Mike Bracken's blog

Electronic Arts is really pulling out all the stops to promote Dead Space: Extraction, the on-rails Wii-exclusive follow up to last year's hit survival horror game Dead Space. This latest video showcases more interviews with the development team, a look at some of the controls, and a bit about the game's design philosophy when it comes to creating fear.

Dead Space: Extraction hits retailers next week.

Boris Kodjoe (who told us all he was in Resident Evil: Afterlife via his Twitter feed a few days ago) is apparently not only an actor, but also a PR guy. Whenever news breaks about the latest movie in the series, it seems like Kodjoe's the guy telling us about it. He's a veritable renaissance man…

Kodjoe had a chat with Wilson Morales over at Black Film recently and he not only informed us of more casting news (Ali Larter is back, Prison Break's Wentworth Miller has been cast), but he also gave us our first real plot synopsis for the fourth film in the franchise (after the break).

I'm not ready to eat crow about Dead Space: Extraction yet (I was pretty hard on it for being an on-rails shooter—making me think it was basically another dumbed down version of a popular franchise for the Nintendo Wii), but I will say that with each new clip and trailer I see, my opinion of the game seems to improve. That may not mean a thing in the long run (because we've all seen great clips and trailers and then played a retail version of the same game only to find out it sucks…), but I like to be honest—and right now I'm getting a positive vibe from the game.

This new clip (running just over four minutes) talks about the characters in the game and shows off some more gameplay. Interestingly enough, the characters on display in the clip look identitical to their voice actors. I don't know that I can recall another game where that's ever happened.

Dead Space: Extraction is set to invade stores on September 29th.

Konami’s announced the official release date for their downloadable zombie slaughterfest, Zombie Apocalypse. Anyone with a hankering for killing hordes of the walking dead will want to mark September 23rd and 24th down on their calendars. Xbox 360 owners will be able to download the title one day earlier than their PS3-owning brethren for some reason. When I last saw the game, it looked a lot like Smash TV with zombies. Since I happen to love Smash TV, this got me very excited.

More breaking news thanks to Twitter. How did we ever manage to get news in the in the old days of 2008?

Actor Boris Kodjoe broke the news (in 140 characters or less…) that he's now signed on to appear in the fourth entry in the Resident Evil franchise, Afterlife. Here's the tweet where he spills the beans:

“In Toronto meeting with the director of my new movie Resident Evil: Afterlife. Very exciting!!! Lots of stunts, shooting guns, monsters.”

If you're not familiar with who Boris is, you'll get to experience his work firsthand very soon. The actor is starring alongside Bruce Willis in the new film Surrogates.

Kodjoe joins Milla Jovovich (who's returning as Alice) in the new zombie flick. Paul WS Anderson will once again be directing.

It's been a few years since the first Silent Hill movie came out—and while it wasn't as good as many of us hoped, there's so much potential in the franchise that most of us hoped Hollywood would take a second crack at it.

There have been rumors of a sequel for quite awhile, but invariably they've turned out to be false—until last night. THR brings us news that a new Silent Hill film is indeed in the works and will begin filming next year.

According to the site, screenwriters Roger Avary and producer Samuel Hadida will be returning to the project. No word yet on a director (Christophe Gans helmed the original), or any plot details, but you'll read about it here when those details start to emerge.

The Penny Arcade Expo is in full swing (I'd love to go one year…) and Capcom is on hand showing off not one, but two new gameplay videos from their upcoming on-rails zombie shooter Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

I've been hard on on-rails shooters over the past few years, and I'm absolutely awful at containing my contempt for the Wii, but I'm still looking forward to checking this title out when it hits shelves this December. Check out the first clip below, then jump past the break for the second.

Ah Sunday, a day for rest and relaxation–and apparently a day for no horror news.

I saved this clip of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for a day just like today. The Wii-updating (I'm hesitant to call it a remake—it is technically a remaking of the first game, but it's bringing a lot of new elements to the table as well) of the classic survival horror game is looking pretty good. Don’t take my word for it, though, have a look at this new trailer for the title that appeared at GamesCom earlier this month.

Expect Silent Hill to hit retailers on October 13th for the Wii, PS2, and PSP—just in time to creep you out for Halloween.

Another teaser trailer—this time for a game instead of a movie.

This brand new clip for Electronic Arts' forthcoming "re-imagining" of Dante's Inferno debuted at Gamescom this week. I know most people only seem marginally excited for this game (which looks like a God of War clone and not nearly as spectacular as God of War III), but I'm still holding out hope. Maybe this new glimpse into what the game has in store for you will change some opinions.

Prepare to "go to Hell" on February 10th of next year.

I have to be honest, this Wii version of Resident Evil Zero footage didn't exactly blow me away. It's been a long time since I played Resident Evil Zero on the GameCube, but I'd be hard pressed to spot any kind of difference between this version and the original. I kept thinking "how do I even know this trailer is new? They could have taken one from the GameCube release years ago and slapped a Wii logo on it and called it a day…"

That being said, I'm probably not the target audience for this title. Resident Evil Zero for the Wii seems to be aiming at folks who didn't have a GameCube, or just never got around to playing this game back in the day. That's cool—I guess. The title is set to sell at a reduced rated (30 bucks) and will feature Wii-mote controls. I'm not sure how that's going to work with the traditionally clunky Resident Evil interface, but I guess we'll all find out eventually.

There's still no official release date for this game, but it is supposed to be available before the end of the year.