Articles
Midnight
Nowhere Causing
a Stir in the U.K.
By Randy
Sluganski
May 4, 2004
Warning: some images are
gory and may not be suitable for all viewers.
Midnight Nowhere is
certainly a game that has forged some disparate opinions, especially
if the
two reviews (review
1, review
2)
on Just Adventure
are any barometer. Rated ‘M’ (Mature) and recommended
for gamers age 18 and older, this Russian-developed adventure horror
title could become the most controversial game since Sega’s
1992 release of Night
Trap.
According to some press releases from overseas, it looks as though
the UK release of Midnight Nowhere is causing a stir and may even
spawn a bizarre cult following.
Oxygen, the UK publisher
of Midnight Nowhere has stated that, “When
magazines like PC Gamer start devoting space to a PC game then that’s
no surprise, and given how strange some parts of the game are it’s
expected that there will be some interest from publications like
Bizarre. But Midnight Nowhere, which promises an atmospheric world
of horror, suspense, fiendish puzzles, gruesome murders and a dash
of necrophilia, is being featured far beyond the usual gaming websites
and magazines.”
Coverage and galleries
have appeared on a variety of horror and gore websites such as
Creature-Corner,
Horror and
Really
Scary. Even more peculiar is that a gallery of images
from the game have
appeared on the fetish scene website – London
Fetish Scene and two of the UK’s leading fetish clubs have even requested permission
to use images from the game in their clubs and literature.
There is reportedly also
eager interest in the game from a number of horror publications
that for the most part ignore computer games
but have been inspired by the perverted content of Midnight Nowhere – including
Bite Me and The Darkside.
Jim Scott, Oxygen’s Managing
Director, said “We expected that
the subject matter and images in the game would generate an amount
of interest from gaming sites and magazines, but what we hadn’t expected
was the way that horror fans and even the fetish community have picked
up on it. It looks like the buzz on this has gone far beyond the
usual gaming audience”.
In response to the unexpected interest in Midnight
Nowhere, Oxygen
plans to increase the marketing spent on the title in order to fund
advertising and additional activities in the horror press and have
also raisews their sales expectations.
While North American sales of Midnight
Nowhere have not been strong
thus far and it has, for the most part, received uniformly poor to
average reviews, it is not yet known if the game has engendered the
same reaction among U.S. based fetish and horror groups.
