I waited years for Final Fantasy XIII. When I camped out for the PS3 in 2006, I was already thinking about how great the next entry in the iconic franchise would be. When I finally got the chance to play it, I put every ounce of effort into liking it, but the truth was that it just wasn't fun. I played for 26 hours, thinking that I would begin to like it when a certain nuance of the combat was unlocked, or when the environments became less linear. Fun had to lie just around the next corner, right?  They couldn't have screwed up such a huge game with such a long development cycle, right?

I can only hope that Square Enix had their ears open after FF XIII's launch. They need to fix everything that eroded the review scores and the fans' faith in the series.

1) Linearity can work, but straight corridors with forced encounters are no better than the random battles of old.

2) The battle system can be extremely fun and is one of the best things about the game, but encounters need variety beyond "hit this part of the enemy first so he's vulnerable."

3) Story and characters. The characters certainly look the part. But aside from the overly complicated outfits and some oddly sexualized characters - I'm looking at you Vanille - the characters don't really hold my interest. Sure, they've all got reasons to hate being Fal'cie, and the framework for interesting back-stories is built, but everything is laid out on the surface. It's like the characters are a list of traits that only run skin deep. This goes for the entire story. Square Enix gave themselves a lot to work with here. They've created a visually striking world that's full of tension, but the plot twists and turns before we are given a chance to care about Gran Pulse and Cocoon. It seems like complications are thrown in just for the sake of making the plot complicated.

I have faith that Square can still create a stellar sequel, but they need to go back to the drawing board in some respects. They've built a beautiful world with an intriguing premise, but now they have to build farther by allowing players to explore and become connected with that world through game play and story.

A few months ago, I was excited to scoop up Nintendo's newest handheld on launch day. Sure, the launch games were lacking, but Nintendo made big promises about the future and, hey, I could still finish up some of my DS games while waiting for the big guns to roll out. As I had more time with the system, I realized that it wasn't exactly the step forward I was expecting. Rather than further refine the features that made the Game Boy Advance and DS such a successful console, Nintendo released a fundamentally flawed system that relied on future potential to muscle its way into gamers' hands.

The battery life is abysmal, the DS compatibility is less than optimal and the 3D - the most significant new addition to the system - is not conducive to travel. I find myself reaching for a book or even my GBA SP for the commute work, leaving the 3DS charging in its cradle. I'll admit, the 3DS is not without some nifty features, and it's the only place I'll be able to pick up new entries in the Mario, Metroid and Zelda trio of franchises. But is that enough? Nintendo has backpedaled quickly, dropping the price by an astounding $80 and offering original adopters twenty free games, but I can't imagine that this act of desperation is enough to heal the damage that the poor launch caused.

I don't think that throwing free games at those faithful enough to risk a launch day purchase is truly an answer, especially since these games aren't even 3D (don't get me started...), but it's refreshing to see Nintendo admit its mistakes. If they really want people to get on board with the 3DS, they need to figure out who they're marketing it to first and foremost. They are so unclear about who the system is for, that developers are unsure of how to market their games.

I would like to think that Nintendo can pull it together in time to compete with the PSVita, but they've got a mountain of shattered expectations to climb before they can expect to gain momentum.