But… to touch upon a few of your list items:

1.2: Agree with you on Freaks & Geeks because they aren’t on a currently running show and it has been over for a while, so not nearly as fresh as a together cast as the more mainstream Office-mates are today. I don’t like thinking “Oh, there’s Kevin and Angela and Kelly in Jim’s movie.”

1.4: Well, the 360 titles interest me since I don’t yet have a Wii (hee hee). I’ll comment more on that if you post on E3 as you suggested you might.

1.5: Playing Prince of Persia sure was a pleasant surprise for me. It was fun to kick it old school for a day.

2.1: At least not as lame as George Lucas comedy…

2.4: Her hubby strays?

2.6: Little did I know at your time of originally posting your comment that I’d also be the beneficiary of that 2nd game, even if it did come with a 2 hour rain delay, it was another D-Mat start, which his teammates screwed by not scoring runners on base!

2.7: Whenever the kids are old enough, I’m there. There will be a lot less loud music and dancing, but being with your friends is what counts.

3.3: Please oh please oh please!

You responded to the EA CSO’s comments –
“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play”. Is he kidding? They are easier to play because of the casual players. Try some old school XBLA games…

I don’t believe he is referring to game difficulty. I think he is actually talking about the very act of controlling or playing a game. And I think he is 100% correct. A XBOX 360 game cannot be played by a casual user without serious tutorial. Same goes for the PS3. The controls are too complex. Hell, I’ve been playing games since 1983 and I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around Madden and all of the various controls. What he is basically talking about is opening gaming up to the mainstream – basically parroting Nintendo’s example.

Mook is beside himself trying to figure out why the Wii continues to sell out and how they are outselling PS3 6 – 1. The reason is simple. The mass market actually bought into the concept. There are people buying consoles that wouldn’t normally want one. And the fact that they still sell out 8 months after release show it’s not just a Christmas fad.

Once upon a time, people liked playing games – the games just got too complex for the average user so the average user went away. The NES – to this day – is one of the top selling game systems – in large part due to the fact that it was easy to play. There’s a reason the word ‘Nintendo’ became the euphemism for ‘video game’ (the same way Kleenex is used to describe any type of ’tissue’).

It took Nintendo to figure out that they needed to recapture that lost audience.

To hardcore gamers like us, its easy to believe these games have gotten easier, but in truth, they are harder to play than they have ever been.

It’s also no accident that MS offered up Scene It with it’s unique one button controller at E3. They are trying to appeal to the casual crowd now.

I think the most irnoic thing here is that everyone thought it was more complex processing that would win this generation and more in more it’s looking like simplicity of design and ease of use may win the day. PS3 and 360 will do fine but the more I see those sales figures and some of the innovative software coming for the Wii the more I think they may lock up a healthy portion of this geneation.

Look at Wii Fit. I scoffed at it the first time I saw it but then I saw all the mainstream press declaring Nintendo the E3 winner and featuring Wii Fit. Wii Fit landed on the covers of the NY Times and USA Today.

That’s pretty significant.

That’s mainstream.

7 Up
1. ‘Transformers’ Action Scenes – Bay was hired to bring the spectacle and he does so on a grand scale. There’s a reason the military gives him such unbridled cooperation. He shoots their equipment like a p@rn flick. That opening attack in Qatar is just the appetizer for several rousing action scenes. (It’s not all good though – see my 7 Down).

2. Knocked Up – Funniest movie I have seen in a theater since There’s Something About Mary. Just seeing Seth Rogen headline a hit flick makes me happy. Unlike Sean’s 7 Down, I was happy to see The Office mates and other Apatow regulars make their cameos. Seeing the Freaks & Geeks crowd again made it feel like I was at a reunion, only the best kind, one that I never wanted to leave. The best way to describe this movie is it is like a rom com and a slob com hooked up and while the slob com wins out – it also learns something in the process.

3. Pennsylvania Trip – A great family vacation capped by my first visit to my sister’s digs in 14 YEARS!!!

4. E3 – This happened last week and while there wasn’t much in the way of megaton announcements, now that I have had time to digest it all, there is a lot of games coming THIS YEAR that I really don’t have time to play – in other words, we have a watershed on the way. Good times ahead. Top of my list is for the 360: Blue Dragon (August), Bioshock (August), Halo 3 (September) and Mass Effect (November). For the Wii, Metroid Prime Corruption (August), Super Mario Galaxy (November) and Super Smash Brothers (December).

5. XBLA Library – I didn’t assemble all of these this summer, but most have joined my Box since May. To date, I have the following on my hard drive – Aegis Wing, Alien Hominid, Doom, Hexic, Sonic the Hedgehog, Assault Heroes, Heavy Weapon, Dig-Dug, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga, Prince of Persia, Cloning Clyde, Geometry Wars, Jetpac Refueled, Wik, TMNT, SmashTV, and Castlevania – Symphony of the Night.

6. Virtual Console Library – Same goes for the Wii. I now own the following (all stored digitally) – Super Mario Bros, SMB2, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario 64, Legend of Zelda, Adevnture of Link, Zelda – A Link to the Past, Zelda – The Ocarina of Time, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Starfox 64, Super Castlevania IV, Ristar (don’t ask) and Kirby’s Adventure (really don’t ask).

7. My Today Show Appearance – Al Roker is shorter than me. Anyone watching at 8:37 a.m. on Monday June 11th saw my mug smiling and waving.

7 Down
1. ‘Transformers’ Comedy – Simply put, LAME.

2. Spiderman 3 – This shocked me. With too much thrown into the pot, this still felt half-baked. This film and its excess ruined me for future blockbusters. I didn’t want to see Pirates 3 for fear of the same impact.

3. My Thirsty Lawn – The drought has taken its toll on my once lush lawn leaving it brown and tired. And in related news, when did I become that guy who worries about his lawn?

4. The Rachael Ray Dunkin Donuts Spots – Lovely to look at but man is that voice shrill. No wonder her hubby strays.

5. Stephen King’s Dark Tower – 2 years later I am nearing the end. What a boring slog to a tale that began with such promise so many years back. Joe – You might get this title back, yet.

6. Missing out on 2 Choice Sox Games and Sweet Seats – You’re reading Sean’s Blog so you know the 4-1-1.

7. Another Summer Removed from our World Famous Group Chatham Vacations – For those in the know, I’m sure you feel the pain. Here’s to the good ol’ days, man.

7 Ahead
1. Metroid Prime Corruption – Drops August 28th and should prove to be a nice bridge to Halo at the end of September. MPC dropped jaws at E3 so I am eagerly anticipating this – and the Wii specific controls. Early reports say that the control scheme bests the PC fave keyboard/mouse FPS controls so favored by frag fiends in terms of accuracy and tactile response.

2. The Simpsons Movie – Please do not let the headline read… Worst. Movie. Ever.

3. The inevitable Simpsons Arcade Game release on XBLA – With TMNT there, it’s a no brainer. If not, I’ll just play TMNT and imagine that Donatello’s sai is Marge’s vacuum.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Word on this is very good. I loved them all and the last two were especially good.

5. Superbad – Just that little scene where one dude tells the other he loves him and gives him a little ‘boop’ on the nose – Very Funny!!! Although, am I the only one who fears for Jonah Hill and his Chris Penn appearance? Go easy on the Krispy Kreme, dude.

6. Bioshock – Another E3 winner. This drops in August on 360.

7. Football Season – ’nuff said.

Also, you don’t have to leave lists of seven too. Leave what you think of because I am interested!!!