Haunted Dollhouse

I have never been one to play with dollhouses or dolls. I think that the last set of dolls I got when I was a kid didn’t survive for very long. There is, however, this certain dollhouse that I certainly would not mind having around. In a separate room that is always well lit.

I don’t know if you have heard of The Bloggess, who is known as Jenny Lawson in real life. She has been working on a dollhouse for the past 11 years. So what is special about that (aside from the fact that 11 years is a very long time for a dollhouse)?

Well, this is no ordinary dollhouse. Forget sugar and spice and everything nice. Forget pretty in pink. This is a haunted dollhouse, down to every single detail. More than being haunted, the dollhouse draws inspiration from various fantasy and horror books. If I didn’t get drawn in from the photo of the dollhouse from the outside, this little detail totally suckered me in, hook, line, and sinker.

Dragon Hutch

A haunted dollhouse would certainly not be complete without dragons, would it?

Then there is the attic, which draws inspiration from Harry Potter, among many other things. You recognize Hedwig, of course, and whatever that thing in the mirror is, it sure is freaky.

Dollhouse Attic

There is even a witch cum herbologist, complete with a potion book.

Witch

And what haunted house would be complete without at least one hidden passage? It is amazing how The Bloggess incorporates these details!

Hidden Passage

It seems that The Bloggess likes her Edgar Allan Poe. Can you spot the references in the two photos that follow?

Cask of Amontillado

The Raven

So are you impressed or what? If these photos are not enough to get you interested, then I don’t know what will. For more awe inspiring photos, visit Kirtsy.

I’m intrigued by the games of Lexis Numerique. They’re doing some really interesting, unusual things with gameplay, and as someone who’s attracted to original stories, I’m fascinated with the outside-the-box storytelling Lexis is coming up with. Their upcoming Red Johnson’s Chronicles looks very cool, and today I learned of another title they’re working on called Amy.

Set in December of 2034, Amy tells the story of a girl named Lana, who wakes up to a world that’s changed radically from the one she knows. A comet has struck the planet, causing natural disasters and unleashing a deadly virus that’s infected nearly everybody. Lana awakens in the small American town of Silver City and realizes that the virus is infecting her as well. She decides to run, to try and get free from the nightmarish, zombie-like “horde” that was once the human race.

The plot thickens when Lana meets an eight-year-old autistic girl named Amy. Amy has unusual powers; her mere presence near Lana pushes back the effects of the virus, allowing her to hold onto her humanity. But having Amy in her care gives every choice Lana makes the added weight of responsibility. As a player, you’ll make decisions in conjunction with Amy, giving the game a cooperative play style, even though Amy is an A.I. Lexis hints that the choices Lana and Amy make could even somehow save mankind.

Players will find that Amy features a mixture of stealth, action, and melee combat, which is made all the more difficult because Lana and Amy are physically weaker than their zombified enemies. Sometimes the best course of action will not be to stand and fight, but to run and hide. A unique gameplay strategy will be the way that players have to balance Lana’s exposure to Amy. Sometimes, you’ll want to separate yourself from Amy and let the virus take hold (temporarily), because it will help you proceed through the levels unharmed. (The horde leave Lana alone when she’s succumbing to the virus.) But if she stays away from Amy too long, she’ll transform completely, and you lose the game.

Amy is a downloadable title that will be available on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade sometime this Fall.

Spontaneous #2

Many comics billed as horror comics simply fail to elicit that clammy, sweaty response that one would expect from the genre.

The same cannot be said for one of the latest offerings from Oni Press, now into its second issue. Spontaneous deals with the story of Melvin, a boy cursed from childhood with the ability to perceive who stands at risk of spontaneous human combustion.

At least, that’s how it appears on the surface. Melvin is one of those nobodies that we walk past every day and try to escape any conversation with. Much as we hate to admit it, I know this can strike a chord with everyone. Joe Harris weaves a disturbing tale where nothing is revealed straight off the bat, while Brett Weldele’s illustrations set a generally depressive mood with great use of greys and an almost pointalistic style of colouring. Seems odd to say that about a comic book even now, considering the old four-colour processes, but Brett delivers a relationship between intensity of mood and density of colour that brings to mind the film of Anna climbing out of the well in the last movie to really make me fear, The Ring.

The only highlighting is via the colours of flame, but with the backdrop of muted greys and browns, this hardly provides any comfort, but is simply a stark and violent contrast to a story which flows yet dwells in an atmosphere of nothing really happening. We’ve all felt it, growing up in whatever smalltown we arrived in, and after moving on, looking back in sympathy (and some derision) to those who failed to escape.

The words I am using here to describe the two issues I have read so far do not do the series justice. Depressive, dark, gloomy, small town, nobody; these words all accurately conjure the atmosphere of the story; yet I am at once both entranced and repulsed by Spontaneous. It is a long time since a comic has made my flesh crawl, and the best thing about this is that so far, I cannot tell you why I am so repulsed. That to me is an expert use of static media of the page, which has had a greater effect on me than many of the so-called horror films.

I doubt the inclusion of Hellblazer back into the DCU will have anything on this, yet the only comics simile I could compare in to would be the early issues of Hellblazer, although Spontaneous is more subtle than that. I re-read the issues two hours ago, and I still feel uncomfortable.

In a good way though, if such a thing is possible.

When the Imperial prison barge Purge – temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy’s most ruthless killers, rebels, scoundrels, and thieves – breaks down in a distant, uninhabited part of space, its only hope appears to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting, derelict, and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party from the Purge is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back–bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours nearly all aboard the Purge die in ways too hideous to imagine.

And death is only the beginning.

The Purge’s half-dozen survivors–two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers, and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board–will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting aboard the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn’t really empty at all. For the dead are rising: soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.

Pre-order it at Amazon.
]]> http://www.forevergeek.com/2009/07/star_wars_death_troopers_coming_in_september/feed/ 0 http://www.forevergeek.com/2009/04/fatal_frame_wii_cancelled_in_the_us_europe/ http://www.forevergeek.com/2009/04/fatal_frame_wii_cancelled_in_the_us_europe/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:36:16 +0000 Mel http://www.forevergeek.com/?p=12240
Bad news for horror game fans.

Nintendo has decided not to publish a Wii installment of the extremely scary horror game series Fatal Frame in both the US and Europe.

This piece of info was given by Techmo, developer of the Fatal Frame franchise. The company said that Nintendo actually owns the publishing rights to Fatal Frame for the Wii and not Tecmo or codeveloper Grasshopper Manufacture. The game, which was released in Japan way back July 31, 2008, will not get an English version because of Nintendo’s decision.

I actually don’t understand Nintendo’s decision regarding Fatal Frame. Based on the better than average sales of both Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and House of The Dead: Overkill, there is a firmly entrenched market for horror-based Wii games. Publishing Fatal Frame would’ve helped one of Nintendo’s marketing goals, which is to show people that the Wii is not just for kids and casual gamers. And besides, Fatal Frame has a ready audience already. It won’t be that hard to market a game that actually got pretty decent reviews when it came out.

Nintendo itself hasn’t made an official announcement so even though chances are quite slim, I’m hoping Nintendo will still change its stance.

The premise is cool enough. It’s a Big Brother eviction night but all across England strange things are happening. The dead have apparently come alive and the hapless Big Brother participants have no idea what’s happening in the outside world. I love the perfect mix of horror and the reality genre. I’d like to think of it as good companion piece to George Romero’s Diary of The Dead.

Do check out the five-episode series. You’ll be in for a treat.