I am a gamer.

I've traversed the lengths and breadth of countless worlds and saved those worlds dozens of times from nameless, faceless, formless evils.

I have become death to anonymous cronies and have brought life to barren plains.

I have become a god among men and slaughtered those that have stood before my might!

But I will be damned to the darkest pits of hell if I can beat my wife at Wii Bowling.

My wife is what you might call a casual gamer. She plays bass on medium difficulty on Rock Band, takes Uno on Xbox Live out for the occasional spin, and sometimes boots up Tetris on my phone when she thinks I'm not looking. However, the competitive landscape of my entire home changed when I bought a Wii.

The first thing we booted up upon getting the Wii hooked up was Wii Sports. I played around a bit before she got home, and we took some of the multiplayer out for a spin. For awhile there, we had no idea what we were doing. Why couldn't we consistently hit home runs? Why did our putts go off to the right? And why the hell was that target in the tennis practice mode so hard to $@%^^$# hit?

When we booted up bowling, she didn't even want to play. She hates bowling in real life (knee injury) and has always been embarrassed of her skills at the lanes. I have not been bowling with her since high school and though I enjoy the sport, I thought this piece of software would go largely unplayed in our house.

As it turns out, she's an amazing Wii bowler. I thought her first victory was a fluke, but when she reached pro months before me, I finally started catching on that maybe something was different about this game.

She would consistently beat me 9 times out of 10. She was better at the training games, she could beat all of our friends, hell, she even knocked down all of that 91 pin thing at the end without cheating! I've never been so humiliated and so proud at the same time. She may not be able to top me at Brawl or beat Twilight Princess, but dammit the girl can bowl.

Picture this: you've just installed a game of legendary fame. Everyone you talk to used to be an expert at this game and the internet is aflutter with its memes. Gamestop stopped carrying the game years ago and you've taken to eBay to track down this timeless wonder. It cost more than other games its age, but hey, it'll be worth it right? Everyone on the internet couldn't be wrong.

Or could they?

'Retro Goggles' is a well-documented, widespread malaise, but some games have attained an all but immortal status. Very few people question the quality of Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Chrono Trigger, etc. Sure these games have flaws and errors, but they are great in spite of those problems. So what happens when you finally sit down to experience the greatness foretold by all your friends and you find that something....is wrong. You know you should be enjoying the ride, but the road seems bumpy. Then one of your tires explodes and you lose control and careen off the road and...I think I lost grasp of my metaphor.

My point is, I've discovered that some great games have not aged well, and it is difficult to feel that I am missing out on good shared memories simply because I wasn't able to play a game when it came out. As a kid, I got one console at a time and I didn't get to go back and play others for a very long time Not everything can age gracefully, and these are a few samples of games that weren't as good as they were hyped up to be:

1.Final Fantasy VII - As a child of the N64 (which was awesome), I did not really get in on the 3D JRPG craze until long after the PS2 came out. By the time I was able to afford an original Playstation, Final Fantasy VII had already achieved a cult status with a pricetag to match.

The number one complaint about the game is that comparative to today's graphical symphonies, it rapes your eyes. Some of the polygons are downright jagged, and though this is a valid complaint, it did not bother me at all at the time. While I found some merit in the game's innovations (Materia system w00t!) I found the game to be a generic JRPG that had far too much level-grinding, frustrating minigames, and in reality, a ridiculous story. I don't hate the game, far from it, but my expectations were lifted so high, they were inevitably bound to fall.



2.Starcraft - Ok, this one is a bit strange. It is not that I find the core Starcraft game to be bad. My issue came in the real sweet spot for many people: multiplayer. By the time I finally tracked down a copy of this game, the only people playing the game with any regularity were just absolutely brutal to me.

In fact, even playing on LAN with friends was unfair because most of them had run the gauntlet enough that I didn't have a prayer of winning. It's a very frustrating feeling to come to a game and realize that you have disadvantages that would take years to level out.



3.Metal Gear Solid - I know I will probably be decried as a heretic and burned at the stake, but so far, I have not really enjoyed any of the Metal Gear Solid series. I have completed Metal Gear Solid three times, and besides the enjoyable pulp story, I find the gameplay to be quite frustrating at parts.

The controls have always been an issue for me, and I honestly haven't been able to conquer them. I can sort of see (though not completely agree) with the argument that imperfect controls can be immersive if your character is not intended to be a supersoldier proficient at combat, but Snake is intended to be a supersoldier. Why then does it feel like he stumbles through his inventory and shooting enemies when he is the savior of the world?



4.Resident Evil - I am forcing myself through Resident Evil 4 right now upon the insistence of a friend ("Like Resident Evil or I'll kill you") and so far, I have experienced the same emotion I had with the other Resident Evil games and many horror movies: meh.

Maybe it's because I am not scared easily by things jumping out of things, but overall I find the Resident Evil series to feature frustrating gameplay, stupid puzzles, and really cheap 'horror' situations. It takes a really cerebral, subtle creepiness to really get to me and Resident Evil without its scary factor has just proven to be substandard.



But don't take my word for it, try these games out for yourself. Maybe you will find that they are as great to you now as they were to everyone else then. Maybe I'm a sad, depraved individual. Maybe I just suck at games.

Ok, so about a month ago, I approached my grandmother and asked her to teach me how to sew. She asked what project I wanted to work on first, and I thought, "I should make a costume for the upcoming con." I had decided to do a themed group entry with myself as Ganon, my son as Wind Waker link and a friend as Tetra. Well, I couldn't pull of Ganon in time, but I'm proud with how (most of) my son's costume came out.



I based it off Wind Waker Link, thought what you're seeing is not final. I have white leggings and boots, but we live in Florida, and it was simply too hot to wear. Furthermore, I am planning to paint the sword a more appropriate color, but up until that morning, we weren't sure if we were going to make it to the con at all, so I didn't have time.



I have spent about 18 hours on the vest and hat and another 5 searching thrift stores for the materials. I know it's not super-accurate, but the little guy was a hit with the ladies and even made it into our local paper.





I hope to have it totally done at Halloween. Also, Protip: babies hate hats.

Just kidding, not all of them are terrible. Actually, overall, fighting games are probably one of my favorite genres to jump in out of every once in awhile. I love the thrill of learning a new system and playing with new characters and just immersing myself in battle with another person (or really good CPU in a pinch). I'm thrilled with the glut of recent entries into the genre that have attracted many old and new fans into the hardcore fighting arena.

The one problem I have with all of these new releases is that almost all of these games are sequels or spiritual successors to previous fighting games. Very few of them display a high level of experimental creativity in their character design or movesets, and though I'm grateful for a well-crafted martial arts experience, I miss the zany and wacky side that fighters used to display.

It all started when someone said to himself, "You know what would be awesome? We should get all of the Marvel Super Heroes together and let them fight each other." That stray thought spawned a whole slew of great games that went on to include "serious" fighters from the Street Fighter series and made fighting over-the-top, excessive, brash, and...well, awesome.



Then someone at Nintendo had the same idea with classic Nintendo mascots. The first Super Smash Bros. is still one of my favorite N64 games, and the sequels have attained an almost zen-like balance of depth and casual entry. The game offers you the option to have an intense one-on-one battle between an overweight plumber and a dinosaur with a saddle on his back.

I understand that serious fighting games have a place, and I would be hypocritical if I was seriously denouncing them all. Just as Killzone, Call of Duty, and Halo have a place in the gaming hierarchy, so do KOF, Street Fighter, and newcomers like Blazblue. I am simply calling for more companies to take risks and ignore the inhibition to just be wacky and crazy. My favorite fighting memories have come from "casual" fighting games, and I hope that someone will take a break from Generic FPS 3 or Shovelware Minigames 7 to make something really special.

It has been 9 years since MvC2 came out, and nothing has stepped in to fill that silly, superheroey void. For shame gaming industry. For shame.

In a time not so long ago, there was a monstrous entity. A corporation made up of soulless, faceless sycophants bent on nothing short of total world domination. These brigands were in the business of developing and publishing video games and they began to suck the industry dry by purchasing up the best and brightest developers and harnessing them to their computers to churn out substandard software on rushed schedules to rake in precious holiday money. Swatting away multiple lawsuits this giant raged on and signed dark accords so that other developers could no longer make the games they wanted and the consumers were made to suffer as a result. This dark lord was known as Electronic Arts and they were feared.

Somewhere along the line though, EA's heart grew 3 sizes bigger and they began taking risks and putting effort into previously stale franchises. Original IP's began to spring up like wildflowers on the highway. EA remembered its customers and managed to make a pretty penny at the same time. As of today, they're still doing fairly well for themselves, but in the absence of a malevolent ruler, another company has stepped in to assert their dominion over the videogame industry.

Activision has been around for a long time, but they didn't really strike gold until they purchased Red Octane and merged with Vivendi. This merger led to the formation of the beast that was foretold in prophecy: Activision Blizzard. With some of videogames' premier developers in their stable, Activision began focusing exclusively on business decisions aimed at making money. While making money is the main concern of any corporation, Activision participated in activities that exploited their loyal customers. In fact, there is a pretty famous quote and subsequent Penny-Arcade strip dealing with that smashing choice of vocabulary from Activision's CEO:

"With respect to the franchises that don’t have the potential to be exploited every year across every platform with clear sequel potential that can meet our objectives of over time becoming $100 million plus franchises, that’s a strategy that has worked very well for us. "

Now the two titans are set to square off over one of the most exciting new games of the last thousand years: Brutal Legend. I'm sure you all know the basic story by now, but in case you don't know already I can sum it up in 5 words: Activision hates rock and roll. Actually, that's not fair, they just want the money that they put into Brutal Legend to count for something. They have put millions into the production of Brutal Legend and although they chose to drop it, they would like to see some return on their investment.

In reality though, this is not sound logic. By dropping the game, they were already counting it as a loss financially. If the game remained dropped, they simply would've lost the money they put in. Now that the game has been finished and picked up for publishing though (and appears like it will be a great success) they want a piece of the proverbial pie.

I find history's twisted sense of irony amusing, as it now seems that EA, the former villain twiddling his mustache is now the savior of the girl on the train tracks. In this case the girl is Tim Schafer and Activision now has the mustache. Who will ultimately prevail? Will we still experience the Rocktober that Double Fine is promising? Will we ever find out who shot J.R.?

Only time will tell.

Author's Note: I've been trying my hand at freelancing articles, but it hasn't seemed to work that well. So I'm going to post my articles on the crucible of Dtoid and have them beat to a bloody pulp. Maybe someday I'll learn to stop sharing on the Internet.

Originality is the spice of life. If not for outside-the-box thinking and some brave person taking chances, we would never have gained some of our greatest societal treasures. Progressive thinking is what allowed luminaries like Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein to open up the mysteries of the world and pave the way for the rest of us following them to lead a more enlightened existence.

Without originality, we would not have wacky games like Katamari Damacy, epic games like Final Fantasy, or timeless games like Tetris. Many people are currently waging war against gaming companies for taking the safe route and sticking to tried and true formulas that have proven to be successful. To a degree, those that fight that battle are right. Taken to an absurd degree, repetition can become stale and boring, but given the right circumstances, the gaming industry can build on previous game experiences while also exploring new territories.

If you have been keeping up with all of the E3 hubbub circulating around the lazy river that is the Internet, you should know that sequels are the cat’s pajamas this year. Practically every Nintendo announcement was affiliated with Mario, Metroid, or sticking your finger in a clamp. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t a sequel, but it is pretty terrible. Sony’s most exciting announcements dealt with God of War 3 and Uncharted 2. Even Microsoft’s focus on the gaming realm was on Rock Band: Beatles, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Gears of War 3 and a previously unannounced Halo title called Halo: Reach. Add Assassin’s Creed 2, Bioshock 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Left 4 Dead 2 to that list and you can see that now, more than ever, sequels are the bread and butter of the gaming industry.

I have to admit, my initial kneejerk reaction was to swear profusely at my computer screen. “Can’t they do anything original these days?” I thought. To a degree, I understand and still hold part of that sentiment still. However, I think it’s important to remember the focus of most of these titles: fun video games.

Now, I am not ashamed to say that on occasion I am “that guy” when it comes to video game narrative. If a game attempts to present me with a worthwhile story, I will try to harvest every ounce of literary nectar out of it until it has shriveled away into nothingness. Sometimes though, I have to remind myself that story is not the only reason that I play videogames. I didn’t start playing the NES as a child for deep, emotionally involved narrative; I was jumping on turtles and saving a princess.

While some of the original games that spawned these major sequels had great stories, a lot of them were just fun video games. And unlike books and movies, video games are in the unique position of being able to incrementally improve on previous experiences efficiently. For every Call of Duty game that is made, something is upgraded. Every Halo brought about new weapons and more solid gameplay. In a sequel, the story may lose its way, but that doesn’t mean that the game gives up the ability to be good on the gameplay front.

Sometimes good games have terrible stories (I’m looking at you Gears of War) and sometimes they have great stories. However, if the Bioshock sequel rolls a critical failure and ends up pitting Splicers against the forces of an anthropomorphized race of sea turtles (actually, that sounds kind of cool), it doesn’t make the original Bioshock any less awesome. If worse comes to worst: you could just ignore the sequels altogether.

:: cough:: Prince of Persia 2 ::cough::

I really do crave something new and exciting, and I think with the number of emerging indie studios and the resurrection of simplistic retro franchises, we really will get something special soon that will be a watershed in gaming history. In the meantime though, I shall hold out my hope and simply try to enjoy these games for whatever they offer to me. Focusing on what could’ve been may ruin the joy that we have available to us now.