I haven’t really played anything new lately. I rented Burnout 4 (or Burnout Revenge, whatever it’s called. It’s Burnout 4) but I wasn’t that into it. It felt like Burnout 3, except the cars felt like dump trucks with cow-catchers attached to the front. Ramming traffic just didn’t feel right.
I have been playing some older games, though. I’ve played a bunch of Resident Evil 4
So why do I bring this up? It reminded me of an article I read over at Gamers with Jobs about this same thing. From the article:
4rr0w_m4k3r owns two of the current-gen game consoles and for these consoles he owns five games that he has yet to play. Yet to even open. He owns more than twenty games that he hasn’t finished, and there are currently twice that number of games on his wish list. Games that he would pick up in an instant if he thought about it.
I’d imagine that describes a lot of us gamers. There’s just so much out there that it’s impossible to enjoy it all. But I find myself turned off even to the newest games. There’s just isn’t much out there catching my eye. A few DS games, but that’s about it.
In the end, I’ll probably end up with a couple of the next generation consoles under my TV. I’ll play a handful of the new games. But with backwards compatibility and a library of downloadable Nintendo games, what will I probably play? The oldies-but-goldies.
I had that problem as well. There’s just too many games. It hit the breaking point when I realized that I had three games for my Xbox that I have not even opened.
Enough is enough. It was like Pokemon only on a grander scale.
“Gotta catch them all!”
I had to teach myself to play differently. I started by playing all I had for three hours each. If I was not interested in that time, I traded the game in or sold it. What was left over I played all the way through. The other games wait while i get through the current one. If it might have some re-playability I’ll keep it. Currently that game is Guild Wars. Otherwise…
Bonus: I now save money…some games I’m not able to get to until well after release, or some I don’t get at all. I’ll live.
(There’s this mentality among our demographic that we have to get all that is good or new. Get as book. There’s more to life than video games. However, I digress…)
Irony: I keep coming back to the classics. Whenever I reformat my hard drive, a requisite is to install X-Com and Tie Fighter. I play NES games on my PSP, go figure…should have waited for the Revolution.
irony 2: I have no modern day classics.
I don’t really consider myself a Nintendo fanboy, but I like their games for the fact they are fun to play. The Revolution’s downloadable games might blow my pattern out of the water.
I periodically go through phases where I say “Enough is Enough! No more until I play the ones I have!”. Then I make a feeble attempt to play some. Then I get attracted by the next shiny bauble and I’m off yet again. I don’t think I have any games that I’ve never played, but I have a whole slew of them I’ve played maybe once or twice. Most of them I think that I would, in fact, love to play “if only I had the time”.
One reason I took on the Game Chair reviewing gig was to force myself to play through some games for once. Or at least enough to conclude I don’t want to play it any more. But even that has been hard.
I don’t have any games that I haven’t played but I do have games that I will never play again. I once brought about 15 of them in to a store that accepted trades in hopes of getting a new game for ‘free’. After the clerk rung up the total I was told I could have about $25 off a new game. I must have paid over $400 for these 15 games. I’d be damned if I would ‘give’ them away for 25 bucks!
The 15 games now sit quietly under my TV. I wonder if they will be worth anything as novelty items on Ebay in the year 2020?
Bobster, some of those 15 games are actually quietly sitting under my TV. Or maybe they’ve been over here for so long that they’re mine now? Who knows. It’s your copy of RE4 I’m currently playing.
Hieronymus – I thought blogging would also force me to play some games outside my comfort zone but I still go back to the classics. I need to find some new classics.
Agentgray – I’d love to be able to play a game like Guild Wars without worrying about other games I’m “missing” out on. I envy you that you can play one game and be satisfied.
Yeah, but I’m stating to get the “miss out” crunch.
The Dawn of War expansion sits on my desk and Far Cry Instincts sits by my xbox.
Now, GW is like a drug. I have all this investment and I feel compelled to play.
Yeah, this “missing out” part sucks, especially if you miss out on the next classic. With Guild Wars re-installed, I figure I’ll end up missing out on a few more.
Nevertheless, there are some sweet DS games on my radar.
Must… resist…