Vampire's Rain
By: Justin Pinter

Just recently, publisher AQ Interactive released information on its new PS3 and Xbox360 title called Vampire's Rain. The game is currently under construction by the Japanese developer Artoon (Blinx, Blue Dragon).

The game is a horror-themed action-adventure that aims to scare its gamers. The games producer Naoto Oshima (Sonic the Hedgehog), stated that they are returning the image of the vampire from being cool, to its traditional form of being a ferocious creature. He points out some characteristics of vampires: they're faster than humans, they cannot be defeated with ordinary weapons, and they cannot be discerned from other people.

The setting for the game is Los Angeles . According to Oshima, Artoon decided on LA because it rains only a few times a year in the city. Rain will be an important element in Vampire's Rain, as the game's vampires will be weakened by the downpour.

There will be near limitless freedom to move about the City of LA. You will be able to access any place on the map including roofs and interiors of buildings.

IGN reports that "both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game will offer network play. While details on the game's Online mode are scarce, it appears that players will get to play as vampires and do terrible, evil, ungodly, evil, terrible things to people."

Development is currently at the 40% stage and both console versions have a due date of winter 2006 for Japan and most likely 2007 for US and Europe release.