1.e4 e5 2.Ne2

Is it playable?

Does it give black an advantage?

Here are few variations i had in mind:

It's known as Alapin's opening, and it's playable. However, the Black scores a tiny bit better than the White according to my database, but probably it's about equal.

6.Qe2

I thought the idea of Ne2 was an early f4, when your knight will have a pleasant post there.

Most players that use this opening tend to go for it to avoid too much opening theory. It's pretty easy for black to equalize though, so I wouldn't recommend playing it. Also one of the key factors of this opening is the early f2-f4 pawn push, f3  is a bit of a weird move in my opinion.

I play 2.Ne2, Alapin's Opening, from time to time to get out of book.  Here is a recent game.

very cool way to start off a game, nobody plays it, yet it is very different from other openings. 

Silly opening.

You just close the line for the Bishop on f1 in the 2nd move.

Nf3 is better. 

its playable. its very fun.

I'm not saying Ne2 is sound, but I think all of the games above miss the whole point of the opening. If anyone has read Bronstein's 200 open games, the last game in his book shows this opening played as white down a rook with quite deadly initiative. While it does block the f1 bishop (very temporarily) it does not block the f pawn (As seen with 2.nc6, 3.f4!). 

I think the main idea is to provoke agressive players to attack the weak e4 pawn with  2.Nf6, and then open the position with 3.d4 sacrificing the e4 pawn. If black accepts with 3.Nxe4, then white will play 4.Ng3 encouraging his opponent to trade knights since he is up material. If black accepts this trade with 4.Nxg3, then after 5.hxg3 (opening the h file for the rook), white has major initiative and black will have problems castling kingside without falling into some crushing attacks. A few moves later into the position, the book finishes with Rxh7!, sacrificing a queen on g5! and it results in a forced loss for black despite being up significant material. 

In the games above white is too afraid to lose the pawn and tries to protect it with an early Ng3, Nc3, d3, or f3. this actually dis-coordinates the white pieces losing initiative. I think this defeats the purpose of Ne2. 

wow, you've done your homework!

Thank you, I have read about 150 chess books and only now am I learning the game properly from move 1....

Anything is playable, Here is a game I played as black with a horrendous opening idea (switching the king and queen). Just because someone memorizes move orders, doesn't mean they are good at chess. 

For further info, I found this thread on the topic. the first thing he references is the game from Bronstein's book, and he shows some master level examples of the opening.

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-opening-you-probably-never-heard-of

there is just nothing appealing about this move. For example, if white tries some ng3 manuever, h5 is very annoying since he has not developed the rest of the kingside pieces to warrant going back to e2 or allowing h5-h4-h3.

with any luckk, white might get away with some tranposition to a scotch if early bc5 is seen or a g3 vienna if early nc6 is seen.

Darkunorthodox88 - Can you provide a sample line? I referenced above 1.e4 e5 2.Nf6 Ne2 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Ng3. Where does black have time to play h5?

If 4.Nf6 then 4.dxe5 forcing the knight to head back to g8. And wouldn't white be closer to castling queenside upon 3.exd4 4.Qxd4?

It is not so simple, you as a master should know this. You are generalizing a material advantage (endgame), but pawn structure, mobility, king safety, and tactics are all higher priorities in the middle game than grabbing a pawn. You would probably make a tactical error before the endgame is even reached, unless I am mistaken and you are actually a computer. 

The assessments of (1. attack the g3 knight with h5) and (2. black is up a pawn) are not very insightful and aren't very convincing. I have reason to believe you aren't taking this seriously and actually working out the moves.  White has ways to win back the pawn, and white can continue developing initiative since the h file is open to attack the black kingside after the exchange of knights.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I disagree with your evaluations and still feel the game is equal, and very double edged. I would play this as white, especially if my opponent valued material over mobility and king safety.