So Nintendo Power has a big front-page splash for a new Silent Hill game that’s coming out for the Wii. GoNintendo elaborates;

“This is a reimagining of the first Silent Hill,” explains producer Tomm Hulett. “It’s not a remake or a port. That’s an important distinction. It really feels like a new game.”

Apparently the story is the same, concerning Harry Mason as the main protagonist and him searching for his daughter Cheryl after she gets lost in the surreal town of Silent Hill. However, certain things have changed. On top of challenging puzzles, you now can find ways to access every room presented to you, rather than some rooms being locked in one phase of Silent Hill and others being unlocked in another phase. No load times have been announced, the Wii control stick and remote are used for separate actions, such as walking and using the flashlight respectively. We’re also told there will be no combat in this new game, and that you can only run from your enemies.

Ok, no load times and more in-depth controls seem like a good deal to me. The issue concerning the locked doors is nice, but takes away a bit of what made the other Silent Hill games different, even if in a frustrating way. However having no combat whatsoever and only being able to flee? How does that make the game any better? “Survival” isn’t just about running away from the threat; it’s about keeping yourself safe from harm. Sometimes you can’t always run and need to defend yourself, even with a crappy knife or wrench you picked up. I hardly see how removing combat makes this game more “survival horror”, but that’s me. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it in the near future.

Seems SEGA isn’t out of the game just yet, and has decided to produce and release a brand new addition to their classic HotD series – House of the Dead: Overkill.

The game itself seems to be a prequel in the long-running franchise of light-gun shooters, and takes place in a small backwater town of Bayou City, where rookie AMS agent “G” finds himself and new partner Washington eventually battling with hordes of the walking dead created by a mysterious source. (three guesses as to who might have a hand in it)

Overkill appears to take a page out of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles in it’s use of the Wiimote targeting and looks to have it’s roots in the traditional on-rails gameplay of previous titles of the series. Headstrong Studios, who have taken it upon themselves to create the game, have said that they’re basing it off of old grindhouse movies, right down to the gritty film of cutscenes and the copious amounts of gore and violence that should be commonplace in anything related to hacking apart zombies.

If the trailer is a faithful depiction of the actual gameplay of the title, then I do believe we have ourselves another fine offspring of the HotD’s deliciously screwed-up family. (with HotD4 being the redheaded stepchild and HotD3 being the awkward middle-child in comparison to their elder sibling titles)

I missed this one earlier, but I didn’t want it to slide by. Mezco will be releasing a follow-up wave to their horror movie inspired plushies. This time around we will see the likes of Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees.

From the press release:

*Freddy Krueger as seen in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream
Warriors sporting a dapper tuxedo.

*Jason from Friday the 13th Part 2 features the “sack mask” look he
experimented with before settling on his hockey mask, includes pick
axe accessory.

*Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 featuring the new mask
worn in the second TCM movie, Leatherface also has a completely new
outfit and his trusty oversized chainsaw accessory.

Each stands approximately 13 inches tall and is sure to thrill horror
aficionados!

Mezco had prototypes of the figures on display at the NYCC in April at their booth.

These horrifyingly cute serial killers should be available in time for Halloween.

Full Press Release after the jump.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Something that made my heart flutter happened to be smack dab on the cover of June’s EGM issue – it would appear that Namco’s cult-classic horror game Splatterhouse will be getting a well-deserved updating and makeover. Given that there have been a recent string of “retro-revivals” lately, including a new Golden Axe game (squee!!), this is a welcome addition to that list.

Splatterhouse should be name that pops up in the minds of survival-horror fans, as it was the progenitor of the genre itself. Released in 1988 for the TurboGrafx-16, the original game was quite gorey and violent for something coming out before the likes of Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat, which are well known for both, and was the first game ever to receive the parental advisory disclaimer. Just to exemplify, the American version of the game had to be censored due to depictions of an inverted cross with severed heads as a boss, less blood and gruesome sound FX coming from enemies when they’re smashed against walls, and less graphic death scenes of bosses. The game came out for the Virtual Console in 2007, but unfortunately featured the toned-down western version. Check out The West Mansion for more information on the series and games.