Halloween is great, but trick-or-treating doesn't suit most adults -- that's why Martha Stewart invented Halloween parties. Read on for GamePro's guide to a video game-themed Halloween party.
- Pumpkins
- The easiest decoration
If it wasn't for these bad boys, the best Halloween parties would just be horror themed costume parties. So like any dedicated gamer, what you need to do is grab yourself a couple of good pumpkins, some newspaper, a paring knife, a good-sized spoon, and a good idea of what you want. JJ Games has a great consolidation of some fantastic gaming related pumpkins, but many of them are very complex and entail scraping away the surface of the pumpkin so the carving glows through a translucent skin of not-cut-out-pumpkin rind. That's advanced work, especially if you spent too much time with a controller in your hand, so you might want to check out one of the guides floating around the net. We recommend How2Heroes.
Pumpkin 1: Pac Man
Probably the best place to start with pumpkin carving is a classic, easily-recognizable gaming icon like Pac-Man. All you have to do is cut most of a circle and neglect a pie-shaped piece to form the mouth. If you have the time and resources, a couple of ghosts shouldn't be a problem on the opposite side of the pumpkin.
Pumpkin 2: Super Mario Bros.
If you're ready to step up on the design side, another option is just about anything Nintendo-related. From 1-up mushrooms to Triforces and every Metroid in between, there's enough here to carve dozens of pumpkins, and most of it is easy shape-and-silhouette work. Sure, you can make something like this, this, or this, but when it comes to getting things together for a party, the simpler the design, the better.
Pumpkin 3: Game Logos
If you really want a challenge, step up the difficulty with a carved and scraped representation of the Gears of War logo or the ghostly title of Alan Wake. Logos usually do require skilled spacing and sometimes advanced techniques like screening (that glow-through-the-skin thing we mentioned earlier), but the payoff is you can do just about any game title you want without having to worry about people recognizing the design. Just remember, some of the best gaming pumpkins are either referential or spooky, so double points if you can do both.
Source: Daily News from GamePro.com
Sunday, October 10, 2010
