Amish OtakuAnd other oddities of Central Pennsylvania

October 2007

Much like Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend or Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire, 30 Days of Night’s reimagined vampire is primed to both frighten and intrigue you.

Sure, David Slade hasn’t directed anything like this in his life. You’ll most likely remember his work from either the critically acclaimed Hard Candy or his Stone Temple Pilots video “Sour Girl” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. But Slade would have to sink to the level of Uwe Boll to botch a film based on such rich source material.

The writer of the comic, Steve Niles, was responsible for the first draft of the film script, and the entire visual style of the film is based upon Ben Temple-smith’s Francis Bacon–inspired art.

Josh Hartnet (Sin City, Pearl Harbor) and Melissa George (Alias, Charmed) lead this horror flick that’s sure to give you a few frights. 30 Days of Night opens in theatres on October 19.

Interview with Steve Niles

Visit www.AmishOtaku.com for the full interview.

InsideOctober PreviewsAll the best games coming out in the next month, including Manhunt 2 and Jericho

Fall ConventionsDiplocon and the Video Game Expo

Halo 3With the return of Master Chief, Micro-soft’s flagship FPS is back in the spotlight

Q: Early in your career you adapted a fair number of books into the comic medium. What’s it been like to now take your original work

and adapt it into books and movies like the upcoming 30 Days of Night?

A: I feel bad that I practiced on guys like Matheson, Barker and El-lison! But seriously, all those adaptations taught me a lot about

breaking down and/or expanding a story from one medium to another and I certainly utilized those lessons while writing 30 Days in all its various forms. Learning to be true to source material can be tricky, but as the better comics-to-films have proven, the more accurate to the original material, the better the films seem to be. I mean, there are very good reasons why people have loved Spiderman all these years, but it took Raimi following the com-ics to prove it.

OnlineVillain’s Exposition

Full Steve Niles InterviewBubonic Comics

After missing its planned June release, Manhunt 2 is back and

is now set for a Halloween release.An AO rating here in the US set the release date

back over four months while Rockstar changed their game content for resubmission to the ESRB.

The fact that the Wii is the only “next-gen” con-sole with Manhunt 2 is notable for two reasons. First, Nintendo is known for their family-friendly, all-ages games. Second (and the source of much of the game’s controversy), the Wii’s motion con-trols promise some gruesome and very interactive executions.

O c t o b e r P r ev i e w s

Clive Barker serves up some FPS/horror good-ness set in the undead-infested biblical city of Jericho [October 23].

While the concept is intriguing, I haven’t been scared by an FPS since Doom first came out and I’m skeptical about the fright factor of Jericho.

What will be cool is the squad combat and the variety of squad members at your disposal.

We’ll see if Clive Barker can follow Tom Clancy and establish a successful franchise.

O c t o b e r P r ev i e w swww.AmishOtaku.com

Not only does this revamped PSP title give you the unreleased-in-America Castlevania classic – Rondo of Blood – but it also comes with an updated version of the PS1 hit Symphony of the Night.

While the original Rondo of Blood will be unlock-able, the primary game will be an updated 3D ver-sion with new character designs from SotN character designer Ayami Kojima as well as updated game-play. And I can’t forget to mention the return of a Belmont in a lead role with Richter Belmont.

This is nothing but classic sidescrolling goodness in a beautiful new Castlevania package

Jericho

Dracula X Chronicles

Ratchet & Clank

Guitar Hero III

Besides Clive Barker’s Jericho and 30 Days of Night from Seve Niles and Ben Templesmith, there’s a slew of sequels coming our way this month. As for these new franchises, I think we can expect big things from them.

Manhunt 2

Dragons of Spring Dawning

In their first foray on the new-est Playstation, Ratchet and his

robot buddy Clank explore the origins of his lost Lombax heritage.

Of course the game looks beautiful on the PS3 and we can expect a fun game with Insomniac in charge of the title.

Even though this is the third game

in the series, there are plenty of fresh new features to look forward to.

Consider that over 70% of the tracks are taken from their original masters and you have one of the big-gest musical hits of the year.

Devil’s Due is known for giving

unimagined depth to popular proper-ties.

Their foray into the world of Drag-onlance concludes this month with Dragons of Spring Dawning.

30 Days of Night Trilogy

These are the stories that inspired

the movie to be released this month. To really get inside the world of

Steve Niles’ and Ben Templesmith’s 30 Days of Night, start with this tome and you won’t be disappointed.

Wii, PS2, PSP Rockstar Games

PC, PS3, 360Codemasters

PSPKonami

PS3Sony

PS3, PS2, 360, WiiActivision

Trade PaperbackDevil’s Due

Trade HardcoverIDW

DiploconNov. 2-4, 2007Lancaster

While Diplocon might not be as large as some other area conventions, like Katsu-con or Otakon, you won’t have to drive to Baltimore or D.C. to get your otaku fix.

Details haven’t been finalized yet you can be sure to find screenings and game tournaments, panels and plenty of swag and cosplay. Plus Michael Poe and Hill-ary Hatch from the webcomic Errant Story will be on hand to answer questions.

Check back with their website – www.fandm.edu/gaming.xml – for updated in-formation as the convention approaches.

Zenkaikon — October 13 Valley Forge, Anime and Cosplay Shikkaricon — October 27 Berks County Community College, Anime and GamingTandokucon — November 9-11 Philadelphia, Anime

This year’s Video Game Expo in Phila-delphia promises to be one of the biggest events to come to our area all year.

Attendees can expect two major pro gaming tours to be on hand – Extreme Gaming Tour and Underground Gaming Series – so if you think you’ve got skills there’s a chance to make some big money.

Did I mention the PMS Clan, cosplay competition, over 100 free arcade ma-chines, the museum, the Battle of the Bands or the largest video game job fair on the east coast???

Check www.vgxpo.com for more infor-mation.

www.AmishOtaku.com

Con Report

Video Game ExpoNov. 2-4, 2007Philadelphia

Marvel

www.AmishOtaku.com

Halo 3If you didn’t make the midnight launch at Park City

on Tuesday, you missed more than 200 Halo fanatics eagerly awaiting their chance to pick up the game, take it home and dive head-long into campaign mode. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of copies left if you didn’t reserve one.

For those of you who played through the second game, you’ll be completely up to speed on the story. For the rest of us, there might be a few holes in the story that someone will need to fill in.

Sometimes the game can take itself a little too seri-ously. Luckily, they lighten this up with plenty of humor throughout the campaign.

The controls are spot on and handle just like the previ-ous two games, with the exception of the movement of the reload button to the bumpers.

Throw in some new weap-ons, new maps and new vehi-cles plus the four-player co-op, and the best console-based shooter ever just gets better.

Expect this title to dominate Xbox Live for at least the next year.

Master Chief is back in the biggest Halo yet from Bungie Studios

Amish Otaku

Edited and Written by Dan Allen

Special Thanks to April Johns

© 2007Microsoft