I did it. I went a full month without playing video games.

And I have no plans to do that again… ever.

It was hard. Harder than my year without buying games is going. Harder than my six months without drinking coffee went.

But now I'm back. First chance I had on August 1, on an airplane home from my summer holiday destination, I fired up my laptop and played VVVVVV. It was sweet. My fingers buzzed against the arrow keys and spacebar. A low-level tension that had kept clenched within me for the past month eased. And I felt… content. So content. And so grateful.

How fortunate, how outright spoiled, am I that one of the greatest causes of stress in my life is a self-imposed month without playing video games? Sometimes I am astounded by how lucky I am.

When I arrived home, I fired up my PS3, which had sat unused for all of July's 31 days, and celebrated by playing inFamous, running around the city, pulse healing everyone who needed it. I also took demos of Limbo, Catherine, and Beyond Good & Evil HD for a spin, and downloaded the now free-to-play Age of Conan for PC.

It's so awesome to be back playing games. I have no idea what I'm going to settle down to play next: Dead Nation, Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty, Age of Conan, or carry on with any of Castle Crashers, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Puzzle Quest 2, Super Meat Boy, Half-Life 2, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Mirror's Edge, Cave Story, Team Fortress 2, Lord of the Rings Online, or World of WarCraft (up to Level 20). Any recommendations? I'm open to suggestions.

As gamers, I hope we all realize how awesomely lucky, how outright spoiled, we all are. Happy gaming!