Billions of dollars? Got it. "Astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed"? Alleged. Video games are so close to being Hollywood, that we must celebrate a breakthrough: A possibly boring contract dispute that could be as juicy as Leno vs. Conan.

I've lived in Japan for a long time. When I first came here, I liked living here. Now, I don't. I haven't changed. Japan hasn't really changed, either. Something else, however, has.

Maybe all three of these things are part of the same problem.

As with movies, big time video games need huge numbers of people. Hundreds of developers toil away on AAA titles. With all those hands in the development of a game, is it possible to pin the title to a single author like critics have for films?

You see them every day, whether browsing in a store, clicking through the internet or looking at a shelf in your living room, but have you ever wondered what kind of thinking goes into creating a game's cover?

I have.

We've taken this year's big game releases, conventions, and assorted events, and condensed them all into a handy infographic we're calling 2010: A Video Gamer's Guide.

About three years ago, one of the most notorious online message board communities decided to create an unusual video game.

I'm 33 and, with mixed emotions, I play games that star Super Mario.

The people who sell Mario games would say it's great to play Mario games. Mario is for everyone.

My gut tells me that playing Mario, the adventures of a fat plumber in a Mushroom Kingdom of warbling enemies and happy conflict, is juvenile.

My mind tells me I'm a more ideal Mario player than any 8-year-old kid.

From the first released trailer to the ending credits, my Bayonetta experience was a roller coaster of emotions. I laughed, I scratched my head, and I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

You may have noticed that over the past couple of years video games marketing has become increasingly pervasive, many publishers intent on telling us as much as they can about a game before we can get our hands on it.

But are they telling us too much?