I play a fairly large number of video games, especially considering my job, marital status, and other responsibilities.

I loved the 3D Revolution, don't get me wrong. Mario 64 is one of my favorite games of all time. And modern games can be quite fun. Uncharted 1 and 2 are my current favorite modern console games... if you have a PS3, I suggest you buy them.

BUT...

Is anyone else REALLY happy that games are starting to trend back to the 2D realm?

New Super Mario Bros, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Little Big Planet, the Lego series are barely 3D, etc. Its a fantastic trend. These games tend to have short levels that you can play and then move on. Perfect for my lifestyle. If my wife tells me I have 5 minutes left to play, she means it. There is never really a worry about when I will get to save next in these games. Just beat the board or don't. Sure, some 3D games have constant saving... but after having just beaten God of War 3 and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, I felt they were just more of the same. None of the battles seemed difficult, and none of the platforming was as difficult as I'd like (Played both at the hardest difficulty you are allowed to when you first start the game). I mean, in Mario, you could go through 30 lives on one level, screaming the entire time about how "cheap the game was." I miss difficulty like that. Hell, even Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 were easy in my opinion. I had every star within 2 weeks, and thats with limited play time. There was never that situation where you HAD to jump off a bad guys head and land on a platform you could never reach otherwise. Each level was linear. Even Mario 64 felt like it had more exploration, those levels were MOSTLY open right from the start. You could get almost any star right from the beginning of the level.

On another note. Now that games are back in 2D, my wife has started joining me again. I can get her to play at least the first few levels of most of the games. And Little Big Planet was purchased for her. This is a huge plus. As much as the Wii had originally gotten her to play games again, the titles that we could play together and have fun quickly stopped coming. I am VERY happy they are coming back again.