Sequels

Yesterday, I realized two things. One, I'm dreadfully behind in the video game world. Two, that video games are increasingly turning into blockbuster movies. And that's not a good thing.

This year I vowed to skip all questionable movie sequels. Even if I'd see the first two and really liked the characters. The first major test of this was Spiderman 3. It was panned by the critics but I love Spiderman. he's one of my favorite Marvel characters. To make matters worse, all my friends were going to see it. Luckily, my college roommate saved the day and came down from Philly to visit. Drunkenness ensued and we wound up watching Red Dawn at 3am. I suggest you try that sometime.

Then Pirates of the Carribean 3 came out. It was remarkably easy to skip that one. It also had been panned, was 65 hours long, and even the previews looked bad. Missing Pirates has been so satisfying. One of my friends with an incredibly short movie attention span (he had to ask me several plot development questions during EuroTrip) was forced to see it and took an hour nap halfway through, woke up and realized the movie wasn't over, then went back to sleep.

There are more sequels on the way. Fantastic Four 2, or Live Free or Die Hard, Rambo 4, etc. Almost all of these will gross more money than an average African country, and almost all of them will suck. And like I said, I'm worried video games are going down the same road.

Look at all the questionable Final Fantasy VII sequels, prequels, and any other sort of quels that are forthcoming. Dirge of Cerberus, for instance. Everything I've heard, read, or seen screams terrible game. But I still want to play it. Right now, I'm playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and Diablo 2 (like I said I'm dreadfully behind). You know the third game is coming. Even if it hasn't been announced, you know. Both of the games I'm playing are good, maybe even great. Despite that, I'm worried that the companies who produce them are going to figure out what Hollywood has. If you have a good franchise title, you can milk it over and over again. Doesn't matter if the story should have concluded two or three movies/games ago, because you can still take it straight to the bank.

Terminator 4: Coming Soon.