If you ask Frictional Games' developers, horror games haven't evolved much since the genre's late 1990s/early 2000s heyday where Silent Hill and Fatal Frame showed off just how scary a video game experience could be. Sure, titles like Dead Space and Frictional's own Amnesia capture new glory for the horror category but other former heavyweight franchises like Resident Evil seem to have lost their way.

What's the way forward for horror in video games? A new post on the Frictional blog outlines ten ways that games aiming to terrify the player can do it better. Among the concepts put forth about improving video game horror are the ideas that a slower ramp-up and less fighting would make the overall experience more effective:

2) Long Build-up
Most games want to kick off the action as soon as possible. Even games with a drawn-out introduction, like Silent Hill 2, introduce the horror elements very early on. The problem is that sustaining a really high level of terror is only possible shorter bursts and the more the audience has to contrast to, the greater the peaks intensity will feel. Ring (Japanese version) is a prime example of this. While it does kick off the horror early on, the whole movie is basically one long build-up to a final scare moment. Horror video-games need to embrace this sort of thing more, but in order to do so a two common traits need to let go. First of all, the game must rely a lot less on a repeatable core mechanic, since we want the player to deal with actual horror elements as little as possible. Secondly, we must perhaps revise the game length and be satisfied with an experience lasting three hours or less, so that all focus can be on establishing a single (or just few) peaks of terror.

4) Minimal Combat
I have talked plenty about this before (see here and here for instance), but it is worth stating again. The worst thing about combat is that it makes the player focus on all the wrong things, and makes them miss many of the subtle cues that are so important to an effective atmosphere. It also establishes a core game system that makes the player so much more comfortable in the game's world. And comfort is not something we want when our goal is to induce intense feelings of terror.

Still, combat is not a bad thing and one could use it in ways that evokes helplessness instead. For instance, by giving the player weapons that are ineffective the desperation of the situation is further heightened. This is a slippery slope though as once you show a weapon to the player it instantly puts them in an action game mindset. That does not mean weapons and combat should be abolished, but that one should thread very carefully, and finding the right balance is a big challenge for future horror games.

The post describes 10 elements in total and is well worth a read for anyone looking for clues for creating a foreboding atmosphere in interactive entertainment. It'll be interesting to see how many of these ideas get implemented in Frictional's future games.

10 Ways to Evolve Horror Games [In the Games of Madness]

Doesn't matter where you are, Westeros or America—Politics are dangerous business, full of sex and lies and betrayal. And sometimes murder!

This hilarious image depicts the parallels between the cast of Game of Thrones and the cast of current American politics. I laughed hardest at the last one.

"The truth of the matter is that winter is coming. I realize that it's inconvenient, but there it is."

---

Thanks, Leigh!

This is the debut trailer for Reset, an upcoming PC puzzle game. It's gorgeous. Almost too gorgeous. Seems like one of those annoying computer-generated teasers that winds up looking absolutely nothing like the real thing.

But believe it or not, development studio Theory Interactive says everything in this trailer was rendered with their in-game engine. No CGI.

Reset's creators describe it as a "single-player co-op first-person puzzle game." You travel back in time to solve puzzles cooperatively with yourself. What? Yes.

Gamasutra has more info on the upcoming puzzler, which sounds pretty damn ridiculous. According to writer-slash-artist Alpo Oksaharju, it's chock full of exploration and puzzles and all sorts of other delicious adventurey goodness.

"The game world has dynamic day and night and weather cycles that create unique moods for every player," he told Gamasutra. "Player movement in the game is fully proactive, so one must read the world to understand what has happened and will happen."

I have no idea where this game came from, but I want it now.

Reset Debut Trailer HD [YouTube]

Howard Warshaw—the man who created the beloved best-selling Yar's Revenge for the Atari 2600—said that a decent version of arcade hit Star Castle couldn't possibly be stuffed into a game cartridge for the iconic home console. Scott Williamson never believed that.

Three decades after the commercial death of the faux wood-grain game box that started a revolution, he's managed to squeeze Star Castle down into a format that successfully makes it playable for the Atari 2600.

Ok, great. But why?

Williamson—technical director at development studio High Voltage—gets into the details over on the Star Castle Atari 2600 site he's set up. Much of his motivation was the engineering challenge of a feat that's kinda like building a ship in a bottle. Star Castle became a hit because its attractive vector graphics and innovative gameplay that had the player thinking defensively and offensively at the same time. It's a game that many people remember fondly, including Williamson, who started out working at Atari many years ago:

My goal was to make a Star Castle game that could have been made in 1981 which meant I had to stay within 8K.

I started with a lot of ego and confidence that was soon dashed, the first couple of attempts were miserable humbling failures. It quickly became clear that if possible it was going to be a terrific challenge. I hit timing and space limitations one after another until, several months later, I was able to draw rotating shields, after that, the enemy cannon, then the space mines, and the players ship, the players bullets, and the cannons dreaded energy blast, and then AI, collision, sound... and by early 2010 I had done it. I had created a faithful reproduction of the game experience on the Atari 2600 in 8K.

Modern-day gamers like to piss and moan about how porting a game from its original platform creates mutant clones of great experiences. But what can also happen—at least in hobbyist communities that form up around forgotten consoles—is a sort of alt-reality preservation. If you want to help Scott Williamson in his efforts and get a cool light-up Star Castle cartridge for your dusty Atari 2600, head over to his Kickstarter to learn more and contribute.

Jay-Z is one of the world's most famous rappers. He has a fashion line, a chain of upscale sports bars, and a share of the New Jersey (soon to be Brooklyn) Nets. He has sold millions upon millions of albums and married Beyoncé, with whom he now has a daughter.

What was left for the superstar? To become a Facebook game, of course.

As Mashable reports, Empire, Jay-Z's newest venture, has just launched. It's a social game that follows the highlights of Jay-Z's biography, starting from life in the projects and carrying through "from hustler, to entrepreneur, to business mogul."

Yes, you, too can rule the world! Only you can do it virtually, in a world where you only get so many moves per day without putting money into it. And make sure to tell all your friends every single time you do anything.

Empire is currently available to play but does carry a "beta" warning so is subject to frequent change. And while the big cartoonish heads, turn-based movements, and constant attempts to try to make me buy credits and tell my friends do feel just like every other Facebook game I've played this year, it's definitely the first to make rap battles a major mechanic. And I totally won my first one. I'm just still not sure how.

Jay-Z Launches Facebook Game ‘Empire' for You to Take Over the World [Mashable]

It's tough to recover from a PR gaffe. Even tougher: when it's the biggest PR gaffe of 2011, a customer service firestorm that set the Internet into Complete And Utter Outrage Mode late last year.

But David Kotkin, who took a ride on the rollercoaster of Internet infamy along with outspoken marketer Paul Christoforo last December, says not only has he managed to bounce back from the gaffe, his company is as strong as it's ever been. And Kotkin is happy to have nothing to do with Christoforo or his company, Ocean Marketing.

"We are glad Ocean Marketing is history," Kotkin said in an e-mail to Kotaku. "Sales... have never been better."

Kotkin is the founder of N-Control, a company that makes an accessory for the Xbox 360 called the Avenger controller. It's designed to "enhance gamers' reaction time and situational awareness." It's also been rather helpful for some gamers with disabilities.

Kotkin is also on the verge of releasing a new model of his controller, called the Avenger Elite. It goes on sale May 12, and Kotkin says it's "more proficient and durable than ever before." His company seems to be doing well.

But in December, Kotkin and his controller made headlines, and not the good kind. His former PR representative, a man by the name of Paul Christoforo from a company called Ocean Marketing, said some nasty things to a customer, who then passed those words along to a number of prominent outlets (including Kotaku). When Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik posted the whole exchange online, the gaming industry exploded. Angry gamers took to Reddit, Twitter, and other Internet hangouts to condemn the Avenger and anything connected to it. They bombed the controller with negative reviews and delighted in watching Christoforo's colorful online behavior.

Kotkin immediately condemned Ocean Marketing and even donated $10,000 to charity, but the damage had been done. Whenever people thought of Avenger controllers, they'd now think about customer harassment.

It seems like an incident that might be difficult to recover from. But Kotkin says that's just what he did.

"The Ocean Marketing debacle ONLY destroyed Ocean Marketing," he said in an e-mail to Kotaku. "We are still appalled how they managed our account and treated our customers... as we had no idea until they were fortunately exposed." 

Kotkin says the company's marketing is "spread through headsets on online play," which helped them continue to sell Avenger controllers even despite his newfound poor reputation on the Internet. He says they've made their controllers lighter and easier to use. And he says sales have never been better.

"If our main source of income was through traditional marketing we would have been in much tougher spot," he said. "We plan to take advantage of this open market and place the Avenger in every store in the country. With that in mind, the taste of a little saltwater from Ocean Marketing is easy to spit out.

"I have not let the sea storm of Ocean Marketing sink my ship."

Valve will release free Portal 2 downloadable content titled "Perpetual Testing Initiative" for PC and Mac on May 8, the publisher said today.

Valve says you'll be able to "easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles" with the new DLC, which lets you publish maps directly to Steam. Other players will be able to browse, vote, and download user-created maps to play in their own versions of the game.

For more on the upcoming level editor, check out our earlier coverage.

A classic PlayStation title appeared in the PS Vita store overnight, kindling hopes that players would now be able to enjoy their classic games on the go. Alas, the game is not actually playable, but its appearance does indicate that perhaps the anticipated feature is nearly ready for prime time.

NeoGAF users spotted the game, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, in the European Vita store and were able to purchase and download it, but the game generated an error code on launch and could not be run.

Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida recently tweeted that engineers were "working hard" on adding support for PS One games to the Vita, and begged for patience from fans.

So far it seems that the only known arrival time for the feature is "soon," constant bane of gamers everywhere.

A PS1 game has appeared in the Vita European Store. [NeoGAF via Eurogamer]

Remember the ill-fitting costume that the Kitana model wore to promote Mortal Kombat on the Vita? And the model who had to brave fields of gravel in heels as Mileena?

The two have finally met for the latest advertisement featuring Mortal Kombat on the Vita. Their in-game personas fight to the death while their real-life counterparts sport feisty poses in their costumes. Seems like ill-fitting costumes win this round.

When I think about all the games featured in this video, I remember the fun (and sometimes the anguish) I had while playing them.

I never thought about their memories in such a dramatic way until YouTube user RockyPlanetesimal made a montage of the games to the music of "A Wild And Distant Shore" by Michael Nyman.

The video quality isn't always the best, as it seems to be captured by a camera and not an actual capture device. But it's still touching, nostalgic, and somehow manages to tell a story.

In the end, you just have to keep going right. *cue Dory*

Go Right [YouTube via Reddit]