Viper, it is all good.  You can't talk to someone that only cares about M rated games.  A true gamer realizes there are good games in all ESRB ratings.  I don't look for rating first then quality next.  I look for quality first.  I don't even care what a game is rated.  If the game is fun to play then it is fun.  Close minded "gamers" (don't even think they deserve the gamer title) think about ratings more.  It is like a little kid thinking they are cool cause they saw a R rated film when they were younger than 18.

Yeah I stopped even noticing ratings after I turned 18. I often mentally mis-rate games. My favorite games run the full range of ratings. I am fully content playing anything that is fun.

No.

SMG was very fresh and innovative.  SMG2 looks like it is excellent, but it really isn't doing anything substantial beyond the innovation of the first title in the line.

i dissagree with ivader. sony  puts out inovation every yr, but thats how i veiw there games. nothing will top LBP, MNR, or LBP2. creating your own work is inovation in it's self.

It does play with new ideas though... many of them done through Yoshi (ballooning, wallrunning, eating mechanics, etc). There's other new gameplay concepts too though, like drilling into planet cores or cylindrical "endless falling" platforming.   It's actually far less of retread than most direct sequels, and there's substantial addition there (and more importantly, substantial polish too).

I don't only look at the ratings.  The truth is there are no M rated games on Wii rated anywhere near as high as the highest M rated games on the other consoles by Metacritic.  We don't see innovative groundbreaking adult themed games like Fallout 3, GTA IV, Heavy Rain, or God of War III coming out on Wii  I think on Wii Suda51's games come closest.

And if there were several M rated games coming out on Wii this year, then I wouldn't have to do research on them.  I would be able to name at least a few off the top of my head like last year I could name Silent Hill:  Shattered Memories, No More Heroes:  Desperate Struggle, Red Steel 2, and Muramasa:  The Demon Blade.

It's true I want more content out of my games than what I would let my 12 year old nephew watch.

I wouldn't exactly call GOW3 an "innovative groundbreaking adult themed game".  When you get down to it, GOW3's actually rather derivative and juvenile, and more typifies why outside media tends to the discredit the industry as being meritless and essentially good for nothing but manchildren power fantasies.  It's spectacle is impressive though, and most importantly, it's really fun.

"Normally straight up fantasy storylines have all the significance of a Wardner sequel, but God of War III is so visually refined and so well written and acted, it resonates on a higher level.  The line between pre-rendered and in-game fidelity has been erased.  Every facet of the game seems to be taken as far as humanly possible (and maybe then some).  And where the visuals and story end, a perfect blend of old and new gameplay devices begin.  Relics galore offer myriad new devices; and all of Kratos foe-launching, gut-ripping, earth-bashing chain (chortle) combo moves are here, only many fold and about a zillion times better by way of the all-new weapons of Zeus destruction he extracts from various benefactors in the game he hasn't murdered yet...."

"There are moments looking out over the horizon that you'll feel genuinely at one with the game.  I can't recall ever seeing such grand panoramas.  Anyone who says technology doesn't affect a game's narrative or story either doesn't know any better or has written one of those books that try to convey the social relevance of video games (like they know) by rambling on about the same prerequisite, prepackaged, predictable franchises.

"I would argue that God of War III proves otherwise and then lock them in a room with a box of Twinkies and Ninja Gaiden I, II, and III.  They can come out and talk about what it means to be a gamer and how modern videogames are all superflous when they get done...if the Twinkies don't kill 'em first."

--from Dave Halverson's review of God of War III in Gamefan Issue I Kitten Blade cover.

After reading Dave Halverson's opinions of gaming for the past twenty years beginning in Diehard Gamefan, I would have to say that I trust that he is right in his judgement.

LBP, LBP 2, and MNR are your argument for Sony being fresh and innovative?  Little Big Planet is obviously influenced by Super Mario Bros. and Mod Nation Racers bears a little more than a slight similarity to Mario Kart.  If you want to say that they're innovative because of user generated content, that's been done as well.  User generated conent does not make a game innovative.  It means that the developer is too lazy to make more interesting levels.  Nintendo had had games on their current systems appear with this philosophy such  as Boom Blox,  Blast Works, and Wario Ware DIY and I don't find that to be innovative either before I'm accused of being biased agianst Sony about this. 

Also, I played LBP for about 20 minutes at a Gamestop once and know all that I need to know about that game ( I wanted to try it after hearing everyone say how it was the best thing since sliced bread).  The way that it controls is all wrong.  The way Sackboy runs doesn't feel smooth and the jumping is floaty.  Also, I didn't have fun playing it, which is the most important thing in determining whether I like a game or not.

I don't mean to be so hard on LBP, but I always hear about how innovative and great it is (several times in this thread actually) and I can tell you, from first hand experience that it's not very entertaining at all.  It looks good though.  I will give it that.

@ infamous 23

I can't tell if you're serious about everything that you are saying or that you are trying to do a  parody of a jaded "hardcore" gamer. 

I also can't decide which is worse.