I have decided I like to create a log of sorts explaining what I have played and done in terms of gaming over the last week. This week I finally got somewhere...

I still played a little bit more Fossil Fighters. I've gotten to the point where I actually have to design a team so I can do team skills and such to pound the opposing team. I've got to be close to the end... I'm a Master Fighter now. This level-up battle was the easiest so far... I was disappointed.

The game threw in an 'unbeatable battle' where they expect you to lose. I was against one dino, that had unknown stats and 999 (max) life. Every attack you do will miss... it is a hopeless battle. I tried to win anyhow padded my team with someone that helps my aim, and also has the ability to use life points to attack and heal... I got the boss down to 500 HP but still lost... I thought that was pretty fun, but I hate the story gimmicks that force you to lose. I hated the Eternal Sonata one, I hated this one. I don't ever like to lose.

I did get to forza 2. I finally hit level 40, was able to finish three more race groups... so I got some more achievements there. I noticed some of the 'collect all cars' achievements require me to be level 45 in different regions.

So I pose a question, has anyone actually switched their region? Does it make you start over on your levels? There is no way I'm going to play up to lvl 45 in each of the three regions if that is the case. It has taken me 2 years just to get to lvl 41 in the Asia region! Anyhow, forza 2 is about to be shelved for a bit again.

I did a level of Dead Space. This game is extremely slow moving as I'm not overly motivated to keep working on it. I know I'm not a big horror genre fan, but I'll at least finish this once before I completely stop. At least that's the goal.

I found Puzzle Quest for the DS! The game retails for $60 new on the web... I wasn't going to ebay the game or anything, but I did tell myself I would get it if I ever found it out and about either new or used (and in perfect condition). I did... I wanted to buy new, but hey, they don't make it anymore so their loss. So I got a nice used copy for $13.

I could have bought it for $10 or less on XBLA though, so why spend the $3 extra? HARD COPY! and portable. Yep, downloadable content has bothered me, so I wasn't going to buy this via download only. I paid a little more for it, but I think it is worth it.

Initial impressions leave me thinking Puzzle Quest might be my "Way overrated" game of the year. But it is warming up to me actually. The problem I think is I got use to playing Galatrix, so I'm looking for diagonal moves and such for matching. I also don't know what a lot of the items and such do, the help text (if they even have it) shows for too little time... But it is feeling better to me. Puzzle Quest is very forgiving, in that if you ever lose, you can redo the task over and over until you get it right. That hurts it and helps it depending on the context. I still think I like this one a lot more than the sequel.

That's all I played this week.

And... I warned you that my wife really wanted to get Lego Rock Band right? Well, I'll post some impressions about it later this week maybe seeming I'll end up playing it tonight. I'm somewhat concerned about it seeming the game is rated 'E10' so some DLC won't transfer, the DLC is all I play anymore, so this has me a little worried. You also can't export RB2 songs to play in LRB only LRB export to RB2.

It has features for no-fret strumming (so my kids can actually play the guitar now probably) and no-bass-petal drumming which I might even use... I HATE the bass petal once I try to play on hard or expert seeming it always seems to be 'off beat' to me but I really want to do MORE complicated stick work... I hope this works so it even appeals to me. Anyhow, I'll post what I think about it later.

The gaming industry needs to take a stand about who their games are targeting. They need to make it blunt, to the point, and give examples. Who is the industry? Good question, but at least it should be some conglomerate of the big named companies (EA, Activision, etc) it would have more weight than the media and their scare tactics.

Why? Because parents today still don't get that people are making games for them, and not for their children. Because the fallout of some game content has to be restricted because people don't get the point that games can and are being targeted for adults. A blunt message needs to be sent that the Gaming Industry is similar to the Movie industry. There are games that should not be available to kids... there are games made for adults.

Overkill maybe? We have the ESRB out there police-dogging the whole system, but I don't think people (parents and media) get it. We have reviewers out there that completely ignore the ratings system when giving scores and recommendations.

Do parents understand that Modern Warfare is the equivalent of an rated R movie? I'm not debating the point that kids should be able to play these, I'm debating the point that parents don't understand what the 'M' on the box means and then make an informed decision on what their kids play and the media/politicians needs a statement that can be repeated endlessly to them every time they try to fight against mature video games.

An interesting statistic showed up this week: 'Tweens' Most-Wanted For Holidays... Most parents will probably cave in and get them the 'M' games. Sure the reason why can be debated, I bet most parents just don't know what the big deal is with the 'M' though.

Growing up I played Doom, lots of Doom. It was THE 'M' game before the ratings existed. But 'M' games have came a long way since Doom. Sure the violence is still there, but now you have very mature themes, loads of swearing, even MW2 is touting a run and gun terrorist event through a civilian populated airport. Instead of saying: "Look the game if for adults..." the industry cowers in shame and makes warnings before the scenes (non-skip-able) and mar the whole experience... - What if the movie industry brought up warnings mid-movie... "Sorry, but this content might be offensive, please close your eyes until you hear the beep."?

If the industry doesn't take a stand the media will. They will decry, "What are video games becoming? this is horrible, it shouldn't be allowed, etc". If the industry gets to the punch first, they could say, "look, some games just are not for kids anymore. But we want to give experiences that mean something to adults, similar to thought provoking and intense movies. As such we need the ability to paint the canvas as we see fit, and parents to take responsibility for screening what their kids play."

At that point the industry can finally push games the same way movies push the boundaries. No longer will the media be able to cry foul when an M rated game comes along and parents finally figure out what is in it.

The time has come, the industry needs to grow up and take responsibility for the content it wants to make. It needs a statement that clearly points out video games aren't just for kids, so let us make the games we want to make.

So, I've done a lot of working this last week, not much gaming. It happens sometimes.

Never the less, I have had the chance to play a little Fossil Fighters this week. My kid loves it, so I figured I would play some myself so I know what he is playing and see what it's all about.

You dig up fossils, clean them, then use them in battles. The strategy is get good at cleaning, kick every other persons trash because you will have super dinos compared to them. Or that is how I have seen it so far.

I'm level 5 (I think there are 8 levels, but I haven't looked at one strat guide so I can't be sure) and I'm yet to lose a battle. They give you, so far, 5 different places you can go, one is unlocked every level you gain, and the story drags you back to different areas on a regular basis... the problem is the fossil finds and random encounters (well, random when you dig up a fossil) never change... so I'm back to the first area you go to and every so often I end up fighting some loser with one dino and 30 hit points... (mine have 600 right now)... yeah.

They throw a twist in by making it so you can't tell what is in the fossils via x-ray... but still, it is easy to 100 (or for rare fossils, 125) them.

The interesting, "WTF are they teaching my kid?" part of the game comes with the random encounters. You dig, and pull up a rock, a Fossil Fighter pops out and says: "I was here first! Any true FF would fight for it" - Battle: Yes, No? So, did I get that right, the GoW edition would be: "I was here first!" - "STFU, let me kick your dinos asses!" - "OK!" Ah, games teach kids the important skills...

We also played Wii fit a bit with the kids... the game is already out ran its welcome with me... but I watch my kids because they have a lot of fun with it.

I haven't touched anything else this week... I haven't even turned on the X360... despite me wanting to get some games done. Just had a lot of work to do and things to get in order before our first 3-6" of snow tomorrow - yuck, I hate winter. Next week I hope to have made some sort of progress on Dead Space or Forza 2...

Later!

This isn't a Wii bash thread, but after seeing Dead Space: Rail Shooter only sell 9,300 units opening week the debate is once again open, is the Wii worth developing on if you are not Nintendo or a shovelware company?

Personally, the 'kid friendly' image won't go away. Nintendo is probably OK with that. Parents buy Nintendo stuff for their kids, and kids are easy to satisfy. Such a target audience works. They won't ever shake this.

Second, why should we buy anything new on the Wii other than Nintendo games? History has shown us that 3rd party games on the Wii drop like a rock. Within six months of release you can save at least $10-20, and if it was a big name, GameStop will have a 1/2 sale or something just to drop their stock. You can even get some Nintendo games this way!

This means it pays to let a new release fail hard early. You probably don't want 4 sequels of it anyhow, you might as well save $30 and get it in a 6 months to a year. This is the case Dead Space extraction is for me. I have been tempted to get it, but I realize it can tank and I can pick it up on the cheap. I'm in no rush. I also think it would have done better as a 'Doom' game anyhow, creepy and violent, but without the trashy dialog talk.

Lastly, it is horribly under-powered. Sure, graphics don't make the game, but now-a-days, neither do the controls! Why pay for one when you can get both other places? I would pick controls over graphics too, but why pick one? Two systems out there do both. That and motion controls don't actually work very well. Once again, kids aren't all that into the deep graphics anyhow, so this just re-enforces the first point I made.

There you have it. I suspect the next Nintendo console to follow suit.

On a related note, when I bought my games at Toys R Us last week there was a family that came in looking at games. They saw GTA: Chinatown for the DS and the father said, "Who would be dumb enough to put this on the DS?" - it made me think a bit. Yep certain systems just are not for certain types of games.

Well, I buy more games than I play these days, but this experience really proves how far out of it I am getting.

Toys R Us has their buy 2 get one free. The purchases: Rhythm Heaven, Wii Fit Plus, and Fossil Fighters. I didn't really want any of them.

So why get them then? I have entered into that phase where I want to see a smile on my wife and kids face as much as my own. Seeming I still have a few games to finish up, I'm not buying any games for me until I finish them up. Yet I still wanted to buy some games.

My wife really liked the Rhythm Heaven demo - THANKS Nintendo for doing a demo! See it actually works - my wife also likes the Wii fit plus, as do the kids while playing multiplayer (no more backing all the way out and in to switch people) and my kid loves the Fossil Fighters game.

Sure Fossil Fighters is Pokemon, but he has a lot more interest in Dinosaurs than randomly made up Pokemon. Also, the way the fights work out I feel like it is less of a Michael Vick trainer, and more of a collecting game. He likes the cleaning aspect of finding bones and it is simple enough he has a great time.

So, looks like I'm going to force myself to finish up a few games before I get myself something. Which is ok, most of what I wanted went strong 'M' that I can't play around the kids anyhow... and I can usually wait for games to drop to $20-30 when they pull that sort of stuff on me.

Maybe I should make a to-do list of games to finish out and then start cranking through them. Devil May Cry 4, Assassin's Creed, Dead Space, and Forza 2 are all on the list.

Oh, yeah, one last thing. My wife found the setlist to Lego Rock Band... despite the fact I find 'Lego' anything annoying and tedious, she really wants it now. This whole marketing to my kids and wife is killing me. I only have so much money for my games budget and it seems to be sucked up in their ('our') games more and more.