Sega have just released some new screenshots of their forthcoming arcade game based on the Rambo films. It's a light gun shooter, and looks, well, dull and ugly if I'm going to be honest.

The last Rambo film was surprisingly good, in an overblown eighties action splatter fest kind of a way, but it also seemed to understand that the series had run its course, that in the end, it was flogging a muscular, sweaty dead horse. With a machine gun. The shots from the new game seem to suggest a return to the desert of Rambo 3, all primary colours and BAD MEN in vests with bandanas over their mouths.

I don't see why on earth anyone thought a Rambo game now was a good idea, but it seems to be symptomatic of a worrying trend that's starting to creep through video games as a whole. Remakes, sequels, re-imaginings and adaptations. It started off in Hollywood, where someone realised that rather than coming up with original ideas, it would be much cheaper to use something that already existed. Take a look at the top ten films out in the UK at the moment and I'll guarantee that at least 25% fit into one of the four categories above. And what Hollywood starts, the video games industry seems to follow.

Take a look at some of games you're looking forward to this year: Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War 2, The Bourne Conspiracy, Age of Conan, Gran Turismo 5, Wrath of the Lich King, Fallout 3. There are other games coming out as well, new and original games, but there does seem to be a slew of sequels and copies and as fans, that's something we should ALL be worried about.

Source cvg.com