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Show and Tell: Post-Halloween wrap-up
If you're feeling particularly rebellious, you can bounce right into the gallery and make your own way around. If not, we've got a guided tour prepared, just for you.
Gallery: Show and Tell: Halloween '08
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is still wearing a costume
We're asking a lot of you this time: Tell us the best and worst costumes you saw this weekend, check out these comics and vote for your favorite (polling after the break) and if you still have any logo ideas, send them in! We really appreciate what we've seen so far, and come next Saturday we'll be having a vote on the favorites.
Translation (Castle Vidcons)
Halloween on a gamer's budget (Sidescroller)
Operation Myriad (Penny Arcade)
On Edge (Dipswitch)
The Living Un-Caffeinated (Boys of Floyd)
Criminal X (Digital Unrest)
Mushroom Kingdom in Recession (Extra Life)
You're Pushing My Buttons (2P Start)
LittleBigObscenity (CAD Silly)
Sackboy's First Day (ONAM)
Wii Warm Up: Splatterhouse Party
Did any of you spend the Halloween evening at home on the couch instead of out looking and acting silly? Maybe you've been drafted into the all-important supply side of the trick-or-treat candy distribution chain. Or maybe you didn't have time to put a costume together, or you didn't know of any parties, or it was too cold outside for the spandex outfit you bought. Whatever the reason, we figure some of you were at home playing games this Halloween. Did any of you do any totally spooky Halloween gaming? Did you boost the Splatterhouse download numbers?
WRUP hails to the Pumpkin King
- Alexander Sliwinski: Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow. There's something out there, far from my home, a longing that I've never known. But, in the meantime, I'll probably finish Dead Space.
- Christopher Grant After beating Dead Space (and then strategically dismembering its limbs) I had something of a personal crisis: what to play next! Sure, Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 2 provided quite a compelling argument (loved the first one, bite-sized portions) and Fallout 3 is triggering gamer's Geiger counters, but I've settled on Fable 2, hoping to catch some of my friend's floating by in orb form. Before any of that, I've been tinkering with the New Xbox Experience which, I must say, is quite fetching.
- Griffin McElroy Having completed Fable 2 (can you "complete" something if it doesn't have an ending?), I've been playing Fallout 3 for the past two days. If you're curious about the game's potent addictive properties, I've already put about 15 hours into it. The bedsores are totally worth it.
- Kevin Kelly: Still trying to get to the Washington Monument in D.C. in Fallout 3. Also, I'll be playing the Mirror's Edge time trial over and over to hone my parkour skills. I'm at the point where I almost want to try it in real life. Almost.
- James Ransom-Wiley is celebrating!
- Jason Dobson is batman. We tried to tell him otherwise, and then he back-smacked each and every one of us.
- Justin McElroy: If I get free moments I believe I'll be trying to finish up Fable 2. But I'd like to encourage the rest of you to play my hit favorite game: "It's The Weekend So Maybe Go To A Halloween Party and Meet And Attractive Gal or Gaiden". [Ed. note: Don't listen to him, he doesn't play that game anymore.]
- Ludwig Kietzmann: Far Cry 2, Fable 2 and ... LittleBigPlanet! What a sad commentary on how swamped we are with games -- LBP is at the *end* of my list. Ugh.
- Randy Nelson: Still playing Fable 2 (expect that will be the case for quite some time, even though I've "finished" it) and making my way through Fallout 3. But in the spirit of the holiday, I think I'll delve a little further into Dead Space and break out some oldies but goodies: Capcom's Nightmare Before Christmas and both Maximo games. Heck, I might even face the frightful scanlines for one of my all-time faves, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins.
- Ross Miller: I don't know where to begin. I've started games of Fable 2, Fallout 3 and Dead Space and need to commit to one to see through to the end. Penny Arcade Episode 2 is an eventual must. First on the list, however, will be all these fun demos I've let pass me by: EndWar, Mirror's Edge and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Folks are visiting on Sunday, so a Rock Band 2 session is likely in store.
Happy Halloween! Check out some Nintendo-themed pumpkins
It's-a Mario World: Curious Costumes
Costumes are an integral part of any proper Halloween celebration, and we didn't have it in our little video gaming hearts to exclude Dear Mario from today's internationally recognized festivities. This is because we are obsessively enamored with Him, yes, sometimes to the extent of unnecessarily capitalizing pronouns, but also because we are under a rigorous blogging contract by penalty of death. Thus, we come to your monitor on this spooky evening with a mind for Mario's unconventional garb.
It isn't often that we see Mario dressed in anything other than his trademark overalls. Even in his more athletic role he seems to prefer his mainstay red and blue outfit, however constricting and warm it may be, topped with his all-too-familiar cap. So any time we see him decked out in a fancy suit or in powered up form, we do a double take. Today we have gone ahead and compiled some of these less usual costumes in a new gallery that will FRIGHTEN and AMAZE, probably. Get to it!
It isn't often that we see Mario dressed in anything other than his trademark overalls. Even in his more athletic role he seems to prefer his mainstay red and blue outfit, however constricting and warm it may be, topped with his all-too-familiar cap. So any time we see him decked out in a fancy suit or in powered up form, we do a double take. Today we have gone ahead and compiled some of these less usual costumes in a new gallery that will FRIGHTEN and AMAZE, probably. Get to it!
It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.Siren: Blood Curse 'Halloween offer' scares up $10 in savings
Want to buy the whole game? That'll cost you just $30, down from the usual $40 asking price. Already have one or two of the three available episode bundles? The rest will only cost $11 each, down from $15. Not interested? That's fine, but it's still better than the pamphlets on teen abstinence being handed out down the block.
Two Sackboy costumes available next week, more later
Are you ready for some LittleBigPlanet downloadable content? The game is now officially out in the US so goodies are going start piling on to the PSN Store, starting next week. First up are two costumes for SackBoy which will be available for a limited time. The "Launch" costume (which you already know about) will be available for free between November 6th and November 19th. A Halloween mask will also be available for free during the same period.
The latest PlayStation Blog post also gives us an indication of more DLC to come in the future. Focusing on costumes for now, there are going to be several price tiers which content can fall into. Special occasion costumes will be free, but only available for a certain time, while community designed costumes will be free of charge and remain on the Store to be downloaded at any time. Paid-for content will be made available with full costumes at $0.99 and "premium" costumes (like the Solid Snake and Sephiroth ones) costing $1.99 each.
There will also be rare content, which could be available for any length of time and for any price, as well as bundles for the paid-for content. Phew. LittleBigPlanet's going to cost us a lot of money in the long run isn't it? Especially when you consider the closing line of the PlayStation Blog post, which states "Stay tuned in a few weeks when we introduce a few more types of LBP DLC that will not only enhance your SackBoy, but expand your Pop-it tool with more objects, materials, stickers, sounds, music and even gameplay enhancements to keep the community refreshed with more creative options." Yes please!
Check out the post for yourselves for examples of future DLC.
The latest PlayStation Blog post also gives us an indication of more DLC to come in the future. Focusing on costumes for now, there are going to be several price tiers which content can fall into. Special occasion costumes will be free, but only available for a certain time, while community designed costumes will be free of charge and remain on the Store to be downloaded at any time. Paid-for content will be made available with full costumes at $0.99 and "premium" costumes (like the Solid Snake and Sephiroth ones) costing $1.99 each.
There will also be rare content, which could be available for any length of time and for any price, as well as bundles for the paid-for content. Phew. LittleBigPlanet's going to cost us a lot of money in the long run isn't it? Especially when you consider the closing line of the PlayStation Blog post, which states "Stay tuned in a few weeks when we introduce a few more types of LBP DLC that will not only enhance your SackBoy, but expand your Pop-it tool with more objects, materials, stickers, sounds, music and even gameplay enhancements to keep the community refreshed with more creative options." Yes please!
Check out the post for yourselves for examples of future DLC.
The DS Life: A young Hylian boy
Halloween is only a day away -- do you have your costume ready yet? Still looking for video game-inspired ideas? How about Dr. Kawashima from the Brain Age series? Phoenix Wright? Travis Touchdown? How about Mario?
Need a female costume? Maybe you can dress up as one of the ninja sisters from the WarioWare games? Midna or Rosalina? Peach or Samus? Mama? Struggling for a dog outfit? Well, there's always K.K. Slider. Or, um, Nintendogs?
And when all else fails, whether you're a boy, girl, or puppy, there's always ... Link! We've featured several costume variations of the young hero -- Phantom Hourglass Link, Four Swords Link, and, of course, Hugging Girls Link -- but today's photo puts an actual kid into the green outfit! Slip into your Pegasus Boots and dash past the post break for the image!
See also: Top 5: Spooky Gaming Moments
Top 5: Spooky Gaming Moments
In order to survive on these tough tubes, one usually needs to develop a biting sense of sarcasm. You know, where we make a statement and then italicize the second part of the sentence to indicate that this is where the funny is. When you work in cynicism, sentimentality and unfettered joy are difficult to host. You can't be contemptuous one moment but filled with child-like joy the next. Thus, we tend to judge the value of holidays based primarily on if it grants us a day off from work.
Yet one holiday that seems to entertain even the crabbiest of bloggers is Halloween. Around the world, the lead-up to October 31st has us enjoying the orange and black decorations, scanning late-night cable for horror movies, and attempting to rationalize buying abundant amounts of candy at the counter of the drug store. Sure, we can be as bitter and weathered as we allow ourselves to be, but there's no denying the joy of carving pumpkins, piecing together a costume, and perhaps even enjoying a good scare or two.
As gaming is always finding new ways to entertain us, fans of things that go bump in the night have no shortage of spooky games. Developers have been attempting to give us frights ever since the obscenely terrible Halloween for the Atari 2600. Good gameplay can survive regardless of technology, but generating a convincing scare is usually dependent on quality audio and visuals. Since top-notch technology and mature content have inconsistently been attributes of Nintendo, our favorite line of consoles is slightly lacking in good scares. But while the Silent Hills and Fatal Frames of the other guys have given us plenty of sleepless nights, Nintendo's consoles are home to a handful of underwear-changing moments. Here's the Top 5 moments that, speaking in strict technical terms, give us the heebie-jeebies.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up. Wii Warm Up: The scare factor
A batch of videos leaked last week to inadvertently reveal a new horror game from Hudson, The Calling. Although Hudson has since requested we take them down, the footage reminded us just how effective games can be at creeping us out. And, since it's, uh, the month of Hallowe'en (look, we're trying to be topical here), we thought we'd open the floor to discussion about games that scare you.
I'll get started, then. Because I am an absolutely ridiculous, quivering coward, I couldn't even finish Shadow Man when playing it alone. Yes, I know it's not a typically scary game and I'm pathetic, but I recall being especially unnerved by the faded face of my character's dead kid brother flashing on screen and whispering at me. Honestly, I daren't even pick up a Silent Hill box now, and I won't be offering to review Fatal Frame IV.
What games have you ended up playing from behind the sofa, or even switched off?
DS Daily: Planning a costume?
We've looked at a couple of things lately -- cosplay and crafts -- that serve to remind us that the official Day of Costumes is just around the corner. Are you dressing up for anything this year? If so, gonna incorporate something from the gaming world? Must confess that we are indoctrinating the boychild early ... my chubby baby is gonna be a moogle for his first Halloween. I'm going to just prep some cards with moogle information that I can hand out every time someone asks what he is, which will probably be about every four seconds.
Design a Dead Space costume, get a head!
Update: That's it folks! The entry period is over. Thanks for participating!
They say in space, no one can hear you scream. Luckily, here on earth, they'll hear you loud and clear if you win this cache of Dead Space goodies. But this is no ordinary Joyswag giveaway, folks. Oh no, you're gonna have to work for this one. You're finally being called upon to put those hard-earned hours in front of Project Runway to the test!
Here's the deal: You design the winning costume, send us a JPEG, and we'll give you the head. In this case, 1 of only 8 fully modeled, handmade Dead Space helmets created for EA (embiggened view). You'll also receive the Dead Space game (PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version -- your choice) plus game guide, Downfall (the animated prequel), the graphic novel, and art book (with 3-D glasses!). (Approximate value of prize is $600.) So bust out the scissors, sewing machine, gorilla glue, severed limbs, duct tape, and whatever else you can scrounge up ... and remember, take some risks! (Read: We don't want a thousand pictures of you all wrapped in tin foil.) Have fun!
Update: To answer some of your questions, yes, the costume can be totally original (or based on the game's design) -- either way, it should complement the helmet. It's like Voltron: you form the body, we form the head. So, the costume must be fully realized (not a drawing, painting, proposal in comments, etc.). Consider your Halloween dilemma solved!
Show and Tell: Early but eerie
Also, hey -- if you're looking to get started early on your spooky plans this year, maybe some of these will help get the (ooshy gooshy layers of) brain cranking out some ideas.
Gallery: Show and Tell: All Hallows' Eve-Eve
Show and Tell is all about fan stuff, so long as it's Nintendo-related. We love to see your collections, your crafts, your frosted creations, your t-shirts and swag of all sorts.Just snap a few pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest. Not a handy type, but found something neat? Send us a link instead.Dead Space to haunt players this Halloween
The game is currently in development for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and promises a "chilling, claustrophobic feeling of being isolated in a dark environment." EA also notes that Dead Space will force players to face down alien horrors not as a hulking superman but rather as a lowly engineer, though if history has taught us one thing, it's to not underestimate the little guy.
