Wii

Not enough memory in here.

The amount of storage available on the Wii is truly pathetic, and not at all appropriate for the current environment. Adding insult to injury is the fact that you can only fit a small handful of games (never mind demos or movies) and I'm not able to delete the totally unnecessary news and weather channels to free up space for things that I actually want.

The only thing that could dull the blow of disappointing announcements at Nintendo's October 2nd press conference is speculation on the Wii's successor. WhatTheyPlay.com's John Davison has sifted through the usual generalizations and points out that Nintendo will be embracing HD visuals and digital distribution. For any other company this wouldn't really be news, but remember it was only in the last few years that Nintendo even bothered to recognize the existence of the Internet.

Celebrity culture and status seem to be at an all-time high in pop culture right now, and musicians are often seen in this sweeping spotlight of fame. Kids have always fantasized being pop stars; the likes of Disney keep pumping out fantasies of fame through musical vehicles like High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Camp Rock; and American Idol chugs along season after season. Harmonix rides that wave to produce the next vehicle in the musical fame fantasy-land: Rock Band.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Lyrics, Mild Suggestive Themes

Game Description: Rock Band is an all-new platform for gamers ready to take on the challenges of the rock & roll lifestyle. Instruments available to players are guitar, bass, drums or vocals as they hit the road as either an aspiring superstar solo act, or for the first time in game genre history take on the true collaborative and challenging nature of music as they form a band and jam together in multiplayer action from home or around the world. Either way players will need to master their stage presence through the various game modes and polish their rock chops via the unrivaled Rock Band song list if they hope to make it out of the garage, into the clubs and finally on to the main stage.

I’ll admit that I’m not especially familiar with the history of the Need for Speed franchise. My first experience with the series was with 2006’s NFS Most Wanted, an average arcade-inspired racing game with a single standout feature: Amazing police chases. The follow-up, NFS Carbon, added a couple of new modes: the mildly diverting "drift" and the frustrating "canyon chase". The police chases were back, but hamstrung by the fact that the city map was so labyrinthine in its construction that it was nearly impossible to get a good chase going.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Suggestive Themes

Game Description: Need for Speed: Pro Street is a racing experience like no other. For the first time, you're designing and building a car, competing in iconic locations from around the globe and battling in four distinct racing styles- grip, drag, drift and the all-new speed challenge. The atmosphere is electric—complete with energetic crowds, photo-realistic vehicles and billowing smoke—all designed to embody the pressure and intensity of the gladiatorial challenge known as Show Down. Need for Speed ProStreet is the realization of the power, aggression and rivalry that embodies street racing culture.

I’ve always thought that George Lucas’s archeology professor turned whip-smackin’ adventurer would be an excellent videogame hero. Unfortunately, most makers of movie-based games that I’ve played assume that I want to “relive” the movie in the most literal way. Running from one cut-scene to another—all of which I’ve seen already in the theater—doesn’t appeal to me, especially when all I’m doing is hacking monsters up and pushing boxes. What I want is to play Indiana Jones the man, not Indiana Jones the franchise.  Thankfully, Lego Indiana Jones The Original Adventures lets me do just that.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Cartoon Violence