House of the Dead
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Wii Warm Up: SAAAAAAAAAAY-GA!
Any gamer would need a heart of blackened teak to not have a soft spot for Sega, and there's arguably no better home for a dyed-in-the-wool Sega fan than the Wii. Over the coming weeks and months, Nintendo's little white box will be hosting a number of updated classic Sega properties, including NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Samba De Amigo, and House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return.But our appetite for all things Sega is not yet sated! While we've already asked you which Saturn games you'd like to see on the Virtual Console, which Sega titles in general do you want to see reinvented on the Wii? A motion-sensitive Panzer Dragoon, the return of Ulala, and a Burning Rangers sequel top our list.
House of the Dead screens return
Famitsu has put up some screens from upcoming double feature House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. The game, which you know full well is on the old side, doesn't look that great, but we're pretty sure the gameplay is going to be too cool for school. Oh, how our dreams are filled with us gunning down the undead.Considering its price and the fact that it is awesome, we're dead-set on picking the game up ourselves. But, what about you? Going to pick up a copy for yourself?
The House of the Reasonable Price
We rejoiced when we heard about Sega's House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. Yes, they're ports, but they're awesome ports of classic shooting games on the only system that doesn't require extra hardware to play them. Luckily, the filthy undead care only for chowing down on brainmeats and have no patience for economics, thus allowing the game to sell for a mere $30. That's the same price as Ghost Squad, but with two awesome shooters on the disc. We think it's cheap enough for previous owners to pick up just for the convenience of the wireless "gun." And let's be honest -- when it comes to Sega, ports are often preferable to new games.
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 officially confirmed for Wii [update 1]
We told you about a rumor that started with a thread at NeoGAF and a Gamefly listing, one that involved light gun shooting and zombies. And no, this rumor wasn't about Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, but rather the classic arcade game that started it all, House of the Dead.When rumors like this turn out to be false, it's somewhat devastating. We're too fragile to have our emotions played with in such an insensitive manner. Fortunately, in this case, the rumor is true, confirmed, verified, and ... well, all you need to know is that it's happening, folks.Not only did Joystiq confirm this rumor with Sega, but the company released an official announcement about House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, which will combine the two arcade games. We only wish we were getting the original House of the Dead with it, but we're still pleased to hear that we'll be shooting more zombies in the spring.[Via press release]Update: Gallery of some game screens added for your viewing pleasure!%Gallery-10506%
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]
Rumor: Wii to suffer like G did
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Rumor_has_it_that_House_of_the_Dead_2_3_will_hit_Wii_in_compilation_disc'; The Wii's status as the home of light gun games is totally cemented, if this incredible rumor is true. According to NeoGAFfer King Zell and a mysterious Sega Europe PR statement that we can't verify, The House of the Dead 2 & 3 have been announced for the Wii as a single-disc collection. What makes this rumor more plausible is a Gamefly listing for The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. Gamefly tends to be right about these unannounced games! If this is true, we will absolutely buy The House of the Dead 2 again, with III (which saw a home release on the Xbox) as a bonus.Psst, Sega ... if you do get House of the Dead 2 running on the Wii: may we remind you that the Wii supports USB keyboards?
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]
