I've never been one to make serious New Year's resolutions, mostly because I don't really have the willpower to keep them. So this year, I decided to write down a few game-related resolutions, in the hopes that 6 months down the line, my pile of shame will have increased to such an extent that I'll be guilted in to finishing at least some of the items on this list:

1. Finish a single Final Fantasy game

Over the course of my gaming career (for lack of a better word), I've started many a Final Fantasy game. I've spent various amounts of time playing I, II, IV, V, VII, and IX. This year, I intend to finish one of them. It's looking like V is gonna be my best bet, since I seem to play the portable systems a lot more these days, and I'm desperate for a reason to play with the Micro.

2. Beef up the GamerScore

It really is amazing how something as trivial and meaningless as a number on your GamerCard can fuel such a rabid addiction. I think that, given my other responsibilities with school, family, Emily, etc,. my score is somewhat respectable. But it can always be higher. And besides, it's not about the raw number. The real glory is in the ratio of points obtained to the total number of possible points given which games you've played.

3. Finish my current To-Do List

There are a number of games that I've either already started or intend to start soon that need to be finished by the end of the year if I am to keep any sort of reputation I've earned as a game player. A few of those titles include Twilight Princess, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Gears of War, Oblivion, and Okami. I won't settle for anything less than 100% completion in Zelda or Castlevania.

4. Write more reviews

The player review system used to be one of my biggest draws to GameSpot. Now, I spend more time moderating them than writing them. Maybe it's because I just haven't finished a game I'm passionate enough about yet (see item #3 above).

5. At least start working on my pile of shame

I'll get this out of the way right now. I have never once played Halo or Halo 2. I'm just not an FPS fan. Prey and Gears of War were the first FPS games I've played since Doom or Goldeneye, and I've only ever played multiplayer on those titles. Other games I'm ashamed to have at least started but never finished include any GTA title, Indigo Prophecy, and Psychonauts.

6. Get Emily more involved in my gaming habits

For the entire 6 years of our relationship, Emily has been an enabler. Most of my collection over the years has come from her tireless efforts to hunt down any classic gaming store wherever she goes. For my 21st birthday, she threw me a surprise party at Dave & Busters, one of the only arcade-ish establishments left. I'd never been there before, and I had the time of my life. She loves playing games like Mario Party, Wii Sports, and Animal Crossing. I just need to find a way to fit more games into her schedule of craziness as a second-year med-school student. I think I'm just a little bit evil.

7. Break away from Animal Crossing's all-consuming, icy grip

Speaking of Animal Crossing, I have a problem. I need to join a 12-step program. Since buying the game, I've been on a never-ending, futile quest to aquire every item in the game. My catalog already consists of virtually every item you can buy, and I'm just missing the specialty items that you can only get from the random visitors. Unlike the GameCube version, though, where the visitors maintained some sort of predictable pattern, Wild World seems completely random. It isn't fun for me anymore, but I still turn it on for a few minutes every night before I go to sleep. It's wrong, it's sick, and I just can't do it anymore. Alas, I fear the only cure will be replacing it with an addiction to the Wii version. Damn you, Nintendo. Damn. You. To. Hell.