What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word, "mature"? Blood and violence? Overt sexual themes? Rugal's hot secretary from the KOF series? There is a wide number of ways in which the term can be used, and many of these uses tend to crop up when discussing the content of M-rated games, but how much of what we're playing is actually that mature?

The truest form of maturity in any production, whether it be a film, video game, novel or play, is made evident by concepts that an adult mind is able to critically comprehend and appreciate. It's not simply about graphic violence with blood splattering everywhere or displays of gratuitous nudity and sex. Both of these notions can and have been used in some of the most banal, immature garbage in existence. Panty Raider: From Here to Immaturity is, sadly enough, true in its advertising. Duke Nukem 3-D is nothing more than a kill-everything-that-moves FPS lined with crude humor and less than flattering portrayals of women. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City includes senseless killing, misogyny, and an atmosphere of innuendo that extends from the radio stations to the names of businesses on the streets.

Now, one could theoretically argue that Vice City is more intelligent than Panty Raider and Duke Nukem, and it certainly is, but by how much? Any fourteen-year-old that's been lucky enough to watch R-rated films could probably decipher the joke behind "Cherry Popper Ice Cream Company", and chances are you'd have to be around that age to actually laugh at it. Rampant use of sexual puns and a plot constructed from bits and pieces of the most popular gangster films of the past twenty-five years may be a sign of showing cleverness, but it shouldn't be confused with maturity.

The defintion of a mature video game shouldn't be about whichever games feature the most quarts of blood, highest body count, or amount of skin female (and male) characters bare. It should be defined through the game's ability to make the player sit down and think. Think of the Myst series, and the incredibly complex puzzles that the games are known for. Is the same fourteen-year-old laughing it up with Vice City necessarily going to have the wits or the attention span to play these games from start to finish? Granted, these games make use of incredibly taxing logic puzzles that not even all full-grown adults may have the patience or aptitude for, but which age group is more likely to sit down to a game of Riven?

On another note, very few plot-driven games feature a tale as complex as the one found in the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Although the game does suffer from a less than stellar English translation, it features a plot that is downright Shakesperian in its complexity. There is violence, but the violence presented is never bloody or graphic, and it doesn't need to be. It relies on a strong narrative to draw the player in, allowing one to sympathize with Ramza's plight (or pity him, depending on your point of view). Everything that occurs within the game occurs with the utmost seriousness; playing the situation less than straight would have undermined the whole concept.

When I worked on my DFAD2 project, this is the image of maturity that I had in mind when I created the plotline behind my design. There's no need for gratuitous blood or women with cup sizes in the far reaches of the alphabet. Drop the canned one-liners and steel bikinis, and pick up a copy of Macbeth or Lord of the Rings. This is the sort of maturity that an M-rating should stand for. Visually graphic content should only be a means to the end, and not the end itself.

I frequent an IRC channel in which one of the other regulars is an editor for a small video game review website. I consider the man quite knowledgable on the subject, and he is quite capable of making compelling arguments regarding all sorts of aspects related to the topic. However, despite his level of knowledge, I rarely enjoy conversing with him simply because if I mention the name of a game that I like and that he doesn't, even in passing, he'll become extremely vocal about why the game is a piece of crap when I have no interest in hearing his opinion. He's even gone on the record in saying that he believes people only enjoy what are widely considered bad games because they find some sort of perverse humor in their design, rather than enjoying the games for what they are.

In other words, he's a wine-swilling elitist of the game review community. He rarely takes the opinions of others as valid in his debates, particularly when he reviles a game so much that when someone intelligently defends a game that he thinks lowly of, such a defense puzzles him. What he doesn't seem to grasp is that one person can't say that a game is truly bad for everyone. That basis comes from the opinions of gamers as a whole.

So what is it that marks a game as bad, or rather, horrendous enough that it becomes impossible to defend? I think that most gamers can name off a few critically and popularly reviled titles that they enjoy. I know several members of this forum community, for example, that thought GameSpot's review of P.N. 03 (with a score of 5.1) was completely off the mark. In my personal experience, I've found games like Unlimited SaGa (4.3), Hybrid Heaven (4.1) and Mischief Makers (6.7) all to be much better games than their reviews indicate.

Hold on a second. Is a 6.7 really that bad?

If you're going by GameSpot's own criteria, not really. A 6.7 certainly isn't a great score by the website's standards, but it does indicate that the title has enough redeeming features to make it worth the while of gamers that are truly interested in it. It's also only three fifths of a point short of sharing the same score as Clock Tower 3, which was nominated for Best Game No One Played in GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2003 awards. Although this horse has been beaten beyond recognition and into a fine glue, it remains as a valid point in this discussion. Reviews aren't based soley on the number tagged to the article; a fact that many of GameSpot's more inglorious users tend to forget. The most important part of any review is the text description of what the author liked and didn't like about the game in question.

Of course, that doesn't mean that a text review should be taken as gospel, either. A review is simply one man or woman's opinion, hopefully written with a full understanding of the game in question. No one is under any obligation to agree with any review, whether it be posted on GameSpot, 1-Up, IGN or anywhere else. If the review makes a compelling argument for or against a game, then it certainly can't be argued that this is the reviewer's true stance on the topic. Greg Kasavin obviously didn't find much to crow about in P.N. 03, and Brad Shoemaker didn't praise anything in Unlimited SaGa outside of the soundtrack. Their words don't necessarily mean that no one will find the games worthwhile, but they can serve as valid warnings that these games may not be everything one hoped for.

On the reverse side, however, when a gamer finds more to love in a game than the reviewer, that doesn't make them deserving of a badge of honor. If you liked P.N. 03, don't take your disagreements with the review out on Greg. Write your own review, preferably with intelligence and a spelling checker, and post it to GameSpot's community review area. Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, even if you did like Dino Crisis 3.

1. The ground missions aren't as bad as many people seem to think.

Although the ground missions in Assault have been widely criticized, my experience with the game hasn't been as painful as sites like Penny Arcade or Gamespot's own review have portrayed. The default controls require getting used to, and even if they aren't to a player's liking, they can switch to one of several different set-ups, which can make controlling both Fox and the Landmaster much easier. While they may require more practice than the Arwing missions, they can be just as much shooting fun as their flight-based counterparts.

2. The Arwing missions are solid gold.

Flying in an Arwing is just as simple and fun as it was in Star Fox 64 and nails the feeling of its predecessor perfectly. What else really needs to be said about this?

3. Slippy's voice.

My god, the frog finally went through puberty. His chatter might still be obnoxious, but at least he doesn't sound like someone nailed him between the legs with a baseball bat.

4. The game makes up for Star Fox Adventures without disregarding the previous title entirely.

Star Fox Adventures wasn't that great of a title, and it played more like Legend of Zelda than anything else, but if anything, it was at least somewhat entertaining in its own right, and it did help flesh out the game's universe a bit. The fact that Krystal is now a member of Star Fox and that Sauria is a prominant location in Assault are nice touches that reflect the fact that Adventures won't be relegated to the depths of shoddy gaiden stories like the Resident Evil light-gun games.

I've been back at Nintendo for the past week. I just thought I'd wait to let everyone know to avoid another misstep. Anyway, the project I'm on will be ending at the end of next week. Once again, there's not much I can say about it until it's released, but it's still as a good a job as ever.

For whatever reason, the product I had been asked to test has been pushed back to an indefinite date, and so I won't be going back to Nintendo in the near future. It's disappointing, but not particularly surprising. As low on the totem pole as being a tester is, there's always the expectation that this might happen.

Not that this day has gone to waste. I've used quite a bit of it to catch up on hunting for a full-time job, sorting things out and contacting a few people. Should Nintendo come calling before I'm employed elsewhere, I'll happily go back, but it's not something that I can always count on.

Well, that was a blissfully short wait! I just received a call from the temp agency. Nintendo would like me to work on another project starting on Monday.

Yesterday (Friday) was my last day working on the project I was assigned to at Nintendo. The testing period is over, so when the game is on store shelves, I can tell you which one it was. It's really a shame that my position was only a temporary one, though. Working as a product tester was easily the most enjoyable job I've ever held, and it's not just because I was paid to sit on my butt and play video games all day. The people at the company are all very friendly, and for the most part, it's a very relaxed environment. I could chat with the other members on my team so long as it didn't distract me from my work, and during breaks, I could get up, wander around for a while, and talk about games with my coworkers, almost all of whom I could relate to through our common interest in gaming.

Working at Nintendo also has a few perks. The food at Cafe Mario is actually pretty tasty when compared with the food at other cafeterias, and it's pretty cheap, too. All of the products that the company sells out of its on-site store are all sold for about twenty percent less than you'd have to pay at a retail store, and over the past few weeks, I was able to acquire a DS, Feel the Magic, and a few GBA games that I had missed out on. (Metroid Fusion, brand new for six bucks?! Sign me up!) There are a variety of game kiosks set up near the store area, but the most prominant attractions that I had the chance to play on were a free-play F-Zero AX arcade cabinet and a small lounge area with a gamecube, four Wavebird controllers, a widescreen television with surround sound, and Metroid Prime 2. We don't get much time to play on these, but when we did, it was a blast. I didn't even try MP2's multiplayer until the day before my last day, and even though I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer in a Metroid game, I walked away with a perfect 2-0 record before I had to go back to work.

Although it was only a temporary position, and one that I may or may not have the chance to return to, I truly enjoyed it and feel blessed for having the opportunity. A lot of gamers grow up with the dream of one day working at a video game company. For three all too fast weeks, I was able to live it.

In my effort to catch up on GBA titles that I missed out on the first time around, I went out and bought a couple more older titles to help fill in the void: Metroid Fusion and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I've tried both of them out for a bit, and I have to say that both games are looking good thus far, although detailed impressions will have to wait for another day.

The title says it all, really. I actually bought the DS last week, but I wanted to get some sufficient time with it before I had anything to say about it one way or the other. Frankly, I think that this is an incredible little handheld. Its graphic and sound capabilities are incredible (a friend of mine was frozen in awe when I showed him the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo). Furthermore, I never owned a GBA, so getting the DS has also given me the opportunity to pick up older games that I missed out on when they came out. My handheld library now consists of Feel the Magic: XY/XX, Sword of Mana and Metroid: Zero Mission. Read on for my impressions of each game.

Feel the Magic: XY/XX

I had promised myself that when I bought a DS, Feel the Magic would be the first game I'd buy for it (Screw you, Mario!). The game has a zany sense of style to it, and as a pseudo-dating sim, its variety of minigames and its effective use of the touch screen make this a far more appealing game than any menu-driven dating sim, past or present (Screw you, Sprung!). This game effectively legitimizes nearly every component of the DS's hardware and almost single-handedly proves that it's not just a gimmick.

Sword of Mana

I know that a lot of people here have a lot of bad things to say about this game, but I'm finding a lot to enjoy in Sword of Mana. I played Final Fantasy Adventure to death when I still had my old Game Boy and Game Boy Color, and this remake is in essence the same game, but drastically improved in every aspect. It borrows a lot of concepts from Secret of Mana (and I would assume Seiken Densetsu 3) and mixes them in with the core of FFA's design, making it a very enjoyable, if not particularly difficult game. People complain about the ally AI in this game, and I will admit that it is pretty stupid, but I still prefer it over FFA's allies, which acted entirely independently and couldn't be controlled in any way save for a very simplistic "Ask" comand.

I've only been playing through the hero's story path so far, but it's fun to see what's changed and what's been left the same. The core storyline was heavily rewritten, allowing the heroine from FFA to become a playable character with her own story path this time around, and I think that many of the changes that were made make the game's storyline stronger. The dialogue isn't exactly Shakespearian, but from what I can recall, FFA's dialogue wasn't exactly that complex, either. For what it is, however, it's still well-written; maybe it's (Oh gods) "teh kiddie", but that's really a small price to pay for enjoying this game.

Metroid: Zero Mission

Unlike Final Fantasy Adventure, I never played much of the original Metroid when I was a kid, although I heard and read a great deal about it. My first full experience with the series came from Super Metroid. With all of this in mind, the idea of a revamped version of the original Metroid game with stronger story elements and an unlockable version of the NES Metroid seems to have come off rather well. I'm currently at the fight with Kraid, and so far, I can't say that I have anything to complain about. It's a lot of the same sort of fun I had with Super Metroid, and there's no way I can badmouth that in and of itself.

As sad as I am to pull out of DFAD3, I think that my decision is for the best. I never had the time nor gave the proper effort to completing my entry, but I have no doubt that there are more than enough quality ideas in the mix, so I shouldn't feel too bad. As for my own incomplete entry, here's a summary for those of you that are interested:

The Stars in the Sky is a mission-based sci-fi space shooter with RPG-style exploration/interaction sequences spaced in between. The basic premise of the game is an interdimensional war that takes place between our Earth in the distant future and an Earth-like Mars from a parallel universe. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too far in the details of the plot, but I did work out the primary protagonist and antagonist: Hokuto Mizuhara and Kiriko Jinnai. (If you can spot the reference from their names, you're one step ahead of the crowd in understanding how they relate to one another.) In essence, both girls graduated from the same academy, and Hokuto inadvertantly becomes Kiriko's rival by being just slightly better than her at just about everything they do. Over the course of the war storyline, Kiriko looks for ways to get even with Hokuto, and the endgame battle is a fight between Hokuto and the Kirikos from both universes.

The flight missions in the game take place from a third-person behind-the-ship perspective. The controls, which I mapped out for a PS2 controller, included functions for primary and secondary weaponry and an electromagnetic cable for picking up power-ups and mission objectives.

The big innovation that the game makes is in the form of Space Combat Sickness. Over the course of a mission, as Hokuto's ship takes damage, factored in with how long she's been flying around, hallucinatory effects will appear on the screen to confuse her (and the player). These include:

• Enemies appearing as friendly units, and vice versa to a lesser extent.
• Tricks of light, such as the action on screen suddenly becoming almost too dim to see.
• False messages from other pilots or crew members.
• False environmental hazards, such as imaginary asteroids.
• The ships health meter and counters for the secondary weapons and bombs fluctuate and become unreadable.
• The targeting reticule becomes inaccurate.
• The radar goes berserk and becomes completely unreadable.

The final stage of SCS is complete disorientation, in which the ships directional controls become mixed up and the face buttons switch their functions (ex: X changes from "accelerate" to "fire secondary weapon").

The only way to cure SCS is with the right analogue stick. When symptoms appear, the player presses R3, and the SCS display will appear under the mission timer. The display is a small window with an arrow pointing in one of eight directions. The player must simply move the right analogue stick to match the arrow and go on to the next one until the symptoms are cured. However, during the recovery period, no other action aside from basic steering can be taken. If a weapon is fired, the window will close, and the player will have to press R3 again to reopen it. Mistakes in following the arrows aren't penalized. Instead, the arrow will simply shift to the next position, and Hokuto will make a remark ("No!" "Oh...my head...") to keep the player's attention.

In between missions, the player can wander around the spaceport at which Hokuto is stationed. The facilities include a training simulator replay old missions and earn extra cash, a briefing room at which all missions begin, the dock, at which Hokuto can adjust her ship's settings, a "fun stuff" shop, and her own quarters, which can be decorated by the player, Animal Crossing-style. During these segments, Hokuto can talk to NPCs to advance the plot and engage in some light puzzle solving sequences to vary the action.

The graphics will have a realistic look to them in terms of feel and proportion, with a wide variety of environments such as the space station, outer space, Earth, Mars and their alternate universe equivalents. The game will feature a few different styles of soundtrack (Orchestral/Operatic, Techno/Electronic, J-Pop/J-Rock) which can be adjusted for both the on foot and combat sequences.

Finally, the basic flow of game progression:

1. On foot segment: The player can wander the space station, customize Hokuto's ship and appearance, play minigmaes and access the simulator. Performing specific tasks to advance the storyline will open up the next flight mission.
2. Mission briefing: Takes place in the briefing room. The missions basic objectives and requirements are outlined here.
3. When the briefing is concluded, the player will be whisked to the ship equipment menu to make any last minute adjustments.
4. The flight mission begins. It will be complete once all primary objectives are met. If any are unable to be completed, or if Hokuto's ship is destroyed, the game is over.
5. If the mission is a failure, the player will be given the choice to retry the mission, make some adjustments to the ship and then retry, or save the game and quit.
6. If the mission is a success, a victory screen will appear, talleying the total time elapsed, number of enemies destroyed and shot accuracy. A letter grade based on these criteria and money will then be presented to the player.
7. A cut scene transitions the game to the next on-foot segment, and Hokuto will appear in the flight bay.

I think that's as clear a summary as I can post in my journal. There was a good bit of detail I left out for the sake of being brief, but I hope you guys found this idea interesting, at the very least. To those of you that have entered the contest, good luck, and may the one with the most hyp--uh, best entry win!