“Ebb”

1. To flow back; to return, as the water of a tide toward the ocean; opposed to flow.

2. To return or fall back from a better to a worse state; to decline; to decay; to recede.

– Webster English Dictionary

Video game release schedules – like so many things in life – can be characterised by the age old expression “ebb and flow”. This basically means that as gamers we often experience months of having little in the way of exciting new titles, followed by isolated periods where it is difficult to make time for all the games we want to play.

As the industry we so love has matured, it’s also become more aggressive. Developers are focusing on sequels now more than ever, and only the most bankable fresh IPs are being invested in. These conditions have made for a highly competitive market, which of course is great news for us gamers.

What we have now, more than ever, is choice, and choice is a good thing, right? Well, according to acclaimed English novelist George Eliot “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” Then again, she (yes, she) chose to write under a male pen name so that her work would be taken seriously, which makes me wonder just how relevant her insights are today, and in particular, how relevant they are with regards to the current dilemma in which I find myself.

Another now dead British novelist named George has a different take on the subject.

“The difficulty in life is the choice” – George Moore

You see, the problem with choice, is that choosing to pursue one thing, by default means that you’re choosing against pursuing another. With limited time, we’re forced to choose which games to play and which to ignore.

Of course, many of us aren’t strong enough to make that choice. Modern Warfare 2 or Left 4 Dead 2? Dragon Age: Origins or Assassin’s Creed 2? Borderlands or Batman: Arkham Asylum? Many gamers are simply not willing to write off and forget about any of these games. We want to play them all. And so we start a mental to-play list, and we hope in vain that we’ll get around to getting through it somehow, someday.

My current to-play list is already quite impressive, and it’s only likely to grow in the next 6 months.  February alone is going to be tricky to navigate, with Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online, Bioshock 2, Aliens vs. Predator, MAG and Anno 1404: Venice all vying for my attention.

It doesn’t get any easier from there though, with Heavy Rain, Metro 2033, Supreme Commander 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and God of War III coming in March.

I realise that complaining about having too many games to play sounds bratty, and maybe it is. But I would really kill for one of those 4 month long ebbs we used to get, because this constant flow is getting a bit exhausting, and I still want to play Mirror’s Edge.