In Defense of The Sequel

Now the standard intelligent reason for disliking sequels to popular videogames is the perception that they stifle more creative projects but is that really the case? Granted I know that both EA and Activision are incredibly guilty of this, spending money on more Madden Games and Ice Age sequels... but would they really innovate if you suddenly tooka way their ability to make Madden 2010? I doubt it, innovation doesn't simply come from pulling the numbers from the ends of games. Look at Mirrors Edge and Dead Space, finally EA tries something different, something non-sequelly... and then they still take a lot of flak for it.

Similarly for Final Fantasy, most of you don't like the games anyway... what are you missing out on? Square isn't suddenly going to make an FPS, that's not their style, they'd just make ANOTHER Big Budget JRPG under a different name, hell they tried that with Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant, both failures but for different reasons.
The Metal Gear series didn't stop Hideo Kojima from developing original ideas, after Metal Gears 1 and 2, he developed Policenauts and Snatcher, similarly after Metal Gear Solid he put out Zone of the Enders and the Boktai titles for the gameboy.

I suppose my primary assertion is that this hatred of sequels seems to be largely baseless. For me a "sequel" is an excuse to take and improve on a tried and true formula, granted in some cases they are unnecessary, and in others they are just attempting to capitalize on a well known and loved title. But ask yourself, would Resident Evil 4 have been any better if it hadn't been the 4th Resident Evil? If not another Resident Evil, what should Capcom have released instead?
That's the question I pose to the sequel haters, What do you want instead? What games are you missing out on? What is Final Fantasy XIII taking away from you? Removing sequels isn't going to magically bring you a flood of innovative and original games.

Not everything can be a "Psychonauts" or a "Brutal Legend", those are rare products made for us by the skilled hand of an artist, but games industry does not have a surplus of men like Tim Schafer. If you really must examine this to it's core, take Mr. Schafer's Lucasarts adventure games... The Day of the Tentacle was really Maniac Mansion 3, and the Monkey Island games reached 4 titles before finally dying out.

The point I'm trying to make is that innovation doesn't happen "in spite" of sequels, it just happens, and the next Metal Gear Solid game isn't really going to stop any true artist from developing their amazing idea.