Has anyone else found themselves wondering where all the good games have gone? Other than a few diamonds in the rough (Oblivion, Civ4, Galactic Civilizations 2) there seems to have been a distinct lack of excellent games of late. For the past few years I’ve been working on ways to enjoy games as I used to, below are a list of 6 simple steps to follow.

1. Buy Indie Games

Some people are blaming the lack of good games at the moment on the big publishers and their obsession with sequels. I agree that they are partly to blame, however just as much blame falls on the average gamer who goes out and buys these drab excuses for games. By buying Indie games not only will you find some more interesting, fun, cheaper and original games, you’ll also be helping to support those who want to make games like that (such as yours truly). I don’t want to start listing lots of games to go out and buy, follow #3 on this list and try some demos for some excellent indie games, there are hundreds out there and you can almost be guaranteed there’ll be one you like. Not surprisingly one of my favourite indie games is ShortHike – Space Station Game.

2. Don’t play multiplayer until you’ve finished the single player

This one is so obvious a lot of people miss it. Have you ever found yourself playing a game where each level you unlock a new special ability or weapon with the excitement building each time. Often the developers will put a lot of time and effort into making this an important part of the fun in a game. The best way to ruin this is by hopping online and getting given every possible weapon in the game, ruining the suspense and giving you an overload of information. There’s a reason single player games only give you a few rewards at a time, it’s a simple tactic to keep the player engaged and always wanting that little bit more. Take the time to finish the single player game all the way through (or as far as you usually like to go) before stepping out into the big bad world of the internet.

3. Try demos before buying, rather than reading reviews or listening to hype

I used to buy every PC Powerplay magazine (and before that Hyper) when I was growing up. I’d read all the previews of games coming out and I’d go to websites to get every piece of information and screenshot I could find. I’d pre-order the game and when it was released run down to EB to buy the game. I’d get home, play it for a few hours and realise that 90% of the promises made weren’t kept, and that generally most of the games turned out to be rubbish. I no longer have subscriptions to these magazines, and I only visit the news sites for general information about games coming out. The best way to tell if a game is any good is to play its demo. You’ll pick up more from 5 mins in a demo than hours of previews and interviews with developers. If your game doesn’t have a demo then there’s a good chance they’ve got something to hide and I’d steer clear of it. Most games have demos these days and Indie games especially use these as their main tool for winning customers. We’re lucky in the games industry to be able to ‘try before you buy’ so make use of this and don’t get caught out buying the next ‘Tiberian Sun’.

4. Order online to increase suspense

This is particularly useful if you live in Australia where ordering games from the US will often get them here on or just after their Australian release date and often for a fraction of the price. As I’m a stingy bastard, I now order nearly all of my games online. If it’s a really big, hyped, release this makes it even better, as I found with Civilization 4. It’s like waiting for Christmas morning every time you wait for a game. I actually found this suspense more alluring than I had first thought it would be, as in our current society if you have enough money you can pretty much get anything you want instantly. Being forced to wait a few extra days for a game makes the suspense just that little bit more unbearable.

5. Buy fewer games

While this may seem to counter #1 and #4 it actually fits in well with both of them. The important part to this rule is to make sure you don’t buy too many games. I’ll never forget when my good friend Nick and I went to EB and he brought Half-Life and Delta Force on the same day. We went home, played Delta Force for a few hours thinking it was the coolest game ever, we then tried out Half-Life and realised that it was THE game of the century. The delta force CD then gathered dust over the following weeks as we were completely engulfed in the epic that was Half-Life. If you buy less games, you can spend more time on the games you own, and experience their full potential rather than just playing a few hours, discarding them and moving on to another few hours of the Next Big Thing.

6. Don’t pirate games

Not only is pirating bad for developers and their pay cheques, but it also hurts those who are pirating the games. It seems there’s a lack of respect for the game as it’s not paid for which leads people to become bored of the games more quickly than if they’d gone out and paid for them. Not only do you have no suspense, even as small as walking into EB seeing if the game’s released yet, you’re just not getting the full experience of opening the packet, reading the first few pages of the manual (or the whole thing if you’re like me) and really soaking up what games are all about. I’ll admit the publishers have a lot to answer for with their paper sleeves and ridiculously small manual if they even supply one, however once again, take the higher ground and just don’t buy their games, there are plenty of other games for you to spend your hard earned money on.

So that’s it, while some of these steps may seem a little weird I implore you to try them at least once to see just how much more you can enjoy your games if you try them.

On an unrelated note, two of my good friends (and co-workers) have just released new indie products that you should check out. Cliff has just released Xion, the most kick-ass media player around, and Walter’s just released Cavemen for pocket PC.