October 30, 2003: It was a dark and stormy night ...

No, that won’t do - to much like the beginnings of a story by Snoopy.

Nah, that’s no good either - too hackneyed and a poor imitation of Stephen King.

"Hi there! Excuse me, we’re here about the candy."

"Hey, writer dude, candy - remember?"

"HEY! YOU WITH THE COMPUTER! WE’RE HERE ABOUT THE CANDY!"

"LOOK - PUT DOWN THE KEYBOARD!! C’MON, YOU PROMISED - WE ANSWER YOUR SILLY QUESTIONS, YOU GIVE US CANDY! THAT WAS THE DEAL!"

"Ok, now you’ve done it - you wrecked the mood. What candy?"

"YOU SAID... Sorry, caps, I’ll stop that ... You said if we answered your Halloween questions, you would give us candy."

"I never said that."

"Ok ... uh, maybe I said that. But where’s the candy?"

"How should I know? I don’t have any candy. I’m trying to write a Halloween column, and you’ve ruined it. There’s no way I can recapture that evil, nasty, mean, nightmarish feeling now."

"Look, sorry about that, and in backreading - it wasn’t that good anyway. So just give us some candy and we’ll go away."

"Who’s this 'we'? You are here alone."

(Looks around) "Wow! I am - more for me then!" (smiles)

"I don’t have any candy."

"Boy, are you cheap!! Well, go ahead then, write your silly column. Gee people, promise you something, then don't pay up, if Santa has that kind of attitude  ..."

---

Halloween is upon us once again. The night will be filled with the hint of magic, a touch of the supernatural and a bevy of cute kids going door-to-door in search of free stuff. Free stuff is good! Free candy is great, but free answers to inane seasonal questions can be just as good.

To that end, a series of questions was sent to a host of people, some were too frightened to answer, concerning the time of the year. The questions were:

What frightens you the most?

What is the scariest movie you have seen?

What is the scariest game you have seen or played?

What is your favorite Halloween costume (that you either wore, or have seen)?

Being that we work in the gaming industry, it seemed only natural to have some of those involved in the industry answer the questions. Of course, these answers are their own personal opinions and in no way reflect the policies, official positions or thoughts or opinions of the companies they work for.

That said, it’s time to share some Halloween thoughts ...

Kelly Ekins, Strategy First PR: When I'm half awake and I reach in my cupboard for a coffee mug and can of soup falls out and misses my head by half an inch...that scares me.

Mike Meyers, Michael Meyers PR: The possibility that Army Men games might return some time in the future.

Nick Malaperiman, Dreamcatcher PR: Finding scared bald rodents in my underpants when I go to bed at night.

Matt Schlosberg, Acclaim PR: Children that overdose on sugar and run rampant through the streets.

Michael Lafferty: Heights. I’m not proud of it, but as a teen I spent 15 minutes or so glued to the face of a rock wall while on an ill-fated attempt to learn to rock climb. My friends finally talked me down. The fact that I was only 10 feet off the ground was somewhat embarrassing.

Kelly Ekins: Hmmm, tough question...I would have to say The Others. I saw it recently and it scared me because it could possibly happen in real life.

Mike Meyers: I would have to go with George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, closely followed by The Barney Movie (which luckily, I fell asleep during).

Nick Malaperiman: Exorcist III or my grandmother's birthing video (she was 80)

Matt Schlosberg: Kazaam with Shaquille O’Neil … do I need to explain why?

Michael Lafferty: As a young, young child, there was this "B" black-and-white movie called "It Came From Beneath Sea." It was about this giant squid that tried to eat San Francisco. That movie owned me and my dreams for a while. My worst nightmares had giant tentacles working through the windows and balcony of the third-floor apartment we lived in at the time. I saw it about 6 years ago, and realized how dumb it really was - when I bothered to peek out from beneath the blankets I was hiding under.

Kelly Ekins, Strategy First PR: Nosferatu.....very scary....and very good!

Mike Meyers: Can I answer "Army Men" for this one too? Oh, ok... howabout the first Resident Evil for PlayStation 1 - I remember literally jumping when first encountering the hellhounds.

Nick Malaperiman: Resident Evil

Matt Schlosberg: Pong!!!

Michael Lafferty: This would have to go back to a time before I became jaded and the bizarre became normal - in games, that is. One of the first games I ever reviewed was a Sierra title called Shivers 2. It was full of pop-up scares, but the atmosphere was rather creepy. It was essentially a horror-mystery, but that game was one of the first I played that hooked me and scared me - especially late at night, in the dark, alone with only the glow of the monitor in the room.

Kelly Ekins: My friend dressed up a "fat guy in a little suit" last year. He's 27 and bought a costume for a 5-year-old and proceeded to cram his body into it...it was absolutely hilarious!!

Mike Meyers: I would have to go with my three year old daughter as Winnie the Pooh - too cute.

Matt Schlosberg: was an Oompa Loompa in college for Halloween. I had the orange face, green hair, white eyebrows, overalls, pompoms on my shoes, the works.

Michael Lafferty: Ah, the memories. There was the 23-year-old co-ed I knew some years ago, and one year for Halloween, she wore ... oh, right, can’t say that here. Never mind.