Upcoming Releases

My Wii has been sitting next to my TV for months without seeing much use. After WiiSports and a few games were beaten or played for a while I rebonded with my Xbox because Nintendo's online support is still lacking. As much fun as classic games are, most of the time they just aren't as fun when you go back to them. The mind has a funny way of making old games seem more enjoyable than they were or maybe I'm just really bad at old 2d sidescrollers now. I don't have the patience when I mess up to start the level entirely over with no savepoints. What used to be a fun challenge in my youth is now just absurdly infuriating which doesn't help with my "casual retro" gaming.

Enter Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii. I'm excited for it. Bottom line. This will be a game where I can play it with ANYONE. My Xbox has ironically become my single gamer console even though I mostly use it to game online with others. Most of the games are too complex for me to get used to playing split screen. I want the whole screen for those games and there aren't very many "party" games where 2-4 people can all play together. Seriously, I challenge you to name some non arcade games for the xbox. Try. Ok I'll give you guitar hero cause its so much fun but you still have to pass the guitar around. The only downside to my upcoming smash bros brawl is whether or not i really am willing to spend the money for two more controllers.... they're really expensive! I definitely see Smash Brothers being the party game that gets played when a few friends are over no matter their gaming experience.

The Wii has definitely expanded casual gaming and it is a very welcome change, I just hope that Nintendo can follow through with some legitimate games that aren't just hokey and lose their appeal after a little bit of time with it. So far I am feeling good about Smash, Mario Galaxy and Metroid.

On the 360 I'm looking forward to GTA IV, Halo3 (obviously), Mass Effect, BioShock, Prototype and Blue Dragon.

For Sony... I hope they can get a few interesting games out that aren't ports. A few quality exclusive games such as Metal Gear will help Sony try to regain some ground if perhaps they stop trying to sell me a system that I should be honored to go work more hours in order to have. Psh, until that attitude changes or there's a significant price drop, I'll sit on the sidelines and be jealous of those who get to play the new Metal Gear.