I own an N64, a SNES, a Dreamcast, and a Sega Genesis, along with all of the current systems. The problem is, I don't think that I'll ever touch those old systems again.

With the upcoming release of Paper Mario 2, I want to plug in my N64 and play Paper Mario, which I've had for close to two years, but I've never touched. Why won't I play this older, great game? Because I already have a tremendous back log of games to get to. I beat Halo this week. HALO!!!!! I've had it for 2 and a half years, and I just got done with it.

I have been very good about beating games lately. I've beaten 4 since I've moved into my new apartment (I was stationed in Rhode Island for 5 months, away from all of my games) and I’m working on 4 titles at once. Although I have been concentrating on Chronicles of Riddick, I am making progress on Full Spectrum Warrior, Ninja Gaiden, and very slowly getting through Ico. I started playing Fable last week, but I don't like it, so it's been shelved.

Moral of the story: Although I own all of the great systems and associated games of yesteryear, I just don't find the time to play any of them.

I am not a pack-rat. Let's get that out of the way right now. The problem is, when it comes to games, i have a hard time getting rid of them and an even harder time saying no to a discount title that sparks even the smallest amount of interest in me.

As of Saturday morning, I had a collection of games that was nearly at 200. By Saturday night, 38 of those games were sent to their new home: EBGames. Why? They were offering a deal where you would get $20 extra trade in credit for every 5 games you traded in. I did not give them anything of value. In fact, I feel that I got the better deal. I walked out with Full Spectrum Warrior, Fable, Dark Cloud 2, Chronicles of Riddick, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Splinter Cell" Pandora Tomorrow, and I preordered Halo 2 and GTA:SA. What did i give up for all of that? Beyond Good and Evil, Madden 2003, NHL Hitz 20-03, and games like that. Nothing special.

Why all of this writing? I realized that most of the games in my collection had long since passed their prime. We are not talking about MGS or Castlevania: SOTN. We are talking about flashes in the pan. Games that my have been good, even great, but they are not considered classics. On that note, let's face another fact. The days of spectacular games gaining any value are over. With the advent of the greatest hit, almost nothing will be worth anything in the current and future gaming generations.

My suggestion: play your game, get your money's worth out of it, put it back in its case, take a long, hard look at it and determine whether or not you are going to ever play it again. If the answer is not "definitely," than trade it in whenever you get the chance. In fact, hold onto a few games until you get at least 5, wait until EB or some other store is offering extra trade-in credit for a certain number of games, and take advantage. I was able to get some of the newest, hottest games out now and i got them for practically nothing.

It hurts to give up games that you spent time with, but they have served their purpose.

I spent a good 45 minutes in an EBGames yesterday. The thing that really caught my attention was some of the games that were being sold for bargain bin prices. I spend a lot of time cruising around Gamespot, so i read a lot of reviews. On top of this, i read lot of the magazines that come out. Because of this, i know what the concensus is on the games that are in the marketplace.

The titles that were well received by the critics but not by the consumers are:

Prince of Persia- $19.99

Transformers- $19.99

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy- $12.99

Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System- $19.99

All of these prices are for new copies, not preowned.

I understand that not every game that is released is going to sell millions of copies, but these titles definitely should've sold far better than they did.

Gamers, it is up to us to buy titles like these and give them a chance. Of the titles listed above, PoP is a franchise and Transformers is a strong liscence, but the others are games that developers took chances with. If risks are going to be taken and the games are going to be ignored by the public, all we are going to see on shelves are sports games and sequels.

PS- I have no problems with sports games or sequels, i just like to see variety on the store shelves.