A Gamer's resolutions

Ten resolutions not necessarily in any particular order. Just things I want to chance... it's going to be a struggle I can tell you that.

1. Finish the game

The guilt of not finishing a game is something we all live with. We are three quarters into the game and it just starts feeling like a chore, or something more interesting or prettier comes along, or there is a difficulty spike we can't handle or... No matter the reason it has to end. Finish the game.

2. Sales don't matter (that much)

There is a tendency, especially among the online community to equal a game's success with its sales numbers. Everything boils down to whether it sold more than this or that or whether it lived up to expectations. Killzone 2 was nowhere near the sales of Halo 3. Failure. This train of thought is very short sighted, but understandable. We live in a society that measures everything in terms of monetary value, but it would be nice to see people ease back a little on it. Let the suits worry about sales, and just focus on playing games you like. I'm one of the worst offenders and I need to rise above it.

3. Give motion controllers a chance

I have to admit not being a fan of motion controlled gaming. I never really felt the appeal of Eye Toy or the Nintendo Wii (apart from great software of course). There is always that short period at the start when something feels fresh and exciting, but that quickly wore off for me. In 2010 Sony will launch their motion controller for Playstation 3 and Microsoft will offer up Project Natal. I'm not sure about either one, but I will give them a fair chance. Ultimately it will be up to the software of course, as always.

4. Use less profanity

I turned thirty (yeah, I know hard to believe) last year, and I'm sure some of my neighbours find that unimaginable as I belch out profanities in the middle of the night, because I was bested by some jerk across the world in Modern Warfare 2 or because something went wrong with a save file. It's time to grow up and be a bit more civilised... (I've already broken this resolution, sorry)

5. Play more independent titles

They may not all be lookers, they may not all be great, but there are hidden gems out there that don't have a single dollar in marketing behind them. In 2010 I vow to make more of an effort to hunt them down and try them out. Promise.

6. Organise the collection

Stacks by the TV just won't do it in 2010. I need to organise my games better. I guess there is little point doing it in quarter one though as there will be a horde of new titles released, and I will have to redo it in April anyway.

7. Hype control

"It's going to be the best thing ever." Sometimes us video game writers are turned into that kid on the playground, utterly overwhelmed with anticipation. It's easy. It's what we are expected to do, and life is so much more fun if you have a positive attitude. But there needs to be some balance. So a little less hype, when it's not fully warranted. When it is, however, I will be that kid on the playground, jumping up and down... Weeeeeee!

8. I will be evil... in a game.

I always, always, always turn out a goodie in game were you get to shape your hero's morale. It's somewhat limiting and I need to be bad in upcoming games like Mass Effect 2 and Fable III. Why is that so hard?

9. Stop shooting dead people

I'm not talking about zombies, but I have this disturbing thing I do when I play shooters. I make sure enemies are dead by putting a few extra bullets in them as they lay there. It's just disturbing. In certain games, like Dead Space, it's useful shoot things that lay on the floor, cause you never quite know if they will come alive. So other than zombies (and necromorphs) I will stop shooting what's already dead.

10. I will use the word epic less...

Very few things are epic. Even fewer games are. Some games are developed by Epic. That doesn't necessarily make them so.