Tokyo Game Show is here and so far it’s the most exciting gaming event of the year, for horror fans at least. The most exciting news, at least for me, was the unveiling of the collaborative effort between Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, No More Heroes creator Suda51, and Silent Hill composer/producer Akira Yamaoka: the new action horror project, officially dubbed Shadows of the Damned.

But that’s certainly not it, there’s also been news on Resident Evil 6, Dead Space 2 multiplayer details, the exciting reveal of Project Dark by the guys who made the amazing Demon’s Souls, a Devil May Cry reboot, and two limb-flailing horror games for the Kinect.

Despite its flavor being decidedly Japanese, Shadows of the Damned is destined to be great, or at least I hope it is because I’ve been hyping the shit out of this game for a while now. I’ve watched the trailer a few times now and I’ve decided this is what the offspring would look like if No More Heroes and Resident Evil 4 got together to make passionate love. Fitting, since the two project leads designed the games that obviously inspired this one so much.

I’m not surprised there’s so much hate going around since it might not have been the game everyone, including myself, were expecting but it’s childish to dismiss a game because of a trailer. Unfortunately these days gamers tend to get easily rattled, spewing hatred on even the smallest things. Speaking of…

Shadows may be getting some attention for all the wrong reasons but Dante has definitely taken this year’s crown for outraging gamers everywhere. Why? Because he has dyed hair. The cocky personality is essentially the same so the hair and clothing are the culprits for this new outcry. Seriously? Are we really that sad a bunch that we have to flip the out because a video game character looks different? Was Dante such an interesting and compelling character that the loss of such a design has impacted the industry in a way that people feel the need to attack a game they know virtually nothing about? It’s a reboot people, that’s the name of the game and if you can’t take it play something else.

Stepping off my soap box now, Devil May Cry looks interesting. Reading the comments and message boards on a handful of sites I’m sure a large, annoying majority of you will disagree. I like the mixed up combat, the enemies are cool enough and I can honestly say I won’t be losing any sleep over Dante’s black hair. What I will be losing sleep over is this next little reveal.

I was positive the Shadows of the Damned would be my highlight of the show but I can officially say it wasn’t after the mysteriously titled dark fantasy RPG ‘Project Dark’ was revealed. Not much is known about the game outside of it being a spiritual successor to the stunning PS3 title Demon’s Souls, so I think it’s safe to say the game will be full of demons, adventures, and an amazing atmosphere that was captured brilliantly in its (spiritual) predecessor.

As you can tell from the fantastic trailer above, when they said “spiritual successor” they didn’t mean it in the same sense that Shadow of the Colossus was to Ico or BioShock was to System Shock. The characters, combat, enemies, and grotesquely beautiful locations make Project Dark look more like Demon’s Souls 2. Because of that, and my undying love for Demon’s Souls, this is my game of the show. Unfortunately according to the game’s website we won’t be hearing much more on the game until early next year.

I’ve talked about motion controls and the horror genre a lot lately because the two go hand in hand. Kind of like bread and butter or bread and peanut butter, or bread and sandwich fixings, or bread combined with just about anything. Damn I like bread.

Anyways, it would seem there are potentially two more reasons to get Kinect when it launches in November, the first reason is a called Haunt and the second is Rise of Nightmares. The former is being made by the guys who brought us PaRappa the Rapper and it’s essentially a puzzle adventure game nestled in a cozy haunted house filled with an abundance of traps and monsters. Unfortunately this on-rails game looks to be more on the family fun side with less realistic graphics, so if you’re looking for something that might actually scare you then read on.

If Haunt doesn’t tickle your fancy then we also have Rise of Nightmares, which looks like a more grown up version of Haunt (and also on-rails, so bleh for that). Unlike the previous game this one has gore and torture, two things that automatically make it awesome. This game will be out sometime next year.

Dead Space developer Visceral Games has been teasing an announcement regarding arguably the biggest addition to the Dead Space series, competitive multiplayer. Upon first glance its obvious there were some inspirations from Left 4 Dead as there will be four Sprawl security officers fighting against four player-controlled Necromorphs.

But that’s not it, the “good guys” will have to complete various objectives across five different locations while trying to defend themselves against attacks from the enemy team. The Necromorphs include the Spitter, Puker, Lurker, and Pack, and for both teams there will be a level progression system so you and your friends can use cash to upgrade your weapons and abilities along the way.

We’ll find out just how great the new multiplayer is when Dead Space jumps into our hungry arms on January 25th.

All I can say is Finally, because I’ve been waiting for Hydrophobia for what seems like forever. In case you’re not in the know, Hydrophobia is an episodic water-based horror adventure arcade game (that’s a mouthful) that uses a truly amazing engine to deliver some of the best water effects I’ve ever seen in a game. Now, that might not tickle everyone’s fancy and I’m sure there are a few of you that have labeled me a total geek, but let me win you over.

The HydroEngine has the ability to create completely realistic and dynamic fluid effects so the water in the game (or any other liquid for that matter) actually interacts with objects, characters, and the environment. Since it’s dynamic the effect changes every time, as opposed to pretty much every other game where splashes, waves, and ripples are canned effects and animations that are the same each time. Plus, this is a horror title so that has to peak your interest a bit, eh?

If you’re not as excited as me about this game I can’t say I blame you, but you should most definitely give the game a chance when it releases on the XBLA on September 29th for 1200 Microsoft Space Bucks.

I’m sure the definition of soon changes drastically depending on the individual but it seems as if we’ll be seeing Resident Evil 6 sooner rather than later. Originally it would’ve been a surprise to see the game appear in the next 3-4 years since the series was without a Producer or any idea of where the franchise should go next.

But it looks like we’ll be hearing more on the game “soon” and according to Capcom’s Keiji Inafune, “Capcom wants Resident Evil 6 on the market as soon as possible and that there would be news about Resident Evil 6 “shortly”. That’s pretty exciting.

Resident Evil 5 was in no way a critical or commercial failure, it sold the most units any game in the series has to date and received great reviews. The problem is most of this success rode on its predecessor, a game that’s widely considered to be one of the best the last generation has to offer, and when compared to that game RE5 doesn’t look quite as good. RE4 inspired many games that came after it and was talked about several years after its release; how many people talk about, or even play for that matter, Resident Evil 5? So Capcom wants to reboot the series, hopefully in a horrifying, zombie-infested way.

A few days ago I came across some fairly unsettling news while scouring the vast bundle of tubes we call the Internet in search of awesome headlines to share with Dead Pixels’ legions of readers. It started off as a bizarre ghost story that I usually would’ve skipped had it not included a well-written article detailing the gamer’s accounts with his newly acquired copy of the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The video proof probably helped a bit as well.

Apparently this guy bought the game from a strange old man’s garage sale, now I’m not sure you can call a single table on a driveway with crap on it a garage sale, but that’s irrelevant. The story starts off ominously enough with the old man calling him Ben and acting all creepy (as old people often do), but it isn’t until he boots up the game that things start sounding like they were taken from the Twilight Zone.

So if you’re in the mood for a good (and fairly long) ghost story, you can check out the article and a handful of unsettling videos HERE.