If you're reading this article, there's a high degree of likelihood that you like video games and think they are fun. There's a good chance you own one or more video game consoles or platforms, with more than a dozen games to play. It's more than a little plausible that you've spent hours pouring over your favorite video games. If you're in my age bracket, and grew up during the 1980's and early 1990's, you might have spent a lot of time reading Nintendo Power, Sega Visions, Electronic Gaming Monthly, or any number of other magazines dedicated to video games. It's also possible that, now as an adult, you've spent a considerable amount of time and money on video games over the years.
But the question I want to ask you is this: Have you had fun? Have your experiences, in total, added up to what you would call "fun"? How does one quantify fun, and what does that look like? Is fun simply a series of feelings, or is it more than that? While I can't claim to have all the answers, they are important questions to ask, in light of one's experiences with gaming.
A lot of us here collect games, I'm assuming. Since this is true, I know that every one of you here has a game backlog. You know, that pile of games sitting in the corner, unplayed, unloved for various reasons. Maybe you lost interest in the game, or there's a shiny new game that captured your attention, or you just never got around to playing it. Regardless of the reasons why your backlog grows, I want to know what your approach to solving this backlog dilemma is.
Do you: Play a game for a few hours and see if it's worth playing through? Tackle a few games at a time? Prioritize games by interest? Stare at it in shame?
Personally, I find that a game goes in my backlog when there's something new that comes along and steals interest away from another game. Good example of that: Dead Space. I bought that game on day one and played through the first few chapters, but then a few weeks later, LittleBigPlanet came out and I found myself with no time for Dead Space. Then of course there was the rest of the fall games that pushed their way into my library, and pushed others into the backlog. Also, I find that games I spend less money on, especially Dreamcast and older games, tend to more easily go to my backlog because they're old and no one is talking about them anymore.
When it comes time to tackle my backlog, I look at the pile of games and decide which sounds most interesting, or which one I enjoyed most before it went into the pile. Unlike many other gamers, I actually try every game I buy for at least an hour or two, so that helps in the future when making backlog related choices. I usually only play one backlog game at a time because I find that if I add any more, my gaming time becomes too diluted across not only my backlog games but my current staples.
Anyone else have an effective approach to solving the game backlog issue? Let me know.
Recently, the hip-hop group N.E.R.D released a new music video. Why do I post it on RF Generation? Simple, the video is a tribute to retro games. The song in the video is a remixed version of thier song Everyone Nose. Artists featured on the song include (in order of appearance) Kanye West, N.E.R.D's own Pharrell Williams, Lupe Fiasco, and Pusha T.
The song itself samples Space Invaders, but there are a ton of games featured in the visuals of the video. So far, I've picked out Space Invaders, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Robotron 2084 and POSSIBLY Missile Command. Does anyone see other games I missed?
A lot of us here collect games, I'm assuming. Since this is true, I know that every one of you here has a game backlog. You know, that pile of games sitting in the corner, unplayed, unloved for various reasons. Maybe you lost interest in the game, or there's a shiny new game that captured your attention, or you just never got around to playing it. Regardless of the reasons why your backlog grows, I want to know what your approach to solving this backlog dilemma is.
