Superman: The video game
I remember, on my 3rd or 4th birthday, being at Chucky Cheese and receiving the Atari 2600 version of Superman. For me, this was always the Superman game that got it right because Superman could not die. The only time Superman had problems was when he was hit by random shards of Kryptonite, which would cause him to lose his flight. You had to find Lois to, um, get it up again.

All the games since featured a woefully underpowered Supes who could be swatted by hundreds of laughable enemies, like thugs with guns. Get shot by enough bullets and it was game over.

Enter the new Superman Returns game. I just read a preview. In it, Superman is near invulnerable. In fact, his health is not the issue. The health of Metropolis is. If the city gets too damaged, if the people are too hurt, the game ends. Now that is a cool way of measuring the success and failure of Superman.

I wish I still played videogames. I might have to pick this one up over the winter.

---Peter