Black. Magic. VIOLENCE.

"They've come for brains, you'll give them bullets" [NeoGAF Thanks, Ishaan!]

Honestly, we have no idea what's going on here yet, but we like Sega has tossed on an off-kilter anime style to the whole thing. We actually liked the cel-shaded The House of the Dead III and were crushed when Sega nixed it for a more photorealistic look.

Sega is showing off the new arcade light-gun shooter at the Sega Private Show in Japan and we're anxiously awaiting more details.

House of the Dead EX [AM-net]

Ah, how I am looking forward to the return of the House of the Dead franchise. Back in the day I played the original HOD on the Dreamcast on an almost daily basis. Now it's coming to the Wi with all its rail shooting goodness and terrible voice acting intact. I long for the return of those dulcet tones... "Reload! Reload! Reload!" Somehow it just never gets old.

make the jump for a second clip.

A lot of video games have no story. I did the movie House of the Dead and got bashed and I said, what were you expecting, Schindler's List? I showed zombies chasing people and this is basically what the movie delivers. I don't know what they were expecting if you make a movie based on an ego shooter where you kill ninety minutes of people non-stop.

Pray for it while perusing the official news release after the jump.

SEGA ANNOUNCES THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 RETURN FOR THE Wii

Horror Arcade Game to Bring Non-Stop Shooting Action

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (November 15, 2007) - SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 RETURN™ is coming to the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo. Combining two arcade games, THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2™ and THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD III™, this new compilation gives gamers the full arcade experience of battling hordes of rabid zombies in the comfort of their homes.

In THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 RETURN, players will be able to play both versions of the game, battling the relentless attack of the blood thirsty zombies with steady aim and a quick trigger finger. Utilizing the innovative new Wii Zapper™ or the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™, players will experience branching storylines with over six game modes including Arcade Mode and Time Attack modes that will test their shooting skills. THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 RETURN features an engaging single-player campaign, plus a co-op multiplayer mode for up to two players for countless hours of zombie shooting action.
"THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD franchise has been revitalized for today's gamer looking for non-stop shooting action on the Wii," said Rick Naylor, Director of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "This will take gamers back to experience the celebrated first-person arcade shooter that was so popular in the late '90s."

THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD franchise is famous for its heart-pounding pace, astounding visual details and vast armies of unique enemies. Blasting through legions of grotesque zombies and mutated monsters, players eventually face-off against mammoth boss creatures that will test the accuracy and skill of every Wii gamer.

THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 & 3 RETURN will be available for the Wii home video game system from Nintendo in spring 2008. For more information, screenshots and assets please visit the SEGA Press FTP site at: http://segapr.segaamerica.com.

About SEGA of America, Inc.:
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA of America's Web site is located at www.sega.com.

About SEGA Europe Ltd.:
SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The SEGA® Europe Ltd. Web site is located at www.sega-europe.com.

At this point, Sega has made no official announcements about such a collection, but Gamefly's track record of spoiling announcements has been fairly solid so far. As a superfan of The House of the Dead 2, I am cautiously optimistic, hoping that I'll get the Wii opportunity to give the shotgun-heavy The House of the Dead III a second chance.

House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return [Gamefly via Go Nintendo]

Zombie Game [TV in Japan]

Why play for points and achievements when you can play for more important things? Things like money. A new slot machine based on the Sega PS2 game Shinobi has popped up at casinos. Good thing readers Aaron and Joel sent us pics of the swank set-up. Joel was nice enough to include a single pic of slot House of the Dead EX — which, according to the machine, has exactly 243 ways to win. (And probably a gazillion ways to lose.) Brian Ashcraft

Arcade gaming dead? Not quite. Sega has rolled out House of the Dead 4 Special for Japan and Europe. Players can either have a go as House of the Dead 2's James Taylor or new character Kate Green. Outfitted with two 100 inch XGA projector screens, the game runs on Sega's Lindbergh CG arcade board, and the cabinet puts players in a twirling, vibrating seat-belted seat. Think: Giant rumble pack! So when zombie attack, burst of air are blown on players faces, and things shake. Good to see some people still give a flip about the arcade experience. Brian Ashcraft

House of the Dead 4 Special [Sega via Siliconera]

Capcom Japan has a teaser trailer posted on their site for The Umbrella Chronicles, featuring several characters both familiar to me and unfamiliar, running through what looks to be a subdued version of House of the Dead. It saddens me that what looks to be a major event in the RE universe - the fall of Umbrella Corp - is going to be covered in a game like this. It's like depicting Solid Snake's death in Metal Gear Solid Pinball Ops. Michael Fahey

Umbrella Chronicles Teaser Video [Capcom Japan - Thanks J.A.!]

Rose McGowan's favorite game? House of the Dead 2. She played that game on her Dreamcast 24-7 — So much that she pissed off her dog. Literally. Star of the flick Grindhouse tells VH1:

My dog got so mad because I obsessively played it. She peed on it and blew it up... It really blew up. I saw this weird steam rising in the air over to the side while I was playing. I said, What the hell? And she was running away. I said, OK, dog, I'll take the hint. The thing is, it smells really bad. Besides the blowing up metallic burning smell, it has a nice urine overtone. And so that was the end of House of the Dead 2 for me. Occasionally, I'll find one in an arcade and I'll get so excited.

That poor, poor Dreamcast. Brian Ashcraft

Rose Talks DC [Game Break]

Geist Force. Mario 128. Frame City Killer. Nico. Project Berkley. Too Human. Thrill Kill. Donkey Kong's Fun With Music.

If you've been following gaming for a while, you'll recognize many of those names, knowing that many of them never saw the light of day or were in development for so long, console generations came and went without a release. If you're looking to wax nostalgiac on dozens of games that never made it past the alpha stage, you may want to spend some time over at Unseen 64.

In addition to a slew of unfinished, unrealized sequels and fresh franchises are games that underwent massive design changes. Sneak a peek at Okami's photorealistic style, House of the Dead III's cel shaded look, Rez's half-dozen art direction attempts, or the abandoned Resident Evil 1.5. Wonder to yourself "Whatever happened to that game?" Michael McWhertor

Unseen 64 - Videogames Unseen, Unreleased & Beta Archive!

It's a familiar song and dance after a game adaptation is announced: folks get worried, nervous, excited and then horribly disappointed. Going by the trailer, the Dead or Alive movie looks to be no exception.

Fear not says the flick's producer Mark A. Altman. He should know as he's brought us those House of the Dead movies. We are in good hands. Mark A. Altman is a seasoned pro, and he uses his middle initial. Mark assures us:

I've seen a number of cuts now of the film and all I can say is I think it's incredibly faithful to the game so if you like the games, you'll like the movies not to mention the fight scenes are incredibly memorable. I like to think it's the closest I've gotten to working on a James Bond movie...so far... I always loathe to jinx things by talking about sequels before the films open, but I think this is a rich universe with great characters and we all had a lot of fun making it so it's certainly my hope they'll be many, many more DoA movies.

By mentioning that the movie keeps getting re-edited (never a good sign) and that it's like a James Bond film (ugh), we can take Altman's remark of making many more DoA movies to be only one thing: a threat. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Firing Squad]

When I was about 8 or 9, I walked into the living room, my face a grim mask of determination, and informed my parents that they could dispose of all of my toys, as I would no longer be playing with them. They could throw away my die-cast Voltron, my Star Wars figures, my Transformers, my Madballs. I would spend the rest of my childhood in quiet intellectual pursuit, reading Proust and the like. I've regretted it ever since.

I really wish I was joking, but I'm not. I was spurred to this momentous decision when I discovered a 17-year-old neighbor of mine enthusiastically playing with some G.I. Joe fortress on his front porch. In retrospect, he may have been a bit retarded... clinically, I mean. But even at 8 years old, positively envious of the toy he was using to enact all sorts of amazing battles against Cobra, I still realized he would probably be better off utilizing his time chasing girls.

It seemed like a pragmatic investment in my future at the time, but I've spent the rest of my life regretting that mistake. I eye covetously all the cool toys that I denied myself. Ironically, if I'd played with toys as long as I'd wanted, I probably wouldn't be so into them now. This is also probably the reason I'm into games — my parents wouldn't let me play them growing up, because it "rots the mind." They had a point there; I write for Kotaku.

This is only tangentially related to why I got drooling over the Dreamcast Junkyard's gallery of Dreamcast-oriented toys and memorabilia. Still, even as I check eBay for the collection of Street Fighter or House of the Dead toys, I can't help but wonder if toys aren't more for adults like me as collectibles now than they are for little kids to play with. Which is sad, really — toys aren't meant to be mint and pristine and kept in a cardboard box. They're meant to be ripped open by little kids and used as the avatars of grand sandbox adventures. Florian Eckhardt

Dreamcast Memorabilia! Swoosh. [Dreamcast Junkyard]

I caught the first half hour or so of House of the Dead 2 over the weekend and while it wasn't bad I would still place it in the "my eyes, oh God my eyes" category.

I'm on the fence about which was worst. Oh, sure, in the traditional sense the first HotD was way worse, but its pure suckiness made for some great laughs and the cast totally knew they were making a shit movie. On the other hand, this sequel was way, way too serious for its own good. The movie just plain sucked and there was nothing, at least in the first 30, to make up for it.

Of course, it's possible that the movie improved vastly after the first half hour, but I'm thinking not.

Anyone else last more than 30 minutes with the Sci-Fi Channel special?

I'll be watching it, trying to forget the first film ever existed by emptying this fresh bottle of sake and quietly praying for Paramount to greenlight a Typing of the Dead adaptation.

House of the Dead 2: A Sci Fi Pictures Original

It's hilarious to read how they try to distance themselves from the first movie and convince readers that this one won't suck. Believe me, it will suck.

House of Dead 2 Interview [Skewed and Reviewed]

Next week, the Sci Fi Channel will be broadcasting its original, made-for-cable sequel to House of the Dead. We've heard from starlet Emmanuelle Vaugier before, when she said this sequel is "trying to erase the first one from people's memories." I dunno, if they wanted to do that, why make a sequel? It's like picking at an infected wound. Nothing but irritation and redness.

Like the film's prequel, House of the Dead 2 looks like it had nothing to do with the game (nor with Uwe Boll, either). The movie broadcasts at 9/8 Central Time on February 11th. For obvious reasons, it actually might not suck.

Watch the Trailer [Official Site] Thanks, Ben!

In what has to be the oddest IGN video in a while, the game site sits down to break bread with filmmaker and chowderhead Uwe Boll. Now, what Dr. Boll had to say wasn't strange in the least. He actually came off relatively well and charming even as he talked about his parents and denied full responsibility for the tripe known as House of the Dead. No, the strange part was the contrast of red wine and a lit candle with a can of soda and a white Styrofoam box. Talk about classy.

Watch Uwe Here [IGN] Thanks, Lewis!

The plot made no sense whatsoever, the acting was cheesy, the special effects ineffective, the casting absurd, and what the fuck was with that ending? I mean.. what the fuck?

Did I mention that this movie sucked?

From the one-and-a-half minute text crawl at the beginning to the nonsensical camera zoom at the end, this movie was two hours of pure drivel. Don't go check out the movie to see if I'm exaggerating. Instead just pay someone $5 to punch you in the neck; it'll be a more enjoyable experience.

Now that I have officially seen all three of Uwe Boll's game movies I feel like I am adequately versed in his technique to summarize his art of movie making:

1. Take a game with a following and extract from it the plot. Place plot in nearest trash receptacle.

2. Cast a bunch of nobodies, has-beens and at least one used-to-be.

3. Get everyone drunk.

4. Shoot interaction scenes.

5. Create at least one mammoth fight scene at night and then chop it up into a bunch of segments less than 2 seconds long. Insert lots of distracting special effects and lighting. Throw the whole thing into one mammoth, never-ending denouement.

6. Get the lead character to do a voice over to summarize all the shit you forgot to put into the film.

And for all of you following my Uwe Boll reviews, I still stand by my original assessments. Boll is a man in over his head who is very much trying to do something different with the video game genre, but he is also in way, way over his head.

These movies are not the work of someone just trying to make a buck off a following, they are the failed attempts at directorial creativity, the ugly side of thinking outside the box.

I still loved House of the Dead for all of the wrong reasons, and I still think Bloodrayne was firmly ensconced in mediocrity. Alone in the Dark alone, of all of Boll's movies, deserves the drubbing it took at both the hands of critics and fans alike.

To summarize:
House of the Dead: C
Alone in the Dark: Somewhere in lower intestines of F.
Bloodrayne:D

And if you really want to enjoy Bloodrayne, watch Alone in the Dark first, then you can't help but be pleasantly surprised. As a matter of fact, I suggest keeping AITD around in the house to use as a sort of move viewing palette cleanser. After a month of watching really good movies, just when you're starting to not appreciate good movies anymore, spend some time with Christian Slater.

So I watched House of the Dead last night and I'm starting to think you guys need to find another director to pick on. OK, so it was mostly crap, but did you expect Saving Private Ryan from a plot about a bunch of zombies killing people? Sure, this wasn't even up to George Romero standards, but it was a enjoyable trip and it seemed like everyone making it had a lot of fun. I think I actually enjoyed House of the Dead more than BloodRayne.

For slasher flicks, this movie fit right into the genre, nothing overly bad or good. Having seen more gore-packed, blood-oozing movies than I'd care to admit, I think I can speak on this topic with some expertise.

The first half of the movie is action-packed and full of amazing special effects. If you haven't seen it yet, Boll uses some pretty interesting technology to create some huge bullet-time scenes. Instead of the scenes including two or three people, he managed to squeeze in a whole graveyard worth of actors. The effect is pretty cool. The middle drags a little, but fortunately it's a fairly short section. The end jumps back into the action, but isn't as enjoyable as the beginning of the movie.

Boll also did a lot to turn this slasher flick into a homage to the game. There are bits of footage from the game actually in the movie, and lots of the game elements show up as well. Whenever one of the main characters dies, the background fades to black and the camera slowly rotates around the character, just like the drop-a-coin countdown in the arcade shooter. One of the last shoot-out scenes of the movie features the characters walking down a long hallway blasting zombies as they jump out of the dark.

I bought the UMD version of the movie, which comes with two featurettes. The first one, about zombie boot camp, is rather crap and just shows the female stars of the movie playing the arcade game and shooting up a bunch of extras with paintball guns. The second one, a behind-the-scenes short, is definitely worth a watch. It talks a lot about making the movie, shows some of the very cool technology behind the zombies and bullet time and even has interviews with George Romero and his special effects guy.

If you like any of the Friday the Thirteenth movies, especially the later ones, or Nightmare on Elmstreet or Chucky, then I'd recommend buying this UMD. On the whole, Boll produced a fairly fun gore flick that manages to pack in tons of elements from the game. Personally, I think the movie overcame the obstacles created by basing it on a rather flat, plotless game.

Now, that doesn't mean I think Boll is a great director, but so far, from what I've seen, he certainly doesn't deserve the verbal lashings he's been getting. Granted, I say that having not yet seen Alone in the Dark.

Boll certainly isn't the best director I've seen, but he's also by no means the worst. And he's the only one we really have. He's a real live gamer who doesn't want to just slap a game's name onto a movie and be done with it. He works to incorporate bits of the game into his movies. Personally, I think that's the problem. He's trying to do something different with the genre and mainstream critics don't like it. But he's not making the movies for them, he's making them for us. And right now he's paying the price for making movies for a passionate and very vocal audience.

We'll be able to see what this movie is like without the gaming elements when House of the Dead 2 hits DVD in March. This one is directed by Michael Hurst.

I'm curious—how many of you Boll haters have actually seen his movies? I'll admit that I hadn't seen any until last week, and had jumped on the bashing bandwagon based on the reviews I had read and because, well, it's just fun smack-talking someone.

I ended up sending Uwe Boll about 15 questions, none of which could be possibly answered with a single word. He responded within the day, and managed to answer most with little more.

It's unfortunate, because I truly think that there is a lot of grist for a story here. Boll has his own approach to directing, and while no one seems to be a fan of his movies, he's still making them. I've heard he's a real charmer in person and was hoping to convey some of that in my story.

What I did come away with from my interview is that Boll really is a gamer. Like it or not, he's one of us. The real question is, is he a director?

I think his stuff is getting better. I say that relying on the reviews of his earlier movies, since I only saw BloodRayne. As I mentioned in my review of the movie, it wasn't horrible, just mediocre. The thing about reviewing something that is mediocre is that it's very easy, and often fun, to get carried away with trash talking it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way defending BloodRayne or suggesting you go see it. Don't. But it certainly wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. And, though I'm sure to be wrong, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale sounds like it could be passable.

The thing is, we're stuck with Boll and in many ways we have the same goals. He wants to make good movies based on video games and we want to watch good movies based on video games.

Has anyone seen all three of Boll's game movies? I'm interested in if he's developed at all. I think I may be forced to watch Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead over the weekend.

I'll make sure to post my thoughts on the movie after I've checked it out. This is my first Boll film, so I'm guessing it can't be as bad as I've made it out to be in my head.