Downscaling the gaming habit
June 8, 2009 9:08 am GamesEven video game fanatics get the blues.
I’m trying to scale back my gaming a bit, but not in the way you’d think. I’m already buying less games, but that just makes smart financial sense. I’m still playing games for around the same amount of time (though I should probably fix that, too), but I’m trying to enjoy my games longer. For example, I’m about ten hours or so from the “end” of Pokémon Platinum. Now, any Pokémon fan can tell you that once you “beat” those games, a whole bunch of new stuff opens up; the games never truly end. So, once I complete the main quest, as it were, I plan to continue playing the game for many more months, and try to get as much of the extra stuff as I can. It may not be my primary game, but I’ll always go back to it. I’ll play another game for an hour or two, and then pop in Platinum for twenty to thirty minutes to nab a few more creatures. (It makes a great lunch break game, too!)
There are two strong motivating factors behind my recent decision. The first is the ridiculously packed fall schedule of game releases. I really hate that, and I always have. (I really need to assail that whole bullshit system in a separate post, and soon!) For starters, the fall season’s going to see the release of a shitload of highly-anticipated sequels, like BioShock 2, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, LEGO® Indiana Jones 2, and so on. I’m interested in all of them, but I don’t want to pick up a single one on release day. I’m content to wait an undetermined amount of time; the games certainly aren’t going anywhere, after all.
The second factor in my downscaling is equally important: I want to get back into replaying older games. (Especially a bunch of NES classics!) I mean, what’s the point of owning a large video game collection if you’re not going to go back and replay your old shit?! I never did finish off the 150cc races in Mario Kart Wii, or nab all of the stars in Super Mario Galaxy, or complete Advance Wars: Dual Strike…you get the idea. Finally, like any other gaming fan, I’ve got a few games I haven’t even started yet. Ugh!
I’m really hoping I can stick with this, and get back to enjoying games on my own schedule, instead of that of the publishers. Fight the power!
June 8th, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I feel your pain. I have so many video games that I have never finished or barely even started (or never started!) for systems all the way back to the NES.
The funny thing is that my current Xenosaga project is teaching me discipline in my video gaming! This was a most unexpected development. I used to play a little bit of several games at once, and I’d never finish any of them, but now I am much more focused one one or two games at a time.