IN WHICH a whole bunch of big deal is made about video games.
Briana's pick: The video game truck
Be happy you didn’t grow up in Coral Springs, Florida. Because in Coral Springs, Florida ice cream trucks are not welcome. Seriously. Ice cream trucks were banned from my childhood home 25 years ago. I just wanted you to know. At this very moment, children in Broward County are going without a convenient treat, delivered by truck. So sad. But this blog doesn’t really have anything to do with ice cream trucks. It’s about video game party trucks. Seriously.
Honestly, where have I been? I only discovered this week that such a thing as a “mobile video game theater” existed. I mean, COME ON! What a terrific idea. So here’s the deal—you’ve got a truck with a fancy trailer in the back. Inside the trailer is a couch, a hi-def sound system, big screen tv’s and room for 16 people to game the day away. Fantastic! Somebody get me a video game truck, STAT. I’ll bring the ice cream.
James’ pick: ‘Alan Wake’
The last few months have seen a couple of big-budget video games that try to blur the line between game and movie. The PS3 exclusive “Heavy Rain” got a lot of attention for its innovative approach, and while it certainly was an amazing experience to play through, the story kinda fell flat in the end.
That was not the case with “Alan Wake,” an amazing game from Remedy and Microsoft. Told in episodic format, like a TV miniseries – each episode begins with a “Previously on Alan Wake” catch-up sequence – it’s the story of the titular writer who is struggling with writer’s block. He and his wife head to the very Twin Peaks-esque village of Bright Falls, where strange stuff starts to happen.
Don’t want to say any more because I don’t want to spoil the story. Neither one of these games is worth buying because once you’ve played them through once, you’ll probably never pick them up again. But they’re both well worth renting for the weekend – each one takes about 8-10 hours to complete. And I’ve gotta tell you, I’m still thinking back to the story of “Alan Wake” after several weeks, which is not even true of most movies I’ve seen.