the problem is that culture today is dumb and material , designer driven and unimaginative ( just look at teh west ) and as result the companies and pirating have forced them into appealing to the masses .

THe other problem maybe that a lot of these designers are from this culture themselves now so they create what they live ( which isnt saying much ) other than relying on more pop culture.

The characters today lack archtypes that define / transcend other characters because of the points you mentioend and the fact a lot of them look the same i.e. comapre mario world characters to characters in resident evil ( and that was 10 years ago ) and you even struggle to remember key characters really ( esp compared to million other clones now )

Point being if you were watching this as film would you even care beyond the experince of trying to get more in the game , rather than actually enjoying the game itself ( there is difference )

Chess , checkers are time proven games without bells and whistles that will always be popular because the mechanics ( gameply ) the actually experince is fun from the get go – not just at the end or even halfway .

FPS are imo just a gross exploitation of how unimaginative and hollow the average gamer is now .

Most of these kids prob never read a book ( unless they seen the film first ) and have about as much passion for anything ( including themselves ) as a dead fish.

I can see renegade socities splitting off and forming their own talent pools toa void getting cvaught up in the mess of human waste.

ho hum