Funny thing. One of the most common complaints from people in my line of work: We don't have enough time to play games. Sure, we have review games to review. But we also have articles to edit, people to interview, websites to build, crazy people to ban from those websites, and impromptu games of Decapitato to play. The other problem -- get ready to break out the tiny air violins and Kleenex -- we often get so many games at once, that we can't keep up.

So last night, I'm sitting at home, staring at my recently arrived copies of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Raiden Fighters Aces, and Punch-Out!!, wondering how I can play and cover them in the most efficient, least time-consuming way possible. I came up with this -- the three lessons for the game industry that I got from playing these three games for three minutes each:

1. Shocker: It is possible to make a good movie game. Granted, I can't make that call with Wolverine on just three minutes of gameplay, but I can feel it in my non-adamantium-laced bones (and judging from industry reviews and some of your posts, I'm not off-base).

Wolverine is already infinitely more interesting than what I'd expect from most movie-based games, which is beat-em-up, yawn, and beat-em-up some more (see Watchmen: The End is Nigh). Yes, Wolverine borrows a lot from God of War, which helps, but it's the upgrading, leveling-up, and skills that make this game for me. These allow you to customize your Wolvie. More importantly, however, is that these features give the player some motivation and incentive to keep clawing without regards to the storyline and level designs, which are usually completely forgettable in licensed fare.

Adding in some light RPG elements to a brawler seems like a fairly easy thing to do, and movie-based games need easy with the development schedules they're usually on.

2. Publishers need to respect their classics compilations. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection contained a ton of games. R-Type Dimensions didn't, but offered upgraded 3D graphics. Raiden Fighters Aces: C'mon...do something. Anything! Where are the pre-Fighters Raiden games? Bah, who am I kidding? In the end, they win, because Raiden Fighters were some of my favorite arcade shooters. So despite my bitching, I'm still loving this disc.

3. Wii game makers need to support traditional control schemes whenever possible. Try playing Punch-Out!! with Wii motion controls. Now play with the single-controller controls (one Wiimote on its side). How much faster are you knocking out Glass Joe now?

Look, I get the Wii fad. But sometimes, nothing beats good ol' fashioned D-pad-and-button controls. I just don't understand why Nintendo didn't bother letting you navigate the menus with the D-pad if the game knows you're using that control scheme (you have to flip the Wiimote back forward to point at the screen). Hello? Did they not also publish Excitebots?