For those not in the know, a “pile of shame” refers to the stack of games that your own and, despite the quality of game, have yet to complete or even start. Right now my pile of shame has NEVER been bigger. So big, I’ve had to reorganize them into multiple piles. And this is all YOUR fault!
Anyone who extensively blogs, podcasts or vlogs about games as a “hobby” for an extended period of time will tend to describe a similar set of circumstances. As fun as it is being part of the gaming blogosphere community, you have to make some sacrifices if you are going to stay ahead of the game. For a start you will have to give up a large chunk of your game playing time. Not such an easy thing to do considering you need to be a fairly “hardcore” gamer to start with. Podcasting particularly seems to increase my tendency to move onto the next game quickly, as we discuss new games every week.
Then, you lose control of the games you get to play. It takes all my professional-level-of-non-
My piles were stacking up before Christmas. Then came a madly busy Christmas period with multiple AAA games hitting week after week and on more than one occasion multiple great games on one day. This problem is usually eased over the Christmas period, as I have a couple of weeks off to catch up with some gaming. This year, when I should have been going on epic quests to find heroic swords in mystical dungeons, I was instead on an epic quests to find the likes of the ultimate calendar plugin for WordPress in the “game” of building a Bigger, Redder and Better blog — a little place we now call Big Red Barrel. You may have red about it = /
I played Oblivion for 240 hours!! So the 12 hours I have put into Skyrim so far looks like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Then there is this small game named Star Wars: The Old Republic. It’s my first MMO, so it may take me a bit longer to work through, but I’ve heard that MMO’s aren’t much of a time-suck anyway. Sweet Jebus!! = / I could probably play nothing but SWTOR for the rest of 2012 and be quite happy.
I am ashamed to say, I have yet to fully augment the end of Deus Ex. I still need to brave my way through the second half of Dead Space 2. I will be angry if I don’t get to finish RAGE. I may struggle to find anyone else who hasn’t jumped through the Portal 2 DLC yet. Only a third of the way into Saints Row the Third. Yet to finish the battle on Battlefield 3. I still need to mushroom my way to gold on every track on Mario Kart 7 and ninja my way through through to the end of Shinobi on 3DS. Uncharted 3 still remains not entirely charted. I have a completely unopened copy of the Prince of Persia Trilogy (A WHOLE TRILOGY!), and I am afraid to open my copy of Dark Souls, for as much as I liked Demon’s Souls, that game didn’t seem to like me very much. I have had a copy of Driver: San Francisco, Dead Island and Street Fighter Arcade Edition on rental for the best part of *two months* and my sole interaction with any of them is watching a friend play through the start of Driver — more passenger than Driver, so far. I feel less guilty about inFamous 2, as I had completely forgotten that someone had lent it to before going through my game collection. I am not mentioning downloadable games. They are in a separate pile. A virtual one. I am virtually overwhelmed and that is before you even bring in the second playthrough of Mass Effect 2 with all the DLC that I am desperate in cram in before March.
I am going to list my current pile of shame, just to make a record. Presuming the Mayans weren’t right about the whole end of the world thing, I aim to come back here this time next year and see how many of these games I managed to cross off my list before the end of 2012:
Batman: Arkman City, Battlefield 3, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dark Souls, Dead Island, Dead Space 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Driver: San Francisco, Enslaved: Journey To The West, inFamous 2, Mario Kart 7, Portal 2 (DLC), Prince of Persia Trilogy, RAGE, Shinobi, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Skyrim, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.
I don’t blame you, but if you read *this* you are part of my problem! = p So, I’ll cut this short, as I am going to start working on Batman or Uncharted. I am not sure which end of this list to work from, but with floodgate of great games about to open for 2012, I fear no matter if I chose to climb up the pile with Drake or start zipping through with Bruce Wayne, my pile of shame may yet increase.
If you have a pile of shame to confess please feel free to record your confession here. Do what you can to absolve them from your list and see how you do this time next year.
Tags: 2011, 2012, Gaming, Mayans, Pile of Shame
208 Posts in Total
I’ve spent almost every waking minute trying to defeat my pile. It has worked. I had to blast through both Dragon age 2 and Ass Creed brotherhood this month. I also had Yakuza 4, but decided to sell it off instead. Not my thing, and not worth my time. Final fantasy in a few days, then, in another 7 days is Kingdoms of Amalur. Followed by the legend, Mass Effect 3 in March. I also have the PS3 version of Skyrimjob and so it was glitched like hell. I can’t touch that until about April.
My pile of shame is unable to be balanced in a nice tower (it looks too wobbly…) and is put on a shelf instead. My pile contains no ‘non-starters’ but many ‘about half way through’ and a fair few ‘must finish the achievements even though I’ve seen the end credits…’
I have been given a number of shooters by people trying to convert me but I just don’t ‘get them’ (no offence to those who do – I mean I happily shoot people in other games I just don’t like it if that’s the only thing they want you to do …if you know what I mean…) So don’t know if I’ll ever feel inclined to those. (Lessens the guilt with them…)
If time is your only challenge then you’re lucky. I have a physical illness that means that I have gradually reducing mobility and gaming is how I keep the mobility I have at present…so no matter how much I feel like getting into Forza (finished career doing event list) sometimes the hassle is a bit too much….doesn’t stop the guilt even if there is a reason….
There are only a limited number of hours in a day…..they are limits you are imposing on yourself..forgive the ones you are missing and enjoy the ones you are playing…(if that makes sense…) This site, the podcasts etc all take work and then there’s that thing called ‘real life’…..
No shame in having a pile of shame – just the sign of someone enthusiastic about games but unable to find that space time continuum loophole we are all looking for….
I’ve had a big red barrel of games to finish for the past seven years now. It’s been so long that I have forgotten what it feels like to have only a handful of games to finish. Amazing how games seem to pile up based around your interests, and people’s suggestions on what to play.
Other gamers would look at the barrel of games I have to visit and scoff at it because of how absurdly long the list of games is. I’m all for having a few games to finish, but when you have a backlog that exceeds common comprehension it gets to be a task on what your gonna play next.
Come Monday though I have the opportunity to help my family out by selling off a large part of my backlog. I’ve been waiting for this type of moment to justify getting rid of games I’ll never finish if it means someone will benefit from it.
My pile of shame is quite shameful. BF3, UC1, UC2, Sonic Generations, Skyward Sword, Portal (Co-op), LBP2, and several PS2 RPGs that I recently picked up have been waiting for me to play them. Meanwhile, I can’t stop playing MW3 and Skyrim, and aim on picking up KoA: Reckoning as well as FFXIII-2. This was after a massive purge of 10-20 games from my collection as well as my hard drive. *Sigh* too many games to play, but that is a good thing I suppose.
My pile of shame is stacked pretty high. I have about a dozen PS3 games still in cellophane, and not just the bargain bin stuff, I still haven’t unwrapped Battlefield 3. There are at least another dozen, that fit into the “played for less than 2 hours” pile. There are 2 games I call “No Blame Shame”, because either the game broke on the last level (Dead Space, which has thrown me off of starting Dead Space 2) or my PS3 YLODed more than half way through the game (God of War 2, which threw me off of playing GOW3). Then I have another dozen that I’ve completed about half of the game but lost interest. If I had to look at my real pile of shame (downloaded games) on a daily basis, I’d be embarrassed.
January has been pretty good for playing some catch-up. I finished Uncharted 3, Resistance 3 and Shadows of the Damned. Unfortunatly, the game that distracted me from those, Skyrim, still hasn’t been patched to my liking, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be wrapping it up before I begin another time-sucking RPG like Final Fantasy XIII-2 or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Actually, with those two games and the Vita stealing the shortest month of the year, I probably won’t get back to Skyrim until after I’ve saved the universe in Mass Effect 3. I don’t see too many lulls in the 2012 calendar, so it’s going to be tough finishing up the 5-6 games I want off the pile. I already have a clutch of games pre-ordered, I just hope I don’t make the same mistake of buying a game day 1, and not playing it until it’s price has been marked down (I think I may have already done that with XIII-2).
I don’t have a huge pile of platinum trophies, but I do have a pretty good list of games completed. So I think the pile of pride is a slightly bigger stack.
My pile of shame has started to stretch back into previous years. Not only do i have a stack of ps3/360 games that have never even been opened. I have a backlog of about 150 steam games. Damn those weekend deals!!!
I’m not even going to list my PSN games I bought or got from PS Plus that I haven’t touched yet. In addition to these games that I’m yet to beat I have a bunch of games that I did beat that I’d love to go back and play again or enjoy the multiplayer. I’ve seriously considered just selling some of these games so that I won’t feel obligated to play them.
Here is my current pile of shame:
Saints Row The Third (started but not done)
Bulletstorm (started but not done)
Batman Arkham City (beat the main campaign but haven’t done any side missions)
Vanquish
Rayman Origins
Crysis 2
Transformers War For Cybertron
The Sly Collection
Duke Nukem Forever
Brink
No More Heroes Heroes Paradise
Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010
DJ Hero
The Orange Box
Mine are Red Dead, Dead Space 2, FFXIII, LBP2, Ico collection, Split second, Burnout Paradise, GT5, Wipeout HD Fury, GTA4. I’m about to have child number 2, so intend to live off these as I’ll soon find games harder to afford. Perhaps I’ll get Skyrim and give up all other games 😉
How hard was it to think of all the word plays around thegames?
My pile of shame is pretty small at mo, cleared it all just have skyrim to complete,
But course I still have mental pile of ones I need to buy before they go on pile
Uncharted3 resistance3 battlefield saints row, but least there not actually by machine making me feel guilty, any way only another few 100 hours in skyrim to go then I can get to them
I have two piles of shame… i recent pile of shame (recent games ie. 2011 releases) and a dated pile of shame (anything further back that i still either have yet to finish or even start)
Recent.
Saints Row the third (only just started)
AC Revolution (not started)
Dead Island (not started)
Bodycount (not started)
Brink (not started)
Rage ( Only just started)
Deus Ex HR (Half way through)
Dead Space 2 (not started, see the dated pile)
Dated.
Mass effect 2 (not started)
Dead space (not started)
Red Dead Redemption (half way through)
Bioshock 2 (not started)
The Darkness (not started)
Hitman Blood money (not started)
Fable 2 (not started)
Think thats about it, you must all be thinking well what on earth have i been playing.
I’m the complete opposite, I refuse to buy games until I’ve beat the one I’m currently playing
My pile of shame is terrible. Deadly premonition, deux ex, bf3, arkham city, dark souls, ultimate marvel vs capcom 3, skyrim, darksiders and a few more. Alright, ALOT more. The problem is with work and having a young family makes it very difficult to play as much as I used to. I did manage to finish mw3 and that’s only as its incredibly short and I don’t give a monkeys about achievements. I may get them in skyrim as I play RPGs by going everywhere and doing as much as possible. Ive even sold a load of games just to diminish the pile as its very depressing seeing such a back log. At least I’ll be ok for a few months and may get a few new ones later in the year. Plus with XBLA titles as well to finish……well, im a very busy gamer.
My pile of shame has gotten ten times worse since my brick-and-mortar friends found out I never owned an original Xbox, and are now bombarding me with classic games such as the original Fable, Jade Empire and KOTOR 2 (I have played the first one.. how could I not?)
As for 360, I’ve got Mafia 2, Dead Space 2, WWE12, Dead Island, AC Revelations (+ the DLC from 2 and Brotherhood), and they’re only the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Haven’t even bothered to buy Saints 3, Deus Ex, Arkham City etc due to.. well, Skyrim. Yeah, Skyrim doesn’t help..!
Joey, I found your new sight. why didn’t you tell me you were moving, don’t be my pile of shame.
ps
you left your special cream, ill mail it to you
xoxo mama
agree about siykrm. i am now a level 17 mage- have not really done a thing on the main quest, or the dragonborn angle. Just screwing around with the mage college magus quest (been hell to finish- might be a little under powered at this point to attempt what i did. hint- SAVE OFTEN) felt like a game unto itself…and i mean that in a good way. i’ve alreay gone over 35 hours and i can’t imagine a way i won’t log 150+ on this bitch. a little buggy, but that is nitpicking. fing epic game.
The pile can sure get out of hand and before you know it you don’t know where to start.
Overall good list. My only beef would be the acbnese of Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Instead of cheating with Mass Effect 2, you should sneak it in there!
I hate this work shit – things were great when i had a 4hr a day job working from home followed by redundancy and 6 montths unemployment.
At least I managed to finish off dead island(1st run) last weekend, doing some BF3 co=-op @ moment few marks of lvl 45 achievo(@41) then I’ll have a look at the single player.
But I also want to do another Mass Effect playthru for insane and last 2 companion achievos (3rd xbox run – 5th overall) b4 ME3
Skyrim
SpaceMarine
Gears 3
Child of Eden
Gunstringer
AC:Revelations
New Vegas-Lonesome Road
LA Noire
Then figuring Achievo hunting
Dark Souls – 2nd run
Dead Rising – 5th run
Dead Rising 2 – 2nd Run
Halo Aniversary (MP achievos)
NFS:Hot Pursuit – Gold Everything
Then there’s DL’d stuff
Orcs Must Die
Crimson Alliance
Dungeon Defenders
Iron Brigade
Chop Lifter
A World of Keflings (yes shoot me)
Alien Breed Ep3
Ms SplosionMan
Swarm
+ a couple of old XBOX games that i picked up dirt cheap (£2) at a boot fair – Jade Empire, The Thing, Ninja Gaiden
Phew – could knock that lot out in a weekend 😛
1.I am over 100 hours into Skyrim and in about 15 more I will platinum it
2.Then I’ll go back and finish Uncharted 3 for the platinum
3.Then I have to go back and beat (and platinum) both of the God of War Origins games
4. Then I have Assassins Creed Revelations to finish
5. Then I have Rage which I’m only 1 hour into
6. I have Motor Storm Apocalypse which isn’t even out of the plastic yet
7. And lastly and definitely least! I have Brink which is also yet to be removed from the plastic
And then next week SSX comes out which will eat my life and Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect 3 come out which I plan on getting as well. TOOO MANY GAMES!!!!
And this whole list has been put on hold because of Gotham City Imposters and Twisted Metal Multiplayer (finished story)
[…] (or rebuying ones you own on another console) was brought up. I was again reminded that I have a huge backlog of games I haven’t even touched yet; in fact, my gaming backlog situation is so bad that […]