NYCC 09 Wrap Up part 2

My second day of checking out the video game offerings was actually the third day in the con because Saturdays at conventions are only good if you like walking around while wading through a sea of people and like waiting in lines. But I took full advantage on Sunday, the day where people are either too hung over or too tired from the night before to come in before noon.

The first stop on the tour was the Activision booth where I was a little disappointed that the two games best suited for the comic convention crowd, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Wolverine: Origins, were not in playable form. (I guess they didn't want herds of comic book folk crowding their booth?) But that disappointment soon subsided when I got my hands on Prototype. Prototype is an open world game from the developers who brought us Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and it very much feels like a faster version of that game. But that's not a bad thing... in fact, it's very good. Whereas the world of Ultimate Destruction was mostly void of life, Prototype's world takes advantage of it's next gen processing power and fills the streets with civilians, soldiers and monsters. Of the games I played at NYCC, I had the most fun with Prototype and am eagerly awaiting it's June release.

After leaving the Activision booth, I noticed that there was an open Godfather II kiosk so I jumped at the chance to play the game based on the movie based on a book. Unfortunately, having not played the first Godfather game, I was unfamiliar with the controls and ended up beating up a nurse... accidentally. (In the game, not in real life.) As far as I could tell, the only playable sections were the third person action parts. The game also features strategic gameplay in "Don's view" which I would have liked to have tried out... but seeing as my first minutes of playing the game led to me beating up a medical assistant, I can only imagine my first few minutes of playing the "Don's view" would have me accidentally setting fire to Havana.

Next, I decided to wreak a different kind of havoc on the virtual streets of New York and ponied up to the Atari booth to try the eagerly anticipated Ghostbusters game. To my dismay, there seemed to be a problem with the Wii demo... I'm not exactly sure what happened. All I know is that it was broken before I got there... at least, that's what I'm telling everybody. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were both playable and other than the controller, they looked identical. The game features the actors from the movie and it is a little disconcerting to hear Bill Murray's voice come out of a face 25 years younger. One of the aesthetic choices I liked was the almost complete lack of a traditional heads up display (HUD). It's something that was featured in Dead Space and I'm glad the trend is continuing.

While I was playing the Ghostbusters game, a tall muscular bald man who vaguely resembled Vin Diesel was promoting the Chronicles of Riddick remake/sequel. I found it curious that the first day the game was behind a curtain, presumably to either keep the game away from younger eyes or to build a sense of mystery around the game... either way, by Sunday, the once mysterious curtain was pinned to the side, allowing curious onlookers to sneak a peek. I'm not a huge fan of first person shooters, but the fact that Chronicles of Riddick essentially contains two games for the price of one, made it worth checking out.

Finally, the last game I played on the show floor was the Xbox 360 exclusive, Velvet Assassin. A noisy convention floor probably isn't the best of conditions to play a stealth action game, I quickly learned. I had a hard time sneaking around stealthily as the Nazis in the game heard my every approach and killed me nearly instantly. The game almost feels like a sexy answer to the PS3 exclusive, Metal Gear Solid 4.

Although there's only so many hours in the day and only so many hours available to check out the upcoming games on the floor, I wish I could have seen a few other games at the show. Sony Online Entertainment had playable copies of their MMO, DC Universe Online, which I only got to see in passing. And while I could see advertising for the Splatterhouse remake all over, I couldn't find a playable demo of it. And last but not least, I would have liked to try F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, if only to test out the complicated rig they had at the show... (showing once again that I'm a sucker for good advertising...)

So are you disappointed that you couldn't make it to New York Comic Con? Well fret not because we're going to give you a chance to live vicariously through us by winning some NYCC swag!

Contest

So what do you need to do to win? The 360 exclusive DLC for GTA4 was released this week and if you hadn't heard, it features full frontal male nudity. Sure, full frontal male nudity is pretty bad, but we want your ideas for what would have been worse to put in the game. E-mail us your ideas and the best one will not only get the prize pack, but will also have a chance to be featured in a future Another Videogame Webcomic strip! So put those thinking caps on guys and gals... you've got a week (deadline: 2/27/09) to send in your entries!