GamesRadar hates a lot of things, especially this week. Their chosen target this time is innovations of gaming. If you can make a hate list for that, you can make a hate list for just about anything, eh?

So here's what they're bitching about:

Swimming (developers can't get it right)

Peripherals (signs of virginity)

Bullet-time (overdone, compensatory)

Artificial pets/people (make games too much like a digital tea party)

Lens flare (useless, ironically unrealistic)

Gesturing controls/interface (stupid, and make you look like an asshole)

Lots of buttons (awkward and stupid)

Stealth (boring)

Minigames (extraneous)

Cinteractive cutscenes (stupid and unexciting)

Morphable polygons (poorly executed, waiting on proper taffy-pull breast game)

Destructible environments (unrealistic)

3D (more room for error)

Never had many complaints about swimming myself, but peripherals? Oh yeah. Just picture yourself saying "Hey baby, check out my Power Glove" and winking. I could go farther with that in any number of directions but this isn't really that kind of site.

Moving along: bullet-time! Thank God somebody agrees with me. I just don't see the point at all. Bullet-time does not make me feel like a man. Bullet-time makes things easy. Bullet-time fails.

Much like Facebook, artificial pets and people in the gaming world also fail. People spend all kinds of time with these things convincing themselves they're busy people accomplishing things, but end up with nothing to show for it. Take that with a huge grain of salt though, cause I mean, what cynic doesn't love torturing Sims?

Stealth I disagree with; stealth kicks ass! Yes you get a ton of weapons and can't go crazy with them constantly - that's the point. You're supposed to use them sparingly (or for the gamer who really wants to challenge themself, try beating the game without using weapons at all, at least not lethal ones). In that sense there are RPG elements in the games, that is, choosing what to use, when and where in your best assessment of each situation. I suppose that's why they appeal to me more than the majority of first person-shooters.

Lots of minigames suck, yeah, but like anything else, when done right, they can be a dandy distraction.

On the topic of morphable polygons, especially with the Wii & DS out, someone really should make a game based on this concept , as it'd lend itself well with the RPG and adventure genres.

And certainly, at least those of us who grew up with 2D games can agree a certain charm has been lost since gaming switched to three dimensions. Not in all games, not by any means, but a significant amount. Of course we get new wonderful things with this switch.

So yeah, developers aren't perfect. Some might say they're downright insane or stupid at times. But while that "room for error" thing can seem like a bad thing, in a way it's good too; it means the industry can afford to make mistakes, and therefore try new things and learn (hopefully) from what doesn't work.

I was going to compile a list of the best innovations in gaming for another article, but a ton of people beat me to it years ago. Figures. Check out some nice coverage on the subject here.