Dr. Bob's minions tire away endlessly to help the good Doctor in the name of science,
but with what little downtime they get they would like to share with you fine people! 

VIDYA GAMES by Critch

So I’ve been writing about video games for my first two musings, but I just realized my last entry got eaten by the internet and replaced with another entry, so I’ll just wrap that up real quick.  TL;DR – The more Nintendo extended their grasp, the more potential video game owners slipped through their fingers.  They insulted Sony through a business deal, resulting in the creation of the Playstation.  Despite one lucky stroke with the Wii, Nintendo ended up on a downward spiral, culminating in the Wii U, which the word failure would be generous.  Sega went out of business in a blaze of add-ons and failed consoles, and Sony and Microsoft reigned supreme.  Currently after Microsoft tried to make their latest console require the internet and refuse used games PC style, Sony has taken a commanding lead in what may be the last console generation.  Nintendo is going to try again with the NX, a console that purports to have both console and handheld options.  So the console market and video game history keeps moving.

The concept of a video game backlog is an interesting thing.  I personally have a large backlog of hundreds of games.  Most people have more manageable backlogs but the advent of digital games and sales means now instead of going out to a store to have a physical game to stare at you to cause guilt instead you just have a list of incredibly cheap games on sale that sits there, easily ignored, that you will get to ‘someday’. 

It also has inspired the “enigma of choice” – where you have so many options your brain freezes up and you’re unable to make a decision as to what to play.  So you end up in an even worse boat than you would be if you just didn’t have much to play.  Now you have too much to play, and you’re out all the money that you’ve spent.

So how do you fix this issue?  It takes a lot of self control, something that I’ve had issues with as I own all the consoles and a gaming PC.  You have to set rules for the games that you will purchase.  Make sure you’re not buying every new game that comes out because thanks to Steam sales and now Xbox and PSN weekly deals it is most likely that the game you want will drop in price before you get a chance to play it.  Set goals, such as for every 2 or 3 games you finish then you can buy a new one.  It’s going to take a lot of self reflection and searching to find a result but hopefully it will keep you from getting in the same boat that I often find myself in.  Learn from me!

This also works for things like TV shows and Movies, or anything else you have building up in your personal life.  Use discretion and intelligence and you’ll find you’ll solve the problem.  Hopefully I can!

Previously on Minion Musings...