Do you believe the gaming industry is losing its originality. When there is one idea it seems like every publisher jumps on it and it loses its affect. Example:

Dark and light worlds-LOZTP, MP2, and numerous others.

Were wolfs- zelda, the new sonic, okami, ect.

I also firmly believe that FPS are a genre that is severly afflicted by the fact that games aren't original and this inturn limits the gaming experience. Many FPS have become genric and have similar story lines involving space marines and what not.

Solution: I believe that downloadable contenet will let indie publishers show their creativity and give the gaming industry a much needed surge.

Any thoughts.

 Light/Dark words - paper mario

And I think there is a ton of shovelware coming out these days.  But I think there has always been crappy games.  We just soon forget them and only remember the greats.  When Hannah Montana DS outsells Layton 4 times over in America, something has gone wrong. 

ZOMG, TWILIGHT PRINCESS HAS A WOLF IN IT, QUICK CLOVER, DO SOMETHING!!!

How is TP anything off Okami. TP has been in development for I don't know how long. Wasn't the first trailer like shown in 2004. I mean seriously get real.

But yes there is definetly a lack of originality in the market, mainly in the shooter department. And this oversaturation of the market is not good at all as sooner or later it'll collapse on itself. This is why recently Ubisoft said they are going to cut down on shooter titles as they know what happens when a market gets oversaturated.

Devs need to think ahead that just recreating an existent game to go off hype and popularity is great for the short term but in the long term you are only killing the industry you are in.

Okami was 30% done by E3 2005, and it had a wolf in it from 1%.

Yea but I'm sure that Nintendo didn't look at Okami and say oh my god there's a wolf, I need to make Link into a wolf haha.   

 Fair enough, let's just leave it at coincidence. 

Where are there werewolves in Okami and Zelda? Okami is a wolf and Link turns into a wolf. You're also basing Sonic off of one promotional picture leaked onto the internet. I'd hate to break this to you but both wolves and werewolves have been in videogames before believe it or not. Plus Twilight Princess and Okami shared the same developmental years, meaning neither was copying, it just worked out that way.

The light and dark worlds thing has been going on forever in gaming. Metroid Prime 2 was actually inspired by the changing of worlds in A Link to the Past says the Retro guys in an interview. Many games have used this feature throughout many generations. Remember a little title called Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver for the PSOne? Yeah it used the same concept. It didn't make the game feel any less original.

As far as shooters you have a point but the most dominating genres always contain the least creativity it seems because of oversaturation. Back in the days platformers were getting oversaturated and felt not too original at all. The same can probably be said for RPGs in the last 90s and early 2000s. It's just the way things are. 

Yes, games are definitely less original these days. I blame Wii Fit... just kidding. I really think it is Sony and Microsoft's faults for pushing graphics to the point where it costs $20 million for any title on their console. Third parties are less likely to make a new and original game if it is really risky and they know that they will lose so much money if it is a flop.

I guarantee we will see a lot more originality on the Wii for two reasons: cheap development and wiimote.

The Me-Too Syndrome is old as dirt, long predating video games. All the way back on the Atari, we saw clones galore. Indeed, the endless wave of poorly made clones of popular games vaguely pretending to be movie-related to up sales helped lead the 2600 to an early grave.

I don't honestly think it's any worse this generation than it was last generation. And ultimately, a certain amount of replication is necessary, due to the inescapable fact that you cannot possibly make something from nothing. Without something to base it on, an idea cannot form. Though it would be nice if some of those ideas went a bit further than "let's copy what (insert successful game company name here) did, they made a lot of money off of it" or "(insert successful game name here) was a hit, let's make another one just like it and cash in on its success", not every developer is like that.