I love the Silent Hill series. Something about how it takes the familiar and makes it perverse is fascinating. I've long believed that video games are a more effective medium than movies in which to portray horror, due to their interactivity: you're not just a passively witness to a murder but an active participant in your own fate.
The final product proved to be a short film reenacting a particular sequence near the game's end — in particular, one of my favorite scenes:
In just ten minutes, the movie captures many of the elements of the game: the darkness, the despair, the creepy motions of the undead. Even the map that James consults looks authentic, though I'm not sure if it was intended as a parody of the game mechanic. Though the lighting (or lack thereof) is also true to the source material, it's often too dark for us viewers to see anything. And we need to see as much as we can: since the scene is set in the middle of the game, those not familiar with the storyline may be at a loss to understand the film's plot. There are also some jarring transitions (both aurally and visually), which I suppose is inevitable when working within such a tight time constraint. Nonetheless, this is likely the best Silent Hill fanfilm I've ever seen and is certainly more ambitious and coherent than this group's last outing.
For comparison's sake, two of the original CGI scenes upon which the above short is based are after the jump: (more…)
The Mortal Kombat franchise has taken some unusual turns over the years — some great, some not so much. Reinvention and innovation are necessary to keep the series fresh … but I never expected anything as drastic as this:
I posited such a union once upon an April Fool's, and had the above trailer been posted three weeks earlier, I would've taken it in the same vein. Though Capcom's crew can combat the Uncanny X-Men, this parallel merger seems unlikely. The vibrancy and lightheartedness of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers combined well with comic book lore, whereas the darker tones of Mortal Kombat don't seem as feasible a match with the All-American Boy Scout that is the Last Son of Krypton. Nonetheless, the promotion seems authentic, and we truly will see the fighters of Mortal Kombat dueling against the heroes of the DC Universe later this year.
Who will be in the final roster? Will we see if a ninja stand up to Superman? Or who is hotter, Scorpion or Etrigan? As long as it is better than the last DC fighting game I played, this showdown might stand a chance. Time will tell!
Ah, April Fool's — a good day to be a gamer. Back in the day, I would write news and reviews specifically for the occasion. I don't have the energy for that anymore, but the industry is still rife with such creative energy.
The wireless helmet is little different from last year's WiiHelm from ThinkGeek, but the rest are drool-worthy. An Xbox Live board game? Why not — it worked for World of Warcraft. A wood grain Xbox 360? It'd go great next to my Atari 2600! And the recon edition 360 may put Microsoft's console in the same league as the Nintendo Game Boy for most invulnerable gaming system. Want!
