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Fangoria, the magazine that has been servicing horror fans the world over for over 30 years, has never had a video game on its cover. Until now. More »
Gamespot reports that a Namco Bandai representative has informed the site that Splatterhouse is "due for a Halloween release," which is just about as appropriate as release dates get. What would you have preferred? Labor day? Veterans' Day? Those don't make any sense. We suppose a Día de los Muertos release might work, but let's not split hairs, okay? Let's just split zombies. With extreme force.
Halloween actually falls on a Sunday this year, so we're not sure whether the Namco Bandai representative meant on Halloween or shortly before Halloween. We've contacted the developer to try and get a clarification. The new trailer above simply says "fall 2010."
During a recent investor's presentation, Namco Bandai relayed some projections for a few of its top titles -- specifically, recent releases Clash of the Titans and Dead to Rights: Retribution and upcoming Splatterhouse and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. The presentation is available here, though due to the fact that it's in some foreign language (what are they speaking, Klingon?), we defer to Siliconera's translation.
For Clash and DtR, Namco Bandai isn't expecting either to clear a million units: each is projected to sell around 700,000 copies. That's certainly nothing to scoff at. Namco Bandai has higher hopes for Splatterhouse and Majin, however, predicting sales of one million for each.
Really? A million units? Sure, we've heard that "sex sells," but charmingly bumbling monsters and bloody, deformed hockey mask-garbed behemoths? People can't possibly be into either of those things, right?
For those that have been following the bloody trail of Splatterhouse marketing thus far, the latest trailer is something of a departure. By that we mean to say that the first minute or so is essentially devoid of blood and gore; in fact, it's almost ... refined. But fear not, gore hounds: The last thirty seconds deliver the brutal (recently cel-shaded) mayhem we've come to expect.
#namcobandai
Namco Bandai's gory re-imagining of the 16-bit side-scrolling classic Splatterhouse will come with an unlockable bonus: three 16-bit side-scrolling classic Splatterhouse games. More »
#namcobandai
Is it time to start age-gating screen shots? The newest Splatterhouse screens, full of blood-soaked ghouls, chunky guts and flying severed limbs, might be better limited to mature audiences only. Or are we overreacting? More »
Click to head into the gallery
Namco Bandai has released some details about the weapon system in the long-delayed Splatterhouse reboot. Weapons are divided into categories like "edged," "bludgeon" and "extra brutal," which determine what kind of damage they do to enemies.
This scant explanation is joined by a series of new screens that depict some of said weapons, which the super-huge Rick Taylor will employ on his quest to smash a house full of monsters. Included are such exciting implements as a board with nails in it, a pipe and ... a zombie clown head? What class of weapon is that? "Extra hilariously morbid?"
If you're anything like us, you've had the upcoming Splatterhouse remake fresh in your mind ever since this week's positively terrifying reveal of Splatterhouse shoes. Thankfully, Namco also released a handful of fresh screens of the game, riddled with various creature parts and - shock! - gallons of blood. Sure, the 13-year-old in us is just about as stoked for a new Splatterhouse game as one could be. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old in us still needs a lot of convincing that the franchise is worth revisiting before next year's Q3 release.
Namco Bandai may have trouble getting a next-gen update to Splatterhouse out the door, but the company seems to have had no problem developing a new iteration of the franchise for the your feet platform.
Namco partnered with Globe Shoes to create these sneakers, purportedly based on those worn by Rick in the game. To be nitpicky, the real-world shoes don't feature the green accent found on the in-game versions -- and the Splatterhouse logo on the shoes would make for a really weird coincidence if Rick happened to be wearing them when he went into, you know, the Splatterhouse.
Then again, the Globe version makes up for the inconsistency by coming with a T-shirt, which is something Rick could use. The shoes are available from Namco's shop in limited quantities for $79.99 a pair.
Click to enter SplattergalleryWe had kind of forgotten that, despite the closure of developer BottleRocket, Namco Bandai's current-gen Splatterhouse revamp was still in the works. And even if we had remembered that, we would have assumed that the supposed 2010 release had been quietly canceled in the interim. However, October is the right time for horror games and Namco Bandai has decided to surprise us all by releasing the game five screenshots! These new screens look pretty different from what we've seen, seeming to show a little bit of a cel-shaded effect and, for some reason, reduced muscle definition on Rick. We didn't really expect Namco to be messing around with the basic look of the game, but there it is.The company also adjusted the previous "early 2010" release date we'd heard: now the game is slated for "Q3 2010." We're kind of hoping the extra time goes into the graphics. At least into getting them back to the state they were in last year.
