A Walk in the Woods

What starts as an overdue vacation for Alan Wake and his wife Alice, quickly evolves into a psychological thriller from the mind of Mr. Wake himself. The town of Bright Falls, located in a sleepy part of the Pacific Northwest, is anything but tired. Within their first night, in a cabin on Cauldron Lake, Alice is abducted by a dark presence. It is up to Alan to get her back. Certainly not the most original of plots, the universe that Remedy begins to develop around the characters is fascinating. This makes Alan Wake one of the most original games I have played in the past few years.

Amazon Gold Box Day for Xbox 360

If your reading this and have not already heard, there appears to be a Gold Box sale today for Xbox 360 games at Amazon.com! You can reach it here.

Transformers: War for Cybertron will be on sale for the Gold Box Price: $42.98 all day.

Then every couple of hours another game will drop in, limited stock, at a ridiculous price point. Right now, you can get Singularity for $39.99 (33% off).

The hints for the rest of the day, with my predictions on what the game is, are as follows:

0900 - Go West, young man. = Red Dead Redemption
1100 - Journey to a land of legendary combat. = Deadliest Warrior
1200 - Street Fighter IV button mashing. = Probably some Madcatz Fightpads or Arcade Sticks
1500 - The first modern day spy role-playing game. = Alpha Protocol
1600 - Hone your stealth skills. = Splinter Cell Conviction
1800 - Life 23 years from now. = Metro 2033
2100 - Explore the deadly, shadowed world of an Assassin. = Assassin's Creed 2

So get out there and buy some Xbox games, while they are still on sale.

To Hell and Back with Dante's Inferno

                                     

Somewhere in the depths of Hell, a crusader travels in search of redemption for his lost love. It is only with the help of Death’s Scythe, his lover’s cross, and some magic that he finally finds the redemption he seeks.

Geeking Out in NYC - Part 2

Now for the exciting part: one of the most impressive arcades is waiting for you in the belly of Chinatown.

Geeking Out in NYC - Part 1

Seeing Rockstar advertise Red Dead Redemption on one of the largest billboards in Times Square it became clear how much video games have integrated with modern culture. Most would think that video games would be last on one's mind in New York, surrounded by an incredible mix of culture, food, and spirits. Should that be the case, you might miss a couple of gaming gems hidden throughout the big apple.

I am Engaged!

On July 4th 2010, Lauren and I went with some friends up to the Empire State Building. While we were on top of the world in NYC, I asked Lauren if she would marry me and she said yes! For your viewing pleasure, watch the video of the event unfolding. Cheers!

Nintendo Rewards their Fans

So Nintendo has a service online where you can go register Nintendo Products called, Club Nintendo. This service is pretty common for publishers and even crosses into other industries. By doing so, Nintendo provides its fans the opportunities to earn points, which can be redeemed for unique products which you cannot buy in stores, as well as providing you a sort of "status level" in the program. At the end of June every year those points are reset and you have to start all over. Luckily, I reached the highest level (platinum status) before the reset and have thus earned myself the following trophy

                             

Not too shabby Nintendo! Gold members received a calender, but that really seems like the type of thing I would throw away after 2011. While, this little statue is a keeper. Anyway, the new year has started, so if you have a whole stack of unregistered Nintendo products maybe it is time to join Club Nintendo. Stay tuned later this week as I post my experience from the Nintendo World Store in NYC!

Play it NOW! - Red Dead Redemption

John Marston is single-handedly the greatest protagonist that Rockstar has ever created. The game's ability to capture his personality and simultaneously recreate the picturesque Wild West setting, makes for a compelling narrative rarely accomplished in games. Much of this has to do with the excellent voice acting and animation, making the scenes very cinematic. There are also the usual Rockstar tropes of dialog containing social commentary on American life, but Redemption executes these without disrupting the narrative.

With solid gameplay mechanics, ambient challenges, and believable characters, there is incentive to go beyond the main storyline. Rockstar develops this in a variety of ways; from the hunting of animals, to the picking of flowers, to the various random NPCs the user may find himself either helping or hurting. No decision you make can truly affect the outcome of the story, but instead your actions affect how NPC’s treat you. Sure, John is an honorable outlaw in personality, but Rockstar allows you to play the game anyway you would like. Therefore, if you want to go around being a generally unsavory fellow in the Wild West, the choice is yours. In the grand scheme of the storyline, the outcome does not have the same impact if you play the game as a villain. That said, this is the Wild West, and ultimately you are going to kill many people. Luckily, the combat mechanics have improved significantly over at GTA 4. Marston is able to utilize cover and execute a series of attacks sequentially, using a slow motion targeting system called Dead Eye. Dead Eye comes in handy when riding horse back and trying to shoot at the same time.

Weapon variety is fantastic for the period, offering up everything from bolt-action rifles to high-powered pistols. Even mini-guns make an appearance on occasion, increasing the blood shed in some missions significantly. There is also an open world component to the online play, where up to 16 people enter a free-roam session. In the multiplayer one can posse up to run gang hideouts, complete a new set of ambient challenges, or even run through some of the free co-op DLC. There are also some competitive modes online like deathmatch, capture the flag, and various objective-based matches. Really, the only thing missing are some of the mini-games from the single player like blackjack or poker. I do not understand what limitations are in place, but the option of gambling amongst your friends after running through town causing a ruckus would fit this game perfectly. I hope that they can release a patch, but if not, it is still one of the must own games of 2010. Play it NOW!

Note: All images are the result of a Google image search

Get Blur for $20!!

Best Buy has Blur marked down to $39.99 from June 20 to June 26. Combine with the $20 off manufacturer's coupon ([www.blurgamepromotion.com]) for a $19.99 copy of Blur. I personally took advantage of this if you saw my tweet. You should too!

Thanks to the guys at http://www.cheapassgamer.com/ for the heads up.

note: image courtesy of Google image search

Mommy, Where Do Dead Pixels Come From?

Just laughed my ass off when I read this web comic and wanted to share it with you.

as seen on Dueling Analogs

VR - Pixel Junk: Shooter

Apparently you cannot upload a video over 10 minutes in length. Not sure how I missed that, but therefore in the interest of time, I simply split the latest video into two parts. So watch below if you are interested in seeing Lauren and me’s experience playing Pixel Junk Shooter.

Play it NOW! - Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Run, jump, and climb your way through Ubisoft’s latest iteration in the Prince of Persia franchise: The Forgotten Sands. Anyone familiar with the franchise and its recent reboot will immediately notice this is not the Nolan North prince. Instead, we return to the Sands of Time era, as Ubisoft attempts to bridge the gap between the first game and its sequel, The Warrior Within. Why the departure? In my opinion, this was done to act as a companion to the recent live action summer movie, which is set in the same universe. After the first hour of play, it will be clear this is the Prince of Persia we all remember, but the game quickly evolves into a unique experience.

Play it NOW! - Super Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV was the fighting game for a new generation. Not only has it fleshed out the idea of what a 2.5D fighter can be, but it has sparked a revival of the genre. It is only suitable that Capcom, the father of 2D fighters, be the one to lead such an ambitious journey. Much like their previous installments, SSFIV is an expansion on the foundations laid in Street Fighter 4. Some gamers may be taken aback by the idea that they have to procure another disc. Let me assure you: this is a new game.

First and foremost, the character selection screen is initially completely unlocked, and a few new characters are available. Some are from the original Super (Dee Jay & T-Hawk), others from the Alpha series (Guy, Cody, Adon), and still others from Third Strike (Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto). Rounding out the 10 are some new faces with Hakan and Juri. This article will focus on the new characters, since the existing are similar to their predecessors.

Juri - Is primarily an offensively oriented character, with few defensive moves. Most of her attacks are kicks and her fireball technique can be charged. If you choose to charge, she does a high kick first and can unleash her fireball at any time after that by releasing the button. She has a counter move in which she taunts her enemy into hitting her. If she is hit; she can move backwards, jump into the air, or appear behind her opponent. Combined with her aerial dive kick, this counter is especially painful for her opponents. Her super unleashes a flurry of fireballs and juggles the opponent, ending with a fireball that hits the opponent as they are falling. The first Ultra is the Feng Shui Engine, which is a timing move that allows her to do combos at ease. The second Ultra is the Kaisen Dankairaku, a devastating attack in which she kicks her opponent up, then down where the opponent lands on her foot. She taunts them before slamming them into the ground.

Hakan – An oil wrestler whose technique revolves around the application of oil to his body. The primary move is called the Oil Shower, but the overall move set remains the same regardless of the presence of oil. The difference made by applying oil shows in the strength and agility of the character. Moves like the slide attack, will reach further with oil applied. Since he is more of a grappler, his throws are also more powerful with oil. Applying the oil also makes him "glow" for a short amount of time, acting as a timer of sorts for his current oiling. His super involves grabbing his opponent, sliding back and forth across the floor of the stage. The first Ultra is the Oil Coaster, which is like a more powerful version of his Oil Rocket move. He grabs, then pops the opponent up into the air, and slides them into a wall. The second Ultra is the Oil Combination, where Hakan lays down on the floor and waits for his opponent to fall into him. Once an opponent does, calamity ensues and they will wish they had not executed that last jump.

Additionally, all characters have been given a second Ultra. You choose which Ultra to use before the round begins, much like Third Strike. The game also features a few additional online modes: Team Battle (up to 8 players), and Endless Battle (winner plays against a rotating group of up to 8 players).

Another great feature is the Replay Channel, which allows players to save and view replays from around the world. It provides users some excellent footage, despite the lack of any character specific filters, which would help in finding a match up you may be struggling with. Fans of the series will notice the return of the car and barrels bonus stages. I found these to be fun bits of nostalgia to remind people of Capcom’s roots. Rival battles are still prominent from the previous game, which feature a unique dialogue sequence whenever a certain pair of characters face-off against each other.

A downloadable Tournament Mode is scheduled to be released on June 25, 2010. This will allow people to create their own tournaments, with victory belts. This will be cool if only for bragging rights and Capcom has mentioned sanctioning a few tournaments of their own DLC is limited to a number of costume packs for the various characters. These are not essential, but certainly add some variety to the already numerous costumes and color combinations. The game itself is at a price point of $40. If you don’t already own a fighting game, it makes Super Street Fighter 4 essential for any console owner.

*note: all pictures are coutesy of a Google Image search

Video Recommendations are live!

Video has come to Two.Can Play thanks to YouTube and you should be able to start watching some of it now.

Sure it isn't production quality, but hey with the budget of about the cost of a Subway sandwich and my trusty Flip cam, it is as good as it can be for now. As for my "on camera" demeanor, it will improve with practice.

The YouTube username is TwoCanPlayBlog, but you can also go to the video page on http://www.twocanplayblog.com/ to find all the videos currently uploaded.

And since you are already here, click the jump for my VR of Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Play it NOW! - Battlefield: Bad Company 2

The boys of bad company are back, and they are ‘in it to win it’ in this high octane sequel from DICE. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 comes from a long line of first person shooters. Like its predecessor, it changes the Battlefield formula by creating a story with memorable characters. Having not played the first Battlefield (shame on me), I was not familiar with the returning cast members. Perhaps this was a good thing. Haggard, Sweetwater, Sergeant Redford, join you (Marlowe) on a crazy adventure around the world, trying to keep the impending Russian threat at bay. Many reviews promoted the impression that Bad Company’s latest incarnation lacked the same depth in the character development and story as its predecessor. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the story and down time between fights. The squad’s camaraderie led to conversations on topics ranging from the best scenes in the movie Predator, to names common in the continent of Africa. After a long stint of playing more serious FPS’ like Modern Warfare 2 and Bioshock 2, it was refreshing to see my squad having as much fun as I was.

Gaming Outdoors - Screw Attack Gaming Convention

That's right! ScrewAttack is hosting another convention here in Dallas, TX on July 4th weekend. So bring the pain and compete in the Iron Man Contest. Or come to the Uwe Boll panel and ask him how it feels to be a total douche bag! More details to come when the schedule is up, but for now you can register here. General Information after jump:

Bitmob: Anticipated Game of 2010

Every so often Bitmob.com issues a community topic and since I am taking a more active role in their site, here is my post. This months topic was over our most anticipated game of 2010.

Yeah Yeah, I am sure half you out there think I am nucking futz and the rest won't even read the article, but Puzzle Quest 2 has become my most anticipated game of 2010. It wasn't always like this, Mass Effect 2 easily held the reigns for sometime, but I desperately need more Puzzle Quest! Sure, there are a slew of games coming out in 2010 and I plan to play them all, but there is one that looks to scratch a personal itch. It is something I honestly never thought I would find myself saying with triple A titles like Fable 3, Red Dead Redemption and a new Halo only months away; but Puzzle Quest 2 will keep me busy for hours on end if it is anything like its predecessor. Sure, there have been various imitators and the less than stellar Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, but those are NOT Puzzle Quest. Hopefully the sequel will be an expansion of everything that was great about the first game. Leading me to grind level after level, through Bejeweled-esque combat. Some announced changes include a graphical upgrade of the over world map, new classes, mana gems, loot etc.

I am sure some readers would wonder why I did not simply just restart the original campaign with a new character, but it just wouldn’t be the same for me. I had played through the campaign in its entirety, and hit my level cap. To me, that means I put that game down and concentrate on something else. With a new installment in the franchise, I can easily justify spending another 40 hours of my life training mounts, laying siege to cities and becoming a overall bad ass. Also, since I played the first installment on iPhone and it is not being released (initially) on that platform, I will get to change up the Puzzle Quest experience for myself as well. Since many of you readers have probably played this on one of the other various platforms, I pose this question – Xbox Live or Nintendo DS?


Note: all pics are courtesy of D3

Marketing 101: Giant Bomb Quests

I love all press in video games journalism, Bitmob.com especially. I read everything from everywhere and rarely go flaunting the content of one journalism outlet verse another, but Giant Bomb has done something that may have raised the bar for press outlets across the industry. Dare I say, all web sites across the Internet. The implementation of a Quest system for their users. See a synopsis of my most recent online addiction after the jump...

Play it NOW!: God of War 3

In God of war 3 Kratos is angry. So angry, he has not only decided to kill dear old dad, but to kill everyone on his road to revenge. I want to be clear and say up front, I have played the first two games and was a fan of Kratos. While his methods were a bit harsh, they were justified in my opinion. Now, after the trilogy's conclusion I feel duped. It's the same feeling I had after watching Star Wars episode 1. Far too much explanation in the end, for the trilogy as a whole. In fact, from what I understand about Kratos now, I only have pity for him. Everything besides the story is exactly what you would expect from God of War. This is two sided though; with so much development, many expected more changes, than similarities. Combat still feels tight and responsive. The new grab technique helps to eliminate the distance between you and your enemies. Combined with a button tap mid combo to change weapons and the thousand hit combo trophy almost seems possible. I also like the new grab technique, which lets you use a weaker enemy as a shield and truck through your opponents. Despite all this, variety is somewhat lacking. Some complaints I read note that 2 of the 3 weapons were too similar to the blades. I disagree that this is a shortcoming, since in my experiences, past weapons have been lacking in quality when compared to the blades. What I want is more blades, and new ways they are utilized. The blades are what define GOW and these new variations add enough different combo elements, while still maintain the feel of GOW combat foundations. With the magic tied to specific weapons, it can incentivize using the various blades. I also really dug the Cestus, although requiring that weapon and only that weapon to defeat specific enemies began to piss me off towards the end. Enemies do feel like more of the same, but the caveat is there are more of them on screen. It does become pretty difficult to fight gorgons, harpies, minotaurs and the undead, all at once.

That could be because I am a masochist and chose to play through on Titan mode. In retrospect, it may have been a bad idea seeing as I died about 200+ times. Whatever though, it's finished now and besides the challenge of the gods, I don't plan a second play through. Which brings me to another topic, the godly treasures. Much like some unlockables from past games, there are a number of treasures and outfits which decrease some elements of difficulty for multiple play throughs. Now the catch which pissed me off is that in GOW 3 they can only be used in difficulties as high as the level you have already completed. WTF! Sorry Sony, but i think if I found it and beat it on the highest possible difficulty (at the time), I should be able to use those whenever I want. Sure, turn off the trophies, but keeping me from using the unlocks with the recently unlocked difficulty is a bad way to do collectables.

As for the graphics, expectations were already running hot after the E3 demo and the various impressions on the level of gore exposed. The level of detail on Kratos is incredible and he has to be the most visually impressive chracter in games to date. The ash on his body almost looks like it is painted over his skin. The blood from your enemies is literally covering you from head to toe as you rip through your opponents. Speaking of ripping through your opponents, when you defeat the bosses in GOW 3, you do not kill them. You grotesquely murder them in the most shameful way possible. The graphical fidelity only helps to emphasize this even more. The camera work is also impressive, in it's sense of scale. The first 30 minutes is a balls to the wall roller coaster ending with the death of a God and I felt a great satisfaction. It would be short lived though, as the level design and camera work only manages to come back to that style a few more times and the rest of the game is stuck in it's old trappings. Hit this switch, open this door, move through temples, caves and various parts of hell. Voice acting is meh. Kratos is yelling THE ENTIRE GAME! Which really doesn't help anyone trying to take his character seriously. Also, Kevin Sorbo reprises voicework for one of his more famous TV roles. Loved that. And otherwise sound design was good.

There are just a few little things I need to rant about before this is wrapped up. Character animations are flat. Uncharted 2 really needed to drop by and give some tips because the shimy along ledges looks terrible and I can't understand why. Also, what is up with the double jump? This has been a problem since the first game and it still is! Please fix this, because I don't understand why this guy has wings but can still drop like a rock. Alright, I will stop. The game is still a ton of fun and production values are high. I have to say, if you are going to buy a 3rd person action game in 2010, you should consider God of War 3.

Also, be on the look out for rumored DLC. There is a teaser site up right now for something and many people seemed convinced we have not seen the entire ending.

*Note: all images are courtesy of google image search.

iPhone Games I Played While on Vacation

While I was overseas, I couldn't game in front of a TV for various reasons. The largest being I was on vacation! Since I still needed my fix, so here are 10 of my favorite games on iPhone from my last week. Check 'em out!

Zenonia
Peggle
Bookworm
Canabalt
Paper Toss
Street Fighter 4
Flight Control
Plants Vs. Zombies
Down4Count
Puzzle Quest