So maybe I should start providing evidence for why gaming sucks right now. A great way to do this would be by keeping notes on the week's new releases. Here's an attempt.....

PC

Hearts of Iron III -- Not Interested

Fallout 3: Mother Ship Zeta -- No Interest

Hive Rise -- Another RTS like Hearts of Iron III and same interest level

Skull Daddy -- Huh?

Fifty Nintendo DS Games -- Based on the DS title ....no thanks

Aliens in the Attic -- LOL

PS3/XBOX 360

G I Joe: Rise of Cobra -- Based on a movie so will definitely suck

Guitar Hero: Van Halen -- Could be good but I haven't played any of the music-based games

SingStar Queen -- See Guitar Hero: Van Halen

So, if you didn't believe me, there you go! Nothing this week!!

Ok, so I have a few favorite tracks that I think are very well designed and fun to play. Then I have a few other tracks that I think are terrible and should never have been inserted into the game. We'll start with the top 3 best tracks:

3. Sherbet Land (Banana Cup)

This track is a LOT of fun! It's not as bad as the icy tracks from the older versions of Mario Kart Wii where you slid all over the place almost uncontrollably. The carts hold the road pretty well here, but it's still a challenge. I love this track (and the Banana Cup in general)!

2. Mushroom Gorge (Mushroom Cup)

Bouncing on top of mushroom heads was never so much fun in a G-rated setting! I think I love this track so much because I don't get eaten alive by turtle shells due to all the time spent in the air. Of course there's still the blue turtle shell that I wish they'd take out of the game, but that's a post for another time.

1. Delfino Square (Banana Cup)

Yes, this is definitely my favorite course in the game! It's basically a big square with a bunch of turns that can really be tough if you don't know your cart. You can really get moving fast on this one so make sure to bring a cart with high speed (but you probably don't want a lot of drift).

I just surfed through the sad list of new releases for the next two weeks. NOTHING! The best thing on the list is the GI Joe game that I assume is based on the movie. When was the last time you played a good game based on a movie? Yeah, my memory isn't that good either. In fact, I'm convinced they could take a really good game -- Assassin's Creed, for example -- make a movie out of it, and any future releases of that game would suck like I'm sure the movie did. Hmm... wait, that's already been done. Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat anyone??

So where has my game time gone? Well, I was half-heartedly playing Final Fantasy XII. It's alright -- better than anything out at the moment anyway. Other than that.... nothing.

Oh, I take back what I said about new releases. I think next week Madden 10 comes out. I used to enjoy the Madden franchise, but it became quite a bit more complicated in the more recent releases. Maybe it's becoming more realistic for the people who really know what they're doing. I think we all know that's not me. However, I did like a couple of the older Madden games and, if I really had to buy a game in the next two weeks, this would probably be the one. Luckily, that's not the case.

Maybe I should be working a bit harder on my technique with some already released games? God knows I was a bit embarrassed the other day when I was getting my rear end handed to me in Mario Kart Wii. I solved that problem to a degree, so at least I don't feel like total fail anymore. I think I've abandoned Wario though. He was my main toon, but after playing a bit with Toad, Yoshi, and Bowser, I'm not so much of a Wario fan anymore. Toad is out cause he just gets tossed around too much. Bowser is good for cups where there are lots of places to run off the track. Ultimately, for the best well-rounded experience, Yoshi on the Zip Zip is my new toy. Now I just have to tell people how bad Yoshi is so they won't try to beat me to him on character selection.

Hold on and let me start a Mario Kart Wii discussion since it appears I have more to say.....

So I said earlier that I hoped I'd like Fallout 3. Umm... sadly, no. I know it got all kindsa crazy high ratings and stuff, but it just didn't grab me. Maybe it took too long to get started or the little wrist device wasn't savvy enough for me. I can't say. All I know is I played the game for a total of about 6 hours and I don't think I'll be playing anything beyond that.

What *is* new? Well, I've continued to enjoy a healthy dose of Mario Kart Wii. I have to say, though, there's something messed up about that game! If you pop out in the lead right from the beginning, you may as well tattoo a bull's eye to your chest, cause the AI hits you with *everything*! I'm going to try starting out slow from now on and then get the good ? blocks to fight my way to the lead half way through lap 3.

Here's the scenario that made me so mad in Mario Kart the other night:

It's lap 3 and i'm at least probably 4-5 seconds in first place. I get past the final set of ? blocks and what does it give the person in second place? A green turtle shell? No. A banana peel? Wrong again. Try a red turtle shell. Of course, the end of this track is a straight-a-way! So, off goes the red turtle shell, right into my ass, and i get passed probably 2 feet from the finish line. Total BS!!

I'm going to experiment a bit more to see if I can find some tricks to quit this AI from hating me so much.

So just a quick update since I'm not playing anything exciting lately. My progress continues into Final Fantasy XII, though admittedly slow since I've been pretty busy. Whenever we get a chance I've also been playing some Mario Kart Wii and having fun unlocking the various characters, tracks, etc. Though I'm not a big fan of the Wii, I think Mario Kart is universal and I'd like it on any system.

Wario FTW!!

God this sucks! I've never gone through such a long period of time with absolutely not a single game coming out that I'm interested in. In a very small way this has been good in that I've revisited some games I enjoyed in the past and also played some that I probably would not have tried otherwise. (This had both good and bad results.)

So I was reading the GameSpot State of the Union (found here) and sort of agreed with two of answers given by some of the big wigs surrounding the question of what's wrong with the video game industry.

Phil Spencer of Microsoft Game Studios says: "There are too many games, I see, that don't really strive to stretch the envelope creatively. We seem to have hit this glut, to some extent, of people following tried-and-true, existing formulas and not trying to challenge themselves with every release--to really change consumer expectations and to wow people and really delight them."

Yeah, so there's some fluff at the end of that answer, but he's right. Assassin's Creed is the only game I can think of in recent memory that actually did something different, and it was really good! I mean, it's ok to do stuff that's proven to work, provided that you actually make it interesting. Just use the tried and true mechanics, but put it together with an engaging story or ...something! It's just amazing to me that we've gone for so long now with the same ol' same ol'. Combine that with the good franchises taking forever to put out their games and you end up with misery.

Nick Earl of EA Games says: "With all that is going right about the expanded availability of games to new audiences, we still make the core experiences way, way too remote and challenging. We produce enormous amounts of content that never gets seen even by core gamers. It's expensive, it's futile, and it hurts the business of making games, which in turn could slow or even reverse the good that's coming with the proliferation of casual games."

Ok, before I agree with him, I am not a fan of "casual" games. If they make money so the studios can put out the good stuff, then great, but "casual" games usually means "crappy" games (IMHO). Anyways....

This guy is right on in that the good games are so incredibly immersive that there are areas of the map devs spent months creating content for that 98% of us will never see. I'm all for the freedom to experience a game in your own way, but do we have to spend so much time in development adding 3 pixel berries to every tree in a forest when you could be releasing the game so I could be playing it? Get the core in, make it look good, and RELEASE IT!! Weather and stuff is a nice touch, but if it means I have to wait another three months to play the game, I'm ok without a snow storm in some remote place of the map where I'll spend a total of 15 minutes.

I had to add this because I thought it was so dumb. In response to the same question about what's wrong with the industry, Cammie Dunaway of Nintendo says: ""Right" and "wrong" are subjective terms and usually differ, depending on whom you're asking. Ultimately, consumers decide whether the choices a company makes are interesting and worthwhile to them."

Very good Cammie, except they were asking your opinion of the subjective term "wrong." Don't be a politician, just answer the question. Jesus! I don't really like the Wii anyway (exception: Mario Kart Wii).

Yeah, so not much hope for the near future. Hopefully I'll enjoy Fallout 3, which I just started playing. If not, my backup plan is to play Final Fantasy XII ....yeah, I'm *that* bored.

The Legend of Zelda

God this game was HUGE!! Running around with that sword stabbing out from his stomach, Link was awesome. I remember the boomerang too to grab the crystals and stuff. My first RPG.

What I remember most from this game:

-- The red and blue spikey balls that attacked you.

-- The secret door behind the waterfall (and the sound effect every time you found something secret).

-- The gold-plated game cartridge.

-- Tri-force yo!!

-- ...and Gannon.

It was so long ago that I played this game that I don't remember all the details. All I know is it was one of the best NES games I ever played ...no, one of the best games I ever played, period.

I have played enough games by this point in time that I should probably find some way to keep track. With that in mind, I'm going to try to write at least once a week about a game -- any game. That being said, I should probably start at the beginning...

Super Mario Bros

Is it the first game I played? Nah. Is it the best game? Hardly. What is it about this game that makes it so tattooed in my memory?

--Difficulty-- This game was HARD! ...at least it was for me at 7 years old. To this day I hate "jumping games," which is how I refer to games that require accurate jumps for you to survive. Everybody has their skill set and jumping is not part of mine.

--Characters-- Mario and Luigi are two names that go together like Butch and Sundance. They even had their own feature-length movie! (....hmm, I suppose that shouldn't be part of any conversation praising them) These are two of the most memorable video game characters for me and I think it's funny that I can't even figure out why.

--No Other Option-- That's right, I had no choice but to play this game except on Fridays and Saturdays when we'd have a rental game from the video store. Sunday through Thursday it was either this or Duck Hunt, and, be honest, was Duck Hunt ever a real option? Which leads me to......

--Time Investment-- I spent a LOT of time playing this game. It's one of the few Nintendo games I actually was able to put aside A.D.D. long enough to beat. God, that Level 8 was a nightmare!! One time after beating it I decided I was going to go through the entire game and not warp anywhere. Eventually A.D.D. took over.

--Saves-- Yeah, no saves! I think this is one of those instances where game developers realized that not being able to save a game is a major problem. Trying to play through this in one sitting is not an option.

--Music-- I saved that for last. Out of all the melodies and rhythms I've listened to in my entire life, the music for this game is vividly stamped into my memory. If I remember nothing else when I'm 80 years old, I'll probably remember that Level 1-1 music.

Wow, so who knows where boredom will take you?! Final Fantasy XI, the game I loathed in 2004, is currently in my now playing list. How will it go? Well the graphics are awful and the gameplay is confusing, but you never know where a new game will take you....

So here goes another shot at the TV show that, last week, was pretty boring. This week the competition is Virtua Fighter 5, which is at least a little closer to game types I'd be interested in. I don't know what it is about Rock Band/Guitar Hero/etc. that turns me off, but I'm just not all that interested in those games. Maybe it's that I'm not all that thrilled with music when compared to the people that say they are really into music?

As far as the Virtua Fighter games, I remember the original being kinda cool when it first came out. The 3D aspect is a lot different than the other fighting games (Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat), but in all I don't find it all that great. I haven't played for awhile, but I almost remember finding them annoying. The characters didn't have much of a story and the fighting, when you have to turn on that 3rd axis, can be really frustrating. I think it was invented by a Monday morning quarterback who watched SF and MK come up with the good idea, and then change it a little bit and market it as some brand new exciting concept. Lame.

Ok so this WCG Ultimate Gamer show is kind of dumb in that they use a "real life" competition as 50% of the team score. If the contest is to find the "best all-around gamer" as they say, why are they competing in anything other than games? The show isn't very exciting but I guess it does give me something to watch in the middle of the afternoon on a day off.

Oh yeah, Final Fantasy VIII continues too. The game is better than I remember it and a lot easier since I've spent a lot of time leveling (because Dustin has to watch the story so no story progress while he's not watching hehe). I love being level 51 fighting level 18 bosses! I just beat Edea and Seipher for the first time and just jumped to disc 2. Storyline progress is not the goal but having a badass Squall. More to come....