Kupowered: Halloween Sales Are Here

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Halloween Sales Are Here

In today's Store Update, there's, among a lot of other things, a rather large sale based around the Halloween season, putting a grip of Horror-themed games on sale for scary low prices. (Yes, I fucking went there, no, I didn't have to) From Resident Evil in a few different iterations, to Dead Island to The Walking Dead and even including The Last Of Us (which is a very specific sub-set of horror, I'm sure), there seems to be a little something for everyone no matter your tastes and all of them seem like good picks to get into the holiday season, as it were. There are two games in the sale, however, that stand out a little more than the others to me, and it's because of some very specific reasons.

Corpse Party and Corpse Party: Book of Shadows for the PSP (Vita-compatible) are both on sale for half-off the normal price ($10 instead of $20) and are both definitely something you should look into. Brought over to American shores by the always-wonderful XSEED Games, Corpse Party seems to invoke little else but disinterest when one looks at the basic sprites and presentation, but looks are quite deceiving. Encapsulated in Corpse Party is one of the tensest, most fucking frightening experiences I've ever had in a video game and it's due in no small part to the minimalistic presentation (aside from the Visual Novel-esque full art static screens) and the Voice Acting. To keep costs down, as well as hold true the actual mood of the game, the Voice Acting in the game is all the original Japanese and it...well...Nobody can do Horror like the Japanese.

I'm going to be honest with everyone here - I bought Corpse Party on a Halloween Sale last year and I was determined that I was going to enjoy the experience as everyone suggests. Played on the Vita (for the crisper visuals, if just slightly), in the dark (to set the mood) and with headphones (to truly enjoy and experience the voice-work and the directional sound design) is supposed to be the key environment for some Corpse Partying. I was doing that. Here's a little useful tip:

Don't do that.

Well, actually -do- that, just don't be surprised when you find yourself in fear for your fucking life. I played the first chapter of Corpse Party and got all three endings for it. That was all I could do. The chapter was not very long, but I still required three different sessions of gameplay to complete it because I got so tense and out of sorts that I just literally could not function. It doesn't help that one particular scene is burned into my brain so that I can perfectly recall it at any given time, mostly thanks to the VA because nobody screams like Japanese women. I should state that I do not regret my purchase at all - in fact, I encourage yours and I know I'm going to drop $10 on Book of Shadows as well. However, I do so with full knowledge that I will likely never play it because it is fucking terrifying.

So basically my point is that Corpse Party and Book of Shadows are perfect for this time of year because the whole point is to get scared shitless. There are few things that are $20 or less that will offer quite as many scares.

seriously, hearing that screamed line is never a good thing and it happens all the time and goddamnit brain -stop doing that-

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What's all this, then?

This is going to be many things, but first and foremost, it is, quite simply and unsurprisingly, a place for me to write. Sometimes about video games, sometimes about movies, and other times, just to write out mini-stories and the like. As an outlet for me, it will likely reflect how I am; at times it will be entertaining, and other times it will be informative. I just hope that every time it's interesting at the very least.

The current goal is a post every other day to settle myself in; eventually, I will seek to post every day, if just to raise an inquiry that I've found I've tripped over most of that day, or to retell an amusing, or perhaps less so, tale from the day. I find that I can be long-winded at times, so perhaps this will be less of a concern than I imagine!

While it would make sense to change this to grow as "Kupowered" does, I hope to keep this just as it is and, sometime down the road, re-read it with a slight chuckle and mumble to myself, "I did it." So take this as a mission statement, if you will, and we will see how it works out!

Handy Post-Types Guide!

A Look Back: In lieu of reviews (which I might do in the future), these posts will be fond recollections of older games from my past, telling you why I believe them to be good and why you might be interested in playing them.
Giant Robot On: I like Giant Robots. Who doesn't? These posts will always be talking about something with Giant Robots in it, be it video games or anime or movies.
Less-Short Story: On occasion, inspiration will hit me and I'll want to write a short story or, as the name implies, expand on a story from my old Ficly. That will be these posts.
LittleBigThings: In these posts, I will be discussing (read: gushing about) things in the LittleBigPlanet series of games, from the game itself, to user-created levels, to my own adventures in Craftworld.
Music!: Fairly self-Explanatory. In these posts, I will talk (gush) about music I like, and possibly music that I don't care for.
Popcorn On: These posts will revolve around movies that I've seen that are just great in one way or another. The aim is to give you enough to interest you into seeing it without giving too much so that you feel you know what's going to happen.
Quick Note: These will usually be, as can be expected, short posts to keep in touch with the blog and it's readers if I'm not prepared for a full post or if I'm updating on a past post.
Ragequit: Completely opposite of A Look Back, these posts will be about the few games I've had to quit playing because they just weren't fun. (Or that I might have finished, but still hated.)

There will likely be more types of posts added in the future that will be explained here.