That's what Iga said to me on the latest Euro podcast when I refused to buy NSMB. Reading through Yodariquo's Huge wii game thread reminded me that I have made threads on most of the big games coming to the system.

It got me thinking about what I like and why. Especially with NSMB. Even though I'm suppossed to be the Nintendo guy, I'm not getting Mario and Luigi 3 despite its rave reviews, part of me really hates Wii Sports Resort and I have little interest in NSMB unless someone gifts it to me.

So then I started thinking about the games I was tracking and why. I came to something of a conclusion. If I look at the games I am actively tracking they all have one thing in common.

Red Steel 2

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Rabbids Go Home

FFCC Crystal Bearers

Monster Hunter 3

Can you guess? Some of you might say that they are all on Wii. Others might note that they are all sequels in well known franchises.

But that's not the whole story. All these games share one thing in common that does appeal to me and until recentely it was subconscious. They are all re-inventions.

Red Steel 2 is practically a new IP with new mechanics. Silent hill has turned into an over the shoulder torch waving, puzzle solving, escape-a-thon. Rabbids is not a party game but an experimental platformer. FFCC is perhaps the biggest departure, from a top down 4 player dungeon crawler to a Zelda like adventure with IR physics.

Monster Hunter has been tailor made for a home console and according to the producer, is a coming out party for the franchise.

All of the games are original, you would be hard pressed to find comparison points to games like Red Steel 2, a first person brawler. Or FFCC, a physics based adventure game for instance.

And yet they do fit within known franchises, so I guess I like some stability and familiarity in my experiments.  

So in conclusion I guess I'm looking for fresh games, slightly different but mixed with big budget production values and familiar franchises.