The Holiday Game Rush, a.k.a. My Wallet has been Raped, Please, Call the Police

Ah, November. A time for giving thanks, getting deals, stepping on people who fall in front of you at Wal-Mart, and buying Christmas decorations. Because FUCK December, right? This year also saw a large quantity of AAA games come out, back to back to back. Being employed and able I saw fit to buy most of these games, the remaining two coming out at midnight tonight, and I got them all for the low, low price of...

Jesus Christ, I've spent over 500 dollars on games in the last month.

Let me show you how I've reached this point.

First off, Brutal Legend came out back in Rocktober, the first of my "must haves" for this year. Tim Schafer is one of my favorite game developers/writers and I've been playing his games for a long time, so I had to go out and pick it up. Schafer on this generation with Jack Black in a heavy metal world? Do want. Got it, beat it, still messing around with the world. I really dug it even if it was a bit on the short side, as the world and characters are so well developed that I'll probably play through it again just to re-experience everything again. So, game one at sixty five with tax.

The next game I got was the large impulse purchase that really did me in. DJ Hero, in all it's awesome glory, was a large, random investment. I'm really glad I got it, though, as I can see plugging it in a playing around with it for a long time, much like I do with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Thankfully I'm not completely retarded and only got the basic set, which saved me eighty dollars for a cd and a "table". Still, one hundred and twenty bucks swirled away like a record.

For around a week after I bought DJ Hero, while I dutifully learned the nuances of the platter and worked my way through mix after mash-up, I watched as EVERYONE ELSE on my friends list played Borderlands. I didn't know if I wanted it, as with a busy game schedule coming out who would still be playing it two weeks later? Besides, why not wait until it drops in price in a few months and pick it up then, when I can find other people who waited and we could all play it together? Because, I'm a whore. So, on the breathless recommendation of most of the people playing it, I picked it up. Not a bad purchase either, as multiplayer is a blast, and single player isn't too bad itself. Still, I only have one, maybe two people playing it, and I finished it up myself last night.

The next game was one of my most looked forward to games of the year, Dragon Age. I picked it up day one, took it home, hooked myself up to it, and lost myself for a few days. Unfortunately, it got pushed off of my rotation by me wanting to finish up a few more games so I had time to play it, and now it's been relegated to backburner. Which sucks, because it's a really awesome game, and I really want to finish it, but it's looooong and I don't have time for long right now. Except for Pew.

Modern Warfare 2 came out next and, as much as I wanted to relegate it to a "later" buy date, with the "controversy" surrounding the release, I knew if I wanted to play through it spoiler free I'd need to get it day one. That, with a few recent games of multiplayer on the first game, convinced me to roll out and get it at the midnight release, maybe be a part of probably the biggest game release of all time. So, with two hundred plus other people I stood outside of the busiest Gamestop midnight release I'd been to, and picked it up. Not regretting it at all, as the single player is good enough to play through Normal and now Veteran, and the multiplayer is crack.

Finally we come to the last two games I wanted this year, oddly enough coming out on the same day. Left 4 Dead 2 is the follow-up to my most played game of the year this last year, and Assassin's Creed 2 is the sequel to one of the better second look games I've played. I say second look, because to be honest I didn't really like Assassin's Creed the first time I tried to play through it. I got about one third of the way into it and just set it down, but, after several, several months of inactivity and seeing that a sequel was right down the bend, I gave it another try. And I loved it. Left 4 Dead didn't get a break, as I've played at least once a week for a solid year. Love it, can't wait for more.

So five hundred dollars later, is it worth it? For me, yes. I don't need to even pay attention to new releases until next year, I've got my multiplayer needs fully taken care of, as if no one is playing MW2 they'll be playing L4D2, and vice versa, and with Dragon Age sitting in the wings I've got my single player fix as well. Do I regret some of the purchases? Yes, I do. I wish I'd waited to pick up a few of the games, but having them now doesn't dissuade me any from switching out every so often, keeping them fresh in my mind. Would I do it again? You bet your sweet ass I would.