Thank fucking God. The holidays are over. My savings account survives another year: scarred, wounded, but not defeated. Victoria.
The holidays are a financial apocalypse for me, and every year it only gets worse. On top of gifts for loved ones and friends, I end up spending way too much of what I choose to call 'disposable income' on all the triple A games that an irrational and confused games industry hoards for months and months, ignoring the obvious fact that, hey, people play games in June too, before gleefully releasing them in a frantic stampede in the months of November and December. That I continue to obediently buy them all raises the possibility that I too and irrational and confused, but let's not discuss that right now. I need all the credibility I can muster.
After the dust settled on my annual financial doomsday this year, I ended up with a soul-crushing stack of new games. I felt their quiet insistence that I play them as I put them away on the shelf, untouched shrink wrap tormenting me. Free time is at a premium for me, always: when would I get a chance to play the games I had been given or purchased? When would I be able to validate both my idiot compulsions and the good intentions of friends and family? Compounding the issue is my addiction to Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Persona 4: both time sinks of incredible density and power. Even when I have the time to play, those two games are always my first and second choice.
This year? Much sooner than usual. For once, the games industry has done me a solid(albeit accidentally). There is literally nothing coming out that I want until Street Fighter 4 in February. That is nearly unprecedented, and leaves me almost two months to play catch up and knock out some of my back log. All of which is very handy, because I had begun to experience what I like to call 'collector's depression'. Anyone who seriously plays and collects games knows what I mean, but we'll define it just in case anyone rational ever reads this.
'Collectors Depression: If a collection of games grows at a faster pace than a collector can play those games, then eventually playing the games stops being fun and becomes a job, leading to that collector temporarily abandoning the hobby and taking up knitting, crochet, or religion'.
So thanks, Games Industry. You've coincidentally helped in keeping me out of fashion, for which you deserve a medal; especially considering my taste in clothes and questionable manual dexterity. I'm already a man of the cloth, so obviously you weren't much help in the past, but hey. It's the holidays, and I am a reverend for some reason. All is forgiven. We'll move on so no one thinks too hard about this paragraph, and the ugly truths contained within.
The games residing in my immediate backlog are, in no order, Folklore, Lair, Far Cry 2, Gradius Collection, Siren: New Translation, and Suikoden. It's not as bad as some years, but still a mighty and powerful stack of software to wade through. Interestingly, I realized as I was putting them away that none of the games I mentioned are new at all. In fact, Suikoden is a download for the PS3. I have no real desire to play Resistance 2 or Gears of War 2, the huge platform exclusive shooters for the PS3 and 360 respectively, and I'd already bought and fell in love with Little Big Planet long before the Christmas season. Prince of Persia? No thanks. I've already beaten Fallout 3. Tomb Raider? No, sir. Legendary? Are you kidding?
The powers that be have granted me a respite, and I intend to use it. Collecting games is fun and sometimes profitable, but often leads to a 'less gaming, more collecting' mindset that I intend to avoid. One of my new years resolutions is to not buy any game until Street Fighter comes out: that gives me a month and a half to cleanse my backlog and shore up the holiday related bills in preparation for next year's assault on my money. Why would I do this? Why alter years of habit and subject myself to Lair on purpose? Because I realized something else over the holidays as I was talking to my friend Randy at work. This guy never has more than three or four games at a time. He buys them, plays them, sells them, and buys some more: lean and mean gaming at it's finest. His philosophy? Games are for playing first, collecting second. He told me, "I've beaten every game I've played, unless it was so bad that even achievements couldn't make me continue". A quick glance at his gamer score affirms this mighty declaration. I was impressed, because I have nearly five hundred games for more than fifteen systems, and I've beaten probably a quarter of them. That doesn't seem like a very good ratio. I figure I've got some catching up to do.
So. What did I realize with the able assistance of Randy? Resolution number two: play the stupid goddamn things. I didn't get into this hobby because I love having all my free space taken up by plastic and cardboard. I got into it because I love to play video games. I should spend more time doing that, instead of adding yet more crap to the collection.
I'll start with Lair, because it's the shortest game on the stack. We'll see how dedicated to this premise I really am when someone invites me to play Street Fighter.
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