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.

The last couple of months have been pretty busy. I’ve moved, and have been given new responsibilities at my job. To top that off, my wife was recently injured in an accident. Needless to say, finding time to play games have been difficult, if not outright impossible. When I did get some time to play recently, I played some downloadable titles that are modern reminders of why I love this hobby.
Thank goodness for PSN and LIVEArcade games. They really are perfect for getting in those short spurts for getting your gaming fix. Lately, my go-to game has been Joe Danger, and now Scott Pilgrim vs The World. What should be short spurts of gaming fun (due to my time constraints of late) often turn into full on gaming sessions. That’s when it hit me. Games like Joe Danger, and SP v World capture the essence of what drew me into gaming in the first place–simple, uncluttered, no excuses fun.

Joe Danger reminded me of the fun times I had with my dad playing Excitebike, and it even rang my nostalgia funny bone for games like Stunt Cycle on the Atari 2600. Scott Pilgrim has so many old school homages its insane–even down to the old school 8-bit glitches that make the background look pixelated, and can make quick work of otherwise ridiculously difficult bosses. With a “Super Deformed-ish” graphic style, and RPG elements of the 8-bit River City Ransom, and gameplay mechanics that took me back to arcade classics Vigilante, and Renegade, I’m in retro paradise. It is games like these and so many others that I cut my gamer’s teeth on, and made life long real world friends around.

I’ve been in kind of a gaming funk since E3. As an old school gamer, I’m watching in horror as the hobby I love is being flooded with casual games, whiz-bang motion controls, and cookie cutter first person military shooters. For now they are co-existing, but as production costs continue to sky-rocket, and developers continue to be understandably enticed by the gigantic Casual/Halo/Modern Warfare money pie, I fear that the genres that I enjoy may be on borrowed time in the retail space. So, I’m saying thank you to developers of games like Scott Pilgrim and Joe Danger for all old school cats like me who couldn’t memorize a multi-player map and a perks list if his life depended on it–for being true to the game. Simple, uncluttered, no excuses fun. I”m not hating, I’m just glad that there is still room for me in the game space…At least for now.

As gamers we’re used to vaporware. Duke Nuke ‘Em Forever has been coming out forever. The Phantom was a vaporware console that never saw the light of day. Now we have an improbable story that has turned into a real console.

A few years ago a handful of people on the GP32X.com Forums got together and decided to work on creating an open source handheld gaming system. They then realized that this endeavor would cost more money than they could afford so they sold pre-orders for these units. If I had heard of this back then, alarms would have rung loud about this being a scam. Fortunately I didn’t because these guys did it!

After several years they have created a handheld device that is a mixture of a PC and a console. It has a completely open source operating system. It’s a perfect emulator for old Atari, Commodore 64, old PC games, old arcade games, Nintendo and Playstation games. Most emulators will work on this device. It can be used to surf the web and even do some word processing.

They’ve sold out of their initial pre-order run and are taking orders for the next batch. It’s amazing to see a project like this make it all the way to production. Congratulations to the Open Pandora crew.

Kmart is going after your wallet the best way possible……by having great deals. Some of these are too good to pass up. The current pricing model, that all games should be $60, seems to be outdated, I will gladly take a backseat and tout some great deals of new games, which furthers my point about that pricing model. New games at lower prices = sales. It’s just simple economics son….simple economics
Source: Joystiq

• Alan Wake (Xbox 360) — $34.99
• Singularity (Xbox 360, PS3) — $34.99
• Call of Duty: War Collection (Xbox 360) — $34.99
• Metal Gear Solid:Peace WalkerPSP) — $19.99
• PSP 3000 — $149.99
• Dragon Quest IX:Sentinels of the Starry Skies($10 Gift Card with purhchase)

Summertime is in full effect, and this is the best time to attack that pile of shame. New games are right around the corner, so we are playing catch-up. Have you been waiting for us to give a final opinion of Final Fantasy XIII? Alfred goes against the grain and explains why game reviewers missed the true jewel that FFXIII is.  He also talks about a Friday Night fantasy with Scott…Oh, it’s not what you think. It involves video games. Is PlayStation Plus really worth the $$$money$$$? I think you will be surprised by our answers. Is the summertime harmful to Podcasts and Gaming Communities, because our focus shifts to other things. We get honest on this one. We throw in some of our current Netflix favorites, and our summer activities. This is definitely not one to miss. Let us know what you think. Check out the forums to leave comments pertaining to this show. Enjoy!

We would love to have your opinion on this show! GHR Show Topic

Sanctuary 4 Gamers has started a Site vs. Site Tournament. GamerHusbands signed up so if you’re interested in competing in the remainder of the match-ups respond back in the comments section.

Round 1 of the tournament is Modern Warfare 2. 6 on 6, best of 3 games. GHR’s first matchup was against The Gamers Garage. Team GHR consisted of Teetocks, Full Tilt 101, Dragon59, DrunkCase and Deadbeats. The Gamers Garage was headed by Crash.

GHR chose High Rise as the Round 1 arena. It was a close matchup until the very end when we pulled away and took it 7500 – 6500. It was much closer than it sounds and I was sweating the whole time. I would like to take full credit for dragging the team down. I am the anchor that almost sinks the GHR MW2 Team. DrunkCase lead GHR in this round with a great kill / death ratio.

Gamers Garage chose Sub Base as the Round 2 arena. GHR took a demanding lead and ended up winning this round handily. Final score was 7500 – 4500. Dragon59 had an amazing game and lead for most of it.

As we closed out the match, one of the Gamers Garage players was a douche complaining about our newb ways. Dual Shot-guns + Noob Tubes (I take full credit for being that Newb). But after she bounced from the room, the rest of the crew apologized for her douchiness and were very cool.

Thanks to team GHR for a great outing. Had a lot of fun and appreciate the effort and time everyone put in. Apologies to Adirrrtypoostick who was scheduled to be on the team. Unfortunately, Gamers Garage only had 5 and Poo was the last one to party up. If there’s future rounds he will definitely be involved.

Thanks to the Gamers Garage crew for a fun night. I checked out their podcast and enjoyed it. Give it a listen if you’re looking for something new.

Round 2 is scheduled to be Forza 3. If you’re part of the GHR community, are good at Forza and ready to represent GHR…use the comments section!

In light of all the big budget games hogging all the publicity at E3, I thought it might be interesting to put a spotlight (albeit a small one) on games that look top tier, but may not be on your radar. One of these titles is Vanquish–published by Sega and created by Platinum Games.

If the name Platinum Games sounds familiar, its because they produced one of the best action games in a long time, Bayonetta. They seem to be putting what they learned from that project into this one. This time instead of angels, your fighting Russian built mechs. Release window for this awesome title is October 2010.

E3 demo video provided by GameTrailers.com
Blog photo from 1Up.com

Split / Second is one of the few games I couldn’t wait to get my hands on. I watched all the trailers, the developer diaries and interviews, and video previews I could set my eyeballs upon in anxious anticipation of this game’s release. Now that its out, and I’ve sunk considerable time into it, I have to say–it has been worth the wait. What Disney and Black Rock Studios have created is–if not the best arcade racer to date–definately the most fun.

To begin, the game is set up like a seasonal show, or sports event. Race levels are broken up into episodes culminating in a season finale race against the Split Second elite drivers. Place in the top 4, and you have the option to move on. Placing well in races earns you season points, which unlock cars as your season point rises. Like any good arcade racer, this game has drafting, drifting, and collisions galore, but what truly sets the gameplay apart from the rest are the explosive events.

Explosive events are the meat of the game. As you drift, jump, and draft, you power up a three segmented bar displayed in a “heads up” style behind your car. When a segment is fully powered, you can set off an explosion to try and wreck opponents ahead of you when the explosion icon appears above their cars. Hold off on the pyrotechnics, and you can set off a “level two” event. If timed right, you can wipe out the entire roster of racers ahead of you. The beautiful thing about the Level 2 events (I call them L2s) is not only can they clear opponents, they also change the track for the duration of the race. Set off an L2 at the pier for example, and you’ll explode a huge cargo tanker, causing it to crash into the dock. It destroys a huge section of track, but the tanker itself becomes part of the race environment–forcing all racers to drive accross its chaotic deck, dodging storage containers and other debris. Freakin’ awesome!

Don’t think you can use explosive events without consequence however. Each event sets off a concussion wave–which causes control of your vehicle to deteriorate. The closer you are to the blast (without being caught in it of course), the greater the force exerted on your vehicle. Different cars react differently when hit by concussion waves, so it is wise to take that into consideration. It is this “concussion physics” system that makes this the deepest arcade racer hands down. A last second change in track position can have you taking the brunt of a wave sending you into a wall while your opponent gets away scott free. Simply memorizing where the explosions are on the tracks will do you no good if you aren’t constantly aware of where your vehicle is in relation to the other drivers. This all happens at Burnout level speed–so you’re going to have to depend on “split second” reaction time to win–get it? Split second reaction time in a game called Split Second–funny, right? Right? Anybody…?

There are several race types that you’ll encounter during season mode. There are traditional races where you compete against 7 other opponents. There are time attacks where you race against the clock and try to dodge all the explosive events that go off to impede your progress. Then there are the diesel and attack chopper challenges. The goal in the diesel challenge is to pass as many diesel rigs as you can before time runs out. When time runs out, its sudden death. The track is loaded with drone cars, and the rigs dump tons of exploding barrels. The blue ones are concussion charges, while the red ones blow you up on contact. It is racing chaos at its best. The attack chopper challenge pits you against a military type attack chopper that shoots missiles at you as you drive. You always know where the missiles will hit on the track, but your job is to dodge them, and compensate for the concussion waves they create. The more waves you dodge, and the faster you’re going when you dodge them, the more points you earn. Your car can withstand 3 hits from a missile before its junk heap time.

So, with this game being as great as I think it is, there are some problems that some folks might get a little frustrated with. The most glaring criticism of the game is the “rubber-banding” that goes on among your AI opponents–especially during the season ending races where you compete among the Split Second elite racers. In later seasons, its border line rediculous how hard it is to get into first place–let alone maintain first place. Another disappointment has nothing to do with the game, but what Disney/Black Rock did to the online. They offered the unlock code as payable DLC, so going online is an excercise in total frustration because some of those that play this game online have bought the fastest cars. If you haven’t earned them in game, or paid your digital dollars to get them, you’ll never win. You can create a private race to alleviate the problem, but–nobody on my PSN list is playing this game online, and I haven’t quite earned the fastest cars in the type that I use the most.

Another critique that some may have, is that Split Second throws everything it has to offer at you fairly early. Some may feel the game might get a little dull as you continue, as there aren’t very many tracks. Although I think the concussion system employed in the game addresses that issue whole-heartedly, I can see how some might get that “been there done that” feeling from the game.

To bottom line it: If you like arcade racers, this game is a definate buy. The original spirit of the Burnout series flows deep in this title. I know I can’t put my Dual Shock down. This game has pulled me away from Super Street Fighter 4–and for a fighting freak like me–that’s saying a lot for the presentation, gameplay, and polish this game exudes. If nothing else, give it a rent. If you have a pulse, you won’t be disappointed.

Check out this site first before reading the rest of the paragraph, and no, it’s not a virus. Trust me…Click Here

If a gaming press release led you to a site like this, your first action would be to scan the computer for viruses.  Well, that’s what I was about to do, until blood started running down the screen. Okay, I was a little freaked out after realzing that this is a gaming site. Hats off to the Dementium II Development team, Renegade Kid and SouthPeak games, for definitely peaking my interest. Dementium II is a survival horror game for the DS. Yeah, that is correct. FOR THE DS. There aren’t many horror games on the DS. Check out the site for more details and screens about Dementium II. Take the questionnaire if you need to check in for Professional Care

Yes, those are my feet

The following blog post is in response to GHR Episode 118, “Matrimony vs. Mancaves”; and the subsequent comments in episode 119.  If you haven’t listened to them, please do!
To start with – in regards to my wife putting a bid on a house without me seeing it – you have to look at it from our point of view.  We had been looking at houses for months, only finding one house that we both agreed deserved a bid.  That bid expired because the owner was dragging his feet and it was an estate sale, plus we didn’t get a good vibe from the realtor or owner.  After all of this house searching (we walked through probably 20 houses) my wife had a good idea of what my expectations were in a house.  While I was at PAX, my wife looked at another house and fell in love with it.  She said it had everything we needed, but there were multiple parties interested in the house and we needed to act immediately.  I’ve known my wife since elementary school, nearly 25 years.  There is no one I trust more.  However, she does not have a critical eye for the “nuts and bolts” aspects of home ownership.  Things like, how old is the furnace, how old is the roof, how many layers of shingles are on it, are there any water issues, etc.  These are the things that I look at in a house.  That being said, for those of you that don’t know, there are two parts of negotiating a house – the sale price – and the home inspection.  After the home is inspected, you negotiate what repairs are required before you move in, or how much money the owner will take off of the sale price for you to make the repairs.  If both parries don’t agree, you can void the sale contract.  Knowing this, I trusted my wife and allowed her to place a bid on the house.  It turns out that there were a couple issues that turned up during the inspection that would have allowed us to back out, but we decided to buy the house anyway, as a team.  I feel that if that level of trust doesn’t exist after 10 plus years of marriage and knowing her as long as I have, then we shouldn’t be married.

For those that feel my email was selfish/whiny (Scooter Dad!), I agree.  That was my point.  I know it was a selfish point of view, I was simply being honest and asking if I should even broach the subject with my wife.  Turns out she listened to the podcast and agreed with Samantha that I’m lucky to even have a man cave.  She did however agree to put up blackout curtains.  Everyone knows a good cave can’t have any natural light.

Also, Mrs. Vicjo’s comments about her ipod gift struck a chord with me as well, as I get in similar discussions with my wife.  Mrs. JD took a rock in her windshield and it cracked.  She told me about it, I had gone through the same thing last year with my car.  She went ahead and called the glass repair place, they came to her work and replaced the windshield.  One night she decided to use this against me, saying that I should have been the one to call and get the windshield replaced.  First of all she doesn’t let me drive her car.  Secondly, if she had asked me to do it, I would have gladly taken care of it.  Since I never drive her car, I forgot about the windshield until she mentioned that she had it repaired.  Same thing goes with “alone time”.  If you want some time to yourself without any kids, just ask.  I’ll gladly make dinner for the kids while the wife goes for a walk or takes a bath.  I’ll take the kids grocery shopping on weekends, no problem.  But don’t complain about it if you never ask for help.  I know – “I shouldn’t have to ask, you should just offer to help.”  Wrong.  Don’t work that way.  Communication is a 2 way street, no mind reading should be required.  Ask and ye shall receive.  Otherwise don’t whine about it.

Finally, EA.  Charging $10 for online play is crazy.  They are simply trying to take money out of Gamestop’s bottom line.  That’s it.  EA’s argument that they should be paid for providing online access to their games is flawed.  They are paid, when someone buys a new game.  The cost of the game allows for EA to maintain servers for online play.  Just because the owner trades in the game and someone else buys it used, EA was still paid originally when the game was bought new.  It’s not like the number of users are multiplying – the number of game discs remains the same.  One disc = one user (ignoring piracy).  EA’s stance is that the ability to play online is not transferrable, and it’s BS.  The only thing this will do is hurt used sales of EA’s games, along with hurting the consumer who relies on buying and selling used games to supplement their gaming budget.  Shame on you, EA!

The views expressed in this post are the ramblings of a dbag and are in no way the views of the Gamer Husbands™.

Guitar Hero 5 is $12.21 on Amazon today. So, even if you are one of the legion of Activision haters, you’re conscience will still be clear.  Amazon Link. Sorry PS3 fanboys, this deal is only for the Xbox 360. Hurry up and order, this deal might be a 1 day only special.

As the Sun rises in the east, a showdown will be brewing between two highly anticipated titles. Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake. The summer is usually void of AAA game releases, but publishers are forging new paths in hopes for big returns. For those who are on limited gaming budgets, here are some reviews summaries that might help in your purchasing decision;

Red Dead Reviews

The side missions and quests range from the little things like playing horse shoes or poker to big shootouts at bandit hideouts. There are even some that are fleshed out enough to be a part of the main storyline. You could spend hours just riding around trying to track down all of the components of a new outfit for Marston, or hunting wild game and picking herbs and desert flowers. The Rockstar Social Club, a free online community that connects to the game, offers additional challenges and leaderboards to encourage even more replay. If you’re looking for one game to occupy you for months, this is it.  -  IGN

That said, life is perhaps a little easy in the old west. Some in-game systems get a touch lost along the way. The focus on skinning animals rarely comes into play outside of specific missions and pursuing character upgrades. A hint of an economy – pelts sell better where those animals aren’t readily available – seems redundant in a world where money is rarely a problem. The same goes for morality. Helping strangers earns you store discounts; murdering innocents lines your pockets faster. Echoing Fable II’s similar reputation system, nothing is permanent. Shoot a train driver and murder his passengers as they spill out into the desert, and you need only give rides to three old ladies for all to be forgiven. Flexibility allows Marston to have his ‘off days’, but the easy sway makes it rather pointless. -  Edge-Online

To succeed where other Western games have failed, Red Dead Redemption deftly recreates a sandbox playground of a tumultuous historical period swept away by technological progress. The game perfectly captures the expansiveness of frontier life and the gritty gunplay of spaghetti westerns, rightfully earning its place alongside the great Western films and the best Rockstar games. – Game informer

Click on the Jump to read the Alan Wake Reviews

Alan Wake Reviews

Alan Wake suffers from a few odd pacing issues, but for the most part its story unfolds perfectly as the game progresses, driving you further and further into the darkness. By the time you find out the truth of what happened in that cabin, you’ll be so far in that you’ll have no choice but to push on through to the other side. And you won’t mind one bit.
Bottom Line: A brilliantly told story, excellent voice acting, and an atmosphere so unnerving you’ll sleep with the lights on for a month. If only it came with a bottle of instant amnesia so that you could play it for the first time more than once.
Recommendation: Unless you’re allergic to excellent storytelling or have an unnatural fear of pine trees, play this immediately. – The Escapist

If anything, Alan Wake reminds me of the first Uncharted. It is a great, but flawed work (hello ugly daylight, quirky animations, and a script that mocks the viewer even more than Lost or Twin Peaks) that lays the foundation for what could be an absolutely amazing follow-up. I just hope it doesn’t take another five or six years. – 1up

For those who are currently in recovery after Isaac Clarke’s first adventure might consider moving on to the next article.  The Necromorphs aren’t finished yet.  Of course they’re not.  Is it humanly possible to rid the planet of a symbiotic organism that multiplies a million times faster than the cockroach. At least Isaac has been tapped to carry the small burden of mankind’s extinction on his shoulder in Dead Space 2.  EA has promised to do a full unveiling at E3. The details swirling around are sparse, but here is what we know so far, courtesy of  The Dead Space Wiki;

Dead Space 2 takes place three years after the events of Dead Space. Isaac will be arriving on The Sprawl, a civillian space station from the remains of Saturn’s moon Titan, where the Necromorph outbreak begins. It is stated that Isaac will be able to witness the panic that overtakes the station from the start, which will apparently result in the game having more Necromorphs as the game progresses.

Dead Space 2 will be the first game in the Dead Space series to have an online multiplayer component.^[1]

The Zero Gravity feature has been tweaked, allowing the player to control the direction of their drifting through space and firing their weapons at the same time.

Isaac will speak in Dead Space 2, and will also be able to display a greater range of emotion

Here is  a Gamespot Interview with Steve Papoutsis, Executive Producer of Dead Space 2. Click on the jump to watch

I’m not an IT guy, I’m a hack. Not a hacker either, just a hack. I hack at stuff until I get it to work. I can jailbreak iphones, mod systems, fix TVs, Tivos and computers. I liken myself to a monkey, I don’t invent any of this stuff but with a good guide I can piece stuff together. And if you give me 2 or 3 bad guides I can work it out too.

Recently I got a new router. When I got it, I had to make it work for Modern Warfare 2. I’m really not sure why this is such a hard thing these days, everything should plug and chug but it doesn’t. If you enter parties in Modern Warfare and keep getting booted (GHR_Superman) or if the Xbox Live Party keeps disbanding when you enter then you need to do the following. It’s not that hard and I’m going to explain it as simply as possible.

How can I tell if I need to do this?
In Modern Warfare 2 you can see your NAT Type:

• If it says Open, stop reading this and go play some MW2.  You will see this if you are direct connected to the internet (no router) or if your router is configured properly.
• If it says Moderate, you are behind a router and not all the ports that Xbox requires are open.  Keep reading.
• If it says Strict, you are behind a router and all the ports that Xbox requires are not open.  Keep reading.

Basically if you’re Moderate or Strict you’re going to have compatibility problems with other people who are moderate or strict.  The below chart explains when you’re going to have a problem.  Thanks to this site

How to I get to Open NAT?

Step 1: Give your Xbox a Static IP Address

This isn’t that hard but it takes some work and some persistence.  First thing I did was give my Xbox a static IP address.  You can choose either a dynamic IP address or a static IP address.  Dynamic is typically easy, basically it is telling the router to choose an IP address for your device.  So when the PS3 comes on it gives it an address (192.168.0.X).  Where X is usually 1, 2, 3, 4, etc…For this instant I chose something high 192.168.0.78

Rather than steal all the information or make my own screenshots I’m going to ask you to go here.  That site tells you how to set your IP.  The one change I’m going to suggest is the DNS server.  I just installed the free Google DNS server here.  Primary address is  8.8.8.8 and Secondary Address is 8.8.4.4

Step 2: Set up a DMZ

For a lot of routers they have an option for a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  If your router has that option, welcome to easy fix.  Now that your Xbox has a static IP, just put that static IP into the DMZ.

The above shows a screenshot from the router software I’m using.  Your software will be different but you’re looking for DMZ.  Then you will plug in your static IP address (192.168.0.78 using the above example).  If that’s done, check your NAT and you should be fine.  Go play Modern Warfare.

Step 3 :

So your router doesn’t have a DMZ.  Sucks.  But all is not lost.  You need to manually open ports.  It isn’t that hard but I admit I had difficulties when I was doing this step.

Xbox LIVE requires the following ports to be open:

• TCP 80
• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074
• UDP 53
• TCP 53

How to open them is dependant upon your router.  This website might help you out.  They even offer a program that can do this all for you ($20).  Step 3 was obtained from this guide from Microsoft.

The music game genre is becoming closer and closer to taking it’s seat next to the dinosaur. Extinction! Plastic instruments are currently collecting mass amounts of dust,  and  the slumping sales are causing publishers to wonder if  the gravy train is near the end of the line. Activision, or the new E.A, decided to bet the house on music game sales of 2009 and evetually conceded defeat. Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Band Hero, DJ Hero.  Really Activision? Their music games made a decent amount of sales, but nothing close to expectations. Bundle sales we’re down %50 from the previous year, and purchasers of Guitar Hero 5 received a free copy of Guitar Hero: Metallica. This trend is reminiscent of fighting games in the 90′s. Hopefully, these games don’t nearly become extinct like fighting games.

Rockband 3 is slated to release fall 2010. News of the next wave of Guitar Hero’s haven’t surfaced yet, but I’m sure we will hear about 3-4 music sku’s from the Activision camp soon.  The lack of announcement is obviously due to Activision  weary of giving too much time for people to find reasons  why they don’t need another plastic guitar and a live version of “Sweet Home Alabama.”

There are many reasons why these games are on the decline, but it’s not the game itself.  It’s the same music being repackaged and recycled.  Does “Celebration” and “Y.M.C.A.” have to be on every game? Why do these games only center around Rock Music?  I love rock music too.  I’m listening to “Bohemian Rhapsody” as I write this post.  Before someone scream out “DJ Hero,” I will explain. DJ Hero is a fun and engaging game, but it doesn’t convey the concert feeling like the plastic guitar. Some credit goes to LIPS. There is a Lupe Fiasco rap song on lips, which is one of the reasons that inspired me to write this article. Why can’t the focus of these games go from rock to rap.  A Jay-Z version of LIPS would be a Day 1 purchase.  Before someone comments that content of the music would be a deal-breaker, go play Sublime’s  Santeria  on Guitar Hero: World tour. Rock Music is great,  and the genre has produced some of the greatest songs.  Rap has been one of the more popular genres in recent history, and the excitement of rapping a song has yet to be discovered in these games. There are so many classics; Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” Jay-Z’s,  “Big Pimpin,” Dr. Dre’s “Forgot about Dre”  “Gin and Juice,” Tupac’s “Only God can Judge me,” Snoop Dogg, Nelly, old school Hip Hop, Sir Mix-a-Lot “baby got back.” The list goes on and on. Harmonix and Activision haven’t announced what’s in store for the upcoming music games, but hopefully, they will focus more on Rap music.

We all woke up a little worse for wear. Late night + beer = tired gamers. Add in Alfred / Scott / Sam’s commute and 30 hours of being awake, it took us some time to get moving. Once we got moving we started our Day 1 plan of going to Fenway Park (Home of the Red Sox) before PAX-East opened. Unfortunately we didn’t plan the trip there very well and after an hour of walking (including 20 minutes at Boston’s Boston Market) we arrived at Fenway…

First off we were late. Over an hour late from our original plan but we were there finally. JD went to the ticket booth and they told us we were out of luck. If we hurried and asked nice, the guide might let us walk through and then pay after. Well we hurried and we ended up blending with the original crowd and seeing the tour for free. Honestly we would have all paid but we didn’t want to get kicked. They had two tour guides, one does the tour and the other makes sure the back of the line doesn’t get lost.

This guide was amazing. Explained about the hawk that lives under the press box, the cardboard wolves to scare away the geese, explained that Fenway is home of the shortest home run route in baseball and the longest home run route in the American League. He told a story about the Citgo (See It Go) sign, told about a baseball that Babe Ruth hit onto a train which then made it’s way to New York (furthest home run ever). Many other great stories and told with amazing presentation. I really recommend seeing Fenway through their tours, this might have been the best part of PAX.

After we left there, McWild and I caught a cab while everybody else walked. We were the two dopes that wore t-shirts so we were freezing. Once at the convention center we got swallowed by a mass of people. Thousands of people were already streaming into line. We bought some PAX shirts / hoodies / scarves and waited with everyone else. This is the part where the AT&T network died. There were tons of iPhones and they crushed the network. Phone calls, text messages, tweets and emails just locked up. With the network dumping all the phones kept trying to push / pull data from all of these places and the batteries were draining extraordinarily quick.

While waiting, McWild bumped into a bunch of the SFX-360 group and the 2-old-2-play people and we walked in with them. A real great group of people that we saw many times this weekend.

I headed to see Wil Wheaton‘s keynote and was thoroughly impressed. Wil was in Stand By Me, Star Trek : TNG and recently worked on The Guild and Big Bang Theory. All of that is impressive but it’s not why he was chosen to do the keynote, he was chosen because Wil is an Uber Geek. I say that with love and admiration. He rolls with the big dogs, the big dogs being Hell Hounds and by rolls I mean saving throws. He’s still big into D&D, tabletop gaming and rocks out with the video games too. And he can give a great speech to a crowd of geeks. He pointed out that we’re all here celebrating a love of games. I could write paragraphs about his speech but that’s not the point of this article. I urge you to check out his video and if nothing else, take his final piece of advice “Don’t be a dick.”

After the keynote I bumped into the gang once more. Literally. I entered the show floor and bumped into Sam. That’s amazing considering the throng of people. At this point they’d been walking the floor for an hour and we got together and started seeing the few things they missed. PAX had tons of 3-D gaming, Tritton headsets, independent games, Intel, AMD, lots and lots of things but the important ones will be covered separately.

We finally get a minute to sit down and a woman comes up and gives everyone at our table an Intel Prize Card. As we entered, Intel gave us big blue buttons. If the prize patrol sees you they give you a card and you can win something. Now I’m happy, I won something. JD is across from me and shows that he has two tickets. Then the mocking begins. He is very proud that he has two tickets.

Next off we see Shank (looks awesome) while waiting for 2K and our 5:30 appointment to see Civilization V. Although we’re starving, we want to see Civ (and Mafia at 6:00) and not skip out on the appointment. Fortunately 2K ignored our appointment and started the presentation 5 minutes early and wouldn’t let us back. Off to dinner we go!

On the way to dinner we stop at the Intel Booth. JD is right in front of me and scans his two tickets. The first ticket is a shirt. The second ticket wins Napoleon Total War for the PC. Not bad, but nothing I want. Next I’m up and they scan my card. The scanner shouts “Processor”. The 5 other Intel people shout “Processor”. I shout “Mazeltov!” Then the whole crowd (100+ people waiting to scan their cards) start shouting “Processor!” I have no idea what I’ve won at this point. I start filling out paperwork and they explain that I won a $1000 processor. Now it’s my turn to find JD and start mocking.

After a late lunch we all head back to the rooms to chill for a bit before heading on the town. LeftBrown joined us and we headed toward Fenway for some food and drinks. Zabari and Vic Joe (Open Forum Radio) joined up and we had a blast. There’s a real open feeling at PAX meeting all the people you’ve known online for years. I had never met or spoken with Zabari or Vic Joe and we fell into a groove. Nothing cements people more than figuring out what kind of wine Jesus would have made for you. Zabari and I agreed that it’d be some real fancy smooth wine. Vic Joe just wanted some Mad Dog 20-20 and I can respect that.

Lots of drinking. Lots of idiotic but fun conversation. Then Day 1 officially ended with a cab ride and some sleep.

I'm your Huckleberry...

One of the titles I was most looking forward to seeing at PAX was Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead sequel, Red Dead Redemption.  Thankfully, the GHR crew was able to get some face time and hands on with the game.  The Red Dead booth was a popular one all weekend, despite not having any real PAX swag to give away.  Every time I walked by, there was a line. When our 7PM Friday appointment rolled around, we were all eager see what the GTA folks had done.

Problem was, the show floor closed at 7PM.  We were able to get back in and get to the booth for a brief presentation before the PAX enforcers booted us.  Full_Tilt and I went back first thing Saturday during the media hour to get some play time in.  Boy was it worth it.

The game looks really good.  Still using the Rockstar proprietary RAGE engine – graphically it looks better than GTA4, which impressed me.  Obviously with Redemption we’re talking desert cactus, horses and ghost towns compared to Liberty City – but it all looked great.  Playing on a 360, I saw no problems with draw distance or pop-ins.

As far as scale, we’re told that Redemption is bigger than GTA San Andreas.  Yes, let me say that again – bigger than San Andreas.  For those of you that haven’t played it, GTA:SA is one of the biggest games Rockstar has ever made.  You could hop in a plane and it would still take you a while to fly across the map.  Redemption consists of three main areas, each one progressively unlocking as you progress through the main story line.  We also asked about multiplayer, and while Rockstar couldn’t give details, they did confirm that there was multiplayer, and they’re excited about it.  Look for more news next week.

When I finally got my hands on the controller the first thing I asked was how do I get my horse.  Up on the D-pad, and my trusty steed came galloping along.  The horse controls well, no complaints.  Tapping A, just as in GTA4, causes the horse to run.  Mashing A too much will get the horse upset with you and you will be thrown off, so beware.  Just as in GTA, the radar in the lower left showed a letter which represented a contact/mission start point.  I started to follow the path set by the map waypoint marker when I came across a bandit who had stolen someone’s horse and buggy.  Me being the nice guy I am, decided to kill said bandit.  I sped up next to the driver, and clicked in on the right stick to enter dead-eye mode.  Dead-eye is from Red Dead Revolver, the first game in this series, and carries over to Red Dead Redemption.  It is basically “bullet time” – where everything goes into slow motion, and you can carefully pick your targets.  Either shoot a bunch of guys in a row, or one guy a bunch of times in a row, whatever floats your boat.  So I proceed to paint a red x on the bandit (and one accidentally on the horse), and pull the trigger.  Bam bam, back to real time, bandit down, horse slightly perturbed at me (but walking).  I hop on the buggy and return to lady in distress who it was stolen from.  These non scripted events are designed to happen anywhere and everywhere throughout the game.  I got the impression that there is a lot to do.  There could be a train passing by begging to be robbed, or you could stop and shoot at birds, opening a hunting sequence.  Your character can hunt the various wildlife of Red Dead, skin the animals and sell for money.

The Rockstar dev we talked to wanted to convey that Redemption is not simply “GTA4 with cowboy hats”.  One of the things that seem to set it aside from GTA is the character development.  The promos we saw emphasized how you can control your character’s decisions.  Be a bad guy, and make more money, but people are afraid of you.  Choose the nicer path and get accolades from townsfolk.  Reminded me of Fable.  Rockstar is known for it’s interesting and well developed characters, so I’m anxious to see how this aspect of the game plays out.

I handed the controller over to Tilt, and after some awkward fumbling around trying to get on the horse (Tilt has a history with horses in media, ask me some other time) – he was off to the mission marker.  At this point the game really did remind me of GTA4.  Get to the waypoint, talk to guy, watch cutscene, start killing.  The mission was to help a grave robber get his treasure back.  The radar showed red dots for the bad guys, and you methodically worked your way from cover point to cover point, shooting baddies.  The weapons we saw were your standard, pistol, rifle, and shotgun, but it appeared there are more options.  The demo we were playing had unlimited dead-eye mode, which made the mission rather easy.  Tilt and I took turns killing bandits and making it to the treasure to help out our skeevy grave robber friend.

I may be a bit biased, GTA4 is the reason I bought my 360 in the first place, but I am really looking forward to Red Dead Redemption.  May 18th, Redemption is coming for you…

This was one of my most exciting games from PAX East. It’s a must-have. Joe Danger is a combination Trials HD, Excite Bike, and Little Big Planet. It’s brought to us by a small group of 4 friends that formed Hello Games. It’s been confirmed to have local multiplayer and over 60 levels. You’re a giant-headed Evel Kneivel twin riding this bright red motocycle. You have the option of racing your friends along a straight track with lots of hazards (ramps, shark tanks, trucks). As you perform tricks you build up speed boosts. The racing / trick portion looks extremely fun.

Besides the 60 built-in levels it also has a robust build system. It was easy to pick up the controller and start designing a level. I was able to drop in ramps and trucks and a shark tank with extreme ease. It also allows you to build the level step by step and test the track as you go. It makes it simple to prove the track is possible without waiting until the end of the level design.

It’s a bright and fun game. Graphics that will draw the kids in for hours. So far it’s only on PSN but there are rumors of a Live version coming.

The other car included me (Full Tilt 101), JDsBlackBox and SirJMcWild. We left Philly on Thursday around 10AM and got to Boston around 2:30PM. Our ride was much less eventful than the other crew. Straight there with a rest stop visit for lunch. Once we got there, JD & I unpacked and hooked up everything (Xbox, PS3, clothes, etc) into the closet they call a room. After an hour of that we went and saw SirJMcWild’s Palace. 3x’s the size of our closet so JD did what he does best, complain. We then had to move all of our stuff to the end of the hall where we enjoyed the biggest room yet. A corner room with a decent view of the river / applestore. The only time we checked the view was Saturday when we saw a mini-snowicane.

After the guys showed up we got together and started hanging out. I think everyone had some apprehension at this point. None of us had ever met in real life. We talk via email and Xbox Live. There was a high potential for awkwardness or the group just not getting along. Luckily these fears were unfounded, 2 minutes in and it was like we’ve known each other for years. The camaraderie level was extremely high. It’s a mixture of us all being good people and our personalities gelled extremely well.

First stop : PAX BOOTH! We needed to get our media passes before the line formed. I had a geek-out at the PAX Booth because Wil Wheaton was checking in at the same time. He was super obvious because he was rocking a Dr. Who scarf. No one else in my group had any idea who it was. Alfred kept telling me he loved Firefly, took me a while to realize he thought I meant Joss Whedon.

Next we made our way over to the Cactus Club for The Married Gamers dinner meetup. We were very late but it was cool meeting Lefty, Phneri and the others. Also met TAG Members Robbie Jo, Heroic_Superman and Phoenix for the first time. Check out their PAX Podcasts here. Also met Ooopy from Blue Skittle and a bunch of other cool people.

Back to the hotel for some Rockband, Lips and maybe a little alcohol. JD and I left for a bit and came back with PGR hanging with Alfred, Scott, Sam and McWild. We then made a drunken stumble over to another hotel to pick up JVB. After that we continued out journey back to the Cactus Club. Tons of new people including Ross from SFX-360, Chris Paladino formerly of the Xbox Community Team, Carlos Ferro (Dom in Gears of War + Tons of other game credits), some Microsoft people and lots of other great people. Some drinking and hanging equaled a good time.

Thus ends Day 0.

For the first time since the inception of Gamerhusbands, the gang has missed a week. Fortunately it was for a good cause. GHR_Maverick, GHR_Superman, Teetocks, Full Tilt 101 & JDsBlackBox all gathered in lovely (cold) Boston to enjoy PAX East. Great times were had but with the commutes, they were unable to get a podcast up this week.

Fear not! Late today / early tomorrow you can download The Married Gamers podcast starring Lefty Brown, GHR_Superman and Teetocks. I was just lurking but I’m sure you’ll recognize a few other guests from the PAXtastic broadcast.

Expect a bunch of PAX coverage coming up soon!

Probably the largest of these sites, IGN, had layoffs yesterday. 1-Up closed up last year, this year it seems like IGN is the first to take a hit. Condolences to any of the IGN Staff that was impacted. I’m especially sorry to see @Chris_Roper go. I loved him on Podcast Beyond!

The final member of the SSF IV roster was revealed during GDC. He’s a Turkish Oil Wrestler named Hakan. Appearance wise, he looks like the result of an illicit rendezvous between Final Fight’s Haggar, Hellboy, Zangief, and Akuma. Like Abel, and Zangief his main strength are his up close grapple moves, however, when he douses his body with olive oil (extra virgin olive oil, to be exact) his move set is augmented with distance attacks, projectile counters, and increased grab range with his grapple attacks. His special moves have a zany attribute to them, and his Super move looks downright disturbing–in a good way…Sorta. Gamespot has an excellent video spotlight hands on preview with Capcom’s Seth Killian at GDC.

Now that we have a clear picture of what SSF IV will offer–i.e. character roster and fantastic online components like spectator mode, and tournament, I finally realized what it was about the original Street Fighter IV that left me so dissappointed. The new characters simply weren’t all that interesting to me. Sure jumping online as Ryu, Chun Li or Ken is great, but everyone plays as them. Now, I can’t wait to check out how Dudly, Adon, and Ibuki have changed to adapt to SSF IV’s combat system, and I can’t wait to “oil up” with Hakan. EEEEwwwwwwww…That didn’t sound right, did it?

Get that gun out my face, don't you know I'm from Bosyorkatchewan?!?

Heavy Rain is one of the most engaging video games I’ve ever played.  To call it a video game doesn’t really do it justice.  Heavy Rain is about the story, first and foremost.  And the story is compelling.  Unlike so many titles where the story is an afterthought that seems tacked on to the game (Gears of War, anyone?); Heavy Rain feels like a rich, character driven story with a game added to it.

The game is not perfect, don’t get me wrong.  I’ll try and do this without spoilers, so feel safe to read on if you haven’t played it yet.  Heavy Rain is about a series of murders completed by the “Origami Killer”.  Named so because he leaves an origami figure with his victims.  You play as one of four characters, rotating between them as they all travel along separate – yet sometimes intermingling -paths to try and stop the killer.  There’s the good samaritan, the private investigator, the FBI agent, and the father trying to save his son.  Each one with their own vested interest in finding the murderer.  The story is well done, just what you would expect from a good mystery.  It starts off slow, and depressing (make sure you play the first couple hours on a sunny day).  Even with the slow start, the emotions that the main character was going through were palpable.  I was immersed and emotionally affected very early on in the story.  It picks up nicely a few hours in however, gradually building to the eventual set piece finale where the murderer is revealed.

That being said, the story does have some flaws.  Mainly when you finally learn who the killer is and start to recount what happened previously, there are several WTF?!? moments.  I won’t go into detail, but post in the Heavy Rain spoiler thread in the forums if you’re interested.  It almost feels as if it were a movie where some of the “set-up” scenes were cut for length.  For the most part, I think the story did a good job of keeping me engaged and moved at a good pace.  I think the game could have been a tad bit short, but the length of the game does lend itself to replayability.  Due to the myriad of possible endings, most are going to retry at least portions of the game.

The controls are….let’s see – interesting.  This is not an action game.  There are no “twitch” style controls here.  There are some new, innovative control mechanics.  I like the idea of what Quantic Dream was trying to do, which is keep the player immersed in the game.  Sure, you could hit X to punch, square to kick, circle to run, triangle to interact with items – but I think that would take you out of the story.  One of the early sequences (also in the demo) where we see the controls start to take shape is when the FBI agent, Norman Jayden, is investigating a murder scene.  There is a muddy hill that he needs to climb to check for clues.  In order to do this, you must hit a series of three buttons, holding down each one.  The idea being one button for his right leg, another for his right arm, another for his left leg, etc.  I don’t know about you, but it’s not often that I’m simultaneously holding down three or four buttons on my controller.  If you miss a button, you fail and must try again.  If the action requires you to be slow or deliberate, you may have to perform a quarter-turn on the right stick very slowly.  Put all this into a more tense situation – escaping a burning building let’s say – and your adrenaline does start to pump.  If you’re like me, and invested in these characters, you want to help them, so you pay attention and hit the right sequence of buttons.

There are some six axis controls as well, most of it nicely done.  Thrust your controller up to jump, or to the left to clear off a table, tilt the controller to steer a car, etc.  Shaking the controller up and down to brush your teeth was a little over the top, but it was during the beginning in-game tutorial, so I’ll let it slide.  The sensitivity was fine, I rarely had any issues.  In addition there are some standard quick time event controls, usually revolving around combat.  On the medium difficulty, I found these to be pretty easy.  Even if you do miss one or two prompts in a fight, you won’t necessarily fail the sequence – your character my have a bit more bumps and bruises however.

Another game mechanic I thought was well designed was the characters’ “thoughts”.  If you are interviewing someone, for instance, your character’s thoughts will circle around their head in one or two word phrases with a corresponding button.  Press the button and the character asks the pertaining question.   It’s much better than beating you over the head with a huge wall of text dialog box with 5 options, which lead to another dialog box with 4 options, which then leads back to the first list so you can try another option.    Heavy Rain does the same thing in a much less obtrusive style.  You read the three or four one word options and make a choice.  If you delay and don’t make a choice, the game makes one for you.  That’s right, no dilly dallying here, you have to think quickly.  Also, most of the time you won’t be able to go through every option.  You, as the player, must decide which of the options are pertinent and will produce the best leads.  If your character is agitated, or under duress, the options will appear shaky and difficult to read. All of this adds to the immersion.

Graphically the game is really good.  The loading screens, which focus in on the face of the character you are about to play, are particularly striking.  Some of the best graphics I can remember.  But, like most of the other aspects of the game, there are some nagging drawbacks.  Some of the voice animations are glitchy, and I did notice some weird motion capture issues that can take you out of the moment.  None of it game breaking, but could have used some more polish.

The main complaint, by far – that I have with this game is the voice over work.  Quantic Dream is a French studio.  I imagine good American (Heavy Rain is set in Philadelphia) voice actors are hard to come by in Europe.  My guess, and this is only a guess, is that they sub-contracted the voice over work to a French Canadian casting agency.  Some of the character voices are fine.  Scott Shelby, the PI, was ok.  Madison, the good samaritan, was good.  Norman Jayden however, I thought was borderline awful.  His accent fluctuated from Boston to New York City to Saskatchewan and everywhere in between.  I really had problems with him.  The children were another bad example.  They were obviously bi-lingual Canadian.  I half expected them to whip out a helmet and skates and say “How’s it goin there, eh?  You fellas see the new tuuk my mum got me there?”  (Apologies to Canadian readers.)  My point is these kids did not sound like they were from Philadelphia.  Far from it.  In addition, I noticed some “bean” instead of “been”, “oot” instead of “out”, etc.

In summary, I greatly enjoyed my experience with Heavy Rain.  I’ll take something new and innovative that needs a little polish over a perfectly executed re-tread space cowboy game any day of the week.  This game was well done, even with the flaws I mention above.  With a bit more money and time, I think all the problems could have been fixed.  This is a business however, and there are budgets and deadlines.  I applaud Quantic Dream for the effort and hope the next in this style of game can build on it.  It’s not for everybody, but I think Heavy Rain is something every well-rounded gamer should try if given the opportunity.