The Grudge on Nintendo Wii.

Formerly known as Feel, the newest Survival Horror game for the Wii is taken from the popular Japanese Horror, Ju-On (The Grudge).

The west has been waiting for Project Zero IV (Fatal Frame IV) for a while now and it looks like nothing is going to happen about it. Nintendo however have decided (in Japan anyway) to release a game that looks every bit Project Zero. Why wouldn't it really seeing that Project Zero is obviously influenced by Japanese horror films such as The Grudge and The Ring.

The game was first introduced as a game named Feel which was accompanied by a trailer showing the reactions of several Japanese gamers playing it (see below). A week later it was officially announced that the game was The Grudge and would be released in the USA on Halloween 2009. The UK and Europe still has to wait for a confirmation of a release date. However, the game was shown at the Movie Comic Media Expo which was in London so it should see a release in the UK.

The game is described as a "Haunted House simulator" and the game rates you based on how calm you stay throughout the game. Any flinch of your hand is recognised by the Wii-mote and lowers your score. You will finish the game no matter how low your score is but according to Rising Star, the games developer "it is those with a steady hand and nerves of steel that will have the most to gain from this experience."

Trailer Video

It would be boring if it was set in a house so luckily there are a few more locations you will get to look around including an abandoned warehouse, a dimly lit hospital and, the one I'm most looking forward to, a mannequin factory.

I'm a bit bitter that Nintendo are releasing this whilst at the same time giving Project Zero a complete brush off but this game does look scary. I'm also interested in seeing whether years of playing Survival Horrors has desensitised me at all.

Here are some links for you to find out more:

CVG.com
Official Website (Japanese)

More Alan Wake revealed at E3!

Finally, what a lot of people have been waiting for and hoping to see at this years E3 convention in LA.

Writer Sam Lake and game Producer Jay Ranki gave a demonstration during the Microsoft Press Conference yesterday. They start off with a short trailer which is narrated by the games protagonist explaining the disappearance of his wife, Alice. A guy named Rusty is introduced and the following demonstration shows Alan chasing after him in a dark forest.

One thing that I wanted to know about this game was what kind of creatures we would be defeating and now we know, kind of. We're not told exactly what they are but they look like ordinary, regular people though we can't see them properly due the darkness. They do however seem to be vulnerable to Alan's Flashlight and the light given off by Flares. At one point during game play the words "Use the light" show up on the wall.
Bats also make appearance attacking a chair lift that Alan ends up riding down but whether they show up again remains to be seen.

After the whole demo is completed a woman's voice, likely to be Alice asking Alan to "Wake Up" leading us to believe that what we played was a dream.

The video (gametrailer.com) can be seen below:

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To top it all off it is confirmed that Alan Wake will be released in Spring 2010. Still a long way to go but what's one year when you've been waiting four?

For new screenshots of the game click HERE

The game is looking brilliant and any doubts that the game was actually going to be released have been blown out of the water. Roll on next spring.