orisinal.com has a bunch of really cool flash games. They aren’t the most graphics intense of games, but they often require a bit of thought and a little bit of skill. But, to me, the most impressive thing is that, at least most of the ones I tried, they are just very elegantly done and something I’d be happy letting a kid play. They aren’t violent; they are, in a word, cute. But still fun and challenging.

Now, I like the standard violent games as much as anyone. The game I’m playing the most right now is Neverwinter Nights, which is pretty violent. And I enjoy the first person shooters when I’m with friends or my brothers. But, I also think that the video game industry is in a bit of a rut creativity-wise (though, definitely not money-wise, which means maybe they aren’t in any rut at all). It just seems that all games are very similar variants of one another. The first person shooter, the D&D role playing game, and so on. There are others out there, but they don’t seem to gain any popularity.

The games at orisinal.com are simple, but they are original. Some of the player moves are things I haven’t seen anywhere else (though, some are, admittedly, very much like classic games such as pong). I was just struck by the simplicity, the elegance, and the innocence, if you will, of the games.