This time of year is always a worry for me. As publishers start to release details of their Christmas games releases and the inevitable collector’s editions (that I find completely irresistible), my wants list gets longer and longer, as does my financial commitment to this damn obsession of mine.

What doesn’t help is being exposed to PR releases, and then writing about upcoming games. It is difficult to not get excited, even for games that may not have previously been on my must-have radar.

I’ve just finished a piece for techday.com about the animated movie that comes with the collector’s editions of Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Prior to exposing myself to the hype for this game, I’d have said that I was past caring about the adventures of the Assassin’s Creed, backing it up by saying  that the games are a bit drawn out and long-winded. An hour thinking about the new game (and all the cool goodies in the collector’s edition) and bam, that’s going to cost me $148 on 18th November.

The same goes for another Ubisoft game, Driver:San Fransisco. A had salmonella when I played Driv3r on the original Xbox back in the day (between stomach cramps and toilet breaks), which kind of tainted that franchise for me. A quick view of a game trailer plus 300 written words later and its sign me up, Ubisoft. Bastards.

So far my list looks like this:

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD for PS3 . $65 on 29 September.

Metal Gear Solid HD on the PS3. 28th October for $65.

Batman Arkham City on the PC. $100 on 31 October. This one is a worry. The PC version will kick the arse of the other console versions, however, there isn’t a collectors edition for the PC version. So that means no awesome  Kotobukiya figurine and most importantly, no Dark Knight Returns character skin. I can see me picking this up for the PC on Steam and buying the damn collector’s edition on Xbox 360 as well.

Uncharted 3 Special Edition for the PS3.  $120, or quite possibly $258 for the Explorer Edition (it’s got a figurine) on 4th November. Potential game of the year.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 for Xbox 360. $130 on 8th November.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the Xbox 360. An absolute no-brainer for anyone with a games console. $128 on 11th November. Possibly more if Bethesda announce a collector’s edition!

Assassin’s Creed Revelation’s Animus Edition. A new arrival on the list, setting me back $148 on 18th November.

I’m also toying with getting Battlefield 3, but that’ll be on the PC and probably via Steam or EA’s Origin service (the 64 player online multiplayer did it for me). There is also Driver: San Fransisco, which I’m going to try to resist as much as possible. Dead Island is another game that I’m trying not to think about, especially as I’m currently having a blast on Left 4 Dead 2 again- it’ll be a PC purchase if I do, though.Thankfully I’ve hardly touched my Gears of War 2, so buying Gears 3 isn’t on the cards at the mo’. I’m also trying not to think of Bodycount, from Stuart Black who bought us the exquisite shooter, Black back in the day. No dount there will be others to tempt me along with the enevitable Stream sale (which I must remember to write about at some point).

All in all it’s a worry. Even after the games have drained my wallet, then I’ve got to find that time to actually play them.

You may be wondering why a games journalist spends all his money buying games. Whilst I’m sure that I will get a few review copies in the coming months, reviewing a game isn’t that same a playing a game. Some games are nice to saviour in your own time, without a looming deadline. In saying that, if any kindly PR folks are reading this and feeling charitable, drop me a line!