aloneinthedark
Latest
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]
Alone in the Dark keeps the lights off a bit longer
Atari was dealt some pretty bad numbers the past year -- losses were at their highest in a while overall. This is partially why the next-gen iteration of Alone in the Dark has been pushed back to mid-2007, maybe into 2008. Atari does anticipate the title to be their big game for next year and let's hope they are right. Atari has even announced that the game will come to other formats not yet mentioned (and still haven't been named specifically) and that may help out. Not sure how a DS rendition of the game would do, but it's a cute idea.CEO Bruno Bonnell also talked about the likelihood of more console-specific titles and exclusives overall. He claims that "ports are going to be a little more difficult because the machines are becoming more and more specific." Ouch. That sounds like a shot at the cell processor for the PS3, but every machine is being built in very different ways (the Wii's gimmick innovative control style comes to mind). Also mentioned were game prices for the next generation. Surprisingly, Bonnell offered his thoughts that games won't cost much more other than a "massive title with crazy costs." If only he were right, but the 360 has already raised the bar by ten dollars and that will probably continue for a little while.
'Postal' creator bugged by Boll's boxing stint
A month ago, Uwe Boll put up a call to critics to "put up or shut up!" The plan was to have the ill-reputed game director fly the brave souls who "put up" to Vancouver to enter a boxing ring with him (so far, we know of one critic who took the call). The matches will be filmed, shown on the internet, and included in the upcoming game-to-film adaptation Postal.But Uwe Boll forgot to inform Postal creator Running With Scissors. In their latest newsletter, the company had this to say:Oh yeah, when asked if he had any comment to make on Uwe's latest PR brainstorm, Vince Desi had his head buried in his hands, muttering only: "I didn't know he was going to do this. He didn't tell me."The infamous developer does not sound too pleased. But in an e-mail exchange with 1UP, Boll conveys that "all is good" and that he has followed their notes for the treatment. We've got plenty of time to speculate, though: Postal will not start filming until work finishes up on the Dungeon Siege adaptation and a non-game film entitled Seed.[via 1UP]
Alone in the Dark to bite TV formula
Eden Games has decided to adopt an episodic format for its next-gen horror sequel, Alone in the Dark. The game will be chopped into episodes, each containing 30–40 minutes of gameplay that ends with a cliffhanger and a preview of things to come. In addition, each episode will be preceded by a brief video summary of previous events. Eden is hoping that this format, popularized by TV dramas, will get players "permanently hooked."Rather than digitally distribute each episode, the entire "season" with be packaged onto one disk. Players are free to play through multiple episodes in one sitting, but the idea is to approach the game in short bouts, as if following a weekly television series.It's different than what we've seen in most contemporary adventure games, which tend to mimic feature films, but Alone in the Dark is still biting from an established format. With that said, does the game industry need to stop holding the hands of the film and television industries and step, alone, into the dark?
