Author - Ripper71

Halloween Horror Nights Review (2011)

2011/10/01
Ripper71
Halloween, News, Reviews

After finishing up our red carpet coverage of the 2011 Eyegore Awards, it was time to make our way into the park and get our first taste of Halloween Horror Nights for the season. We stepped in amongst a twisted world of clowns of all shapes and sizes accompanied by chainsaws and belches of fire from a huge arch and immediately found ourselves surrounded by screams and laughter, most of the laughter being of a maniacal and crazy clown manner, It was time to see what fears could be found in the park for our delight and disturbance.

La Llorona: This was proving to be the most controversial maze before it even came out due to the La Llorona myth subject matter. Last year this was a subject of a street zone and probably the poorest offering of scares that year, partially due to the crowds reaction and lack of respect to the folklore (taking pictures with the weeping woman carrying her dead baby while the public made bunny ears behind her head). This year the famous Hispanic tale was heavily researched and just about every possible variation of the legend was included in the maze with no punches pulled. We often describe this to a Wikipedia entry where everyone tells their version of what they heard growing up and it is all put into one piece. We don’t want to give away too much because it would be very easy to diminish the proper shock value you would have but no matter who complains about any part of the maze there is research to back it and it is done in amazing detail. The final scene visual just might haunt you the rest of your night at HHN. It is scary, it is disturbing, and it is executed with the love such an important cultural tale deserves.

Eli Roth’s Hostel: When this maze was announced there was a lot of concern in the haunt community that this would be too close to Saw and as a result would feel more like a recycling. Luckily this proved to be far from the truth as this maze paid some homage to the scenes in the movie but in many ways were their own beast making you feel like you were walking through another film in the series. The maze starts off before you even go in with a couple of ladies with strong accents talking to the crowd as if picking who would bring them the most finder’s fees and continues on until you come back out either stunned or being passed by screaming girls. Once again we don’t want to spoil too much and if you have gone a few times over the years you will recognized some reused props but you won’t mind because it still has a whole new feel. Make sure you listen closely to the soundtrack, it can be both amusing and disgusting on how it can twist a scare that much more. Eli Roth was seen laughing and smiling as he exited the maze on opening night so things must have been good!

Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare: HHN’s Creative Director, John Murdy, had grown up a huge fan of Alice Cooper so when he finally was able to work out an opportunity to work with Alice on a maze, it was one of his greatest, long time dreams come true. So knowing this we knew this was going to be a work of personal passion for John and he was geeking out the whole time he did it. The result is an amazing maze full of both eye candy and scares where when whole scenes are taken in they start to develop a surreal nightmare appearance to them. There are homages to Alice’s countless stage illusions and interpretations of songs from his vast library of work One thing we highly recommend is listening to the music as you go through since may scenes are artistic interpretation of the songs. The costuming is also fantastic, the Alice masks are so realistic it is like the rocker is there himself scaring you. We are tempted to take 3D glasses into the maze with us because though the maze wasn’t designed in 3D I can tell that certain sections it would work due to the lighting changes, heck they almost looked 3D without glasses. Definitely one of the finest mazes at any park we have experienced so far this year.

The Thing-Assimilation: The upcoming prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 movie The Thing is the basis for the last of the new mazes for HHN 2011. The Thing is the story of some sort of alien species found in the ice in Antarctica that is able to inhabit other lifeforms bodies and take them over, leaving you guessing as to who is an alien and who isn’t. The 1982 horror classic is known for its state of the art (at that time) special effects and that same amazing detail is to be found in the The Thing maze at HHN this year. Unbelievably detailed prosthetics and nearly full body props are found through out this maze. After being startled by one of The Thing’s we wanted nothing more but to stand there and just admire the craftsmanship that has gone into the monster effects, they are THAT good. Although the prosthetics are fantastic the scares and ability to follow the storyline were a bit light in this maze. The first couple of rooms were pretty bland, but that was forgiven once we caught site of the first monster. The maze is definitely worth the time for The Things alone.

Rob Zombie’s House Of 1,000 Corpses: The only returning maze form 2010, House of 1,000 Corpses was well worth bringing back. The innovative 3-D in this maze is just astounding. The 3-D effects literally shift as the lighting does which can create a very spooky and disorienting environment. Casting is perhaps the strongest feature of this maze as the Baby and Otis characters are just as strong this year as they were last year. The actors know the roles well, and it truly feels like you are walking through part of the movie when you pass by. This maze takes us through the entirety of the movie, from Capt. Spaulding’s Murder Ride to the Firefly House and finally to Dr. Satan’s lair. We were really glad to see this fan favorite maze return this year, as it is already a HHN classic amongst fans.

The Wolfman-The Curse of Talbot Hall: House of Horrors is home to this maze and this venue is typically is the weakest of all the HHN mazes every year. This year is no different as it’s very difficult to theme an already themed year round haunted attraction into something else. However, the talent in The Wolfman maze completely gave it their all when we went through. Wolves were stalking us and leaping towards us doing their best to gives us a good scare. It should be noted that if you are experiencing HHN with someone who is unable to use stairs, which this attraction has plenty of, there is an elevator to bypass them. If you didn’t get Front of the Line passes put this maze off until the last half hour before closing. Due to its proximity to the entrance the lines can push 90mins during the busy portion of the night, but is a 10-15min wait typically right before closing.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure: This annual show full of pop culture parodies returns with Bill and Ted and a slew of guests from the news over the last year. The Bill and Ted show is a mixture of comedy, satire and song. Every year they close the show with a big musical number showcasing some of the past years biggest talents. This year songs are featured by Adele, Chris Brown and Rhianna. The comedy skits fell a bit flat this year we thought and the biggest villain of the night was someone we didn’t expect thinking their time in the spotlight was over several months ago. Again, we don’t want to spoil anything for those going to HHN this month, but Bill and Ted remains a good show to get some laughs and rest your feet a bit before heading back out to the screams.

Terror Tram-Scream 4 Your Life: Terror Tram 2011 is such a vast improvement over the disjointed Chucky theme that 2010 brought us. The premise this year is that you’re visiting the various sets for a few new horror movies that are shooting on the Universal Studios backlot. Of course Ghostface Killer has found his way onto the sets and is making mincemeat out of those unlucky enough to cross his path. One of the coolest things to do at HHN for horror fans is to be able to walk right up to the Psycho house and Terror Tram gives everyone that opportunity, IF you survive the uphill walk that seems to be just teeming with wildlife and who knows what else that goes bump in the night. The Terror Tram theme flows much better this year than last, it’s a definite improvement.

Scare Zones: We’ve always found the scare zones at HHN to be a fun way to move from one part of the park to another and this year is no exception. The Freakz scare zone stands out as the strongest one of the night to us. The masks and life breathed into them by their scare actors is just outstanding. They are weird, fright inducing and, of course, freaky. The masked Reapers are a great replacement in the lower lot to the Chainsaw Pigs and make sure you stop and watch the Ringmaster Clown just under the fire jets in the Klownz scare zone in the upper lot. All in all the scare zones are very entertaining.

Images from Halloween Horror Nights


Photo Credits: Is It October Yet?

IIOY’S Guide To Halloween Haunts 2011

2011/10/01
Ripper71
Articles, Halloween, News

Here is our list of 2011 Halloween haunts with an emphasis on our personal experiences over more than 16 Seasons of the Witch in California.  We have also included a few places we would like to see in other parts of the country so that those who have the ways and means to travel to them, or in many cases are located in their backyard cemeteries, can get the most of the season and hopefully tell us what they thought so we can include it in next year’s list.  Sure, it is an ambitious plan to get followers to send us their thoughts for next year’s list but, if you can’t trust your fellow travelers of dark alleys, who can you trust? Enjoy!!

– Ripper of Is It October Yet? and GamingShogun.com

Southern California:

This year is going to be rigamortis-stiff competition between the two biggies of Southern California: Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios.  I recommend at least one night at each!

Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween Haunt (Buena Park): The original Halloween haunt in America and approved by Mr. Knott back in 1972 this haunt yearly boasts at least 13 haunted attractions and scare zones with themes and designs being changed yearly.  This year’s show lineup includes some blasts from year’s past with prop comedian Marty Putz and magician Ed Alonzo returning for fun and high jinks.  During the day a kid’s safe trick or treat experience is provided for the little ones because the nights bring on true adult terror.  Tip: Don’t ride the unthemed rides and ride the themed ones early (mine and log rides), their lines only get longer.  Also if you can afford the VIP dinner the food is terrific and gets you into the park slightly earlier.
http://haunt.knotts.com

Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights (Hollywood): This haunt went on for a few years and right at the height of it’s creative Hollywood mazes (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, House of 1000 Corpses, Clive Barker’s Body Bags, WWF Undertaker) it went dark and has built back up slowly to be a contender for big thrill park best scares.  This year new mazes include John Carpenter’s The Thing (based on the movie coming later this year), Eli Roth’s Hostel, Alice Cooper’s Nightmares and a return of the last year’s innovative 3D maze Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses (different from the above mentioned).  Their mazes and attractions are fewer than Knott’s but they make up for it with Hollywood movie worthy special effects.  If you can hit HHN Orlando in the same season you will know Haunt Nirvana.  Tip: There are water effects in the mazes and some shows that tend to have an uncanny ability to hit electronic equipment, particularly cameras.  I suggest you take a ziplock or water tight bag to keep them safe through these and Jurassic Park In The Dark.  Also to make the most of the night get a Front of The Line Pass, it more than pays for itself with avoiding very long lines.
http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/hollywood/2011

Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest (Valencia): It started fairly small with a few mazes, rides in the dark, and Colossus running backwards but has grown more and more each year.  It recently went through a bit of an image problem for the kind of crowd it attracted but seems to have recovered with several mazes and shows as well as DJ and Rave parties and the infamous Heckles and Twitch Show.  This is the haunt attraction for the partyers who like to combine their mixes with their mayhem.  Tip: Doing the rides in the dark can be fun (Colosus backwards is cool) but you probably want to get any mazes you want to hit out of the way first.
http://frightfest.sixflags.com/magicmountain

Disneyland’s Halloween Time (Anaheim): Not a scare experience really this event is aimed at family wholesome fun.  The Haunted Mansion is transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween decorations across the park include a giant Mickey jack O’ lantern in Town Square, carved pumpkins throughout the park and a Halloween Tree.  During the night and for a separate admission you can trick or treat with or without the kiddies and see a special Halloween fireworks show.  Tip: Disneyland has restrictions on what costumes can be worn during the trick or treat event, make sure to check before going!
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/events/halloween-time/#/home

Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor (Long Beach): Queen Mary’s haunt in previous years was known as Shipwreck and though I heard the maze talent was exceptional it was the rave parties and rough crowd that became the most known feature of this haunt.  So last year one of the best haunt designers on the west coast stepped in and brought on board one of the best haunt soundtrack composers and they worked together to create a wonder and top notch haunted attraction.  They used the naturally scary atmosphere of the believed to be haunted Queen Mary and the vacated Spruce Goose hangar and filled it with scare actors with excellent costumes, makeup and additional props to make an incredible haunt.  If you listen carefully you might just hear your name whispered while you walk through the mazes, I know for a fact you can hear mine.  Tip: Make sure to go through the mazes at your own pace to take it all in, especially the pool area where a lot of ghost sightings have happened!
http://www.queenmary.com/Dark-Harbor.aspx

Castle Park aka Castle “Dark” (Riverside): By day it is Castle Dark Fun By Day for the whole family, but when the sun goes down it becomes Castle Dark Fright By Night with two new mazes this year “Insanity” and “Carnevil” as well as their returning Slider Alley and scare themed rides that includes their ever popular “Terror on the Tracks” train ride. Tip: One admission gets you both Fun By Day and Fright By Night so coming late in the day lets you enjoy both!  Or take the kids during the day and arrange for a babysitter at night.
http://castlepark.com/events.html#b

The Empty Grave (Anaheim): A single maze haunt located at the Anaheim Garden Walk. The Empty Grave is nicely located for attending more than one haunt or catching some good scare fun on a night with other plans.  This haunt has a reputation for making the monsters the bigger haunts will hire later but they have their own hardcore horror force that returns year after year and gives great scares that will have you buying another ticket to go through again.  These monsters take pride in their performances and though the name stays the same they always come up with new scares.  Tip: There are several good restaurants nearby to grab a bite to eat before or after, making this haunt a part of a well rounded date night.
http://themtgrave.com

Sinister Pointe (Brea): A group that has been the talk of the Southland since their first year, Sinister Pointe is known for high quality mazes, often involving licensed franchises such as Saw and Silent Hill.  Visitors can always count on a visually impressive scare that takes you right into their environment and if you let them, make you forget that such haunts are actually safe.  Tip: Early arrival is suggested because the line tends to get long fast and the staff limits the number of people who can go through at a time maximizing everyone’s scare.  Another option is their front of the line pass which is definitely worth.  Also don’t wear loose fitting dresses or skirts, you’ll thank me later.
http://sinisterpointe.com/

Field of Screams (Lake Elsinore): There are many “Fields of Screams” across the country but the difference between this one and most is usually the field refers to open farmland or corn mazes, in this case it is a baseball field!  Field Of Screams is a little off the beaten path but promises great scares for any who make the jaunt with a whole stadium to fill with horrors in the form of three mazes and two scare zones.  Arsonists attempted to burn down one of the mazes recently but the fire was put out quick and the crew started working around the clock and are back on schedule to open on September 29th!  Tip: No cleats allowed.
http://hauntedstadium.com/

Coffin Creek/Chambers of the Mausoleum (Norco):  Coffin Creek started as a small haunt put together in an idealic isolated location and worked by a couple of the hardest working scare actors around and over the years it has grown and teamed up with Chambers of the Mausoleum which is run by folks who make animated figures for casinos and theme parks including Disneyland’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and put their animatronics to work for scaring.  Add to it the Shady Hollow Hayride and this can make the trip out there to the middle of nowhere worth it. Tip: Attractions are sold on an individual bases of $13 each or five for $33.  If it is a busy night there is a good chance you may not be able to see all the attractions so you may want to plan to catch it more than one night or purchase individual tickets with Chambers of the Mausoleum being the highest recommendation.
http://coffincreek.com
http://malformationz.com

Human Roast House (Riverside): A small haunt that has grabbed a bit of attention this is reputedly the home of a Riverside serial killer and his ghastly work is still spread throughout the rooms and halls, as well as the energy of madness that drove him to the acts.  Apparently much like so many who fear what goes bump in the night… we discover clowns were not his friends.  Tip: This is a small haunt and would work great into a night of haunt hopping, especially with Castle Dark in the same town.
http://www.humanroasthouse.com/index.html

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride (Los Angeles): Mostly-known as an East Coast tradition, hayrides are growing in popularity across the country and one can now be found in the shadow of the Hollywood sign at the old Griffith Park Zoo.  A 25 minute hayride, a scare maze and and an old fashioned Side Show called the Human Menagerie make this a small event that got big word of mouth over the last couple of years.  Tip: The location can make it a bit of a Hollywood hot spot from time to time so if you happened to see some celebs, remember they are people to just trying to get their scare on!
http://losangeleshauntedhayride.com

Ghost Ship (Newport Beach): This is a haunt of a different color of blood.  Created by the crew behind the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride this event is only open six days over the season and only available three times a day.  It is a multi deck ship that embarks on a 75 minute voyage into dark terror at sea. Space is limited as well as voyages and if you buy your $60 ticket make sure you aren’t late, you might miss the boat!  Tip: Dramamine and alcohol don’t always mix.
http://www.ghostship.com/

The Legend of Boot Hill (Irvine): With a dozen years under their gun belt this home haunt brings people from all over the Southland to this ever growing and popular homestead where the Old West isn’t dead, but it sure looks undead.  Run by folks who have been around the haunt industry for quite a spell, this ain’t a greenhorn production.  Tip: The haunt is free but they take donations for Children’s Hospital of Orange County, so get a good scare and support a good cause!
http://www.inprogressproductions.com/boothill.html

Nightmare, A Haunted Attraction at Fairplex (Pomona): The name kind of says it all except that there are five mazes including Wicked Wild West and The Amazing Oloff and His Circus Freaks.  Very reasonably priced this is definitely worth a trip to Pomona!
.http://www.fairplex.com/fp/events/nightmare/mazes.html

Horror Valley High School (Santa Clarita): Put on by volunteers at Golden Valley High School this is actually an older haunt that has been moved and re-themed to “Terrors In Time.”  Years of professional haunt design experience is combined with the fresh excitement of new volunteer scare actors so this should prove to be an exciting terror trip.  Tip: Discount tickets are available at the Santa Clarita Jack In The Box though all proceeds go to school programs.
http://www.horrorvalleyhighschool.com/index.html

Halloween Harvest Festival at Pierce College (Woodland Hills): The name doesn’t exactly fill the heart with dread but they are known for having a couple good mazes every year and with Factory of Nightmares Haunted House and Creatures of the Corn Haunted Trail this year promises to mix a bit of family fun with some decent scare.
http://frightfair.com

The House On Haunted Hill: One of the legends of Los Angeles when it comes to home haunts is The House On Haunted Hill.  Using many of the same special effects utilized in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion with the same voice actor who does Disney’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” overlay and a soundtrack made by the composer of the opening for “House” this is a theme park production done in a home haunt setting complete with a story.  Tip: Parking can be difficult so plan on getting there early to get a good spot and the street up the hill is often blocked off so have your walking shoes on!
http://www.houseathauntedhill.com

Old Town Haunt (Pasadena): The oldest building in old town Pasadena, it has a creepy history before you add on the Halloween haunt attractions.  Go for the truely spooky atmosphere and stay for the hard working scare actors.  Who knows maybe the next thing you see moving in the dark might not be a scare actor…  Tip: It never hurts to get a little knowledge with your haunt experience, and you never know what might happen in this building.
http://www.oldtownhaunt.com

Boney Island (Sherman Oaks): If Tim Burton decided to do a home haunt based entirely around skeletons it would probably look something like this.  After disappearing off the map it seems to have made it’s way back in 2011 for a family fun haunt loaded with odd animatronics!  Tucked in Studio City it is in an excellent location in case you have taken your kids out for a day at some of the big parks’ scare free outings and need to figure out what to do with them when the sun goes down!
http://www.boneyisland.com

Reign Of Terror (Thousand Oaks): With The Haunted House, The Asylum, and Blood Manor this attraction makes a trip up the 101 to Thousand Oaks worth it.  Reasonablly priced, raved about in reviews and a great part of a haunt trip north!  Tip: Front of the Line Passes are always a good plan and you can take the kids through for a Lights On Tour for $5 which includes the parents for free, a good way to initiate the border aged kids to the wonders of a haunt.
http://rothauntedhouse.com

Fear Gates (Oxnard): Ok when you have been running around haunt attractions longer than a lot of the actors have been out of diapers you see that though good it is very seldom that a haunt breaks into really new realms because they tend to go for the common scare demoniators.  This haunt has The Ripper here asking for a special stop in Oxnard which was Creepy Elly’s old stomping ground.  The Coffin Ride, the nation’s only ‘Double Wide Simulated Coffin Ride.’  I would describe it to you, but I think you should make the trip too.  Tip: If you find yourself in Ventura County seek out Corales Mexican Food.  Your stomach will thank you.
http://www.fearsgate.com

Central California:

The Grove: Formally known as Hobb’s Grove, the owners had a falling out and part of them decided to carry on the haunt tradition with The Grove.  With their haunted house, haunted forest and haunted hayride there is a lot of fright to be had and a safe-zone midway if you find your heart is racing a bit too fast.  Located in Fresno County it is a bit of a drive but has been a haunt institution since 1999.  Tip: Short shows are shown in the Theatre Macabre and those who brave it on opening night get a chance to win a t-shirt (the design is amazing, I want one!)
http://www.thegrovehaunt.com/thegrovehaunt.com/The_Grove.html

Raven’s Gate: Another well known haunt amongst the community this haunt located out near The Grove is doing something a little different this year.  The attration is based around the “death” of a member of the haunt family, Zylo Hobb (aka Hobb’s Grove) who took the wretched out to his Grove every year to be amongst their own.  Zylo’s death is attributed to a lynch mob and so the Raven family is out for revenge!  With Raven’s Grove and a haunted hayride to pick their victims… err guilty from they are sure to make lynch mobs think twice!  Tip: If you go to Raven’s Gate first and pay normal price you get $5 off The Fear Factory.  If you got to the Fear Factory first you get a “fast pass” for Raven’s Gate.  Add to this that The Grove and Raven’s Gate have an interlocking storyline and you have a haunt trifecta in the Fresno area!
http://www.theravensgate.com/html/tickets.html

The Fear Factory: Another haunt favorite located outside of Fresno, this one tells the story of a small mental hospital where slowly the patients drove the doctors and nurses mad so that soon there was no sanity left in the hospital allowing depravity and cannibalism to run wild!  The authorities shut it down and locked it up until now give you a chance to look into the insanity.  Tip: As mentioned above there are deals to be had by multiplying your night’s terror!
http://www.thefearfactoryhauntedhouse.com

The Chamber: Located in Bakersfield, folks in the Fresno area who just can’t get enough haunt often make the trek down here to the point that is almost a haunt mecca.  Very professionally done for a small haunt, The Chamber offers two attractions this year, one in 3D!  If you find yourself travelling to central California during the haunt season this is always a must hit.  Tip: there is an online coupon available for every weekend except Halloween and be sure to check out their website, if you were unsure before this may sway you towards the trip!
http://www.chamberhaunt.com/index.html

Northern California:

Pirates of Emerson: Originally a small haunt started by a few pirate enthusiasts this haunt keeps growing so much that they moved to a larger location last year.  Now celebrating 20 years they have such attractions as Habitat Of Hags, Doll Hostel, Mental Maze and one of their first: Pirates Of Emerson.  They also have a miday as well as animatronic and just plain animated characters wandering about the grounds.  Tip: Ask to see the ship fire and get the front of the line pass otherwise the lines get too long to do it all in one night.  Also the crew is very unfriendly towards cameras.
http://piratesofemerson.com

Great America’s Halloween Haunt: This great theme park has just started holding it’s Haunt recently and those who visit haunts at other Cedar Faire Parks such as Knott’s will notice some similarities in props but beyond that the scare actors make this haunt all their own.  With six mazes and three scare zones as well as excellent shows (particularly the hypnotist and the freak show) this park is a great choice to hit and will probably have you coming back for more! Tip: If you can afford it the Gold and Platnium annual passes not only get you in daily they also get you in to their haunt and any Cedar Faire park during regular operating days!  It pays for itself within a few uses.  Unless the Boofet has changed I would recommend eating somewhere else first.
http://haunt.cagreatamerica.com

Winchester Mystery House Fright Nights: Always intriguing and well… mysterious, the Winchester Mystery House is an interesting place to visit any day or even more fascinateing during their flashlight tours.  This year they have decided to add a new event, “The Curse of Sarah Winchester Maze.”  Guests find themselves traveling through the Corn Field of Winchester Mystery House into the family Graveyard and finally coming to the infamous Seance Room.  The people at Winchester hired some of the best maze and haunt professionals from all over California to build the elaborate maze and have the most outstanding soundtrack.  This is one of the most anticipated new haunted attractions of the year and I would not be surprised if word of mouth and ink of press makes it even larger next year. Tip: You can get a combo ticket for the maze and flashlight tour of the house itsself on some nights.
http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/frightnights.cfm

 

Outside CA:

Orlando, Florida: Halloween Horror Nights, Orlando: Disputably the best haunt in the country (fighting Knott’s and their sister Universal Hollywood) but indisputably the best haunt on the East Coast this haunt has little competition back East and draws tons of visitors and revenue allowing them to up the ante and try to outdo themselves every year.  They have been doing it for 21 years and they have their system down and since they are not an actual working movie studio they get around a lot of union labor issues.  The result is an amazing haunt which seldom repeats it’s theme and has lots of mazes, excellent theming and great scare zones.  I honestly would love to see what Mr. Murdy could do with their budget and without the union restrictions, the friendly competition between the two parks would really heat up.  This is definitely one of the best haunts and if you have the opportunity the perfect haunt season is hitting the theme park haunts in Los Angeles then travel to Orlando and hit the Harry Potter ride, drink some frozen butter beer and hit HHN Orlando.  We did it last year and it was haunt Nirvana.  On the West Coast there are so many haunted possibilities, on the East Coast there are some great haunts but HHN is king.
http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando

Salt Lake, Utah: One of the few haunts which has a permanent location so it allows for building and rearranging throught the year, Nightmare on 13th is a legend among haunts with its year around castle facade and huge collection of animatronics to compliment it’s live actors.  If the name sounds familiar just about every network including the Discovery Channel and CNN had covered it’s work and it’s season had been the subject of articles in such papers as USA Today.  I have wanted to make the trip across the desert for years, especially after watching coverage of them, but Nevada is a pretty wide state and October only has so many days. Tip: Get a free VIP pass upgrade by buying your tickets online, $10 savings per ticket!
http://www.nightmareon13th.com

Reno, NV:  Reno is not necessarily one of the top places people would look for haunt entertainment but due to incredibly high unemployment entertainment professionals have had to find other lines of work.  The result is some amazingly good haunt attractions being created by some incredibly talented people.

Slaughterhouse is celebrating 5 years of terrifying northern Nevadans and is worth a trip from northern California.  Using the illusions of it’s professional magician designer and the energy of a whole bunch of excited scare actors this maze is both spooky and electric with energy.  Visitors often go through and then get right back in line.  Having seen many, many smaller haunts over the years this is one of the bests.  Tip: Bringing a canned good can save you $2 off admission, on sundays they have a noon kid’s safe haunt for $6 and front of the line passes start at $20. 

Frightmare is a returning attraction in Reno designed by a couple of long time professionals in the industry and is themed with Evil Clown Town, Rikers Island Prison and Black Hole.  Partial proceeds go to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Truckee Meadows.  Tip: None yet, let us check it out first 😉
http://www.sparksfrightfest.com
http://frightmare2011.com/index.php

Carson City, NV: Celebrating several years of haunting the state capitol, Grimes Castle utilizes excellent animatronics and the music of famous gothic musicians Midnight Syndicate combined with scare actors that terrorize you through the castle and dungeon below it. Tip: Close enough to Reno to hit the haunt attractions in both towns for a wonderfully terrifying night!
http://www.grimescastle.com

2011 Eyegore Awards Red Carpet Report

2011/10/01
Ripper71
Articles, Halloween, News

If you are not a serious fan of horror movies and your answer to “What’s your favorite scary movie?” is “Ghostbusters”, you may not have heard about the annual awards ceremony for those who cut a path through a path full of cutting and blood. If your tastes tend more toward “Psycho” than reality shows about New Jersey, then you probably know about the Eyegore Awards presented every year on the kick-off night of Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood, CA.

Honoring those who have made an impact in the horror genre, this year recipients included David Arquette and Jamie Kennedy of “Scream” fame, Rainn Wilson for his work in Rob Zombie’s “House of 1,000 Corpses”,”Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark” star Bailee Madison, “Final Destination 5” actress Emma Bell and legendary rocker Alice Cooper. Hosted by Corey Feldman, the award presenters included Alice Cooper’s daughter Calico, Mary Elizabeth Winstead from the upcoming prequel “The Thing,” Eyegore recipient Rob Zombie, “Frozen” director Adam Green, “Dawn of the Dead” writer James Gunn, actor Thomas Jane and Brian Gott, publisher of Variety.

Highlights of the awards included the strangely-adult grace of Bailee Madison and the comic styling of Rainn Wilson (from “the Office” and “Fishboy” in “House of 1,000 Corpses”) who was having a blast with the crowd and Jamie Kennedy whose onstage antics had the audience laughing. The evening was wrapped up with Halloween Horror Night’s Creative Director John Murdy and the upcoming “The Thing”‘s Mary Elizabeth Winstead presenting Brent Bokovoy with the 2011 “Halloween Horror Nights” Short Film Competition for his entry “Monster In My Swimming Pool” which netted him $1,000 and broadcasts of his work on Chiller and syfy.com.

But, as with many awards presentations, many of the highlights took place on the red carpet where masters of the horror community can just relax and be horror fans, talking with bystanders and members of the invited press.

Photos from the red carpet:

Photo Credits: Is It October Yet?

Diablo III Beta First Impressions (Preview)

2011/09/15
Ripper71
News, Previews
1 Comment

I was one of the lucky folks who was able to get to go to last year’s BlizzCon and see the information about Diablo III beginning to seep out.  Goosebumps shot across my flesh as I got to see the video on the giant screen of the new class: Demon Hunter.  Now fast forward to almost a year later and I am sitting at my home computer firing up the beta test.  I was surprised when word went around that there was no NDA on the game anymore but after a bit of play I got the point.  Having beta tested many games I have seen what a beta looks and behaves like and this game is more of an elongated demo.  Is that a bad thing?  Nope!  I would have been more than happy to help test environments and collision issues but this very polished game gives a good idea of what we can expect when the game comes out.  It was just enough of a taste to keep a person playing it over and over to see how the experience changes, even after hitting the level cap.

The game is incredible looking with excellent animations and rich environments.  Periodically I stopped and just looked at how nice thing were and how clean and crisp every single aspect of the game is.  It is a polished look that even in this demo mode looks better than a lot of games out there.  It was also nice seeing “the seed” system at work.  Every time you play when you walk through an area or into a dungeon there are a bunch of possibilities that can happen at the location, the spot has a seed for an event or dungeon to grow from and it will randomly do that.  This system with the seeds planted all over the game means the game should in theory never be the same twice, only the storyline will remain the same.

The storyline is already going along nicely to the point in the game it lets you go to.  Without spoiling it, familiar names make themselves known in this game that is a real treat if, like me, you played the last game for years online while at the same time being a fun play for new entries to the series.  This isn’t a surprise since a lot of the interface for the new game was borrowed from World of Warcraft to allow new players just there for the hack and slash or trying to get into the system for the first time can have some familiar controls.  Just about every change that is made in the gameplay is towards the WoW format with one odd exception which I am not sure how much I like.  In both WoW and Diablo II players had a bank/chest in which to store their favorite items or items they want to pass onto another character.  In the case of Diablo III the chest is shared between all of your characters which means no logging in and out to pass items from one character to another but limits the amount of storage you have.  More storage can be purchased with in game money but it isn’t cheap.

There are new character classes as well as a revamp of the old ones and in the current demo game they are all very over powered, my guess is so that players can experience the game without a lot of deaths getting in their way.  I talked to players who took magic classes and meleed with them doing massive amounts of damage, in some cases more than the melee classes themselves.  As I mentioned though it is probably so that you can experience all the classes and skills the game has to offer.  One of the skills that will be more familiar to WoW players is armor crafting which, until a player is able to start finding legendary gear for themselves, is a really good way to start getting decent and more class efficient armor.

Last Call:

This demo is definitely too polished to feel like the beta it is presented as, but is a terrific way to get a feeling for what we can expect in the future.  This game will feel a lot like Diablo II with a more WoW style interface that combined with its own innovations should make it a huge hit with a wide variety of players.  I look forward to the next piece of the game!

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine Review (OnLive/PC)

2011/09/15
Ripper71
News, Reviews

Anyone who knows anything about the Warhammer world knows that the Ultramarines are the near immortal destroyers of Chaos.  When things get too nasty and platoons are getting wiped out you call in a handful of Space Marines and watch them even the odds or overpower the enemy.  So the idea of getting to play ultimate bad asses is exciting and has had me counting the days to release since I saw it at E3.  The only problem I saw offhand was how do you balance a near-unkillable killing machine and make it a challenge worth playing?

Before getting into the details of gameplay I have to write a bit about the beauty of the game itself.  The cinematics and actual gameplay have the same amazing detail, which creates wonderfully-seamless transitions back and forth between them.  When you add the fact I was playing it via OnLive so I could play with high detail it was almost like playing a movie that I controlled while having no tearing or lag issues.  The gore factor isn’t very high but there is even a certain flow to the blood splatters that not only implies great bodily devastation, but that the Ultramarines are artists when it comes to killing.  When Fury or Execution comes into play the slow motion kills again take on a beauty all their own and show the awesome power of the Space Marine.  The music is great and fits the action and backs the battle force that is tearing through the game.  Part of me wanted this to be a first person game rather than a third person, but watching Titus move and blood splattering his armor you find yourself just removed enough to root for him.  Also when using a scoped weapon you get a bit of first person play so it is the best of both worlds.

Gameplay-wise Warhammer 40k: Space Marine controls are pretty straight forward for the PC: WASD, weapons assigned to the numbers, and lots of mouse clicking.  That doesn’t mean the game is just a charge in button mashfest.  The Ultramarine is very, very tough but if you charge into battle without strategy and proper weapon choice you will find yourself dying time and time again.  Usually there is a weapons cache right before hitting a particularly rough sections allowing you to decide what would be the best way to approach each enemy onslaught.  Sometimes you had to learn this the hard way, by dying and revisiting the cache for a change up.  Another way of amping up the difficulty, and therefore increasing your need for strategy, is for you to face a difficult boss, then when you face the next boss he has two minions of the previous boss.  The weapons, shield strengths and health recovery increase for you Ultramarine as the game progresses giving you the tools to take down the new enemy challenges though it is still a game of strategy for weapon, technique and fight location.

To mix up the fighting style a bit there are a few times during the game that you get a jump pack and a mighty hammer and over the top killing really kicks in!  I almost didn’t want these sections to end though I know that after a while it would get boring from being too easy but while jumping and destroying I felt the true power of the Space Marine as all in his path was smote.  I would welcome an even larger section of jump pack usage in the next game because I just couldn’t get enough of it.  There is another change of fighting style that you can expect that I won’t spoil but is is fun and challenging in it’s own way.

Players can decide for themselves how much they want to commit to the storyline, cutscenes can be skipped and the collectable item in the game is a skull with a recording to push the storyline that can also be skipped.  Personally I highly recommend following the storyline, it is really well written and unfolds nicely to an ending I won’t ruin but definitely surprised me.  The gameplay is long enough that you begin to invest in the characters if you follow the story so when the ending is less Hollywood than the average game I was caught off-guard and really pleased.

Last Call:

If it hasn’t already come through I loved the game, I got caught up in it, lost hours of time and did the “just one more checkpoint” thing when it was time for me to do something not game related.  The developers managed to make a great, strong lead character that grows stronger to match the threat against him yet at the same time has a very humane sense to him, especially for a character that kills thousands of enemies over the course of the game.  If you just want to play the game to hack and slash that can be easily done, or if you just love finishing achievements that can be there for you too and worth your time.  I recommend taking the time to follow the story, invest in the game and get a very rich experience out of it.

Men of War: Vietnam Review (PC)

2011/09/12
Ripper71
News, Reviews
1 Comment

I’ll be the first to admit it, with my love of strategy games I am kind of surprised I missed the original Men Of War.  The game had everything that fit me, hard as a Drill Sargent but addictive fun gameplay.  So when I got the chance to give Men Of War: Vietnam a play I was excited not only to try out the franchise but also see if the sequel lived up to the franchise name.

Set in Vietnam MOW:V takes a slightly different approach than most war games by first having the gamer play from the point of view of who is traditionally from our standpoint considered the enemy.  The first campaign that unlocks is from the point of view of Russian special forces training North Vietnamese on how to fight the South Vietnamese and their allies, the Americans.  Now this isn’t the first game where you play “the enemy” but the game tries to be very historically accurate and so shows us losing a war.  Onlookers watching me play the game found it a bit disturbing to watch me overrun heavily fortified American bases during the Tet Offensive, one of the most famous North Vietnamese attacks and pushes of the war.  Having studied the Vietnam War extensively it was very interesting to be playing from a point of view I had very little knowledge of, especially the Russian involvement and time spent in Cambodia.  Any historic war gamer out there who really tries to have a better understanding of this war should play this game to get a fresh perspective.  I will get into the gameplay I promise, but the perspective in the game is a key draw, and I think worth playing the game for alone.

The story is mostly told in diary entries between the missions or in briefings with voice-overs.  The voice acting is excellent, which I guess is a bit of an improvement over the first which was known for the opposite, particularly the voice acting of the Russians which followed their speech pattern when speaking English very well.  When you are successful in a mission you get a historically accurate summary of that period of the war and how that particular mission would play into it.  The story is written really well to allow gameplay to be fluid and each decision made to be your own but for the final outcome to follow historical events.  Gamers who don’t care about history can skip over these cut scenes and still be able to play the strategic aspects of the game without problem, but I have to say that is missing out on a very big part of the game.

Graphically Men Of War: Vietnam does something I very seldom see in games, the cutscenes aren’t as crisp and detailed as the play sections.  The detail given to every tree, bush, uniform, expression on character’s faces are very deep and sometimes makes you feel like you are playing an animated movie rather than a game.  You can have a top look down on the action or you can swing your camera down behind a troop or follow bullet path toward a target all very smoothly making it so that once you put events into motion you could watch them like a movie where you pick the views and angles you want to see it from.  The camera movement is one of my only with the game as well, because though you can do nice sweeping movements around the field sometimes just looking more up or down can  be difficult and you find yourself backing out to get a view of something that is right above your screen’s eye view.

Controlling the troops is very standard strategic movement style where you move your mouse over an area and move all of them or select one particular unit and move just that one.  You can decide how they move and what position they hold by clicking on standing, kneeling or prone which each have their own advantage in both movement and combat.  One interesting thing about movement is when you pick a location to move to the game will give you suggestions on deployment, so if you move behind a rock it might suggest a couple standing while others kneel and maybe some go prone and with a click of the mouse when they arrive at that position they will take up those stances.  This can be very, very handy when you are deploying into a hot zone with limited cover and the need to immediately go on the offensive.  You also have the ability to search corpses, crates and around on the ground for supplies and weapons upgrades with each unit having specific talents and so you pass weapons around until you find the unit that can use it best.  You may have two machine gun experts and one is better with the a grease gun while another is better with the M60.  The game takes great pains to make sure that the weapons are accurately represented both by how they look and by their specs such as clip load.  That is just a word that comes up more and more when discussing this game: accurate.  They want the game to be strategically fun but as historically accurate right down to a grenade’s damage radius as possible.  Controlling the troops is the only other area of concern I had with the game, sometimes when you would pick a unit and order it to fire a grenade launcher for example,  it might change weapons on you and start unloading with a machine gun.  Or you may order a unit to toss a grenade in a bunker and instead the unit will run into the bunker and stand right where you wanted the grenade, which usually happens to be right in the middle of a bunch of enemy units, not the best place to hang out.  I imagine a patch could fix this (or it might get fixed by release date even) so it doesn’t necessarily prove to be a huge problem, in some ways it can kind of be comical as long as you saved as you went.

This brings up a really important aspect, save often.  I may have saved too often, but I got in the habit of saving after every kill or before any major planned engagement.  The reason is this game is tough, probably as tough as the original and though there are only technically 5 missions per campaign additional objectives are added constantly and there are very, very few spots where you get reinforcements.  So if you go into a mission and lose one of your four guys while fighting off 18 enemies, you are only going to have three guys the whole rest of the mission and the number of enemies are only going to increase as well as the challenges on approaching them.  Considering each of your units has it’s own specialty both with weapon and use in deployment you might find that dead fella is exactly what you need on the 10th objective of the mission.  The game is hard and challenging but not impossible which makes it very addictive play.  You try an approach to a situation, it fails, you think of another, load the last save point and give it a run.  You have to have the strategist’s endurance to play this game, a single mission may take hours when all the objectives and side objectives and failures happen but if you have that puzzling kind of mind this game is excellent.

There are also vehicles that can be played, each one has it’s own benefits and shortcomings, but I will let you discover that for yourself since honestly discovery in this type of game is second only to strategy and all I have done in this article is tell you how things are not how to get them done.

Last Call:

This game is a top-notch, difficult as heck strategy game which combines beautiful graphics with historic gameplay and accuracy.  It gives you a point of view on a war that we seldom get and provides challenges at every turn.  If you like this kind of game and have the patience to try different strategies over and over until you make it work then this is a great game for you.  Just.  Save.  Often!  Time for me to go pick up the first game.

GameSpot and OnLive Partner for Content Sharing

2011/08/31
Ripper71
News

GameSpot announced it is giving players the ability to instantly demo games directly from a GameSpot review, resulting in a try-before-you-buy experience.  Powered by OnLive, the on-demand, instant-play demos give gamers access to over 100 games and are playable within seconds, merging the process of learning about a game with the experience of actually playing it.  In addition, GameSpot video content such as game reviews and in-depth interviews will be included in the OnLive platform, providing OnLive users with a trusted point of view as they go through their own discovery process. The enhancements are part of OnLive’s continuing efforts to provide players with an advanced gaming platform seamlessly integrated into their overall gaming experience.

“For as long as video games have existed, consumers have sought out information that helps them make smart purchases and get the most out of their gaming experience,” said Simon Whitcombe, Vice President, Games, CBS Interactive. “Now, the next big innovation is here: merging the editorial with the experiential. By making demos available from our review pages, GameSpot is now the ultimate one-stop destination for gamers to read reviews, news, watch videos, and actually try out the latest games.”

“By integrating OnLive-powered instant game demos, GameSpot has deepened its user experience and further distinguished itself as a premiere gaming destination,” said OnLive Vice President of Games John Spinale. “We streamline the process of sampling a game, making it an integral part of discovery and evaluation by the GameSpot reader—not a disjointed one that forces the customer to go down to the store or wait several hours for something to download to their hard drive.”

OnLive game demos are available now on GameSpot instantly, without any downloads or credit card data.

Free OnLive Consoles At PAX

2011/08/26
Ripper71
Articles, News, PAX

So anyone who has read a review of a game on OnLive or the review of the system itself knows that I am a pretty big fan of them and I tend to particularly suggest getting involved with the system at this time while they are still relatively small and working on not just advertising on places such as YouTube but using word of mouth as much as possible by getting free consoles out to the players.  A lot of their new titles have come with the consoles for free giving you PC and console play from one game purchase.  Well now they have upped the ante.

Attendees of PAX can follow this link to OnLive and signup for an account then just stop by their booth at PAX and get a free console.  They are giving thousands of them though you will probably want to get there as soon as possible, at conventions and expos thousands of anything go quick.  If you sign up today they are selling Borderlands GOTY for $5 with all the DLC packs included so that if you are going to PAX you can sign up, try a game for $5 while being able to demo over 100 other games and if you like it at all you can pick up the console at PAX and play on your PC and console.

The consoles retail for $100 so getting one free while they are relatively unknown is a great deal.  After PAX I imagine word of mouth and review is going to start blowing up for the system, if you have any doubts Time Magazine voted them one of the top 50 Best Websites Of 2011.  Word is getting out so the time to get in is now.

OnLive Gaming System Review (PC/Console)

2011/08/14
Ripper71
News, Reviews

How E3 Made Me A (Near) Believer

I heard about Onlive Gaming before E3 2011 and honestly it sounded too good to be true.  I read reviews, none very recent, thoroughly read the press releases and website and went to E3 with plans on checking it out.  Well by sheer luck my editor assigned me them as my first visit of the day so while in the press room making last minute notes I saw they had a demo booth hooked up in there and so I figured I would double check a few facts and get some hands on before my interview.  I had just played some Borderlands GOTY two days before so I decided that would be the game for me and instantly I was blown away.  I thought there must be some kind of trick going on, the response time was better than my XBLA game, I had almost zero lag, and I was in a multiplayer environment.  I blasted the poor booth techies with my facts to double check them all while tearing through the same game from a couple days before constantly comparing them in my mind.  Amazed I went and joined the throngs of people crowding the entrance to the halls who were steamy, hot, and a few already on the ripe side.  By the time I got to the main OnLive E3 booth I was dehydrated, wearing other people’s sweat and realized for the rest of the show I was going to need to always bring a towel (I had forgotten my Hitchhiker lore).  I was greeted quickly and run upstairs to the VIP area where they promised to get me water and sat me down with Bruce Grove, Director of Strategic Relations.  The interview and E3 experience can be found here so I won’t repeat the details except to say I drove our review team nuts with news of them, went back regularly to try it some more and get progress reports and basically when I wasn’t supposed to be somewhere else I could be found there.  I had only one problem, I needed to know how it truly performed in a home environment.  They surprised me by not only giving me a glimpse of the system at home, but giving me terrific access to both the PC and console versions so I could truly become a believer.

A Very Cloudy Future

“Cloud Gaming” is a fairly new term in the gaming industry but has actually been around in the online community for longer than most would realize.  Those of you out there that stream Netflix might remember that when the streaming first started you had some pretty poor picture quality a lot of the time and even had buffering issues.  I remember going to watch “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” back in those days and being unable to stomach getting through the opening cartoon without a ton of frustration and giving up.  Then, at some point I wasn’t aware of, Netflix joined a few other companies on Amazon’s Cloud Service and Amazon’s stock rose while Netflix streaming went from barely watchable to incredible and soon a staple in many households.  If Netflix is ever blamed for the fall of video stores it will be this one move that did it.  There are articles on how some cloud computing is done and if you are very techie you might want to search for them.  In the end there are different ways of doing it, but video games had the hardest path to overcome.  Let’s face it if you go to start a movie on Netflix and then pause it and there is a bit of delay on how long it takes you really won’t care.  If you are in a game with 31 other players and 16 of them want to kill you your reflexes and game response time is crucial in keeping you alive.  Too much lag and you will eventually give up in frustration.  Here’s a chart showing what a cloud video game system has to go through:

Now of course the “broadband internet” is a very simplified way to describe a proprietary multi-step system which had to be developed from scratch to make this possible but the general principal of cloud gaming is here.  You make a move on your PC, Mac, console, iPad or soon the Android and that movement has to be sent to an Onlive Hub location, performed in the game playing at that location then the information transmitted back, all in fractions of a second.  Ten years ago people were saying video streaming at such a capacity was impossible then Netflix and Amazon proved them wrong and while they were in that process Onlive started 9 years ago to develop this system.  As recently as a year ago it was still suffering from some buggy issues and there was a question on whether or not it would make a successful leap to the iPad, tablet systems and smart phones.  Then literally during E3 they made a huge breakthrough and the booth was full of palpable excitement and I got to chat with such wonderful folks as Jane Anderson and have a great time with Joe Bentley (VP of Engineering) as he told me some really cool stories leading up to that moment.  They were solidly on tablets, and the walls of the booth were soon lined with all forms of them, as well as a dozen other demo stations all showing play from which in and of itself showed the technology off because it wasn’t being all run on site, it was being run in Santa Clara, California.  I tried different systems and devices and while they were all amazing,  home was where the excitement really took off for me.

OnLive On The PC

First I will start with the system requirements: your computer must be able to play video and have internet access.  That’s all.  You don’t need to meet a game’s minimum system requirements because you are not playing the game on your system.  You are just hitting buttons to tell the server what move to make and then the server is sending back video of the game from the server.  In essence you are playing the game by remote control and the only big limitation would be your internet speed.  I have a decent internet speed so I have never had a problem in my house.  I went somewhere where the internet was weak and tested it and got some tearing and the slightest lag but the games were still playable.  Admittedly if you have a system that can display video nicer you are going to have a much more rich picture, but that would be the case with any game.

The game system starts you off with this home page which really is an excellent setup though there is another interface available with turning pages by hitting Escape.  But this presentation nicely sets up a point and click path to checking out the system.  If you are new it is a good idea to go to the profile and set it up the way you may want it.  This is available for others to see unless you set it as private and is a solid way to make new friends and to check for common interests in gameplay.  It lets you tell others and know if others are Hardcore or Occasional gamers, your Motto and how long you have been with OnLive.  You can also cruise their friends to see if you have mutual ones or they are friends with people you don’t like and most importantly it allows the viewing of Brag Clips they have posted. Brag Clips are a 10 second clip of something they did in game which they thought was awesome or funny.  You can also see what games they have in case you want to invite them into one you are playing.  This is not stuff which is only available on this system but the fact that it is all nice and neat on one page is a big bonus.

Another way to check out what others are playing is the Arena.  This also shows off OnLive’s amazing system time.  You can watch dozens of games on little screens, mousing over them to see what games are being played and who the player is and that way you get an idea on what games are hot right now and how full games are.  Sometimes you can see multiple players in the same game hunting each other which can be a lot of fun.  You can also see if people have been saying they are playing good (cheers) or horrible (jeers) which gives you an idea, though possibly skewed, of how good the player is and how much of an aid they would be to your team.  It also tells you if anyone else is watching the game in “Spectator Mode.”

This mode allows you to actually go in the game and follow the player’s action around as if you are actually the player.  It is a great way to get an idea if a game is for you, how good the player is and what kind of player they are.  This is really nice in case you are planning to buy and individual game instead of going through the PlayPack Bundle (I’ll get into that more later).  If you like what you see you can click on the game and if you already own it it will launch you right in, if you still need to buy it it will open a Marketplace screen, that simple.

Playing On The PC

The controls are standard for the game and most are pretty standard for most games with WASD and the three mouse buttons.  There are often weapon trade outs for the FPS games at the number locations but otherwise playing the game is just like playing the game on your computer, just without taking up the hard drive space.

Playing On The Console

The console is tiny, a little bigger than a deck of cards and fairly lightweight.  It comes with one controller which can be wireless through charger pack or battery pack or hardwired into one of two ports.  The console is also compatible with Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows, Logitech Chill Stream, Logitech F510, Satie P3200 Rumble Pad, and Mad Cats Gamepad in case you want to go a different route for additional controllers, though this controller is not only set up for play but for recording and playing with brag clips so you probably want at least one of these in play.  The console supports four controllers so you aren’t losing out on buddy playtime by using it.  What at first is so remarkable is how simple the setup is and how small the box is but when you think about it this doesn’t have to hold a game or handle great graphics, it just needs to transmit your moves and receive video, though when it comes to receiving video it is capable of not just HD but 3D once the price of those TVs becomes affordable to you.

The image above gives you a pretty good idea of how big it is, look at a USB cable or plugin, this system is only about 4 of them across.  This also makes it insanely portable.  I recently took a trip and decided to travel with the whole thing in it’s original box and in box presentation.  The box is smaller than a shoe box and stores easily in a carry-on with tons of room to spare.  If you took the system out of it’s presentation case it would easily fit into a small makeup bag.  The cables come down to power, internet and video out so there aren’t many and they almost take up as much room as a controller and they system.  The cool thing is if you are going to a buddy’s house to play and they have one of the controllers and a hdmi cable you could literally fit this stuff in your pockets.  The rechargeable controller charges in the USB port making the system even more self sufficient.

What probably worried me the most after playing the games so much on the PC was if the games would feel like a port when played on the console.  It didn’t. Once you got used to the controls, which were very similiar to the XBox 360, you were away and flying forgetting you started playing it on a PC.  I played a while on the PC then sat down in front of the television, picked up the same game at the last saved place and went right into the fight.  This game is really designed to be playable anywhere with a good internet connection.  I don’t own an iPad but it has definitely been put on my Christmas List so I have one more way to play.

Cost and Ownership

Cost gets knocked out of the park pretty quick simply because they have a pack right now called the PlayPack Bundle which allows you to play 70 different games and they are regularly adding more for $9.99 a month.  You can pick up additional new titles, some that have additional add-ons, some which come with the $100 console for a competitive price (Saints Row: The Third comes with add-on items and the console at time of this publication for $49.99).  It is when it comes to ownership that people get nervous.  It has been brought up to me a few times that what if OnLive goes under, they will lose their games.  That is a fair worry, since none of the games are on your equipment and they do have competition in the PC market with Steam. The best way I think of it is the company is expanding, they have an amazing business setup with big titles signed into contracts with them so that their future looks really bright, honestly I would love to get a job with them or even buy their stock.  I would buy a game that comes with the console and start the $10 a month service.  At that point you would be out about $60.  You have no contract and can quit anytime you like.  You can also do a free trial to make sure it and it’s games are for you.  For that initial $60 you will be able to play the game you bought for as long as you want (or for worriers for as long as they are around) and have access to over 70 other games with no play limit.  You can also rent new titles when they come up once you are a customer, especially if you are the kind of gamer that only plays through once and does it in a couple days.  Spending $5 might be the better way to go and you never have to worry about it being in stock or available, it is ready to play at the time the game launches without any loading discs.  I know I sound a bit like a salesman with this review but I am honestly trying to stay neutral in this, it is just that impressive of a system.  It is like being one of the first who heard of Netflix streaming being handled by Amazon clouding, it is looking into the future of gaming, maybe to the point that the game stores go the way of the video ones.

Final Thoughts

Some may say I have looked into the future of gaming, others may say I “drank the punch,” but whatever you think you can give it a free trial, if you like that fork out $10 for a month of service.  If you like that, buy one game that comes with a console for the same price you would pay competitively and try out the portability and space saving of the console.  I think in the end this review will prove prophetic for the future of gaming.  OnLive are the pioneers and they are heading into ever more amazing territory.  I plan to go along for that ride, I will give reviews of games through them for a long time and I will be able to play console, PC, laptop, tablet, smart phone and who knows what next and review them all on the same account.

 

Images

Spy Net Video Watches and Snake Cam Review (Hardware)

2011/08/05
Ripper71
News, Reviews

Jakks Pacific has been a regular at E3 for a while now, though they are fairly quietly showing their products so that their name hasn’t quite spread as fast as the technology in their toys should have carried it.  When I got a glimpse of some of their goods though I arranged with my editor to give their products a look like we had some in the past.  It’s one of those little companies that has put out higher quality consumer products in a child’s design so that instead of pretending to have James Bond toys kids could have the real thing at a reasonable price.  So I got the opportunity to have fun testing the Spy Net Secret Mission Video Watch, the Spy Net Multi-Media Night Vision Video Watch and Spy Net Flex Neck Snake Cam.

Spy Net Secret Mission Video Watch:

This watch would have been a dream come true growing up and even as a grown adult my mind dances with possibilities.  The design looks a bit more like a kid’s design which is their primary market but they have made a band that is adjustable to all children’s sizes and large adult sizes as well.  There have been plenty of quality adult watches I have purchased over the years that didn’t fit or the face looked small.  As an adult it was around the right size for my wrist and the strap fit comfortably.  Before I get to the video aspect which is the main feature most people would buy this watch for I want to go over the tons of different features this watch has.  To start it has the time and date in a futuristic video screen but also can be changed to any time zone with the hit of a button.  You can also change the sound level (important) and the video level between low medium and high.  Once you have all this important but rather boring parts set it is time to have some fun.  Hit the Games Mode selection in the menu and you find your choice of Spy Net Defense or Spy Net Combat, two mini games built into the watch.  When you are done occupying your time with them you can move onto the amazing features which at first I thought might be a joke but upon testing turned out to be real: Spy Apps.  First comes the Lie Detector, in which you ask a bunch of base line questions and once a pattern is established you ask questions you want true answers to.  I found that it predicted my truth very accurately, when I lied it said there was a 90% chance I was lying and when I told the truth it gave me a 50%+ chance that I was telling the truth.  Now I have to go on record that I am a terrible liar, hideous really, and even the watch seemed to mock my abilities.  When I tested it on friends who were accomplished liars it was a little less predictable and explains while though this technology is fun, it isn’t perfect.  But heck we can always hope that our friends or children aren’t good enough liars to beat it right?

Bug Detector is the next trick on this watches list and it is one that works on a simple principle but people often pay good money for and this watch seems to work as accurately as the other models I have seen.  I would pass some rooms without any electronic transmitters and no bugs were detected.  Considering the unique nature of my former day job I would then walk into a room with microphone transmitters and the bug detector went off right away with a warning alarm.  Now admittedly the average person doesn’t have to worry about bugs but I do know that I have been in work places that were wired for video and audio surveillance so that private meeting locations to discuss sensitive issues could be hard to find and this watch could give some degree of comfort.  It probably wouldn’t detect a hardwired listening device (such as itself) but it is a little peace of mind.  As kids playing with it I imagine keying a toy walkie talkie and hiding it would work as a bug and become a game of hide and seek for the walkie in a yard or house.

Also under Spy Apps was Voice Manipulation which is a simple trick but a fun one, the SpyNet Voice Manipulator is even sold as a separate item by a couple different companies and can be a lot of fun.  To test it out I did a standard count in from a commercial break at my day job and recorded it.  I then ran it through the Voice Manipulator and then played it back for countdowns manipulated, the first time set to higher frequency.  My count time remained the same but my voice changed dramatically enough to not be recognizable by the crew.  After letting them know what I was up to my crew then listened to a deepened pitch of my voice, which is already deep and it sounded a bit like a slowed record playing of my voice but still difficult to recognize.  That application was popular with the crew, especially the ladies who had their voice changed almost to a man’s by the pitch change and a bit of change in their voice cadence.  How would kids use this?  They could pre-record things and call their friends and repeat them back with the voice changer or record a bunch of things and use them as answers to each others questions or quote famous movie lines and see how they sound in grown up male and female voices.

Now from the fun features of the watch to the reason people buy it, recording audio, still picture and video.  The Audio recording option is pretty straight forward and well done, the microphone is very sensitive and picks up both directional noise and environmental (omnidirectional).  It is a bit sensitive to contact which can be a little rough since it is in watch form but once you get the hang of it the microphone works really well in most situations and you learn to not keep it too close to your mouth so it doesn’t sound like you are… umm having cause for heavy breathing off camera.  So as audio goes the microphone is good and pretty standard.

Still Pictures is particularly good as well, even when the camera is in motion it has a very clean capture system that is quicker and more reliable than my cell phone which I found to be a bit of a surprise.  It also has a great light sensor that keeps the pics just right and the time lapse works perfectly and can be programmed to take at different times.  Examples will be included in the gallery at the bottom of the article.

Video quality can be decent and adjusted between low, medium and high quality for the balance between record time and video quality.  The hard drive could be a bit bigger and eventually I wouldn’t be surprised if a version with a larger drive comes out or they make it so that it takes micro SD cards to give more options.  For projects 20 minutes of recording can be kinda short but for kids that is pretty good, especially around the house where when the camera is full you can just plug it into a computer and download it and clean it off.  This also works well for if you are doing one of the missions and just need to download them too and the number of pictures you can save is very decent, up to 20,000 on the lower quality which is an amazingly large amount and will get you through just about any night and gives you a nice long time for time lapse as well.

Spy Net Multi-Media Night Vision Video Watch:

This is the upgrade to the previous video watch so most of what was covered above I will just skip over and go over the new goodies.  The games mode has the two games mentioned in the watch above plus 7 new ones as well as new missions that can be downloaded from SpyNetHQ.com.  The Spy mode has also been added to so that now it includes a sound level meter like they used in “Mission Impossible,” a flashlight, spy detector which scans images for enemies and image overlay which allows you to put select captions on images such as “Wanted” or a target.  There is also a section where you achieve awards and ranks for completing games and missions.

All this is a lot of fun but if you are upgrading to this watch odds are you are doing it for it’s key feature: night vision recording.  This works remarkably well and the camera is equipped with night vision lights (in the human eye visible range) and they can be shut off to just use the low level light available (which makes it more discreet).  The design is slightly less obvious as well that it has a camera and microphone than the previous watch and when you turn on the night vision lights they aren’t extremely obvious and seem to illuminate around 15′ in pure darkness.  This was actually better than I would have expected from such a small source.

Spy Net Flex Neck Snake Cam:

This is definitely a James Bond or maybe even SWAT Team type of electronic!  We have all seen in the movie the SWAT commander sticking the little camera under the door to see what is happening before they bust it in or they guy who is wired with a camera that goes through his shirt button hole.  This is the camera for those moments, this is also a web cam, a great cam for peeking around corners or over the back of furniture, sticking out a window while driving, basically it is a little camera that can be used in any place that would be hard to get a normal sized camera into.  This is great for kids playing hide and seek, spy games, heck I think this would be great for playing paint ball, you could peek around a corner and see your target and shoot them without them ever seeing you.  It is a very affordable addition to the watches, it plugs right into the side of them to give you a visual display of what it sees and the imagination is the limits on what you can do with it.  The lower half is standard cord and the upper half is bendable so you can bend it into whatever shape will work the best for you.  It makes an fairly inconspicuous watch camera completely inconspicuous.

Drawbacks:

The watches are designed to fit a very decent size wrist but it does kind of look a bit like a kid’s watch.  I wore it a couple of days without anybody commenting on it though until I went to check the time and the video screen came on.  This really nice feature also draws attention to the watch though and it’s brightness can distract people and make them wonder why it is so bright and what other bells and whistles it might have, especially in low lighted areas.  I kind of wish the video screen came with a cover that could be closed down on it to make it less noticeable during recording.  Spy Record mode helps, it makes it so that you are recording without the image being on the watch face, just the time with the dots between the hour and the minutes blinking red periodically to let you know it is recording.  But the screen is still really bright, wish there was a dimmer function.

The Snake Cam has both a drawback and a plus in the sense that the edges of it’s video screen are rounded visually so that it looks like you are looking through a hidden camera, which can be fun for playing spy but a little less fun for using the video as part of a source for a longer project.

Last Call:

I already have plans for the whole year mapped out for use with the video part of this camera, I plan to particularly use it during October visits to haunted attractions where I can record without an obtrusive camera and time lapse in scare zones to get a feel for how they run over a longer period of time.  I have even thought of getting new ones in case I need more record time in one evening.  The Snake Cam can be purchased for under $20 which is a great price if it was only ever used as a webcam let alone all its other uses.  Shopping around can get either of the watches in the neighborhood of $50 which when you consider all the features and fact that you have a video camera and webcam that is completely portable, tiny and fits in your pocket or on your wrist they are a great deal.  Since they are both about the same price some people may ask why go with the watch with less features but if you have a kid the more features it has the more confusing it can be so they may want the simpler watch.  I will try to post videos from haunts and such using the cameras so you can see just how effective they can be.  I have a couple of examples below of picture time lapse and videos and look forward to making more!

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