Seems that news regarding the PSP-exclusive upcoming chapter of the Silent Hill mythos kinda slips by unnoticed recently. However, it seems a bit of new info and new additions to “Origins” has hit the web for Silent Hill enthusiasts to decend upon.

As a recap, Silent Hill Origins is a prequel to the rest of the games in the series, particularly numbers 1 and 3. Until now, only some character information has been sprinkled about, with some screenshots of over-the-shoulder gameplay, ala Resident Evil 4. Now, it seems the SH team scrapped that concept in favor of the oldschool 3rd person. In this game, you play as newcomer Travis O’Grady, whom finds himself in the misty town of Silent Hill after saving a mysterious girl from a burning house. (series fans should pick up on this right away) After which, Travis tries to investigate what happened to the little girl, only to be thrown into the chaos that permiates from deep within the town itself.

According to Game Informers, despite the smaller screen size, the game itself is no less creepy than it’s large-screen predecessors. Gameplay is simple, with some new features thrown in such as being able to charge your attacks and the ability to lock onto several targets and toggle between them.

Have we mentioned the creepy?

Silent Hill Origins is slated for release in fall of later this year.

Looks like Uwe Boll didn’t learn from his last screw ups regarding the BloodRayne movie franchise. A new movie, titles “BloodRayne 2: Deliverence” began production in January of 2007 with a grand budget of $10 million, and is set to release straight to DVD as of later this month.

This movie is supposed to take place in the wild west with vampire cowboys and Billy the Kid being their ringleader. Actress Kristanna Loken has thankfully not reprised her role from the first movie, and instead actress Natassia Malthe has taken her place as the bombshell dhampire huntress. Actor Zack Ward will be playing the role as Billy the Kid, which somewhat depresses me as I believe him to be better than something going straight-to-video, but that’s just me. Kinda hard to feel any kind of positive for the sequel of a movie that was considered one of the worst game-based films in existance.

Trailers can be seen both at the official website and at Bloody Disgusting.

There have been many consoles that people would consider “god systems”, that pack convinience and multitasking into one console. Well, another one has recently hit the market, in the form of a console that plays *both* 8-bit NES and 16-bit SNES games! Whodathunkit?!

The FC Twin Video Game System was released on November of 2006 by the manufacturer known as “Yobo”, but only has recently become any kind of known in the gaming world. This system has separate circuitry and separate slots to play both Nintendo and Super Nintendo cartridges, which can be switched between the two types with a double throw power switch to toggle back and forth. It also utilizes two SNES compatible controllers, which can also map to NES controller inputs. (B maps to Y, A maps to B).

Sounds like the perfect grab for anyone whose current retro systems are failing, and don’t want to shell out for the two separate systems, right? Well, there are a few drawbacks. one being that the system can’t handle the NES zapper lightgun for games like Duck Hunt. Another downside is that a few certain games made for either system will not play for the FC Twin, such as Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse – one of the reasons I actually bought the system in the first place…. *mumble*. See wikipedia’s entry for a list of the games for both NES and SNES that cannot play on the Twin. Also, some sounds for the NES may not sound exactly like their originals, but SNES sounds seem to work fine. And don’t even think about trying to use Super Famicom games.

Despite the downsides, the FC Twin system itself is a neat toy for any gaming enthusiast, and comes at the eye-catching price of around $40-$50, which would make it generally less than buying clean copies of both original systems that it emulates. So if you’re looking for a good backup system for either of your original Nintendo consoles, like I did, then picking up the FC Twin might be a decent investment.

On this past Saturday, April 28th, James “Scotty” Doohan’s cremated remains were blasted into suborbital space aboard a rocket launched from the New Mexico desert, along with Apollo 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper, and the remains of several other people who weren’t nearly as important. Doohan actually died back in July of 2005, and follows in the post-mortem footsteps of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whose remains were also shot into space in 1997.

And so, Scotty has been beamed up for the very last time in this grand finale. More can be read here.

All I can say is, “Damn, that’s how I want to go”. Just, not with 200 other people crammed in there with me.

It looks like the boys over at Midway decided to finally give all the rabid Mortal Kombat fans their just rewards for their patience in waiting for the Wii release of MK: Armageddeon, and gave up the rendered images of the last remaining character to be added: Khameleon. Click the image for the full wallpaper rendering.

Thanks to the Midway forums for the catch, and the Mortal Kombat Online newsroom for the linkage. The rending itself looks neat, though admittedly like the bastard child between Sindel and Chameleon. I’m sure the blatent similarities between Chameleon and Khameleon will no doubt be reflected in her story and ending, which seems a bit cheap. However, I guess when you whine enough for a character to be inserted, you get what you ask for.

As many of you have probably read already, as of this past Thursday, Mr. Ken Kutaragi has stepped down and retired from his position as chief executive officer and chairperson of Sony Computer Entertainment. Kutaragi will still have a role as an Honorary Chairman, but for all intents and purposes, will no longer be working directly with Sony.

As a little recap, Kutaragi was the inventor of the original Playstation gaming console, and has been dubbed the “Father of the Playstation”, and it’s subsequent sequel systems. With this act, the Playstation franchise became the the most profitable division of Sony. However, Kutaragi will end up passing the torch at the next Sony shareholders meeting on June 19, 2007, where it is said he will then venture off to work on his own projects.

““It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I’m looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors.”

Additional news and press release information can be found here.

Of course, rumors of conspiracy are abound and in full swing. With Sony having to deal with $2 Billion in losses related to their gaming division over the past year, and the underwhelming failure of Playstation 3 sales, this will do anything but give the company new momentum and direction. Kutaragi admitted himself that the shortage of Playstation 3 consoles sent to North America and Japan retailers, as well as the postponement of the console’s release, led to Sony’s declining strength in software. Sacrificial lamb? Who knows. All that is known now is that Sony is losing a brilliant mind and the original driving force behind the Playstation franchise. What this means for the company’s future will remain to be seen, though it seems like it very well could be just another nail in the coffin for their reputation.

It’s been about a week since Anime Boston 2007 came to pass, and post-convention funk has already seeped into the souls of most of us. However, I’ll take the time to touch upon a few things that I personally can report on in terms of my opinions about this, the convention’s fifth year of existence.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Ever wish something from the comics would just jump out into the real world to bite you in the ass? Well, your wishes could be closer than you think, or at least if you’re a Superman buff.

The BCC news reports that a new mineral was discovered in Rio Tinto, Serbia that has the same elemental properties as the fictional Kryptonite from DC comic fame. Dr. Chris Stanley of London’s Natural History Museum reports;

“Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula – sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide – and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

“The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.”

Read the full article here.

So rejoice, Lex Luthors of the world. Your quest for world domination and ridding yourselves of pesky flying strongmen in tights is one step closer to realization.