Prototype takes place in an open world recreation of New York City and you take o the role of Alex Mercer who has awakened with super powers and little memory. New York has been infested by zombie like creatures called the Infected and even the surrounding buildings have been sucked into to their evil. Hives of infected dot the city and more an more appear all the time. Using your super human abilities, you must disover the conspiracy involved that made this happen and attempt to save the city. But just because you are attempting to help out doesn't make you a hero. Alex Mercer is a decided anti-hero, out for himself and whatever he can get. And you don't have just the Infected to worry about either, there is the Army as well who is not only out to stop the infected, but for some unknown reason, out to get you too. Also be on the lookout for the mysterious Black Watch who have a hand in this somewhere as well.

The real draw in this game, at least for me, was the super powers and there were a lot of them. All sorts of special moves and knowledge can be gained from devouring the people around you. One of these powers comes to great effect when trying to escape from the Army who is chasing you down. If you can manage to get out of sight and eat someone, you can take on their form and walk around undetected. But, you must be careful. One false move or use of your super powers out in public will cause your cover to be blown and you will be on the run again so stealth is the key in these situations. Devouring other people will also allow you to gain their knowledge and put it to your own use. For instance, devour an Army tank driver and you gain the ability to drive tanks and the same goes for weapon use. The more enemies of one type that you consume, the better your ability in that area becomes. And the nice thing is, once you gain these abilities, you always have them at your disposal. Some of the other special powers include an area attack where thorny tentacles reach out of the ground to attack your enemies and a Hammer Fist which pounds enemies into the ground. A lock on system helps as well for targeting certain enemies amongst the crowds of people who are running about in a panic everywhere you go. If your really feisty, you can even distract attention form yourself by accusing random passers by of being you which will cause all surrounding enemies to open fire on the poor innocent.

Since it is an open world, you can go wherever you please, but there is a main storyline whos plot is revealed as you make your way through the game devouring people left and right. Ingesting main characters throughout the game will give you clues as to what exactly is going on here. You must use your powers to reconstruct your past and eventually discover the giant conspiracy that provides the game's hidden plot. Ultimately, you control the pace of the game by choosing which way you want to handle your enemies. Deceive or Destroy? Which one will you choose?

Prototype really reminded me a lot of Crackdown in it's basic gameplay mechanics. While the game itself looked interesting, I was a little disappointed in the graphics. The character models seemed very simplistic and I saw the same several models over and over again in the various crowd scenes. But, as this was an early build I'm hoping that this is something that will be taken care of when the final coat of paint is applied to the project.

Prototype launches this fall for the 360 and PS3 and is a single player experience although they did hint that co-op and online play were both being looked at as possibilities. And yes, there will be downloadable content although what form that will take remains to be seen.

As his wife called 911, Galvanek pulled two injured passengers from the truck, assessed their wounds, and properly prioritized/administered treatment (direct pressure and elevation) to one of the accident's more brutal injuries, a mutilated hand. In short, he did things just as he should have in a circumstance that could have ended even worse. And yes, Galvanek thanks his training in a video game for his performance under pressure:

I have received no prior medical training and can honestly say that because of the training and presentations within America's Army, I was able to help and possibly save the injured men. As I look back on the events of that day, the training that I received in the America's Army video game keeps coming to mind."

I remember vividly in section four of the game's medic training, during the field medic scenarios, I had to evaluate the situation and place priority on the more critically wounded. In the case of this accident, I evaluated the situation and placed priority on the driver of the car who had missing fingers. I then recalled that in section two of the medic training, I learned about controlled bleeding. I noticed that the wounded man had severe bleeding that he could not control. I used a towel as a dressing and asked the man to hold the towel on his wound and to raise his hand above his head to lessen the blood flow which allowed me to evaluate his other injuries which included a cut on his head.

Now I'm certainly not saying the Army had no right to be there, they paid their money for a booth just like everyone else, but I do find it a bit disturbing seeing such things at a gaming convention. Especially with all the talk about violence in video games and how it influences young people. As gamers we strive to quash that myth and yet here is the Army showing up promoting a game that is basically just a tool to try and get people to sign up for the military. Our government wants to bash violent games and then turn around and use them to lure kids into an actual war? Seems more than a bit hypocritical on their part.

What are your feelings on this? Personally, it scares the crap out of me.

The official Web site for the Army Gaming Championship also encourages Gears of War players to perform a move known as the "curb stomp," which involves characters in the game crushing an opponent's skull with their boot.

Now I don't normally get in the way of political intrigue, but I can certainly see where The Raw Story is coming from on this one. Army officials were said to have looked very closely at the games in the competition, which include America's Army, Resistance, and Command & Conquer 3, and Gears got a nod because none of the competitors in the tourney were below the recruiting age of seventeen.

Army tournament features chainsaw massacre video game [The Raw Story via Game Politics]

While the Army is somewhat notorious for some eye-rollingly bad recruitment advertisements, they hit on a campaign that works with their America's Army online game. Now they're sallying forth and have entered into a sponsorship with the Global Gaming League - and catching flak from anti-recruitment and anti-war groups.

"It is part of this campaign for the last 20 years to invade youth culture with militarism," Project on Youth and Non-military Opportunities co-founder Rick Jahnkow told AFP.

"It affects the way young people think. It affects their world view. That is a very dangerous thing."

While I see what people are saying regarding glorifying war and making it seem like a much more fun process than it is in actuality, this sort of thinking is rather endemic to pop culture (and not just American) as a whole. One prominent Japanese historian in America felt the need to teach an class with the specific intention of overturning the romantic ideas about samurai, and war games in general are quite popular - be they of the console or reenactment variety. With recruiters in a hard spot these days and tons of news stories talking about suspect methods, is it any wonder the US Army has turned to a popular form of entertainment to make their pitch? Maggie Greene

US Army's computer game recruiting plan takes fire [Yahoo News]

Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.

So the last bit there wasn't 100% true (or at all), but it sure sounds like it, doesn't it? Either that or there's some Ender's Game crap going down (read the book).

So are they taking the idea of military gaming and having the Army leverage an existing environment to find potential candidates for recruits?

"We're taking the idea of military gaming and having the Army leverage an existing environment to find potential candidates for recruits," said Reuben Hendell, CEO of MRM Worldwide, the agency that will create the specialized games section.

Well no worries. It's not like the army is all about combat. Gary Bishop, overseer of Army marketing and advertising, sets the people straight.

Being in the Army is about driving trucks, welding, nurses and computers.

Recruiters scour online gaming market [Army Times]

US Troops Taught Iraqi Gestures [BBC]

As Clickable Culture points out, that maybe Jack Thompson isn't so far off when he calls video games "Murder Simulators." The debate comes from a Washington Post article titled "Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War." A guardsman, Alfred Trevino said something pretty harrowing: "The feel of the actual weapon was more of an adrenaline rush than the feel of the controller," he continues. "But you're practically doing the same thing: trying to kill the other person. The goal is the same. That's the similarity. The goal is to survive."

The Post piece doesn't neglect the other side of the coin, however. One soldier's affinity for violent games was non-existent after he returned from Iraq in 2004. The piece, coupled with Tony Walsh over at Clickable Culture, certainly got this writer thinking.

Murder Simulators Get High Military Marks [Clickable Culture]
Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War [Washington Post]