Halloween Horror Games You Haven’t Played – But Should
Everyone out there is spitting up their own lists of the same creepy survival horror games right now, the only difference being which Silent Hill or Resident Evil is parked were on the countdown. Screw that.
I’m here to help you people out, and that’s what I’m going to do. Not every good horror game had the backing of a major producer, and you certainly won’t find them all on the PS3 and Xbox 360. May I instead present a list of the more obscure, more interesting horror games to crawl out into the gaming scene? Check out these titles as they lurk in the shadows, ready to suckle gently at your soul.
The Top 7 Scariest Games You’ve Never Played, courtesy of Games Radar.
Epic Mickey For Wii, Screenshots And Details Released
Over here at Vox, we’ve got a stack of what claims to be concept art for a new Disney game. It’s a motley collection of steampunk, decaying buildings, and strange, mechanical twists on classic Disney characters. Rumours around this art whisper the name of something called “Epic Mickey.”
Recently, official screenshots hit the Internet. Although the steampunk art might have been a hoax, the game is real, and it’s weird.
World of Warcraft and PUGs the fix is coming?
Well, as much of a fix as can possibly be done to the bane-of-all-MMOs. Speaking of which us voces absolutely love PUGs—ignore Nelson’s complaints and objections, he won’t play with anyone not vetted by the FBI. They are an experience in both frustration and hilarity for any given game play event. PUGs are the groundwork that we use to gather our friends, sally forth into a strange world, and get our shy socialization shirts on.
Needless to say, Blizzard is introducing a new thing that should make PUGs the next-big-thing.
Blizzard drops details on the new dungeon and raid system for World of Warcraft, which brings with it cross-sever instancing, daily random dungeons, and special rewards for taking part in a pick-up group.
Pick-up groups, or PUGs, are the bane of many an MMO player’s existence. Rather than grouping with your guild
…
Virtual Lewt, Real Cash. Cyberspace Economy Surging Ahead
Imaginary things might have little value, but virtual goodies — like game gold and phat lewts — very much do. For those who think virtual items aren’t worth squat, just remember that copyright law in America is driven by a virtual creature named Mickey Mouse. Just ask Disney how much that vaguely mouse-like cartoon illustration is worth. Why should your in-game character be any different?
This cyberspace economy, the sale of goods, currency, and services in games and social sites, has been growing for some time. Platinum, the money of the MMORPG EverQuest, was once one of the strongest currencies in the world. Since then, millions more people have signed up for virtual adventures, and so cyberspace goods have rocketed up in value. The cyberspace economy is estimated to hit over one billion dollars this year, and that’s just what we can track. …
Britain’s National Health Service Endorses Wii Fit, Not Playing Like A Complete Toolbox
The exercise and activity game Wii Fit, for Nintendo’s Wii console, has garnered more than praise in fitness circles; now, it’s been officially endorsed. A logo from the activity campaign, Change4Life, will appear on boxes for Wii Fit Plus, an updated version of the game. This comes from Britain’s National Health Service, the government organization that ensures British citizens of health care without having to face a medical bankruptcy.
The Change4Life campaign is part of an effort to combat youth and young-adult obesity rates.
Uncharted 2 Interview With Evan Wells Of Naughty Dog
Uncharted 2 has been doing well amongst the bile and the acid of the internet, its slick, glossy coating proof against even the most hateful fluids secreted by the gaming public. USA Today offers an interview with Evan Wells of Naughty Dog, about Uncharted 2.
Borderlands Enters Market, Warms Up Gamers, Sells Out Early, Claims This Never Happens To It
Borderlands is a new FPS RPG game from Gearbox Software, a sort of Fallout 3 by way of Halo. The major innovation in this post-apocalyptic shooter is the loot system, where millions of possible loot combinations are joined together into a coherent system that determines the look and performance of the gear.
Released Tuesday, Borderlands sold out almost immediately, up to and including from Steam. Yeah, it sold out so hard that the digital download service ran out of downloads. This has left many gamers staring at friend lists full of Borderlands games, while their own console remains empty and desolate.
Video Game Sales Eat Mushroom, Grow Big
The numbers are in, and it looks like the bleak days of gaming wastelandia are over. September’s sales rose some 1% over those from last year, which isn’t much until you consider Augusts sales gurgled in the muck somewhere between “low” and “slitting wrists in a dark room unknown and unloved.”
The increase in sales is blamed on the Xbox 360, which has contributed greatly to economic progress with recent titles like Halo 3: ODST and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Likewise, when Sony finally cut the obscene Playstation 3 sticker down to something more within range of the masses who don’t suckle golden mead from the breasts of alabaster maidens, sales of their flagship system nearly doubled.
Nintendo’s own Wii system added relatively little to the recovery, mostly because every man, woman, and child on Earth already has one.
Bioshock and feminism, point/counter-point
A recent series of articles about Bioshock brought out an interesting thought-exercise into play when Richard Terrell wrote an article about how the video game is anti-feminist, “Look. Don’t Touch: A feminist critique of Bioshock.” But that was quickly noticed by another blogger, who took a decidedly different approach to not only criticizing Bioshock but also Terrell’s article on the matter by Alex Raymond, “Is Bioshock Feminist? A response in defense of Bridgette Tenenbaum.”
Certainly, Bioshock has a lot of elements resplendent in the nature of it’s Jules Verne 50’s atmosphere and the Cold War era stereoscopy but it does seem that in its attempt to portray a multitude of characters, it didn’t leave out its own profound narrative about the human condition. This is something particularly brought out by the moral dilemma presented in the game play: The Little Sisters.
Neither
…
Virtual Reality System In Tests To Help Drug Abusers
Because if there’s one thing drug addicts know, it’s altered realities. The system, being tested at Janus in Santa Cruz, allows patients to enter a simulation of real-world locations, like a house or a park, where they’re confronted by a situation that could drive them back to drugs. Say, a meeting with the wrong kind of friend, an old ex, or a party with drugs on tap. The patient can then practice their drug-avoidance skills in this safe, simulated environment.
Researchers have also found that patients in the virtual world are more likely to relax and open up with their feelings and experiences.
Read more here.
