Did your pile become less of a mountain? - 2011 in review

It's funny. Just today I was thinking that I shouldn't buy another game until I'm finished with what I have. So I'm in. I'm not going to commit to completing all my games. I am going to commit to this, though. I will not buy another game until I am "done done" with my entire pile. I have a mountain of shame that keeps getting added to with the latest hotness. Some of these games I just want to play until I know I'm done with them and can safely put them done. Some of them I want to see the credits roll. I can't honestly say which will be which. I'm going to try and watch the credits roll on them all, but at the very least I'm not going to buy another game until I have either finished a game or made a convincing argument that I've experienced what I want to experience out of the game.

So here is my list. These are just games own. I have a pile of shame in my mind. Games like Bioshock or Riddick that I've purchased and not finished. But they don't go on the mountain of shame. This is just what I own.

DS
SMT: Devil Survivor
Dragon Quest IX
GTA: Chinatown Wars
FFTA2
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-land Mayhem

Wii
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Super Mario Galaxy

360
Banjo Kazooie: N n B
Battlefield: Bad Co. (SP)
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Revenge
Castlevania: SOTN
Costume Quest
Fable II
Fallout: New Vegas
Forza Motorsport 3
GTA IV
LIMBO
Half Life Episode 1
Half Life Episode 2
Penny Arcade Episode 1
Raskulls
Red Dead Redemption
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Rez HD
skate.
Skate 2
Saints Row 2
The Saboteur
Viva Piñata

iOS
Angry Birds Holiday Edition
Auditorium
Chaos Rings
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Galaxy on Fire 2
Genesis
Moonlights
Osmos
Plants vs. Zombies
Secret of Mana
Space Invaders Infinity Gene
Spider

I've added myself to the spreadsheet.

I have a lot of games in the "to buy" pile, but the majority of them are conditional on my having fewer than eight titles on my pile. I doubt I'll stick to that (I know I'll mop up some of those cheaper games if they hit a low enough price point), but I'll at least try not to bite immediately.

How do you get access to the spreadsheet?

DSGamer wrote:

How do you get access to the spreadsheet?

Just open it from the original post. You might need to be logged into a Google account, but I'm not sure about that.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

How do you get access to the spreadsheet?

Just open it from the original post. You might need to be logged into a Google account, but I'm not sure about that.

Should be OK now. Edit access is available to anyone who uses the link.

SallyNasty wrote:

Operation Anchorage down! On to the next one!

Congrats! I just finished Witch Hunt to knock my second Dragon Age DLC off the pile.

Downloadable games are an unsettling development pile wise. I keep thinking my POS isn't too bad and then I remember all those virtual games lurking in the shadowy corners of various hard drives.

Higgledy wrote:

Downloadable games are an unsettling development pile wise. I keep thinking my POS isn't too bad and then I remember all those virtual games lurking in the shadowy corners of various hard drives.

Absolutely! Between Steam and XBLA, I have quite a few lurking in the shadows.

I viewed my 360's games library by 'Arcade' only yesterday... So many games with 0/200 it's not funny. I don't remember buying half of them. DoTW is evil, only surpassed by the Steam Holiday sales.

I'm not going to get as detailed as some people have here regarding their pile commitments, but one thing I will commit to.

I'm only going to buy a game if I am going to play it immediately. No buy now, play later thinking allowed.

Hmm. My pile-clearing efforts may have just taken a hit. I bought a Windows phone which promises to tempt me with games like ilomilo while giving me one less reason to carry around an iPod with all those iOS games.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Hmm. My pile-clearing efforts may have just taken a hit. I bought a Windows phone which promises to tempt me with games like ilomilo while giving me one less reason to carry around an iPod with all those iOS games.

So, are you going to be the person to start a WinPhone7 game thread?

MrDeVil909 wrote:

So, are you going to be the person to start a WinPhone7 game thread? ;)

If no one beats me to it over the weekend.

I put a couple more things to the spreadsheet that I forgot to add before:

Under 2010 Purchases, I added:
Vanquish - $30 (I originally had this pre-ordered, but I canceled it since I had too many games in October already.)
Raskulls (Just barely counts as 2010. It came out on 12/29)
Dead Rising 2: Case West
Pac-man CE DX
World of Keflings
Costume Quest

And under 2011 Releases, I added:
Ilomio

Nier has been defeated.

ClockworkHouse, if you've already beaten it then you may be getting an incoming message from me to discuss that game a bit.

Forgot about two PC titles I'm currently playing, added to the list: Braid, The Witcher. Both pretty far already.

ccesarano wiped nier off the list for you.

Thanks to all that are adding and editing the Google Doc, it's making my life a little easier

Garden Ninja, I can't recommend ilomilo highly enough. TrueHeart put me (and a lot of Goodgers) onto that one at the end of last year through the super secret download code they ran. Easily one of my favourites for the year, utterly charming. Sounds like a crap description of it, but I can't think of a more apt way to describe it

Just cross referenced Hemidal's thread, and looks like the spreadsheet is up to date, as of this post.

Just wiped my first title for the year off too! It feels good to have made a start.

Okay, I'm jumping in. I will be telling myself that my list is at least shorter than some of those in this thread.

Games I have now that I need to start/finish/re-start/re-enter the MP
360
RUSE
Darksiders
Castle Crashers

PS3
Bayonetta
MAG
God of War Collection
Demon's Souls
DMC 4
ModNation Racers
Yakuza 3
Braid

PC, i.e., I really am going to fix/replace my video card this week, I swear this time
Dawn of War II
Empire: Total War
Company of Heroes
STALKER

Games I plan on buying this year
Starcraft II
Diablo III (ha ha!)
Little Big Planet 2
Dead Space 2
Uncharted 3
Gears of War 3
Dragon Age 2
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Batman: Arkham City
Mass Effect 3
Crysis 2
Deus Ex HR

I, CptGlanton, 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.

And I'm done with Dragon Age. I thought Awakenings was going to take much longer, but I managed to get through it in less than 12 hours. (I updated the spreadsheet)

I'm making pretty good progress on the pile so far, but we'll see how long I can keep up this pace. I also need to update the thread/spreadsheet with all the games I missed in my initial pile tally.

OK CptGlanton, you're on the spread sheet, don't forget to head over to Hemidal's monthly thread to name your poison for January.

Oh, and casktapper, slow down! You're making the rest of us look bad!

DSGamer, let me know if you want me to commit that list to the system, or if you are happy just to have it as a list of public record. I noticed Riddick and Bioshock weren't listed, so I'm not sure how to use your info.

I probably don't want to commit the list to the system. I just like watching a thread like this and I the idea that publicly I kind of committed myself to sticking to the games I have until I had a clean pile.

DSGamer wrote:

I probably don't want to commit the list to the system. I just like watching a thread like this and I the idea that publicly I kind of committed myself to sticking to the games I have until I had a clean pile.

Baby steps Picking up what you're putting down.

I'm actually really stoked at how well this little thread is going. When we joked about it in Hemidal's original thread before Christmas, I thought maybe three or four of us would get onboard. As of last count, we've got about 20+ doing this. Thanks everyone!

I was looking for a DVD the other day and ran across my copy of Gears 2 that I've been meaning to play. Guess I need to add that to The List.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

I probably don't want to commit the list to the system. I just like watching a thread like this and I the idea that publicly I kind of committed myself to sticking to the games I have until I had a clean pile.

Baby steps Picking up what you're putting down.

I'm actually really stoked at how well this little thread is going. When we joked about it in Hemidal's original thread before Christmas, I thought maybe three or four of us would get onboard. As of last count, we've got about 20+ doing this. Thanks everyone!

And I updated with my first finish of the year: Batman: Arkham Asylum, with 100% of the collectibles.

EDIT: I just talked myself out of Monday Night Combat for the PC as watching gameplay vids made me realize I more than likely would not get that itch I was feeling scratched. Hooray for victories!?

And ... I just ordered DC Universe Online, my very first MMO. So I guess all that talk about finishing other games just went out the window.

I'm posting mainly to commit to committing to a twelve-month plan at a point in the near future. I was pretty regular with Hemidal's monthly thread through last summer, but the school year threw me off a bit. I just finished Call of Duty: Black Ops last night, and that was a Christmas gift, so that's some pile progress, even if it's unstated/uncalled ahead of time.

Regardless, between this thread and my getting suckered in to GOG's sales, I'm in desperate need of the support group, so informally count me among your number.

I noticed a lot of us have Transformers: War for Cybertron listed amongst our pile games. Not sure if this falls under enablement or not, but my purchases for 2010 games includes DLC for existing titles at a good deal off.

As part of the Activision Sale on XBL, both of the T:WfC map packs are on special 800 400 space bucks. Linked to the TA story, as Major Nelson's blog has these particular packs listed under DJ Hero 2 DLC (as of this post).

Sale ends 17 January, there's some other stuff listed in the article too, so beware.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

I noticed a lot of us have Transformers: War for Cybertron listed amongst our pile games. Not sure if this falls under enablement or not, but my purchases for 2010 games includes DLC for existing titles at a good deal off.

As part of the Activision Sale on XBL, both of the T:WfC map packs are on special 800 400 space bucks. Linked to the TA story, as Major Nelson's blog has these particular packs listed under DJ Hero 2 DLC (as of this post).

Sale ends 17 January, there's some other stuff listed in the article too, so beware.

I did notice that. Are those just multiplayer maps? (internet says yes, with some extra characters) My next question was if there were any associated achievements and fortunately there are not. I think I can safely skip them.

But, I may pick up Dishwasher: Dead Samurai in the zombie sale this week (see XBL Deals of the Week) Of course, am I going against the spirit of this thread by succumbing to a new, unplanned purchase so early? I signed up more to force myself to tackle some of those pile games rather than to limit my spending, but I still feel guilty.

And Just Cause 2 falls.

My "Completion Percentage" is only 25% but I saw the credits roll which counts as completion to me. I thought the ending sequence with the missiles was a bit silly but overall it was a blast. Insanely fun game. I kinda regret buying all the DLC for it since I never really used any of it, but since my total cost was only around $12.50 for everything (thanks Steam sale) I can't say I didn't get my money's worth anyway.

Anyway, on to Red Faction: Guerrilla!

ETA: Man, looking at the spreadsheet makes me feel like a wimp. I thought putting down one game per month would be enough but I've got the shortest list on there. Maybe I need to add a few...

casktapper wrote:

...

But, I may pick up Dishwasher: Dead Samurai in the zombie sale this week (see XBL Deals of the Week) Of course, am I going against the spirit of this thread by succumbing to a new, unplanned purchase so early? I signed up more to force myself to tackle some of those pile games rather than to limit my spending, but I still feel guilty.

I would suggest against Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. I picked it up when it was on sale several months ago. I liked the demo, but it was incredibly misleading. The demo is the first stage, which makes the game seem like a decent, if not very deep brawler. In the beginning of the second level is an obnoxious kill room, with what seemed like endless enemies that spam grenades. When you beat a level, it unlocks to be replayed, and unlocks the next level, but only for the current difficulty, so I couldn't even turn do the difficulty without restarting. That is annoying in any game, but in a game with discrete levels, and level select of completed levels, it is bad design.

The combat wasn't good or deep enough to bother replaying that first level, just to see if maybe the second level isn't garbage on a lower difficulty, so I dropped it and moved on. You may enjoy it, but personally, I'd save the $5.

tanstaafl wrote:

ETA: Man, looking at the spreadsheet makes me feel like a wimp. I thought putting down one game per month would be enough but I've got the shortest list on there. Maybe I need to add a few...

Or maybe, just maybe, you're the most realistic amongst us...

Don't feel bad about how many you have listed in the spreadsheet. If one a month is all the time you have to use for this, then it is no less important than those of us that are aiming for more. Looking back at my list, I'm not sure I'm going to get them all (especially with Fallout, Red Dead, Lost Odyssey and The Orange Box in there).

Congrats on first blood too!