2012 is the year I get my life back on track and a get better sense of my finanical well being. It all starts with a budget and sticking to it. Coming from a family that didn’t have much and who’s parent’s weren’t great with money well that’s rubbed off on me. I’ve spent and not cared or kept track of it. This year that’s changing, it starts with a budget and sticking to it.

This got me thinking, how much did I spend on video games in 2011? The answer is I don’t know. For 2012 I’ve implemented a bit of a modest budget of $1000.00 on video games. This isn’t limited to just games it also includes points card, hardware, Xbox Live subscriptions, iOS,etc. A thousand may sound a bit extreme to some but I strongly believe I spent more than in 2011.

I’m going to use this post and continually update it to track my spending.

January:

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land $4.99

I’ve set out some gaming goals for 2012 that I think our realistic and achievable for myself.

The first gaming resolution I have for 2012 is to control my gaming purchases. By this I mean just because 3 or 4 new releases come out on any given Tuesday that I shouldn’t rush out and buy every single one of those games. So let’s buy a game and finish it before moving on to the next one instead of buying a game and playing a bit and putting it on the shelf and moving on to the next game. If I can achieve this I think I can reduce the number of games I have on the go, my gaming back log and most importantly allow me not rush and finish a game just to get to the next one. There are a lot of great games out there let’s enjoy them a bit more.

I’m a huge first shooter, racing and sports gamer. Plain and simple those are my bread and butter. In 2012 I’d like to expand my gaming genres and enjoy other types of games than I normally would. This year I’ve already started playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and MMO developed by Bioware. I’m at level 11 as a Sith Warrior and struggling as I go. I’ve also started Skyrim. I”m only level 2 but I vow to invest more time in the coming weeks to this game. Let’s see if I can become a better RPG player in 2012.

Blog more. Very simple I want to review and write about more games here whether there on PC, console or iOS platforms. I also want to produce my own original content at least bi-weekly.

Establish or join a board game group. In 2011 I started to play board games and started to acquire a nice little collection as well. I picked up Carcassonne, Gears of War, Munchkin Quest, Munchkin Zombies, Arkham Horror, Flux and probably my favorite of Pandemic. I really need to get that expansion pack.

So that’s what I want to accomplish this year. How about you ?

With my 360 still out for repairs, it looks as if I’ll be sticking with PS3 games.  I will put in some time with Assassin’s Creed, but the majority of my weekend will be consumed by the joy that is LEGO BATMAN!  And yes.. I know it’s a game for kids.  Don’t judge me!

As for tehflakes, I have it on good authority that he will be spending nearly the entire weekend grinding through Too Human.  

What are you guys playing?  No time to create a forum post, so hit the comments if you want to chime in with your weekend playlist.

Finally, the weekend!  Time to catch up on the games I’ve been neglecting this week.  Here’s what I’ll be playing:

• ROCK BAND 2 - which still consumes my life – to start.  Going to try drumming on Hard for the first time.  Wish me luck!  Can’t play online tonight (membership just expired – grr) but maybe tomorrow!
• MASS EFFECT – I’m so close to the end I can taste it.  Maybe I’ll finally bury this game this weekend.  Who am I kidding?  As soon as I beat it, I’ll start all over again.
• STAR WARS: FORCE UNLEASHED – if I can pry it from okaybuddy’s sweaty, addicted fingers.
• CASTLE CRASHERS – this is still up in the air.  Once okaybuddy is done with SW:FU (please let it be soon), I think I can get him addicted to this game for some co-op fun.

What are you playing this weekend?  Post in the comments and let’s discuss shall we?