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Off the Grid reviews Give me the Brain!
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.James Ernest's games are nothing if not creative. Give me the Brain!, from way back in 1997, is a card game set in a fast-food joint, which just happens to exclusively employ zombies. Oh yes.Each player acts as one such undead employee, as all players compete to be the first flesh-muncher to leave at the end of the workday. At first glance, it's a simple card game concept: the first player with no cards remaining is the winner. The catch is the brain -- there's only one of them between all of the players, and you're going to need it to get a lot of the jobs done.
Flickr Find: More pics of zombie attack on Apple Store SF
As we Twittered a few hours ago, CNET reporter Declan McCullagh narrowly escaped zombie-fication as a 'flash mob' of faux zombies descended on San Francisco's tony retail district on May 25. While other stores blocked the living dead from entering, apparently Apple employees were jockeying for ideal position to snap pictures of the shuffling, decaying spawn of hell. Now that's thinking really different. In addition to McCullagh's photo gallery, reader Steve Rhodes has posted his pics of the invasion on Flickr for all to enjoy. Just remember: you've got to attack the head. Thanks Steve! via CNET
Zombies invade Apple store
So apparently last night the Stockton street Apple store in SF was mobbed by... wait for it... flesh-eating hordes. We suppose the obvious joke would be that brain-eating zombies would go hungry paying a visit to an Apple store, but we know better than to arouse the ire of Mac fanboys -- and zombies -- so we're leaving this one alone.[Photo by Steve Rhodes - thanks Steve!]Read - SF Zombie mob manifesto
Resident Evil: Impressions Chronicles
GayGamer recently got a chance to play Capcom's Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, which pulls old RE stories from their graves and reanimates them as segments of a rail shooter. Unlike previous Resident Evil spinoff games, this one seems like it's going to be okay. They were especially pleased with the treatment of the story-- since the Resident Evil series has traditionally had a good story element, this game has a leg up over other zombie-filled shooting games. Nobody will have to suffer like G did.The Nunchuk use also received praise-- being able to look around freely with the joystick just lets you do more in each area, allowing the players to search for hidden items, aim shots more accurately, and choose paths.%Gallery-3286%
Forum Post of the Day: Best class in case of zombie attack
Forum poster Bluth asks a very important question: what's the best class to be in case of a zombie attack? And no, we aren't talking about sluggish Night of the Living Dead style zombies, but instead the more threatening type seen in recent films like 28 Days Later. Opinions of forum posters seem to be mixed. Druid: Perhaps zombies would ignore cats and bears in their search for delicious brains? If that fails, restoration Druids have that handy tree disguise. Hunter: If movie-lore holds true, a bullet (or arrow!) through the head can stop even the most bloodthirsty of zombies. Any Hunter worth the name should be able to pick them off from afar. And if everything goes bad? Feign death! Mage: Zombies can catch fire, can't they? Paladin: Bitten? Heal. Infected? Cleanse. And for everything else, there's Exorcism and Holy Wrath. Priest: Shackle and LOLSMITE. Rogue: Vanish. Shaman: Zombies got you down? Wait until it blows over and Reincarnate later. Warlock: If they could enslave zombie armies like they can demon armies, they'd be all set. If not.. wouldn't zombies be immune to fear? Warrior: Hope zombies can't bite through plate armor. Got any ideas of your own? Add 'em in the comments!
Night of the Living Wii Remote
Were it our decision, the streets would be choked with the undead, suffocated by their sloth and numbers. What little remained of the human race would have to go into hiding, their once-magnificent kingdoms now ruled by zombie majesty. It's a terrible vision that we hold onto in our heads every night before drifting off to sleep, hoping to carry it along with us in our dreams. Given our affection for the undead here at the Fanboy offices, we couldn't pass up mentioning this month's cover of Official Nintendo Magazine. The issue advertises May's Resident Evil features with a corpse hand breaking through its earthen grave. Gripped by cold, gray fingers, a Wii remote kicks back into life, properly strapped to the undeceased's wrist. Head past the post break for a better look, but take care not to attract the attention of brain-eating revenants on your way inside.
Blitz zombie game on hold, 'major new project' in the works
Blitz Games' upcoming zombie title Possession has officially been put on hold. It comes as no surprise, though, seeing as the last update we had on the game was late 2005.A spokesperson for the company told GamesIndustry.biz that the delay is only temporary and that the Possession team has been reassigned for a "major new project" coming on PS3 and Xbox 360. "Much of the work done on Possession directly led to us signing this new game," he said, "and some of the technology has been enhanced further and will appear in this new title."The new, unnamed project will be under Blitz Games' mature-centric Volatile label. Although they did say "temporary," the implication is that this major new title will be in development for quite some time. By the time it's finished, will it even be worth it to resume work on the zombie title?
Famitsu reveals Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, confirms RE4 port [update 1]
[Update 1: fixed the name of the DS game. Thanks, SnesR0X, and no thanks to the many similar DS-game subtitles!]It's been a while since we had a directed blurry-Famitsu-picture staredown, and this one is, as usual, totally worth staring at. Famitsu printed a long-awaited look at Capcom's Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, the Wii-exclusive RE-series-spanning game.According to the article, it's a first-person gun shooting game with playable characters from past REs including Chris, Jill, Wesker, and others. Whether it's a true FPS or an on-rails affair like Resident Evil: Dead Aim remains to be seen.Also in Famitsu was confirmation that Resident Evil 4 is getting an enhanced Wii release. Rumor has it that all the PS2 extras will be included, but the only definite is an added Wiimote-controlled knife mode. Sounds like RE Deadly Silence on the DS.[Thanks, zshadow!]
Zombies and Turtles found on ESRB
More ESRB hints abound, as the website known for destroying the dreams of excessively violent young children is now listing two more heavy-hitters for the Wii's Virtual Console service. First up is the SNES cult-classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which nicely fills up the senseless-violence-involving-zombies genre that the Wii was heretofore lacking.Next up? The game none of you ever beat. Yes, the original mind-numbingly difficult Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES appears to be slated for a shiny white console near you, and this time, we're gonna finish that game once and for all.We hope.[via GoNintendo]
Monster Madness: The Battle for Suburbia screens and trailer
Click to enlargeNew screenshots and a trailer for the in-development Xbox 360 game Monster Madness: The Battle for Suburbia were released yesterday. It looks a bit like Fuzion Frenzy and Dead Rising met in a dark alley, fought with each other for awhile, and then decided to team up and be friends.The game features some added elements like players being able to combine items into more powerful weapons, and four-player cooperative gameplay (which we'd like to see a lot more of). Unfortunately one of the added elements doesn't appear to be "incredible looking graphics." The game is supposedly inspired by Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but looks more like Zombies Ate My Development Budget.Check out the gameplay video after the jump and you'll see what we mean. The game has a mid-April release date, so who knows what'll happen between now and then. Strangers things have happened when dealing with zombies.
The Golden Brain Award for best zombie goes to ...
It's Halloween! You know what that means, right? It's time for our zombie-overlords at AOL to present their annual Golden Brain Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in the field of zombiism. Movies are remembered for luminaries like that jelly-mouthed zombie guy from Night of the Living Dead while music videos will always be remembered for the zombie stylings of Michael Jackson (and K-Fed, oh snap!), but games aren't without their fair share of undead superstars hungry for your grey matter!There were ten prizes awarded in ten categories, like the "Mixing Bad Guys and Zombies to Make Zombified Bad Guys" award, which went to first-time winners the zombie Combine ... err, Zombine (thanks, Alyx). Of course, the creeps from the Resident Evil series showed up and made a, err ... killing (who invited them again?). Other less famous -- but equally undead -- winners included Ocarina of Time's ReDead (EEEEEEEE!), and the titular Stubbs from Stubbs the Zombie. Congrats, everyone ... except you, Larry King. Yeah, we've got the glasses ... we know.
Video Sandwich: October 29, 2006
Zombies. Eat. Brains. This is a surprisingly well-made advertisement for Next New Networks. Too bad the actual website seems to be a work-in-progress... I'm assuming it'll offer PSP-formatted video in the future? Maybe we'll find out more soon.This second video shows off a man in yet another love affair with his PSP. Why? Why are these people putting these up on YouTube? Why do I keep on posting them on the site? And why do you still watch them? Strange. Maybe he's just in love with the deluge of demos that came out today. Enjoy the remaining hours of your weekend, folks.
Hellboy director consults for game
Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro hopes to add some personal touches to the PSP's Hellboy video game that weren't present in the franchise's debut a few years back. You see, Hellboy was released in 2004 to some pretty lackluster reviews. The game has a 12-percent Gameranking score. Seriously. So you can see why del Toro, who is a consultant along with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, wants to give his two cents on the next game.Speaking to IGN about his new Hellboy game, del Toro said, "The essential weapon of Hellboy, and this I love, is not only his glove, which like in the movie can be charged with power, but he can use everything available. If he destroys a door, he can grab a piece of that door and start beating the crap out of someone! Or if he destroys a stone archway, he can pick up a stone and throw it. I think it's looking very promising. We played a few demo minutes the other day and we had fun."The game, which will be published by Konami, is del Toro's first foray into the video game industry, but it won't be his last. He's working with Terminal Reality to bring us Sundown, a game that combines zombies and a post-apocalyptic world together into a gamer's wet dream.Be sure to read the rest of what del Toro has to say by clicking here.
Joyswag: Get a call from Otis, win Dead Rising -- two days later
We've selected Tim Park's groan-inducing "GRAIINS" entry for day two of our Dead Rising giveaway contest. We've still got two more copies to give away, an army of entries breaking down our barricaded inbox, and only a couple hours left before daylight!Same rules apply. Send your creations in .jpg format to joyswag [dot] submissions [at] gmail [dot] com. We'll select one submission each day, over the next two days, with the juiciest brain droppings. You better get started, today's entries must be received by 5:59am EST. Read on for some more rules and a sampling of some of yesterday's honorable mentions.
Joyswag: Get a call from Otis, win Dead Rising -- one day later
A reminder that the second day in our four day Dead Rising giveaway contest is coming to a close (since we're late, we'll give you an extra couple hours to get today's entries in). We've already chosen yesterday's winner -- AJ Bothe's Simpsons meets Dead Rising mashup had us imagining a zombie outbreak in the Springfield Mall, with zombies pouring out of The Leftorium. Nice work, AJ. We've included some other honorable mentions after the break.Send your entries in .jpg format to joyswag [dot] submissions [at] gmail [dot] com. We'll select one submission each day, over the next three days, that either makes us laugh the most, or infects us with enough T-Virus to tur ... B R A I N S. You better get started, today's entries must be received by 5:59am EST. If you win, we'll pack your precious game in a box, put that box in another box, write a magical incantation on its surface and then it'll somehow get to you. Be warned, this can be a very lengthy process, so please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery.
Dead Rising: patch chance lost!
How fortuitous that the winner of our first Dead Rising giveaway just recently acquired a new HDTV -- on that old set of his, he'd likely have some difficulty reading the annoying edicts coming from security guard and phone etiquette fiend, Otis. After users of non-HD television complained about the unusual amount of squinting required to read the on-screen text, Capcom admitted awareness of the problem and doled out a list of DIY solutions, none of them nearly as effective as a downloadable patch would be. So, what's the word on that?Unfortunately, the word is "no." Speaking to 1UP, a Capcom representative pointed out that "the amount of text and the size of the patch necessary to change the text" were prohibitive in producing a patch. "We had asked the team if it was even possible but ... due to the scope of what a patch would need to cover, it wasn't possible." This is far from a game breaking fault, but it's certainly disappointing that Capcom completely failed to spot a problem that would end up affecting a notable group of players. Coupled with King Kong's scenes of SDTV darkness, it seems some developers are a little too eager to rush into the HD era.
Game designers stuck being "Romantic"
Our readers amaze us. In responding to our post about the "perfect" game enemy, reader Brad Lee diagnosed the ailment that afflicts game designers who insist on using the same old slobbering, ugly Zombie-Alien-Nazi enemies. Here's Brad's post, edited for brevity: The problem is that games are still stuck in the 'Romantic' era. Too many video game developers look to romanticism for inspiration. (Romanticism was an artistic movement that emphasized exaggeration, emotion, nature, tradition, etc.) In Romanticism, an artist who wants to convey an emotion such as sadness uses dark colors. If he wants to convey evil, he makes the subject ugly. And so on.Games use this art style simply because it's easier. There are a lot of costs to produce a video game -- graphics and game engine being the most expensive -- and I'm sure story and characters are probably a lower priority than other aspects of video games. Keep in mind that most games' stories are not produced by professional writers (or good writers anyway), so it is simply easier to use romanticism than try and craft a realistic story with [realistic] characters.It is much easier to make a story about demons rampaging through the world (and only one guy -- you! -- can stop them) than to create a story about real people just struggling to do the right thing. Many game developers just don't know any better because they don't bother to take creative writing classes or to learn how to craft a good story. Many think they shouldn't have to [learn these things] simply because they are focused on the game and not the story or the characters.Game developers are likely game developers because they love games, not because they love great stories. When those developers aren't working they are likely spending their time playing other games. If developers took some time to read [and analyze] good literature and watch classic movies we would probably have better stories and characters in our games. Until that happens, I'll be expecting to slaughter many more hordes of zombies, nazis, demons, and aliens in the years to come. Any game designers out there care to post a rebuttal or confirmation? Are Brad's charges accurate? From where we sit, it seems he's nailed it.
Zombies hot... Zombies + bikini babe... hotter!?
Silicon Era noticed that Japanese Xbox 360 owners will be getting a full remake of the popular, super-gory, budget console title Oneechanbara, or Zombie Zone, as it was called when a version of the game hit UK stores. The game's formula is simple:
