Ju-on: The Grudge Set To Creep Into Stores Next Week

Posted on October 8, 2009 by geelw

Time to get a little bit more frightened if you’re a Wii owner… Xseed Games has announced that Ju-on: The Grudge will ship on October 13, 2009. The feelplus-developed interactive “Haunted House Simulator” looks to scare up sales with its unique use of the Wii remote, genuinely scary moments aplenty and most importantly, creative input from Ju-on creator, Takashi Shimizu.

Don’t expect any big guns, fast-paced action or room sized bosses to do battle against here – the game is a pure test of nerves and what could be called a “true” survival horror experience, as your sole goal in each scenario is to make it to the end of the stage alive. Trust me, folks… it’s harder than you think, especially if you’re scared of the dark, objects moving just out of your vision, strange sounds emanating from your Wii Remote and pure, “jump-out” scares when you least expect it…

A tiny bit of the press release remains to let you know what you’re about to experience… two surviving game images merely hint at the horror to come…

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Interview: Bringing Zaku to Life With Super Fighter Team’s Brandon Cobb

Posted on October 8, 2009 by geelw

“Never Let Dreams Die!” indeed. When you get an e-mail from Brandon Cobb, President of Super Fighter Team, that credo is at the bottom, right under his signature. Based on the upcoming Atari Lynx exclusive shooter, Zaku, it’s clear that this credo was also a call to action that kept the project going for six years. Not only is Zaku the first complete new release for the Lynx in about five years, it’s looking like one of the best games ever created for the handheld system.

My interest in the Lynx led me to the Super Fighter web site and eventually, to have the opportunity to send off a few questions on the project over to Cobb, who took the time to answer them in a straightforward, non-nonsense manner with flashes of humor that’s more than welcome in this age of quick sound bites and evasiveness. Here, Cobb weighs in on bringing Zaku to market as an all-around quality product, sticking it to the man with citrus as well as a few other choice topics.

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Adventures to Go Gone Gold… As A GameStop Exclusive!

Posted on October 7, 2009 by geelw

Well, that’s interesting… Adventures to Go is now a GameStop exclusive. While this is certainly a great development that should help the game do quite well at retail, depending on where you live, you may want to scope out your local GS, ask a few questions and definitely pre-order it if you want a sealed copy…

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Review: Dead Space Extraction

Posted on October 6, 2009 by geelw

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Developer: Eurocom

Publisher: EA

# of Players: 1 – 2

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

In case you’re staring at that cover art and wondering (raised eyebrow and all), Dead Space Extraction works brilliantly on the Wii as both a solid horror game as well as a technical showpiece for Visceral Games and Eurocom. This “guided FPS experience” as it’s been dubbed manages to be scary as hell, spectacular to look and absolutely nails it in terms of the aural assault. In terms of story, the game dishes up an excellent prequel to the events in the PS3/360/PC horror hit Dead Space packed with some great emotional moments that make the original game’s plot all the more poignant. Of course, if you don’t have a PS3 or 360 and your PC can’t run Dead Space, all of this may mean nothing. However, what’s here is certainly solid enough that I could see a few formerly Wii-only gamers eyeballing a new console just to catch up on the first game’s descent into sci-fi themed fear.

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Gallery: Magnacarta 2

Posted on October 4, 2009 by geelw

Four lovely pieces of artwork and fifteen in-game screens from the upcoming SoftMax-developed, Namco Bandai published RPG set to hit stores on October 13, 2009 – enjoy!

Import version screenshots:

Hey Kids! Atlus Wants You To Be A Better Badass!!

Posted on October 4, 2009 by geelw

Sometimes all you need is a little push. But if you’re already there, you can always learn some more handy tips, right? Well, courtesy of Atlus and its upcoming PSP/PSPgo beat ’em up Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, here you go:

November 10, 2009. Be there… after school, of course.

Calling Web Site Now Live… Be Afraid.

Posted on October 3, 2009 by geelw

At first, I didn’t know whether or not I should be too scared to look at the darn thing. Then I remembered that I’m NOT at all the superstitious type. So, I cheerily clicked on the Kuroeight link and… Hey! it’s a pretty slick deal of a teaser site. Cool – makes me want to see more of the game, which is a great thing, being a games journalist-type and all…

Of course, if yours truly drops dead in a week thanks to a visit from a creepy little girl with a freaky-looking doll, well… it’s been very nice to know you guys. Anyway, Calling is Hudson’s upcoming Wii-exclusive horror game, yet another for the console which has recently been turning into a paradise of sorts for genre fans. The game isn’t out ’til 2010, but you can get yourselves slightly weirded out (if you really want to) by clicking on that link yourselves.

Go on, I dare you…

WARNING: Playing Demon’s Souls TOO Early Will Blows UP Teh Internets! WARNING!!!

Posted on October 2, 2009 by geelw

Oh Noes!!!! Actually, dear readers (and this IS the truth this time), Atlus is letting you know that the Demon’s Souls US servers won’t be active until the game’s 10/6/09 release date.

Now, SOME of you LUCKY pre-order-ers out there may receive your standard or collector’s edition before this date and should you try to jump online, you’ll simply get, according to the press release Atlus sent out this evening,

“…an immediate PSN error and have to start playing offline.”

Ulp (that big-ass font IS scary, huh?). Cue Demon’s Soul’s doomy-sounding atonal main theme played loudly enough to creep the cat right under the sofa. Poor Kitty…

In other words, be good and listen to the soundtrack (which is an awesome aural experience), read the hint book if you must and ogle the lovely art book as you sit in front of your lonely PS3. Of course, you can always just play the offline game for a bit until that clock strikes “Server’s UP!”

Anyway, be patient and really, really, really enjoy the game, as it’s spec-tac-u-lar, period.

Left 4 Dead 2 Pre-Order Details (Or: If You’ve Got Braaaaains, You’d Better Be Pre-Ordering…)

Posted on October 2, 2009 by geelw

And I bet some of you thought there wouldn’t be any cool stuff with this sequel… HA! Valve proves you wrong yet again… but in the nicest of ways (and without having to fly you out to Seattle at their expense). Now, be a good zombie killer and click on over to Steam or boogie on down to that favorite game emporium.

And er, you may want to hurry it up a bit, hedgehog – there’s something chasing you y’know… and DON’T startle the damn witch, please… (Shhhh!)

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Sony Offers Free Car With Gran Turismo PSP Purchase Via PSN

Posted on October 2, 2009 by geelw

I bet you’re all excited as you click away over to to the PSN Store about the mind-blowing prospect of having a REALLY big box delivered by the Fed Ex guy, huh? Well, guess what: that’s not a REAL Nissan 2009 GT-R Spec V in Metallic Blue you’ll be getting, Speed Racer. Nope, it’s a great in-game ride you can stick in your burgeoning garage and use to rake in even more rides, though. With over 800 cars and 35 tracks, this warn up for GT5 is something I’ll be hooked into for a while, that’s for sure…