• 28Feb 09

  Hearing the Siren @ Home.

  

  After hearing about the new 'Siren: New translation' space for Japanese 'Home' users, I decided to create a garbage account and check it out. Not being impressed with ANYTHING Home has done lately my expectations were extremely low. As I logged into the Japan Home server and found the Siren space, I was surprised how small of a download it was for the punch it offered. Not only is the first part of the space look PHENOMENAL but there was some even nice gimmick stuff about, such as cardboard cut outs of a crazed nurse breaking a mans neck (it looked like it) that you could stick your avatars face in where the nurse is. It was a good laugh. The ambient sound effects of crickets and the trailer playing on the small old-time television with lots of screaming and creepy music made the whole outside area a thrill. As I went to enter the Haunted Hospital I was forced to download another small area (15 mb), while I was waiting I heard people outside talking about how scary it was and such. Right away I was thinking to myself, "There is no way that anything in Home could be scary." I laughed it off and walked inside...

  I was pleasently surprised yet again with the surroundings. The creepy woman screaming and making the most ungodly noises ever! You are also equipped with a flashlight, so wherever your avatar faces, the light will shine. I started getting really hyped for the...ride? As I realized I met hight requirements shown on the scary nurse-cut-out on the right, I stepped up to the registration counter to register with yet another creepy nurse, right out of the game. Not a avatar dressed up...the full high-res model from the Siren series was taking reservations! This is when people started spawning up and before I knew it, the entire counter was covered with people trying to register for the mini-game. This is when i started getting a bit impatient. Which is pretty unusual for me. Here is how it works...only 5 people may enter the Haunted Hospital at a time and must escape before the time limit is up. There is items to collect along the way that help you unlock Home Items. The only bummer here is the 5 person limit. I understand why they do it, but I believe it must be instanced. So if you can manage to put up with spamming the X button at the registration counter, it does pay off nicely...

  While I browsed the net on my PC and mashed the X button with my off-hand, I was hearing all this crazy Japanese music (three tracks play in the waiting room) and occasionally turning my head to see progress on the mashing. I decided since I was mashing that I should watch the monitor on the left side of the counter as it explained what needed to be done within the area. If I understood Japanese, this would have really helped, but I just winged it. Finally after a couple minutes of speed-tapping the X button, I got in! Things started right away as soon as the tutorial pop-up was gone. I slowly followed my party hoping that one of them knew what to do. As the first nurse approached, a girl on my team ran to far ahead and was stabbed and killed. The 4 of us continued on...at first it's a little strange because it uses the old-school pre-set camera system that old Resident Evil games used. Took me a minute to realize this though, you can also move it a bit, kinda' like a security camera for each room. If you move to fast it gets really out of control, but since there is crazy nurses everywhere we all took it slow. I honestly had a tense feeling that I would be left behind so I kept curling my toes and followed this guy infront of me. We moved on dodging a couple nurses with pre-set paths and picking up some glimmering objects. As we all came to a fork in the road, a crazy nurse busted out of a locker and we seperated, I was still following the same guy who seemed like he knew what was going on. One of the other team memebers was shown being killed, which I had a laugh at! Anyways with only 3 of us left and 1 completely lost, the man and I moved on. We were soon seperated due to a very scary scene that took place...I back-tracked a bit and found some stairs we missed. When I reached the top, I saw the big NEON "GOAL" sign and dashed for the exit....which without giving too much away, I payed dearly for...I was sent back to the registration table as I tried to pull myself back together. I could not believe some game space in Home was that much fun. The devs of Siren deserve much praise for such an amazing game space...they really got the job done and I have NEVER IN MY LIFE, wanted to play SIREN so badly.

  The whole thing was great, I really enjoyed it. Finally! I enjoyed something in Home! Of course the waiting is still as lame as ever and having to spam the X button to get in was even more annoying...I have to say, it was well worth it. For those wanting to know if it's actually scary...Yes. I jumped 3 times and I'm not one to jump too easily. The feeling of having a party is fun, even though due to lack of a microphone outside of your Home space is still an issue, it was nice to not go in alone.

  I'd like to add that if SCEA does not add this to the American server, they are morons. The Siren space is EXACTLY what the American servers needs and shows off the flexability of Home. BRING IT OVER!!!

  • Posted Feb 28, 2009 3:03 pm PT
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• 18Dec 08

  The Ticking Begins (Clock Tower Movie)

  

  Well the 'Clock Tower' movie posters are out. I have to say, these did beat my expectations. However, Scissorman is supposed to be a 9 year old boy. He looks pretty old from the poster below. Then again, they will most likely change the whole story around, so I will not even question it. More links below...

  Poster 2

  Poster 3 (This one is slightly disturbing)

  Source: Kotaku.com

  • Posted Dec 18, 2008 6:23 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 17Oct 08

  Survival Horror Alert! The Calling (Wii)

  

  It appears that some developers are taking advantage of the motion controls for the Wii and using them for a Survival-Horror game, 'The Calling.' I don't have much information on this title yet, but some Youtube videos have come out and I think the game looks really creepy and it would be nice to see a North American release. Although this may not happen, I think it could pull in some big money since garbage films like, 'The Grudge' and 'The Ring' can make profit.

  The following are Youtube links.

  The Calling (1)

  The Calling (2)

  Although the game does look pretty creepy, it's clear from the footage that it's on-rail movement. This worries me for several reasons. One of the biggest problems is that the game will make sure you see everything in the first play through (unless they add alternate paths or something) and this will eliminate some of the scares, simply because every room the game forces you into; you'll already know something is going to jump out. This could really kill a game that is showing some potential. The Wii-mote motion controls don't look ground-breaking or anything, but looks interactive at the least.

  • Posted Oct 17, 2008 9:23 am PT
  • Category: Games
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