This Halloween...before taking to the streets to prey on innocent candy-loving party-go'ers, denizens of the underworld should first check out the official Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines website from Activision, Inc. for some truly scary inspiration. To officially inaugurate the day, fans can delve into the dark and sacred world of the vampire at the official 'Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines' website.

Already revealed yesterday, but today the official announcement rolled in. Activision, Inc. will plunge players into the dark and gritty vampire underworld of modern Los Angeles with the announcement of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines for the PC. Seamlessly combining role playing with intense first-person action combat, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines allows players to become a dangerous creature of the night as they assume the role of a recently embraced fledgling vampire in the service of the city's dark prince. Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines is being developed by Troika Games, whose founding members' credits include the award-winning Fallout, and is based on White Wolf's renowned pen-and-paper Vampire: The Masquerade RPG series. Built using Valve's Source Technology - the same game technology used to power Half-Life 2, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has not yet received an age rating and is expected to ship in 2004.

Gamespot dug up some info on a, so far unannounced, Activision game from Trokia Games (currently also working on Infogrames' Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil). Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a first person action-RPG, will be using Valve's Source engine which also powers Half-Life2 and is expected somewhere in 2004. In Vampire you will play as a fledgling vampire who will belong to one of seven vampire clans, each of which has its own distinctive strengths and abilities, including superhuman strength and speed, invisibility, and mind control, to name a few. As players progress through the game, they'll earn experience points that they can spend on improving their powers. These abilities and the game's major vampire factions will be drawn from White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper game. Check out the Gamespot article for more details ...