I need to play some video games... like, soon.

When I was a pre-teen, nothing came between me and my Nintendo Entertainment System. We were inseperable. I was good to it, and it was good to me.*

I'd flip nearly every cartridge I'd get within a few weeks, and was always screwing around on it, as evidenced by my D-lightful report cards during high school (when I was in school, and away from my Nintendo, I'd bust out the Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks in class. How I never got stuffed in a locker is beyond my reckoning). Hell, I never even bothered with strategy guides for the most part (though I was a dedicated Nintendo Power reader). I played games like a MAN plays games, dammit. Trial and error. Lost? I didn't know the meaning of the word. You get lost, you hack and slash your way until you find out where you're supposed to go. What, you don't like experience points?

Somewhere along the way, all that changed. I got rid of the NES back in 1993 or so and never picked up a new system. When I got my first apartment back in 1999, one of the first things I went out and bought was a Sony Playstation. I barely had any other furniture for the apartment, but I had no qualms in dropping $300 on a Playstation and some games.

"Hey baby, glad I could talk you into coming home with me. Want something to drink? Uh, I don't have any glasses. Sorry. Wanna snuggle on my couch? Er... funny story about my couch. I don't have one.

Baby?!? Where ya goin'? Call me!"

I got some mileage out of that Playstation, but I also noticed, in my haste to make up for lost time since I last had a console, I was picking up games at a pace that far exceeded my ability (or desire) to beat them.

Things have gotten steadily worse. I bought a Nintendo Gamecube a few years ago when the Resident Evil remake came out. Resident Evil is one of my favoritest franchises EVAR, and as it came out as a Nintendo exclusive, I bought the system just for that reason. I now have about 20 Gamecube titles, most of which I haven't spent more than half an hour screwing around with.

I've since bought a used PS2 and Xbox on the cheap, and dammit if I don't have more games than I know what to do with. And it's not like I'm a hoarder or anything. I buy games with every intention of playing them, and they just collect dust.

One game that I actually have taken a liking to (to the point where I've actually played it twice in the same week) is Dance Dance Revolution. It's fun, and it has the added bonus of actually getting me off my ass and doing some semblance of cardio (I used to be a gym rat until a year ago, at which point I stopped exercising completely). My only fear is that my inherent lack of agility isn't bothering my downstairs neighbors with repetitive stomping (I'm sure I look like Hermann Goering jackbooting his way through "Move Your Feet") at 11 o'clock in the evening.

*I wasn't nearly as good to my games, though. Throwning the cartridge down the hall was a perfectly acceptable way of showing my frustration with Ninja Gaiden. Hell, one time I was so pissed after having my ass handed to me in Snake's Revenge (shitty, unofficial Metal Gear sequel on the NES), I decided throwing it down on the nice, carpeted floor was too good for it. I proceeded to go outside and scuff the cartridge to shit on the pavement. I've mellowed out considerably since 1990, just so you know.