Call of Duty awesomeness by Eric Cullen

Okay so one of my bestest buds made a video of his Call of Duty play and set it to music. He is showing me how to do this with the Pinnacle program so look for future videos of game play (possibly set to music!). A big super awesome shout out to my friend Eric for letting me post this. If you like the band (which I do, I love this song), you should check them out. The name of the band is Mystery Schools and the song on the video is entitled "Wrong". A big thanks to them for letting me use this. Seriously check them out, they're freaking awesome! I hope you enjoy!

Vacationing on Dead Island is so much fun!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this ever since Deep Silver released the most amazing trailer ever. I was probably setting myself up for let down because I was so biased and just in love with the game, yet never played it. So here it is, out and about and I cannot say anything bad about the game or its play. I love it! I am playing a game with each and every of the four playable characters and have to say that no matter who you play with, each characters uniqueness really shines for its individual play as well as how they compliment each other in co-op. Oh the co-op.. here is where the game has its only problem. Its drop-in drop-out, public slots or private slot mechanism is a solid idea, but is a bit tricky to navigate. Setting up co-op games and having to adjust these gets a bit frustrating and annoying, but once your in the game, these upsets quickly fade away (except for the no two player co op- booooo!). Okay let's get back to it. It is visually stunning and absolutely amazing in its nuances (running too fast or too much blurs your image). The scenery actually feels very real and you sometimes have to stop and view the landscape. A beautiful paradise.. infected with zombies! Multiple classes of zombies require you to use some thinking and strategy. Should you stay and fight or run and hide? This simple dynamic is what sets this game apart from every zombie game out there. This game is the zombie survival game that makes you think about who you are and how can you survive this. I have one person who told me its to much thinking, and not enough Left 4 Dead. Now do not get me wrong. several Friday nights have been with my gaming group playing Left 4 Dead, and I love it, but this is a whole new level of play. Developing your character with skill trees and experience, what weapons to upgrade and modify, who do you talk to for side quests and experience, and again most importantly, can I help these people and do what I can with 3 level 22 thugs staring me down? What would you do? These choices create a truly amazing story of what happens when your on vacation and you wake up to a world over run with zombies, and the only thing you truly can do is to try and survive. I am happy to say that over the last two weeks, when I visit the stores, I see that Dead Island is sold out. This means that more and more people are visiting the hell that Banoi has become, and that maybe we can survive the nightmare that our paradise has become. Oh, check out the cool cover art from the European game that I found online. Neat huh!

Resistance 3

So I got a quick teaser of this at Comic-con and let me tell ya, I was impressed. It looked good, played great, and was a lot of fun. So now my dreams have been answered and Resistance is here. At first glance it was a bit awkward I'll have to admit. You are no longer the Nathan Hale you were, but now Joseph, his trusty sidekick with Nathan no longer around. Times have changed, life has changed, and basically the game has changed. Again, a bit awkward to get in with. So no longer the military backing, you are now part of the remaining human race, hell bent on survival. The visuals of our destroyed nation have always been amazing and this installment does not disappoint. The graphics are amazing as you make your way through tunnels and sewers, back alleys and farm area, rivers to cities.The game play is still as fluid as ever, and the movement is smooth and nice. So you have your great standards for a game, and a changing story, and yet its missing something. Then I found it! As you play and advance your weapons, you have more options for weapons and natural upgrades. Upgrading my first weapon was awesome as the sighting is more accurate and the power has increased. This is way cool and was an even better surprise than expected. I found the game challenging at first, but see why as it prepares you for the next evolution of the Chimera. These creatures are tougher, faster, and more aggressive, so upgrading those weapons is a welcome help. Overall this is making for a truly great game and a very awesome chapter in the Resistance lineage. So to my PS3 followers out there, if you have played either of the first two, the third one is a must!

Dead Island

First off, just a shout out to Deep Silver and the gang for making such an amazing trailer. If you have not seen it yet, it would be worth your time to You Tube it. So here I am at Comic-Con and the board just screams out at you. I pull another ninja vanish on Chris and get a taste of what is to come with this Zombie co-op, and let me tell you, its freaking sweet! So here we are on vacation island and now were fighting for our lives. It'd simple enough and to the point. Now the twist, it’s almost as if you’re stuck here for good, so better start figuring out how to survive period! So your characters get to level up, learn skills, ala RPG style game play. Now you can also craft weapons, upgrade ones you have, etc... So you see where I am going. Get four friends together, get online, create characters, and try and survive this zombie nightmare. Not as quick draw as Left 4 Dead, but I think it’s time to take it to the next level. Zombies are it right now, I’m cool with that, so let’s get some good quality zombie fun out there, and Dead Island is going to be just that.

Silent Hill: Downpour

Silent Hill is just downright scary fun! Play it at home, later on in the evening with all the lights out and the surround sound on, and wow. Several times have I jumped at being shocked or scared. Here’s the cool thing about Downpour. It’s all about the building fear. In the small section I played, I was stuck in a room trying o get out when the rain started. It hit so hard that the room began to fill. There I am wondering where to go when I notice the power box on the wall that is sparking. I am going to die. Panic and run what to do what to do, oh here comes a creature. It starts off with fear, moves you into terror, and then throws shock at you. I was very impressed with the graphics and look of the game, and the story of our hero being a villain is good play for Silent Hill to sink its teeth into. Needles to say I was able to get the water down and deal with my baddie, but I was not left unscarred. Downpour is going to give the puzzle solving element of Silent Hill some intensity with its use of rain and water. I am excited and cannot wait to visit the town of Silent Hill once again. It’s one of my favorite little haunts to visit.

Resistance 3

I have long been a fan of this franchise. The Resistance series caught me off guard when I was trying it out one day.  So after being hooked and playing the second one, I am dying for the 3^rd installment. The fact that you have now moved into a world that is overrun with invaders is going to put a new fresh twist on the story.  As this area was packed, and the only thing I could do was watch the game in action. The FPS still runs smooth and the look of the game is great. I witnessed some sniper rifle like action on a hill side and it was nice! Of course I have my pre-order at GameStop ready to go. This is a series that has not disappointed me yet, so I may be biased, but I think we have a solid 3^rd entry into the franchise.

Kinect Star Wars

This is going to be loads of fun! The Kinect didn’t look or feel like it lagged on the reaction time a bit, and the on screen prompts were well placed. It was fun to see head to head split screen where you worked together and used 2x the power. The light sabers were the only thing I felt will take a bit to get used to. I think it’s going to be the speed of movement that’s the trick, but hopefully they will tweak it a bit before release. What do you think of the new 360 LE console for Star Wars Kinect?