Despite all the hate for the staleness of the Tony Hawk series, the original game and the first couple of sequels were actually quite innovative. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, when it was released in 1999, pretty much solidified a floundering genre. It set up basic gameplay that was improved yearly until they had done all the basic improvements for skateboarding (manuals, reverts…) and then had to go to the next level, open worlds. No longer shackled to two minute time constraints, the game evolved a lot over the course of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and Tony Hawk's Underground but the next step kind of ruined the game for me. Apparently the next step in Tony Hawk video game evolution was to include Bam Margera's CKY antics. And thus, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 was pretty much the beginning of end of the series for me.

Nintendo World Report is the product of people giving of themselves, simply because of their passion for Nintendo and video games generally. Nobody earns a living from NWR; we do not praise or decry games for financial gain, there are no backroom deals with publishers for exclusives, no plastering of the site in Kane & Lynch promotional material or other such dubious practices. NWR exists only for the love of the game, if you'll forgive the expression. Having been a reader of the site all the way back to its PlanetN2000 days before joining the staff last year, I have long appreciated this fact along with recognising the outstanding quality of the staff's work over the years.

World Tour is obviously a direct response to MTV/Harmonix's Rock Band. The multi-instrument experience was something Activision was probably going to do anyway, but for it to pull out all the stops like this may leave some of the casual market behind. Here are a couple of questions I have, which may or may not be answered tonight:

- Does the multi-instrument game mean the guitar-only players will be out of luck? People have no problems paying $100 for a game with just the guitar. But will they be okay paying $150 or more for an all-instrument bundle if they don't really want it? I hope Activision is still thinking about the little guy here and offers an easy way for people to get a simpler, cheaper GHIV experience.

The main problem with the monitor is that 1920 x 1200 is a 16:10 ratio not a 16:9 ratio. That 11.1% increase in vertical resolution is far more noticeable than I ever would have suspected. It's incredibly annoying anytime a large shape is encountered that should be symmetric (the doors in Metroid Prime 3 come immediately to mind). Even in games without obvious symmetry, all the human characters and doorways seem unusually tall.

In theory, a well designed monitor could fix this problem easily. For example, when my particular monitor detects an HD signal, it can be set to display a proper 16:9 ratio by putting "black" bars above and below the pictures. However, these not-quite-black bars are a little annoying since they serve as a constant reminder that you're not really playing on a 16:9 unit. Even so, it's the best they could do while maintaining the vertical resolution (which is essential for competing with the 1600 x 1200 resolution that CRTs have easily displayed for years).

Let's face it: Koji Igarashi has been making the same basic game for the last ten years. A large semi-nonlinear castle, multiple weapons and armor items to equip, magic spells, item shops, and multiple endings depending on whether you've equipped the proper item at a critical juncture or not. Harmony of Dissonance, one of the GBA games, was practically a love letter to Symphony. Aria of Sorrow, the final (and best) GBA game, broke with tradition as far as plotline, but kept most of Symphony's devices intact while adding a maddening, grind-heavy magic system.

My anticipation for it has nothing to do with Banjo or Kazooie or the original games (which I loved). I think it's incredible that you can build a car in a few seconds, drive it around, find a spring, add that to give the car a jumping ability, then jump up to a high platform and find a propeller, instantly add that to the vehicle, then jump in the air and start using the propeller to fly around like a helicopter. THAT SHIT IS COOL AS HELL. Also, you can apparently build a space shuttle and fly into space. Someone bring me the smelling salts.

While I can't say I've had much time with the television yet, so far I am very impressed. I'm not an HDTV expert, but in my humble opinion the picture is excellent and it has plenty of inputs, including 4 HDMI ports. For those interested, CNET, which tends to be quite critical, published a very positive review of the 52-inch equivalent.

Perhaps the HDTV's most interesting feature is its 120Hz "de-judder" display mode, which generates intermediary frames in order to smooth out rapidly moving images and reduce the image ghosting sometimes associated with LCD displays. This feature is somewhat controversial, as this new technology has been known to cause headaches/dizziness for some viewers and can make the picture seem "too sharp" or "unrealistically smooth" for others. One person told me not to make 120Hz technology a decision factor when choosing my TV.

It's not surprising that playing a game for review is a more taxing experience. The entire time I'm playing I have to take mental notes (or in some cases physical notes) about anything that could be important for the review. In a long game these notes are vital. After another twenty hours of play, it can be hard to remember an exact scenario I had planned to use for the review. The process also gives me the ability to put some shape to a review before I write it.

Making detailed notes can help me relive playing the game, without having to go back for another five hours. It could just be how my memory works, but the notes help me remember some of the less important elements of the game, elements that still need to be addressed in a comprehensive review. They can help take what is a "general feeling" about a game and turn it into a series of fully fleshed out ideas. From there the review process is basically taking those ideas, and chaining them together within the confines of the format [for reviews].

Mercury Meltdown Revolution - This trippy puzzle game hasn't even been marked down; it was $20 on launch day, so it's always been a great value. Reviewed very favorably by WindyMan, Mercury is similar to Super Monkey Ball without all the cuteness, and with a stronger emphasis on single-player action. The tilt controls work perfectly, and the physics are solid. The tricky part about Mercury is that your "ball" isn't solid, so it can drip over ledges, split into two on a sharp corner, etc. Despite the low price, there's nothing casual about Mercury. This is a very challenging and surprisingly complex game, full of strange contraptions that change how your dollop of liquid metal behaves. If you have been disappointed by other Wii games like Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz or Dewy's Adventure, I think you'll be much happier with Mercury.

This week, their first ever video game was released, Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1. Everyone, including themselves, knew this may have been a bad idea. They've pissed off a lot of people by being hyper critical of their games. Now the shoe was on the other foot.

Who knows who this mysterious poster over at the Game|Life blog is, but ddf is not a fan.