House of the Dead 4 in development for arcades

Sega is developing a new installment in its House of the Dead gun-game series. Recently, the company held a beta test for House of the Dead 4 in Tokyo. The game will once again cast players as James Taylor, the hero of House of the Dead 2.

Taylor will face zombies and an assortment of other creatures that are more gruesome than ever thanks to massive improvements in the game's graphics since 2002's House of the Dead 4. Sega is using a new board called the Lindbergh for House of the Dead 4, which lets the game play with higher-quality graphics than the company's Naomi hardware. The game's adoption of a 62-inch widescreen monitor lets the game display more enemies than in previous installments, and it's prompted speculation that the game may be ported to the Xbox 360.

Though players will have to face a lot more enemies than before, that doesn't mean their trigger fingers will cramp up. The game uses a machine gun that lets players just hold on to the trigger to blow holes into any oncoming undead. The player is also supplied additional firepower through the implementation of grenades, which can be tossed by pressing a button on the gun.

Though the beta test version of House of the Dead 4 only allowed up to stage two to be played, it revealed the game will have a branching route. This suggests it could have multiple endings, similar to previous installments.

In related news, Konami has also begun development on a new type of gun arcade game titled PaintBall Mania, which lets up to four players fight against one another from various arcades online. The game adopts the motion sensor that Konami used for Police 911, which let players duck or sway to avoid enemy shots.

GameSpot will have additional information on House of the Dead 4 and PaintBall Mania at the upcoming Amusement Machine show in September.