Fatal Frame/Project Zero for Wii!

Tecmo + Nintendo + Suda 51 = Fatal Frame 4.

First details on the game were unveiled earlier today, and while sparse, they paint a great story for Wii owners and survival horror fans. Fatal Frame 4: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (tentative translation) has been announced exclusively for Nintendo's console with such key players as Shibata Makoto as director, Keisuke Kikuchi (longtime series producer), and even Suda 51 – best known for Killer 7 and No More Heroes – serving as a second director for the game. In addition, the game is a full-on partnership between Tecmo and Nintendo, and will be published with the Nintendo name headlining the product. As an interesting note, rumors have stated that the Big N has purchased the Fatal Frame name, and it looks like one of the industry's top horror franchises could now be a Nintendo exclusive from now on. This is exactly the kind of announcement hardcore gamers have been waiting for on Wii.

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Most interesting for Nintendo fans, especially Nintendo survival horror fans. Quite a shocking move by Tecmo to bring the series to a Nintendo console.

Hopefully this can help the series grab a bigger fanbase. I've constantly felt that the Fatal Frame/Project Zero series has never gotten the attention that it deserves.

Poll #6 - Did you preorder Devil May Cry 4? Collector's Edition or normal version?

I decided to preorder the PS3 Collector's Edition at Best Buy and I preordered the normal Xbox 360 version from Gamestop.com since they are giving a free artbook along with a purchase.

I might break that preorder at Best Buy if one of the other stores offers some kind of bonus item. I'm such a sucker for anything free along with a game.

I actually preordered Resident Evil 4 three times in order to get more extras when it was first released for GC - got a T-shirt, miniartbook (actually a mini-strategy guide), a "Making of RE4" DVD, and of course the Gamestop Collector's Edition.

Poll #5 - Results

I'm going to end this poll a bit early since I'm not really content with this poll. I forgot to add the PC version. ;p

How do you intend to play your Devil May Cry 4?

Playstation 3
15 (22%)

Xbox 360
29 (42%)

Both
1 (1%)

I'll rent it.
0 (0%)

None of the above for now, but I'll buy it later.
2 (2%)

I have no interest.
21 (30%)


Total Votes: 68

Seems like more of you own a Xbox 360.

So no one else is crazy enough to buy both version besides me? Haha.

Silent Hill Ørigins coming to PS2!

Earlier this week, Konami confirmed rumors that Silent Hill Ørigins is being ported to the Playstation 2.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - January 22, 2008 - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today confirmed speculation that Silent Hill® Origins, released last year for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system is in fact currently in development for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. Now PlayStation 2 system owners will have the opportunity to experience this frightening and popular survival horror game, complete with signature sound and music from renowned Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.

"Console gamers can now expect the same chilling, suspenseful and fear-filled experience that handheld gamers encountered when we released Silent Hill Origins on the PSP system," said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. "This is their chance to learn more of the mystery and mythos surrounding Silent Hill that's been hinted at in earlier games and made the series such a success."

Players take on the role of Travis Grady, a lone truck driver making a routine delivery when he makes an unfortunate detour to the mysterious town of Silent Hill. Players must help Travis escape the city's horrific inhabitants and unravel the mystery of the strange hallucinations from Travis' past, visions that have plagued him since childhood.

Updated controls maximize combat, allowing Travis to use his fists, his wits and an array of weapons including a meat cleaver, pool cue and sledgehammer to fight his way through the nightmarish world of Silent Hill and face multiple endings based on his actions.

For more information, please visit www.konami.com.

Source: SilentHillOrigins.com

This should be some good news to those that haven't experienced Silent Hill Ørigins yet on PSP. If you surf on over to Amazon.com, then you can see that the PS2 version of Silent Hill Ørigins has a US release date of March 4th, though the official release date has yet to be confirmed.

In other news, I finally got around to updating my guide to contain the dialogue for the good ending. I made a few other changes here and there. The updated version can be viewed here or by scrolling down and looking up under the RE:UC guide links.

To anybody that has emailed me and not received a reply...

You're most likely not going to get it unless you check your spam folder if you're using Gmail or Outlook Express.

For some reason, emails with blogger links inside are going straight to spam folders or bouncing directly away from the receiver whenever I send them.

I posted up a thread on the blogger help page right here, just to see if anything can be done about it.

I had my blog address as a sig for my Yahoo account, so my prior emails could have been received as spam depending on your email provider. Needless to say, I removed it.

It's not only my blog address either. I tried someone else's between my yahoo and gmail account. Nish, you're blog is spam too at the moment. ;p

Interview with the DMC4 Official Strategy Guide Author

I've actually been meaning to post this up for quite a while now but am just now getting around to it...

A little over a month ago, the popular strategy guide writer, Dan Birlew, sat down and talked with Capcom about his latest work (well, he was still working on it at that time).

Interview with Devil May Cry 4 Official Strategy Guide Author: Dan Birlew

Nice interview, Dan!

It's good to hear that DMC4 still has the hidden red orb locations. I enjoyed finding those in DMC3:SE. The one in the Tranquil Souls Room was probably the most memorable since I spent quite a bit of time scanning that room over for its possible location.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with Dan Birlew then you might want to visit his site. He has wrote plenty of Resident Evil guides that I have for safe keeping and he also wrote guides for GameFAQs at one point under the username President Evil.

In all honesty, I would pick up the guide for collection purposes, but I'll probably be really pressed for cash by the time DMC4 releases since I'll be buying both versions and I'm going to try to squeeze in Turok around that time as well.

Current Gaming

Red Steel

I actually had a lot of fun with Far Cry Vengeance despite the gameplay and controls being the only saving factors of the game. I was expecting this game to be much better in comparison, but it's not. The controls in the game just don't feel right to me. Even though I use the Wii-mote to aim, I stll have problems hitting enemies. The swordplay is pretty clunky too.

It is kind of cool how you can turn the Wii-mote to turn the on-screen hand but overall this game just doesn't amuse me and has caused me to go back to...

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

Did I shock you there? I am finally starting to see that I have completely overplayed this game. I have overplayed RE2 in the past to the point where it's just not really as much fun anymore and I think I am starting to the do the same with this one. I'm actually relying on the Hand Cannon now to get me through boss fights quicker - completely taking the fun out of the game.

Besides getting bored with Red Steel, the other reason why I returned to this was to confirm some extra info that readers have emailed me with for my RE4: Wii Edition guide. I confirmed everything that I set out to, so at least I got that taken care of. The updated version went up today and you can view it right here.

Crackdown

I haven't really played this game enough to judge it, but from I have played so far it is very enjoyable from a gameplay perspective. The story seems rather shallow to the point of almost being nonexistent, but the overall sandbox gameplay is great. One really nice thing about this game is that the collectibles don't blend into the environment like they do in other games (Assassins' Creed), so it might actually be enjoyable to try to find them all.

In a way though, I kind of want to move on to Condemned. I have heard a lot of good things about it and really want to play it - it's sitting right next to me still factory sealed.