With the new systems coming out, my new addiction to FF XII and ongoing addiction with GTA: San Andreas, I can't help but think that I have several games in my backlog.  The truth is I resent the idea of a backlog.  Backlog is something you have to do, in your job or at school.  A backlog is a chore.  Games are fun.  So I prefer to think of games as options.

Back as a kid, I really had a limited amount of games to play.  They were good games and, thankfully, back in the day of the 5200 and early NES days, game difficulty was ridiculous.  It was rare to have beaten a game and, even if you managed to, replay value was always high.  Well, hell, I was a kid, I don't know if they were great games.  They were just fun for a pre-teen kid.

Nowadays, I just don't like replaying games all that much.  Most games are so long that to replay them is too much effort.  I might pop them in here and again to reminisce (thank you Square for the movie theater in FFX), but it would be unlikely for me to play through an entire FF over again.  I did it with 7, prior to the release of 9, but that was the last FF I've done that with.

Honestly, replaying 7 was great, but I did it with the strategy guide; I just didn't have the patience to look for things and waste time.  I know, it's a game, it shouldn't be about efficiency.  Sometimes, I want the feel without the effort.

Now, 8, 9 and 10 (hallowed be thy name) were all great in their own right.  It's not fair to compare each game.  They were released at different times.  It's like comparing the 60's Celtics to the 90's Bulls.  It puts fluff in an editorial, but it is really impossible.  It's good for provoking fanboys.  I digress.

The truth is I've played a lot and continue to play games.  I've got quite a back.. a lot of options.  I've completed about 80% of my collection, and I have some great games I can't wait to pop in.  I have Okami, Pikmin 2, Jade Empire, Halo, Halo 2, Doom 3, etc waiting for me.

The truth is that there are just some games I bought that I will never play all the way through.  That's ok.  I mean I bought them because of my consumer whoreism or just to have them in my ever-increasing collection.  Brothers in Arms, for instance, is never going to be played all the way through.  I bought that impulsively, and Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2) gave me all I'd ever need from a WWII game.

It's highly unlikely I'll play through Ninja Gaiden (XBOX).  Yeah, graphics/presentation is incredible, but it's too difficult.  This is coming from someone who beat the NES original in under 15 minutes, regularly.  I'm not a kid anymore.  I want difficulty, but not frustration.

Well, anyway, I'm going to continue playing my GTA and FF XII.  Those are some of last generations best games.  I've still got that Chrono Cross, Lunar (the first one and Eternal Blue) and a bunch of other classic games that I do plan on playing.  But there are others which I'm now comfortable admitting I just have no interest in.  But, what the heck, it's good to have options.