The 10th Hour 07.04.08: Top 10 Games That Don't Need Sequels

Posted by Derek Robbins on 07.04.2008

In today's gaming market it seems that if a game is a sequel it will sell well...but if it's a new intelligent property not so much. So sequels from already established properties are rather important to the gaming industry. This week, the 10th Hour lists its top 10 games that don't need anymore sequels.

Hello and welcome to the 10th hour! As always, there are a couple of tangents I would like to go off on before the actual column starts so letsa' go!

-Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 is probably one of the most addictive games that I have played in a long time. The story is relatively simplistic, which is a bit of a problem…but the gameplay can best be equated to some form of electronic cocaine that is inhaled via the fingertips. I also quite enjoy that they include a hard mode this go around because my main complaint with the original FF: TA was the fact that it was too easy. All and all, a great purchase that I can't recommend enough to you guys.

-CM Punk is the world heavyweight champion. Isn't that crazy? Who would have thought that CM Punk would be the number one guy on RAW, even if it probably will be for a short amount of time? I have to be honest, I couldn't be any more excited. I really don't know what they're gonna do with the guy so now RAW is intriguing for the first time in a while. As big as an Edge fan I am, I have to admit – I marked the fuck out when Punk cashed in his MITB. Just awesome all around.

-The Cubs are banged up and playing like shit. Let's move on. I am VERY interested to see the reaction Jim Edmonds gets in St. Louis though. I expect mostly cheers…but we'll have to see.

Reader Feedback

Well, let's see what you guys had to say about my long-overdue villains list…

Chris reminds me of an over-looked RPG. Shadow Hearts!

In wrestling, you always hear that the best heels are the ones who feel fully justified by their actions. I know I harp on this game all the time, but I'll throw out some villian love for Special Agent Kato from Shadow Hearts Covenant. Devestated by the loss of his love (again), he sets out to revert the world to its state 100 years ago. He fully believes he is doing the right thing for the world, and is willing to kill his friend Yuri to do so. The resulting boss fight was one of the most epic i'd ever fought in an RPG, and of course led to the awesome ending.

Though, he's only the villian during the last half of the game, so that probably lessens his impact.

I loved Shadow Hearts Covenant and felt that it did a number of things right. On top of having a fairly likable cast…it also has a great story as well as a fairly fun battling system. So it's kind of a shame to see it get lost in the RPG shuffle. I have to be honest about it…I totally forgot about him. He IS a good villain for the exact reasons you state. While we the viewer and Yuri, the protagonist, think: "What? This is wrong." The villain has the total opposite viewpoint thinking: "I am right.". It's nice.

As for him being only a villain towards the end…it makes him even more memorable in my eyes. Who are ya' going to remember more? Will it be the guy who was your enemy the whole game or your friend who backstabs you along the way?

Grantimus knows his fictional kings:

asshole geek moment: cyan was in fact not the king of doma.

also, sephiroth. i think that's really all there is to say. yeah, he didn't go the distance so to speak, but his cool factor more than makes up for it.

I think I probably knew he wasn't the king…but for whatever reason whenever I hear his name I think: "King of Cyan". Even though his kingdom is Doma and…he's not really a king. Damn.

As for Sephiroth…I don't think he's cool at all. He has long hair and a masamune. So what? A lot of fat nerds have that too and it doesn't make THEM super badasses. Well, I guess they haven't set fire to any towns yet. Give it time.

Rod Oracheski. The Man. The Myth. The commenter:

No SHODAN? You must have missed System Shock 2!

Err uh, err uh…that's on my "to play list". I know it's a classic but I actually haven't had a gaming computer until very recently. I know you may be thinking: "But that game doesn't require that good of a computer!"…but trust me. My last one was a pile of shit.

AJguy from the exploding barrel podcast chimes in now:

I gotta say, a damn fine list. And just wait til you do finish MGS4 (and then listen to the rest of our show!), and you realize just how good a choice Ocelot was for #1.

Does this mean top ten heroes next?

Thanks for the compliments. I can't wait until I play that game. Just…can't get to it yet. ARGH. It's driving me crazy, believe you me.

As for a heroes list…maybe. I'm really scared to do that one because I have no idea who the best protagonists are in video game history. Eventually it shall be done though. Expect Ness, Jeff, Paula, and Poo to be in the top-4. THOUGH THE ORDER SHALL BE A MYSTERY!

Chris M just wants to help out:

epic fail. I glanced over the comments and did not see those words. I figured it has to be in every comment now a days right? So I decided to write it for no apparent logical reason because...hey we wouldn't want to leave it out anywhere right?

I appreciate trying to help. I have noticed that a lot of comments around our site sort of…have those two words in it. It's like they just discovered the internet! It's so cuuuuute. I suggest our moderators edit the words "epic fail" to read – "I find that your article is lacking. It fails in many ways, perhaps even on an epic scale."

David who may or not be David R. supplies the next comment

Ghaleon is FILLED was an awesome addition. Wow! I don't know many people that REMEMBER Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (or Complete for the PS1). I only played the PS1 version, I never played the Sega CD version. Opps. However, that was an awesome choice. A truly tragic character and one of those WTF-moments. Excellent choice.

I don't even know why I bought Lunar in the first place. It was a long time ago, like over seven or so years (that would make me 13 at the time. I'm 20! Hoorah! No more "What are you, 12?" comments!), I saw some dude trade in his copy at my local Babbages…and I asked about it. It may have been for some shallow reason – such as the bath house – but I came away with one of the most magnificent RPG experiences I've ever had. A wonderful story and one I won't forget. I even hunted down the less awesome but good Lunar 2 thanks to this. I really want Lucia's neckless though. That's the only thing I didn't get with my purchase of Lunar 2. Someday though!

CT Fan has a lot to be happy about this week, but that was after he posted this comment. Let's see what he has to say anyhow:

No Lavos or Magus (one of my favorite video game characters ever)?

And Seymour sold "crazy/corrupted" in FFX...

Just a couple that should have been honorable mentions.


Well…Lavos is a world-destroying monster but he's not really like…a great villain. I just view him as a super monster.

Magus, well, his "face" turn at the end of Chrono Trigger kind of eliminates him in my opinion. Prior to that point though, he was pretty cool.

As for Seymour, surprisingly…I had him mentioned on my original list. I agree with you that he's a great villain, I just figured that I don't see him in the same league as the others I listed. Such a shame.

Cenasucks - who must be thrilled with the current champion of the world – has a complaint.

I like how my comment was deleted, cant take some fucking critism for your crappy list eh, derek?

I'm not in charge of my comments section. I assume your comment was deleted for some reason, probably too obscene or something. If you think you have a borderline deletable comment you should just email it to me so I still see what you're saying. Negative feedback doesn't bother me in the least because I write lists. Not everyone is going to agree with me.

Sean McCabe gives us his list now

Interesting list. I think though Kato (love the fact someone besides me played Shadow Hearts Covenant and paid attention to how awesome it was) and SHODAN should be in there. Edgeworth I disagree with, as a villian. I feel you should have had either

*spoiler for Trials and Tribulations*

Dahlia Hawthorne, or Godot

*end spoilers*

instead, both of those would be pretty worthy of this list for different reasons. I would also not put Nemesis, despite liking Nemesis a lot, but rather the monster than inspired it, Scissorman from Clock Tower. I guess my list is -

10. SHODAN (System Shock/SS2)
9. Special Agent Kato (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)
8. Albert Simon (Shadow Hearts)
7. Dahlia Hawthorne (Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations)
6. Scissorman (Clock Tower)
5. Albert Wesker (Resident Evil)
4. Alma (Ninja Gaiden)
3. Bowser (Super Mario Bros)
2. Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda)
1. Revolver Ocelot/Liquid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)

I know Alma seems a bit of a random pick and she wasn't even the ultimate villain of Ninja Gaiden, however, the fact she is the hardest fight in the game, combined with her being the game's most creative design I think makes her worthy. This is Ninja Gaiden, being the hardest fight in Ninja Gaiden of all games deserves high placement.

Also I find it hard to seperate Revolver Ocelot and Liquid Snake given the story of MGS so I cheated there. Anyway, that's my list.

I felt that Miles was probably a bad choice to put at 10 as well, but because he can be your main rival throughout the Ace Attorney franchise I felt that his inclusion would be neat.

As for your list, I like a lot of the entries, especially Scissorman. He made Clock Tower a truly creepy experience. He scared the crap out of me to say the least. Albert Wesker was a guy who made my original list but was cut out at the end for some reason. He's a great villain none the less though.

You're also right, being the hardest boss fight in Ninja Gaiden is pretty noteworthy. I'm not sure it's enough to boost her to number four, but it at least kinda qualifies her.

chrisbg99 has great taste:


I would be all for a "Top 10 Things About EarthBound" list.


One day. It will be the least viewed column I've ever written, but dammit. The people need to know!

Matt Short is on the same wave-length as I am

Much kudos for doing a list without Sephiroth. If anything he's the most overrated of the Final Fantasy villains.

Ding, ding! My thoughts exactly.

Michael 316 ponders my distaste for Sephiroth

Sephiroth is a real ultimate bad guy. How angry and/ or sad did players feel when he drove that sword through Aerith? I don't know why he was left off this list. Is it because the author is not a Final Fantasy fan?

Truth be told though, I would have left Sephiroth off a Top Ten villains list just because a 12-year old can beat him in Kingdom Hearts.

I didn't feel anything. I didn't really like Aeris very much. As for my Final Fantasy fan-hood…I love the series. The fact it won't be on this next list while many others may feel it should is a testament to that.

Mack rounds off the comments this week with a list of his own:

Seriously guys, what in the blue hell makes Sephiroth bad ass? Oooo he wears a long black coat amd wields a large sword. Yea, thats totally bad ass. (Sarcasm)

My list:
10.) Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
9.) Big Boss (Metal Gear)
8.) Odin (Valkyrie Profile)
7.) Andross (Star Fox)
6.) Uncle Paulie (Darkness)
5.) Police Chief Eddie Shrote (Darkness)
4.) Liquid Snake (MGS)
3.) Dr. Wily (Megaman)
2.) Cyberdemon (Doom)

Spoiler for MSG4. Dont look if you dont want to know.




1.) Major Zero (MSG4)

I share those thoughts on Sephiroth as well. As for your list…I generally like the people you name, except for like…Cyberdemon from Doom. That's a bit of an odd-ball one. Making up for it is Dr. Wily though. As for your MGS 4 spoiler…Well my eyes wandered down towards it by mistake so I hope I can forget it when I start playing. Heh.



Top-10 Games that don't need anymore sequels

We live in a videogame market where sequels of popular games are guaranteed to sell by the truckload…but new intelligent properties aren't greeted with such enthusiasm. So which already established series doesn't needed anymore increments. Well I'll tell you what I think. This list really has no rules. Before you ask, and I shall bold this No, I did not forget Sonic. I have faith in his resurrection.

10-) Silent Hill - The Silent Hill franchise is one of the creepiest in the videogame world. While many survival-horror gamers cut their teeth on Resident Evil, a lot of the fanatics will tell you that Silent Hill is by far the scarier of the two…and they'd be right. Silent Hill started out as a pretty unique franchise and the first three iterations can be considered as classics. Even the fourth was pretty good. The next game was not made by the same team though, but was made by Team Climax and in my eyes it marked the decline of the series. While it's still technically "quality' what else can we do in the town of silent hill? There's a Silent Hill 5 coming out for next-generation consoles sometime soon, but what will it do differently? What can we expect? Well, we'll get some complicated story dealing with the human psyche and it'll be set in super-foggy Silent Hill. I bet they will also try to genuinely creep us out with a few "shock" scenes. Oh sure, it might be worth a play-through…but it won't be different from anything we've already experienced. What helps me believe this further is the fact that Team Silent won't be developing this game. Silent Hill 5 (or silent Hill homecoming) is being developed by Foundation 9 Studios, Double Helix games. Call me a guy who likes to jump the gun, but often times when the core series is leant to another company to make new games…it turns out bad. Remember Crash Bandicoot? Naughty Dog did great with the franchise, but when did it start to collapse? When they sold the rights. Same thing happened to Spyro. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule…but generally speaking when the core team doesn't make it, the ‘new' team does a worse job and is just trying to make money with the property as opposed to make an enjoyable product. I want to be wrong, I want the first next gen Silent Hill to blow my pants off…but I just don't see that happening. So it would not hurt my feelings at all if the Silent Hill franchise just bit the dust.

- Still pretty creepy.

9-) Medal of Honor - I look at Medal of Honor as sort of the poster-boy for an over-saturated genre. I think if you're reading this article right now, you probably have played a first person shooter at some point. Right? Odds are, if you've played a shooter, you've also played one that takes place during the second world war since apparently that time is absolutely ripe for videogame content. Well, to be honest with you…I can't think of a single Medal of Honor title that doesn't take place during this time period. I really, really can't. I mean, look, I love killing Nazis as much as the next guy…but at some point there are other villains that need a good shootin'. I like what the Call of Duty franchise did. Instead of sticking to the beaten path, they went to a modern installment for their fourth game which made their series the definitive shooting series. When I look at MOH, I mostly think of the franchise as a joke. You know that there will be a new one at some point, and without looking at additional information you can generally assume what time frame it will take place in, what your ultimate goal is, and the general story (which is always, always over-patriotic). I'm sure there are still people who play the Medal of Honor franchise and succumb joy out of it, but I figure those people must not have ever played a world war II based game before or they would have moved on by now. There is only one thing I feel the series can do if it wishes to seriously compete in this day and age: it needs to make things modern. The appeal of playing something that could conceivably happen on this day can not be under-estimated. I would also suggest trying to do a futuristic shooter to try and predict the future of war fighting and what not…but seeing as how EA has not tried to change to MOH series one iota for years it seems, I suppose it'd be a bit much to ask them to do something so drastic. The MOH franchise needs to change or die, and I'll just go ahead and lob in World War II games as well. No more, please. We know. Hitler loses! D-Day was a historically epic event that translates well to a videogame. We understand, we get it, time to move on.

- Quick, which one is this!?

8-) Tony Hawk - Looking at the Tony Hawk franchise it's sort of sad. When it first came out, it was almost revolutionary. It was so impressive that it got dopey kids such as myself to give skateboarding a try. Oh sure, the vast majority of us could never pull of a simple ollie – let alone a rocket air – but the point is that the game was of such high caliber that we wanted to try it. After all, most of our other games offered un-realistic options such as: "Kill some guys" or "Travel to eight specific locations while slaying various animals, gather eight different tunes on your magic recording rock, and slay the ultimate evil of the universe" (+1). Tony Hawk's idea of skateboarding at least seemed plausible. Since those days the Tony Hawk franchise has been milked to absolute death. We see a new installment every year and they really don't do anything all that different. Oh sure, they offer new skateparks to tool around in and some new neat moves you can try out – but when you boil it down they are really all the same. What I felt ruined it was the move away from a mission-based structure. When the game became more open-world it lost part of its charm. You couldn't just do time-based track missions trying to get the highest score possible…you have to scavenge the town for people to tell you what to do. It heightens exploration I suppose, but when you play a Tony Hawk game are you REALLY playing it to explore the locales or to have fun? Oh sure, exploration is an essential component of various genres, but extreme sports isn't one of them and it really, really hurt the series I think. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was the last title that really clicked as a genuinely good game for me. Underground 1 was pretty good as well, but after that point it just became a chore. New games would come out every year and they wouldn't do anything neat. It was just poor. There will probably never be another sports game that can actually get gamers to try a sport, and that's sort of a shame…but this particular "extreme" sports game needs to just die already.

- This game marked the downfall of Tony Hawk.

7-) The Sims - Admittedly, I've never been a fan of the Sims. Oh sure, it's neat to make people you know or certain celebrities and have them live in a house…but outside of that, what do you really do? Most of the time you baby-sit your sims while monitoring their behavior. Oh sure, you do SOME things…but I feel that I'm mostly watching what goes on. If I wanted to watch something I would play Metal Gear Solid watch television. I've played both the Sims 1 and the Sims 2 and other than shiny new graphics I probably couldn't tell you what each one does different. They feel the same to me and the experience comes off as rather dull. On top of that, they release about a thousand different expansions in lieu of creating actual new content. Eventually though, expansions just stop selling. I mean, we draw the line at expansions that just add new clothing, right? So what does EA do when they find out they can't milk the Sims 2 anymore? It's quite simple! They reveal that they are making a third one! I don't know what it'll do different or what features it will offer outside of "stunning next generation graphics!" I suppose this variety of game isn't made for someone such as myself. I assume it's for the type of person who plays a game maybe an hour here or there…someone who has an on-the-go lifestyle who just doesn't get those more complex games. There's nothing wrong with it, but it just isn't what I'm looking for in a game and since they all feel like the same damn thing…if EA suddenly held a press conference claiming that they were no longer making the sims 3, I figure I'd be fairly pleased. Ah well, I'm sure Sims 3 will sell a ton of copies and will have a billion expansions. Nothing I can really do about it.

- I'm not even going to pretend that I get the appeal of this game.

6-) World of Warcraft - Oh yes, I know. "There is only one of these games! Everything to be released will be of the expansion pack variety!" This is fine. Expanding upon the world is fine and many players of the game will happily purchase Wrath of the Lich King whenever it is released. Hell, I probably will too. It's just fun…what I'm saying shouldn't happen is a pure, straight-up sequel. We don't really need to trek through Azeroth with a new story. I figure most players of the game really don't care about the lore, but the experience in general…and I don't think it's something that needs to be reproduced in an entirely new game. Do you remember Everquest? Probably, even if you were too poor cool to play it. While that game was popular, do you remember Everquest 2 hitting it off as well? I felt it was a bad idea at the time since the Everquest world is a continual one, one that doesn't require a sequel…but they pushed one out anyhow. I think this would create a problem for Blizzard as well. Would they shut down WoW 1 servers in order to get more people to come over to the new world? I figure this would be a problem because there are some people playing WoW who would not be comfortable at all with just starting over. With a totally new game you would have to do that, so many may feel they have wasted their time and just not purchase the new game. If they decided to keep the WoW servers running in order to keep those people happy, odds are a lot of people will decide that they don't need to try the new WoW 2 frontier and just stick with the original. So their release of WoW 2 would just have been a big waste of time. Who knows if they ever will make a second World of Warcraft, but in my mind it would be a big mistake…because we really don't need a second trip due to the originals elongated stay. So I hope they don't.

- I mean really, who wants to grind to get the same ol' gear all over again?

5-) Metal Gear Solid - Metal Gear Solid is a franchise that I totally dig. I love every installment to bits and hail them as masterpieces even when they may not truly be. I can tell you right now that, even without playing it, I'm going to love Metal Gear Solid 4. I know exactly what kind of game it is and can't wait to hear the story that unfolds. That said…from everything I hear, MGS 4 has an air of finality about it…and the saga should really just conclude. If they want to release a side-story about the Cobra-Unit or something…or even a second game focusing around Big Boss as Kojima hinted at I suppose would be okay, but any more games centering around Solid Snake would be a mistake. His story has played out and it's time to move on. Snake is one of the most beloved characters in our industry and is the symbol of a franchise that many would say has not had an off installment. Why risk that? Why milk that? There is no reason to, so the adventures of Solid Snake should probably just end. It seems that with every new Metal Gear release, Kojima is claiming that it is the last one…but I'll never believe him until we've gone at least a decade without one. I'm fairly hypocritical for listing this, because I know that if Metal Gear Solid 5 was announced today and it was set to star Solid Snake I'd be pretty hyped up about it. That said, I would always have a fear that the next one would ruin things…that the next one would mess up the story…and I don't want that. So it should just end now while the four core games probably compromise the most solid (bad-duh-psh) set of four games ever.

- By far my favorite series ever. Is it bad for me to want it to end honorably?

4-) Final Fantasy VII - The seventh Final Fantasy is a game that you really need to play at some point. You'll probably go into it with the view point: "I hear this game is good, let's learn what the hype is about." You'll either come out fully endorsing the hype or simply stating that while the game was good…it wasn't as revolutionary as you heard. Now, this is the key part. Notice how the second opinion was that the game was at least good? Even those who claim that FF VII is over-rated very rarely also claim that the game was flat-out bad. Because it wasn't. Final Fantasy VII was a colorful and interesting game that had a lot of neat quirks. It was an experience that is pretty hard to forget. All the subsequent FF VII games really seem to lose that color though. They're not particularly fresh or even very good…they're just there. While FF VII was a fun experience, the sequels and spin-offs are all dark and super serious. You won't fun fun-times like the Golden Saucer, but a world full of emos. Let's take a look at the spin-off movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. At first glance you might be fooled into thinking that this is a decent movie, but it really ruins a few of the events of Final Fantasy VII. For instance, Rufus who had a heroic death at the hands of Diamond Weapon, is brought back. His heroics? Gone. There he is though! Tseng, who was presumably killed by Sephiroth and squashed by the black materia…is alive and well. I'm not sure why they decided to bring some characters back, but my guess would probably have to be some form of fan-service. That's got to be the only reason Sephiroth had any involvement in the movie, right? I'm honestly surprised that they didn't go the full extra mile and just have Aeris walking around and chilling with the party. They could have wrote it off as some sort of temporary death that the ancients go through. Or the planet gave her an extra life. Or some other form of bullshit. That's just the movie though. FF VII: Dirge of Cerberus is a game starring FF VII's least interesting character (unless you're 12, I guess) Vincent. It features a mess of a plot that goes into Vincent's backstory. This could be salvaged if it was at least fun, but alas…it's not. It's a horribly executed game that only sold at all due to the relation of Final Fantasy VII. The only good FF VII spin-off would have to be FF VII Crisis Core which is a prequel, not a sequel. While the combat combines the worst elements of Kingdom Hearts with the worst elements of Final Fantasy XII and has the worst level-up/summoning/limit break system in the history of Final Fantasy…the story is really good and the game features one of the best endings I've ever seen. So it's at least worth a play. Instead of further rape the story of Final Fantasy VII – possibly hindering the experience for the fans – how about we just end all of these sequels? I'm sure the fans would much rather have a PS3 remake anyhow.

- He looks so sad.

3-) Guitar Hero - When I refer to Guitar Hero, I mostly mean the version of the game that uses just the Guitar. I don't mean the upcoming rock-band clone. I'll be interested in how that one pans out, given that it has a create a song option. Plus, rockband is a game that needs more clones! We can't possibly have enough massive drum-sets in our house can we? Anyhow, Guitar Hero has got to be one of the most milked games ever and suiting enough it comes from the king of milking…Activision! You may know them from the earlier mentioned Tony Hawk series. Anyhow, this year alone we are seeing a whopping four different Guitar Hero games. We have Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, the Guitar Hero for the DS, and Guitar Hero: "Rockband clone". The two pure guitar games, Aerosmith and Metallica, don't really add anything to the series at all…just new songs. I know, it's pretty hard to change a series that is essentially a rhythm game, but in this age of DLC do we really need a full-priced video game that is essentially a track pack? If they released one a year, I would be okay with it. They aren't over-saturating the market with this crap and it's just one. One track-pack a year is okay. It's the fact that they pile game-after-game up without thought for the consumer that really bothers me though. These games aren't just mediocre, they're a plain rip-off. Fittingly enough, Guitar Hero may very well become the new Tony Hawk - A series of games that get people interested in something, in this case playing the guitar, but eventually wares off due to the over-saturated market. Until that day comes about where we just don't want to shell out the money for: "Guitar Hero: Motley Crue" we will get that franchise shoved down our throats. Love it or learn to accept it, it's just how it's going to be. Guitar Hero is going to dominate the video game news headlines – much to the exploding barrel's chagrin – and for the next couple of years we will be powerless to stop it. Curses!



2-) Halo - I know there are going to be people that get onto me for this. "Halo doesn't need anymore sequels?" they will say, "There are only three games! We've had far from enough. I find that your article is lacking. It fails in many ways, perhaps even on an epic scale." You goofy reader, I realize this! The reason why there shouldn't be anymore is quite simple. Not only has the Halo franchise failed to evolve since the original, but the creators of Halo don't make the franchise anymore. Bungie kissed it goodbye when they settled their divorce with Microsoft. Remember what I said earlier about when the original company sells the rights to their franchise? That's right! Shit happens! In the years to come, expect amazingly hyped games of Halo to come out and continue to change nothing. We will get the same super generic first person shooter with the same super generic story. Over and over again. There will be occasional twists I'm sure, but most likely all of the games will be exactly the same. Oh sure, they'll still get great reviews from reviewers who were in no way paid off, I mean seriously, but the fact is…they'll just be dull. Halo should just end now before the public realizes they've been playing the same game for seven years. Of course it won't, because Halo is a money-making machine…but if I had my way Halo would be done with and we could move on to our next very generic first-person shooting title that doesn't involve space marines.

- Ahhh...maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Halo.

1-) Sports games - "Now don't get me wrong" (This is the point where you would take a shot), I do not mean every sports game should just give up and stop making sequels. No, no, that would be crazy! I am however suggesting that sports games don't release a new game every year that changes nothing but the roster. Again, let's look at DLC. Madden 2009 is a game that we know won't really change anything. It's just going to be the yearly juggernaut that it always is. It'll make a ton of money. Whatever. Is it really necessary though? Odds are most of what is on Madden 09 could just be implemented into DLC for Madden 08. Not to just pick on madden, but this is a problem with most every other sports game…and it's not really even their fault. You can only work with the source sport so much. You can't make sweeping innovations otherwise it'd be a totally different game. It'd be just insane if the latest Madden promised innovations such as "John Madden, covert ops". A game in which you sneak around as John trying to do various tasks such as: "kill that one reporter who bad-mouthed Favre" and "poison the Gatorade of the team opposing the Patriots." That kind of innovation would be un-welcome and just…doesn't work with the sport. That said, releasing a "new game" every year with the only change being a new roster is just wrong. There are occasionally other features added as well, such as a new mode…but often times the changes are so minimal you won't even notice them. For instance, I was playing the latest MLB the Show…and I clicked on their feature that said: "newest features"…and to be honest, if I had just played the game normally I wouldn't even have realized there were new features. They just essentially could have put: "We added a new roster" and I would have understood. In the year 2008 with DLC as prominent as it is, we don't need a sports game with a new year every single year unless there are significant changes. This will never happen since sports games essentially power our economy, but…it really should. I would actually purchase a Madden or MLB 2K or NBA 2K or whatever game if I knew there wouldn't be another one released for three or so years. Sports games have died for me, and the main reason is the fact that a 2004 version of the game will play just as well as the 2008 version.

- New cover athlete, same old shit.

Well that's it for this week, as always you can comment below if you have anything you'd like to say…or you can e-mail me at [e-mail] or [e-mail] It's your choice. If you have any suggestions for future lists, make sure to submit them as well since I am running out of ideas I like to cater to you!

Before I go though, let's take a peek around our gaming section shall we?

Mike and Aj Minotti are the voices behind the Exploding Barrel podcast. This week they mention Diablo III and Megaman 9. Two games that I wanted sequels for! This week on the Great Canadian Mikexors game quiz, there is a question regarding Settlers of Catan and I KNEW IT. HAH! AJ also dislikes the new DS Guitar Hero, and I am glad he does. He actually PLAYED IT THOUGH!? Demerits for you, AJ. As always, these two do a great job and you should listen.

Theo Fraser writes the Nintendophiles and this week the thing that leapt out to me right away is the fact that the newest Castlevania game for the Wii is…a fighting game!? Wow, can't wait to have Richter beat up on Simon

Jordan Williams brings us the Working Title and this week he comes to us with a column regarding Street Fighter the movie and why it was in fact awesome. In the article he admits the movie is bad, and I agree…but I am with him in the "So bad it's good" category. I'd watch it again. He also has more un-solved gaming mysteries for us. I love how in his comment section he mentions snake211 for his fanboy bullshit. Yay Jordan!

Owain J. Brimfield brings us the Wonder Years and this week the game he brings up is Zool. I think this is a good choice personally and…I've played it! So good job Owain!

Chris Vicari brings us the Forgotten PC games and this week he lays tribute to the Ultima series. You can tell he put a lot of work into this column so you should check it out. He discusses Ultima I-IX. Apparently a column on Ultima Online is in the works, and I can't wait for that one either.

Hello and Welcome to Tool Time! This week our host Vincent Chiucchi inducts Home Improvement into the hall of shame. Does it make sense for a game based on Home Improvement to have dinosaurs? I don't think so, Tim.He also writes the Select and Start News Report. What leapt out at me this week is the fact that Kirby Superstar is getting remade. Yay! More DS action for me.

Mark Salmela writes B3yond the Report. He discusses lots of Sony news including the impressive MGS 4 sales. Ahh, but what I liked particularly well here is that he disses Cliffy B. I thought Gears of War was moronic as well! Yay! He also brings the smack talk, which I quite enjoy. Though I am looking forward to Nintendo's super awesome un-veiling of the latest Mario baseball

Don't let my current anti-360 sentiment keep you from reading Joe Roche's Full Circle news report. He does a great job of compiling Microsoft's news. This is last weeks seeing as we update on the same day though. Make sure to check out his most recent column tonight!

Last but not least is Rod Oracheski's Achievement Unlocked. He discusses achievements that pop up on us when we don't expect them to. He also mentions games that will be coming to E3, including Banjo-Kazooie Nuts n' Bolts. Jury's still out on that one. Good stuff as always from Rod, but we update on the same day so this is his column from last week. Make sure to read his most recent one though

Well that's it for now. Next week will probably be a "Top-10 games that need sequels" list or something.

Til' the Crossroads