I decided that I would write about trends that annoy me today because I'm doing a lot of my political banter elsewhere.

Top ten things about games that need to go away!

10: Prequels that are sequels and vice Versa:

Metal Gear Solid 3 takes place in the 1960s, well before the Solid Snake we all love has been even born! So why does it have "3" in the title? As a prequel the game should have been either titled "0" or just Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater. This trend is annoying because it makes it difficult for the average consumer to follow the story.

9: Excessively violent video games:

Not that I don't enjoy it myself, but just long enough to get the Clintons and their legion of evil zombies off our case the entertainment industry as a whole should back off violent games until we have legislation in place that can protect our free speech without challenge. Remember, a lot of these morons are up for reelection THIS YEAR. Take names, and kick their ass by voting them out, including Liberman and Clinton!

8: Hip Hop music games:

The previous one was a political move we could make to protect ourselves. This one is a genuine irritance to me. I hate Rap; I used to watch MTV religiously, now I avoid it. I can barely turn to a non-country station without hip-hop music torturing my ears. It’s why I won't stand behind the RIAA even though I am opposed to piracy. Good music is hard to find, and it shouldn't be. Any time I end up hearing hip-hop music in a game I end up not buying it.

7: Hip hop themed games:

Guys, really the Gangsta life style is not glamorous, nor should it be glorified. It is a life of violence, of hate, of death, and a life of antagonizing the law, which wasn't a good idea even before the patriot act. Whether you're 7, or 17, no one should ever have the suggestion put in their mind that gangsters are cool or anything other than thugs. I don't care if its Snoop Dog, or 50 Cent. Not only that, but in my humble opinion I know far too many wonderfully intelligent black people to accept this portrayal of their culture as being accurate. These people deserve respectable representation dammit! They're good people! I find it highly offensive that they're always portrayed as being thugs in the media. We should be better than that!

6: The objectification of women:

Now I admit... I love women... I'm married, and I confess that I still look, even though my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world to me if a hot Asian or Latina woman walks by she usually catches my eye. The less she's covering herself the harder it is to pull my eyes away. I admit that I am a man who has hormones, and sometimes-even desires that are extremely sexual in nature (I don't act on them though, I really am head over heels for my wife). But even with that in mind I cannot stand how women are dressed and treated as object s in video games (especially fighters).

In my training (Hung Gar) I have encountered a number of absolutely brutal fighters who have whollped me (and I'm a big and powerful guy) in sparring matches, despite being smaller, and less muscular. Women can be incredibly powerful fighters, and deserve the respect associated with that. However, in video games such as DOA 4 the breasts are inflated to proportions that are so great that not applying a sports bra would make the combat experience extremely painful. I know, my wife is one such fighter. Powerful, fast, lethal but top heavy. And if she doesn't bring her sports bra to class she cannot participate because the "bouncing boobs" are extremely painful to her, and any other top-heavy female martial artist I know.

The portrayal of women as top heavy and bouncy is not only unrealistic, but also disrespectful and crude. Women are intelligent, powerful, and should be treated with the respect that they have more than earned.

5: Poor use of cell shading

The legend of Zelda the Wind Waker got it right. Most other games that use this tactic it is done poorly, and it doesn't look that good (Including Killer 7, which was highly stylized, but had headache inducing graphics.) Cell shading looked really bad in X-Men Legends where the facial details couldn't even be made out.

Cell shading has a lot of potential, but should never be used as an excuse for lack of detail. It can be used to give games a genuine comic book look, or Saturday morning cartoon look, but seldom if ever is. I think developers need to do more with it than they have been.

4: Short games:

I get really irritated when I pay $50 for a game and two or four hours later it's beaten. A well done game should give me hours of enjoyment, at least eight. To me any less than eight hours of game play is a waste of my money. If a game is less than 8 hours I shouldn't have to pay more than $20 for it, and I refuse to. Developers need to start working harder to earn my money.

3: Minimal or incoherent stories:

Video games afford story tellers a unique opportunity. This is the only media that allows us to tell a novel depth story with cinematic flair. Best of all we get to do so in a non-linear interactive setting. So why are there so many dung heap stories out there? The biggest disappointment lately being Ultimate Spider-Man, which boasted that it had Brian M. Bendis writing the story, but it missed the depth of the comic, by leaps and bounds. The story that was there was just enough to keep the flow of this short game going. It could have spent a great deal more time developing the characters, shoot, where the devil was Aunt May?

2: Blond hair blue eyed heroes and Tropical/Fantasy based RPGs:

Final Fantasy is probably the worst offender right now because there is enormous potential in the series, but it seems to have locked itself in a tropical fantasy art style since FF X. Truth be told the medieval look is tired as well, but not every RPG needs to be medieval, or tropical, or medieval tropical.

Worse yet. there has only been a couple of occasions where the lead character of Final Fantasy hasn't been a teenaged, blond haired blue eyed overly perky jock. I liked Squall because he portrayed a more realistic teen, someone with a real personality, even though he may have been suffering from clinical depression. He also was not blond. I would love to see Square-Enix break away from this trend. It's tried and true, and done to death. Let's see some more sci-fi, or even contemporary games.

With that in mind Link needs a new hair/eye color. I'm getting tired of blond hair blue eyed teens as the leads. And Kudos to Namco fro breaking that in Tales of Symphonia.

1. Card games.

Metal Gear Acid, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Baiten Kaitos, and Lost Kingdom. What do these games have in common? They were great stories ruined by having a game play system based on a convoluted card game. This trend has really got to die. If I want to play cards I'll buy a pack of cards. Card games based video games reduce the level of interactivity a game can offer. Additionally it slows the games to a snail's pace. Worse yet I never seem to have the card I want when I need it. These games often feature fantastic stories, but the game play in most of these titles has caused me to abandon them. I hope that developers will abandon the cards and try to innovate by moving games forward, rather than backward. Card games, after all, are an old way to play.

 

In school there's been discussion about the growing sales of used games over new one, and growing concern over the lost sales of new games as a result. Ironically, I, who plan to be a game producer someday, am one of those contributing heavily to what many developers see as a major problem.

See I make a lot of my purchases based on politics. If it’s a Nintendo title I buy new. If it's a Resident Evil on Nintendo I buy new, if it's Square-Enix on Nintendo, or a new legacy of Kain on any system, or pretty much any trend, idea, or series I want to see continued I buy new. Most of my GCN games were purchased new because I think Nintendo tends to focus more on the art of games, where as Sony and M$ seem more concerned with the financial bottom line. That's why I buy most of my PS2 and Xbox games used. That's not to say I never buy new, I have, usually when the price point drops to about $20, but still!

It's not that I want to hurt Sony, or M$, it's just that I don't tend to enjoy the games that end up on their systems as much as I do Nintendo's.
That being said I don't have a problem with the idea that developers and manufacturers alike should get some kind of Royalty for the sale of used games.

I don't want to hurt developers by buying used, I just might not want to pay as much for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volley ball as I would for Metroid Prime.
But also consider this. You can get some killer deals with used games, but you can also be in a situation where the used price is only a couple dollars different from the used price. Gamestop buys a game from you and resells it at double, or even triple what you get for it, so why can't they pay a small royalty on the used games they sell?

Say, for instance, you take Prince of Persia The Two Thrones and sell it to them for $15; they turn around and sell it for $45 because it's a fairly new game and they can. Why shouldn't they pay, say, $1.00 Royalty to Ubisoft? They're still making $29.00 profit on every copy that they sell for that price, and the used game still remains expensive for something second hand. See I usually pick up the $10-$15 used games, even though I want the new Prince of Persia, I don't have $50 just laying around, and I don't just have $45 laying around for a used copy either.

I think that Gamestop over charges for their used games as it is, and they definitely don't give you the best deal when you trade your stuff in. Usually smaller ma and pa game shops are the best way to go there. But with as much money as they are making robbing folks who trade their games in blind by paying not even a 4th of the games original retail value, then selling the used game for only a couple dollars less than the suggested retail price of a new copy of the same game, and with the huge amount of money they make off of this practice there's no reason they shouldn't pay a small royalty to the developers. That way we (the developers) aren't left completely out in the cold.

Movie remakes suck. I haven't been to the theater nearly as often the last 3 years because it's nearly all been mediocre remakes. Video game remakes, however, are a lot of fun because they are able to deliver on the nostalgia, as well as completely update classics, bringing them up to date graphically. Now not all game remakes have been gems, however, as Conker Live and Reloaded was heavily censored, and trimmed by way of content, and featured a clunky un-intuitive new combat engine that made the game feel less special than it's original. The Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid remakes on the GameCube, however, really showed off just how great remakes can be and so I present to you ten games that are in dire need of being remade for the next generation systems, and which system(s) they should go on.

10. Super Mario Bros. The beautiful thing about this is that there already is a remake of this, it’s just not easy to find, and when you do find it it's used, and pricey. Originally introduced as a part of the Mario All Stars compilation on the SNES the original Super Mario Bros. featured heavily updated graphics and sound bringing the 8 but classic up to date with the 16-bit generation. When these Mario All Stars remakes started making their way to the Game Boy Advance I was really disappointed that all we got by way of the original was a port of the 8 bit original. Come on Nintendo, it's time to overhaul the graphics on this one (again)! The original is an eye sore by today's standards!

Ideal platform: Game Boy Advance (GBA)

9: The Legend of Zelda: Its amazing how well this game has aged, but despite the fact that it remains fun playing Metroid Zero Mission made me wonder how much more detail could be added to the NES classic original Zelda. Updating the graphics, fixing the slow down, as well as the flickering, and perhaps adding new story elements to flesh out the classic tale and boom, you have an epic title (again) ready to milk the money of the masses.

Ideal Platform: GBA

8: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest: They did a remake of the original in Castlevania Chronicles, 2 actually if you count the remixed edition that came bundled with it... At any rate we also got a port of the classic NES version on GBA, and yet the best of the original Castlevania trilogy seems to be fading from the memory of gamers, which is sad because it's awesome. Give the game a 2.5D look, fully orchestrated the music, give the game fast animation, and Simon should get a multi-directional whip, new bosses could be added to the mix, and additional side quests and you have a hot seller ready to go. Because of the fully orchestrated music the GBA and DS would not be ideal for this remake but:

Ideal platform: PSP (Playstation Portable)

7: Castlevania III Dracula's Curse. Following on the inevitable PSP success of the Simon's Quest remake, and especially considering the plot of Curse of Darkness (PS2/Xbox) the classic that introduced us to Trevor Belmont, and Alucard would be excellent material for a remake. Again a 2.5D look would be fun, as well as a multi directional whip. Alucard would be modified to match his Symphony of the Night counterpart making him far less a pain to use. There could be new intersections added to the castle so that the levels overlap each other making it possible to get Grant, Sypha, and Alucard. The engine would allow players to switch between all four characters now instead of sacrificing one for another. Music, of course, would be updated to be fully orchestrated.

Ideal platform: PSP

6: Metroid 2 the return of Samus: Only one Metroid in my book sucked. This was it. The reason being that the lack of detail in the scenery made it hard to navigate without a map, and traveling the Metroid home world with the plasma beam only to suddenly realize you need the freeze beam and having to traverse the plane, and overly simple scenery to try and find it made this game near unplayable by today's standards. Metroid 2 should get the same treatment that the original did with Metroid Zero Mission. The game's details would be significantly enhanced, making it easier to tell where you are, and a map system could be added. Additionally the Nintendo DS 2nd screen could be incorporated to make it easier to access the map. The music could also be significantly improved over the original. Metroid 2 had some cool gadgets for Samus to use, it's just a shame the rest of the game sucked so bad, especially since the story is critical to the overall plot of Metroid. The only reason I know what happened at the end is because of the intro for Super Metroid.

Ideal Platform: Nintendo DS

5: Final Fantasy VIII: This game took a lot of flack it didn't deserve. A lot of people hated Squall, and yet Squall has been the least annoying, most human, of all of the leads for recent Final Fantasies. The story was amazing, deep, and even tragic, filled with many-a tear jerking moments. In its day it was a graphical marvel, now a days, not so much. The game play could be updated so that it's not so guardian force reliant. Everything depended on the GF you had equipped, and I felt that characters were pathetically weak on their own. Character stats would remain with the character rather than being accessed through the GF, and it would be easier to find the ultimate weapon, and the characters should be able to eventually hit 9,999 damage. Those of us who could not access chocobo world would now be able to via connectivity to the PSP. The music would become fully orchestrated and the graphics significantly improved for added realism. Some of the more convoluted story elements could be fleshed out more and, the game made more cinematic with full voice acting

Ideal Platform: PS3 (Playstation 3)

4: Metal Gear: Forget the Solid line. Solid is kinda Metal Gear 3. A lot of backstory had to be given throughout the course of the first Metal Gear so that people could follow the new story line. Yet that hasn't answered all questions we have! The remake of Metal Gear should be a fully realized 3D epic based on the plot of the NES original. It would follow the story, but new cinematics would flesh out the story even more, and let people experience Snake's original adventure for the first time whether or not we'd played the original. New music, graphics, and game play mechanics etc would make for an entirely new experience, plus get the story to those who don't have the patience to struggle through the archaic original NES game. Sneaking just doesn't work on the NES.

Ideal Platform: PS3

3: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain: If ever there was a game that made an excellent argument in favor of video games being an art form it was the original Legacy of Kain on the PS1. Silicon Knights has an opportunity to reintroduce the series their way, since Crystal Dynamics and Eidos had purchased a license to continue the series. The game's story would remain entirely intact, but the game would be modified to become fully 3D, and incorporate a complex combat system, and would be upgraded so that there is no/minimal loading (the original had very excessive load times). The music and sound would also be improved and voice-overs re-recorded to increase the quality of the presentation. The CGI animated sequences would be replaced with real time cinematics, and the game itself could become more surreal, and cinematic (I like cinematic experiences). The ability to jump would also help Kain to access new areas, and the magic system would be improved to include Telekinesis, and make the Soul Reaver worth using and not such a drain on the magic. Making this a cross platform effort will also help Silicon Knights reach a larger audience, as well as rekindle dwindling interest in this brilliant franchise. The Nintendo Revolution would also open up interesting game play possibilities. You know it'd be as much fun using that controller to wield the Soul Reaver as it would be to swing Link's sword.

Ideal Platform: Xbox 360/PS3/Nintendo Revolution.

2: Resident Evil 2: The GCN got a brilliant remake of the original, and then made us all cry when RE2 ended up being a measly port. Most critics agreed that the price Capcom asked for a game we've all played to death was too much, and the game play, by now, is simply too archaic to be as much fun as it used to be. RE 2 could feature a complete graphical overhaul, like it's GCN predecessor, as well a few new game play elements that would help improve the overall experience. Ideally, the game could maintain it's pre-rendered backgrounds, (which would be significantly enhanced like the GCN RE 1 was) but when you aim the game would go to the over the shoulder view from RE 4, allowing players to aim precisely. New cinematics could be made in real time taking advantage of the next gen hardware, and the voice acting re-recorded (using classic Clair, since she's been consistent throughout the series, but the new Leon from RE 4.) The music would be re-recorded as well becoming moodier, and more atmospheric. This game would also be an excellent way to reintroduce the series to the next generation prior to RE 5. The Revolution controller would be great for aiming, but the power of the 360 and the PS3 could create a visual experience that would blow you away. A port of RE2 for the Nintendo DS would be fun as well.

Ideal Platform: Nintendo Revolution/PS3/Xbox 360/Nintendo DS

1. Final Fantasy VII: Arguably the best of the series, it is also the most outdated, simply because the style of the games that preceded it has allowed for updates to appear on the GBA that take full advantage of their retrospective potentials. FFVII was a great game, but in hindsight suffers from some pretty serious issues. It was poorly translated to English, it’s graphics never remained consistent going from Anime in fight sequences, and some FMV cinematics, to super deformed, and terribly blocky. The music had enormous potential, but the MIDI is annoying to many, but the game play was absolutely perfect. Little would need to be done to the Game play. The option to switch teammates on the fly like Final Fantasy X would be great, and 4 teammates on the screen at a time would be even better. There's no need to add new content because there's certainly enough there to keep you occupied for hours on end, but the graphics would need a significant upgrade, the story would need to be translated better, and be re-done as cinematics. The in game artwork would have to be consistent, and the game would need to feature full on voice acting (the cast from Advent Children would be great). Graphically, think Advent Children, or at least the impressive tech demo for the PS3. Music would not need to be re-written, but re-recorded as orchestrated tracks. The game could still get away with pre-rendered scenery, but it would be better if it can be re-done from the ground up as fully 3D

Ideal Platform: The way I want it, it could only be PS3.

Today I received a shock, when the most artistic developer outside of Nintendo declared that in his opinions because video games appeal to a mass market rather than the individual they cannot be considered art. This was said by Metal Gear writer/producer/director/creator Hideo Kojima. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/ news_story.php?id=132943 referring to an interview in Official Playstation Magazine)
This is especially shocking because unlike Halo where you run around blowing stuff up with little or no plot to guide your actions, and unlike Grand Theft Auto which is clearly violence for the sake of violence Metal Gear has always been deeply artistic, political, and philosophical, delving into territory of deep thinking. To me, that makes it art. That it requires me to not only think about what I'm doing by way of action, or puzzle solving, but also the emotional and moral consequences of my actions, and the long term consequences that that action can have on a global scale (one man can make a difference for better or worse) that to me is art, in much the same was as books are art, and movies are art. Not all of them, but in general, yes, it is art.
Kojima goes on to say, "Art is something that radiates the artist, the person who creates that piece of art. If 100 people walk by and a single person is captivated by whatever that piece radiates, it's art. But videogames aren't trying to capture one person"
By that logic the Mona Lisa isn't art because she has appealed to millions of people all over the world despite the fact that according to Kojima art should only appeal to one person... Oh and the Sistine Chapel, and the Moses statue, and anything written by Edgar Allen Poe... Not art. Mozart should not be considered art because his work has appealed to millions for a few hundred years. HP Lovecraft still has a lot of fans the whole world over, yours truly included... I guess he can't be art either, especially since his book Call of Cthulu has been the basis for several games now, not to mention that both Eternal Darkness and Silent Hill drew heavy influence from his writings.
As a student developer I consider myself an artist, there's a lot of art that goes into making the game, from the conceptual drawings, to the story writing, to the cinematic directing. That the games often try to target a mass market isn't by itself a sin.
If English were Kojima's native language it's possible his statement would more resemble arguments that have been going on for the last several years. Games are becoming less about art, and more about mainstream appeal. This is only a slight difference from his original statement, and I think (knowing Kojima, whose work is extremely expressive) this is what he was getting at. It's true. People line up around the block for Halo and GTA, but who can say anything about the artistic appeal? Both are violence for the sake of violence. Neither have heroes who you truly care about, nor do they feature deep meaningful stories akin to Lovecraft, Poe, Tolkien, or CS Lewis. Yes Halo is fun, but one could certainly argue its lack of artistic merit. GTA, is neither fun, nor artistic, and is only cool because it's controversial. Kids only want it because they're not supposed to have it.
However, take a look at the Legend of Zelda, especially the last one subtitled "the Wind Waker". Nintendo has always been more focused on artistic appeal than mass-market appeal. They wanted to make a game as an extension of themselves, their ideals, and philosophies, in a story that is more or less about growing up. For artistic reasons they decided to go with a look that resembled a Saturday morning cartoon. The art was brilliant; the reaction from the mass market was not. Yet the game appealed to me nonetheless because I saw it's artistic merits.
Silicon Knights, likewise, is very vocal about games as an art form. Their games ranging from Legacy of Kain Blood Omen, to Eternal Darkness, and incidentally the Kojima produced remake of the original Metal Gear Solid have all received a great amount of critical praise, many critics stating that their games may not be top of the line graphically (they are only a 90 people large company) but they games manage to be artistically brilliant regardless. The games are often deeply philosophical, and Dennis Dyack (The president and CEO of SK) has been very vocal that their next game (Too Human) is very much the story he's wanted to write (and has been writing) for years. Inspired by Norse Mythology, and the Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche book "Human, all too human" Silicon Knights will set out to explore what it means to be human, and the costs of loosing our humanity.
To me, this sounds like art.
While I agree that there is far too much corporate manufactured fodder out there, especially by way of urban hip hop themed violence for the sake of violence material like Streets of New York, Gang Wars, GTA, and anything that bares the 50 Cent name I do not agree that games are not art.
If we rule out a medium as an art form simply because it somehow manages to captivate a mass audience despite being deeply philosophical, and meaningful then we would have to rule out books, movies, and even classic paintings as art form. The reason art is art is because it makes a statement to a mass audience, because it tells something to the people who read/watch/look at/play it, because it means something. It’s okay to make money off of it!
Right now vide games are an excellent place for designers to reach people, to hopefully cause them to reexamine humanity, the world, the universe and so on. Not every developer does, and many, in fact are more concerned with the financial bottom line, but so are most painters, cinematographers, writers and musicians. We all have something to say, and not one of us should feel ashamed for expecting to be paid for it, especially with the time and energy that making media of any kind takes.

I really don't want to buy RE4 on the PS2. I complain about this a lot, I know. I want separate ways, but not at the expense of the high quality graphics that the GCN version had. Therefore I would like to present 10 very good reason (artistic and financial) Capcom should port the game to the 360.

10. The new console has a dearth of available or comparable titles. RE 4 would have little competition, and if sold at $40 like its GCN and PS2 counterparts the game could capture the attention of both next gen gamers, and fans looking for an enhanced experience.

9. The game only took 9 months to port to PS2 with toned down graphics. The GCN version looks next gen as it is, but does not feature high definition. It would look amazing directly ported over, with marginal texture enhancements (Better fur rendering for animals) and 2x Anti-Aliasing applied as well as upscaling to 1080i. Most gamers would not notice that the game was a port of an older title, the original looked that good. The game could also feature true Wide screen, but again without loosing graphical quality.

8. The game features what many declared next gen game play as it is. Innovative, intelligent, frightening. The Xbox 360 controller would handle this brilliantly.

7. Xbox live would allow for people to compare different stats, trade items, or even compete head to head in a small pvp side game, or perhaps even cooperate in an online version of the Mercenaries mini-game.

6. The disc space would permit for RE4 in its entirety to be ported over with the original GCN game accompanied by Separate Ways and any other bonuses the PS2 version got plus some.

5. The speed that the 360 runs at would nearly eliminate load times.

4. No risk of frame rate loss like the PS2 version had.

3. A chance to improve the sound rather than tone it down like the PS2 version did.

2. Real time cinemas won't need to be converted to FMV like the PS2 version to keep them looking good; in fact the entire game could receive visual enhancements.

1. RE was remade for the GCN to introduce GameCube owners to a series that they had been introduced to with a port of RE 2 for the N64. Xbox has never had an RE game but RE5 is slated to hit the system. Porting over RE4 to the 360 would be a great way to introduce the series to Xbox fans. Ports of older RE games wouldn't be necessary since RE4 was very much a new beginning for the series.

 Lately I've been reading a lot of articles complaining that games (especially RPGs) are too long and blaming that for many gamers not completing the games they buy. One article on IGN Insider even proclaimed that less than 50% of gamers finished the ridiculously short Ultimate Spider-Man according to a survey by developer Treyarch. That got me thinking. I almost didn't finish USM, but it wasn't because the game was too long, it just didn't feel balanced. Not that it was a bad game, but the story was too short, and the game play within the story mode throughout the entirety of the story mode was chase bad guy down, beat bad guy up. Treyarch had apparently hoped that the side missions would break up the monotony of the story line, but it didn't. Many gamers, myself included, that I know did the minimum required side missions to get to the next story segment, only to have to chase down a villain, and then beat the snot out of him. The chases got way too old way too quickly, and chasing villains down with Venom was not fun at all, it was a painful experience. Worse yet this game was supposed to tie into the comic book, and when Silver Sable was introduced in the comics Peter Parker had no idea who she was, so I feel kind of gypped. Had the story been longer, deeper, more organized, actually a part of the comic's continuity and not filmed so weird then getting the story itself would have been a lot better, and had the primary missions of the game not been so repetitive then I'm sure a lot of gamers would have finished this title. I don't think its length has anything to do with it.

  As far as I'm concerned the three games that have been the best financial investment I have ever made have been Final Fantasy XI, Sims 2, and Guild wars. Why? Aren't I the type to play for story? Yes, I am, but when the story is over I admit that the game collects dust. From a purely game play standpoint those three have gone above and beyond as they never really end, and all feature such a massive amount of different things to do that getting bored with the titles are nearly impossible. These games feel balanced, USM didn't. I think the more game there is the better of an investment it is for me. I hate spending $50 only to get 5 hours out of the game.

 RE4 had a perfect length, 20-25 hours, and more than enough story to flesh out the game play. Metroid Prime 2, however, ran out of story 15 hours before I beat it. See how balance is important?

 Games don't need to be shorter. Shortening the games will reduce their over all value. They need a wide variety of fun things to do, and a deep story to keep people's interested, as well as great game play that isn't too hard (DOA4 Shame on you!) and won't cause people to break stuff because no matter how hard they try they just can't beat (That blasted Kasumi clone at the end of DOA 4). Balance is an absolute must.

  While a number of editors can complain about games being too long I don't know anyone who complained that RE4 was too long. The only complaint I ever heard about RE4 was that it ended. Same for Jade Empire, nearly universally criticized as too short, especially with such awesome game play there, I shed a tear when I realized I had beaten the epic and Jade Empire 2 is probably the next gen title I'm looking the most forward to at the moment.

 Only one Zelda game has ever had complaints about length and that was the Wind waker, where people didn't gripe about the over all length of the title itself, but the travel time involved in going from island to island.

 No one ever complained about the length of Metroid Prime either.

 To summarize, game length isn't the reason people shelve games before finishing them. A failure to have a reasonable balance between story and game play and difficulty are. If a game gets too hard, it gets shelved (DOA4 sans the online mode cause that's fun). People don't have fun having their butts handed to them every time without fail (Stupid Kasumi clone). People get bored is the main game mode is the same two tasks over and over (U Spider-Man, Chase bad guy down, beat him up), and people loose interest if the story elements fall short of the game play length (Metroid Prime 2's story elements were far too sparse to keep up with the 35 hours it took me to get through it, but then again that might have been cut down by about 15 hours had Nintendo not done the whole losing life to the dark world atmosphere and having to find safe spots to recharge your health.)

My recommendation to developers is to just make sure everything is balanced, a good story combined with innovative game play, and reasonable difficulty that is challenging but not overbearing and people will buy the game and complete them.

 $400 after buying the Xbox 360 (in cash ^-^) I realized that my finances for the last two months have been severely hurt because I chose to buy the next gen system rather than paying a particular debt off once and for all. That debt is paid for now, but the late pay off has put me in a bit of a financial crisis because I am simply over burdened financially, and perhaps should have waited for the 360's price to drop. Then again I love my 360 and would rather die than not have it...

  But there is a bit of a dilemma. $60 games seems like a stretch with gas and food and utility costs on a never ending price hike, and housing costs on a record increase every year how can I afford to buy games the way I used to? I have 52 Xbox games, 44 GameCube games and 35 PS2 games approximately. That's a lot of games. Most of my XBox and PS2 games came out of bargain bins, but there's still enough there to value more than $5,000 at retail. So far the used next gen games are only couple dollars less than their new counterparts and it's not making things look promising.

Worse yet, enter the PS3, the system that we're all drooling over, yet dread. Rumor has it's price tag in the upwards of $500, and its games at $70... can we really afford that? I'm at a point where putting that kind of money into a house is a bit higher of a priority, especially since I want to get out of the city, and into a quiet rural area which means spending more on gas.

Can the next gen systems really succeed with price points so high? I mean the launch of the 360 shows us that people are willing to pay higher prices in the short term for Christmas, but what about the long term? Now that Christmas is done how will the Xbox 360 fare, especially since M$ STILL has yet to restock shelves at a reasonable rate. Will interest in the system decline? Will people suffer from post-Christmas sticker shock? Will people start to wait for the prices to drop before investing, and how long will it take for the prices to drop?

My wife has forbidden me from participating in the PS3 launch after we got wind of its expected price tag. She's a heavy gamer too, and wanted the 360 (She's an Xbox fan) but has been suffering from post Christmas sticker shock as well. All total, between the games, and the accessories we spent well over $600. Now we're wondering where our next mean is going to come from. We were stupid and we know it, so I'm not allowed to participate in the PS3 launch, nor am I allowed to buy the system until it drops to about $300.00. How many other wives will set that rule upon their spouses?

The good news is that with rumors of the Revolution's price tag being at $200 or less and the games costing the normal $50 or less my wife has declared that I can and will buy that one.

Perhaps Nintendo is right. Maybe the time for high-end graphics is not now, perhaps because the question has to be how much will it cost the average consumer? $400 for a system and $60 for games is already pushing it, and it did break the bank for me. Any more than that would make obtaining the console and its games simply unaffordable.

I have never bough the more expensive $500 systems in the past, it's why Jaguar, 3DO, CDI, etc failed to capture a mainstream audience despite being truly advanced systems for their time... PS3 may simply be ahead of its time and I wonder if that will kill its chances. And I also fear that M$ will also loose it's momentum if it doesn't get new units on the shelves before post Christmas sticker shock sets in. People are willing to spend insane amounts during or just after the holidays. That may not be the case after ward...

Nevertheless, as a cross-platformer, I hope for the best for all three. Competition encourages innovation. I just worry that gamming may be evolving into a rich-men's only hobby.

I have been loving my XBox 360, but lately I've been hit with an interesting reality check, as soon as I'm done with the games I've picked up then I'm done for what seems like a while. I haven't seen anything on the definitive radar for the next few months that looks like a must buy, and certainly nothing that would push the 360. This has me wondering, how long is it going to take to get the next batch of new 360 games out?

I'm probably just panicking because January is such a slow month, but I guess I'm in a hurry to get my hands on the next gen RPGs. As a student of Game art and design I realize providing acurate release dates to retailers is next to impossible until the title is almost done, but I sure do wish I knew for sure when the RPGs are comming. Or even more so, Too Human.

I'm glad that the launch games are as good as they are, but still, looking at the dearth of new releases right now has me wondering how things will be a year from now...

 I was bragging that my Xbox 360 runs fine, sans a minor compatibility issue with Buffy the Chosen Collection and Simpsons Season 1 (the disk freezes up when I select return to main menu, but the system is still running, so I can just back out to the system's main menu and reboot the disk. Incontinent sure, but not a huge problem). Then I got DOA 4. Now don't hit the panic button, my disk hasn't been melted, eaten, scratched, and my hand is still intact, but after 30 minutes of continuous online play the other day when I took the disk it was pretty dang hot. I mean any hotter and I would have gotten burnt.

 Now I have the 360 and it's brick, I mean power source in a fairly open area, but that really concerned me. I don't want to be one of the many complaining about system problems like having their hand melted by a piping hot DVD.

 The odd thing is that DOA 4 is the only game to have triggered this problem which got me thinking, it must be the first game to start actually pushing the 360 which makes me ask... what will Gears of War do to my 360? Will the more graphically intense games cause the fabled meltdown to occur?

 Some rumors I've heard are simply absurd. I heard about one that got so hot that the hard drive fell clear through the upright system because all the innards melted. I've also heard new shipments aren't expected until May because M$ has to redesign the whole thing, yet there has been no official recall!

 No for the most part mine still runs fine, but with as hot as DOA4 was when I took it out I am beginning to worry what would happen if I played it any longer? I think that if this situation really is as bad as the folks at Game Peddler and some Gamestop have indicated I want M$ to send me a new system before I loose a hand to a nuclear hot DVD.

Back in March I picked up the PSP, and yes I was impressed by the graphics, yes it's better looking than the NDS, but what I found frustrating then was that many of the games featured this motion blur that I find headache educing. Initially I thought that this was an effect that was supposed to happen, but I've since come to realize that this is caused by the screen not having that high of a refresh rate.

In addition to the games being headache educing, I also found myself dismayed by the fact that the games I picked up have all been mediocre at best, and I'm not a sports fan, so I'm trading in the bulk of my PSP collection for DOA 4. The debate I'm having with myself is should I also trade in the system itself?

I had hoped that there would be an onslaught of must have AAA titles for it. I, like most everyone else I know, was expecting this to steal the NDS's thunder. Instead the opposite happened. The NDS has been flooded with undeniably must have games while every single title I was looking forward to has been bogged down with low to moderate scores that don't exactly invite me to buy them at the high price for a handheld that the games go for. Especially since Xbox 360's games are tuning out to be really high quality, but at $60 a whack.

In the end I suppose I'll keep the PSP just in case, but like Game Gear before it I think this unit is just a fad. The GG was significantly more powerful than Game boy, but lacked the quality and innovative titles it needed to keep it going long term, and also had a unit and games that were priced too high for a handheld. Simply put Sony doesn't seem to know what they're doing. Copying Sega's handheld tactics doesn't seem to be the brightest of ideas.

I hope the PSP is successful, and I hope that better games come out for it and soon. But as it stands, right now I'm really disappointed with it. The only additional feature I use is MP3 playback, as I have no desire to buy UMD movies that can only be watched on a 5 inch screen when I can buy the same movie with more special features for less that can be watched on my 52 Inch screen. And I have a portable DVD player that’s a beautiful 7" screen so there's my portability. I also have no desire to take the time to compress my videos to the memory card on the PSP. It’s much easier to just plug the movie into My X360 where I can watch the movie on a beautiful 52-inch screen... see?

With a poor selection of games I'm just hard pressed to find something useful to do with mine.

Update: I sold it for $150.00 Maybe if Sony can get thier act together I'll get one again when the games don't suck and the price is more reasonable.