At least you started writing something. I got as far as a list before I realized that I still wanted to finish the two 50+ hour strategy/RPG dealies I was playing at the start of this month. I am still playing them.

@arbitrarywater: I feel you. With Wasteland 2 and Zestiria both getting good reviews, I can't imagine I'll be lacking in RPGs to play when I eventually buy them, Divinity OS and Fallout. Jeez.

I feel ya on this Sparky. Fall is a super rough time for me gaming wise every year. My familial, social and work responsibilities just cut my gaming time by 75%.

And on top of all that a zillion lengthy AAA big releases always come out now that I invariably want, and in most cases finish before GotY time so I can listen without fear of spoilers and such.

That's why I tend to try this in January, you got the New Year's resolution angle plus if you are like me you have this stack of games you acquire from Holiday sales and such staring you in the face.

@slag: No kidding. Kinda glad I've got a little less spending money this year than I did the last few. This time around, maybe I'll have the patience to wait for deeper sales for a lot of these games.

@sparky_buzzsaw: This would be easier to manage if all the games I wanted to play weren't roughly a bajillion hours each, for as much as not having enough time to play all the games one wants to play is basically the definition of a "First-World Problem". It's probably important for me to acknowledge that.

Speaking of Divinity and Wasteland, the updated editions of both of those games hit this month (Wasteland 2 Director's Cut is already out, Divinity: Original Sin -- Enhanced Edition is on the 27th) and I was thinking of using those as a springboard to actually finish them, which I didn't do the first go-round. Wasteland is probably less of a priority (because I think it's not as good of a game as Divinity), but I also still want to play The Witcher 3 as well. Not to mention I've been messing around with The Age of Decadence, which... might have to get its own blog at some point. It's uhhh... "interesting".

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for any of us. No point in paying full price for something you aren't going to play right away anyway.

I initially wrote something along the lines of "sorry to hear this, Sparky" right here, but I deleted it because I realised I didn't mean it. In fact, I'm not sorry at all, because you've made the objectively smart decision - to play the video games you want to play, and have a blast doing so. That doesn't make me sorry, it makes me glad. What makes me even more glad is knowing that one of those video games is Metal Gear Solid V. Hot diggity, that is a fantastic game right there, and I've got 95 hours under my belt attesting to that fact. I look forward to exchanging more stories with you the further through it we both get.

Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't opt to do this in October just to take advantage of the pun potential in the initiative's title. I did it because October was looking like a pretty quiet month for me - there's nothing new coming out that I want to play (nothing I have access to, anyway), and it seemed like a good way to make some space in my gaming calendar for when I take the plunge on a current-gen system next month. That, and to take advantage of the pun potential in the initiative's title. Seriously, how could I pass up such a tempting portmanteau? See, the last syllable of 'backlog' bears a passing phonetic similarity to the first syllable of 'October', meaning you can smoosh the two together to...

...what was I getting at again? Oh yeah, the point is, I realise not everybody is in that situation. In fact, when I invited other people to hop on the Backlogtober train, I wasn't really expecting anyone else to climb on board. As @slag said above, it's not really the ideal time for your average gamer to attempt something like this, with new releases coming out the wazoo and holiday sales just around the corner. Maybe it'd be better suited to that late summer drought we seem to experience every year. Backlogust, anyone?

Long story short, I think you made the right decision for your situation here, Sparky. Moreover, I admire you for it, because I'm so stubborn that even if I wasn't making decent progress I'd still be insistently beating my head against the brick wall that is my Pile of Shame. I look forward to reading whatever pops up in this space next, be it an in-depth mechanical break-down of Disgaea 5, or some Fallout 4 impressions, or whatever. Until then, keep playin' them there viddy games, sir, and keep enjoyin' 'em.

@dankempster: For some reason, I had it in my head Disgaea launched at the ened of October - I think I actually had that date from Amazon at some point, but who knows? And I certainly wasn't expecting my brother to buy me MGSV, which has become the end-all be-all of time sinks. Such a good game.

Anyways, yeah, thought I had a month of relatively light releases and didn't expect to be dragged into two massive time dumps at the beginning of this blog series. I'm glad I did, don't get me wrong. But I'm not sure now when the next opportunity will be for me to catch up on my backlog. With everything coming out in the next few months along with a heavy 2016 schedule, who knows?