This week in the Straight I feature Prototype 2, developed in Vancouver at Radical Entertainment.

The game does not include a multiplayer mode – studio head Ken Rosman figures everyone is playing Call of Duty anyway. Instead, Radical came up with Radnet, an asynchronous competition mode.

I never finished the first game despite enjoying it immensely. I got stuck on the final boss battle. Turns out I was not alone.

One of the most difficult things Ken Rosman had to do after taking over the management of Radical Entertainment was finish playing Prototype.

This week’s Straight includes my coverage of the PlayStation Vita and a number of the games that were available at launch.

I know, I know, the handheld system was released in February. But there’s been many Vancouver stories to cover recently.

Sony’s new handheld gaming device, PlayStation Vita, has been described by many as a mini version of the PS3, the electronics company’s home entertainment console. Those people are pretty close to hitting the mark.

Great and informative presentation by Business Insider contributors Henry Blodget and Alex Cocotas on the future of mobile.

Their presentation begins by reporting that last year, the number of smartphones sold exceeded the number of personal computers sold.

This has major implications for the gaming industry, of course.

What I found most interesting was that despite the fact that Android is the mobile operating system with the greatest penetration, developers prefer creating for Apple’s iOS.

And as a commenter on that slide deck said, this doesn’t even take into account the emerging markets for smart- and feature phones.

In the Georgia Straight this week is my coverage of Capcom’s latest Resident Evil game.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City was developed by Vancouver’s Slant Six Games. I talked to development director Dan McBride about the studio’s path in recent years:

Slant Six Games, named after the 1960s engine that powered the Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Dart, is again running at full speed. In the fall of 2010, the Vancouver video-game developer nearly ran out of gas.

And I talk to Andy Santos, who directed the game for Slant Six, about how Operation Raccoon City is able to be both a shooter and a Resident Evil game at the same time:

The Resident Evil video games, known for being cinematic and scary, are part of a subgenre of action games called survival horror, which tries to give audiences the experience of being in a horror film.

In this week’s Straight I look at the new SSX from EA Sports.

First, I talk to Steve Rechtschaffner, who created the sport and the first few video games in the franchise:

Before he worked as a producer of video games for Electronic Arts, Steve Rechtschaffner made extreme-sports videos.

I also consider how SSX walks the line between real and hyper-real:

In recent years, EA Sports has been refining and promoting the simulation aspect of its video games, which may have posed a problem for the development team responsible for renewing the once-lucrative snowboarding franchise.