"I want to play a little game."

Actually, I play this game all the time. It's called "I Want to Buy A Game, But I Don't." Now I want you to play it with me. Let's see how many of you are succesful.

I've noticed something about us gamers. We NEED too much. WAY too much. We feel like we just HAVE to have these new games or we'll DIE! We wait months and months and months for a game to come out, cursing developers, cursing publishers, cursing Aunt Meldridge for not putting the cat out, cursing our breakfast cereal because we ran out of milk, since someone was too busy cursing the developers and publishers for delaying the games to go out and buy some.

And for what? The game's out, so you rush to buy it, you rush through and play it and ... it's over. What the bloodly hell did you actually accomplish? Now that the game's been beaten, it's off to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. You know that game you've been waiting months and months for? Well, now it's 20 bucks. You could have played that exact same game for forty dollars less and probably would have enjoyed it more since you wouldn't feel so pressured to play through it to move on to the next game, had only you taken the "months and months" out of the equation.

But you just can't do it, can you? You can't make yourself believe you can exercise patience. The game beckons you. You are addicted. You're a junkie. You're pathetic, and you know it. Naw, don't check yourself into GA just yet (Gamers Anonymous, dummies ). First, let's play a little game. MY game.

Forget fragging the most enemies. Forget scoring 89-hit combos, or moving to the next castle to rescue the princess who got moved again right before you made it to the end. Forget setting record lap times. Forget unlocking achievements. You want an achievement? Here's a REAL achievement to earn:

So here's how it's going to work: Participants can choose up to six games they really want to get, and they'll earn 100 points for each week they choose not to purchase those games. The number of games a player chooses will act as a multiplier, so for instance, if JoeSchmoe selects three games and holds off for four weeks, then at the end of that term, he will have amassed 1200 points. Points can only be accrued from the moment the game is released, and if the game is currently available, then you will accrue points immediately.

You will be docked 500 points should you choose to purchase a game that you have selected to be on your list. You can replace the game on your list with a different game whenever you like. Please also select games you know you WANT badly, not just games you're already planning to wait on a price drop for.

Please be honest. We're using the Honor System here, so we'll just have to trust other. However, if anyone finds out you've purchased a game you're still claiming as unpurchased, via by seeing it added to a collection, or you're seen playing it on XBL or Steam, or what have you, you'll immediately be disqualified, branded a traitor, added to JPL's Wall of Shame and your name will be drug through the mud of the all the dirtiest forums on the Internet.

This experiment will run from February 9th 2010 to February 9th 2011. Participate early to get a jump on the competition and to get some point padding in case your willpower breaks. To sign up, please visit this thread:

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27178346&msg_id=319722988#319722988

Post a reply saying "Yes, I would like to play. Here are the games I want to list." Please state the release date and what system it will be released on.

This is a serious game here, so if you're not serious about playing, I'd appreciate it if you don't sign up. There are no prizes here, merely bragging rights, and being able to look at yourself in the mirror and saying "I stared my impulsiveness and addiction in the face, and I did not falter." Also, this will help some of us who have overwhelming backlogs, as they'll be playing games they currently have, because they're holding off on buying the ones they really want. Best of luck to all of you!

I have once again become grossly late with my impressions. I'm going to have download a crap more demos, so for now, I'll just talk about what I have to play on the HDD currently, which is only three games. Also, I played the Heavy Rain demo on the PS3 last night, and I'll talk about that at the end of the blog. The first two games are XBL games, and the third game is a 360 game.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond

It's clear to see the Contra inspirations in this game. You move left or right, shooting everything in your path, collecting different weapons on the spot, dropped by enemies. The game's presentation is psuedo-3D, and there are all sorts of activity in the fore and background. You can also shoot enemies in the background, which is nice. The tone of the game is mature, with massive amounts of blood and some swearing, but the game doesn't take itself seriously, as it satires other games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon. The game plays well enough, but there are loads of cheap deaths. It's a throw back to the way 2D soldier shooters used to be. The demo offers you three different stages, but they're all timed demos, so you'll never actually complete one. The asking price is way too steep, at 1200 points. You MIGHT be happy with it at 800, but only really buy this game if you're dying for a new XBLA.

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

I'm so glad we don't live in the era of games that the original Serious Sam was in. This enhanced version of this FPS, just like all similiar FPSes are all about luck. You run around in open areas and sometimes you get overwhelmed by spawning enemies, and if you manage to survive a firefight, you save, because the next one you might not be so lucky. Some of the moments here are just so painfully cheap, I cannot imagine playing the entire game. The impression I got of Serious Sam was kinda like Duke Nukem; it comes across trying to be cool but ends up really cheesy. The graphics are decent for a XBLA remake, but sadly, I just didn't have enough fun with the demo to consider a purchase.

Dark Void

This is pretty much Gears of War with jetpacks. Now, before you get too excited, it's not as fun as Gears of War, but it's still an interesting game nonetheless. The demo is such a tease, though. It's very short. But basically, it starts you off getting the jetpack, and then you soar into the air, taking out towers, and then flying enemies. If you wear one down, you can try to attach to it and pick it apart, but when I tried, I ended up getting shot down. After you shoot down the flying enemies, you then have to land on a shield generator station for some ground combat. This is where the pop and shoot Gears of War style gunplay happens. What I do'nt like though is that it takes a long time for an enemy to go down, even if you're constantly tagging them in the head. The graphics are pretty decent, and I think it controls pretty well. I might check into this game when it drops to about 20 bucks or so.

Heavy Rain (PS3)

For fans of Indigo Prophecy, you will instantly fall in love with this game. The atmosphere is terrific. The interface is intuitive. It's a game that just sucks you in. The graphics are absolutley amazing, clearly the best use of character modeling and texturing I've seen on a console, but unfortunately, the graphical quality is a little inconsistent when you're outdoors in the rain.

The demo starts you off as a private detective investigating murders commited by someone dubbed the Origami Killer. You're given a very quick tutorial, and then you enter an apartment complex to look for someone to question. Shortly after you conduct your interview, you're attacked and the game goes into a QTE segment (perform button actions in time with on-screen prompts) and I don't what it is about this game, but these QTEs are FUN! They're very well done!

After the private detective segment, you then switch to an FBI agent to investigate a crime scene, the Origami Killer's latest victim. This agent has the sickest CSI kit I've ever seen in a video game. He's got these glasses that read off all sorts of information, and a glove that's used to control the interface, and take samples of DNA and other sensetive materials. The presentation of this part of the demo is just uber slick.

The more I think about it, the more I want to buy this game right away when it launches. I've got less than a month to get ME2 done, though. I've set myself a strict discipline of not buying new games when I'm currently working on others, and so far, I've done a good job... but I dunno, the temptation is strong with this one. I just wish I wasn't so close to FFXIII's release date...

While everyone's playing and enjoying Mass Effect 2, I've decided to put it on hold for now. I started it the other night, and spend most of my time just reading everything in the Codex. (Apparently I'm a very slow reader.) I've been debating for a bit about whether I should get the first ME again and play through it and then import my character into ME 2. Sure, I'll only get a few levels bonus, and 50,000 extra credits, along with some storyline decisions that carry over, but is it really worth it?

"Wait, back up. Didn't you already beat the first Mass Effect? What happened to your save file?" Yes, I did own the first ME and finished it, as a Vanguard I believe. But what happened to the save file is it got wiped out when I stupidly installed FFXI again, had the 8 gigs of game data corrupted and had to flash the HD in order to get the space back. When I lost my ME save file, I figured there was no reason for me to keep the game anymore, so I got rid of it.

Anyway, now I have it again, and I'm glad I do. Mass Effect was also in my list of games to reacquire, and now I can scratch another one off the list. Now I can experience this great game all over again, and maybe make some new decisions, and for the first time, I'll be playing it in HD. I was playing on an SDTV when I first got the game. I'm letting the game run on demo as I'm typing this, and I can already tell the graphical leap from the first to the second is extensive. The cutscenes don't look nearly as impressive as the first.

About the GameSpot experience, it's actually a positive one. In the metro area of Denver where I live, boarding on the city of Aurora, there are three GameSpots within minutes of me. The first GameSpot I went to unfortunately didn't have a copy, so he checked the other stores close to me, and only one had one, which was used, but he wanted to call the store and verify so I didn't head over there for no reason. Well, we spent about 10 minutes trying to get through, and I just decided to try again later, as I had breakfast waiting in the car for me.

I headed home, ate and watched a movie, then went back to that shopping center to try the Best Buy and Wal-Mart before having to get on the freeway and drive a bit into Aurora. I should have known that neither store would have a copy, so I punched in that GameStop location where we were trying to call earlier into my Yellow Pages on my phone, called them and sure enough, they had a copy. I flew over there, parked in the 15 minute express carryout parking spot in front of the adjacent WingStop, walked in, and walked out with the copy.

Both GameStops had clerks that were just about as friendly as friendly can be. Sure, they gut copies, and yeah, they probably don't give you good enough deals on used games, and yes, they pitched pre-sales on me. But they were FRIENDLY! Cheerful, smiling, energetic when talking you. Polite and professional, and they knew when not to press the issue if you weren't interested in accessories or pre-orders. Plus, the used game I bought had the manual and the disc was in decent shape, and that's all I really care about.

But I've heard stories of GameStops that were complete nightmares. Poor customer service, snobby clerks, etc. I guess it just depends on the managment. I mean, the only bad experience I've had with a GameStop was in the Aurora Mall, and I've had problems with that store back when it was an Electronics Boutique. I dunno, I would like to think GameStop is getting better on a whole, but it could just be I haven't gone there frequently enough. Anyway, I'm just happy to get a copy of Mass Effect without having to order it online.

UPDATE: So, I hit start and went to the title screen and what's this? RESUME GAME?! I thought surely, it must be a glitch, so I selected and low and behold, it had me fighting Soverign. I STILL HAD MY SAVE FILE ALL THIS TIME! I totally forgot that it was one of my more important save files I transfered to my memory card (which is still plugged in, btw) before I flashed the HD. Ugh... In a way, I'm annoyed that I spend 25 dollars on this game when I didn't want to, but like I said earlier, I still wanted to put it back into my collection. On the upside, I can now go directly into ME2 with my imported character, who is named Tully Shephard, by the way.