Four weeks has come and gone and a new semester starts tomorrow. :|

On the bright side, that was one of the better winter breaks i've had in a while. Lots of time to go through my backlog and play some new games as well. The games I managed to finish were (ranked in the order in which I enjoyed them most):

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

2. Infamous 2

3. Mario Kart 7

4. Assassin's Creed Revelations

5. God of War Origins Collection

All of these games were all very fun but in the end, I think Skyward Sword turned out to be one of favorite games in all of 2011. Now that's saying A LOT considering I ended up playing a mountain of games this year (mostly catching up with PS3 games). This includes plenty of popular titles such as Uncharted 2, Red Dead Redemption, God of War series, Assassin's Creed series, Ocarina of Time 3D(for the first time ever), Twilight Princess, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart. In the end though, they were all so awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed playing all of my games this past year.

Now with that being said, 2011 was also a year where I think I spent way too much money on gaming alone for my liking. I like to keep tabs on my spending and my total for games in 2011 ended up being just over $700. I know gaming can be an expensive hobby and i'm sure there's people out there who spend way more than I do but for me personally, it's still a bit much. Although I have to remember I did purchase a brand new system this year too; 3DS at $250.

Fortunately, most of my PS3 purchases were at bargain bin prices (Greatest Hits titles). I have about 16 PS3 games and I don't think I spent more than $35 for any of them. Most of them were price at around $20. My only Wii investment was the Skyward Sword bundle ($70). The only things I bought at full price were the 3DS, Super Mario and Mario Kart 7. I had trade credit to spend on Ocarina of Time and Starfox 64 3D.

So, what does this mean for 2012? I've actually bought pretty much all of the PS3 games that I wanted so that's a definitely plus. I'm actually aiming to get just the games this year that will last me a really long time and stick with those. The occasional price drop or sale will probably have me picking up some other goodies too. But for now, the long-lasting titles i'm thinking of are:

- Xenoblade

- Animal Crossing 3DS

- Monster Hunter Tri G (if it ever comes to NA)

Of course, that's only in terms of what we know is coming out. I'm sure E3 is gonna bring lots of irresistible titles. :cry:

Speaking of E3... I don't care if Nintendo has me drooling over my desk with the Wii U at E3 this year. I am not buying one at launch or anytime soon. Not because I don't want one, i'm sure I will. With Wii mostly out of the way, i'm expecting my 3DS and PS3 to hold me over for a few more years. :P