As the year winds down, finals wind up. The holiday kicks into full gear. Insanity sweeps through what little of my mind is left. I stare at my steam library, my gog library, hell, even my console libraries and shudder. I have the biggest back log in the history of back logs. It seems nigh impossible to complete all the games I have, and with more coming out, how will I live up to this pressure?!

Well my friends, it's time for me to selectively single out certain games for play. As of this writing I'm currently working through both Baldur's Gate and BG 2, BGE HD, Far Cry 3, Skylanders Giants, and Zombi U. As for priorities, I think Far Cry 3 takes the top of the list. I'm nearly done with the game, I think I've only got about an hour or two left. That'll be one game down. BGE HD I'm really enjoying, so that should come next on my list. BG 1 obviously should take precedence over 2, but 2 feels like such a better game and I'm having considerably more fun with this one; the decision there is tough to make. Zombi U is next, since I can probably complete this relatively quickly, I think I'm about halfway through. Last, but certainly not least of my active games, Skylander's giants. I want to get a few more skylanders before I dig deeper into this game. Ideally, I would like one of each type to fully complete the game on one runthrough, so to speak. So, since that will be the most investment heavy game, I think I should hold off on that.

On top of those games, for personal enjoyment, I have been running through some games with my fiance. I say this because I do all the playing and she sits back and watches the story unfold. I'm not complaining about this in any stretch, but it just adds to the ever-increasing workload of video-gaming that I have. I mean currently we're working on Dead Space (something I completed when it came out, but she didn't complete but loved the story) so we can move onto Dead Space 2 for her. We're also going through Fatal Frame at an extremely leisurely pace. Fatal Frame is actually something both she and I are fery interested in, and it's given here a few good chill scares vs. Dead Space's jump scares. She generally laughs that I sit there entirely focused on the game, not flinching even slightly at the jumpier moments of the game. I think this is because I'm more focused on completing the goal, and I have a bit more understanding as to how the game is set up and have more of a sense of what will come. But, I digress. What I'm trying to say, is: while these games are definitely on the back log list, they are most certainly low on the totem.

Back Log can be a very disheartening thing. So many games left unplayed, almost feeling undeserved of attention. Yet, these games were all fun in some respect... Well, except for some. I did manage to buy a few complete dev packs from steam over the years. I have a feeling several of those titles will sit on my digital library for all eternity without being played/completed (I'm looking at you Kane and Lynch). Yet, all totaled up, I might have about 300 total games to go through that I really want to play. My strategy highlighted above usually works out pretty well (considering that's generally how I read books and watch television shows), but it'll just be picking the next roster of games to complete. My gaming hobby feels almost like a second job to me. However, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. There aren't many jobs where you could toil for hours, agonizing over the smallest details yet still feel an immense amount of pleasure. I guess, in that respect, I am fairly lucky.

All things considered, I look forward to next tuesday. My classes will be completed for at least a few more weeks, and only having to worry about work allows me a significant chunk of time to dedicate to video games. Maybe I will get through Dead Space, and take a little hiatus before Dead Space 2. Of course we need to finish these before 3 comes out... But I should stop myself before this gets too out of control.