Among my current/next gen gaming, I continue to dip back into the games I grew up on by buying up game for NES, SNES, N64, Atari, etc. I love my old school gaming! With my game collection stretching past 300 games, I've come to a nasty realization: I don't finish the games I have :(

I find that I have developed what I call "GameDD". Yeah, cheesy, I know... but there's really no other way I can put it. I totally zone out when it comes to games. There's tons of current/next gen games that I have and love, but looking among my shelves, i noticed how many I have yet to even finish.

Bioshock is one of my favorite games right now. I've had it since the day it launched, but I have yet to finish it. Assassin's Creed another I really dig... I haven't even done the first assassination in the story yet. I've just done tons of the side missions. On the PS2 side, I haven't scratched the surface of Final Fantasy XII. Never finished Shadow of the Colossus. Here's the biggest travesty of all: I have never finished any of the Metal Gear Solid games.

So, what causes me to zone out so much and just not focus on one game. Is it that the market has become so over saturated with games, that I end up buying into the hype of the next 'big game' that's coming out? I've pondered this for quite some time now. I remember the days that big 'blockbuster' titles were few and far between. A big hit game would come out and you would spend months playing it.

I have very fond memories of playing The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time for weeks on end. As soon as I finished that game, I went back and played through it all over again. Nothing could pull me away from that game and it was quite some time that another game of that magnitude came out on any system. Now, that's certainly my opinion on it, but I'm sure others would say the same thing about another game they latched on to during that time frame.

Today we just get bombarded by game after game and hype after hype. Granted, we've seen some great games come from all this competition, but when does it all become too much? One trend I'm seeing in gaming as of late is short games. I understand that developers are reaching out to the casual gamers and a broader audience. I also understand that production costs are more exorbanant than ever. Along with those two points, there's the ever growing demand to 1up the opposition and release the next big thing.

With all that said, I'm still confused to where my GameDD kicks in. Honestly, it's a combination of everything. I always want to see the next big game, I end up buying into the hype, and I start to milk the new games for all they're worth because they're over far too quickly for my tastes. The last point is probably my major problem. I read reviews or hear from others about how short a game is and I become disapointed. Knowing a game is rather short lived, I end up playing it in very short burst in order to prolong it's life in my gaming heart and soul.

I have to get used to the fact that we live in the age of more casual players picking up games. My hopes are that those of us that are among the hardcore crowd will be appeased from time to time by developers that remember we're their bread and butter :)