2012, end of the world, or end of your pile? - the 12 month thread

Actually, if nobody has any objections, I was thinking of throwing up all of our Backloggery links in the OP for those that want/need to add people to their multi-taps.

My pledge is going to be a different one this year.

I pledge to spend NO MORE than AU$300 on game purchases this year. Those are 'actual' dollars.

I can generate additional funds through trade-ins, loyalty bucks, and selling second hand. This will still allow me to 'enjoy' the thrill of the bargain hunt, dissuade me from buying day one purchases at full price, and rule out any new console purchases. While 300 might seem high, don't forget the SRP down here for day one, new purchases, can be anything from $89-139. This amount will also include buying space bucks, so again, DotW will take a hit.

The GTASC2 will motivate me to chip into the pile in a BIG way, and that will also increase the number of titles I will have to trade in as well (further motivation).

I would also like to have a completion % over 60 by the end of 2012. Not sure if there will be enough hours in the year, but let's see

http://www.backloggery.com/ultramaximus

I really started working on my backlog this past year, it's currently a mess, and my backloggery account needs to be cleaned up significantly. I'm going to try and focus more on the game I want to finish and to limit my purchases in 2012. The latter won't be easy and you can probably tell, I clearly have more cash than common sense and free time. I'll work on putting a list together in the next few weeks.

Off to a good start: Ico is done! I've also added Kirby's Epic Yarn to my "most want to finish" list, now that the Longest Trade Ever has been completed.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I like trueheart's format, so I'm going to mostly steal it:

Games in my collection I most want to finish/watch the credits roll.

  • Vanquish
  • Nier
  • Resonance of Fate
  • Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
  • Dead Space 2
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked*
  • Pokémon SoulSilver
  • Ico
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Persona 3*
  • Persona 4
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword*
  • Lost in Shadow
  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
  • Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Status: 1 of 16 (6%)

Games in my collection I would like to finish/watch the credits roll:

  • Assassin's Creed 2
  • Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
  • Rune Factory Frontier
  • Super Mario World
  • Bastion
  • Hydrophobia
  • Trenched

Status: 0 of 7 (0%)

* = In Progress
/ = Abandoned / Sold
/ = Finished / Completed

2012 Releases I will be purchasing - list of releases

  • Bioshock Infinite
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
  • XCOM
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
  • Xenoblade Chronicles

Status: 0 of 5 (0%)

2011 and Prior Releases I will be purchasing and at what price - list of releases
These are the games I will restrict myself to when the buying urge comes upon me, and for lower prices than I normally would purchase (unless digital). I will not necessarily buy all of these games.

  • Catherine
  • Dark Souls
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Status: 0 of 3 (0%)

Side Goals

  • The Wife, She Demands It! Replay Half-Life 2 and its episodes
  • For Switchbreak: Replay Deadly Premonition twice more for the last two achievements
  • This Year, We Go Platinum! Replay Bayonetta on Hard, beat Vanquish on Hard, and beat Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Hard
  • You Made Your Bed, Now f*ck In It: Have 0% of my pile marked as "Unplayed" at the end of the year

Status: 0 of 4 (0%)

I, Clocky, solemnly pledge to take part in the Pile of Shame monthly threads. Even if it is just for one game, I will put forth effort to clear my ever-growing pile, one game at a time.

I also pledge to do everything within my ability to restrict my game purchases to those that I've listed, and, if I should falter, will shamefully add them to the pile in full sight of this support group.

In addition, I'd like to put the following purchasing controls in place:

  • Items on The List (see above) are exempt from all these rules.
  • No 360 or XBLA games, not even if it's a kinda interesting game that's having a really good sale.
  • No DS games will be purchased after March 27th.
  • No buying games for any platform unless I don't have any unplayed games on that platform.

Edit: Holy crap, the new GBA ambassador games put my unfinished pile over my completed pile for the first time in months.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I've also added Kirby's Epic Yarn to my "most want to finish" list, now that the Longest Trade Ever has been completed.

I will be adding my list to the thread later tonight. My 60 gig PS3 died and that stopped my goal of finishing up Uncharted 2 in 2011.

honeycut1 wrote:

I will be adding my list to the thread later tonight. My 60 gig PS3 died and that stopped my goal of finishing up Uncharted 2 in 2011.

You should probably loan me some of your PS3 games. Y'know, for safekeeping.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Damn, man. Gauntlet thrown.

trueheart78 wrote:

There are some people who want to enjoy whittling down the pile, then there's brokenclavicle.

Please don't punish yourself, enjoy the games

Self-discipline! hehehe

Yeah, I won't push myself to finish games I simply am not enjoying, but I will give them all a fair shake. Looking at it on the bright side, all the hot new games of today will be considerably discounted by the time I get to buy new ones. I am, of course, not going to turn away any games given as gifts.

Minarchist wrote:

I'm interested to see what you think of Odin Sphere. I loved loved loved the art direction and concept, but for some reason the gameplay didn't click for me and I quit after beating the first boss. Still glad I gave Atlus my money for that one, though.

I started it back when it was released, did a couple of character story archs and then simply neglected it. Loved the play style, though it could get repetitive... I'll be sure to share my thoughts once I get around to it.

I've edited in times from howlongtobeat. Mostly going for full completion, and just taking the average, so hopefully most of these will be shorter. Also estimating when there are not enough or no data points for games.

Monkeyboy, here's my backloggery link.

Games in my collection I want to finish/watch the credits roll (alphabetical by platform).

  • Alpha Protocol [color=blue](360)[/color] -- 18 hours
  • Assassin's Creed 2 -- 26 hours
  • Dark Souls -- 100 hours
  • Disneyland Adventures -- est. 30-40 hours
  • Dance Central 2 -- 15 hours
  • El-Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron -- 15 hours
  • Enslaved: Odyssey to the West -- 20 hours
  • L.A. Noire -- 30 hours
  • Lego Batman -- 12 hours
  • Once Upon a Monster -- est. 5-8 hours
  • Project Gotham Racing 3* -- est. 10 hours left
  • Pure -- 20 hours
  • Record of Agarest War: Zero -- est. 60-100 hours
  • Risen -- 35 hours
  • Tony Hawk's Proving Ground -- est. 25 hours
  • Too Human -- 22 hours
  • Grand Theft Auto IV[color=blue] (PC)[/color] -- 45 hours
  • Jade Empire -- 20 hours
  • Mirror's Edge -- 8 hours
  • Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword -- 40 hours
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl -- 22 hours
  • Disgaea 4 [color=blue](PS3)[/color] -- 55 hours
  • LittleBIGPlanet -- 25 hours
  • LittleBIGPlanet 2 -- 15 hours
  • Yakuza 4 -- 40 hours
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [color=blue](Wii)[/color]* -- est. 25 hours left

Status: 0 of 26 (0%) -- est. total time 766 hours (~32 days)

* = In Progress
/ = Abandoned / Sold
/ = Finished / Completed

2012 Releases I will be purchasing - list of releases

  • Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360) - possible pre-order/week 1
  • SSX (2012) (360) - possible pre-order/week 1
  • Tales of Graces (PS3) - Probably will await a sale
  • The Last Guardian (PS3) - Will await sale pending reviews, possibly week / day 1
  • Dragon Quest X (Wii) - Will await sale pending reviews, possibly week / day 1
  • Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3) - We'll see
  • Xenoblade Chronicles: definite pre-order

Status: 0 of 7 (0%)

2011 and Prior Releases I will be purchasing and at what price - list of releases
These are the games I will restrict myself to when the buying urge comes upon me, and for lower prices than I normally would purchase (unless digital). I will not necessarily buy all of these games.

  • The Witcher 2 (PC) - $20 or less
  • Driver: San Francisco (360) - $20 or less
  • Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360) - $25 or less
  • Forza 4 (360) - $30 or less
  • Saint's Row the Third (360) - $20 or less
  • Orcs Must Die! (PC) - $5 or less
  • Rocksmith (360) - $40 or less
  • Bastion (XBLA) - $7.50 or less

Status: 0 of 8 (0%)

Side Goals

  • Finish up achievements in Prototype, Viva Pinata, all three Rock Band games I own, PGR3, Fable II, Borderlands, The Maw, Ilomilo, NIER, Banjo Kazooie, and a few other games that I haven't quite polished off.
  • Focus on the 360 enough to support my team for as long as we're in the GTASC
  • Finally reach that elusive 90% completion at TA after hitting 88.9% so many times.
  • [color=red]Stay the hell away from a PSP, Vita, and 3DS[/color]. I want them so badly, but a whole new platform is opening up a can of worms I don't need to deal with right now.
  • plop anything gained from burning down points on Goozex to the rear of the queue, excepting Alice: Madness Returns.
  • Time permitting, get further into the three Atlus JRPGs I have looming over me on the PS2: Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2, and Nocturne.

Status: 0 of 6 (0%)

I, Minarchist, solemnly pledge remain incredibly awesome just like I am now. Also, to take part in the Pile of Shame monthly threads. Even if it is just for one game, I will put forth effort to clear my ever-growing pile, one game at a time.

I also pledge to do everything within my ability to restrict my game purchases to those that I've listed, and, if I should falter, will shamefully add them to the pile in full sight of this support group.

[size=8]....help me![/size]

So... exchanged gifts with my girlfriend yesterday before she left for the holidays. I'm now the proud owner of a PS3 (which I was planning on getting next year anyways but I'd probably talk myself out of it again) and there's a wishlist I made on Amazon with at least 10 games already. It's going to be a hard year to keep the pile from growing since I mostly wanted a PS3 for JRPGs

My backloggery: http://backloggery.com/stevenmack

Probably not going to make any other commitments other than what I'm doing now, which is plugging away at the somewhat overwhelming list in the above link when there's not new stuff to distract me.

Hmmm... It's getting to be so we have a pile of pile threads.....

SallyNasty, you copycat.

Shadow of the Colossus is off the pile after just over an hour with it. It might be a good game at heart, but it's a terrible game for the PlayStation 2. The lousy frame rate and muddy visuals make the gameplay more frustrating than fun. I spent most of the time I was playing trying to get a sense of what I was supposed to be doing while a herky-jerky colossus blob moved around my television.

The visual fidelity and processing power of the system just aren't able to execute the designer's vision. Different art direction and a different design could have made it workable, but the developers instead decided to deliver a lackluster product. The story might be enough of an incentive to keep playing, but the broad strokes of the ending are pretty easy to guess before the end of the first cutscene.

I'd be keenly interested in trying out the new HD version on the PlayStation 3, because I think the improved visuals and performance would do a lot to improve things. Unfortunately, I don't own that platform and likely never will, so this one gets watched on YouTube, at best.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I like trueheart's format, so I'm going to mostly steal it:

Games in my collection I most want to finish/watch the credits roll.

  • Vanquish
  • Nier
  • Resonance of Fate
  • Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
  • Dead Space 2
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked*
  • Pokémon SoulSilver
  • Ico
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Persona 3*
  • Persona 4
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword*
  • Lost in Shadow
  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
  • Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Status: 2 of 16 (12%)

Games in my collection I would like to finish/watch the credits roll:

  • Assassin's Creed 2
  • Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
  • Rune Factory Frontier
  • Super Mario World
  • Bastion
  • Hydrophobia
  • Trenched

Status: 0 of 7 (0%)

* = In Progress
/ = Abandoned / Sold
/ = Finished / Completed

2012 Releases I will be purchasing - list of releases

  • Bioshock Infinite
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
  • XCOM
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
  • Xenoblade Chronicles

Status: 0 of 5 (0%)

2011 and Prior Releases I will be purchasing and at what price - list of releases
These are the games I will restrict myself to when the buying urge comes upon me, and for lower prices than I normally would purchase (unless digital). I will not necessarily buy all of these games.

  • Catherine
  • Dark Souls
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Status: 0 of 3 (0%)

Side Goals

  • The Wife, She Demands It! Replay Half-Life 2 and its episodes
  • For Switchbreak: Replay Deadly Premonition twice more for the last two achievements
  • This Year, We Go Platinum! Replay Bayonetta on Hard, beat Vanquish on Hard, and beat Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Hard
  • You Made Your Bed, Now f*ck In It: Have 0% of my pile marked as "Unplayed" at the end of the year

Status: 0 of 4 (0%)

I, Clocky, solemnly pledge to take part in the Pile of Shame monthly threads. Even if it is just for one game, I will put forth effort to clear my ever-growing pile, one game at a time.

I also pledge to do everything within my ability to restrict my game purchases to those that I've listed, and, if I should falter, will shamefully add them to the pile in full sight of this support group.

In addition, I'd like to put the following purchasing controls in place:

  • Items on The List (see above) are exempt from all these rules.
  • No 360 or XBLA games, not even if it's a kinda interesting game that's having a really good sale.
  • No DS games will be purchased after March 27th.
  • No buying games for any platform unless I don't have any unplayed games on that platform.
Minarchist wrote:

SallyNasty, you copycat. ;)

I did copy a bit and was pretty surprised by how much overlap there was between us!

And Dead Space is down!!!

*Edit* One falls, and another takes its place...
Picked up The Saboteur for 9 bucks - don't judge me!

SallyNasty wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

SallyNasty, you copycat. ;)

I did copy a bit and was pretty surprised by how much overlap there was between us!

I meant this bit, which I slipped in to my list just to see if anyone was still reading by that point:

SallyNasty wrote:

I, SallyNasty, solemnly pledge remain incredibly awesome just like I am now...

Copied typo and all.

Here's my backloggery link:

http://www.backloggery.com/biginjapa...

The only game I plan on buying this year are Mass Effect 3 and Bioshock Infinite

Here's my backloggery link:

http://www.backloggery.com/honeycut1

I still need to add games to the list for 360, XBL arcade, PS3, Wii, PC, PSP, and DS/3DS. I thought I would have something really clever to say after I posted this, but making this list was unpleasant. I'm feeling like some kind of video game horder and if my wife sees this list she'll leave me.

Well, sh*t.

The Steam sale may make adhering to Clockwork's Addendum really hard right now. Even just the first day. Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 for $5? Rift and Singularity for $7.50 each? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Minarchist wrote:

Well, sh*t.

The Steam sale may make adhering to Clockwork's Addendum really hard right now. Even just the first day. Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 for $5? Rift and Singularity for $7.50 each? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

You've already violated Clockwork's Addendum by shopping in the goddamn Steam sale. If you're not going to add to the pile, why are you tempting yourself with games?

I think Rift is in good shape, but chances are it'll go F2P like every other MMO that's not backed by Activision or EA next year. How's that for a dis-enabling?

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

Well, sh*t.

The Steam sale may make adhering to Clockwork's Addendum really hard right now. Even just the first day. Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 for $5? Rift and Singularity for $7.50 each? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

You've already violated Clockwork's Addendum by shopping in the goddamn Steam sale. If you're not going to add to the pile, why are you tempting yourself with games?

but....it's so beautiful...

IMAGE(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OfOrI9LzPXA/S-N0Zkiwj0I/AAAAAAAABL0/SaJbl-wAAKk/s1600/user106129_pic7202_1235570279.jpg)

Minarchist wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

Well, sh*t.

The Steam sale may make adhering to Clockwork's Addendum really hard right now. Even just the first day. Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 for $5? Rift and Singularity for $7.50 each? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

You've already violated Clockwork's Addendum by shopping in the goddamn Steam sale. If you're not going to add to the pile, why are you tempting yourself with games?

but....it's so beautiful...

IMAGE(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OfOrI9LzPXA/S-N0Zkiwj0I/AAAAAAAABL0/SaJbl-wAAKk/s1600/user106129_pic7202_1235570279.jpg)

766 hours of gameplay later, they'll likely be just as cheap, and you'll have the added bonus of actually being able to play them when you buy them rather than doing the Steam equivalent of tossing them in a drawer full of gift cards for the Belt Barn, pencil nubs, loose rubber bands, and random bits leftover from baby-proofing your house.

If XBLA had sales like Steam, we'd all be doomed.

trueheart78 wrote:

If XBLA had sales like Steam, we'd all be doomed.

I'd be safe. I don't have a 360.

Also, I need to finalize my list of games for 2012, including my revisit list.

For those of you with a backlog of games you want to purchase, GameFly is offering their 2-disc plan for 1 month for $1.

I've got a calendar even set and will be trying to get through some of my "want to buy" games if they ship to me. I will not be keeping GameFly my $1 month runs out.

I just noticed that if you click on the Memory Card on Backloggery that it gives you a complete rundown of all of the activity on your account: games added, games marked beaten, games marked complete, and games deleted. It also gives you a handy progress indicator: Beaten + Completed - New - Unfinished. That seems like a really handy tool for tracking stats, as it were, for the pile.

The only catch is that if games are added as beaten or completed, then the scoring is thrown off. With that in mind, I'm tempted to remove everything from the memory card prior to the first post in this thread. Essentially, to zero-out the counter.

The progress marker says "2011 Breakdown." Anyone know if it zeros itself out with the New Year?

Edit: Eh, went ahead and did it anyway. My current score is -10 (11 games added, 1 game completed). I want to at least keep that number positive this year.

Yes, it resets and gives you a breakdown for each year. Silly newbie :p

I'm just ahead of the game.

I'm going to have to make some modification, but basically my list is just about the same as it is in the Google Doc spreadsheet. I might make myself a backloggery account, we'll see.

The good thing is, I told my family I'm doing no more Christmas lists, and none of them even try to be insightful enough to go to the store and do research. I told them before "I only bought this game and this game from September to October, so if you go to GameStop and asked what has released since then, there should be a lot of obvious games that pop up".

Nope. They just throw their hands in the air and say "I don't know what you have!" No seeing X-Men Destiny and thinking "Gee, Chris likes X-Men, and video games, he would like this game!"

...then again, I should be thankful for that. My family hasn't bought me a lame duck like the Iron Man games since...forever.