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Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
What Makes A Video Game Scary
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Sloopydrew
11/06/09

In reply to Calling Preview: Ju-on, Take Two
Would anyone buy this after the disaster of a "haunted house simulator" that was released earlier this year? This sounds slightly more intriguing, but I'm sure only the best parts were shown and, after the first game, can't imagine this one coming together in any way positive enough to get people to shell out $50. Can your character, at the very least, move more than .2 miles per hour? Gah! I hated the first Wii "game." I'll keep my eye on this, only because I love survival horror. But unless there are some huge improvements, I won't be picking it up if/when it's eventually released. #calling
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Sharkey1337
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
I really, really, really hope Dead Space 2 doesn't become too diluted of a sequel since Glen Schofield left for Activision. I know it's just one man gone from the team, but he played such an influential role in Dead Space's creation. #horror
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Demonbird
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
But... None of those games are scary. Dead Space was, the rest are LOL IMMA SLAUGHTER ZOMBIES! #horror
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lolgreg
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2

This game scared the crap out of me as a kid. I'm surprised it didn't break sales records. lul #horror
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KingFrog
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
Dead Space is pretty much the only game that has scared me in the past five years.

Doom 3 is pretty scary too in the beginning, but once you become a beefcake with tons of weapons the threat of danger kind of leaves the game.

Can't wait to play DS: Extraction, and can't wait for DS2 either. #horror
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DrunkAus
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
HELL YEA, I friggin loved Dead Space. #horror
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RicoTheSaboteur
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
I am a huge fan of survival horror games because by their very nature they almost have to play with interesting issues like the incarnation of the characters (in the most etymological sense: their flesh), fantasies, psychosis, etc. Yet, where Pachter see a boom, I see a bust. The last survival horror game worthy of interest was Siren: Blood Curse / New Translation (more than a year ago) and it was probably the worst in the serie. Before that we need to go as far back as 2005 with the amazing Fatal Frame / Project Zero 3: The Tormented.

But - who knows? - maybe that Silent Hill remake will not completely shatter our memories and Alan Wake will manage to both get released and not blow...
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Phaper
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
It's sad to admit but I haven't played Dead Space. It's going for cheap at the moment but when I find a job, I might pick it up.

Is it any good? #horror
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notquitedeadyet
10/30/09

@Phaper: YES. I still consider it worth the $60 I shelled out for it the month it came out. #horror
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Showmeyomoves!
10/30/09

@Phaper: One of the best games I played this generation, along with Arkham Asylum. The gameplay is very polished and immersive. Definitely recommended, and I don't even like horror games. #horror
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SurfingKoala35
10/30/09

@Showmeyomoves!: Another vote of `go buy it` for yout list Phaper. It was a great ride while it lasted, and of all the games in my collection it is still the one I look at and think `WHOA... that was wild...` Puts the other wanna-be survival horror franchises to shame really. #horror
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orijimi
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
There's nothing scary about Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil though. They just have zombies. They're action movie analogues. #horror
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Komrade Kayce
10/30/09

@orijimi:

Then you didn't play Left 4 Dead the first two weeks the game was out with three other people who were as clueless about where to go and what to do as you were.

Until we got it down to a science and made it routine, running and gunning through the levels, it was scary as FUCK and it was not uncommon to hear your friends scream like little girls into the headsets or panicked 'Save me save me save me save me!' as a hunter was eating you. #horror
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hot_heart
10/30/09

In reply to Record Sales For Scary Games, Reuters Dates Dead Space 2
Plants vs Zombies was very scary. #horror
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PoopSock
10/14/09

In reply to What Makes A Video Game Scary
x-com scared the hell out of me when i was younger.
after playing i'd have to ride my bike home from my friends' house through a heavily wooded dirt road. FAST.
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gordo789
10/14/09

In reply to What Makes A Video Game Scary
Condemned: Criminal Origins, made me terribly uncomfortable all the way through. There were definitely parts that made me jump, but more memorable was the anxiety and dread that the game produced with its environments and sound effects.

Deadspace had the environment and sound down, but it had less of an impact on me because most of your enemies were dispatched at range with a futuristic weapon, rather than at arms length with a pipe.
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DubSkins
10/13/09

In reply to What Makes A Video Game Scary
Scariest Games:
1. Dead Space
2. Silent Hill 2
3. Half Life 2
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DubSkins
10/13/09

@DubSkins: Actually System Shock 2, make that my number 2, I forgot about that one
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Koztah
10/14/09

@DubSkins: The original Silent Hill was scarier than the second IMO, if only because you didn't know what to expect unless you read previews and reviews.

I hadn't even heard of the game. A friend of mine had me over to play, handed me the controller and left the room. Locked the door. And also turned down the thermostat.

I'll never forget it.
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Kitty
10/13/09

In reply to What Makes A Video Game Scary
In all forms of media less is usually more.

The more a movie/videogame can allow your imagination to fill in the blanks usually the more terrifying it will become.

With videogames in particular, giving the gamer the option to do something is also very powerful. In a world now filled with cinematics, it is much more powerful of a feeling to know that your own actions could lead to demise, rather than just sitting back and watching what stupid mistake your character makes next.

You are in a dark blood covered locker room, and you know that there is something scratching away inside one of the lockers, making it rock violently. Your imagination is already going wild trying to figure out what could be in there and usually comes up with something personally frightening to yourself. Do you open it? Or do you flee? Do you have a choice?

By directly involving you in the experience it allows you to concoct your own horrible nightmare.
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astronautbob
10/13/09

In reply to What Makes A Video Game Scary
I played my roommate's copy of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for GameCube a few years ago and that was one of the most tense and psychological gaming experiences I have ever had. The concept is ingenious. For those who don't know the game, when your sanity meter got low your character would start to hallucinate (See enemies that weren't there, blood ooze out of walls, hearing laughs and whispers, hallways became more oblique, disorienting camera angles), BUT the game would also mess with the gamer (it would say controller was out of port, MUTE would appear in the lower part of the screen and the sound would disappear as if someone had accidently hit the remote, the game would tell you all data had been corrupted and was erased, the screen would go black as if the input on the tv had been changed but you could still hear your character getting attacked). I think if this concept were reused with next gen graphics and controls (especially anything motion sensitive) that some REALLY creative things could be thought up to put the player at unease. Not only was your character going crazy, but it made you question if you were going slightly crazy therefore you begin to doubt some of your own senses.
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