The Gaming Historian - Halloween Special

In my opinion, one of the scariest things in life is history. All the death...destruction...chaos. Where do you think we got the ideas for Dracula? What about the White Witch of Rose Hall? I mean, this stuff is real! Regardless, scary events, people, and ideas can all be combined into video games, creating truly horrific experiences. So, lets talk about Halloween!

Celtic farmers believed that on one day every year, the season of life would meet the season of death. When the dead would walk amongst the living. Tribes would light up great bonfires and dress up as demons to distract the dead. This holiday was known as Sawin. Because this holiday was considered Pagan, Pope Gregory III established All Hallows Day on November 1st, which honored all the saints throughout history. He hoped to distract the Celts with this holiday and get their minds off demons and the dead. The Europeans accepted All hallows Day, but decided to keep their traditional holiday as well. Sawin then became known as All Hallows Eve...which eventually turned into Halloween. During the mid 1800's, while Ireland was going through a Potato Famine, many Irish immigrants came over to America and brought the holiday with them. Bonfires became Jack o Lanterns, and soon the holiday of Halloween was established. But what about Trick or Treating? Back in the middle ages, this was known as souling, where poor beggars would go from door to door praying for the souls of the dead in exchange for food.

But you didnt come here to learn about THAT did you? You want to know about games! Horror and games go hand in hand. It's the thrill of horror meeting the excitement and fun of games. Games like Resident Evil...Silent Hill...Alone in the Dark. But where did the Survival Horror genre orignate from? Believe it or not...it dates all the way back to 1981 on the Sinclair ZX81. If you want to play the very first survival horror game, check out 3d Monster Maze on the ZX81. Not only was it one of the first survival horror games, it was also one of the first 3d games and one of the first FIRST Person games on a home computer.

The game starts out in a carnival I'm assuming, where a creepy looking clown challenges you to enter the maze with T-Rex for "entertainment and exhilaration." If you accept, you are thrown into the Maze with the monster. Due to hardware limitations, the game has absolutely no sound, making it even more creepy. There are only three buttons to learn, go left, go right, or go forward. While trying to find your way out of this maze, a body of text updates you on the T-Rex's whereabouts with statements such as "Rex Lies in Wait", "He is hunting for you" "Footsteps approaching" "REX HAS SEEN YOU" and "RUN HE IS BESIDE YOU" or "RUN HE IS BEHIND YOU." If you die, you are sentenced to roam the maze forever. You can appeal this sentence and have a 50% chance of either starting all over (the game resets) or you are put back into the last maze.

For such a simple game, it has quite a twisted plot. Malcolm Evans, the creator of this game, intended it to be a learning program. Colleagues suggested they add the T-Rex for entertainment, and so you have 3d Monster Maze. Unfortunately this game was never released in the United States. I'm pretty sure it is free to play online though, so turn out the lights and check it out. It's kinda creepy, and a landmark achievement for the video game industry. Now many people, including the Guiness Book of World Records, claim that Alone in the Dark is the first 3d survival horror game. However, I feel that this game should be considered the first.

Alot of people have been asking for the history of the Resident Evil and the Devil May Cry games. Lucky for you, one person had a hand in both. Shinji Mikami. Shinji Mikami, born on August 11th, 1965 is the creator of the Resident Evil Series. After working on a few disney games, including Goof Troop and Aladdin on the Super Nintendo, Mikami started development on a horror adventure game. Capcom had previously released a horror adventure game called Sweet Home on the Famicom, which was based on the movie of the same name. Mikami wanted to take the genre a step further.

The result became known as Biohazard (or Resident Evil to us North American folk). It featured fully 3d characters, pre-rendered backgrounds, and zombies. For promotional purposes, it was deemed a survival horror game. It became one of the best selling games on the Playstation. Resident Evil is one of the top franchises for Capcom to this day. It's popularity even spawned some live action films...which got some mixed reviews.

With the release of the Playstation 2 looming, work began on a new Resident Evil. Hideki Kamiya was set to direct with Shinji Mikami producing. They visited Spain to visit several historical castles for level design ideas. During early development however, many felt the game strayed too far from the resident evil formula. Instead of abandoning the idea, it simply turned into Devil May Cry. Devil May Cry is like the father of intense action games, such as God of War. Not only is it a frightening experience, it's extremely entertaining with puzzle solving, awesome boss battles, and even the awesome game over screen.

Today, Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya are working together at a new company, Platinum Games. Apparently they are developing a new game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 called Bayonetta, and will apparently "blow the doors off the action genre."