It's no secret, ya'll know I LOVE video games. I love all types of video games: FPS', RPG's, and even **** games (like Friday the 13th on the NES... classic, in my eyes). But, I feel as gamers, we have met a wall in the proverbial road. While graphics and customization have come a LLLLOOONNNGGG way in games, I question the authenticity of some games stories and mechanics. I've heard the old addage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", and apparanetly, it's a mantra developers in the gaming world hold tight to. I also know that the Dinosaurs had to become extinct because they didn't evolve, and I REALLY don't ever want to see video games go the way of the Water Buffalo. So, here are some things that I think might make the video game industry fresh and less predictable. Here goes:

5. There has only, until now, been a SELECT few army games I have actually enjoyed playing. It might just be cosmetic to you, but to me, not having a female character in these games really hinders if I'ma try it out. I was sooooo excited to see that CoD commercial with that bad ass Ebony Enchantress walking around blowing **** up with her Sniper Rifle. I was kinda hoping they were not just trying to prove that people from all walks of life were playing this game, but were also going to represent it as such. I was sure there would be a female avatar in there, or maybe a character editor where you could choose to be a chick. There wasn't. And Tom Clancy's Vegas? I SO wanted to dive into it and it's sequel, but I just couldn't get in on all the macho swagg. I feel, and I don't care how it looks, we need some FEMALE PRESENCE'S in these war video games. If we can smack a chick in our favorite fighter as a man, we should be able to get some headshots, too. Ya digg?

4. Wrestling games are a HILARIOUS way to spend time playing video games, especially if you have a friend to fight with/against (Sasha and I used to have mathcs that'd last 45 minutes... we'd go back and fourth beating each other's asses. Good fun). Thankfully, the Diva's are part of the experience when it comes to WWE. And, back in the day, they had it right; you could play as a chick, and you could enter her in ANY match. There was NO limitations or discriminations, and she could even go on to win the WWE Heavywight title. That's a big feat in the wrestling world. But, I swear, when online gaming took off, they decided to take this feature off, I'm guessing because having a chick be #1 on the Leaderboards was not going to fly with fans. I used to could enter Stephanie McMahon into a Hell in the Cell match against Undertaker, and WHOOP HIS ASS. Now, all I can do is Exhibition. Lame!!! I wish they'd go back to the days of yore. It was CRAZY fun!

3. I don't think this is too much to ask, but it is too nerdy- I feel that we could add, in the words of my baby, a **** ton" of replay value to a game if we keep weather and time randomized. If I were to, say, play through a level in the sun, then go through it later and it's night and storming, it'd really make each experience feel fresh. "Left 4 Dead" would be a grrr-eat example of this. You could even go so far as to add enemies and chracters and missions specific to the time of day, the weather pattern, etc etc. Am I crazy? Could you picture this? You'd never play through the same game twice for a looonnngggg while if this was a factor, I feel. Can anyone prove me wrong here?

2. More games focused on the player themselves. The only way I could honestly see this happening in this age is to have better quality avatar games. Not just some shody Indie game (and those people work their ass off, I'm not damning them). I mean, a full fledged game where your avatar could be the lead character. Imagine Super Smash Bros. with avatars. Maybe in that game you could choose the movesets for them or something. Just imagine a bunch of avatars from all different types of people. Especially on platforms like the Wii, were you can make more than one Mii. You'd have you're own games; one for your avatar, and others for whatever kind of creation you could come up with. Now, add either an engrossing storyline, or just make it really fleshed out with gameplay mechanics, and you have a game that is fresh and not realized right now. SOMEBODY PLEASE MAKE THIS GAME! Lol! And add random weather to it!

1. MAKE MARIO GAMES THAT DON'T INVOVLE HIM SAVING PEACH. I, personally, would love to see Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad (just like SMB2) saving the Mushroom Kingdom now. Peach can handle herself. If you've played Smash Bros. against me, you know Peach is nothing to just bat an eye at. And the **** can race a kart like no other! So, I'm over her getting kidnapped (which I feel is just her way to have an affair with Bowser). I mean, she had her own video game! She, in my eyes, is no longer the damsel in distress. And, why does it have to be them saving anybody? I think Nintendo has rode high and mighty on this very simple, tired mechanic, and people just eat it up (I'm guilty, too. Hopefully, the Ultimate Mario game hasn't been made yet. I'll keep playing til I see it). Of course, I don't want anybody to hop on this bandwagon yet, as I am penning the Mushroom Kingdom fairy tale, and I don't want anyone stealing that thunder. But, I feel Mario has potential to be SO much more. And, maybe other companies keep the same mechanic because they figure, "Mario's been doing the same **** for the past decade". C'mon, Nintendo, evolve or go extinct!

This may look like an attempt for more of a female movement in the game industry. But, honestly, that's already going on. I'm looking past it. I'm looking at Gamespot.com, and seeing pretty much the same video game ideas over and over again. Mario saves Peach every year. Link (or, rather, an incarnation of Link) saves Zelda pretty much every year. I still haven't seen a chick in a good Army shooter (and if there is one, please let me know). And, I'm still purchasing Smackdown Vs. Raw 20xx, hoping each year that maybe it reverted back to the haydays, when the ring was CRAZY. It's not that we need graphics or gimmicks to set our video games apart from each other, but we really need to shy away from openly copying ideas. One CoD game to me is no different from the other Clancy games. The zombie games are getting to be ridiculous (the fact that I heard somebody refer to that little Nazi Zombie minigame as "THE zombie game" makes me want to spit). When a new video game offers only two fresh ideas, and different levels, I think it's time they go away for a while. And as for Nintendo, instead of remaking everything they've created under the sun, I feel they should look at bringing older games back, and remake those. Look, what I'm saying is I don't care for "Star Fox 64 3DS" or "Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS". They've been done. More than once. They have they're appropriate spot on teh Wii Shop channel for download. Instead, bring back the likes of "Super Adventure Island", or "Street Racer", or "Primal Rage" (imagine what that'd be like nowadays.... sweet!). Sega needs to recraft "Streets of Rage" and show all these games that have tried to emulate in the past how it's done.

Unfortunately, this only falls on daef ears. I mean, Hollywood has been doing the same thing for decades. An TV is starting to mimic (I may be excited about ABC remaking "Charlie's Angels", but there's "Hawaii Five-O" and some other remakes on now already). Where the **** is the freshness in the industries that claw so much money from us?

Before I shut this down, let me just say this: I was highly upset with Nintendo's release of "Super Mario All-Stars" on the Wii. I was all about the box art and the art inside, but I would have bet money that Nintendo would have had the decency to at least rem-make the originals in the likes of the "NEW Super Mario Bros." That would have gotten my money. But they didn't even put the GBA's incarnations on this piece, with the brighter graphics and voice acting. It just made me scratch my head. Okay, I'm out. Much Boogie Love!