I am currently playing Aquaria, Beyond Good and Evil, Big Bang Mini, BioShock, Braid, Bully, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Cave Story, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Dead Space, Dementium: The Ward, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Donkey Kong Country 3, Earthbound, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy IX, Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, Knights in the Nightmare, Maestro! Jump in Music, Mario Kart DS, Mirror’s Edge, Nervous Brickdown, Okami, Overlord: Minions, Plants VS Zombies, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Psychonauts, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Ratchet and Clank, Red Faction, Resident Evil 4, RunMan: Race Around the World, Scribblenauts, Shadow of the Colossus, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Valkyria Chronicles, Valkyrie Profile, VVVVVV and World of Goo. I just bought Demon’s Souls the other day, but I haven’t started it yet. I’m waiting for God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Super Street Fighter IV, Heavy Rain, ModNation Racers, Okamiden, Ghost Trick, AGAIN, Pokemon SoulSilver, Ninokuni, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Dementium II, Dragon Quest IX, Super Meat Boy, Closure, Rocketbirds: Revolution!, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Melolune, Joe Danger, Limbo, Owlboy, Shank and Vessel.
In other words, I am hopeless.
When I finished writing the above list and looked at it, I felt strange, scared, and amazed. How could I let the situation get to this point? Why didn't I stop before it was too late? There are many reasons. One of them is Destructoid, because it keeps showing me these awesome games that will be released sometime in the future, and I put them on my radar ( I came to know indie games through Destructoid, and some games up there were chosen because of that “50 best games of the decade” list. Not to mention the wonderful job the staff does posting info about new, upcoming games, and sometimes revisiting classics. Destructoid is mai waifu). I also have some bad habits: I often play new games to see if they're good for half an hour, and afterwards I decide whether to continue or not. Most of the games I mentioned fall under this category. There is a problem though: normally, after I decide a game is good enough to be played, I put it on my PC/shelf/DS bag only to leave it there and do other things (sometimes I play older games, sometimes it's really other things). That's not all: even knowing I have too many games in my hands, I still want to pick more. Maybe I'm unable to stop because I love videogames way too much. I also replay games sometimes and - OH MY GOD WHY DO I REPLAY GAMES WHEN I ALREADY HAVE SO MUCH TO DO – I have other activities as well. I study japanese by myself, I study law (I plan to be a judge in the future), I study french, I practice yoga, I waste time digging good movies, books, recipes and music (videogame is not all), I study Magic: The Gathering (it is one of the most deep and complex games in the world, if I want to be good at it I'll have to work hard), I play tabletop RPG every weekend, I have swimming lessons, and I'm thinking of studying music to be more than a listener, among other things. There's also my family, my girlfriend and my friends.
Managing my time to deal with all those things is tough, but not impossible, so I keep going. Some people say being a jack of all trades and master of none is a bad thing, but I disagree completely. I'd rather try a bit of everything than focus in a single pastime and ignore the rest. If I chose one of the things I like and dumped the others, I would be doing a disservice to myself. Sure, I have a hard time finishing all the games I start, but at least I'm entirely capable of doing it – it just takes more time.For example, my SNES and PS1 backlogs are almost finished, with 2 games on the SNES and 3 on the PS1. I also finished a bunch of indie games lately. I lied in the title of this post. My expertise isn't leaving games unfinished. It is finishing them at a slower pace, without harming my many other hobbies. Even with all these things I do, It's still possible to enjoy them all in a consistent way. It certainly is harsh, but it pays off.
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My backlog list is actually strikingly similar to yours. XD
Finish some.
To me, games are like books. The should be used, read, full of notes, dog-eared - loved. If I don't have the time or inclination to love them, then I try to pass them on to someone who does.
Great blog though! I guess we all have our reasons for not finishing games...
If I bought the game and still feel nothing for it several months later, out it goes. There was an odd exception of "I should have waited and got this for the Wii" today, that was the recent Silent Hill game - i really should have gotten it on the Wii, as it was the lead platform for that game and it feels like that's where it was meant to be played.
So basically, I'm saving for a Wii and using my evaluation today to pick up games I know beyond a shadow of doubt I'll be keeping - Miles Edgeworth and Korg DS-10 Plus.
Here are my tips:
1. One game a time. Pick a game and stick to it.
2. Don't rush it. Enjoy the game (If possible) or you'll find you intrest will ween and you will become frustrated.
3. Mix it up. Don't do what I did and go from FFVII to Persona 4.
recently went through an rpg phase, one rpg after the other until my head exploded with stats, characters and story. Don't do that. Pencoin above has the right idea.
on top of the backlog I have 8 games in the post waiting to arrive. Raaahhhhwwrrr!