no where near the heights of depravity it was being accused of prior to its release.

Eurogamer has a history of writing good reviews that often end up populating the top of the lists on Metacritic. They also do some nice non-review work, reports and essays reminiscent of the work of Destructoid. This weekend Jon Denton gave us a look back at Rockstar's Manhunt. Jon has some interesting observations on the title, its place in history, and its value in today's gaming world. Click on over to read what he has to say.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

PS2 horrors continue to haunt us


The PS3 goes gothic as it reaches into its PS2 back catalog of titles.

Say what you will about Nintendo's Virtual Console games service, they have gotten really good at re-releasing older titles this gen. Sony, besides adding their own spin on motion control to the PS3, one-upped Nintendo when it jumped on the "let's resell our old titles bandwagon" with PSN and a selection of their own back catalog, the latest being Capcom's moody Haunting Ground.

Haunting Ground inherited its Survival Horror crown from the Clock Tower series, but definitely gave it, it's own moody spin. Between the the continued success of the big guns like Dead Space, and the growing indie game's survival horror scene, it looks like the survival horror gaming is making a comeback.


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

How Book of Memories came about


One of my favorite video games journalists, from one of my favorite blogs, has written an article on Joystiq (a damn fine website), sharing details of the development of Konami's partnership with WayForward to create Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

In the article, JC Fletcher shares with us a history of the game's creation, from concept to current state for this controversial entry in Silent Hill series. Click over the Joystiq to read the report, and to see a selection of pre-production artwork created for the game.


Friday, July 27, 2012

"The" trailer is here

The always reliable Rely on Horror (yes, I will always say that), brings us the first view of the trailer for Silent Hill: Revelations 3D outside of Comicon. Go view the details, but if the link to the video is broken (and it was last I looked), if you Google around a bit, you might find it.

So far, it looks promising. I love the returning cast.

Friday, July 20, 2012

The ESRB gives us a little Jakks tease


Yes, I do have an unhealthy obsession with this game. The latest news around the interwebs is that the ESRB has set the Content Rating for Jakks' The Walking Dead TV Game. As you might suspect, its been toned back to a Teen rating:

Content descriptors: Blood, Violence

Rating summary: This is a first-person shooter in which players must rescue urban survivors from a zombie apocalypse. Players use shotguns, rifles, and crossbows to kill waves of zombies that lurch toward the screen; enemies emit green splashes of blood when hit. Bonuses are awarded for successful headshots (e.g., “Try to get 10 headshots in a row”), and players lose points for shooting/killing unarmed civilians. Red blood effects appear on screen when players' character incurs damage. 

Of special note, is the ESRB's "multiplayer" descriptor, meaning the game will continue the tradition started with Jakks' Big Buck hunting games and come in single player (1 light gun) and multiplayer versions (2 light guns). I wonder if both versions will release at the same time, or if Jakks might get a little tricky and delay the single player edition for a month or two and collect the windfall available from a higher price point.

BTW, you can order it at Toys R Us right now. They claim its "In stock for shipping," but I seriously doubt it. I'll still be driving by TRU on the way home after work though.


Square Enix speaks out against longer console generations

... and the rest of us say "wha?"

I often find myself agreeing with Jim Sterling, a lot. And, I completely agree with his assessment of Square-Enix's latest PR line on the negative impact of a longer console generation:
If anything, the bloated development costs of games forced many developers to think smaller, and I think that a new generation will only make that worse, not better.
I think the upgrade to HD has hurt more than helped the industry, as the corpses of once venerated developers and publishers are easily found along the roadside as evidence. You could argue that this is the cost of doing business in the games industry, and bad developers should be squashed, but there is little arguing that the HD shakeout has killed innovation in the console arena, as evidenced by the smaller number of games being released, and the lack of innovation.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Spain's abandoned airport


UK Newspaper The Daily Mail supplies us with a sneak peek of the world after man, with a photo essay on Spain's recently abandoned airport and nearby ghost town. Click over for more great images from this abandoned place.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Lonely love


If your still not convinced of the brilliance of Lone Survivor, Chris Waldron at Nightmare Mode definitely has a thing or two to say about this game's brilliance.

Monday, July 16, 2012

What Would CJ Do?



I love people like CJ Melendez. They spend far more time thinking about Silent Hill than the rest of us, and then write insightful essays to delight us.

CJ's latest thoughts center around the future development of Silent Hill, and who could be the best partner to move the franchise to its next step for Konami. Click on over to read what he thinks the future may hold for us.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Sony finally tries to make some tracks... hopefully not too late


Looks like Sony is finally taking the competition seriously. The Escapist translates for us what  Tecnoblog wrote about a new slimmer PS3 rumor.

If Sony's smart, they'll bring this in under $200, and give hold outs (like me) an excuse to finally upgrade. The Wii and XBox 360 are at price points that makes it a no brainer to pick up new hardware for Xmas and birthdays, but the PS3 not so much. Despite what the media reports, there are still a lot of consoles to be sold to late adopters, or folks who already have another platform and are cross-platform curious. I'm sure Nintendo is still selling the hell out of some Wiis, and despite what many game journalists are saying, the 3DS is outselling the original DS, putting a lot of hardware into people's hands. EDIT: Nintendo also just announced 5 Million in sales in the US.

If Sony can deliver at a cheaper price point, they can make up the loss with Blu-ray license fees and higher game sales. The current offerings for Playstation Plus subscribers means they could bypass the brick and mortar stores with downloadable games more easily, and all that DL revenue is pure profit, without the middle man.

Sony better do something quick, before Microsoft swallows up Activision, otherwise, they'll be dead in the water if Call of Duty ends up an XBox exclusive. Nintendo can handle that kind of pressure, Sony can't.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Not my child!


Alex at BitMob has been playing TellTale's The Walking Dead, and he has run into something I thought was a little familiar--parental instinct driving his game play.


I felt a lot of those same emotions he was feeling while playing the original Silent Hill. When I played the original game in 1999, my child was barely two, and the game's tug on my base fears as a parent was strong. It definitely gave the game a bigger emotional impact for me, and left a long lasting impression.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The skinny on Slender


Another great new indie horror game is making the scene: Slender.

Picking up a meme that's been making the rounds for a couple of years, Slender feels a little like a modern day version of the text game Hunt the Wumpus. Slender is a short game, in which you wander through the woods, finding clues, as you are being stalked by the mysterious Slender Man.

Creeping paranoia is the rule of the day in this game. Unfortunately bandwidth issues have brought the game's site down, but both Rely on Fear and In the Game's of Madness have the details you want.


Monday, June 25, 2012

Fatally Framing Nintendo?


Nintendo now owns Fatal Frame. Who knew?

Never saw this coming, though in light of Spirit Camera for the 3DS I'm not surprised. Check out Rely on Horror's article for the details that have revealed themselves so far.

It remains to be seen if North American audiences will ever see fruit from this union, given that the two Wii releases (so far and coming) never made it to our shore. I guess Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and other Mature titles for the Wii sold well enough for Nintendo to go into acquisition mode.

Friday, June 1, 2012

John Carpenter chiptunes


Born in the '60s? Check.

Grew up in the 80's? Check.

Listening to John Carpenter chiptunes in the 20-teens? Check.

Thanks Destructoid, for giving me something I just had to immediately share.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Nightmare House 2


I'm always fascinated by the "doers" in life--people who create things out of a passion for the creative process. Art used to fulfill this role in past centuries, now many people turn towards game creation (iPhone anyone?). I imagine this has to do with available tools, ease of access to training, and the ability to return to something and continue working on it later.

Source Engine has always been a good tools set for creation, and now a lot of us are lucky. Hen Malosky and his team have revisited a prior project and brought us Nightmare House 2, a Source Engine FPS survival horror game. Click over to read more and download the game for yourself.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Monster Initials


I"m lucky enough to have had these in my childhood. Glad someone is capturing them to share with the rest of the internet.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Japan's suicide forest


Fascinating and disturbing pictorial of a very dark place in Japan. I can't imagine a place like this existing in North America. Click on over for more images of this unique place.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Winter: snow in Summer

Its amazing how much work can be put into a game that never gets released. Winter is one such game.

n-space, a seasoned maker of games (17 years), recently made a name for themselves porting Activision's Call of Duty franchise to the DS, but a few years ago they worked on a survival horror title that looked a little familiar. IGN has an extensive amount of material documenting everything n-space did to bring this title to Wii fans. Unfortunately, we'll never get more than this peek.

The biggest question for me is why didn't Konami work with them on a Silent Hill title? Shattered Memories is certainly great, but I imagine it would not take much effort to reskin some of this game's assets to bring it into the Silent Hill family much like what was done with Silent Hill 4: The Room.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Lone Survivor has arrived


Lone Survivor released this week. And, it took me this many years to connect the dots to the NES Silent Hill demake Soundless Mountain II. Same guy, Jasper Byrne.

While Capcom talks of the demise of survival horror, the indie scene keeps bringing it. With people like Jim Sterling of Destructoid, Terry Cavanaugh of VVVVVV, and Adam Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun saying great things about Lone Survivor, I think you owe it to yourself to check it out.

A free in browser demo is available on Kongregate, so you can try before you buy, but at $10 this game is a bargain, and it's available for both Windows and Mac.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Carl!


One of my co-workers shared this with me after the season finale of The Walking Dead. Its a little silly, but that's the kind of month its been.

Deadly Premonition concept artwork

Whitney, of the Deadly Premonition fansite Welcome to Greenvale has posted some great concept art generated in the creation of said game.

I love this stuff: insights into the creation of a game. With its long development history, I am sure these just barely scratch the surface.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Silent Hill butter cake

I love Gourmet Gaming. Its one of those brilliant little ideas that someone not only had, but then went ahead and created something with. Gourmet Gaming's aim is to actually make the food we see in the games that we play.

A few month back my kids and I made Poffins from on of their recipes--we had a little trouble along the way, like not understanding how yeast needs heat to rise, and we sort of started a little late in the evening, and we didn't finish them until 1:00 a.m., and they turned out a little mushy (our fault), but we watched a great movie while we waited for them to rise and bake. So, I have been sort of hooked to the site ever since (but haven't had the nerve to make anything else).

They finally got around to making a Silent Hill treat, Butter Cake. Found on the store shelves in Silent Hill 2, this treat seems pretty popular in town. The recipe is pretty easy, but be aware that Gourmet Gaming likes to make things from scratch--no store bought mixes here!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Journey's origin and evolution


Joystiq's latest podcast has a great interview with Jenova Chen on his new game Journey. Highlights from the story include Jenova covering how the game grew from an idea and evolved into its current state, his discussion with a child psychologist, and why the game's avatars  have no arms. It's an awesome discussion with one of the more talented game designers in the industry.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Annie Wu is da Bomb


Not sure when I started following Annie Wu's illustration blog, but damn, is she good. Let her know how fabulous she is and buy some of her art.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Plug & Play reloaded

photo shamelessly swiped from MTV Geek.
I can't believe I missed MTV Geek's coverage of Jakks Pacific's The Walking Dead Plug it in and Play TV Game. Jakks' had a fairly nice looking show display at Toy Fair 2012 promoting the game, complete with near-lifesize cardbord cut-outs of some of our favorite cast members and what look to be the actual controllers. MTV Geek also spoke with Jakks' own Jared Wolfson to get the two minute pitch.

photo shamelessly swiped from ChipChick
Tech Woman blog ChipChick got in on the action too, with some good pics like the one above showing us how big this controller actually is. Jakks often offers their gun games in 1 or 2 player sets, so I imagine the color difference is to accommodate the 2-player set, or maybe they just haven't made up their mind on the product's color yet. The size of the gun is actually pretty impressive, especially compared to how small their hunting game controllers usually are, and I feel are likely bigger to appeal to an older demographic. I love fake paper logo label on the side of the gun that is "not quite" color matched, nor well affixed along the bottom edge.

The funniest part of this item, other than the press release, is that the product does not show up on Jakks' website. Nor, are there any screenshots to be found anywhere. Like so many things, the fans are likely far more excited by this item than the company that makes it.

So far, the release is scheduled for holiday 2012. Let's hope they can bring it to us a little sooner than that.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Destructoid previews I Am Alive

Image shamelessly swiped from Destructoid
Destructoid got lucky with an advanced look at Ubisoft's I Am Alive this past weekend. If you like Ubisoft's signature running and jumping games like Assassin's Creed, along with a dose of survival horror gameplay, you're gonna love this.

Having followed a long and circuitous development route, this game is now scheduled to be a downloadable title available on XBLA and PSN later this year. Click on over to read Destructoid's impressions, and then cruise the Wiki article for some history of how hey ended up as a downloadable title. It should be interesting to watch the sales numbers on this one, as it may impact what type of risks companies like Ubisoft will take with downloadable versus retail titles in the future.

Natsume's dark past


Who knew? Before their company hung its hat on gentle farming games, apparently Natsume made some pretty scary looking stuff during the NES era. Hardcore Gaming 101 has brought us some  selections from Natsume's darker past in their profile on this long running company.

Friday, February 3, 2012

The 3DS brings the horror, at least in Japan




The 3DS is starting out with a bang when it comes to horror, already lining up its second Resident Evil game next month. And while most of us are probably waiting for Spirit Camera to make its way state side, Japan continues to one-up us, and now gets Night of the Sacrifice on the Wii--and it uses the Balance Board, believe it or not. To wrap your head around this whole Balance Board and horror thing, just click over to Nintendo World Report and get the details first hand.


 
Copyright 2011 Translated Memories
Blogger Theme by BloggerThemes Wordpress by WPThemescreator