Games You Won't Be Playing This Halloween: Konami Edition

We're now in the advent of Halloween, a time where people will be watching movies, reading books, and playing video games based with some theme of fear and horror in them. The day of Halloween itself is, around most parts, usually seen as an excuse for kids to dress up and get sugar high because of all the candy they'll consume. (Though there may be a hindrance this year.) Somehow it also became a consummation time for adults also, in that they'll engage in some kind of entertainment medium that will horrify them.

But way too many sites around the internet are giving recommendations on what to watch, read, and play. So here's a mini-feature about the games you definitely won't be playing at this time of the year, either because of delays due to the frightening (ha ha) duo of Halo 3: ODST and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or plain bad timing.

When Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was revealed earlier this year, its developers promised that it would be a return to form for a franchise whose installments since Silent Hill 3 have been a pretty questionable (excusing Origins, of course). Shattered Memories is a retelling of the first game in the franchise that seeks to differ itself from the creepy immersion factor previous games in the franchise strove for. That's not to say it won't intend to be horrifying, but that its new features plan on making it more horrifying. The game is built from the ground up to use the Wii's motion controls to semi-realistically control protagonist Harry Mason's actions.  Of course, the PSP and PS2 versions will miss out on that feature, not to mention they're being handled by a different developer.

But it's been delayed quite a few times now. Its original date was earlier this month, until it was silently moved back until early-November. But it's not that anymore either, with it having a date of early-December. Apparently Konami felt it needed a little more time in the oven, which probably isn't a bad thing. Who knows if it will be delayed again.

Though it's not liable give you any scares, there's something harrowing about venturing through Dracula's Castle while blood is dripping from crevices in the background. It's the feeling that Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth intends to recapture: the classic feeling of journeying through a bizarrely designed iteration of a castle whose platforming is as frightening as its enemies. Actually, this game being here is kind of a lie, because it's actually available on WiiWare right now. Well, in Japan at least. It's due for a release in America and Europe any week now, though a good week would have been this very one.

Not that the fact that it didn't release this week is a surprise, since Konami hasn't even announced the game outside of Japan. Though given current release standards, it'll release in Europe tomorrow, and in America next Monday. If that doesn't happen, then that means Cave Story comes Monday, right?

(Yeah, sure.)

If I owned a Wii, I'd sure be disappointed if I didn't have that new Castlevania game for Halloween! Though it's likely there's at least one you haven't given a shot yet. If there is, just make sure you stay the hell away from any of the 3D ones -- a trend that hopefully Lords of Shadow will buck next year. Also, I'd definitely like Shattered Memories to be good, as I think the franchise deserves some success after suffering a minor hindrance in the last, oh, five years (again, excusing Origins). That's all for Konami, but I'll have some from Capcom tomorrow.