I Pre-Ordered Five Games Today

In the extended campaign of assaulting a rotting horse, I am once again going to stake just how goddamn confused and worried I am about 2012.  Last night, knowing that I would be heading into GameStop today, I put pencil to post-it to leave a little reminder for myself on what games I'm looking out for that come out this year.  That list comprised of seven games, and that fact still does not fail to amaze me because of how most years go for me, as you might know if you read this blog fairly regularly.  It's not that I am very very picky, it's just that I usually narrow the games that are coming out to things I absolutely want, since the rest can usually be picked up later for less (even as a New product, which I try to buy when I can).  So, come Game of the Year tally time, I end up scraping my purchases together to produce a list of ten or twelve games that I bought that year to rate, rather than being games that I could hand-pick from my acquisitions and rate.  I'm not sure that I'll have that option this year.

The list, for those of you who are curious (though you might know it already) is:  Sleeping Dogs, Lollipop Chainsaw, Resistance:  Burning Skies, Gravity Rush (pre-ordered before today, hence why it's not on the receipt), LittleBigPlanet Vita, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and Persona 4: Golden.  You might notice Sleeping Dogs and LittleBigPlanet Karting are absent from my pre-order receipt and this is both so that I didn't spend $35 in one swing just pre-ordering games, and because I don't know if I'll have $60 to throw down both times for the games when they come out.  Make no mistake:  I crave them, but slightly less than the other games, which means that they rest on the precipice of purchasing, rather than falling from it to my waiting arms.  If I can swing it, there is no doubt that they will be mine, especially Sleeping Dogs, since as you might know I am kind of excited for it.

Now, the more observant of you might also notice that the above receipt contains a game that was not on the list I wrote up before heading to GameStop.  Ragnarok Odyssey, which I have also expressed desire for was pretty far from my mind when I was thinking up this list, purely because I am only now familiarizing myself with the idea of being able to buy it.  Yet, while going down my laundry list of pre-orders for the Vita, I asked "Can you take pre-orders for Persona 4: Golden yet?" to which the clerk, Leo, replied "Oh yeah, I got you covered there."  He then went on to say, "We're also taking pre-orders for Ragnarok Odyssey, if you're interested in that." to which I said, "Oh, Leo you're killing me.  Yes, put money on it, please."  Suddenly, my list had eight games on it, and then something flashed through my head, letting a chill of dread climb down through my spine.  "Do you have a release date for Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance yet?", I inquired.  "Yeah...let's see.  Actually exactly a month from now."

Ffffuuu-  I grit my teeth against the news and as he asked if I had anything else to pre-order, perhaps Revengeance after all, I heaved a heavy little sigh and shook my head.  "No Leo, that's all for today.  I'm already cutting games off my list and I didn't even remember those two before now."  After I pre-ordered the five games only (knowing that Gravity Rush, already ordered, made six), I shared the rest of the games with him and he chuckled a little, saying "Yeah, this year is just brutal in releases."  It's only about now that I can wonder just how people who have a 360, Wii, and/or 3DS as well keep up with it all since it's all I can to to keep up with my Vita and PS3, both monetarily and where it concerns time.  God help us all if one of Sony's E3 reveals is a, no -the- firmware update that allows PSOne Emulation because with Final Fantasy 7, 8 and Xenogears already on my account, plus a desire to jump into those, I will be fucked.  In a way, I hope they do that since it'll quiet a lot of complaints and be a big deal (always a nice buzz generated when you get to say "Presto!  New functionality right now!  For free!") for the Vita and Sony both, but I dread such a time terribly.

I've pretty much run out of words at this point.  Between what I've bought already, and the nine games that I will get, provided I have the scratch to do so, I'm already ready for Game of the Year time; my list will be no challenge in filling up.  (Ordering yes, but still)  And yet, this is only for games that I know about.  Games that have been announced and are in my mind at least semi-regularly.  I shudder to think that there are other games that I for-Goddamnit, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is slated for the Holiday season.  Ten.  Ten goddamn games.  And yet, through it all, even as I, someone who barely buys a lot of games, pre-ordered four Vita games (with a fifth one done already) that will likely be out sooner rather than later (LBP, Gravity Rush in June, P4G in the 'Fall', likely with Ragnarok, Resistance this month), and in fact, turned down pre-ordering others (Warrior's Lair for instance) people continue to smugly state that the Vita has nothing coming out for it and is totally doomed despite being out for only three months.  Some fuckin' people, I tell you.