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At this point in time, the gaming industry faces several truly juvenile problems that do not befit its status as one of the premier forms of entertainment in the world.

For example, rating systems have yet to be properly implemented, with many games being banned from certain countries when films and books with similar content are given a free pass.

Even in the United States, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has some problems with their designations. In my opinion, their ratings are not properly delineated to encompass all types and ranges of mature content.

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We're taking the next four days off to spend time with our families and stuff our faces with delicious food. Head over to GamesBeat for regular video game coverage throughout the holiday weekend.

What games will you play today while the turkey roasts?

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You have no need to come up with a video game wish list this holiday season. Nintendo already did it for you. I found mine in last week’s Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times. The colorful flier asks “How Will You Play?”

The handout tasks you with taking its included stickers and inserting them into the Mad Libs-style letter on the back side. Then, you're supposed to give this “custom wish list” to a loved one … who’s ready to drop several hundred dollars on a gift for you. The silliest part of this little marketing gimmick, however, is it only really allows for two possible answers.

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This "blue ocean" that Nintendo is so fond of can't be fished clean. The name exists for a reason: It's that untapped market with a seemingly limitless potential for financial growth. The issue with the ocean, though, is that it's big ... really big. More importantly, fish, much like the blue ocean's consumers, are fleeting little creatures; they seldom stay in a single spot for too long.

It's not farfetched to say that the Wii U aims to mimic the success of its predecessor, right down to the last middle-aged tuna. Even the marketing campaign shares a close resemblance, making this new console less about you the gamer and more about we the family.

My concern, though, is that the very nature of the demographic that made the Wii such a success seems to escape Nintendo's understanding. This is the group of consumers that saw gaming's seminal years as a mere fad and left it to rot when the trend lost steam. This same group similarly regarded the Pet Rock, Tickle Me Elmo, and the RoboSapien ... never to look back.

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I'm frustrated that the tradition of journalistic coverage on video games has now become a sort of joke told with Doritos in one hand and a cup of Mountain Dew in the other.

When I wanted to reply to community writer Nathaniel Dziomba's excellent article, "Games journalism never had any integrity" -- particularly on his point that he had led in with, what I imagined as a short snippet went beyond what I expected it to. His article and those brought together within community manager Layton Shumway's collection of Bitmob's thoughts on games journalism made me wonder: How did things get the way they are? And is there anything we can do about it?

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My greatest fear in the rapidly approaching all-digital gaming age is losing content between one generation and the next. Nintendo did a very good (albeit complicated) thing by giving gamers the option to transfar their Wii content over to the Wi U. 

But, if Nintendo really cared about letting gamers keep ahold of their content, this file transfer tool would have been available from Wii to Wii years ago.

I have a very early Wii model. It plays GameCube games and runs a little loudly, but curiously never had a problem loading dual-layer discs like the one Super Smash Bros. Brawl came on. No, its malfunction was much more costly.

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I fear I am getting too old to be getting into arguments in video game stores. When I was 8 years old, a clerk and I engaged in a comical debate about who was better: Link or Gordon Freeman. I hadn't played Half-Life yet, and really, I was probably too young to even enjoy the masterpiece that it is. I also assumed that Gordon was related to Cathy Freeman, a famous Australian athlete and, consequently, could not see the appeal. The whole encounter was actually quite endearing. 

Fast forward 13 years. Location: EB Games, Stone Road Mall. Situation: A gentleman, ironically wearing a faded Call of Duty T-shirt, is complaining about the "lame difficulty" of new-school games and the need for a return to more "classical" role-playing games. Response: complete over-reaction.

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Word on the street is that Nintendo's latest console, the Wii U, might be difficult to track down if you didn't go out of your way to preorder one months ago. Well, I don't think the console will be that scarce if you go outside the traditional retailers.

In fact, I didn't reserve my own Wii U until late Friday afternoon but managed to snag a system just in time. Here are a few tips for tracking a console down this late in the game. I can't guarantee it'll work, but you'll have a better chance of scoring one if you think outside the box.

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1) Small chains

I managed to find a Wii U at a Hastings store. It isn't as large a chain as it was when I was a kid, but Hastings is a lot like a Barnes and Noble or a Borders bookstore that also sells video games. Since the retailer dabbles mostly in movie rentals and music, the fact that a lot of consumers overlooked it as a potential place for launch-day Wii U consoles doesn't surprise me.

Interestingly, when I called a few Sears stores in my area, they were very vague on how many Wii Us they would have on launch day. While Sears was a very popular video game destination in the '70s and '80s, a lot of gamers overlook it when ordering new gear and accessories. So while Sears isn't necessarily a small chain, it isn't the go-to spot for hot electronics these days and might have a few Wii Us lingering in the back room. 

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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we compare super-difficult RPG Dark Souls to an old-school classic, search for diversity in player protagonists, and more.

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Dark Souls is the new Simon's Quest
By Bryant "B" Chambers

I've had a spotty relationship with Dark Souls myself, but every week I seem to read another article praising it. Here, B says that Dark Souls is what the Castlevania series should have evolved into. He lists a surprising number of correlations between the two. Insightful stuff.

Diversity in video games: Where did everyone go?
By Brielle Wesley

Brielle analyzes the characters and content of Max Payne 3, examining the racial makeup of the game's cast. She also looks at how many of those characters end up dead (and their respective races). Her findings are perhaps not surprising, especially for a Max Payne game, but they're interesting nonetheless.

A boy's world: Video games need more strong female protagonists
By Javy Gwaltney

In a similar vein, Javy is disappointed at the recent reveal that Grand Theft Auto V will feature three playable characters...and none of them are female. He says heroines like Jade from Beyond Good and Evil are far too rare. "We need those kinds of protagonists. ASAP. Not just for the sake of diversity but for storytelling," he writes.

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In the video game industry, many of the leading developers will shoot for an annual sequel and put out a new game at the same time every year.

Franchises working on this schedule are often the dominant ones, topping the sales charts year after year. However, this order of operations often has an expiration date, and eventually the games that follow it will hit a dead end.

Why is that? Well, it’s the same reason that they were once so successful: their annual release date.

So what’s the problem here, exactly? The primary and most prominent issue with franchises putting out a new title every year has much to do with their development cycle. Having to work to a certain deadline leaves very little room for advancements and innovation, often rendering sequels barely distinguishable from one another.

On one hand, a series of games should have a sturdy system to hold it together between installments. But on the other hand, if that system is too cut and dry, it may simply leave its players bored overall and send them searching elsewhere for new and improved ideas.

We are always hoping for improvements to our favorite series. Not just new levels, characters, and weapons (which are all fine and dandy, of course), but new concepts to bring these elements into a different light.

Unfortunately, this is not always what we end up with. In fact, you may be more than familiar with a few franchises that suffer from this unfortunate fate.

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Welcome to another Bitmob Wants You collection! We're a little late in publishing these, but a couple of them have already hit the front page, anyway. Check them out, along with a few others, below.

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How Assassin's Creed III made talking to people fun
By Samuel Durling

Conversations in modern games can be a frustrating experience (or the whole experience, in some cases). But they're probably not the first thing you think of in Assassin's Creed. Samuel, however, says his chats with the settlers at his Homestead were the most rewarding part of the game.

Assassin's Creed III isn't shy about its tutorial
By Daniel Castro

Developers these days face the challenge of teaching their game's controls while keeping things entertaining. Daniel examines whether or not AC3's lengthy tutorial achieved this balance. (Hey, at least it's not as long as Final Fantasy XIII's.)

Assassin's Creed 3: Not quite as graceful
By Reggie Carolipio

Reggie's review of AC3 focuses on the integration of its story and gameplay. His verdict? Mixed: "AC3 can occasionally glide through the trees like an Assassin. I only wish it didn't have as much trouble on the landings." He points to a host of glitches and other inconsistencies that hold the game back from greatness.

Assassin's Creed III gives players a new connection to history
By Mark Purcell

Previous games in the AC series have focused on historical periods that may be unfamiliar to American gamers. But AC3's Revolutionary War setting touches a lot of chords for Yanks. Mark lauds the game for this achievement: "By no means am I saying that this piece of digital fiction should be taken seriously from a historical point of view, but ACIII puts players in a position to experience something authentic."

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This article contains spoilers for Diablo III, Halo 4, and The Walking Dead: Episode 4 -- Around Every Corner.

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This year, we’ve seen a surprising increase in the number of “chosen one” storylines in games. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Diablo III, and The Secret World (among others) all have you playing as characters who are somehow more important than everyone else in their respective worlds.

To tell you the truth, I’m kinda getting tired of it.

How cliché is the chosen-one concept by now? It’s been used in countless forms of media, especially since The Matrix became such a popular film. It just feels lazy to keep using it at this point. An idea as pervasive as this has trouble making an impact since it is so common. I often roll my eyes whenever the concept pops up in a narrative.

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