Capcom did something that few companies do, they just sold a demo. Dead Rising 2 : Case Zero is a $5 demo for Dead Rising 2. The way I’ve been hearing everyone complain about companies charging (M$ increase for Live, $10 Initiative by EA and THQ), I think most people will be up in arms about charging for a Demo.

I’m not complaining. This is like DLC before the game comes out and it is absolutely great. Dead Rising is one of the really bright shining gems of the Xbox lineup. It had its quirks but it was amazing and helped start the deluge of zombie games we’ve seen since.

I’ve looked forward to Dead Rising 2 since I finished the first one, now we’re here 4 years later and it’s close. Once I heard Case Zero was up I had to get it and now I’m even more pumped for the finished game.

In Dead Rising 2 you play as motorcross superstar Chuck Greene. Your daughter has been infected and you need to do anything possible to keep her supplied with Zombrex which holds off the infection for 12 hours.

The feel of the game is very similar to Dead Rising. You walk around in an unending swarm of slow moving zombies. There are numerous psychopaths out there causing extra trouble for you. You need to save the innocents, collect money and kill zombies. All of those are pretty fun. Downside? Frank West, photo journalist (He’s covered wars you know!) is gone. Chuck Greene is cool but I loved Frank. Upside? Chuck doesn’t take photos, he combines items. Nails + Bat = Bat with nails in it. Bucket + Drills = Drill Bucket, throw that on a zombie’s head and watch the fun.

At the end of this, you get to carry your money, clothes and upto 5 levels into the main game.

Final word : Great game. It’s only $5 and gives you a real taste for what we’re going to be getting soon. If you enjoyed the first game or are curious about the second, this is a must have. More games should put out prequel demos. The only time I remember this happening before was in Fable 2 where you could play their pub games and it was horrible. Props to Capcom for figuring a way to make this work!

“The Man” sticks it to us again with no Vaseline. GameStooge.com has a good editorial on how THQ doesn’t take too kindly to us gamers buying their games on the rebound. They’re pulling a page from EA’s playbook beginning with SmackDown vs Raw 2011. Every new copy of the game will include a single use code that will unlock “key elements” of the game such as online play.

This is my spin on the subject. I have the solution to developers like THQ, EA and others who say the used game market is pulling food from the mouths of their corporate shareholders. MAKE BETTER GAMES. When I open the cabinet where my games are stored, I see titles in my library that will NEVER be traded in. The God of War series, Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly Sword, GTA: San Andreas, and a few others are titles that I will continue to play repeatedly because they are so good. I purchased these games on day one because they hit so many of the high points that are on my genres of choice checklist.

I think just about every gamer out there has a game or games in their library that they’d almost rather loose a finger than put it on the GameStop trading block. If publishers want to put a dent in the used games market, make games that we wouldn’t want to part with. I don’t need every game to re-invent the wheel. I just want the genres that I love to evolve those elements that draw me to those types of games in the first place.

Developers like THQ need to step their game up, (pun intended) and stop blaming the gaming public because we aren’t willing to pay new car prices for last year’s models.

Gamerhusbands is a blog. As you may know, blogs print money. We frequently break our hundreds up into 20′s and fill our palaces with them so we can swim like Scrooge McDuck. The sarcasm is getting a little thick and in case you are a Philadelphia politician getting ready for a Gamerhusband windfall, let me stress that GHR is not based in Philadelphia and it doesn’t make money. In general, an enormous majority of blogs don’t make money. Blogs cost money. There are server fees, libsyn fees, software costs and other assorted costs. Blogs and podcasts are labors of love. In the case of Gamerhusbands and sites like us, we’re a creative outlet for individuals that didn’t exist before the advent of the internet and mp3 players.

Other sites out there are political. They’re individual forms of free speech which allow people to post news that otherwise wouldn’t get out. Twitter was essential in getting stories from the Iran elections to the rest of the world. In the last few US elections, sites like Factcheck.org are excellent sources for news and truth. These are voices that have arisen from these new mediums and they need to be nurtured.

Philadelphia has chosen to add a $300 Business Privilege Tax for blogs in the city limits. It doesn’t matter if your blog doesn’t make money, it’s now going to cost you another $300. If you’ve done the right thing and reported the $11 you made last year, Philly wants $300 from you. Thank you Philadelphia for remaining backwards. Thank you for remaining behind the times and letting bureaucracy overshadow sanity. Suggestion to you Philadelphia : There are many more Facebook and Twitter users in Philadelphia than bloggers. That’s a whole new market for your corruption. Thanks to the Philadelphia City Paper for writing an excellent article on this.

The FPS genre is going to be pretty crowded for the fore-seeable future. One game shooter fans may want to keep an eye on in the midst of your Halos, KillZones, and Call of Duties might by Crutek’s Crysis 2. <a href+"The FPS genre is going to be pretty crowded for the fore-seeable future. One game shooter fans may want to keep an eye on in the midst of your Halos, KillZones, and Call of Duties might by Crytek's Crysis 2. GameStooge has footage posted from Crytek’s multiplayer demonstration from Gamescon.

Based on the button prompts that pop up on the screen, this is the Xbox 360 version. It is graphically impressive–not quite Killzone 3 impressive, but very, very sharp none the less.

There will be multiple modes, and what I would guess as a perks like system associated with the Tek-suits in the game. It looks like FPS fans will want to keep an eye on this one.

GameStooge has some very exciting footage of Capcom’s Marvel vs Capcom 3 that was shown at Gamescom. This time, its Viewtiful Joe taking center stage with the beat-down; he’s a returning character from Tatsunoku vs Capcom.

I really enjoyed all of Capcom’s Vs series of games–even though I was never really good at them. The more I see of MvsC3, the more my hype meter goes up. This game just may have my #1 spot for games of 2011.

GameTrailers has a gameplay preview up of WB Interactive Entertainment’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold for Wii. The game seems to look and play like one of my favorite games for SNES–Konami’s The Adventures of Batman & Robin.

Graphics looked like they’ve been ripped from the cartoon itself. Whether you’re playing co-op or single player, there will always be two players on screen battling the villains. Only Batman and Robin were shown as playable characters, but you have the option to call on a number of supporting cast characters from the B:BaB TV show for screen clearing attacks.

This could be one to look out for–since Arkam City is still a ways away.