I recently picked up a copy of Alone in the Dark and to my surprise I have found it quite entertaining. Before the games release in June I actually had anticipated it’s release for two reason - survival horror is one of my favorite genres (the original 1992 release invented the genre) and I really enjoyed Eden Games last release (Test Drive: Unlimited). Of course my expectations diminished greatly after reading the mostly mediocre and negative reviews that rolled in. If you were like me you may have missed out on a great game.

Atari released Alone in the Dark on multiple platforms - Wii, 360 and PC (with a PS3 version due later this year) so please keep in mind the following are my impressions of the Xbox 360 version.

The game has a medium learning curve and except for a few times early in the game while I was getting the hang of it, I actually found the controls for each mode of play to be intuitive and well thought out for the most part. You might consider them quirky since some of the actions are unique to this title. I recall the classic Alone in the Dark forced you to use the keyboard and I remember that I preferred to use a joystick or gamepad for control, but once I familiarized myself with the controls they actually worked surprisingly well.

I found the variety of gameplay elements to be well done - I like the realistic physics and detailed character interactions. Eden introduces a unique inventory system that allows you to access your inventory without pausing the game. Thankfully you can combine items in logical ways and having to manage the limited space inside your jacket does make it more realistic. Keeping Edward from bleeding to death by spraying medicine to areas injured and having to apply bandages made certain parts of the game quite intense. Action sequences played well and I liked how the camera switches to over the shoulder Resident Evil 4 style when you fire your gun.

The driving in the game was a bit of a disappointment. The instruments on the dashboard surprisingly didn’t function while driving and the segments themselves were quite linear.

The characters voice acting quality varies widely, but for a video game is adequate. I also found the story to be pretty good - not nearly as good as the originals Lovecraftian goodness but certainly comparable to the typical Silent Hill and Resident Evil fare. I also noticed that those who observed me playing the game appreciated the recap of key events and liked how when I finished an episode it was like it they were watching a show on TV.

I didn’t skip any sections via the DVD style index that turns each level into a episodes split into evenly spaced sections although I was very tempted to during a couple of the segments. Having this option available makes the game even more accessible and should help lower frustration levels for most and is a welcome feature.

Spore creator, Will Wright educates us on the little known facts of Russia short-lived space station, equipped with anti-aircraft weaponry.

Watch Ben Croshaw, aka Yahtzee, verbally slice and dice Ninja Gaiden II in this weeks Zero Punctuation.

Team Genius is behind this musical tribute to Donkey Kong Country it’s the 10th epsiode their web series Boy Friends. You can listen to the song by clicking the play button of our audio player or watch the full episode of “Donkey Kong” in the embedded video below. Enjoy.

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Nintendo, hey Nintendo! It’s me. GlossGreen. Remember me? We used to play together as kids. Remember the time we used to play Zelda? No? How about Metroid? You don’t remember that either? I know, it was a long time ago, but you seem different these days. It seems like you’re trying to be someone else these days. What happened to you? I remember first meeting you way back in grade school. You were there to pick up the pieces after the whole Atari thing. Damn E.T., why did it have to be that bad? Luckily, you were there to swoop in and pick up the pieces. Seeing you in the store for the first time, I think it was a Sears, I remember being excited (as only a grade schooler could). I used to spend hours looking at the box art of games, heck, I even thought R.O.B. looked cool. I know, I was young and didn’t know better. Playing the games were great, I could actually tell the difference between my character and a rock. That was a huge improvement over the other guys stuff. We spent hours and hours having fun, and then things got better.

A few years later, you got a slight bit more mature and grew a tad bit bigger. You got smarter and became able to do some pretty cool things. Zelda looked better, Mario could do more things, and Samus had more toys. Those were the good old days, some say the best. I have many good memories playing through those years, but changes were on the wind. A new media for games was on the horizon and you tried to join in. CDs were going to be the next big thing for games. They were cheaper, had more storage, and hell, people just thought they were cool. Too bad you made the wrong choice.

I still stuck by you…for a while. I didn’t care that you still used cartridges while the other systems started using CDs. You still had some great games. All the usual suspects were there, and some new ones too. I spent many, many hours playing Rogue Squadron, my favorite Star Wars game to date. Unfortunately, all was not well. At the time, I was starting a family and had a job that didn’t pay so well, and there in lies the rub. New games for you ended up costing nearly $70. I couldn’t believe it. Why the heck were you so expensive? I know things weren’t going well for you against your former partner, but did you really have to cost so damn much? Were you trying to alienate all your friends? Let me tell you, price gauging is not cool. After that things got worse.

I didn’t even recognize you the next time you hit the spotlight. You went from a cherished family friend to…a toy. That’s what I thought. Sure, Resident Evil looked pretty good, but a cube shape? With a handle? Let’s get one thing straight, you were not a portable system. The handle was just stupid. What really got me was the fact that you didn’t learn your lesson from the last time. Hello, remember the CD fiasco? Anyone? Why the miniature discs? That’s just like a racehorse on the track with a broken leg. You can get some mileage out of it, but it won’t go far. I an not ashamed to admit that I turned my back on you then. I thought you’d be done for sure.

Revolution. Now that was a cool name and it showed that you were going to try something new. I was interested, even though I’d sworn you off the last time. You had some big plans and ideas that really impressed me. But you let me down again. What did you choose instead? Wii. What the hell were you thinking? Underwhelming hardware with a stupid name. Looking back at it now, I’d say you were in it for the money. Go cheap with the hardware and take advantage of everyone with garbage software. Even with the occassional Mario, Zelda, or Metroid game you have still lost me. I know you are making money hand over fist these days, but let’s be honest. How long do you think this can possibly last? I can see it now, death by shovelware. With games like Gingerbread Man, who needs enemies?

Things aren’t over yet, I know you are only half way into your second year and there is still plenty of time to fix things. First, get quality back. Remember the Nintendo Seal of Quality? I took heart knowing that you actually looked at the games that developers were trying to get on your system. Sure, the occassional bad game made it through, but nothing like the old 2600 days. Nothing like an E.T. to be seen. Second, get some games that people like me would actually play. Wii Sports? No. Cooking Mama? Hell no. Ging…Stop right there. You see my point? Remember the old days. Strive for excellent, fun games. Don’t just do it because you can. I know Nintendo could slap the Wii name on a rock and sell millions of them, but it doesn’t mean they should.

With over 100 artists contributing to the upcoming I am 8-bit show opening August 14th at:

World of Wonder Storefront Gallery
6650 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, California

The exhibit runs runs through Sunday September 7th and features performances by Computer Jay and
DJ R-Rated. Check out some of the art that will be featured below.

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Rock Band 2 gets national media exposure yesterday on NBC’s Today Show when hosts Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker, and Natalie Morales play Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” in front of a crowd in front of their Time Square studio in New York City.

Over on The Colbert Report Nas plays Rock Band while backstage scoring 95% accuracy with a 255 note streak. Not too bad.

“We borrow the most infamous rides from the past and present GTA cities.”

Watch this retrospective Gametrailers produced covering the history of some of the most recognizable autos (there are over 100 vehicles) found around Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Rockstar Games San Diego is nearing the September 9th release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The just released a new trailer, here it is:

Want more? Don’t miss this detailed coverage.

I guess it isn’t very clear. On SDA (Speed Demos Archive) the Timer starts when you start moving the character in the first level and stops when you can’t move the character after killing the final boss.

I couldn’t stop playing the game and improved my record a bit. I had to do about 120-130 attempts and this was nr. 17 of my finished attempts. Thanks to Stanski I didn’t stop that much in Snow field and thanks to Verberos at youtube and his speedrun Im very close to pass the waterfall level without a stop.

Its not the first time Im surprised over realising how fast you can beat this game. When I saw Tmonts 11:25 I thought an improvement with 15 seconds where possible but when I practiced like Crazy I realised that even sub 11 minutes where possible and I did 10:55. When I got 10:55 I had a theory that 15-20 seconds fast should not be impossible for me.

And When I got the 10:40 I belived my potentials limit should be somewhere around 10:25. And now I’m here at 10:24! And I belive that in the theory its possible to beat the game under 10 minutes but I’m pretty sure that a sub 10 will never ever happend. Its though to beat the game under 11 minutes. And you got to be a fast shooting bastard if you want to came close to this record.

I think I will keep trying to be even faster. though. Im not sure If I will ever improve the run even if a multi segment probably is 15 seconds faster. Where you can save most time is killing the waterfall boss and the base 2 boss faster.

Today I rank these Contra speedrun as one of my very best runs. Togheter with, I guess, Mario 3, Mega Man 3, X, X2. though. Mario 3 took a lot more time to accomplish.

The run where in general very smooth. Except for the first two room in Base 1 my spread rythm where good. I did what I can tell two small details that I can call mistakes. My position on the waterfall level where a bit off and a random enemies pop up and shot exactly when I did a jump in snow field. I had to dodge those bullets. I knew a random enemie pop up here in about 1 out of 50. Other than that everything is about getting luck and better spread rhythm. Freddy Andersson

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