Tried Something New

The past two weeks I tried something new. I started two games, Devil May Cry 3 and Metroid Other M.

I can safely say that I won't be doing that too often. I have favored DMC3 more heavily, which is good since  that's the order I should be playing it anyway. I'm about halfway through DMC3. 

DMC3 is tough and I'm playing on easy. I make no apology for it cause I'm in this for fun, not self torture. When that game was kicking my ass and it casually said "Hey, easy mode is available", I took it up  on the offer.

State of the List Address (Updated 12/4/15)

(Originally posted 2/3/14)

Since Obama just gave the State of the Union Address a little while ago, I'm doing my State of the List Address. Here is a quick overview of what the list looks like now. 

Blue games belong to my wife.

Strikethrough games means I finished them, unlocked all or most of the unlockables, got to the credits.

Red games are games I sold off.

Bold games are games where a) although I didn't finish them, I played through most of the main portion of the game, b) they are games where the idea of "finishing them" doesn't really apply, so I moved on, or c) I decided to simply move on after playing a good amount. Anyway, I was satisfied enough to move on.

Italicized games are games that don't really enter this challenge, since they are games that I had played and replayed years ago, multiple times, until they became almost muscle memory. That, or when I bought them I actually played them to completion. 

*Updated 5/24/15

De Blob

Batman Arkham Asylum  

Batman Arkham City

Beatles RockBand

Bionic Commando

Borderlands

Borderlands 2

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Dark Sector

DDRMAX2

Dead Nation 

Devil May Cry 

Devil May Cry 2

Devil May Cry 3

Double Dragon (NES)

Final Fantasy Anthology (Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI)

Final Fantasy V (PSN digital download)

F-Zero GX

Goldeneye (Wii)

God of War III

Gunstar Heroes

Heavy Rain

Katamari Damacy

Katamari Forever

Kid Icarus

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

LEGO Harry Potter 1-4

LEGO Harry Potter 5-7

LEGO Indiana Jones

LEGO Lord of the Rings

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga

Link's Crossbow Training

Little Big Planet

Mario Kart Double Dash

Mario Kart Wii

Mega Man II

Megaman Anniversary Collection (Beat 7 out of 8 games)

Megaman X Collection (Beat 4 out of 7 games)

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 2

Metal Gear Solid 3

Metroid Other M

Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime 2

Motor Storm

MTV Music Generator

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale

Portal

Portal 2

Punch-Out (NES)

Punch-Out (Wii)

Resident Evil 4

Rock Band 2

Samurai Shodown II

Shadow of the Colossus

Sin & Punishment

Sonic Mega Collection

Spider-Man (PSX)

Spider-Man 2

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (4 games)

Super Mario 64

Super Mario All Stars (4 games)

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Kart (SNES)

Super Paper Mario

Super Street Fighter IV AE

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros Brawl

Turning Point

Viewtiful Joe

Warioland Shake It

Wave Race 64

Wave Race Blue Storm

Wii Fit

Wii Sports 

Wipeout HD 

So here's the list after taking out what needs to be taken out:

Batman Arkham City

Borderlands 2

Goldeneye (Wii)

Heavy Rain

Katamari Forever

LEGO Harry Potter 1-4

LEGO Harry Potter 5-7

LEGO Indiana Jones

LEGO Lord of the Rings

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale

Rock Band 2

Super Street Fighter IV AE

I do reserve the right, if by the time I reach the end of this list, or I make it beyond Warioland Shake it, if I wanna play Wave Race 64 and Wave Race Blue Storm, I'll freakin' do it! I ain't asking anybody for permission! And the same goes for Viewtiful Joe! Those games are amazing!

Time for Math

Okay, I feel it's time to crunch a few numbers.

Since I began this challenge two and something years ago, I've set out to finish as many incomplete games as I possibly could. At the same time, I've had to have a lot of restraint in the games I purchase. Naturally, I left myself an opening to buy a new game for each old game I beat. Up to now it has not been the case that I have bought a new game for each old game I beat.

I will now venture to make an estimate of my expenses over time since the challenge began.

Since this challenge began I have bought the following games:
Portal and Portal 2 on Steam.
Metroid Other M
Batman Arkham City (PS3)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale (PS3)
Borderlands 2 (PS3)
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (PS3)

Now,  just for the sake of argument, let's take a quick look at the games I've beaten since this whole thing started (bear in mind that I have a full time job, friends, a life, and my precious wife and all these things vie for my attention and my time. It might seem like very few games for a tad over two years. End disclaimer)

De Blob

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Batman Arkham Asylum 

Beatles RockBand

Bionic Commando
Borderlands

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Final Fantasy V

Dead Nation 

Devil May Cry

F-Zero GX
God of War III
Katamari Damacy

The Legend of Zelda (NES)

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Kid Icarus

Little Big Planet
Mario Kart Double Dash

Mega Man X

Mega Man X2

Mega Man X3

Mega Man X4

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 3

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Portal

Portal 2

That's eight bought versus twenty-seven beaten. Now, financially speaking, I was spending some real money on games before. Not a criminal amount. The repo man wasn't knocking on my door. I was savvy about discounts and I used gift cards from my rewards credit card as much as I could. I tried to find other sources of money to offset the expense. Still, I believe this has saved me a lot.

Case in point, the games I have bought. Total spent on games since January 2012, after shopping around for deals, gift cards, and rewards discounts, a total of eight games: $104.47

That's $52 per year. That's less than one new release! One copy of COD Ghosts on opening day would have set me back more than that.

This makes me feel good. I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. I am by no means advocating that everyone should put themselves through this kind of punishment, but at the same time everyone I tell about this challenge has had very good things to say. They tell me about their own piles of shame. Sometimes it's games, sometimes it's books or DVDs or blurays –I myself have piles of shame in all of those categories. They can relate with the endeavor. The feeling of satisfaction I'm getting from not only playing these games, but also from actually putting the products of my life energy to use, the life energy that I had to expend to obtain the capital that allowed me to purchase these games and then went unplayed, the satisfaction of knowing I'm doing something with that now, is a fantastic feeling. Even if it is mostly sitting on my couch.