Welcome back fans of all things horror to another edition of Boogeyman’s One Good Scare. This time around we have many things to talk about as far as horror games and entertainment are concerned. We have a bit of news dealing with the anticipated return of the Silent Hill series entitled Silent Hill: Downpour, Sega looks to bring more zombies back to the PS3 with the re-release of some old classics, and after playing NFL Blitz, I want to turn the pages back to Mutant League Football and think that it would be a great time for EA to bring this back from the “dead”, pun intended. In movie news we take a look at The Devil Inside from the producers of Paranormal Activity, also along the same wavelength, we have news that Halloween now belongs to the found footage team as Paranormal Activity 4 has been confirmed, as well as a brief look at an upcoming mini-series from Executive Producer Steven Spielberg and Oren Peli (director of the first Paranormal Activity) called the River. Sound like a jam packed issue for the first of the year? Let’s get cracking!
What’s New?
We have the result of our “Best Horror Game of 2011″ and winner is…”Dead Space 2”. This sequel has deserved this honor by not only offering what a good sequel does, making things bigger, badder, and better, but also giving the main character Isaac Clarke a personality. Of course the secrets of the marker still aren’t completely unraveled yet, even with 2 games and a feature film, there is still more “space” for this Dead Space franchise. Let’s home that 2012 not only brings the announcement of a third of this series, but for the love of all that is unholy, Half Life 3.
The next installment of Silent Hill Downpour seems to be shaping up nicely, as many lucky previewers have stated that the extra development time that Konami has given the game is paying, and isn’t the train wreck they played before Halloween. So let’s hope that March will seal the deal on the release date and one of the veterans of the survivor horror genre can creep the heck out of us once again. Even without some of the franchises characteristics gone, including utilizing sound effects and ambience sounds to create the horrific atmosphere rather than the amazing score by Akira Yamaoka (which will be missed), I still feel this game is heading in the right direction with its new take on cinematic style story telling. I’m just hoping that they don’t borrow too much from Alan Wake and deliver that gruesome and disturbing horror they are best known for. *not a knock on Alan Wake as I love the series, but needless to say the two franchises are completely diverse and I want it to stay that way*
In other news, it looks as if Sega is bringing more head shot, rail riding goodness in the form of House of the Dead 3 and 4. These re-issues are brought to you exclusively on PSN in HD with HOTD 3 coming Feb 7th and HOTD 4 coming this spring. These titles are coming right off the heels of the amazing port of House of the Dead: Overkill released late last year. So warm up your trigger finger, as this house is about to be re opened and the dead are wanting your braaaaiiinnnss.
What’s Next?
Talk about something just aching to be remade or brought back from the dead in this day and age of redoing everything, Mutant League Football will be just that niche title to gather together those blood thirsty monster lovers and the sport loving jocks all in the same room for some grid iron action. This was a series, a hockey game was made as well, that took the classic John Madden Football engine, tossed in skeletons, aliens, and beast, put them head to head in a game of football. Toss in that you can explode a QB upon a sack, fall into craters, and more brutality that seen in that day and age, and all before the ESRB stuck their noses into things. I’m sure if you search for some videos you will see that this is a title that is long overdue, and if you played it back on the Sega Genesis, then you know firsthand this to be true. So what do you think? Let’s put it to a vote shall we?[polldaddy poll=5817738]
What Now?
Things are no longer normal; they are paranormal in this week’s horror entertainment news. First off, this weekend kicks off the horror genre with a punch to the gut, with the riveting looking film “The Devil Inside”. Are we in for a “hell of a ride” or will we be “burned” like we have been with the last few films based off Exorcisms like Emily Rose, The Last Exorcism, and The Rite. I’ll be there this weekend and will have a full review next week for all you horror fans. In other news, it looks like Oct 19th is the release date for the 4th in the Paranormal Activity films, as well as the writers and directors of the 3rd returning to helm the latest entry. Will we find out where Katy and Hunter are, will we learn more of the after events of Grandma and Toby, and what about the yet unexplained house fire? I guess we will have to wait until Oct to find out fans. Lastly, the original creator, writer, and director of the first Paranormal Activity is setting up a TV series/ mini-series called “The River” with Executive Producer props from Steven Spielberg. I urge you to check out the trailer online or on ABC, as it is right around the corner. If it turns out to be as promising as the early footage indicates, this show will need to find that audience to ensure it will be a success as so far ABC is doing a subpar job promoting it. I’d hate to see another great show lost due to poor PR and ratings.
As always, any thought, concerns, questions, and/or queries, feel free to email me at boogeyman@gaming-age.com as this is an article for the horror fans. If you submit something worth mentioning, I just may answer it right here in my article, so get those questions out there! Until next time fans, as always, everyone is entitled to One Good Scare.