How much do you plan to spend on games in 2013?

2013 is a little over week away. I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve purchased my fair share of consoles and games over the past few months; so it’s fair to say that my wallet is a little lighter than I anticipated it would be. That savings that I had for games of 2013 isn’t nearly as impressive as I thought it would be — especially when looking at the compiled list of games I planned on getting. After adding it up, I had to make a few cuts, and even then, I came to quite a whopping total. Needless to say, some cuts had to be made.

The Games

The games that I plan on getting are on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U and 3DS XL. There are a few that don’t yet have release dates or prices but are expected to be out in 2013 — like Star Wars 1313 and Watch Dogs — so I used standard pricing for new games. All of the games are priced at $59.99, except the 3DS games, which come in at $39.99. The games are:

1. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
2. Bayonetta 2
3. BioShock Infinite
4. Crysis 3
5. Injustice: Gods Among Us
6. LEGO City: Undercover
7. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
8. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
9. Pikmin 3
10. Rayman Legends
11. SimCity
12. South Park: The Stick of Truth
13. Star Trek
14. Star Wars 1313
15. The Last of Us
16. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Patriots
17. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist
18. Tomb Raider
19. Watch Dogs

The total for these games comes to a whopping $1099.81… and that’s without tax. With a spouse and two kids, I might have a hard time justifying that.

Games I had to cut from the list

The sad thing about this is that I had to leave off some games that look really good. Beyond: Two Souls, Dead Space 3, Grand Theft Auto V, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII — all of these got cut. And these are just the big games! I’m sure there’s a ton of small releases that I would love to purchase that will have to go ignored.

Also, let’s not forget about the possibility of having to buy a new console in 2013. Who knows when the next Xbox and PlayStation will get released, but they’ll almost-definitely be announced in 2013. There's even a chance they could be available for purchase by November! I don’t need to buy a new console; I’m completely happy with the ones I have now. However, if a new console is released, I know myself — I’m going to buy it. Who knows how much the Next-Gen PlayStation and Xbox are going to cost? My guess is no cheaper than $400.

The Solution

Did anyone win the Powerball yet? Maybe a second job? Anyone hiring a freelance video game journalist?

I’m definitely going to have to take advantage of sales on Steam, PSN and Xbox LIVE, and there’ll have to be a few trade-ins made. Father’s Day, my birthday, and Christmas, all I want are gift cards. I know in the grand scheme of things, complaining about how much I’m going to spend on video games is really trivial. #FirstWorldProblems I guess…

Have you thought about how much you’re probably going to spend next year? What’s your total?

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com