It was one of my “themes” last year to buy less and use what I have. Whereas it worked OK with books (I certainly bought less except for grabbing tons of free ebooks) it didnt work at all with games. I bought a couple new titles, bought several “preorder to support” indie titles, and raided too many old games when on sale on any digital platform. Games I hadn’t bought when they first came out as I was either too busy, or didnt have the computer for it.

And even though 2012 have an absolute plethora of games coming, I still want to play some of these games I missed, because I am curious, because I enjoy all sorts of gameplay that I won’t necessarily find in new games, and in some cases because I feel I ought to have played them.

So, just like I have the Mount TBR challenge, here’s the (totally unofficiall) Dusty Mousemat, challenge (yeah, I know, won’t win any awards for that name, but “dusty mouse” sounds evil to anyone who ever had a mechanical mouse and “dusty joystick” could be misinterpreted)

The rule I make up for this is simple:
- play an old game you never finished or never played. 1 per month at least.
- old means it came out before 2010, ideally before 2006. It can be a game you have owned a while or it can be an old game bought “new” this year in a bargain bin or digital distribution
- it should be a game you wish you’d played at the time, or think you ought to have played since people keep mentioning it
- give it a chance, play it at least a couple evenings

Here’s a random selection of games I might revisit this year - if I arrange it right I could revisit (or discover) 4 a month!

The first game at the moment is Port Royale 2 - simply because I started on Pirates of the Black Cove and encountered a bug, and hadn’t quite sated my nautical wish yet. I have mostly played the commercial sim part of the game, I fail many of the missions due to not figuring it out, and whereas I can handle some sea battles, the battles against towns just defeat me (even in the tutorial). Still, there’s a lot to figure out and I shall at least master the commerce a bit more, before I get myself annihilated trying to take over a town and quit

I could continue on a nautical theme for quite a while as I have Pirates of the Caribbean, Tortuga 1/2, East India Company, Ship Simulator and Sail Simulator, Sub Command, Silent Hunter IV, Tradewinds, Patrician (2 and 3), Naval Warfare (that’s actually a shooter). Don’t ask…

I’ll probably switch to an RPG or action game before I go through all these, though.