Naughty Dog, the studio that brought us popular franchises such as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and more recently, Uncharted, promises to give gamers an innovative survival action horror title that will have gamers at the edge of their seats. “The Last of Us” revolves around black market smuggler Joel, who is asked by his partner to smuggle a girl, Ellie, from out of a city under military rule.  This proves to be no easy task, with the world infected with a fungus which renders humans to a zombie-like state.

From viewing the very first gameplay trailer in 2011, “The Last of Us” definitely brings tension and tough decisions to the forefront.  Joel is tasked with protecting Ellie, but this does not mean she is a useless non-player character. If the player takes cover, she will do so as well. If she hears enemies near, she will alert Joel. She picks up her own weapons and uses them to assist Joel.

The choice of how to dispatch of enemies is completely up to the player. Straight forward methods such as using a gun are an option… until the player runs out of ammo.  If the enemy hears your gun click it will know you are out of ammo and advance upon you. Other ways to kill include Molotov cocktails, stolen weapons, and performing choke holds on unsuspecting enemies.  A highlight of dealing with enemies is being able to use the environment as a weapon, and being able to create your own weapons with items scavenged from the environment. The player can bash a thug’s head into a table or wall if they so choose.  However, these choices will factor in later in the game for the player.

The environment in “The Last of Us” is surreal, as it is very clear that the earth is reclaiming the environment. The characters slug through stagnant water, as vegetation covers everything.  Throughout the first trailer the monsters are strategically absent, but this does not take away from the preview of the game.  The environment and human enemies give off more than enough tension and intrigue to keep the audience engaged.  For example, sounds from footsteps, floors creaking, and wind blowing through empty buildings give off a feeling of isolation as Joel and Ellie traverse the city, attempting to escape. However, one little noise can disrupt the silence and put the player immediately on high alert.

The second trailer is a “story trailer,” which gives more insight into the dilemma of smuggling Ellie out of the city.  The tension of the game is amplified by the reveal of the “zombie-esque” monster designs.  They appear extremely grotesque as well as formidable, and are seen lunging at Joel and Ellie in the trailer. The designs for the creatures are a welcome breath of fresh air, as they do not look or feel like your typical zombie-like creatures.  Their visage is obscured with oozing fungi that really do look infectious to the touch. The audience is also given more of a look at the military rule of the city, with constant soldier vigilance, and civilians being arrested.  In addition, the relationship between Joel and Ellie is also being put to the test, as the stress from trying to escape both infected and non-infected humans is evident.

“The Last of Us” is very much anticipated and as such, gamers were disconcerted to hear that Naughty Dog is planning for the game to have a multiplayer component.  As of now they are still very tight lipped about it, but believe it will not compromise the single player experience.

“The Last of Us” is a PlayStation exclusive set to be released on May 7, 2013.  For pre-ordering with Amazon.com, gamers will receive “a digital download of the game soundtrack, featuring original music by Academy Award winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla, a PS3 dynamic theme showing Joel and Ellie on their journey through a ravaged city and two exclusive PlayStation Network avatars featuring Joel and Ellie in winter survival gear.”  For gamers that pre-order with GameStop will receive the same bonuses as Amazon as well as a “survival pack” for the game’s multiplayer mode.

Two special editions were announced on January 22, 2013 on the PlayStation Blog.  The “Survival Edition” will cost $79.99 (USD) while the “Post-Pandemic Edition” will cost $159.99 (USD) and come with everything from the “Survival Edition” to a twelve-inch figurine of Joel and Ellie, but does not include the art book. The “Post-Pandemic Edition” will only be available from GameStop. Collectors will have a difficult choice to make between the art book and the figurine. On the bright side, the art book will be available for purchase in July.

Image Courtesy : Polygon

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Largo, U.S.A - The “end of days” has arrived, a mere six months into 2012, as Six Flags America unleashed its newest roller coaster: Apocalypse – The Last Stand. To celebrate the coaster’s debut, the park launched the inaugural first ride with a train full of zombies. These undead took on two minutes of hairpin turns, pulse-pounding inversions and a swirling corkscrew, careening down 2,900 feet of track at 55 miles per hour – all while standing!

While June 7, 2012 did not bring the end of the world, it did bring Six Flags America’s roller coaster count to eight, adding a completely unique experience that gives passengers an incredible view as they ride standing up.  As guests approach Apocalypse – The Last Stand, they are met with signs of impending doom and mayhem: airplane wreckage, burned out vehicles, evidence of the undead and scorching special effects.

“We selected this ride for Six Flags America, complete with a timely 2012 Apocalypse theme, to broaden our roller coaster collection and give guests a multi-sensory thrill ride experience,” said Rick Howarth, Six Flags America park president. “Zombies, roller coaster enthusiasts and all-around thrill-seekers are invited to stand up to their fear and ride Apocalypse!”

Apocalypse – The Last Stand is located in the heart of the park and is impossible to miss at ten stories high with bright orange and charcoal grey steel set against a backdrop of an enormous, looming skull. Members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) and regional coaster club, the Coaster Zombies, gathered today, many dressed as zombies, to be among the first to ride Apocalypse – The Last Stand.

“ACE members know and love their roller coasters,” said Elizabeth Ringas, Mid-Atlantic ACE regional representative. “Apocalypse was built to deliver the excitement and rush of adrenaline that Six Flags is known for. We are thrilled to have a completely new coaster experience at Six Flags America!”

Apocalypse – The Last Stand was designed by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) of Switzerland. This is Six Flags America’s first B&M coaster and complements the park’s arsenal of world-class roller coasters, thrill rides and Hurricane Harbor Water Park.

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Japan has announced that Naoko Kikuchi has been arrested. Kikuchi, a forty year old woman, was wanted for being involved in the 1995 cult attack on a Tokyo subway. The attack killed thirteen and injured more than six thousand. Kikuchi was a senior member of the doomsday cult and was wanted for her role in the production of the sarin nerve gas used in the attack. She has admitted that she helped in the production of the gas but at the time did not know what it was or for what it was being used. When approached by police she did not try to hide her identity.

Kikuchi has been hiding for years using aliases. According to police Kikuchi stated, “I had to hide my identity and used an alias all these years while I was on the run. Now I’m arrested and I don’t have to do that anymore. I feel relieved.”

Hiroto Takahashi, 41, was also arrested in relation to Kikuchi. He started living with Kikuchi six years ago and moved into a new apartment in the city of Sagamihara with her in 2010. He turned himself in the next day when police issued the warrant for his arrest.

Kikuchi was one of two remaining cult members to be caught by authorities. The other missing member is Katsuya Takahashi, 54. Katsuya Takahashi is not related  to Kikuchi’s partner, Hiroto Takahashi.

The cult, then known as Aum Shinrikyo, created a stock pile of chemical, biological, and conventional weapons in 1995 for the apocalyptic battle they believed would begin against the government. In 1995, the group had at least ten thousand members in Japan and another thirty thousand members in Russia.The cult is still in existence but is now known as Aleph and has since disavowed the former leader and planner of the attack Shoko Asahara. There are still hundreds of members involved in the cult but it is under constant surveillance by the police.

Almost two hundred members of the cult have been convicted with connections to the gas attack and several other crimes. At least thirteen members, including Asahara, are on death row for the Tokyo subway attack.

Makoto Hirata, another cult member and suspect in an unrelated kidnapping-murder, turned himself in New Year’s Eve of 2011, surprising all of Japan. Ten days later, Akemi Saito, a woman who was living with Hirata, turned herself in as well. She was wanted for her connection to crimes perpetrated by the cult.

Image Courtesy of  SeanPavonePhoto / Shutterstock.com

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While zombie enthusiasts may cry foul, the rest of the world can rest assured that the Apocalypse is not yet upon us, after a man had his face literally chewed off in Miami over the weekend. It seemed like the perfect set up for any classic horror film – from ‘28 Days Later‘ to the tongue-in-cheek ‘Shaun of the Dead‘ – a homeless man attacked by a naked assailant in broad daylight, the creature gnawing at the flesh of his skull and seemingly impervious to bullets as Miami-Dade police tried to end the grisly scene.

Almost immediately after news hit the World Wide Web, millions of individuals on the internet, from real conspiracy theorists to those just enjoying the fun, accused the culprit of being the first sign of a long-awaited “Zombie Apocalypse”.

The actual truth is likely much more anti-climactic, though just as indicative of a rising problem: Investigators in South Florida have pointed in the direction of a designer drug being sold legally in stores under the guise of synthetic “bath salts”.

While nothing stands as official, Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of police, has suggested that the symptoms exhibited by the attacker, Rudy Eugene, 31, are exceedingly similar to past cases Aguilar has seen with individuals high on the same drug. And those symptoms? Perhaps not as far removed from that of classic zombies than one would anticipate.

“The cases are similar minus a man eating another,” Aguilar told ABC News.

“People taking off their clothes. People suddenly have super human strength. They become violent and they are burning up from the inside. Their organs are reaching a level that most would die. By the time police approach them they are a walking dead person.”

Though Aguilar is careful to exclude the potential side-effect of cannibalism as a usual symptom, he does admit to ABC News that in the recent waves of incidents spawned from the drug, there has been at least one previous case of an intoxicated individual attempting to bite another human. Fortunately, police intervention was successful that time around.

With other, more common, side-effects including paranoia, hallucination, agitation and an increased risk of suicidal behavior, one has to wonder what the allure of these “bath salts” is. Sold under names such as “Ivory Wave” and “Vanilla Sky”, the drug has managed to avoid status as an illegal substance on a technicality – though that hasn’t prevented the majority of states from taking legislative action to ban it.

Whatever the case may be, it stands currently that the increase in use of this new party drug may be the closest the world will ever get to that fabled “Zombie Apocalypse.”

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Odyssey Con 2012 got off to a stimulating start, with a series of panels discussing everything from space combat to the morality of Amazon.com.

The convention, which is affectionately nicknamed ‘OddCon,’ has been held in Madison since 2001, and is dedicated to all things fantasy and science fiction. This year’s theme is ‘Apocalypse Cow,’ in keeping with the convention’s longstanding tradition of having a bovine mascot.

One of the first offerings was a panel on combat in sci-fi and fantasy. Moderated by Alex Bledsoe, the panel also consisted of Nicholas Beeson, Shane McCook, Patrick Tomlinson, and Lee Schneider. Bledsoe, Beeson, and Tomlinson are all sci-fi or fantasy authors, while McCook is heavily involved in stage production. Schneider is a military history buff.

The panelists started by discussing some of the most egregious examples of inaccurate portrayals of combat, before elaborating on the nitty gritty of combat. Although there are plenty of instances where authors did not do their homework (fiery explosions in space, for example), there are also authors and directors who get it right. Schneider singled out Babylon 5 in particular as an example of excellent ship design, and Tomlinson praised David Weber’s Honor Harrington series for its realistic space combat.

After mulling lasers and spaceships, the panel took a technological leap back in time to discuss fantasy combat. Tomlinson, who has a plethora of real-life combat experience (including two knife fights), explained that swords are much heavier than they seem, and so it would take an extraordinarily fit person to swing them around as energetically as we see in the movies.

The panelists also reminded the audience that, in real life, combatants try to defeat their opponents as quickly as possible, without the elaborate thrusts and parries that are depicted on the silver screen. “If your opponent sees your knife blade before it’s in them, you’re doing it wrong,” said Schneider.

The next panel Toonari Post attended was about the suspension of disbelief in speculative literature, which included Shane McCook, Alex Bledsoe, and Monica Valentinelli. Unfortunately, this one proved to be less well organized than the others, and the discussion meandered around quite a bit. In essence, the panelists believed that the key to suspending disbelief was the reader’s ability to identify with the protagonist. But if that connection is severed, everything collapses.

Valentinelli cited the example of the ‘midi-chlorians’ from the Star Wars universe. In the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker was just an ordinary young man who had greatness thrust upon him. But the advent of the midi-chlorians in the second trilogy turned the Force from something mystical to something biological. In essence, being a Force adept was no different than being left handed or having red hair. According to Valentinelli, this makes it difficult for viewers to identify with the Jedi, since the Jedi are now superhuman from birth.

The panelists also agreed that general believability can also help foster a connection with the reader/viewer. According to Valentinelli, one of the reasons Dan Brown’s work is so phenomenally successful is that it is grounded in just enough fact that it seems plausible. The line between fact and fiction can be hard to see: Valentinelli cited a survey in Britain that showed a 20 percent rise in the number of people who believed that Christ had children, following the publication of Brown’s books.

By far the best panel of the day was the one about Amazon.com. It asked a simple question: are they an evil empire, or a writer’s best friend? Sitting on the panel were Benjamin Billman, Anna Black, Lori Devoti, Fred Schepartz, and Kimberly Gonzales.

Although all the panelists were broadly supportive of the online superstore, they voiced a certain ambivalence about its effect on readers and authors alike. While Amazon offers readers access to a dizzying array of goods, every dollar spent with Amazon is a dollar denied to main street retailers.

Because of Amazon’s vast buying power, they are almost always going to be the cheapest option. Yet brick and mortar stores do have one thing going for them: atmosphere. As panelist Benjamin Billman explained, “when I want something specific, I go to Amazon. But if I just want to browse, I go to Frugal Muse [a bookstore in Madison].”

But while Amazon’s business practices may generate controversy, many panelists believed that the company had done a great deal to help authors. For example, Amazon offers royalties of 70 percent on books published through the Kindle, which is far above what an author can expect to receive from a traditionally-published book.

Also, Amazon offers authors whose work is aimed at a niche audience (and is therefore ill-suited to traditional publishing) a chance at publication. According to Lori Devoti, Amazon also makes efforts to ensure that the books they publish are free of typos, and they will even go so far as to take books down if readers complain of errors.

Given Amazon’s dominance of the book trade, it is not hard to see them becoming a monopoly. Overall, the panelists were quite sanguine about the prospect. Billman said that it did not matter, provided they maintained the same high quality that they have now. But, as Devoti pointed out, consolidation in the publishing industry reduced overall selection. Anna Black said that the internet, which allowed Amazon to rise to power, could ultimately prove to be its undoing, by ushering in the next wave of technological progress.

Paradoxically, the evening ended with the opening ceremonies. The main event was a playful skit performed by OddCon’s organizers. This being Wisconsin, much of the humor was cow-themed. After a group sing-along to REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” the conference goers dispersed for some late-night fun, including a sci-fi poetry slam and a wine and chocolate reception.

Stay tuned for Toonari Post’s continuing coverage of OddCon!

Eli Parke contributed to this report.

Image Courtesy of    http://odysseycon.org

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With tsunamis, earthquakes and financial concerns dominating the headlines over the past year, National Geographic Channel and Kelton Research on February 7 released the results of a survey gauging Americans’ preparedness levels and mind-set related to a potential “Doomsday” scenario.

Most Americans are fearful of catastrophes, yet are poorly prepared, according to the new survey.  Eighty-five percent of the nation is not ready for a devastating event, blame the recession for their unpreparedness and are more fearful of a man-made catastrophe if a Republican wins the presidential election.

This comes as NGC launches its new series Doomsday Preppers focusing on Americans with an unshakable certainty that America soon faces tougher times – when grocery stores are empty, water is in short supply and electricity is unavailable – and are stockpiling for survival.

In the survey of more than 1,000 men and women conducted online from January 3 to January 10 with a 3.1 percent margin of error, the question was asked, “Which of the following, if any, do you think might happen in the United States in the next 25 years?”  Earthquakes (64%), hurricanes (63%) and terrorism (55%) are the most feared, followed by financial collapse (51%), significant blackout (37%), a pandemic (29%) and nuclear fallout (14%).

Regardless of the incident, more than 62 percent Americans think the world will experience a major catastrophe in less than 20 years.  And nearly three out of every four people (71%) envision a major disaster in their lifetime as an act of God, not man.  Nearly one-third (27%) believe that the Mayan calendar’s prediction about a calamitous event in December 2012 will be at least “somewhat true.”

“The results demonstrate that in a disastrous scenario most people are unprepared,” says Scott Hunt, co-owner and engineer with Practical Preppers, a firm specializing in emergency preparedness.  “You need to take a practical approach to preparedness so that in a crisis situation you are not part of the problem, but the solution.  I hope more people feel compelled to start looking at this seriously and take solid steps to be ready.”

With the presidential election this November, politics also factored into the results, with more than half of the nation (52%) believing that if Mitt Romney or one of his Republican counterparts overtake Barack Obama, a man-made catastrophe is more likely.

Among those who feel unprepared, 40 percent cite the lasting effects of the recession as the reason for their unpreparedness.  But the same number (40%) is saying “to hell with a 401(k)” to save money for catastrophe arrangements.  Nearly half (49%) of Americans would forgo new high-end appliances in a new home if it had a safe room or bomb shelter instead.

Dr. Berger, senior lecturer on modern apocalyptic narratives at Yale University, expands on why Americans are straying away from such items for their homes:  ”If large numbers of people are to be protected from some natural or social disaster, there must be some public mechanisms put in place – for evacuations, food, water, medicine, etc., as well as proper infrastructure that will mitigate damage.”

While one in four Americans have done nothing to prepare, among those who have prepared, actions they have taken are very basic: 60 percent have stored canned food; 58 percent drinking water; and 56 percent batteries.  However, only 12 percent of the population has practiced drills, and 39 percent have learned basic survival skills.

Were “doomsday to arrive,” nearly four in 10 (39%) don’t think they would last two weeks based on the supplies they have on hand.

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