1. The Backlog

    I recently underwent a task: to sort my video games autobiographically in the order that I obtained them. Yes, this is a move inspired by High Fidelity. The goal wasn’t introspection, but to see if I could do it.

    I then decided to take every game that I’d beaten, and turned it on its side. What was left was a stark picture of my backlog: The games I’d bought, but never beaten, laid out in a sensible order for playing them.

    (At this point I should give props to @synertia for starting the fantastic blog Backlog Killer, and asking me about my backlog).

    This isn’t a complete picture. It’s only the games that I own for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, Gamecube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. I own just about as many games for older systems, for PC, and through digital distribution.

    Here are some stats. This list consists of 48 games that I haven’t beaten, out of the 137 that are on the shelf. Using the website howlongtobeat.com, I’ve included the median main-story completion times for each of the games.

    The grand total to complete all of these games from square one is 1,132 hours, or a little over 47 days straight. If I were to endeavor to beat all of these games before the end of 2012 (with 322 days left), I’d need to play for 3.5 hours every day, without exception.

    That… isn’t realistic, even if most of these games are half-completed.

    So, I’ll do the best I can, beating these games in a Last In, First Out fashion which will still allow me to play the hot new games that always (inevitably) come out.

    So, behold, the list.

    • Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) [50 hours]
    • Demon’s Souls (PS3) [40 hours]
    • Paper Mario: 1000 Year Door (GCN) [30 hours]
    • Fatal Frame (PS2) [8 hours]
    • Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (PS2) [12 hours]
    • Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented (PS2) [19 hours]
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword (Wii) [40 hours]
    • Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (XB360) [70 hours]
    • The Thing (PS2) [8 hours]
    • Theresia (DS) [12 hours]
    • Again (DS) [8 hours]
    • Red Dead Redemption (XB360) [17 hours]
    • Resident Evil 5 (XB360) [11 hours] 
    • Darksiders (XB360) [16 hours]
    • Fallout: New Vegas (XB360) [31 hours]
    • Pokemon Soul Silver (DS) [40 hours]
    • Deadly Premonition (XB360) [22 hours]
    • Bionic Commando (XB360) [8 hours]
    • Alone in the Dark (XB360) [7 hours]
    • Condemned 2: Bloodshot (XB360) [9 hours]
    • Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) [12 hours]
    • Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) [50 hours]
    • Pokemon Pearl (DS) [40 hours]
    • Wild Arms: Alter Code F (PS2) [50 hours]
    • Metroid Prime (GCN) [12 hours]
    • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GCN) [20 hours]
    • Eternal Darness: Sanity’s Requiem (GCN) [27 hours]
    • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) [45 hours]
    • Gears of War (XB360) [10 hours]
    • Okami (PS2) [46 hours]
    • Final Fantasy III (DS) [35 hours]
    • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) [17 hours]
    • Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (PS2) [30 hours]
    • Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS) [25 hours]
    • Trauma Center: Under the Knife (DS) [12 hours]
    • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) [23 hours]
    • Kirby Canvas Curse (DS) [6 hours]
    • Thief: Deadly Shadows (XBOX) [24 hours]
    • Still Life (XBOX) [6 hours]
    • Condemned: Criminal Origins (XB360) [10 hours]
    • La Pucelle: Tactics (PS2) [34 hours]
    • God of War (PS2) [9 hours]
    • Jade Empire (XBOX) [13 hours]
    • Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (XBOX) [12 hours]
    • Escape from Monkey Island (PS2) [12 hours]
    • Disgaea (PS2) [45 hours]
    • Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS2) [9 hours]
    • Xenosaga: Episode 1 (PS2) [40 hours]