Days of Horror

As the Halloween season, which it apparently is now, reaches the culmination point (Halloween) I have spent some time getting "into the spirit".

I recently picked up Dead Space, because what is the halloween season if not a time for games that can scare the crap out of you. It's difficult to classify the game in any one particular genre, but that doesn't make it any less fun. The game plays out from a third person over the shoulder perspective and has a lot of the survival horror elements, except for the fact that the amount of ammo you get (in medium mode) makes it feel a lot less like you need to be making accurate shots. I did play this in hard mode for a bit and it definitely feels more like a survival horror due to a reduced ammo supply, harder to kill monsters, and the addition of extra monsters to specific scenarios. Despite this ambiguity of the classification the game really is a lot of fun and the environmental elements are stunning. There hasn't been a game recently that has immersed me into the environment the way that Dead Space has. The length may deter people from paying the $60, and I can understand that point of view, but I recommend picking it up through rental or purchase. This game is definitely worth playing through at least once.

If you have been playing World of Warcraft, and since their subscription base has now reached 11 million it's pretty likely that you are, then you will have participated in the zombie invasion that let players infect other players and npcs with the zombie disease which turns the infected person in a zombie who then in turn spreads the disease. Despite a lot of backlash from some of the player base Blizzard has said that the event was a success and that we should expect to see more events to come as their expansion pack: Wrath of the Lich King gets closer and closer to the release date. If you missed out on the zombie invasion there is still the scourge invasion happening all over the digital world as well as a new boss in Karazhan.

If you happen to have a source game on the computer I want to let people know to try out a mod being distributed for free by steam. It's called Zombie Panic! and it is a fun game that captures the feel of the zombie horror movies, and will help gear up players for the Left 4 Dead release from Valve.