PS3 Fanboy

Holding out on downloading Siren: Blood Curse in hopes of a Blu-ray release? If you are in the US, don't bother. Sony has spoken to MTV Multiplayer, reiterating that there are no plans for a North American release on of Siren in disc form "at this time." The Sony representative reminds us that "you are able to delete and then re-download episodes since the purchase is linked to your PSN account. The developers kept this functionality in mind knowing that the episodes were fairly beefy."

MTV speculates that Sony may simply be testing the waters in terms of Siren's sales before releasing a retail version. Either way, if you really want the game on Blu-ray, you can always just import it from Europe.

If you are enjoying SIREN: Blood Curse, maybe the artist in you is thinking of designing your own Shibito. Fortunately, you'll get a chance to do so with the Siren "Shibito" Design Competition Sony is having to celebrate the launch of the game. You can submit a depiction of your Shibito in JPG format plus a profile less than 500 words. Unfortunately, the contest is in Hong Kong and Singapore only.

What really caught our attention is the following: a producer of SIREN: New Translation (the title's name in Asia) will hand-select the winners, and the "masterpiece design may have the chance to become one of the major Shibito characters in the next title of SIREN!" Does this mean more SIREN is on the way soon?

The winners also get a producer signed copy of the game plus a cash prize ranging from about $13-$64 USD, so this contest certainly won't make you rich beyond your dreams. The deadline for submission is August 24th. Check out the contest here.

[Via Siliconera]

For those of you who need a little more information about Siren: Blood Curse, like if it's a remake, a retelling, or a whole new game in the franchise, the PlayStation Blog has posted up a nice Q&A with the series' creator, Keiichiro Toyama, to ease you into the lore of the game. First thing's first: this is not a sequel nor a remake, he says. It's an adaptation/dramatization of the original, or as he put it, if the original game happened in real life, Blood Curse would be a "movie based on a true story".

Adding Western characters is to add to the feelings of isolation and terror -- when a Japanese and Westerner get stuck together, communication trouble is inevitable and only adds to your situational frustrations. The release structure as episodes is to give players the feeling of participating in an event; a TV drama they play.

As for gameplay, sight-jacking is a split-screen affair now. You can move your character while checking out the enemy positions at the same time. Unlike other survival horror games, Siren is keeping itself away from "action" and more towards "survival" -- that is, scares and story. The difficulty has been toned down, since the first was infuriatingly difficult. There's a ton of more information to read up on if you're interested as well as some of Toyama's personal opinions on the horror genre, influences, and what scares him the most.

This should make Monday a bit less of a chore and a bore: new Siren screenshots fresh from Famitsu. These screens show off a new female character who, in classic Siren fashion, stands by idly while you take control of someone who either bashes the bad guys with a weapon or issues commands to duck, climb, or whatever other orders you have access to. The demo was fun, so we're looking forward to seeing more of this game when it releases. Until then, screenshots will have to suffice.

A Siren: New Translation demo hit the Japanese PSN last night. We've had the pleasure of downloading it, and you can too if you've got a Japanese PSN account. We've finished the demo, so if you can't get to playing it, you can read our thoughts on it right here.

First thing you'll notice is that the voice acting is in English for non-Japanese characters, just like in the trailer. The main menu is also in English, but the tutorial is all in Japanese. With the tutorial in a foreign language, it was tough figuring out a few things at first; however, we've gone through the hard parts, and hopefully this preview will provide enough insight to get you through the demo for yourself.

While last week's trailer for Siren: New Translation sent shivers up our spines, these new screenshots give us a less frightening (but equally gripping) look at the game. Upon further inspection of these screens, Siren's grotesque zombified enemies appear to be mostly old geezers. It's kind of funny thinking about fighting off a horde of moaning and groaning geriatrics. With that in mind, the game seems slightly less creepy (or more, depending on how you look at it).

If you do push out the thought of them being "old people," it does make it easier to want to swing a hoe at these abominations -- like what this gent in the pic above is kindly demonstrating. Siren: New Translation seems to be an interesting title, hate for the elderly and all, so head over to Famitsu to see all the screens.