| Horror junkie that I am, I started playing Tecmo's | | | | of the many video games that are blurring the |
| Fatal Frame II for the Playstation 2 this morning. | | | | line between cinema and gaming as well as |
| Knowing the Japanese's mastery of horror, I was | | | | reinterpreting for the new millennium what story |
| expecting a thrill ride with this game... and I was | | | | telling should be about. |
| not disappointed. Fatal Frame II is one of the | | | | I don't know what the Japanese videogame |
| creepiest games that I have every played. Yes, | | | | creators' inspirations are that make them |
| the Americans can also make good horror games | | | | continually push the boundaries of creativity in |
| (like The Suffering, Clive Barker's Undying, Doom) | | | | making video games. Every time someone from |
| but when it comes to consistency of quality, | | | | another country is proclaimed to have the edge, |
| white-knuckle horror, and an almost cinematic | | | | the Japanese just quietly release a slew games |
| pacing I doff my hat off to the Japanese. They | | | | that are so jaw-dropping in its ingenuity, level of |
| have really got the formula right. | | | | immersion, and quality that just leaves its |
| In fact, almost all the games that come from | | | | competitors biting digital dust. |
| Japan boast of the kind of mastery of | | | | Nintendo has officially pulled the plug on |
| atmosphere and storytelling that always keeps | | | | GameCube. Say bye bye to the big purple box. |
| me coming back for more. Games like Hideo | | | | Why was it discontinued? Well, Nintendo's other |
| Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series (the first | | | | babies are just simply doing better than |
| PlayStation title of which is considered as one of | | | | GameCube and games are better too in the |
| the most cinematic and innovative games of all | | | | other consoles - not to say that GameCube has |
| time), Shigeru Miyamoto's Legend of Zelda, the | | | | bad games, in fact some of their games are real |
| slew of Final Fantasy games that virtually define | | | | good to play. So it's not suprising that |
| the limits of in-game immersion every time one | | | | GameCube's sales have been dwindling for a while |
| of the latest iterations is released, are just some | | | | now. |