Kotaku: Chocolate Rain

Vampire Rain Coming To PS3 For Some Godawful Reason

Mike Fahey — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:00:00 MDT

AQ Interactive and developer Artoon are set to bring one of the worst games of the current generation to the PlayStation 3, announcing Vampire Rain: Altered Species for the PlayStation 3. Why exactly they would do such a thing remains a mystery, but insiders around Kotaku Tower suggest they're going to attempt to sell the landmark 3rd copy of the game.

"We are very excited to bring Vampire Rain: Altered Species to the PlayStation 3," said Artoon President Naoto Ōshima. "The incredible power of the PS3, will allow us to give gamers a fully immersive experience. This will include: 5.1 channel audio, over 50 hours of gameplay, extra bonus levels, a lot of completely revamped animations, character interactions and much more."

Hehe...he said re-vamped. So basically this isn't a straight port of Vampire Rain, but the original with extra stuff tacked on. Unfortunately a pile a crap with more crap on top is still technically a pile of crap...just a bigger one. That, and adding a word that rhymes with feces to the title just makes witty game reviewers salivate. Bad idea.

The Battle Between Mankind and Nightwalker Continues (PS3)
AQ Interactive is set to release Vampire Rain: Altered Species on the PlayStation 3.

May 8, 2008 - AQ Interactive announced today that it will bring Vampire Rain: Altered Species to the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. The exciting stealth action game will be developed by industry veteran Artoon, which has developed such blockbuster titles as Blue Dragon, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Yoshi's Island DS and many more.

"We are very excited to bring Vampire Rain: Altered Species to the PlayStation 3," said Artoon President Naoto Ōshima. "The incredible power of the PS3, will allow us to give gamers a fully immersive experience. This will include: 5.1 channel audio, over 50 hours of gameplay, extra bonus levels, a lot of completely revamped animations, character interactions and much more."

Vampire Rain: Altered Species is an intense game that takes place during a dreary night in a suburban, west coast city in the US. For some time now, mankind has been battling the ferocious and terrifying Nightwalkers, a race of superhuman vampires who crave human blood. People have been disappearing at night; the lucky ones are found dead, but those less fortunate are reborn as Nightwalkers, and are bound by instinct to forcefully recruit unwitting victims into the Nightwalker army. Gamers take the role of John Lloyd, a member of a US special government unit created to defeat the Nightwalkers, and the only human to ever survive a physical encounter with them.

Aside from featuring a blood-chilling, story driven single player campaign, Vampire Rain: Altered Species will also feature a robust multiplayer mode.

Boll Retreats From Big-Budget Films

Mike Fahey — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:20:25 MST

Uwe Boll's In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale didn't do so well at the box office this weekend, making back a mere $3.3 million of its $70 million budget. Hell, I even forgot to go see it in the face of more interesting pursuits - my toenails are now neatly trimmed and filed. Now that he's suffered three bombs in a row (BloodRayne and Alone in the Dark completing his hat trick of suck) and his German tax shelter funds have dried up, Boll ~~concedes defeat~~ reveals his true passion.

"In the future, I will focus on small films such as (the video game adaptation) 'Postal' or (the Vietnam war drama) 'Tunnel Rats,' " he said. "These are films that represent my true passion, and they can be done with small budgets."

Which is all I can afford, so it's mighty convenient that they're my true passion. If they really are where his heart lies, he should have just stuck with them in the first place, saving us all a lot of pain and suffering. Oh well, all's well that ends well.

Boll ejected from big-budget ring [The Hollywood Reporter]

Gaming Makes MySpace and YouTube Its Bitch

Mike Fahey — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:00:19 MDT

Every day, millions of people log into MySpace to make bitchy comments and troll for naked pics in between surfing YouTube for more Charlie the Unicorn remakes. MySpace and YouTube are two of the biggest time-wasters on the internet in the US today, but according to research and analysis company Parks Associates, there is an even bigger one. Gaming. In a report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" the company found that while 19% of adult internet users spent their time on social networking sites and 29% watching short films (does porn count?), 34% spent their time playing video games. Hooray, we're a statistic!

"Despite the growing popularity of YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities," James Kuai, a research analyst at Parks Associates, said in a prepared statement.

Over the last year, casual gaming has risen 79%, while social networks like MySpace and Facebook only rose 46%. Things aren't completely rosy for gaming's dominance, however, as the casual video viewing portion of the audience grew a massive 123%, which I attribute completely to Chocolate Rain.

"The casual gaming industry cannot rest on its laurels," Kuai said. "In order to counter the growing competition from other online activities, the industry needs to continue to grow its fan base and find ways to better monetize its existing audience."

Hell, I didn't even know there was a competition going on here. I doubt many casual online gaming companies knew either. Just what they need, another set of numbers to worry about. Tay Zonday better watch out, those internet gaming people can be pretty ruthless!

Game-Playing Eclipses Social Networks, Online Video [Yahoo! News]

Chocolate Rain Rhythm Game Mash Up

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:30:05 MDT

You know it, you love it. That's right, StepMania. The computer keyboard version of the ubiquitous Dance Dance Revolution gets its Chocolate Rain remix on. Internet meme or not, I quite like Tay Zonday's original song. I mean, the lyric "History quickly crashing through your veins"? Epic.

Chocolate Rhythm [Dtoid]

Fahey Gushes about Second Life

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 07:15:13 MDT

For the two people on Earth who've never heard of Second Life, The New York Daily News has an introductory article up. Swell! That's not the interesting part. Oh, not. Not at all. A "Michael Fahey" provides his first-hand insight on the SL community, saying:

Second Life is a world created from the undiluted dreams and desires of thousands of people. You can be anything or anyone you want.

Lovely, really. It *almost* even makes me want to play SL. What's more, the article even gives Fahey's in-world name: Caliban Karas. So write that down! Feel free to stalk him and attack him with a giant penis. A small one is fine, too!

Note: this is the second time Fahey popped up in a major news outline. Previously, he made a guest spot in Famitsu. We won't rest until the cover of Time has been Fahey'd!
SL Virtual Fun Fun [NY Daily News]

XBL DLC Love - Sylpheed, Vampire Rain, Mad Tracks

Mike Fahey — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:40:59 MDT

Along with the release of Wing Commander Arena and Super Contra on Xbox Live Arcade, today sees Xbox Live bursting at the seams with new downloadable content of both the paid and free varieties. Project Sylpheed heads up the list with six new challenge missions complete with six powerful weapons, along with leaderboard support to track your rank. Next up is ~~Chocolate~~ Vampire Rain, a game described to me as Splinter Cell with Vampires, only not nearly as good. Available free today is VR Bonus Level 2, a mission that has you gathering equipment as Duane Hanson. Mmmbop. Finally today we have part three of the Xbox Live Mad Tracks trilogy, the Bravo Expansion Pack. 350 points nets you seven new races and eight original mini-games.

I'll be snagging the Sylpheed and Mad Tracks updates myself, while saving Vampire Rain for that special day I set aside to play as a guy named Duane that I like to call never.