I’ve recently been given a gift card with which to purchase Xbox 360 games. The best usage of this card and the gaming fruit it could produce has completely consumed my brain. Is it better to get one awesome game? Is it better to get 3 or 4 kinda cool games? Should I horde the card and save it for a date to be determined later? These are the things that keep me up at night. Not that normal things (paying bills, work, life) don’t keep me up, these are just the geek things that keep me from a restful slumber.

The reason this is such an issue is because I have zero plans to purchase an xbox game until the end of Q1 (mid-spring). There are a few games coming out in the summer that interested me, but for the most part, the next few months are rather bleak. So, if I’m going to get something, I’ve got to work with what I have.

So, what are my options. Well, the only “big” game I wanted recently was Rainbow Six: Vegas. It’s got solid reviews and the multiplayer is apparently entertaining. The problem with games like that is that I don’t know anyone else who enjoys them. I can’t get the “team capture the flag” vibe going with a bunch of strangers via Xbox Live. Crackdown ships next week but I was very less than impressed with the demo. It’s cell shaded, hokie, and basically GTA3 only you can jump tall buildings in a single bound. Sad. Forza Motorsport also came out last week to rather luke warm reviews. So, those are the “big” games for this month.

My other choice is to pick up some older titles that have since become “platinum hits” and are now $20. Projects Gotham Racing 3, Fight Night Round 3 and Burnout Revenge are all cheap at the moment. As is Dead or Alive 4, although slightly more than the other 3. The biggest problem I have with that is that, except for Fight Night, I already own those games. I’ve got PGR2, Burnout Takedown, and DOA Ultimate. All three series have had rather minor upgrades to the new platform. I’ve played, enjoyed, beaten and put away all three of those. Do I want to play them again? Not really. They weren’t bad, actually, they were very good, but it would be like watching the first seasons of Family Guy over and over again until one day you run out and buy the new the newest season, expecting it to be somehow “different”. How much of an upgrade could they possibly have given to bouncy boobs and fast cars?

I’m not sure what to do. All the awesome games for this year are months away. If I buy something, it’s got to get me through the cold bleakness that is the spring release schedule. Anyone have any input?