Video games make me happy. Their sole reason for existence is to entertain. Although this may be unclear at the first glance of any major video game message board (Fanboy uprising!), most people have nothing but good feelings about games and can’t help but look forward to anything and everything dealing with games. Unfortunately, not everything in the video game world should be anticipated, and some should be downright opposed. Gamerlimit.com is taking a look at some things we could do without in 2009.
Another Set of Fake Instruments
To say that Guitar Hero and Rock Band are popular is an understatement. Rock Band and Guitar Hero are beastly. At this point, it isn’t far fetched to ume that every home with a current generation video game system, also has a plastic guitar looming somewhere nearby. While it’s fun to play these games, it’s less fun to feel like you’re behind the curve when it comes to video game technology, and it’s even less fun to try and store all these things. Certain retailers are already piping up about having no place to put the gargantuan boxes that the instruments come with. Harmonix and Red Octane need to find a way to put out new discs without having to reiterate on the hardware every time they do it. Possibly through some kind of special order system. I have it as fact that nobody impulse buys a 50 pound box of plastic instruments.
Lego Whatever
In less than a period of a year, there were 3 Lego games released. Of those 3, only one was truly great, and that was Lego Star Wars. The other 2 were the same game, re-skinned with a different franchise, then made inferior because of conventions that were made necessary because of the nature of those franchises. They just weren’t as fun as the original. The Lego brand should take a break during the next year and reassess the gameplay aspects of the series. The critical success of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts could be something for them to take notice of, it could be a wonderful direction for the Lego brand of games to go.
Nintendo Neglect of the Hardcore
Dear Nintendo– I understand that games like Wii fit and Wii sport are making you money. Great. I want a new Zelda game.
I understand that Nintendo is a company and companies like to make money. It’s how they survive. As such, they’ve tailored their focus to the people that make them money and those people like balance boards. In the last year, Nintendo hasn’t done much with their established franchises, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the only game release from Nintendo that anyone could consider remotely hardcore. I really just want something good from Nintendo, something made for the people that stuck around when they weren’t doing so well, for the people who bought their system when it didn’t serve as a fake sports machine.
Game Empires
Competition is great. It increases the quality of everything. Unfortunately for gamers, it’s something that dwindles more and more as EA buys everything, and Activisions merger with Vivendis. Now I understand that these are companies, and as I’ve stated previously, companies like money. However I like originality, and I want to see games like Braid and Persona made just as often as Tony Hawk and Army of Two. The game industry can fatigue players rather easily depending on the current climate, and sometimes, you just get tired of shooting things. If major publishers stop getting bigger, maybe we can hold on to the already small number of truly unique titles released each year.
Another Console
Here we arrive at the sole thing most people will agree they don’t want to see. There have been rumblings in the rumor mill about Microsoft wanting to accelerate R & D on the next Xbox, possibly releasing it a lot sooner than expected. Now a new console altogether is a lot, but we really don’t need any reiterations on existing ones either. A new version of the DS, the PSP, the PS3, or even the Wii is completely unnecessary. Game companies would do well to stop changing the consoles themselves, confusing consumers in the process, and use their effort on securing us more, and better games to play on the ones we already like.
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