I think that everyone who plays even a moderate amount of computer games has a backlog of games that they have yet to play or complete. Some of these will never be completed, they were rented for an evening or borrowed from a friend (or GOD FORBID, pirated) – they didn’t grab you and youre not going back. Other’s though are quality games that came out during a particular glut of such and didn’t get played or completed. Or perhaps you’re a fan of particular genre’s that tend to have massive playtimes (Strategy titles, RPG’s, etc.) and thus exacerbate the problem of an ever growing backlog. If you are reading this wondering what the fuck I’m talking about then you should a) rejoice in not being shouldered with a similar Sisyphean load and b) tip on (or read on, “whatevs” as the cool kids say).
A handy online tool to track your failure to complete computer games (and everything else, your mother was right about you) is The Backloggery. While my mildly worrying love of graphing my own life in minute detail would like a few more ways to play with the data it serves its purpose well.
So whats the point of all this? Well the next few months have a veritable fuckload (it’s a scientific term, look it up) of quality games coming out. Games which I would like to play, but which experience suggests I may not get around to. I would also like to make some decent inroads into my already existing backlog. So I’ve made a schedule. There are twenty three weeks remaining in the year and I intend to complete a game a week (and by complete I mean at least see the credits, not necessarily 100% it). New releases alone fill fifteen of those slots (and that’s not all new releases, just the ones I definitely will play). Which doesn’t leave a lot of space for clearing my old backlog.
However the one game a week limit is not a maximum, it’s a minimum. If I do get back into college I’m going to see a radical reduction in my free time. If I don’t get back into college I’ll probably be looking for a full time job which will also tragically affect my free time. But even with those reductions some games simply are (often disappointingly) short, even without my 1337 5k177z most action games aren’t going to take longer than 10-12 hours to bang through. This is good though as some of the games below have a fucking ridiculous playtime (e.g. Skyrim and Disgaea 4 are easily 100+ hours). To be honest the timetable is to make sure that I complete the main story of such games in the week allotted and then move on before inevitably coming back. So if I finish a game in a day or two (which I should be able to do during my blissfully open August) I just move onto the next game in the list.
But as I mentioned above most of the games in the list aren’t released yet, so if there’s nothing in the main list then I move onto the substitute list, this should allow me to take a big chunk out of my backlog. The list also generally has me pencilled in to play the game the week after its release, to insure that I actually have it available. However for some titles, I’m willing to “waste” a certain portion of the week waiting for them to release because I know I simply cant hold off on playing them. There are next to no portable games listed here, with the best will in the world I just cant seem to get into handhelds. That might change if I end up commuting as much as it looks like I’ll have to.
Anyhow on the to schedule, first we have the main list which consists of “Week beginning:Game:Platform:Games release date”. After that we have the substitute list, in alphabetical order (play order will be determined by my fickle whims). Then finally there’s a short list of “Wildcards” games that have been announced for this year but look like they wont make it out and so far have no solid release date.
Main List
25/07 Atelier Rorona (PS3)
01/08 Catherine (PS3) (26/07)
08/08 From Dust (PC) (27/07)
15/08 Arkham Asylum (PS3)
22/08 Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC) (23/08)
29/08 John Woo Presents Stranglehold (Collectors Edition) (PS3)
05/09 Disgaea 4 (06/09) (PS3)
12/09 Dead Island (06/09) (PC)
19/09 Warhammer 40K : Space Marine (PS3) (06/09)
26/09 Resident Evil 4 HD (PS3) (20/09)
03/10 Dark Souls (PS3) (04/10)
10/10 X-Men:Destiny (PS3) (27/09)
17/10 Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (11/10)
24/10 Batman: Arkham City (18/10)
31/10 Civilisation V (PC)
07/10 Uncharted 3 (PS3) (01/11)
14/10 Skryim (PC) (11/11)
21/10 Saints Row: The Third (PS3) (15/11)
28/11 Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (PS3) (08/11)
05/12 Shogun 2 Total War (PC)
12/12 Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (PS3)
19/12 Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (PS3)
26/12 Frozen Synapse (PC)
Substitutes
Agarest Senki (PS3)
Armored Core for Answer (PS3)
Bayonetta (360)
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War (PS3)
Blazblue:Continuum Shift (PS3)
Borderlands (PC)
Chrono Cross (PSX)
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
Dante’s Inferno (PS3)
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (PS3)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (PS3)
Enchanted Arms (PS3)
Final Fantasy IX (PSX)
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of The Lions (PSP)
flOw (PS3)
Flower (PS3)
Folklore (PS3)
Front Mission 3 (PSX)
hack//Infection (PS2)
Jeanne d’Arc (PSP)
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
Killer 7 (PS2)
Kuon (PS2)
Legacy of Kain – Blood Omen 2 (PS2)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP)
Namco X Capcom (PS2)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma (PS3)
Odin Sphere (PS2)
Pain (PS3)
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSX)
Rock Band 2 (PS3)
Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
Scribblenauts (DS)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (PS2)
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (PS2)
Shinobi (PS2)
Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)
Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP)
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX)
Tales of the Abyss (PS2)
The Last Remnant (PC)
White Knight Chronicles (PS3)
Wild Arms 3 (PS2)
Wild ARMs XF (PSP)
Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone (PSP)
Zone of the Enders The 2nd Runner Special Edition (PS2)
Wildcards
Guild Wars 2
NeverDead
Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Secret World
Xenonauts