There's a looming dread that we as gamers have when we buy games. The nagging question we pose to ourselves every time we fork over money to experience another fantasy world we can run around in. No, it's not "Can I eat cheetos without getting any of them on my controller as I shoot people in the face?". No. The question we ask ourselves is, "Will I ever get around to playing this".
And it's a fair question to ask. There's only so much time in a day to commit to our hobbies and enjoy ourselves especially if we work a 8-5 job, have a family who needs attention as well, the preparation and consumption of food to live, and trying to get enough sleep to do it all over again day in and day out. We aren't all fortunate enough to be game reviewers who get to live the life we all dream of. Sitting in our underwear (if it's washed) for hours at a time playing video games and getting paid to do it with occasional trips to the store to fill up on Pepsi and Slim Jims.
So since we all don't get to live that life of luxury, we may have an ever-growing stack of games that soon rivals the minutes spent playing video games a week. I see people ask the best way to minimize this stack and this post is my attempt to utilize my amazing intellect to inform you of how to ease this dilemma. It may result in sacrifice and sadness. But in the end it will be worth it.
Duke Nukem For Never
Stop kidding yourself. You are never going to get around to play that copy of Dark Sector that you have been holding out on since release day. I don't care how eager you are to pop that game in, if you haven't done it by now, there's a chance you never will. The only way you will ever play that game is if society collapsed and the only things you had were a X-Box and Dark Sector. And even then, you would be trying to find an internet connection to download games.
Getting rid of games you haven't played yet is a difficult thing to do. I'm holding out on my copies of Heavy Rain, Two Worlds II and God of War III in hopes I'm going to get around and play them. I'm not. I know I'm not. But the hope still shines. The problem is, there are games continuing to come out that I'm going to buy and will play before I ever see the opening credits to these games. Take a look at the backlog and ask yourself, "Am I ever going to play this?".
And there are two good reasons you should ask this. The first is: How long have you had it? Let's face it, the longer you have a game, the less appealing it is to go back to it. Newer games are coming out, and staying on top of those are top priority. Then there is also the second reason: They may not hold up. While older games may have a nice artstyle and simple gameplay that holds up over time, the newer generation of games don't do so well. The realistic graphics tend to look more like garbage the further you get away from it's release date, the controls get worse as developers find better ways to implement them in games year after year, and there's a chance that the most interesting story devices in the game have already been spoiled to you since spoilers are rampant on the internet.
While there are games that are clearly classics you should hold out on, don't worry about saving every single game. Not every game is going to be a Portal or Shadows of the Colossus. Do a little research on some games you are unsure of, and if they don't seem worth it, trade them off. Homefront is not going to be a classic game 5 years from now. No use in holding on to it.
Single Sitting Single Player Session
Another way to plow through the backlog is to find games that are relatively short. So for example, let's say you hated my advice from the previous point and you just have to get balls deep in Homefront. I mean why wouldn't you? It was...well...you just want to see what all that marketing went into. The good thing about Homefront is that the single player campaign is relatively short. If I remember right, 4-6 hours was the mark most people finished the single player game in. Fantastic, especially if multiplayer isn't your thing.
Find games with short playthroughs and finish them up. It's an easy way to knock out some of those cases in your backlog if you can figure out which one's don't take that long to beat. Skyrim is a no-no when it comes to backlog cleaning, but if you want to get that copy of Arkham Asylum off your shelf, it's an easy game to finish in one or two sittings unless you want to torture yourself with the challenge mode. Just be realistic in what you know you will sit down and play for hours on end. The Dragon Age's, Fallouts, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effects...don't bother. Save them for last. Knock out the quick and easy games and be done with them.
Take a Break With Multiplayer
Multiplayer games are tricky. It's more for quick experiences and they should normally improve with every iteration of the game. I doubt there's a lot of people playing Call of Duty 3 when they have Black Ops or Modern Warfare 3 on their shelf. But it's a case by case experience as people enjoy certain maps or layouts or they may not like new features the games have, so it's difficult to really say get rid of any old games that are multiplayer driven.
So keep them. It's against this blog post in a way since I'm trying to give you ideas to lighten the load, but don't play Battlefield or Call of Duty religiously. Use them as nice transitions between games. Once you finish a single player game, give yourself some time between games by playing some multiplayer matches so you can get through some of those games. Instead of jumping headfirst into them, you may realize the next time you go back to it that you don't really enjoy it as much as the first time and you don't need it anymore. Then get rid of it. If you find yourself putting in one particular multiplayer game more than another, keep the one you like and get rid of the one you don't. And if you find that you don't really have a lot of people playing that multiplayer game with you and all of them are on a different one, go with where your friends are. Multiplayer games are always more fun with friends.
Don 't Be Brash, Save Your Cash
Stay away from the Cheap Ass Gamer video game deal forums. Trust me, it's hard to do. I can have $5 in my account, but as soon as I see a Amazon warehouse deal, I'm tempted to spend the rest of that $5. Remember, you came into this predicament by spending money. SO STOP IT! Don't allow the great deals to cloud your judgement and cause you to pull out your credit card and spend $15 on Rage.
Video game deals are not that hard to come by. While it may be torture, simply wait. Most games will drop to incredibly low prices, and by the time you get around to playing them, they'll be cheaper than when you originally bought them. If you don't have the willpower to stay away from the deal forums, double check to see if it's dropped in price before. Some games will drop for a limited time, and when they do, it's almost a guarantee they'll drop to that price again if not lower. Not to mention there are plenty of places to find deals. Black Friday is always a nice time for cheaper games, Gamefly has pre-owned game sales once in a while, Best Buy deal of the days, Warehouse Deals...just keep an eye on everything. But don't get trigger happy with the wallet. Keep an open mind to the possibility of lower prices and talk yourself out of it by going "It can get cheaper...".
So that's a few things I try to do to keep my game collection limited. Some may roll their eyes and think I'm foolish, but it works. It's not perfect, as I have plenty of downloadable games in my collection I haven't touched along with a few disc games that are still in shrink wrap. But it does help.
But if all else fails, you can open up a rival trade-in store.
