I found the Hudson Soft booth in a neglected corner of PAX East's already pretty sparse Expo Hall, about halfway between the Rockstar booth and the bathrooms. Hudson had a few games on display, including Rooms: The Main Building and Deca Sports 2. You play Rooms by stabbing the DS repeatedly with the stylus and wondering why nothing is happening, and you play Deca Sports 2 by walking away and never speaking of it again. I was all ready to move on when I saw this: 

Next to Deca Sports 2, this looks awesome.

Hudson's new survival horror game Calling was playable at PAX. This might sound a little weird since apparently it's been out in North America since March 9th. Then again, I could have also gone to the other side of the hall played Dante's Inferno, so who's judging? Anyway, I'd never heard of Calling, which is hardly surprising considering it's a Wii-exclusive horror game.

In the demo, I pointed and clicked my way through a spooky house, encountering elements from every Japanese horror film I've ever seen. Disembodied hands coming out of the walls? Check. Creepy dolls with long hair? Check. Phone calls from ghosts? Check. I asked the booth attendant about the game's plot. It's about a haunted website.

Technophobia? Check.

I can't say that Calling is bad from the short section I played, but it certainly feels uninspired. There are some interesting uses of motion controls, as in one section in which I had to engage in some frantic waggling in order to unstick a door while ghosts slowly came up behind me. But Calling also does the "hold the Wii Remote up to your ear and pretend it's a phone" bit, which is getting a little played out.

  Also, there's no fucking way that looks cool.

Regardless, Calling has just enough going for it that I'm interested in playing more. I'll just make damn sure there aren't cameras around next time.