survival horror
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Third Resident Evil film to be buried in desert
And in our wildest dreams, it would be right next to those E.T. The Extra Terrestrial cartridges. Too bad you can't win them all. Or even one, in the case of non-sir Paul W. Anderson. He's the man writing the script (if that's what we call randomly flinging words at a blank page) for Resident Evil Colon Extinction, the third film adaptation of Capcom's survival horror series. Previously, he directed the first Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat (hey, that wasn't so bad!) and Predator castration epic, Alien vs. Predator. Speaking at a recent Hollywood and Video Games summit, in Beverly Hills Mr. Anderson outlined his original vision for the shambling corpse of a trilogy. The first film would act as a prequel to the game, the second as an intersecting companion and third as a post script.Interestingly enough, the third film just happens to be set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, which is either a tired narrative device or some sort of meta-commentary on the series itself. The world's been overrun with undead fellows and the only survivors, which include Milla Jovovich's Alice, Jill Valentine and Code Veronica escapee Claire Redfield, must make a run for it in armored convoys. "So that's where the movie takes place, primarily in the deserts of Nevada and around Las Vegas. But of course, it's a Las Vegas that has kind of fallen now, because what's happened is, with no one to take care of it, the desert has come back in and half-buried Vegas. So... we built all these casinos which are sort of buried in the sand." We'll take a gamble and hold out some vague hope that this will pull a Resident Evil 4 and make the series sparkle.Or not. This Hollywood machine is rigged.[Thanks Killer_Twinkie!]
Silent Hill 5 rumor round-up
QJ.net rounds up some Silent Hill 5 rumors from the Team Xbox forums and provides instant analysis: The game will have a next gen release, all signs indicate it'll be coming to the PS3, but it's likely the 360 will not be left out in the cold. It'll be developed by an American R&D team. Gameplay will be influenced by the highly successful and popular Resident Evil 4 They pretty judge it "Obviously," "Interesting," and "Neato, but don't screw it up" in that order. I'll silently agree.
Hollywood's next victim: Clock Tower
If you're still trying to get that Silent Hill taste out of your mouth (tastes sort of like a lead paint sandwich with a nice, tall glass of gore, in case you were wonderin'), then Hollywood's latest property oughta provide additional sustenance. Because Alone in the Dark wasn't an obscure enough game to base a movie on, Chilean director Jorge Olguin has just been tapped to helm the adaptation of Capcom's creepy (and popular in Japan) survival horror title, Clock Tower.Variety reveals, "Penned by Jake Wade Wall (When a Stranger Calls), pic concerns a young woman who receives a disturbing phone call from her estranged mother warning her not to come home. When she investigates, she uncovers a terrible supernatural truth from her past." This sounds an awful lot like the plot for Clock Tower 3. It all makes sense now: teenage girl, spooky house, Scissorman ... hopefully the combination of an acclaimed director and a well received plot can deliver gamers a worthy film.[Via NeoGAF]
"Erotic" themes too much for Sony in America
Rule-of-rose: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Rule. Of. Rose.Alright, so it's not quite Lolita but Sony's Rule of Rose has its own controversy. The Japanese game is being published by Sony in Japan while they've opted to pass on publishing the title in the States. The reason: the game's erotic undertones involving prepubescent girls. Yeah ... err, but that's just what it appears to be! In an interview with Gamasutra, the game's director Shuji Ishikawa explained his motivations and why they thinks there's nothing inappropriate with the content:"Right, the erotic aspect you mentioned earlier isn't supposed to be the main theme. There are definitely erotic parts to it, and some things that might make people uncomfortable, but it's not the focus. It shouldn't be a problem. It's about intimate relationships between all people, not just children, not just girls. There will be people who don't understand it, but others will."And it won't be toned down for the west."Publishing rights in the U.S. are being handled by Atlus who, it appears, have no problem with the content. When asked why they wouldn't be publishing the title in the States, Sony producer Yuya Takayama replied, "How shall I say this...well, when Sony looked at the game, they felt it wasn't really in sync with their corporate image. Their personal pride wanted it to be a bit tamer, if it were to have the Sony name in the U.S. I personally appealed to them that it wasn't that kind of game, but it didn't quite work out for me."Gamers can be relieved that -- unlike many Japanese games whose themes and topics are considered either inappropriate or untranslatable -- Rule of Rose will be coming to the States despite our often puritanical inhibitions. However, you can be sure this isn't the last we've heard of this "controversy."[Thanks, cringer8](Update: embedded trailer after the break for additional context. Great comments!)
Silent Hill: Origins poster at E3
Here's another snap from the pre-E3 LA Convention Center, this time of Silent Hill: Origins. Common sense dictates that this is simply an alternate title for the forthcoming PSP remake of the original game, titled Silent Hill: Original Sin. Rampant desire and unlikely to be fulfilled dreams, however, suggest that it's the name of the gloriously rendered PS3 version of Harry's twisted quest to find "a little girl with black hair" and his occasional run-ins with deranged cultists, meat monsters (with sewing machines for hands) and deserted wheelchairs. I can hope, right?It's great that the original game in an excellent series is being revisited, but I'm dubious of how well a portable platform will be able to reproduce the qualities of Silent Hill. Immersion may be difficult to pull off successfully in a handheld device, but given its video and audio capabilities, the PSP is likely to be the best choice for a survival horror title.
Capcom reveals playable E3 lineup
Capcom announced its lineup of titles that will be playable at E3: GBA Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar, Cybeast Falzar Nintendo DS Mega Man ZX PS2 God Hand Okami Street Fighter Alpha Anthology PSP Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins Monster Hunter Freedom Xbox 360 Dead Rising Lost Planet In addition, Capcom will unmask several new games for as of yet announced platforms. PlayStation 3? Nintendo Revolution? C'mon, Capcom has to have at least one ace up its sleeve...
Dead won't be 'Rising' until September
Capcom has announced the delay of Dead Rising. Instead of releasing the title next month, as planned, Capcom has pushed the zombie-hacker back to September 29. News of the delay comes in the wake of the company's current tax issues and poor sales in the western market. [Thanks, SickNic]
Dead Rising is rising slowly
More hands-on time for Gamespot at last week's Capcom Gamer's Day, this time they try out the recently "delayed" Dead Rising. Considering Joystiq's less than enthusiastic response to the title at CES, that delay seemed well justified. Gamespot reports, "As far as the visuals go, Dead Rising has made some impressive leaps over what we last saw. The graphics have been polished up considerably," continuing, "The unique structure seems like it could be a cool way to progress through a game--or it could be so vague that we end up going insane trying to keep busy." I think most gamers can agree that the idea of zombies in a sandbox game world ranks up there with the greatest ideas mankind is capable of producing, but we remain skeptical. We'll need to hear a lot more praise and less equivocation; however, following Resident Evil 4, we're more than happy to give Capcom the benefit of the doubt. See also: Some scans from the latest Famitsu, courtesy Xboxyde. Some footage of the game in action, courtesy MyXbox360.com.
Preview Alert: Resident Evil DS
For all the innovation that's present on the platform, it's somewhat unusual to find DS owners getting so fervent about the remake of a 10 year old game that's already been remade once before. Then again, the game in question just so happens to be Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, a title crammed to the brim with, silly plot developments, Jill sandwiches, puzzle-solving amulets and, most importantly, grotesque zombies. What's not to like, right?1up has posted a nice little preview of Capcom's portable evil, confirming some of the things we were wondering about and detailing some of the differences between the DS version and the original. With a touch-controlled menu, first-person slashing sequences, cooperative wireless play and the ability to literally blow poison back into an attacker's face, it seems like the game makes pretty good use of the DS' abilities. After all, it could have been very easy for Capcom to just slap a map on the top screen, call it a day and watch the franchise rake in the cash.Now if only we could get a version of Resident Evil 4...[Update: Corrected a "wi-ly" typo.]
Delays galore! Dead Rising, Top Spin 2, Lost Odyssey
Sorry for being the bearer of bad news, but Frame City Killer wasn't the only game to get delayed this week. Originally supposed to launch at the end of January, Capcom's Dead Rising has been pushed back to May 2. Joystiq's hands-on with the title at CES left us thinking the title needed a little more work. 2K Sports tennis-sim Top Spin 2 has been pushed back until April. Hironobu Sakaguchi's much anticipated RPG Lost Odyssey has not so much been pushed back, as its release date is just unknown. Using the often inaccurate sales data gleaned from Internet retailers, IGN extracted that the release date has been pushed back. This Spring will have plenty of great titles being released for the 360; unfortunately, the period between now and then may prove pretty dry. Another round of Geometry Wars anyone?
New Resident Evil screenies
After watching the video trailer of Capcom's re-REmake of Resident Evil earlier this month, it became apparent that Capcom was making every effort to appease survival-horror fans...well, at least the ones that enjoyed the series before Resident Evil 4 fixed revitalized it. Yes, the static camera angles, obtuse "place the magical obsidian gem into the fish statue" puzzles and robotic aiming have all returned, but the allure of slashing zombies in first-person view and an apparent multiplayer mode will undoubtedly prove much too hard to resist.Still, it would have been far better to see the game drop the fixed camera angles and adopt an over-the-shoulder view with precise, stylus-driven aiming. The environments are all real-time now, so why not? Why can't you use the guns in first-person mode? And how about a Nintendogs-esque mini-game where you attempt to train a chained zombie, only to have him nibble your arm off at unexpected intervals? Ponder these questions while you absorb the new and very bloody screenshots of the game.[Correction: Upon closer scrutiny (thanks el pero de nate), it seems we gave this remake a bit too much credit. The environments aren't real-time, but we still stand by our ideas for making the game better.]
Joystiq hands-on: Condemned (Xbox 360)
The surprise hit of Tuesday's exposé was Sega's Condemned: Criminal Origins. To bring you up to speed, the game pits you as an FBI agent on the hunt for a deranged serial killer that likes to pose his victims with mannequins. Taking a page out of DOOM 3, the game unfolds in darkness. Luckily, you've got a flashlight, which has the habit of fading out now and again, but at least you can wield a weapon while it's in use. I played through the opening level, which teaches you the game's mechanics and sets up the plot (don't worry there won't be any big spoilers in this post). The game has a nice cinematic touch to it, almost like you're playing through a game adaptation of Se7en. In the first sequence you arrive at a crime scene and are greeted by a detective that leads you into an abandoned building. You follow him through a series of dark corridors as he babbles on about this and that-the truth is, it's hard to pay much attention to what the detective is saying since you're distracted by the darkness. At one point the detective turns into a room and just as you are about to follow, you catch some kind of movement in the shadows down the hall. "What the #*$@ was that?!" I asked the rep sitting next to me. "Exactly," he said.
Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360--the games
I'm slowly recovering from a 10-hour date with the Xbox 360. For an event that offered free non-stop gaming-true, it was invite only-the number of attendees (on Tuesday) was shockingly sparse; but the room did start to fill up once cocktail hour rolled around. Needless to say, I was free to hop from station to station and get down n' dirty with the following titles (listed alphabetically): Call of Duty 2 Condemned: Criminal Origins Dead or Alive 4 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Kameo: Elements of Power King Kong NBA Live 06 Need for Speed Most Wanted Perfect Dark Zero Project Gotham Racing 3
Sega announces Christmas line-up
Sega's cashing in early on the pre-christmas hype machine with a list of eleven games it hopes will be given as gifts this coming December. The most notable announcements are Virtua Tennis for the PSP (so you can go out and play tennis on a screen whilst sitting ironically close to real tennis courts), Spartan: Total War for PS2, Xbox and GC as well as Condemned for the upcoming Xbox 360. Full Auto, a promising high octane racer from the line-up of Xbox 360 games, unfortunately won't be making the holiday season. It's been pushed back into early 2006. Now remember to be good little children or else Sega will go all Santa on your ass and replace the DVDs with coal! Hohoho! [Thanks, JamesO]
The new *unofficial* Xbox 360 launch lineup
Electronics Boutique (EB) has released a questionable list of 21 launch titles for the Xbox 360-presumably to be released on November 2nd. The list (via IGN) includes: Amped 3 (2K Games) Call of Duty 2 (Activision) Condemned (Sega) Dead Or Alive 4 (Tecmo) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda) Final Fantasy XI (Microsoft) Full Auto (Sega) Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Gun (Activision) Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft) Madden NFL 06 (EA) NBA 2K6 (2K Games) NHL 2K6 (2K Games) The Outfit (THQ) Perfect Dark LE (Microsoft) Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft) Quake 4 (Activision) Ridge Racer 6 (Namco) Saints Row (THQ) Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision) Top Spin 2 (2K Games) Also included in the initial list released by EB, were three games that will definitely not be ready by launch: The Godfather, Too Human Part 1, and Burnout Revenge. However, Perfect Dark and Kameo have been confirmed as day one launch titles-there is still some question about PGR3. EB expects each game to retail for $59.99, except for Kameo ($49.99), but these prices are not final. One final note, EB has listed Halo 3 for a July 1, 2006 release-can you say, PlayStation 3?
Condemned: Criminal Origins to be delayed past Xbox 360 launch day
The anticipated Xbox 360 horror game Condemned, from Monolith and Sega, has had its release date pushed back past the launch day of the next-gen console. The title was originally speculated to be a launch title but now Xbox Circle is claiming it won't be out in time due to the official release date being announced as the winter of 2006. The game has been billed as having a "heightened level of psychological tension" with the use of the first person to give "maximum visceral effect". This basically means it'll be a scary game with plenty of hacking and slashing. Rather than using your brain, you'll be trying not to get it shot/eaten/smashed by sociopaths that have more in common with zombies than humanity. Sounds like Sega are giving us gamers a break whilst we mentally prepare ourselves for the game over Christmas. [Thanks, Casper] Update: Looks like somebody somewhere slipped up as the Condemned section on the Sega site has been altered. It now shows Condemned as shipping "Holiday 2005". Prepare to be scared! (Thanks to Joe Waters over at Monolith for the correction)
Xbox 2 and PlayStation 3 screenshots revealed in Game Informer
It isn't every day that a mainstream publication comes out and declares some screenshots to be from the next generation of consoles. Sure, you have some hints in Gamespot about Elder Scrolls IV and The Godfather, but there's always this sense that the images could be from the PC version too. Well, not this time. Game Informer is coming right out and saying it. These are next gen console shots. The game is called Condemned, by Sega, and it looks pretty freaky. But a little "current-gen" PC, to be honest. So here they are. What do you think? We may need to see the magazine up close to make the call. [Thanks Josh!]
Fatal Frame II - Director's Cut is just plain scary
The sequel to Tecmo's survival horror series has been revamped for the Xbox to include an all-new first person mode-which is actually much more effective than the standard third-person view. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly is a slow-paced freak fest, that isn't interested in thrilling players with over-the-top gore or zombie-capping action. No, in fact the only weapon at your disposal is a camera. And as a pre-teen twin girl, you're not exactly the leading candidate for kicking ghostly-ass. "If you love movies like The Ring and want a truly creepy experience, this is your game"(IGN). Just be sure you're close to a light switch...
