Abot the reboot craze:
People have ran out of idea creativity wise. Look at the upcoming movie releases from here to 2014, sequel's, reboots, fairy tail reimaginings and reboots of recent blockbusters that are already in the works(A Twilight prequel? really?). No one wants to venture out and do something new because it's a sure thing. Prometheus for example is a horrifyingly god awful movie with absolutely nothing in common with the Alien series, if it were a standalone movie would it still have been horrible? Yes but nobody would have gave a fuck about it if it hadn't been for Ridley Scott's involvement (who by the way hasn't made a decent movie since the early 80's) and it's "Connection to the Alien franchise."
The games industry is just as worse. The mainstream games industry is either obessed with sequel's, or obessed with reboot's, they're so many examples that I just can't pick just one. Developers are so fascinated with unnecessary reboot's (Tomb Raider, Syndicate, Prince of Persia, Xcom) that they don't focus on franchises that are legit in need of a reboot (Final Fantasy, God of War).
I actually don't believe people have run out of ideas more than the big companies(the Fat Cat executives, mainly) fear the gamble of releasing new IPs/ideas. They feel it's so much more a "sure thing" if you release a reboot of an already established franchise, because just on name alone, people will be interested in it. Of course, that's not always correct either, it's just the little thing they tell themselves. Look at how many reboot attempts have lead to failure or the "killing" of a certain franchise(especially in the movie industry, so many attempts to bring back classic franchises that totally bomb and, finito, those entire franchises will probably NEVER be touched again until the irk of those horrible reboots are forgotten....... A NIGHTMARE ON FUCKIN ELM STREET..... WHYYYYYY?![LOL, I'm a bit Freddy nut, and hate how he's been tossed into obvlivion by Platinum GOONS]). There's also great examples, in the recent decade or so, of original IPs hitting big(God of War, Gears of War, Encharted, Assassin's Creed...), so it IS possible to have a new idea and that new idea, when released, COULD resonate into something ridiculously big.
That IS how progression is made, with the new ideas. I think I've said this months ago, trends are usually started by a "new idea" that makes people notice how it's different from that which came before it, then everybody jumps on the trend and the "posers" try to capitalize on that trend and milk it for what it's worth, until people grow tired and notice a a new "new idea", and the cycle continues. But, usually for the patriarch of the trend(the trend setter), that new venture in doing something different from the previous trend clicks to such a degree that it pays off, and in full. Remember, Mario, LoZ, even Castlevania, were at one time, original ideas. Ideas that developers gave a chance on, and look were we are at right now. I think, to really progress and test the bounderies of what you CAN do with gaming, you need people not afraid of failure, and people who are willing to toss out those new IPs to see of they stick. But, we've become such a soft-shelled society in the last decade. You can see that not only with the companies, but with their audiences. And yeah, people rally for change, but are also afraid of rocking the boat. It's like, "Yeah, sure, I'd love to live in a country without a dictator's rule and be FREE, but.... I better just go along, because I don't want to get him mad, and so far, following his rule... life is.... alright, I guess?". Hate to sound cheesy, but it's like the whole, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.", but stagnation occurs when people are afraid to release new ideas that would keep the flow of progression going. Some people might ask, "Why don't you just leave well enough alone?", but what do you do when "well enough" is NOT well enough?
And yes, guafarafafa, I contribute to the "Block o' Text" thing.
