My thoughts on the casual future of Nintendo

This year's E3 Nintendo conference was disappointing for some, embarrassing for others. I never want to hear a story about a ski trip again, that's for sure. It will only remind me of the sadness. Gamers are concerned about Nintendo's new and seemingly casual future. We forget that before our Grand Theft Auto and Halo driven gaming community got started, the industry did rely on the same ethic that Nintendo is pushing - family gaming.

When I was a little girl, I have no fonder memories than the ones of my father and I playing Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers. I was a little young to get into the game play, But for years to come, I would come into the kitchen to get a drink of water at 2 or 3 AM, and I would see my father in the adjacent living room, trying to beat Metroid or Zelda. When he did beat it, regardless of what time it was, he would always call me in to see the end sequence. Those are my first gaming memories. But time changed things, and the nature of gaming became more precise, with bigger button sets and more things to do. As I grew into this new 3 dimensional gaming world, gaming stopped being such a huge source of bonding for me and my Dad.

Years later, Wii Sports brought my Dad back into my game, and a new player - my Mom - who had never been bitten by the gaming bug before, but now asks me often why I haven't bought Mario Kart Wii yet.

I love our hardcore gaming community, and what it means for the standards that new games are held to. For anyone who played games like Bioshock and GTA IV, it is easy to see that the industry is anything but casual. As far as Nintendo is concerned, I don't really see what the problem is. We've had some great titles from Nintendo including a new Zelda, Mario, and Metroid. These are titles that gamers beg for.

Casual titles are big business for Nintendo. Children already want the Wii. It doesn't hurt that mom wants to excersize on it too. Nintendo is the cause of a lot of great gaming memories for all of us, and they are only trying to secure those memories for our children with these casual titles. What they've forgotten is that they already had us convinced.

Why so exaggerated?

Warning: I do not claim to be a full blown comic book enthusiast, just a movie geek and general fan of comic books. Please don't be mean to me. I am too adorable to be harmed.
So I saw "The Dark Knight" yesterday. I didn't write about it yesterday, because the movie lasts almost THREE HOURS, and I didn't really feel like much more Batman.

I was in Austin when the movie premiered, and I told Kyle that we had to go see it. Of course, we didn't. So I went to see it yesterday. By myself, because I had heard such great things about the movie that I didn't want to be interrupted in my sacred viewing.

I loved it. LOVED IT!! It was dark and fun, filled with action, and all the actors are spot on. The Nolan Batman series is a much better ride than the Burton series. It's more realistic and just plain gorgeous. There were a few things that caused the movie not to live up to my expectations...

All this ass kissing. Don't get me wrong. The movie was a great comic book movie and a great action movie, but come on!

For example, before I saw the movie, I read the stories on how Heath Ledger should win an Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker. Seriously?? I'm as sorry as anyone that the guy is dead, and his portrayal of the Joker was certainly more than adequate. Possibly the best ever. But an Oscar? No.

I was really excited to see Harvey Dent in the movie, but I thought that the ugly half of Two Face was a tad bit overdone to be in a movie series that has been so modern and realistic.
I mean, is that necessary? And how would he even live like that, with his eye all hanging out? Just a thought.

My basic conclusion is that it was incredible and I loved it, but I'm not as enthusiastic about it as it seems everyone else is. Calm down, people. It was a great Summer movie and a great Batman movie. We'll get another one.