How do you decide what games to get?

Hey all
I am currently in a dilly of a pickle trying to think about how to decide what games to get and whether to get anymore. The issue I have is I have a pile of unfinished titles and it seems certain types of games get forgotten. Games like Oblivion, Far Cry 2, Test Drive Unlimited, Fallout 3 and others have been left for a while unplayed. Now, these games I enjoy but I just cant seem to get into them as I have with others like GRAW, Football Manager, PGR3, and more.

The last few titles off the top of my head that I have finished are: Halo 3, Gears of War, Call of Duty World at War, Guitar Hero 3, and Bioshock. There are a few others but these took much longer to finish and the above I really got into. My concern is that I am buying the wrong types of games or too many.

What do you think of this?

I usually make a list for each console I own and pick which games I want the most from each list.

What do you mean by "wrong type of games"? There is no such thing as too many games, if anything buying games when you have money to buy them will save you from spending money on games when you don't have alot of loot.

Usually what I'll do is buy 3 or 4 games at a time so they last me a while before I get the urge to go buy another game.

I wouldn't worry about it.  I pick up a ton of games, and generally, I'll only maybe actually finish a third of them.  It's purely a hobby, nothing more.  If you're not getting into a game, don't feel bad about not playing it.  Hang onto it for a rainy day, or a good long dry spell of games.

Personally, I'm a bit of a game collector.  There are certain games I own that I know I'll never finish, but it's like collecting records.  Sometimes, I just want to own a game for no reason other than I believe it belongs in my collection.  I've played the original Gears of War maybe three times, found I didn't much care for it, and yet still kept it because it's one of those games that felt like a part of the essential 360 collection.  I also tend to buy obscure RPG's for the same reason.

True but I seem to go every month getting a game or two and more later on. These usually arent full price (the last full price one I got was GRID).
Wrong types of games I mean in my perspective, as in maybe I should not get open world titles as I just cant get into them for long time frames which is needed for their style. They are good games, dont get me wrong, but I mean perhaps I am narrowing what types of games I like.

Any more thoughts on this?

Coin toss.

Because ive been gaming for a while i tend to know what games ill like and wont. I also look at giant bomb

I get the good ones. Thats all.

I really just buy the games that I like, and if I'm not sure, I'll rent it or download the demo to try it out. For the most part I tend to go towards the games that have a long play time and slight replayability (ie. rpgs).

So yeah, if I like a game I'll buy it, if not I wont.

-hiro

Friends and podcasts, I like to hear someone talk about what they liked about a game. I think that has always given me the best results.

I used to buy almost every good game that came off just because they got so much hype and acclaim from critics. I soon found myself in a similar situation where I had all these awesome games that went unplayed because I couldn't get into them. Now I'm a lot more focused on my tastes, while I just rent the others I'm not as sure about. Sometimes you see a game and you just know that you're going to love it. Those are the ones to buy.

Good idea, I just dont know what to do with the games I have, whether to force myself to play them or not :S

I think you're just buying too much. You should just start off with titles you'll know you'll finish, because most of those unfinished titles you have are starting to become cheaper to buy.

I'd say at least force yourself to play Fallout 3.

if theres a hot new game ill get that, in most cases, like today, i just go to a store find something i have heard of and looks good ill pick it up. i think ill get assasins creed today, its on at target for 20 bucks

I read reviews and when I feel that the reviewer regards the same things as important as I do, it goes on my "need to play" list.

I don't feel the need or importance of playing the "newest" games. I normally don't buy games full price. I buy them when they're a bit older, mostly used.

When I see a game that I head good things about for a good price, I might pick it up.

I play demos whenever I can. A few good demos brought me to buy the full game, even though it might not necessarily have gotten good reviews.

When there's no demo version, or I know there's not a lot of content, or I don't want to support the developer/producer (because of censorship, localization, etc.), and I still want to play/try it, I pirate.

On the other hand, some games I buy mainly because I want to encourage the devs for taking risks. (like Mirror's Edge)

I very reluctantly buy sequels. I regard sequels as one of the main reasons the video game industry is stuck with stupid, shallow and ridiculous fanserving games, instead of being the awesome interactive medium it could be.

First of all I have to be interested about the game. Then I proceed to read every review known to man about said game. After which I try to play it, download a demo or something. Then I consider all aspects of the game, longevity being the second most important to fun for me.

I determine the games I want through reading about them and order them in a list of descending anticipation.  I buy the ones at the top of my list(games I want the most) and go down the list.

If a game interests me, I ask myself only one question: will I replay this game once I beat it? If yes, then it's a buy; if no, then it's a rent.

I've got a pile of shame, too, of unplayed games in my collection.  My biggest problem is I sometimes get sucked into the hype and buy something before really considering if I have the time to play enough to make it worth the purchase (let alone finishing it).  Gameflyreally went along way toward curbing this habit.  Renting the game usually satisfies my desires for a game without costing me $60. 

The last few titles off the top of my head that I have finished are: Halo 3, Gears of War, Call of Duty World at War, Guitar Hero 3, and Bioshock.

What do you think of this?"

Any suggestions on some good ones? I have COD2 as well as World at War but not many others from those named.

After finding out a bit about the games via message boards and news sites I'll usually play a demo/get impressions from others. There are only a few games I have bought day 1 because of the price for new releases, so those that I am interested in but cannot justify the price for whatever reason, I'll wait until the price goes down.

Sadly, that means most single player games are ones I wait on buying right away.

Really just look at what you're the most interested in and go for those first.

This is completely unrelated to the thread, but Garfield360UK, can you set yourself an avatar. For some reason, it really bugs me seeing a post without an avatar. How did you even end up without an avatar? When you register it should set you a default avatar, and as far as I was aware there is no way of removing an avatar, only changing it.

MattyFTM - will do, I dont know what has happened as I have the picture of Garfield I use elsewhere and its stoped appearing here.

Time for a new one.