[quote name='dannyox718']Even if a new game is on sale, it's not a deal if you buy it and don't play it. By the time you finally get to it, the game would have dropped another $10-$20 and you could have easily just gone out and bought it when you are ready to play it.
Think about it, money gains interested in your bank account, but games sitting on the shelf depreciates quickly. Let's honor this site's namesake and be smart about this.[/QUOTE]
This would be true if a lot of games didn't go out of print. A lot of games I wished I would have picked up earlier skyrocketed out of my price range and by not picking them up soon enough, I missed out. Sometimes, I got lucky (Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, Xenogears before it was stolen, Ikaruga etc), but a lot of times I just had to take a pass on certain games that I wanted to play. It happened with a greater frequency over the years than I would have ever anticipated.
My problem has been lack of time/interest in playing games that led to the creation of a backlog. I still read about games on a daily basis, I still love hearing about new blockbuster releases...I just don't really feel like playing that much anymore. FF13, Infamous, Phoenix Wright Justice For All, and a couple hours of Demon's Souls are all I've played for all intents and purposes, the whole year up until this point.
I've built up a backlog of 20ish games, but don't plan on buying anything for a good long while now. Time to slowly sift through what I have, if I can muster the will to play. In fact, in the next year, I only plan on buying 2 games: Heavy Rain and Mario Galaxy 2 when they hit 30ish. If I put my mind to it, I know I'll be able to refrain from it. I have more serious matters to attend to now (ie saving up for grad school). I'd say I've averaged one game every month and a half or so for the past two or so years, which is a quantum leap from my old rate of purchasing (thanks, CAG!). Should be an easy enough habit to kick for me, hopefully.
I would like to think my priorities in life are shifting as I focus on working out more, getting a job (recent graduate), etc...but this has happened to me before. My sophmore year of high school, I sold my PS2 and Gamecube (only systems I had at the time), but kept several of my games. I went the next 2 and a half years without playing any games (but I still bought them!) until my freshman year of college. Perhaps I'm just a cyclical gamer?
