Oh, originality is scarce! The videogames industry is stagnant! Innovation is a must! We cannot live without it! What on earth shall we do?

Somebody, please, save me from these infuriating individuals. Nearly a decade of playing videogames, over a quarter of that time writing about them, and all anyone has ever said about the industry in that time is that it's lacking freshness and creativity. Bollocks to that � this generation of consoles has played host to more than its fair share of fresh, unique games, as well as the development of less innovative franchises. More quality videogames than ever before, with more on the horizon; the next generation of videogames machines silhouetted against the sunlight. And yet, the incessant moans of gamers across the globe still manifest themselves across internet forums everywhere, spreading across the monitors of those who come across them, like a virus; the T-virus, infecting all who stand in its path. Luckily, I have had the vaccination.

Our problem, ladies and gentlemen, is that we take original games for granted. We even go as far as to ignore them because they have a ridiculous name like Viewtiful Joe, Boktai or Rez, or that they look as childish as Jungle Beat and Pikmin. Just like that odd looking person walking down the road that you cross the street to avoid, you don't want to be associated with anything out of the ordinary, and that conformist instinct that nearly everyone has counteracts our need for original titles. But that man you've just gone out of your way to avoid could be anyone. It could even be this writer. What we all fail to notice is that almost every game in our collections has an original touch, its USP, something that brought a new idea into the mix, even if it isn't a huge one. We've seen destructible environments, time control, imaginative and inventive weaponry, and real-time worlds inhabited by animals with oversized heads. While these haven't all been used to great success in every game, they've each brought in fresh ideas and cleverly integrated them into the gameplay. Like the character you play as in every single videogame, you can't kill originality. It always has an extra life up its sleeve.

And if I hear one more person complain about all EA games being for the casual gamer, and that they all lack creativity and imagination, I will kill them. Or perhaps I'll save my anger for my next bout on Xbox Live. Either way, it sickens me when supposedly hardcore gamers immediately dismiss games like FIFA because, seeing as it's an annual update by EA, it must be an 'inferior' game and left to the 'inferior' casual gamer. Inferior, why? Because they're capable of enjoying themselves without a controller in their sweaty mitts? FIFA Football 2005 is a very good game indeed, not half as bad as some people think, and it progresses the ideas brought forward and experimented with in the previous versions. FIFA is EA's chance to experiment with the genre and test out new ideas while still retaining the basic football gameplay that these casual gamers (and indeed, regular gamers) love. Anyone who openly claims to be a hardcore gamer should be immediately ignored, or shot. Because to me, the term 'hardcore gamer' is a synonym for 'biased, arrogant geek with a life revolving around his consoles'. The hardcore gamer plays for experience, the casual gamer plays for fun. But I digress - if you still believe that EA don't cater for gamers looking for fresh, new gameplay experiences, I'll happily tell you now that the game currently receiving the most play in my collection was published by EA, and it's brimming with originality and personality. Seriously. So think before you open your mouth to criticise.

Videogames journalists are guilty of almost everything mentioned in this article, the bastards. The irony of games journalists having these views is that they are among the least creative and inventive writers in the world of journalism. Magazines and internet videogames publications are inundated with meaningless crap, with the review writers and columnists (don't even get me started on preview writers) regurgitating everything they've read in press releases and other publications over the past ten years. I will never listen to another videogames journo who complains about lack of originality � unless, of course, he chooses not to follow the standard formula that has been set in stone by games journalists of old. If he can do that, he has my full attention.

Originality is everywhere in videogames; it's the writers who are lacking.

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