houseofthedead
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Revolutionary: Gun Sights
Zombies. It seems like you can't stroll through a secluded eastern European village, tour a bioengineering facility, or attend a Kenny G concert without coming into contact with their kind. "Brains" this and "moan" that is all you ever hear from them, but chances are you've smelled them long before they come into earshot. I, for one, am sick of 'em and if you feel as strongly as I do, I urge you to take up arms.It's amusing to take them apart piece by piece, but as they shamble ever closer, you'll ultimately have to spread a little gray matter and put them to bed for a final dirt nap. At times like that, you'll need to know that you can rely on your sidearm to do the job. Zombie killin' is no turkey shoot, so a blunderbuss ain't gonna cut it. In this week's Revolutionary, we'll be testing out how straight a shooter the Wii Remote can be.
Sega announces 'English of the Dead' for DS
Fans of the quirky Dreamcast classic Typing of the Dead will be elated to hear that Sega has not abandoned its sense of humor (or its love of zombie education). Via the latest issue of Famitsu Weekly comes news that Sega is developing English of the Dead for the Nintendo DS.As you might guess, English of the Dead is a language training game, along the lines of Ubisoft's My French Coach. Using a version of House of the Dead 2 ported to DS (!), the game challenges players to correctly translate words into English from Japanese in order to ward off attacking zombies. Other modes include zombies that speak English out loud, where players must translate what they're saying.While this exact game probably won't find its way to the States, it would be amazing if Sega were to use the same premise and apply it to other languages (like French of the Dead, which we've conceptualized above). We'll keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, check out the Famitsu scans after the break.[Via DS Fanboy]
House of the Dead 2 & 3 Wii-vival official, co-op confirmed
Hot off of last week's confirmation by Sega that House of the Dead would indeed return to the Wii next spring, the company this morning made it all nice and official, announcing The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, a compilation of the second and third games in the zombie shooter series. While some may be disappointed that this collection turns a blind eye to House of the Dead 4, those eager to shoot at freshly-exhumed corpses can look forward to gunning down the undead alone in Arcade and Time Attack modes, as well as shoulder-to-shoulder with a friend in co-op multiplayer. In addition, with this announcement following Capcom's release of its on-rails kill-fest Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and with Sega's Ghost Squad on the horizon, we can't help but hope that what we're seeing is a resurgence in the popularity of light gun shooters, which couldn't make us happier, what with these days arcades being reduced to little more than a campfire story.
House of the Dead 2 & 3 Wii-vived in early '08
GameFly has listed House of the Dead 2 & 3 for the Wii as launching March 31, '08. After contacting Sega, Joystiq has confirmed that this game is real, though the publisher isn't ready to make the "official" announcement yet. GameFly has a good record when it comes to revealing new titles companies aren't ready to talk about, mostly due to its robotic nature of tossing up the info as soon as it comes down the supply chain. GameFly does not lie -- unless the publisher has no idea what it's doing.Wii detractors will be quick to point out that House of the Dead 2 & 3 aren't the latest in the series (that would be HotD 4) and are considerably "last-gen" at this point. House of the Dead will join Sega's other light-gun title, Ghost Squad, and Capcom's Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles in giving purpose to the Wii Zapper. As much as getting half-decade old arcade ports makes us roll our eyes at the Wii, it's still cool to play House of the Dead without having to hunt down one of last arcades left in the States (and it's not like traditional lightguns work on our fancy HDTVs either!)[Thanks, Hvnlysoldr]
Grindhouse's Rose McGowan loves zombie games
Grindhouse star and all-around hot chick Rose McGowan told VH1 Game Break that she obsessively kicked zombie ass in Sega's House of the Dead II ... until her attention-starved dog sabotaged her Dreamcast with a strategic blast of pee. Hold up, nerds -- don't hightail it to Ms. McGowan's place with a bottle of wine and a light gun just yet. She's dating her director, Robert Rodriguez. Play it cool. Give them some time. And when their Hollywood romance fizzles out, be there for the rebound with a copy of Umbrella Chronicles and one of these.
Uwe Boll does something awful to another critic
Anti-filmmaker Uwe Boll has beaten another one of his critics completely senseless -- and this time it was in a boxing ring, not a darkened cinema. Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka of Something Awful infamy was the second to fall to the raging Boll's flying fists in a PR-driven series of boxing matches. Like any dignified artist, Boll vowed to silence critics by punching them in the face, proving once and for all that ... well, we're not sure what exactly this proves. We know he's a good boxer, at least. In a video interview after the match, Kyanka amusingly points out that he now detests Uwe Boll not as a movie misdirector, but as a human being. According to the pummeled pundit, Boll offered to give his victims training beforehand and promised that his punches would be just for show. Quite apparently, that was not the case (video embedded after the break). Regardless, it now becomes clear that critics played right into Boll's gloved ham-hands. The selected participants arguably never stood a chance, something the video game violator well aware of in his struggle for Pyrrhic victory. Punching out a critic does not make his films any less craptacular and the whole fiasco has made him look like a fight-makes-right psychopath. 1UP contributor, Albert Art, snapped some pictures at the event and even conducted a brief interview with Boll. When asked why he continues to make video game films, Boll responds with an enlightening, "I keep doing video game based movies because look why not, all the comic-book get made into movies, even comics that sold 2000 copies there are movies out from it, why like big famous videos games shouldn't turn into movies." That about says it all. [Thanks, albertart and VGM!]Read - Something Awful's forum respondsRead - Albert Art's event coverage and interviewWatch - Video interview with Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka after the matchWatch - Boll's previous boxing match
Internet casino sponsoring "Raging Boll" event
Widely known for his anti-masterpieces, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark, German film director Uwe Boll drew plenty of internet ire in June by sending out a public challenge to his (many, many) detractors. Like any civilized and intelligent human being, Boll decided that the best way to deal with those that disagreed with his artistic vision for videogame adaptations was to punch them in the face, grr! The invitation urged haters to fly to Vancouver and meet the German in the boxing ring for a one-on-one session of metaphorically rich pummeling. Internet casino Goldenpalace.com has issued a press release stating that they will be the ones to sponsor the event, now dubbed "Raging Boll."Naturally, the prestige gained from having your event backed by an internet casino cannot be overstated. The joint's CEO, Richard Rowe, notes that Boll's attention grab is refreshingly ridiculous. "We receive so many outlandish offers for advertising exposure that it is refreshing to see something that surprises even us. That is why we decided to get involved. This has gotten so much attention so far, and we can't wait to see how it will turn out." Before starting proper on 23 September, Uwe will stop off in Spain to battle Carlos Palencia Jimenez-Arguello, a critic who has already vowed to Kill Boll (challenge video embedded in the latter section of the post). After that bout, Boll will face Something Awful's Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka, Jeff Sneider from Ain't It Cool News, Chris Alexander of Rue Morgue and Nelson Chance Minter from Website Critic. All the fights will be filmed for inclusion in Boll's Postal film, no doubt rendered vaguely entertaining by showing his face deteriorating over the course of the event. It may even prove to be beneficial to his career -- a few brutal blows to the head might be just the thing to bring him to his senses. Perhaps then he'll realize how difficult it is to hold on to credibility when you've got boxing gloves on your hands.[Via GameSetWatch]
Bracing ourselves for House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim
Lock the doors! Board up the windows! Protect your brains! The sequel to cinematic-hack Uwe Boll's House of the Dead is coming and there's nothing you can do to keep it out of your house... it's being shown inside the house*! House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim is the low-budget, Sci-Fi channel sequel to Uwe's zombie crap-fest. The funny thing is, the creators obviously knew about the first one, and still wanted to make a sequel. In an interview with the screenwriters on Rotten Tomatoes (via Cathode Tan) one of them says, "House of the Dead 2 is a completely different movie, which is not tied to the first movie. The only thing both movies have in common is the title - and zombies, of course." While this is technically true, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the screenwriters were involved with another of Uwe's films: Alone in the Dark (which is considered by many to--somehow--be worse than the original House of the Dead).Cinematical has a post about how House of the Dead 2 was shot at the historic Ambassador Hotel, home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub and the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The Ambassador was torn down in January to make way for a school, making House of the Dead 2 the hotel's last production... it ends not with a bang but with a whimper.*Not applicable to those who live outdoors.[Update: grammatical correction]
