This. This right here is why I'm glad you're one of the strong voices in the gaming/criticism worlds that I, too, live in. Thank you for reminding us all that many traumatic experiences can also be learning experiences. Also, for your kindness and generosity of spirit that continues to inspire and enlighten my experience of games and gaming. I'm glad you and your family are safe, and look forward to Wii and 3DS commentary for a while. ;)

Thanks, Michael, for the reminder. :)

This. This is awesome! Well done. Grind away!

OMG slide 5 rocks! ;) Great talk, Chris -- inspiring and, dare I say, brainy as ever.

Wow! Just, wow. I've never liked watching sports. Baseball probably the least. I've enjoyed playing softball with a bunch of other drunken adults, and I liked helping my kids' t-ball team out, but never ever liked the game on my own. I love the metaphor you've brought to this post, and it makes a lot more sense why smart guys like you enjoy the sport so much. I'm gonna have to give it more of a looksee, maybe through those pen/paper baseball games you're always posting about. You nerd. ;)

Ah, yeah, those are good examples. I haven't spent much time with Galaxy, one OR two, but I do remember Ratchet & Clank and inFAMOUS cameras not being a huge issue. Good points! I've been having a ton of fun playing this game with my kids, but the camera does bug quite a bit when platforming is involved. My daughter, though, seems to have no issue with just spinning it manually, and doesn't get too upset when the game doesn't let her spin it. Maybe she's used to people (and games) just telling her what to do. ;)

Can you name a game like this in which the camera did NOT suck? I can't think of any, going back even to Mario Sunshine, which this game's mechanics remind me a lot of.

First off, brilliant idea. I now actually have a firmer grasp on my own thoughts and opinions on the game, just from reading all the fantastic contributions. Thank you to all. I was ready to dismiss the game when I first bought it "for my kids." I got the paintbrush nunchuck, and a new blue Wii controller, and was really excited to get the game. Brought it home, trotted it out in front of hesitantly enthusiastic kiddos, and started playing with them, taking turns at the controls. After a bit, I got up and let them play their way through. I was not that into it. "This has been done before -- there's nothing new here," was my thought, and I left the room, headed to the computer to mess with some other gaming stuff. Then the next day, at work, I realized that I was thinking about the game, the choices, the context, the artwork and Disneyland homages (I grew up on Disneyland, living a mere 40 mins from Anaheim). I thought about the puzzles and characters and you know what? I couldn't wait to get home and play it. It definitely grew on me. I'm enjoying playing it with or without my kids. They, as well, REALLY like it. They don't seem to care about the camera, or the difficulty of platforming. We all shout to "grab the film!" in the platforming sections. It's become a family phrase, now. I think that I wasn't ready for a game made with such love for the source, nor my own inner child needing some love of his own, in the form of seeing characters and places I've been to in my real childhood. The story compels me to keep playing, too. I missed all the Big Pete Small Pete stuff, and don't even know what the kids did with the logbook. And it doesn't matter. We're playing this game through as painters, and have a second one started as thinners. The emotional consequences of making enemies your friend or killing them with thinner is not lost on my 10 or 8 year old. When we started the thinner playthrough, my 8 year old started killing the initial blots. My 10 year old was aghast: "Why did you kill it? It could be our friend!?" I took that as an opportunity to offer them the idea that we play this version of the game as a thinner. They instantly "got" the idea of playing the game differently, and having a different experience with it. What a great life AND gaming lesson.

What resonated with me most in your essay, Michael, is the "Why am I here?" question. That's exactly the same thing I've been asking myself since my first column at Games Are Evil, an exploration of how a feminist, pacifist, would-be hippie like myself can get into the ultra-violence male-power fantasies of a game like Gears of War. That's not a plug (though it sounds like one, heh), but more of a "thanks for reminding me." Why are we here? Indie games are wonderful, and push the envelope, but they aren't the games I most look forward to. Why is that? Why do I still engage in many of the games and thematic content that are only represented by these magazine covers, not invented by them? I still don't have an answer, but it's writing like yours that helps me keep asking the question. Thank you.

We've been asked to review this game for GamesAreEvil, and to be honest, I didn't have the reaction you did, Michael, to the trailer or press info. I guess I've been inured to the FPS jingoism for a while now. As you know, i DO have a problem with the popularity of such highly detailed and realistic portrayals of war and violence without a balancing set of critical thought around them. So, I didn't even react to the racial reality and gushing PR speak of this game until you pointed it out. I've asked the PR rep from Teyon to comment on the issue; we'll see what I get, if anything. Thanks for continuing to think critically about gaming.

Aww, man, I was gonna mention Brütal Legend. Though I haven't played the full game, the demo struck me as a great attempt at being funny for real.

OMG I cannot wait. I, too have bemoaned the LBP problem: there are so many great community levels out there, but BOY is it tough to make more than a sketchy one on my own. My kids loved the idea of making their own levels, and they have gotten the hang of the creation tools, but unwieldy is a kind term to describe using the tools. My kiddos have since stopped making levels, preferring instead to download and play the ones other folks have made. Still a great thing, but not the creativity unleash-er I had hoped for. I had high hopes for DIY, as well, but I'll probably skip this first iteration and see if they come out with a better one for DIY2 (you know there'll be one). So, here I am, full of antici... ... ... (say it!) ... ... ...pation!

Hehehe. He said, "leveling up in my pocket." FTW!

When I read this in my inbox this morning, I had tons of things to say. However, as is typical, your readers have covered it all! :) As the father of a 9 year old daughter and a 7 year old boy, I come across these kinds of mass-market gender issues all the time. I think it's sad that we still have this kind of pervasive devaluation of females in our society. I think it's joyful to know there are folks like you all who can see through this kind of shallow pandering, and can teach their daughters AND sons how lame it truly is.

All excellent points. I miss the open world, but not the slog of it over time. I enjoy the heck out of the 8-Bit arcade side jobs, but they're easily skipped. The fights are quicker to get to, but the anticipatory glee the first game brought to them isn't in this one. But, I'm wondering if this is treading the "we play too many games and take them too seriously" line. NMH2 is a fun game, especially if taken without reference to NMH. The battles are awesome, the wackiness and humor is spot on, and there's plenty of meta to go around ("The players will get bored, Travis, if we talk about how you fell from Number 1.") Plus there's the whole cinematic flash-between of listening to Sylvia in those odd interstitials. I like it. It's a better game than most out there, and I still think everyone should play it. Maybe, though, as you point out here, ESPECIALLY if folks haven't checked out the first one.

What a great group of comments and well-written discussion of games that I haven't heard of before. My bookmarks are all the richer for them. :) I'm currently playing through Dragon's Age and am enjoying it quite a bit, for all the reasons already stated above. I really "enjoyed" Demon's Soul's, too, discovering my masochistic side. I'm also going to recommend inFamous, as it caught my attention for quite a while when I picked it up. It's got the joy of climbing buildings and shooting lightning bolts from your hands along with a character-driven storyline that works, for the most part.

What resonates for me in your essay, Michael, is "We have created this callous consumer, and we should expect marketers to target him accordingly." and "If we want to teach boys why compassion and civility are essential to their development as men, we must do it one lesson at a time." I say bravo, sir. In our society, capitalism and making money for shareholders is lauded. The way to do that is to sell things to people. To do THAT, product makers turn to marketers who know exactly WHICH people to sell to. Those people are us. They are our sons and daughters. The best way to combat this kind of ad (and game, to be perfectly honest - I cannot stand the war simulators, but that's another post) is to not buy it, urge your friends and family not to buy it and calmly and rationally express, as you do here, your reasons for not doing so. We can then become a growing majority of males who do not think that smirking homophobia and winking misogyny is ok, who, in fact, actively oppose it in our daily lives and reality. Thank you for the post, Michael.

Linear can be good. Movies are great fun. I still go to them. I still long for a filmic experience in a game. It's sad when our rush to show an over-reliance on cinematic techniques becomes a over-reliance on trashing linear narrative. There's a reason linear narrative is so popular.

Add in Little Big Planet and Flower, and you've got a sale.

For our most recent podcast, we all had to record a quick audio answering the question, "if you could only have one console, what would it be." My choice was NOT the 360, a decidedly new place for me as a gamer. I look at the list above and note that none of these games is a 360 game. Interesting.

That's the AWESOME! That's how my kiddos started out, and now both of them have a great sense of rhythm and can hang on medium difficulty for bass and easy for drums when we all get together and play. Yay, indeed! Thanks for sharing the home videos. These kinds of things, sparing and from people we care about (you!)are what make the internets bearable.

Just a quick reply to mention the marketing push. The marketing of M&L has been very staid, boring, even, and presents the game as every other Mario/Ninty game has been presented. It does NOT ring the same bells as Scribblenauts -- I think you're right on, there. My question is, why not? How do we pull out the brilliance from the standard, especially when it's all presented in the same staid, this-game-is-for-kids manner?

I think it's also important to have games that aren't about any sort of narrative at all, emergent or linear. Scribblenauts is one of those games, and maybe that's why Michael calls it a "toy" rather than a "game." I don't necessarily agree with that definition, but I do appreciate the difference that he points out. I have no need to make up little stories about my Scribblenauts avatar, Max. It's just all about moving throughthe levels and getting done what's being asked for and having a HECK of a good time doing it, and talking about it, and sharing it.

Wow! I was totally going to skip the M&L Bowser Inside Story game. I was NOT really interested. But now I am. See how cool the interwebs are? As for the praise about Scribblenauts? It's totally justified, IMO: It's made me play the DS again, and that's high praise in a life like mine where every extra minute is spent playing lots and lots of different games on different consoles. It's a breath of fresh air, and I, for one, really enjoy the way it works and the joy I feel when playing it. Why is it ok to praise the indie game (as many in this group, myself included, do) that may have only one quirky innovation but not the DS game that really did something different AND well AND is tons of fun? Writing about this game on TPG, and having our "girl in NY" go meet the 5th Cell guys in NYC for a video podcast on launch day really made me happy and proud of our site and our staff. That's also just not the kind of community connection that's happened with ANY Nintendo game while I've been doing this stuff. In fact, we just BARELY connected with a (very nice and kind and helpful) PR rep at Nintendo after a year or so of trying. The first Nintendo game we got to review (Fossil Fighters) is a pretty fun game, full of the Nintendo polish, as well, butI had to send it back when done reviewing it. That's a totally different feel than getting a review copy of Scribblenauts in the mail, having 2 other staff members pick up a copy, and being able to play through with them on Skype and via email. It's just..different, and fun, and not "another Mario game" which, it turns out, is NOT true, but the M&L game felt that way to me as I watched the tv commercials and such, and dare I say a lot of reviewers felt similarly. Same doesn't always mean good (lucky that it does this time), and implying that we should focus on the big name games does them a disservice, too. I don't think there's anything wrong with being excited about the new and innovative, though I am truly glad you pointed out the quality of the Bowser game; I will attempt to play it, now, whereas before, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought. And now I close this ramble. Oy. ;) Thanks for the great read Michael and commenters!

Fathers - TOTALLY agree. Take Gears of War 2, for example. The "big deal" about the storyline there was that Dominic has a wife, and she's captured, and OMG she's missing! But I distinctly remember also that they had a daughter. Where's the "my daughter is missing" component of the story? I figure it's either the relative age/life circumstance of the folks designing the game, or maybe even the demographic the game would appeal to> It might have been easier to imagine a love interest being gone than a daughter - many of the people playing the game may still actually BE sons and daughters living at home, so the story beat might not have been deemed not resonant enough. I say pfah, though, since the numbers *I* read have to do with the growing up of the gamer generation, and the demographic being men in their 30's. Bottom line - I think a game about a heroic father, or the heroics of being a father (or mother!) would rock. Dude, this blog comment could be a game - a text adventure! *grin*