FA+
Shop
My video game checklist
11 years ago
Some wonderful artists well worth your time:
Once upon a time, I was quite the gamer. Come home from school, hop on whatever system I had at the time. Subscriptions to three or four different gaming magazines, browsing around online (my first real journey into having an online presence was on a video game forum), and generally being involved with friends by way of gaming. Video games just mattered a whole lot to me.
Then, as my teenage years drew to a close, my priorities shifted. I became the movie nut you all know and love, and gaming just... fell to the wayside. Which isn't so say I stopped playing altogether, because I didn't, I just didn't play nearly as much. Gets to a point where I can go months without touching a controller or opening my Steam account. My DS fared a bit better, since I pulled it out when I went to Comic Con... and then promptly did nothing with it until a year later, when I discovered a literal layer of dust over it.
As time continues to pass and my life continues to shape up with all the things it has, the time has come for me to make a choice. As I am all about reducing the clutter of my life (and I hate having things just lying about going to waste), I need to finally get rid of my game systems. They brought me joy and I love them for it, but they are just being wasted around me. With the final completion of Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors (although calling that a game is being charitable), I'm going to finally get rid of all my DS stuff once and for all. Any portable gaming I do from now on will just be on the phone, and will likely be little things I do in my downtime at work. Which is fine, really, just a further state of things.
As for the consoles, they've got to go as well... but, no sense rushing things. Not when I've got this big shelf of games staring me in the face. Some are ones I love and have played time and time again. Others I've had for years and never played once. All are from that strange time block of five to fifteen years ago, games that are great but haven't yet aged properly to have the classic label slapped on them (for the most part). My current goal is to go through, play all (or at least most) of these games one last time, to get one last real good binge going. And then release them all into the wind to find a more caring environment.
For sake of organization, I'm going to list them here (no PC games because I'll always have a PC, and they're all digital at this point anyway. And I've never had a problem wasting digital space). The list may seem slim and forgettable to you actual gamers out there, but it's what I've got, and what I'm going to go through.
Games I'm playing for the very first time are marked with a *
Gamecube
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Pikmin 2
SSX 3
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Super Mario Sunshine
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker*
PS2
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4*
Burnout 3
Katamari Damacy
Manhunt
Shadow of the Colossus
Xbox/Xbox 360
Spec Ops: The Line
Jet Set Radio Future
Psychonauts
Dead Rising 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City*
Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Bioshock Infinite
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. Files
F.E.A.R. 2
Mass Effect 3*
My goal is to have them all done by New Year's. Impossible? Quite likely, but that won't stop me from trying.
Then, as my teenage years drew to a close, my priorities shifted. I became the movie nut you all know and love, and gaming just... fell to the wayside. Which isn't so say I stopped playing altogether, because I didn't, I just didn't play nearly as much. Gets to a point where I can go months without touching a controller or opening my Steam account. My DS fared a bit better, since I pulled it out when I went to Comic Con... and then promptly did nothing with it until a year later, when I discovered a literal layer of dust over it.
As time continues to pass and my life continues to shape up with all the things it has, the time has come for me to make a choice. As I am all about reducing the clutter of my life (and I hate having things just lying about going to waste), I need to finally get rid of my game systems. They brought me joy and I love them for it, but they are just being wasted around me. With the final completion of Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors (although calling that a game is being charitable), I'm going to finally get rid of all my DS stuff once and for all. Any portable gaming I do from now on will just be on the phone, and will likely be little things I do in my downtime at work. Which is fine, really, just a further state of things.
As for the consoles, they've got to go as well... but, no sense rushing things. Not when I've got this big shelf of games staring me in the face. Some are ones I love and have played time and time again. Others I've had for years and never played once. All are from that strange time block of five to fifteen years ago, games that are great but haven't yet aged properly to have the classic label slapped on them (for the most part). My current goal is to go through, play all (or at least most) of these games one last time, to get one last real good binge going. And then release them all into the wind to find a more caring environment.
For sake of organization, I'm going to list them here (no PC games because I'll always have a PC, and they're all digital at this point anyway. And I've never had a problem wasting digital space). The list may seem slim and forgettable to you actual gamers out there, but it's what I've got, and what I'm going to go through.
Games I'm playing for the very first time are marked with a *
Silent Hill 4*
Katamari Damacy
Manhunt
Shadow of the Colossus
Xbox/Xbox 360
Jet Set Radio Future
Psychonauts
Dead Rising 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City*
Bioshock 2
Bioshock Infinite
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. Files
F.E.A.R. 2
My goal is to have them all done by New Year's. Impossible? Quite likely, but that won't stop me from trying.
Especially after the disappointment that was F.E.A.R. 3. After that, I can definitely put Files in as an alternate timeline if I so choose (not to mention I just dig the original F.E.A.R. aesthetic so much, which was something that didn't really translate to the slicker sequels).
When the series upped the graphics, got all "cool" with the protagonists, had the plot start bringing out massive corporations with even more massive secret facilitates, things just went too far off the rails. Much too far from the days of wandering through a bunch of cubicles and trying not to overthink those things on the shelf that just fell to the floor of their own accord, or the bits where everything on the screen starts to spontaneously flicker.
(Well I bought a Wii to play Twilight Princess so ... I may just be a Zelda fanatic).
That stupid Pit of 100 Trials though... I... I just couldn't do it.
I will likely wait on that until I wrap this crop up and move on to a next gen system. So I'll probably get to it... this time next year. When, at least, it'll likely be cheaper to buy.
I also withhold judgement on the ending of Mass Effect 3 until I get to it and see what all the fuss is about.
As for Homecoming, I usually take my Silent Hill advice from the persnickety fellow commenting above you, and he advised against it. I've barely got time for the games I listed, so I don't know if I can even squeeze in extra ones anyway. Still, should it come up dirt cheap on eBay (my only real way of getting older games these days), I might give it a look.