I have two passions in life.
The first is to take on huge, time-consuming projects with unattainable long term goals like my social networking website which I have been working on for four years. Or my dream of becoming a rock star.
The second: video games.
Now, my second passion has a surprising knack for not helping me work on any of the projects started due to my first passion. So I decided that I would put the two together and create a new huge, time-consuming project with the unattainable long term goal of playing every video game ever created. Mostly. Even the shitty ones.
I understand this goal is impossible to attain in a lifetime not dedicated solely to playing video games, which sadly I cannot do, but thanks to
chronogamer,
chrontendo,
Stallion83,
this article and social ineptness, I am willing to try.
Before I begin, there must be some guidelines:
1.
No games before the NES. I have no problem with pong machines, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey, etc. but, I don't feel like tracking down and purchasing all the pre-NES games and systems. Also, they aren't as fun.
2.
Video game consoles only. Adding PCs into the mix would add tens of thousands of games and require tracking down hardware to run all of them. No thank you. Although, I might have to take a break to play some of the CRPGs I will be missing.
3.
US released, licensed games only.4.
Games that have multiple releases only have to be completed once. I will try and play the game on each system for which it has been released. If there is a significant amount of new content or it is a game I especially enjoy, I might play it over again completely. Obviously, unless there is new content, Greatest Hits and re-releases on the same system will be ignored.
5.
Games should be played on original hardware. In extreme cases of rarity and expense, I might have to bend this rule and resort to emulation.
As a secondary goal, I am going to try and play each game until its ending game over screen, final cutscene, credits, etc. Obviously, this won't happen on games that don't have an ending (i.e. sports titles, retro-arcade titles). If a game is unbearably terrible or ridiculously hard (to the point of not being fun or requiring way too much practice) it will probably not be played until it's end.
I will use my Raptr account and my Backloggery account to track game play time, completion, and other statistics as I do this.
At this point, I feel the need to truthfully address the amount of time that this would take someone. There are probably 10,000+ (and counting) games with millions of hours of gameplay that meet the above criteria. This doesn't even begin to address the issue of paying for all of the systems and games that I don't own. And finally, there is the issue of my "real life" which, unfortunately, I care about enough to let get in the way of this monumental goal.
The likelihood of me finishing might be pretty slim, but its more about the chase anyway.
|
Dude... Good luck. Pace yourself and remember to breath. Lots. Hm, I feel like we could compile some sort of list of suggestions to help you, especially since you mentioned using Backloggery. Maybe something like:
-I would suggest that you start simple, like with your current collection. It seems that most of us here at RF Generation would be bogged down just trying to get through our collections. This will help you determine if you want to progress (after you beat your own 800+ games).
-A wise man once told me that you shouldn't try to watch all available movies; there just isn't time. Therefore, you should just watch the ones that are worth it. Now, I'm not suggesting that you avoid all crappy games (you made a point of that in your blog post), but you should avoid the ones that will make your eyes bleed or have no redeeming value (like Chronicles of the Sword, for example).
-Games should be beaten, but not necessary 100% completed (this will aid you greatly in massive sandbox-style games like Morrowind, Oblivion, and the GTA games) Also in Zelda and other games that have a "Masters Level".
-Since you want to avoid the pre-NES games, could I suggest that you also avoid the ports for later systems? While you will miss out on some great games, you will also avoid games that cannot be truly "beaten" (such as Pac-Man, Centipede, and similar games).
-While your goal doesn't seem to about collecting, in a way you will be doing just that. Hardcore collecting is difficult. Since you are already part of RF Gen (and therefore have a nice group of contacts to assist), I would suggest you start organizing and setting goals. I mean, you could start with a "grab everything you can" approach, but you already have a nice starting collection. Say if you begin your quest with the NES, you get a list going of the titles you are missing (there are some nice lists you can print off on your RF Gen collection) and put some prices to those titles. This will allow you see what you are getting into (price-wise), and start contacting collectors for possible trades.
-If you've made it all the way down here, then I guess you must be serious. Good luck.
|
|
Don't feel like you have to beat every game. I think it's just as valuable to read someone's 5-minute or 30-minute impression of a game as it is to read their impression after 5 to 30 hours. And if someone can't force themselves to play more than that, that's important info, too.
|
|
Well, if you're planning on this, feel free to contact some of the community here and we can setup things to aid you in your quest, such as playing alongside you while streaming (and communicating via Skype), or even putting together trade packets for games you need.
|
|
Thanks guys! All the supporting comments and helpful tidbits are awesome. I definitely am going to try and pace myself and I have a few ideas already that I can throw into the mix to brighten things up a little such as playing through all the Castlevania games (something I've always wanted to do) but doing it in chronological order based on the Castlevania timeline.
I've been thinking about it and I don't really think I will have to change my current gaming habits much to do this. I stop playing terrible games after about 15 minutes, I enjoy playing through not so terrible games that aren't considered great, I only 100% games that I love (unless I'm doing it for Gamerscore, that I am addicted to). And I expect this will take 10+ years of playing. But hey, I've got nowhere to be.
I'm glad you guys are at least receptive to the idea, it is the reason I decided to mention it here before I brought it up to other places like Digital Press. I feel like the community over there can be a little bit negative when it comes to things like this.
|
|
@raptor94k: Here and Racketboy.com are the only gaming websites I go for for the community, with RFG being the only one I contribute to. This is just a great place for collectors and gamers alike. Just please keep us posted as to your progress (collection direction, what games you are tacking for completion).
|
|
I'm actually doing something a little similar, myself, but just with the Game Boy games I own. I doubt I'll ever finish it, but it's a fun exercise that lets me get in a bit of purpose-driven writing and encourages me to play the games I accumulate. I certainly wouldn't discourage someone else from doing something similar. Good luck and have fun!
|
|
@pdrydia: Exactly. It's just an excuse to play some of my backlog and accumulate some new games that I've always wanted to try, play some stuff I've never even heard of and have fun writing about it.
|
|
I'll support anything that involves collectors actually playing their games. Even if you crash and burn a few years from now at least you'll have had a lot of fun (hopefully) in the process.
|
