Everybody and their grandmother has played tetris, your baby girl plays Nintendogs, wifey hijacks the controller for Zuma. So how come nobody is reaching for the controller when you fire up Bioshock? It is almost universally accepted as one of the greatest titles to hit the current gen, so where is the mass appeal?

Hit the jump-off to check my theories on the nature of casual vs. hardcore games.

Escort mission, two words that prompt groans and eyerolls from gamers the world over. Everybody knows the frustration of the one step forward, two steps back dance that is babysitting a bot. They need saved more than  Michael Jackson's soul after a a day at Disneyland. Every so often though a game comes along and actually makes it fun. Hit the jump to see me sing the praises of grizzled war vets, cute little boxes, and Robert Guillaume's daughter.

Poor EA, hold on hear me out, they finally gave us what we'd been asking for and we screwed them for it. For years people have been calling out big companies like EA and Activision as sequel factories, and rightly so. This year it seemed EA might finally be listening and they gave us some solid original IP's. Dead Space has been met with great critical acclaim and Mirror's Edge, while polarizing, is undoubtedly a gutsy move into original territory. The sales on these titles? Lets be nice and call it lackluster. What titles are really moving this year? Heres a hint, most have numbers and colons on the front of the box...Thats right kids, SEQUELS! 

 You have Gears 2, which by its own admission is the same thing only more of it. COD, a new/old skin on last year's game, still a quality title but what did it really add to the series? A novelty, "we have horde too!" zombie mode. Rock Band\Guitar Hero? Glorified track packs. Now I'm not blaming anybody for buying and greatly enjoying these titles and that is where the point of this post comes in. 

Money is tight all over these days and many people don't wan to gamble their $60 (or more if you have a taste for plastic instruments) on an untested product. You KNOW Gears will be fun, you KNOW you and your buddies will rock out on saturday night taking turns singing badly. Mirror's Edge looks cool but you'll wait and see what people think, Dead space is supposed to be awesome but there are so many other shooters that you KNOW are good.

So this all adds up to what? Yet another way the current economy is screwing us. Unless we can afford to gamble on these new properties guess what we are going to get next year? Sequels! Tony Hawk 937, Rock Band 3 (now with two guitars bundled in),  and Need For Speed:Most Under-wanted. I don't blame you for your purchases but don't blame the companies when you see more of the same. Its rough all over.

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...and thats my first blog ever, thanks for makingit this far. Let me know what you think. I'm no economist or videogame professional, so feel free to call me out on any faulty logic or flatout mistakes. I'm always open for discussion/criticism.