Red Faction is now a full tournament... 10 Points up for grabs in top spot...

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Wolfenstein are only one owner away from becoming tournaments... 400 MS Points each...

A nice big day of gamerscore coming up tomorrow!!! I have nothing planned apart from playing DiRT, and I have already got 500g this week

Yeah I have like nothing this week. A bunch of crap has been going on at work, forcing me to reevaluate my life and I've been a little too down to feel like playing much.

Now I just have to decide, go back to school and get my Masters or move to Florida and stay with my dad while I try to find a good job.

Either way I look at it, when you hit financial troubles you really start to evaluate what good spending lots of money on video games every month has ever really done to help you out in the long run. I'm starting to grow up and feel like if you aren't playing professionally then hardcore gaming is just a waste of time and money.

From experience...  Just be selective about what you buy and play while times are tough.  Not everyone can buy every release.  Gaming keeps the mind sharp which is an important life skill for anyone as they age.  Also, gaming is an outlet for stress and can help reduce lows (It feels very relaxing to kill zombies in Left 4 Dead after a tough day of work).  I took 5 years away from gaming.  Once I returned, I realized that it helped me more then I knew.  Gaming isn't everything, but for me, it is an important part of my life.

Hopefully by the end of the week il have platinum on Fallout 3.

Also, its disturbing that Golden Axe never made platinum

Yeah you are probably right.  Even when times aren't tough I'm just not selective enough.  But right now its not an issue of me not making enough money to support my habit.  It's an issue of my boss not being able to meet our payroll.  If something happens, all I can think is, why the hell did I never save any money to rely on.  Why did I constantly feel the need to go buy a new game ever couple weeks when I could have saved that money and had something to fall back on?  So its causing a little resentment.  If we don't get paid and I can't make my student loan payment I'm going to have to go selling my consoles and games anyway, which seems to defeat the purpose of collecting in the first place.  Eh, I'll figure it out, I agree that overall it does help me and is an important part of my life as well.

@JPL78

I am sorry to hear about your recent job trouble. In this current economic climate it can be rather stressful and I can understand how you feel.

May be sell off some of the stuff you don't play with or don't really care for and keep the core games you will always enjoy. I used to collect a lot of toys (and I mean a lot), when I sold my business back in 2004 I was sort of force into looking at my collection for the fist time and realize how nut I was (and how much money I have spend). I sold majority of them and only kept the key pieces I enjoy. (Don't get me wrong I still have so many boxes and crate in the garage that will never see of light of day ..)

Anyway, my point is don't feel too bad about what you did, you could have done worst like spend money on drugs and booze or gamble them away like many did during the last economic boom.

Thanks mysticD. You're right but its seriously time for me to stop spending every penny I make. I'll still be gaming but from now on I'm only going to buy the must have games and get the rest in bargain bins.

But the difference between your toys and me buying games is value. I mean, old toys usually are worth a bit depending on what they are. There are very few old games worth money. In fact they usually drop in value year after year until they end up going for 2 bucks at a yard sale. Even if I went to sell most of my stuff, which may have to happen, I'm not going to get crap for it all. So I've really got to figure out another way, I'm not losing an entire collection to pay one bill because I haven't gotten the money I rightfully earned.

I usually set a budget of what money I will spend on gaming. And I agree with you on new game, it's make me so mad to see game I bought for $60.00 just few months back are in the bin for half the price (or sometimes $10.00 at Best Buy blow out).

I have stop buying game day-1 unless it's the game I really want to play now (such as Race Pro and Sacred 2). I pick up all the game from bargain or discount or when there is a deal going.

Just posting so I know when its been updated