With buzz building around "inevitable" new console announcements, I started thinking about it and came to a realization: For the first time in over thirty years of playing games, I'm honestly not excited about or even looking forward to the next generation of hardware.

The Return of the Ripper

HIGH A spectacular boss battle with a sai-wielding man made out of magnets.

LOW Finding out who the final boss is.

WTF I normally don't like heavy metal music, so why do I like this soundtrack so much?

If you're into strategy games or old-school role-playing games, the Nintendo 3DS is where the action is right now.

A Fistful of Clichés

HIGH Reconstructing Robert's last memory of his wife.

LOW Every time Rose speaks.

WTF I, an FBI agent, cannot examine evidence at a murder scene because there are too many people around?

The Extra Credits guys and gals certainly aren't afraid to tackle the big topics, even though it can take them a while to get to them. There aren't too many other topics surrounded with more landmines than that of "Religion in Games." And in fairness to crew, a lot was covered in the 12 minutes of video, but it feels like they only brushed the surface (no Christian-based games?). Hopefully, there is another, deeper discussion in the works that covers more of this subject matter.

I'm just going to shoot straight from the hip: I'm a big ol' coward. I've been writing about video games in some capacity since 1999. I got my first reviewing "gig" in 2001. I've had many stops along the way since then, and I've probably had my fair share of opportunities to pursue my "dream job" and write about video games for a living.

This time Extra Credits talks about balancing the powers granted players in a game with the skill level necessary to execute said power. As with a lot of things Extra Credits covers, it's a concept that sounds a lot simpler than it actually is.

Indie developer and fighter of good fights Mommy's Best Games recently released Serious Sam: Double D—XXL on Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA). The big cheese of Mommy's Best Games, Nathan Fouts, explains everything anyone needs to know about XXL, and a few other topics came up, to boot. Apart from the noogie he gave me (it still smarts!) the interview went rather well.

Metal Gear Squalid

HIGH The final mission in high chaos adds much-needed narrative tension.

LOW The penultimate mission seems to drag on forever.

WTF The "shocking twist" can be seen coming from orbit by a blind man with his eyes closed… Not that having his eyes closed actually matters, what with him being blind and all.

A Vapid Beauty

HIGH The dance number after the credits roll.

LOW The "story" is a bloated, empty mess of half-realized nonsense.

WTF Why is Jeanne glowing there?