Happy Friki Day!

That’s it.  I’ve stumbled onto the truth.  May 18th must be some sort of geek holiday.  Is there a “Geek Day”?  Like Fathers’ Day but only with gadgets and games and all sorts of geeky goodness?

The game that is going to have to wait for me to play it is Disney’s Split Second.  This game is reminiscent of the old David Carradine film, Death Race 2000.  The premise is mostly identical.  The player takes the role of a driver in a reality television show built around an auto race.  In the race, drivers get the power to detonate high explosives, cause building and bridge collapses, and otherwise take out their fellow drivers.  The only thing missing is the assassination plot at the end.  I got to play a build of this game last year and it was a ton of fun.  It is a white knuckle, fast reaction game where dodging explosions and debris forces split second decision making.  So, the title is appropriate if nothing else.  I will probably rent this game first to see if I want to buy it or just give it a single play-through.

The last two titles launching tonight are Alan Wake, which I wrote about a few days ago, and Red Dead Redemption.

For weeks, I’ve been calling Red Dead Redemption ”Grand Theft Horse.”    After all, it is made by Rockstar Games, the folks who brought us all of the Grand Theft Auto games.  The game has two of the features I like most in video games: an open-world environment and story-driven action.  The story was the only reason I liked GTA IV.  I’ve never been a fan of the GTA games, but GTA IV had Niko Bellic and a story that drew me in.  RDR has John Marston.  The player takes the role of Marston, a former outlaw who has now settled down.  That is, until the newly-formed Bureau of Investigations kidnaps his family and forces him to hunt down his former gang of outlaws.  The story is quite similar to Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.  The game looks beautiful so far, and I can’t wait to play it.  I still think Alan Wake will make it into my XBOX 360 first, but this one will follow soon after.

Speaking of video games, a few months ago, I was surprised by the arrival of a game I’d never heard of before, with a release price of only $19.99.  The game was called Deadly Premonition.  I considered checking it out, but after reading the review on IGN, which gave the game a Terrible Rating (2.0 out of 10), I decided to pass it up.  Then I happened upon another article.  This one sang the praises of the game, calling it “so bad it’s good.”  Deadly Premonition is a campy Japanese open world survival horror rpg that mixes Twin Peaks, the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto, and Resident Evil.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  This has to be the worst game ever made for the XBOX 360, and I’m afraid my system may commit suicide by red ringing when I fire it up, but I can’t wait to play it.  Take a look at the trailer and see what you think?  Does it make Alone In the Dark (2008) look better?

I read an excellent article on Kotaku this morning by Luke Plunkett.  It’s called “What Are You Looking For In A Video Game?”  Luke’s preferences are quite similar to mine (Luke, are you my doppelganger?), and I highly recommend this article, if for nothing else than to get you to think about why you like the games you do like.

 This brings me to the obvious question: What are you looking for in a video game?  Let’s play a little game of “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine” shall we?  I’ll be sharing mine in my post on Wednesday (5/19).
  After I sleep off my Geek Day video game induced hangover a bit.  On Thursday (5/20), I’ll be sharing more about the tabletop survival horror role-playing game I’m working on.