My intentions were honest and pure of heart in the beginning. Having just been gifted an Xbox, and spending fifty bucks on a Ps2 from craigslist, I had completed the holy trinity of consoles [I already was a proud owner of a Gamecube], albeit about half a decade late in gathering these heavy hitters. I bought the “must play!!!” games ie Halo, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy X, God of War, etc. Now, I was stocked to the gills in games to play. I had all the time in the world [spoken in a Burgess Meredith voice].

I was satisfied.

All three systems.



Every available option.

But something itched.

The itch was located just beyond my reach. It started as merely an annoyance. But I began to notice it more and more, like a red spot that may or may not become a zit, but which indeed becomes a zit because you spent so much time thinking about it that you literally willed it into existence.

This itch was taking over my entire being.



Consumption. Purchasing. Things. Trinkets. Games. Gadgets. The “Next Big Thing.” These things made up my itch.

Everywhere I went, I was seeing ads and commercials for these shiny new toys that promised everything under the sun, rendering my holy trinity of systems obsolete. Oh no, there were three new big boys on the block. 360, PS3, and the Wii were new in my little suburbia of contentment, and they came armed with a switchblade comb and a pack of Lucky Strikes. They threatened to upset the balance that I had achieved so recently.

I tried to ignore their cat calls, but they found my weakness. One system promised a mall full of zombies and a shit ton of weapons with which to kill them. I looked at the video. I scraped my open jaw off the sidewalk and began rationalizing, trying to think things through logically. I had three consoles already, and an enormous backlog of games to play. Why should I saddle myself with another console when it would take me years to finish the games I had now? Why was I going to waste my hard earned money on a system with only one game that I wanted to play?

I kept asking myself all these questions as I pressed “buy it now” on ebay for a 360 console.

One new console and just one game, I told myself.

I also told myself all sorts of other shit as I started purchasing games left and right, using sales, $10 credits, buy 2 get 1 free, buy 1 get 1 50% off, pre-order it and get some free bullshit, and any other method to get the anxious buyer to part with their money.

Before all was said and done, I now owned a 360, PS3, Wii, and PSP, knee deep in games that I could never hope to finish since I work 40 hours a week and spend much of my free time getting liquored up at the bars and chasing tail.

So, as I sit on top of my pile of games looking down at everything, I hope that with all that I acquired, that my itch to consume and buy has been quenched. I am locked and loaded for the apocalypse when it comes to having entertainment. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of fun awaits me to open up the shrink wrap and unleash these worlds and characters.

I am fucking set...



though...I still need to pick up Gears 2 to round out the set when it goes on sale [and I'll buy it even though I never bothered finishing the first one], as well as God of War 3, if I ever get around to beating number 2, though that is wholly dependent on when I get around to beating Silent Hill 3, followed by Silent Hill 1 [as I heard they are connected to the same story], but I refuse to jump in to Silent Hill 3 till I finish Final Fantasy X which I still have in the ps2 at the moment, and if I take it out, then Yakuza 2 has to have priority because I also have Yakuza 3 on tap on the ps3, but I won't even bother getting started on that because I'm only 20 hours into Final Fantasy XIII, so I better keep playing because I have Sigma 2 coming in the mail, and I really want to get started on Endless Ocean for some scuba diving action.