And The Stack Gets Even Higher…
It is no secret that I am a lover of video games. When it comes to games, the only difference between 12 year old Steve and current Steve is that I now have more money (but less time) to spend on my favorite hobby. Because of those time constraints I currently have a backlog of games that I already own, but haven’t really been able to play. I do spend plenty of time playing games, but lately (since November) my 360 spends the majority of its cycles spinning the Rock Band DVD while I am wailing away on the drums. My enjoyment of this game starves the time that I would have otherwise spent on Crysis, Mass Effect, Burnout Paradise and Lego Star Wars.
I have always been one to try to beat all of my games; not doing so is like reading half a book or stopping a movie partway through. I do occasionally turn off a movie if it is terrible (which usually means that my wife selected it), but it has to really, really suck. Since Christmas I have played through Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy (both are console classics) and Lost: Via Domus (crappy, but its Lost, so I had to play it). I have also completed about half of Assassin’s Creed, and put a few hours into Burnout Paradise. The problem is that I keep gravitating back to Rock Band. I completed all that I ever will in that game a while ago, so I basically just play in freeplay mode or online. I have a great time doing this, but never really “accomplish” anything, since there is no progression towards some goal. I don’t exactly understand why this bothers me, but it does.
The reason that I mentioned all of that is because Grand Theft Auto 4 will be released next Tuesday (April 29), and I will almost certainly buy it within the first week. I don’t know whether it’s the hype or some subconscious desire that makes me do this, but I have decided to concede any attempt at willpower in this area. At least I’m not buying drugs, though I may have to sell them in the game! I will probably not play it until I get through more of Burnout Paradise and play the drums to Boston’s “Peace of Mind” for the hundredth time. But, when I do get the urge my copy of GTA4 will be ready and waiting in my entertainment center.
Now that I think about it I do the same thing with books and movies/TV. I just ordered four or five new books on Buy.com the other day, and I still have about 500 pages left in Dark Tower #7 and at least one other unread book on my shelf. I have DVDs of Veronica Mars, Firefly and Planet Earth (in HD) where I have at most watched a couple of episodes. I don’t see this as a case of “keeping up with the Jones’ ” since no one knew about most of these things prior to the publishing of this article. I think once I hit critical mass, which will occur when my wife says so, I will impose a moratorium on myself related to games, books and movies. On second thought that wouldn’t be very fun.