{"id":82825,"date":"2015-10-26T13:30:06","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T11:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=82825"},"modified":"2015-10-26T13:42:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-26T11:42:46","slug":"planning-the-perfect-gaming-evening-for-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/82825-planning-the-perfect-gaming-evening-for-halloween","title":{"rendered":"Planning the perfect gaming evening for Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the last week of October, and everyone knows what that means\u00a0\u2013 bring on the scares.<\/p>\n<p>Being gamers, rather than roaming the dark, dank streets, we really prefer to slap on a pair of headphones, turn off the lights and play a frightening game or two. Unless you know of a better way to spend a Saturday night? We thought so.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, it&#8217;s all about location, location, location, and the perfect setting is the first step in making the most out of Halloween.<\/p>\n<p>You will need:<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>The Dark Room<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/A-gaming-Halloween-the-dark-room.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-82831\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/A-gaming-Halloween-the-dark-room.jpg\" alt=\"A gaming Halloween - the dark room\" width=\"600\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Whichever room you choose to host your evening of gaming scares and screams should ideally have as little light as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Try a bedroom with dark curtains, and if you have a passage light, turn it off; you don\u2019t want it to interfering with the atmosphere you&#8217;re trying to establish.<\/p>\n<p>I always recommend keeping a pellet gun on hand as my neighbours have bigger spotlights than is necessary to light up a small skyscraper, and at times I need these spotlights to be off.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re setting up a room for friends to play in too, then try and get a camera going, hidden somewhere out of sight, ready to capture all those embarrassing freak outs that are about to occur during your night of terror.<\/p>\n<p>Even if they&#8217;re aware of the camera, it&#8217;s pretty easy to goad a scare or two out of them with the list of games we&#8217;re recommending.<\/p>\n<p>Need an example, check out this recent and locally produced preview teaser for <em>Until Dawn<\/em> involving local journalists getting the scare treatment.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7eILMbEhfOg\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>The Snacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While we&#8217;re not ones to actively promote drinking, all of the time, a beer or two does loosen the mind, making it much easier to scare.<\/p>\n<p>For those underage, this is absolutely not a license to drink! There are a number of fantastic non-alcoholic beverages, and besides, the games we&#8217;re recommending will have no problem scaring you senseless.<\/p>\n<p>As far as snacks are concerned, it&#8217;s sort of mandatory to have at least one Halloween themed consumable, like vampire teeth etc. And remember, it&#8217;s Halloween so we except you to OD on candy and junk food.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>The Headset<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You could always just use your home theatre system; after all, it packs quite the wallop, but what is the fun of that?<\/p>\n<p>What we recommend is a good quality headset. There&#8217;s nothing quite like playing a horror game with its atmosphere being shovelled in through as many senses as possible, unmitigated by the real world, particularly background noise.<\/p>\n<p>When it sounds like the thing about to eat you is actually right behind you, it&#8217;s all the more terrifying. So how about a few recommendations for those uncertain about what headset to purchase, should you not have one already.<\/p>\n<p>We highly recommend the <a href=\"http:\/\/raru.co.za\/electronics\/2928663-sony-playstation-wireless-stereo-headset-2-0-white-ps4-ps3-ps-vita\" target=\"_blank\">PlayStation Gold 2.0 Wireless Headset<\/a>. It has 7.1 Surround Sound, sound pre-sets for PS4, works perfectly well on PC and Xbox One (with the Xbox One Adapter), and is the most affordable headset for its feature list.<\/p>\n<p>It goes for around <strong>R1, 299<\/strong> and is available in black and blue, or white and blue. If you&#8217;re not ready to splurge on a absurdly expensive headset, then this is the one for you.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s slightly pricier than the average headset, but it&#8217;s a heck of a lot better for it.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, you can also go all out and grab the<a href=\"https:\/\/raru.co.za\/electronics\/2382828-steelseries-siberia-elite-prism-headset-white\" target=\"_blank\"> SteelSeries Siberia Elite Prism Headset<\/a>. Sure, it&#8217;s <strong>R2, 799<\/strong>, but you&#8217;re not going to find a better audio experience, and it glows all purdy like.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"my-4\">The Games<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to understand that horror games come in a number of packages and variations.<\/p>\n<p>You get the \u201cgory\u201d game, the \u201cjump scare\u201d game, and the \u201crun for your life there&#8217;s a mass-murderer and really rather freakish creature from my nightmares after me\u201d game.<\/p>\n<p>Different people will have different reactions to these types of horror titles, and it&#8217;s important to know what type of person suits a particular type of game.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Until Dawn<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HAKBU7VXdUI\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Until Dawn<\/em> is easy to play, but no less terrifying for it.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s about as close to a theatrical experience as you are going to get with a video game, without taking away from it being a game, and is ideal for anyone and everyone who enjoys a good jump scare.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also ideal for anyone who has trouble aiming down a gun barrel. And it&#8217;s got a great story to boot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/reviews\/82576-all-night-with-until-dawn-ps4.html\" target=\"_blank\">We loved it<\/a>; you should too.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Five Nights at Freddy\u2019s<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ws-yd9YPfdE\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>No, that&#8217;s not a cute bear looking for a hug; it&#8217;s a homicidal creature that wants to eat your soul.<\/p>\n<p>A typical night at Freddy\u2019s involves playing as a security guard that needs to defend him (or herself) from a number of animatronic, nightmarish animal-like creatures by tracking their movement through the building using security cameras and audio cues.<\/p>\n<p>In a nutshell, all you need to really\u00a0 know is that you use the mouse to flip through security cameras, and every now and then a cute, fuzzy wuzzy will try and murder you.<\/p>\n<p>An average round of the game lasts around 8 minutes, so it&#8217;s perfect for a few friends to give it a go in quick procession. It&#8217;s also perfect for scaring the pants off of said friends.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Slender: The Arrival <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nFtpFxZTpRg\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Slender <\/em>is a fairly simple game to play. That is to say, it&#8217;s ideal for fooling your parents into playing it, unaware that something terrifying is just around the corner, quite literally.<\/p>\n<p>All that&#8217;s required of you is to roam the environment you&#8217;re presented with and interact with a few oddities here and there.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it&#8217;s freaky and not for the weak-hearted, but its concept is rather simple and makes it the perfect scare for anyone and everyone.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>The Evil Within <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nxlo67zhOWc\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now for the gore.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Evil Within<\/em> is for anyone who hides their head when the zombies start chewing on people in <em>The Walking Dead<\/em>, or anyone who hates even thinking about blood and guts.<\/p>\n<p>The game is extremely intense and gorier than many expected.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re going to swim through a pool of blood; you&#8217;re going to be chased, a lot; and more than one thing will go bump in the night.<\/p>\n<p>And while that may sound like everything on this list. The things that go bump in <em>The Evil Within\u00a0<\/em>are usually &#8220;bumping&#8221; your head in with an axe.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Alien: Isolation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7h0cgmvIrZw\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one category that terrifies us all, it&#8217;s atmospheric horrors. These are the games that terrify your mind into doing most of the work, and few things are able to conjure up scares like our own minds.<\/p>\n<p><em>Alien:<\/em> Isolation is one of the most intense horror titles to release over the past few years. And you can thank the game\u2019s mechanics and intense atmosphere for a good portion of the scares.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s more to it than avoiding an unstoppable, perfect killing machine too. There are also pretty freaky red-eyed robots who will want to \u201cshow\u201d you around the space station, and when I say \u201cshow\u201d you, I mean bash your head in with their iron fists.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping that in mind, there is always a cabinet to hide away in. Basically, you spend your life hiding in these, as even the thought of climbing out of one into the open makes you sweat a small storm.<\/p>\n<p>What would your perfect Halloween gaming evening consist of? Let us know in the comments and forum.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Recent features worth reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/82780-5-anime-titles-that-need-games.html\">5 Anime titles that need games<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/82756-best-south-african-indie-games-as-good-as-any-other.html\">Best South African indie games: as good as any other<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/82674-game-collections-we-wish-existed.html\">Game collections we wish existed<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/82648-4-cancelled-games-that-deserve-to-be-released.html\">4 cancelled games that deserve to be released<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the last week of October, and everyone knows what that means \u2013 bring on the scares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":82827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[11923,16203,16201,7486,8765,9661,6233],"class_list":["post-82825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-alien-isolation","tag-feature-image","tag-five-nights-at-freddys","tag-halloween","tag-slender-the-arrival","tag-the-evil-within","tag-until-dawn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82829,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82825\/revisions\/82829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}