The survival horror ambiguous storyline theory

In the last couple years we've got a lot of good survival horror games. Titles like Outlast 1 and 2, The Evil Within, Alien Isolation, RE7 and many others. Most of them gave us good hours of enjoyment, but some people (myself included) expected this to be the big revival of the survival horror genre and in the end of this nice line of releases, we ended up feeling like it was good, maybe great, but not epic or unforgettable. I was kind of at a loss, trying to find a reason about why this wave of survival horror goodness didn't felt perfect until a survival horror themed conversation happened with one of my friends.

On our little chat, we were talking about some famous survival horror games like the old Resident Evil games and we were wondering what happened. Lots of nostalgic moments and memories came from that, but there was this part of the whole argument that really got me thinking.

The first time we got here, is still one of the most epic gaming moments for many of us.

My friend stated that the best thing that the old Resident Evil games had was the atmosphere of not knowing anything about it. Now let's make a thought exercise and follow the Resident Evil example:

You arrive at a mansion, trying to rescue a military squad that was missing in action, then you get inside to this nice looking place only to find that is crawling with all kinds of creatures that shouldn't even exist. The first time everybody played this we felt the intrigue, violently building up from the moment we found the first zombie and see that low resolution video of it munching on a dead soldier's body. Now this is what was going through my mind at that point:

Old Mansion + Lots of doors + Zombies... I think that I'm going to spend a lot of time figuring this out, but I will do it because it intrigues me and I want to know more.

The feeling was special to say the least. At the time it felt huge (like taking a cross-country trip without knowing where you will end up) and it took a lot of exploration, discovering new places, reading documents, solving puzzles, surviving and watching cutscenes in order to finally get to that underground laboratory for the first time and go like "What? A lab in this place?". That was the moment when the game's story was at its peak and that precise point was what made it all so worthwhile.

Some consider this one the best in the series, I personally see it tied with Code Veronica.

Resident Evil 2 gave us another dose of that feeling, but on a bigger scale. Now the whole city was infected and I was playing as a rookie cop/rebellious biker girl that had no clue of what was going on. By then we all knew that the creatures existed and we knew that they were man made, but at the same time we had lots of questions like how the virus got to the city and what kinds of creatures it could had spawned there. Our answer came as we began exploring the police station and progressed from there, finding creatures such as the lickers and the giant croc that wanted to have us as as a tasty snack.

From there on, we kept discovering things and the more we knew, the more we wanted to know. At that time, we had already mastered the now criticized tank controls, weird aiming mechanics and cheesy voice acting because we had to know where it would all lead up to. It was like starting to read a good book at 8:00 pm only to be hooked by it and keep going through the night even though you know that you have to work/go to school on the next day. It was that powerful.

I could go on and on about every Resident Evil game, but let's get to the point. The charm of these early manifestations of the survival horror genre (something that was also used by other games like Silent Hill) was that a great deal of the main problem in the storyline was hidden to us, even when we knew who our enemies were. It was this feeling of mystery and hopelessness mixed with stress and been lost in a place you don't know anything about, the thing that made the old school survival horror experience to be so special and that is the aspect that was missing from the cool, but not epic  horror games that we got at the beginning of this generation. They had the atmosphere and game mechanics right, but they lacked the WTH is going on factor because even when they tried to hide it (like they did on The Evil Within) we had this sort a of faint foresight about what was going on that didn't let us use our imaginations at full power.

Another one of my favorites, underrated Saturn game that followed the formula you will soon read about.

So this the point when all our thoughts were gathered and we came up with the survival horror ambiguous storyline theory. This theory states, that for a game to be a true heir of the survival horror roots it needs to have a story that leave us lost and wondering up until it peaks, a continuous affair with no divisions like chapters or places you can't go back to and having the sense of discovering things by our own rather than holding our hands and/or structuring the game into established objectives. Anything less of this makes the game to be an action game with horror elements and anything more than this is to be considered experimental (like some horror indie games).

This was the reason why the newest games are not clicking with some of us us in the same way that the old ones did. They gave us unnecessary foresight on what was happening, were structured in chapters and objectives leaving little to no space for backtracking and while they were fun, they weren't the survival horror revolution we were hoping for. If we were to compare these games with a cake, we can say that instead of been a chocolate cake, it was a vanilla one coated with chocolate frosting, which tasted good, but was not as satisfying.

I found this as an adult and the tension and scare factor it brought was amazing considering this is a SNES game.

Now that you know about it, what do you think? Is our little theory right on the spot or are we missing something? Let's talk about this on the comments below and btw, thanks for reading.

5 Horror Movie Franchises That Could Become "Lone Enemy" Survival Horror Games

I apologize for the long hiatus after my last blog entry, but here I am again so let's resume our gaming conversations.

The "lone enemy concept" is the name I give to the concept in horror games that implies having one all powerful main enemy that hunts for you in a place that is tricky to navigate through. This is something that isn't that new as we had lone enemies before like Scissorman from the Clocktower series or even Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. The lone enemy scenario may be old, but it is a game play concept that has been given new life by games like Alien Isolation and The Evil Within.

Now some months after the release of those games, it becomes really interesting to think about what other horror series can make use of this concept and become great survival horror games by featuring a lone or specific enemy that will make mince meat out of you once it finds out where you are.

Friday the 13th:

If there is an horror franchise that can make use of the lone enemy concept is this one. With Jason Vorhees as the main all powerful enemy and Camp Lake as the setting, it is very possible to make a very interesting survival horror game. The camp counselor theme is also something that gives the player a certain level of freedom as the player could be able to create a custom counselor and interact with others or choose from a group of counselors to use, each with their own abilities just like in the NES game, giving it a sort of open world feeling.

It is not hard to imagine how awesome a game like that would look on PC and current-gen consoles, with Camp lake having all sorts of awesome lighting effects, many places to go through and lots of ways to make a survival strategy. The encounters with Jason would be swift, but deadly and they would require a lot of quick thinking (No, not QTE events) in order to survive and shake Jason off or try to protect your fellow camp counselors and kids. In summary, Friday the 13th is a great opportunity for this game play aspect to be used and although there seems to be a new Friday the 13th game in the works, there is no clear indication that they will be using this kind of concept.

Demonic Toys:

Demonic Toys is an American horror film series, first released in 1992 that follows the story of how a group of people end up in a haunted toy warehouse where a demon (who lives in the toys) is looking for a way to regain a physical form. A game based on this movie would most probably be a classic survival horror experience and while it doesn't specifically classify as having only one strong enemy (there are lots of toys), the demon been the only hostile entity is enough for it to be on this list.

A game about Demonic Toys would definitely rely on its atmosphere in order to be scary, so it would most probably have a 5 Nights At Freddy's look to it, with old discarded and worn down toys coming alive and hunting you through the warehouse as you slowly figure out what is really happening and how to stop it. The demon itself would make small appearances at some parts (in which you could easily die if you are not careful) and try to take your soul with or without the help of his toy minions. As for the overall mood of the game itself, this would be one of those where the clueless characters roam around the place looking for a way to solve the big mystery and live to tell the tale. It is sort of like the feeling we got when we got our hands on the first Resident Evil and didn't had a clue of what to do.

Alucarda

Alucarda is a Mexican horror film that was released in 1978. It's plot was about  a pair of orphan girls on a Catholic convent who make the mistake of  following the ill advise of a strange and dubvious group of gypsies, which leads to the awakening of a demonic force in the convent. This causes all sorts of macabre paranormal activity in the convent and the possession of the girls by the devil himself. While traducing a film like this to a game would imply that it would just be your "run of the mill" survival horror, it could be a lot more if you take into account that the hostile enemy here is the devil himself and the entire convent is his playground. In essence, it would follow the Clocktower formula although it would be a little more hardcore.

Players in this game would be using a simple orphan (unrelated to the movie protagonists) and would had to survive the night as the supernatural get a hold of the orphanage and gruesome things start to happen. Imagining a game about Alucarda kind of reminds me of the first Clocktower game (SNES) in which you had to use the character of a young girl in a similar environment, only that in Alucarda you are not trying to escape from a mad woman and a guy with giant scissors, but from all of the stuff that is been caused by the demonic forces that were unleashed. In this game you would have to know when to hide, when to attack and where to use cunning and logic to defend yourself from the demonic presence that the girls let loose. Different endings are to be expected as well  as complex interactions with adults and other orphans, so this game would be a little deeper than you may be thinking right now.

Nightmare on Elm Street:

It sounds kind of cliche to mention this horror franchise on par with Friday the 13th, but if you take a deeper look into it you will find that it could work. This one could totally make use of the now popular procedural game design, meaning that part of the game world can be randomly generated. Why procedural design? Well, because since the story in this franchise goes around the topic of dreams and nightmares, it would be a cool thing to have those nightmares be partially auto-generated, so each time Freddy attacks it won't feel the same. This could also be mixed up with how you develop the mental state of your character as you progress through the game (through interactions with other characters and overall progress), just so the hostilities don't become too predictable.

A game like this could be a sort of mixed bag of genres. For example it could borrow a lot from adventure games with problem solving as the main character and his/her friends go around looking for a way to defeat Freddy while sleeping as less as possible. Avoiding sleep means that your character will get tired and will go to sleep sometimes without a clear indication, which is an awesome thing considering that nightmares would be auto generated. On the other hand, the nightmares would be the survival horror part of the game where you would have to survive all of Freddy's insane traps and illusions and as the game progresses and these would be part random and part generated by how you develop your character's mind (the things you do, how you interact with the world while awake). Direct confrontations with Freddy would increase as you progress through the game until you have no other choice than to fight him and if you are not ready by then (figuring out how to defeat Freddy once and for all), well you must then prepare for a bad ending.

The Howling (or other old school werewolf movies)

This is almost self explanatory in its own sense. One vicious savage like beast, thirsty for blood while running around some Victorian era town and you have the recipe of an intense horror game that would have the potential of keeping any gamer at the edge of their seat the entire time (even when just exploring around). Been pitted against a werewolf in this kind of place means that you would have to do what ever it takes to survive like making traps, finding (or making your own) weapons made of silver and looking for a way to survive while the full moon sits there with all its foreboding of your impending doom.

On a game like this, the big bad wolf would be able to follow you almost everywhere and that means that you would have to be very careful in the way of locking doors, making barricades and all that kind of stuff that can keep the enemy at bay and give you some time to explore the various places that the town has to offer. As you get farther into the game you would be able to actually fight back and little by little gain the upper hand until the creature is dead or day light comes. To spice things up, maybe some of the townsfolk could be against you, trying to sabotage your efforts and make you easy pray for the werewolf while you try to solve the mystery of what is wrong with the town and what you have to do with it.

So what do you think? If you have any ideas of other movies that can be turned into this kind of survival horror game, I'd love to read them. 

Resident Evil Remake Remastered Edition? This could get interesting.

It seems that Capcom has decided to go back to the Resident Evil franchise roots quite literally. With the announcement of a remastered version of the GameCube Resident Evil remake, came a wave of flaming and frustration especially coming long time fans that feel that Capcom has cheated them again. Everybody agrees that the Resident Evil remake is one of the best things that Capcom has ever done, but many think that bringing it to this generation as an HD port is kind of dumb considering how old the game is. The outcry that is coming from some sectors of the gaming community is understandable to a point, but I think that most people are missing the point about what Capcom may be intending to do with this port and how it could favor us fans in the long run.

It teaches newer generations to appreciate the classic Resident Evil experience.

All those classic style RE games coming from the very first one all the way to Resident Evil 3 and Code Veronica are revered by many and have become the immediate topic that comes around every time there is a conversation about Capcom's survival horror flagship. It is good to reminisce about these games from time to time, but we have to accept that newer generations won't touch any of those games even if their lives depended on it. Because of this, Capcom may be trying to introduce newcomers into the classic Resident Evil experience by giving them something that looks brand new to them. If they manage to hook newcomers into the classic style as they did with us back then, the probabilities of the franchise going back to its roots becomes a lot higher.

The cool thing about the zombies in the remake is that they were very intimidating.

It can fix Capcom's impression about the survival horror genre.

It is said that the Resident Evil remake did not made the sale numbers that Capcom was expecting back in 2002 and that was the main reason why they switched from pure survival horror to a more action oriented style. It is pretty obvious that the game did not performed that well because it was a Game Cube exclusive and unfortunately there weren't many Game Cube consoles out there at the time. Capcom saw it as a decrease in popularity, but the reality about it is that this happened because of the console user base. For a reference example see this comparison below:

Sale figures:

• Resident Evil: (PS ONE): 2.75 m
• Resident Evil Remake (GameCube):  1.35 m
• Resident Evil Code Veronica (Dreamcast/PS2) : 2.54 m

Here we can see how the established PS ONE user base traduced itself into greater sale numbers (for the time) compared with an exclusive title (the remake) and one shared in two platforms that were still young at the time (Code Veronica). Believe me, I am an advocate of game exclusivity, but for some reason, platform exclusivity doesn't work well with Resident Evil. 

Because of this market misconception, Capcom got the wrong impression about the whole survival horror genre and decided to stop supporting it. Now with this port they have the chance to recover not only the losses they had back then, but their faith on survival horror games which also raises the possibilities of the next RE game NOT been just about shooting stuff, running and quick time events.

Hands down one of the scariest parts in any survival horror game.

It keeps the series alive.

Some gamers say that the series needs a reboot, but that isn't necessarily true. The franchise as it is, has a rich storyline chronology that can still spawn very interesting games. They don't have to move it forward in order to make a new game as they can just explore a whole spectrum of events that were happening at the same time the story of the newer games was. They can use characters like Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers or even Billy Coen to go around the story arc a little and give us very interesting scenarios (see Interesting Scenarios that a New Resident Evil Game Could Have if you need some examples.)

Compared to the original, this boss fight was at least twice as tense.

Wrapping it up

A Resident Evil port that can capture newcomers, fix the reputation of survival horror within Capcom and keep the series alive as it is, sounds like a pretty good trio of reasons why this surprising re-apparition of an old game can inject some life into the Resident Evil franchise just in the way we want it. Back in the past, Capcom released 2 versions of the original game (normal and director's cut) and they were successful with it so they have a good chance with this one. This is good opportunity here that what may seem dumb for some, but can end up to be a turning point in the series and the beginning of that new, but awesome Resident Evil game we all deserve. If you have never played a classic Resident Evil game before, this is a must buy and if you are an old school gamer don't dismiss this version yet, at least until further details are announced.

Sources:
GearNuke -Resident Evil Sales Figures

Interesting scenarios that a new Resident Evil could have.

In the past month, a little bit of nostalgia brought in a Resident Evil marathon with it and after playing some of the games and watching the CGI films, a question came to mind. Assuming that Capcom survives their current ordeal and actually release a new Resident Evil game... What new scenarios could they try? They have mentioned that Resident Evil Revelations and The Last of Us would serve as inspiration for them to bring the franchise back to its survival horror roots, so an action-oriented "final struggle/anything goes" scenario would not fit into that line of thinking. Playing these games and watching the animated movies have shown that they have tried almost any common scenario that a "Bio Hazard" story can develop into, but there are still some of them that would make the franchise look fresh again without the need of a reboot. Let's see some of the crazy ideas that came out of this (get prepared to read, because this is a long one) so let your imagination roll and continue.

In order to get away from the Dead Island's "paradise beach" theme, something like this should work.

The island that was too late to be saved

This scenario would happen some months after Raccoon City has been wiped off the map. The setting would be a fictional artificially made island that was created by some billionaire in order to make his own independent nation. The island would have a significant population and it would include all kinds of services and residential areas, sort of like a small contemporary country state (no futuristic stuff). The problem begins when the billionaire's nephew manages to escape Raccoon City before the bombing, after stealing a defective canister containing the virus. With no other place to go, the nephew goes back to his uncle, but not before getting infected, turning into a zombie and starting an outbreak on the island. The Billionaire, knowing that his nation is in peril, asks the U.S government for help (along with a great amount of money). U.S authorities see this an an opportunity to test an experimental anti-virus/vaccine so they send the protagonist (which is a CDC agent) along with a small team to the island in order to try the anti-virus and attempt to save as much people as possible.

The protagonist arrives on the island by boat and starts administering the anti virus to the survivors as he believes that the island could still be saved, but it doesn't work on most people because of unknown reasons and the outbreak continues to spread. The situation gets even worse when the protagonist boat is stolen by scared people trying to escape the island and get blown off to pieces by the billionaire's personal militia as he snaps and orders a lock up on the island. Now you have to survive not only the infected people, animals and plants, but a crazy man who blames you for what happened.  This would be a back to basics story, focusing on survival and how people's lives are shattered by the outbreak, it could also have twist or a complication happening halfway through the game just to spice things up a little. The player could also be able to try to give anti-virus shots to those infected that haven't turned into zombies as the island is explored, that way receiving weapons, items or information for your troubles.

Remember this movie? That should give your sort of an idea.

Hidden primal horrors

This one happens at the time of Resident Evil 5. On this scenario one of the characters of the series that has not appeared that much in the previous games, will have become a renegade, now working for a drug cartel as life seems to have lost its meaning to him/her (Maybe one of the STARS members we thought to be dead and is alive somehow). The protagonist is sent to the Amazon along with a partner to retrieve a drug shipment that was lost in the area because of a previous botched operation.

The problem begins when they find out that they are not alone in the jungle. Other than the obvious dangers that lurk in the foliage, they find themselves chased by local authorities who somehow became aware of their presence and tried to lure them into a trap. As they run and lose them his/her partner is shot and dies, but the protagonist manages to wound some of the soldiers and makes way to an abandoned native village that seems a little too modern and organized.  Here the protagonist finds the village spreads into a series of abandoned and ran down facilities that seem to have been used by Umbrella in the past and are scattered through the jungle. After exploring for a while the protagonist gets face to face with one of the soldiers, but the soldier asks for them to join forces instead of arresting him because all his remaining partners have been killed by some unknown force. Now the two of them have to look for some way to survive as the sun sets and the night begins.

This one could feature a whole new set of enemies, maybe enemies infected by a failed early version of the T/G-virus and because of the jungle setting, there can be a whole other variety of dangers that can be exploited alongside the normal enemies in the game. The cool thing here would be to keep the player moving back and forth between the several facilities with the use of clever puzzles and different types of hazards so they can become afraid of going outdoors for too long.

This image sort of explains the concept, at least on its advanced stages.

What to do when the place itself is the enemy

This one is really a long shot, but it makes sense if you keep an open mind. Here the protagonist can be a totally new one and it the scenario would be in the same time as Resident Evil 6. On this one, the protagonist is a secret service agent that gets locked in an emergency bunker facility with several VIPs and staff after a false alarm. The thing is that one of those VIPs is working for a terrorist group and he/she releases a deadly unknown B.O.W bomb that basically turns the whole place in to a mutated being, with tissue and mutations everywhere as if it were the insides of a living creature merged with the already existing structure.

Little by little the mutation keeps getting bigger and enveloping everything it its path, while infecting people and spawning its own aberrations. The protagonist then must find a way out of the giant mutating structure while protecting the VIPs. On this scenario the player would have to literally protect the VIPs while making progress as any people lost or rescued in the end may change the ending. At some points the player will have to make split second decisions that can mean life of death for the VIPs. It would also be cool if the VIPs would have some degree of A.I that is enough for them to act on their own, so they some times can, follow you, ignore you, have problems with you, be useful, get infected, find items, tell you secrets etc, all depending on how you play and interact with them. All of this with the added detail that one of them is the terrorist and you don't know who.

Wrapping it up

There you go folks, 3 crazy ideas about possible scenarios that the Resident Evil franchise could take on the new game (if it happens). Note that this is entirely based on personal opinion and creative thinking, so if you have your own crazy Resident Evil scenarios go ahead and share them on the comments section, who knows what kind of other crazy ideas we can come up with.

5 unexplained video game mysteries that still baffle gamers.

Video game plot holes and mysteries are something that has always captivated the minds of gamers. They are basically the backbone of a gamer's curiosity and a great part of what keeps a game alive. As years go by, these curious details are turned into lore and lore is what keeps gamers talking about a game story even when it is no longer a new thing. The beauty about this aspect of gaming is that it is not perfect and from that imperfection, games get some sort of intangible form of replay value. So now that we are into the video game mystery mood, let's see 5 of those unexplained gaming enigmas that still have us scratching our heads.

Perhaps this is the past and present of the Shinra Corporation.

1) Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X... Connected? 

Final Fantasy is one of the most famous JRPG game sagas of all time and still one of the most acclaimed since the very first game which saved Square Soft from ruin  (way before the Square Enix thing) when they were at the brink of bankruptcy. The saga has spawned 14 original titles and countless sequels, side stories and related games. The mystery with this franchise is based on a small reference made on one dialogue that opened the debate about if Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X are indeed connected in some way.

The dialogue happens in Final Fantasy X-2. It tells us about "Shinra of the Gullwings" who is an Al-Bhed boy who happens to be a genius and plans to use whatever is left of the Vegnagun to create a new machine that can siphon energy from the planet. it all seems like the dreams of a child, but the project gets funded which entertains the possibility that this "Shinra" could be one early predecessor of president Shinra of Final Fantasy VII, implying that the world of Final Fantasy X and X2 is part of a cleverly made prequel. Based on some expressions made by some Square Enix developers and writers, little Shinra would have tried to make the mechanism on Spyra, but failed. Then many generations into the future, when space travel had finally become possible, another Shinra from a later generation would embark on a space journey in which he/she discovers planet Gaia (Final Fantasy VII) and while living there, restarts the project and this time finds success, creating the very first mako reactor.  This theory is a very long shot, but it is entertaining to read and discuss.

You can check out the quote from the Square Enix staff HERE.

The family guy who is a fan of the magnum gun (among others).

2) Whatever happened with Barry Burton? (Resident Evil)

The Resident Evil games were one of the first ones that gave gamers a horror cinematic experience with its high end graphics (for the time) tense atmosphere and fascinating story. Nowadays, Resident Evil is not so much about horror as it is about action, but its characters have passed the test of time and are recognized by even the newest of Resident Evil fans.  The mystery with this one is that nobody knows the whereabouts of one of the fan favorites that used to be a key character in the first Resident Evil game and that character is Barry Burton.

In the first Resident Evil game, Barry Burton was part of the bravo team, who enters the mansion searching for answers. There he is forced to work with Wesker because he threatened to harm his family.  After a long way of lies and deception, Barry almost follows Wesker's plan to fruition, but is saved before that can happen so he manages to escape the mansion along with the others.  After that, it is only known that Barry holds an investigation in Maine and helps Jill get some information about the Umbrella Corporation, but other than that Barry is missing in action.

Capcom could be holding Barry off for a later Resident Evil game. Maybe things got so rough that he went to a secluded place with his family, who knows? Barry swore he would bring Umbrella down so maybe he was the whistleblower that prompted the government to take action. His current status is "still alive" and the B.O.W experiments have not ceased so the mystery goes on.

"Wake up and smell the ashes" - G-Man

3) Who is the G-man? (Half Life)

Half Life is one of the gems of the first person game genre. Featuring a superb storyline, high quality visuals (for the time) and a good amount of action in a big world to explore. The franchise gave gamers a lot of freedom without sacrificing story elements with earned the franchise a great deal of praise. The mystery on this game series is focused on one mysterious character who is simply called "The G-man". This shady guy has made multiple appearances in the games, even having a full dialogue sequence in the opening of Half Life 2 as well as parts where he seems to be just observing what happens to the protagonist Gordon Freeman, sometimes even stopping time just to give a message and then vanishing afterwards.

Some people say that he could pretty much be a future old version of Dr. Freeman who goes back in time to help his past self, while others say that he is just part of the beings from the other dimension that were connected to our dimension in the Black Mesa experiments. On Half Life 2: Episode Two, the G-man makes a reference that implies that he is not working alone by implying that the things he does are part of the decisions taken by a group instead of just been himself. The only thing that is certain is that the G-man seems to have a special interest in Dr. Freeman and that we will see more of him in Half Life 3... If there ever is one (we can dream, right?).

A teenage girl with some issues yes, but... Killing innocent people?

4) Is Heather really killing normal people? (Silent Hill 3)

Silent Hill is often considered the strongest rival of the Resident Evil franchise. It took everything that was considered wrong in gaming (bad camera angles, tricky controls, grainy graphics) and made it serve as features in a solid psychological horror environment. The whole franchise is a big mystery that often involves psychology, occultism and even philosophical thinking. This time the mystery has to do with the sanity of Heather Mason who is the protagonist on Silent Hill 3.

This theory comes from a dialogue cut scene within the game where Heather talks with Vincent. She is clearly distressed and tells Vincent about the creatures that she had been fighting with and Vincent suddenly makes a burlesque expression and comes with the phrase "Monsters? They look like monsters to you?". This sole phrase gave birth to the theory that questions if Heather was really killing the demons she saw or if it was all an illusion and she had been killing normal ordinary people that she saw as demons. 

The "Monsters?" part happens after 2:25.

Vincent goes back on his remark by saying it was all a joke, but still some fans of the franchise see it as if he went back on his comment because of the shocked reaction that Heather had. Evidence that supports the "Heather killed humans" theory suggests that the cult that was responsible for what was happening in Silent Hill is reported to have used hallucinogenic drugs on their members to make them "see the gods and angels" which could have been administered to Heather in one way or another. Also the dark powers in Silent Hill have a habit of making people see and feel things which as bad it could have been by its own, could be even worse with the use of these drugs and after all, Heather starts the game in a shopping mall which should be *ahem* full of people. Was she just a scared teenager fighting for her life or a murderer? You be the judge.

The evolution of the "Blue Bomber".

1) The transition between Mega Man and Mega Man X

Saving the most complex for last, comes Mega Man. Otherwise known as Rock Man or "the blue bomber", this blue robot has been the subject of many great and successful games going from the original Mega Man series to the Mega Man ZX games on the Nintendo DS. Right now there isn't much activity around Mega Man except for his appearance on a comic book and as a playable character in the next Super Smash Brothers game, but it is still considered a fan favorite and a classic. If you are skeptic about the "fan favorite and classic" part of the character's reputation see this crowd reaction.

The great Mystery around the Mega Man series comes in the transition between the original Mega Man and the Mega Man X series. The thing is that there is no explanation that can tell us if Mega Man X is in fact an enhanced version of the original Mega Man or if they are two different robots. One of the theories suggests that Dr. Light put the original Mega Man in stasis, made the enhancements and left him there in case a hero was needed in the future, as his technology was far too advanced for humans to understand at the time. Other theory suggests that the original Mega Man failed in the end and was destroyed so Dr. Light dedicated his last years into developing a new version of Mega Man that could not be defeated so easily.

There are many points of view in this mystery, some of them including disturbing events like Zero waking up and killing everyone (Dr. Light, Roll, Mega Man), but been unable to find X who was hidden and sleeping inside a capsule underground. This is based on mere 2-4 seconds of a video sequence in one of the Mega Man X games where it presents Zero in a place that looks like a lab that has been trashed and has several blood stains on the floor. As you can see, this is one mystery that has a lot of possible explanations, but not one of them can be called "the definitive truth"...yet.

Mystery is what keeps our curiosity alive and makes life to be fun.

Wrapping it up

There you have it folks. 5 weird video game mysteries are still causing debate in this day and age and will be there puzzling our minds until some official statement is made (which is very unlikely). From horrific possibilities, to lost characters and massive plot holes, these mysteries found in games are a very interesting and thought provoking thing to talk about and with the few ones that you just read about, we are just scratching the surface.

If you know about any other unsolved game mysteries please share them on the comments section as this kind of conversation is always fascinating. 

Capcom for sale: who would buy what

Capcom, a really big embodiment of some of our childhoods is now there for the taking. Any of the big gaming companies can dish out the benjamins and the creative father of games like Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil can fall entirely into their hands. That is the current situation, but while most people talk about this occurrence as "the sale of Capcom as a whole", the company properties can pretty much be sold in pieces which means that individual franchises can be bought if the other 49% of stock holders agree to it. Now using each of the important companies or individual's situation as a guide, we will mention some of Capcom's greatest properties and see who would buy them and why.

Mega Man

It is a no-brainer that the ideal buyer for this franchise right now is Nintendo. The reason is that they are the only ones that have given some love to the blue bomber in years with his appearance on Super Smash Brothers for 3DS and Wii U. Not only that, but the Nintendo platform is the most suitable one for the her in blue right now. This is because of the style of gaming that is going on in the Wii U and 3DS platforms which is a little more colorful and fantasy based than its competitors.

On a second position as a potential buyer, we have Mega Man's creator himself, Keiji Inafune. It is not known how wealthy he is, but if he gets his hands back on his own creation, he will have a money maker that will greatly return his investment and make him a hero to all Mega Man fans.

Resident Evil - Dino Crisis

On the survival horror department Capcom has two franchises that are currently trending and those are Resident Evil and Dino Crisis (with a possible next-gen comeback). As far as competition goes, the companies that are most likely to tap on these games are Sony and Microsoft. If they decided to buy any of these two franchises it is safe to say that each company would get one and then we would have a survival horror brawl between the PS4 and the Xbox One at a later time.


Street Fighter
This one is most likely going the way of Sony, as they have been showing a very persistent interest in this fighting game franchise even making some subtle references to it on some of the promotional videos that they shown just after they unveiled the console for the first time.

Nintendo is very unlikely to go for this one as it really doesn't fit into their current plans while Microsoft remains a wildcard in the case of this game. Another thing that could happen is that Capcom itself protects this franchise and keep it to themselves as it has greatly profited them (still does).

Darkstalkers

This franchise can go anywhere as we haven't seen anything from it for a long time. If any company does buy it, it can finally spawn the game that its fans have been waiting for years, but there is still the possibility that the franchise will be kept in the shadows of Street Fighter and once again ignored.

If this once great franchise gets some attention, One company that gives a faint impression that they would get it is Atlus. This is because if Darkstalkers were to fall into their hands, they could give it the same treatment they did to Persona 4 Arena, rebooting the series and pleasing its fans.

Ghost and Goblins

The Ghost and Goblins franchise looks like something that Microsoft would pick up. In the course of the Xbox 360 lifespan, we saw some old school franchises featured on the Xbox Live Arcade, and although they weren't exclusives, they had a good following in the Microsoft's machine.

Another company that could shelter this franchise would be Nintendo as they can do all sorts of things with it, from spawning a new Ghost and Goblins game, to featuring Arthur as a new character in Super Smash Brothers. Once again the colorful and fantasy based nature of Nintendo games, puts them as potential buyers for this popular franchise that has been there since the very beginning on Capcom's best times.

Monster Hunter

It is no secret that Nintendo has a stranglehold on this franchise, but if it becomes a sale option and Nintendo doesn't act quick, they can lose it to Sony who really needs it to beef up the sales of the PS VITA which would be a a very productive move, since the franchise helped sell PSP consoles in the past.

Like Street Fighter, Monster Hunter is also one of those franchises that could be protected by Capcom itself, because it is so popular in Japan that it was one of the games that was holding the company afloat, before the stocks were released.

Other games

There are many other franchises (even more than the ones featured on this blog entry) that could be picked up by major companies, but will not be seen at depth because this would mean that the list would go on forever. Just so not many Capcom franchises are left hanging, here is a small list of some other franchises also including the companies that would be most likely to get them:

• Dead Rising (Microsoft)

• Devil May Cry (Anyone, most likely Sony)

• Okami (Nintendo)

• Strider (Anyone, most likely Microsoft)

• Beautiful Joe (Nintendo)

• Power Stone (Anyone, most likely Nintendo or Microsoft)

Wrapping it up

Even though we saw a lot of interesting hypothetical sales on this entry, we have to be aware that it is very possible that no gaming company ever goes forward to buy anything and the stocks end up been bought by some ordinary business man/woman which leaves the company exactly as it was before the stocks became available, so don't get your hopes up. It is also noticeable that not everybody is happy with the possibility of any of the Capcom's franchises becoming exclusive to one gaming platform, but hey it could happen, just be sure to keep an open mind.