More Siren Stuff

The MagicBox has yet more info and screens on Siren.

They also have this interesting snippet:

Capcom mentioned they will reveal a brand new Biohazard (Resident Evil) title in the next issue of Famitsu in Japan.

A new Resident Evil game?? Lets just hope it isn’t another Gun Survivor debacle. Apparently, no further information is available yet.

Necessary Reading

While this is slightly off topic, I thought I’d point out the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. I saw this in a bookstore over the weekend and thought it was pretty funny. The author makes no attempt at levity, however; his delivery of various zombie disposal methods, the origins of the zombie virus, and confirmed sightings is utterly serious. The author bio says something like, “Max Brooks lives in New York, but is ready to move to a more defensible position at a moments notice.”

New Rating System

I’ve added a new User Rating system to the site! You may now vote on the quality of any of the games in the database. User ratings are listed on each game’s info page under the World Score and Chris’ Score.

I’d like to add more features to keep you guys involved. Is this feature cool? What other features would you all like to see?

Horror Literature

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about what horror games might learn from horror literature. How might we make a game that conveys uneasiness as well as Stephen King’s 1408? The Silent Hill series seems to have a bit in common with The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami, but Murakami’s works are much more complicated and disturbing.

It seems to me that the main challenge in creating a literate horror game would be to get past the cheesiness of killing zombies. Games must require the player to do something, but it seems like reverting to tried-and-true “destroy and progress” mechanics breaks the suspension of disbelief. Eternal Darkness used the idea of insanity to help unsettle the player, but at times it came off as gimmicky. The Clocktower Series might be a step in the right direction: by removing all forms of combat (and selecting an obviously vulnerable main character), the developers have increased tension significantly. Is such a drastic move necessary to avoid cheesiness? Good horror literature makes the reader question their own confidence in the nature of reality… how might a horror game do the same?

The Zombies Have Flashlights!!

The Magic Box has posted a bunch of new movies and screenshots from Siren. The game looks amazingly cool, if very Silent Hill-esque. The “Another World” video shows off how the main character can see through the eyes of the zombies in the world.

The Magic Box also posted this story summary:

The story is about a mystery Siren, who is controlling the people in the town with its poison. Anyone who drank the poisonous water will gradually turned into the shihito (dead). Unlike zombies, the deads have intelligence. They will try to attack all the living people in many different ways.

In the game you will have to control 10 different survivors (control one at a time, and toggle between them), to escape from the attacks, solve the mysteries and reverse the evil spell of Siren.

When you drunk the Siren’s poisonous water, before you turn into the dead, you will gain a special “see through” ability, which allows you to see the images in the eyes of the dead, to obtain information and escape from their attacks.