Gaming trends that I think need to change:

•1. Sandbox game play for no reason at all. Take Far Cry 2 for example. This game is better than the sum of its parts, meaning one of the biggest "enhancements" the game has to offer over its predecessor is the open world game play. This is a feature that sounds better on the back of the box than it works. You play the game taking missions and going from place to place. The only problem is that each mission is located so far from the last that you spend half your time trekking the country side, now this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the re-spawns. That's right, once you clear a camp, well it comes right back next time you have to drive through, thus you spend half your time and ammo clearing a path that you have cleared 100 times before, just to get to your destination with nothing, and having to repeat the process over and over. If you are going to have a massive open world, make it so my actions mean something.

•2. The collector's edition. Seriously? No I'm not bagging on all collectors editions, in fact when done right, I look forward to the purchase of the collector's edition more than the regular version, and more importantly I am willing to drop the extra cash. Gears of war 2 got it right. There is actually something worth paying the extra cash for. A book, a behind the scenes DVD (only next time don't release all the videos on the web months before the game comes out), special weapons, and other goodies. Call of Duty: World at War, well they fall on the other side of the coin. So what do you get for your extra cash? A small toy canteen (one that was not built to house liquid of any form) and really that was about it. Sure they gave me a "day 1 edge" by unlocking a gun a kazillion levels early, but seriously? No behind the scenes? No book on the history of all the battles I was about to fight? So, what we have here is a game that put out without any real imagination.

•3. Left out content. Let's go back to Far Cry 2. A few weeks after the game was released, missing vehicles and missions show up in the market place for you guessed it, more money. I would rather they put out a collectors edition with the removed content included. I have no problem paying for additional content, as long as, the content is just that. Additional. Not left out of the game so we could get an extra $10 in a month. Give me bonus maps, levels, guns, game modes, etc. I will pay for additional content, but enough with the "we left out 2 levels and a mode of transportation that was in the last game." It's a sequel. Give me all the toys from the first then add a whole bunch more, that's what I want.

•4. Ace Combat, yes, Ace Combat is its own category. Here is a great game. Well made. Fun. I even bought the flight stick. Makes the game that much better, dorky as all hell, but pure fun. Anyway, what the fine Ace Combat folks did was each month they would release some "new" planes, and over charge for them. I say "new" because, well they are the planes that are already in the game, just with different stats. So really they are not new. I mean once you unlock the super planes, do you really need a better balanced crop duster? And to add to the fire, they released a super hard difficulty, cool right? Wrong, instead of a new level of pain, you had to purchase this new level of crap for each mission - separately. Seriously? You guys suck.

There is more to come...