Have you noticed the trend yet? If you disagree with me that the gaming industry is out of good NEW ideas, maybe you should go have a look at Gamespot's top 10 on their home page (I assure you, this will still hold true six months from now too.) Notice anything terribly similar about the ten games listed there? Ahhh, that's right! None of them are original.

Here you go, if you don't wanna backtrack just yet:
1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
2. Fallout 3 (360)
3. Afro Samurai (PS3)
4. Fallout 3 (PS3)
5. Final Fantasy XIII
6. Skate 2
7. Killzone 2
8. Fable 2
9. Grand Theft Auto 4
10. Afro Samurai (360)

The quite obvious and disappointing truth is this: every last one of these is a sequel or use of previously established creative license (Batman comics/Afro Samurai comics). Now when and exactly where the gaming industry lost its wallet where it keeps its creative license, I am not quite sure, but what I do know is that they have replaced it with a handy money clip for all their multiplatform, loyalty driven, low-risk, cash-cow sequels.

Now I'll have to come clean about a few things, number one being that the best game in several series, so unlike the film industry, is the second installment (IMO: Halo 2, Gran Turismo 2, THPS 2.) The second confession has to be that my favorite game is Final Fantasy VII, which I will only offer partial defense for as a "hybrid" sequel, meaning that it belongs to the FF series, but has an entirely different plot than its predecessors. This of course is a crown which Squaresoft relenquished years ago when it picked up the Vince Young of videogames, Enix, and started cranking out sequels of sequels in the name of "Sex sells" and "I was drunk when I pitched this game in the board meeting." (I hope you've gathered that this is one giant reference to FF X-2.)

The industry even finds new ways to degrade the creativity standard. You have EA on the one hand taking its once-great, now rehashed-to-death Need For Speed series and forking it into a triple sequelogy, if you will. And then you have bad games based on bad movies based on super-old movies (can you name that game?)

You're killin' me, guys! We need the new hotness! Modern gaming is a barren wasteland if you're looking for an original idea. Now I know Nintendo has really pushed to explore new avenues for the media with cooking games and ponies and... um... yeah, that's actually pretty embarrassing too. Way to pull your weight Nintendo.

Now I know it seems like I'm placing a tall order, and that there are so many ideas that have been played out already that maybe it's just too hard to find that diamond in the rough. To this I say... really? The Nintendo EMPIRE if I may remind you, was formed on a game based on... plumbers. And to quote the original Imagineer himself, regarding his now multinational conglomorate, "Let's not forget, this all started with a Mouse." -Walt Disney- If you can't figure out the next foundational block for your creative industry, Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft, then you need to restaff with some 5-year-olds because they know what's up. And I'll give you 10-1 odds their first product won't be another FPS. Ok, actually we better make that 2-1 odds...