Nearly every day a new game, or multiple new games are released. This is refreshing after you become bored with whatever you purchased last. You 100% (I actually don't know you that well) that last game and realize there probably isn't that much to do. So you move on and buy the next anticipated purchase on your list of goodies, assuming it's released of course. And what do we do? We get it legally of course, and support Activision and EA all the way (Yeah, fat **** chance in that scenario). Anyway, what this all boils down to is, how long do we feel refreshed by a games new release before it becomes "stale"? You see, like everything, you can only take it so far. There is only so much that can be thought up by the human race, and let's face it, most of the idea's are being used up. Take an FPS for example. No matter how compelling your story, lovable your characters are, or brilliant the level designs have become, we all feel that point were we want a break from shooting things in the face with a gun.

Now there are of course, plenty of original idea's out there. I get that, and it's one of the reasons I'm a hardcore gamer in the first place. What? You thought Dance Dance Revolution was the reason I'm gaming and not killing things? Well I have been said to look good in tight outfits. That was sarcasm by the way. Yes, yes I know text can be confusing, but you can look forward to nursery (or kindergarten) in the morning. Anyway back on track. The problem is, although we have a few new idea's and gimmicks in the game world, we have reached that point were they are all capable of being put into a class. You know, things like "adventure", "fighting" "RPG" and so on. Let's take the FPS genre as an example. It is, after all, pretty much the most popular of the lot these days. There is obviously room for different levels and stories, but you always get that first person perspective, and same objective of shooting everything in the testicles and blowing everything up. No matter what FPS it is that you play, you will at some point, do these things I guarantee it.

What I like is when games try to take things in a different direction with the mechanics i.e. a complete overhaul on an already existing idea's. Obviously it's hard to come up with something original, but expanding on an idea can be a good alternative. Let's look at Naughty Dogs upcoming title The Last of Us. This takes the whole apocalyptic third person shooter scenario and adds an interesting twist: Emotion. The A.I. and characters are going to seem like real people and I really like the idea of a take on an already existing idea such as this. Most gamers (if you can call them that) are the mindless drones that are happy so long as they have a gun that appears in every war game, and a terrorist called Abdul Al Allahbomb to gun down in a second. So many games take this approach. Use a stereotypical gun in a stereotypical war scenario with stereotypical war soldiers and stereotypical blockbuster explosions that are far more glorified than what the military has to offer.

Anyway, the truth is that with each game that is released, the more idea's we run out of. Reboots are solid proof of this. But there's borrowing, and then blatantly copying one another. Furthermore, we have sex. With fighting games it's usually less copying one another as there are very few successful franchise out there, a shame considering they're one of my favourite genre's, and more sex appeal. Sweet mother of Jesus have you seen some of those chicks in fighting games!? They're essentially what every gamer wants his girlfriend (some day you'll get one mate) to look like. To quote Ninja Ninja from the Afro Samurai game they got it all **** ass...****ss". Mai from KOF, Chun Li from Street Fighter, Nina from Tekken, Ivy from Soul Calibur, and everyone in Dead or Alive and Mortal Kombat. These selling points are appearing more and more as marketing schemes and they work.

Now obviously I could go on and on and on and on about what every genre has in common, which I guess makes sense if it is, after all, a genre. So I have another little question in here for you rather than dedicating it to a whole new topic. Do you think developers should become more involved with their audience in taking advice on what to implement into games? After all, you play them. Surely you have some good criticisms and advice. Then they could take whatever idea's prove popular or interesting and then ask the fans if they would be intrigued were that idea implemented into the game. I'm talking even one person posting a remotely interesting idea. If they like it then ask if it should be used. And if the fans like the idea then hey, another reason to buy their game!