We tried to wait for the blue bomber. We watched his franchise spawn many branches and go through numerous changes. And then, we weren’t so sure we wanted to wait any longer.

A lot of the adults playing games today started that habit in their childhood. Primarily, marketing departments aim for the 20-24 age bracket of young men, and believe they’re only capable of playing Halo and more Halo. This results in a lack of gameplay variety amongst AAA releases. Because a lot of these aimed-for consumers played Mega Man entries during the late 1980’s and mid-90’s, and Master Chief’s diminutive predecessor was also armored and did have a gun he could shoot, maybe executives thought it wouldn’t hurt to release a title like that today. Were they right?

There are no franchises I love more than Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, but I don’t see the sense in a release that mimics graphics from 1988. One could argue that Mega Man has never been about originality, but over the years, it did introduce Rush, new moves (like the slide), additional playable characters, and more. It was the same old, same old at its core, but it did evolve. Why buck that trend? In this effort to revitalize the original series, and after the fine Mega Man X8, why are we going so far backward in time?

This is a game about robots, isn’t it? You know, from the future? Where things are supposed to be… advanced?

Regardless, I await the game, knowing that Keiji Inafune is involved and this isn’t just some throw-together knock-off (even though it looks like that so far). If he’ll be able to infuse some excellence, much as he did with MMX4 and the original Zero, I’m all for it. More closure beyond what Mega Man 2: The Power Battles’s story offered? Please, I’d love that too. What about a memorable soundtrack? Oh, that better be there! It’s going to be hard to top the music from the series’s NES entries, along with inspired tunes by modern bands like The Protomen, and unofficial remixes by Japanese doujin artists.

In other words, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Capcom. Fans are jaded, and the market group you’re aiming for already rejected the wonderful Mega Man Powered Up!. This has to be amazing, and is it going to be?

Does anyone even care?

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.

Testing your tolerance for big plastic controllers.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is nearly upon us, coming with either just the game or bundled with yet another guitar, though it’s only a superficial reskinning of GH3’s all mighty axe.  So if you never got the GH3 bundle, or wrecked the guitar imitating the Who, then you can pick up this replacement, though I honestly think the game is overpriced with the skimpy amount of tunes it includes.  Worse, the guitar is going to be a relic come this fall.

That’s not the big problem though, looming ominously on the horizon like a Transformer fan’s plastic robot army.   The problem is one of space.  This autumn is going to see the release of Guitar Hero: On Tour and Konami’s Rock Revolution, with Rock Band 2 likely close on their heels.  Look, I’ve got a good sized condo.  I’ve even got a garage, and no way do I have room for three full sets of plastic instruments, which of course aren’t going to be compatible with their competing titles.  My Rock Band drum set sits in the corner collecting dust, occasionally dragged out for a drunken fumbling session.  The drum kit with GH:WT looks much nicer, but where am I going to put it?  Not to mention the new guitar it also comes with, whose special features make previous models obsolete.  I’ve got three plastic guitars already.  I didn’t buy these fake music games to be forced to go into a real instrument store to pick up a guitar rack.

Oh, Konami?  Too little, too late.  For years, you had the music genre pretty much to yourself, and plenty of time to bring over Guitar Freaks, but someone beat you to the punch.  Now you’re offering another set of instruments and no master recordings?  Are you out of your mind?

On the other hand, there’s Ultimate Band, which is exclusive to the Wii.  I have no idea how it’ll turn out, videos make it seem a little on the simple side, but it has the great advantage of not forcing you to buy more plastic than what already came with the system.  Sure, I’d have to actually buy a Wii, but when it’s smaller than a Rock Band guitar, I think I could find the space for it.

Jack Thompson, Spore porn, and more.

For those of you living the lives of busy, important people, here is a rundown of the biggest gaming-related stories of the past week.

Monday: Jack Thompson got a visit from a couple US Marshals in regards to a letter he wrote to a federal judge.  In the letter, he compared himself to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, and stated, “I guess my ‘mistake’ was not killing 3000 people to make my point.”  The ever-tactful attorney is now furious that the judge sent the Marshals to explain to him the impropriety of such correspondence, and is even complaining to the House Judiciary Committee.  The Thompson saga is becoming like a bad VH1 Saturday afternoon reality show marathon.  I know it’s mindless, and I know it caters to the lowest common denominator…  but I can’t stop watching.

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Geeks and otaku and nunchucks… oh my.

It’s been quite an eventful week for Nintendo. First on the docket is an exciting piece of litigation: Nintendo of America Inc. v. Nyko Technologies Inc. Apparently, Nintendo is none too happy with Nyko’s release of their wireless nunchuck apparatus. They are so displeased, in fact, that they are asking a judge to order that the device stop being sold immediately. Oh, and they also want any profits generated from its sale.

But why? After all, third parties have been making controller knock-offs forever. So what makes this different? Perhaps they have their own wireless nunchuck in the works. Perhaps this is meant to be a warning shot for Sony and Microsoft, both of whom have been rumored to have input devices similar to the Wiimote in development. Or perhaps it’s none of the above. Either way, it will be most interesting to see how this pans out.

Now let’s move to some lighter fare.

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More games in development, but no word on storage solutions.

IGN just recently had a little Q&A with Tom Prata, Nintendo of America’s senior director of project development, in regards to their new WiiWare service. Eight questions were asked; in response to one question, it was stated that “about 100″ downloadable titles are in the works at this time.

But that’s not what makes this piece interesting. Of course there are games in development. No, the really fascinating part of this article is found in the other seven answers… or rather, the lack thereof.

In what can only be described as a violent regurgitation from the bowels of Public Relations Hell, Prata doles out canned, sanitary non-answers with stunning shamelessness. Granted, every company is entitled to its fair share of “Company X does not comment on rumors or speculation.” This, however, is an entirely new level of deferment.

This one is my personal favorite:

IGN: We recently had to delete half the games and Channels on our systems to make room for two WiiWare titles. Lack of storage space has become a huge problem. What’re your thoughts on this issue? Will Nintendo address it soon?

Tom Prata: Consumers have the option of either deleting the game and downloading it again for no additional Wii Points, or transferring the game from Wii to external SD memory card.

Wow.

The rest of the responses are equally compelling. Go read it, and as an added comic bonus, check out the reader comments at the bottom. You won’t be disappointed.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.