First off, in a literal bit of labour, congratulations go out to Jeff on the birth of his third son. Proving that if GamerPops can’t find an audience, we can just make one

Second, GamerPops is just about ready to exit the unofficial beta phase and enter our official not-beta phase. With the switch in software, we’re feeling a lot better about the future potential of the site, and what we can offer to the audience that we’re looking to build in the coming months. We feel we have a unique take on gaming, that will become more and more integrated and fun in the coming months. We’ve come a long way in a fairly short amount of time, and learned a lot in the process. Thank you for checking us out, and we hope you will stay part of the GamerPops community. Coming in the next year to GamerPops: more content including more indepth features, forums, a contributing user community and who knows, maybe even a podcast?

Now, without further ado, here’s Ten Things I  Think I’m Thinking on Labour Day

1. I think a humorous Mario meets GTA type open world sandbox game would either be a spectacular success or a spectacular failure. But I’d play it.
2. A live action Halo movie would be awesome. I think it could be the Star Wars for this generation. The Star Wars that doesn’t suck.
3. Games that don’t merit a AAA $70 price tag should not have a AAA $70 price tag. Maybe these mediocre titles make their money at the price point, but I can’t help but think that a lot of titles
4. I’m completely done with music/singing/rhythm games. I own one, Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii, and while that was fun, I can’t think of any possible variation that would make me want to play another one. Fortunately, there are approximately 245 different variations coming out in time for Christmas.
5. I’ve never played a minute of World of Warcraft. Mostly for lack of opportunity, and not having a decent gaming PC. But with the new Cataclysm expansion, call be WoW-curious. I love the idea that the biggest and most lucrative video game isn’t just tweaking things, it’s tearing them apart. I wonder how much of a backlash there will be to the obliteration of Azeroth.
6. I’m curious as to where the fighting game genre will go in the next iteration or so. I loved Street Fighter 2 back in the “waiting for the bus at the arcade” days, but it seems to me that fighting games, whether remaining 2D, or pushing somewhat into 3D, aren’t really evolving, just making small incremental changes. But maybe that’s enough for people who have using the same half-circle fireball for almost 20 years.
7. Speaking of fighting games, I once ruled the office in Virtua Fighter on the Sega Saturn using a steering wheel. Because Sega sent us a steering while to test out, but not a driving game. When life gives you lemons, you beat people up with those lemons.
8. I hope Assassin’s Creed 2 has overcome the utter boredom and disappointment that was the first Assassin’s Creed. Its a crime against gaming for such a beautiful and silky-smooth game to have been so unrelentingly boring and repetitive.
9. To coincide with PAX (Penny Arcade Expo, that GamerPops plan to attend in the future), Xbox Live offered a sale price on Penny Arcade Episode 2. PSN did not. That’s why you are looking up at Microsoft guys.
10. I think my 2 year old daughter is getting very close to joining me in some form of gaming. Might only be Endless Ocean on the Wii, but hey, that’s a start.

Happy Labour Day!