If you're like me, you probably have way too many games. Not to point fingers, but I'm willing to bet it's mostly Valve's fault. The biannual Steam sales kill my wallet and increase my game library considerably. Combined with PS Plus and its free games, my own collecting habits, and steady streams of deals from sites like GOG.com and Green Man Gaming, I end up with more games than I can possibly play. That's to say nothing of HD collections and retro game anthologies that always end up on my game shelf.

In a word, our game libraries are becoming intimidating. To make matters worse, Valve is supposedly starting its summer sale tomorrow afternoon.

Back in "the day," (for me, "the day" is the early 90s, but your mileage may vary), I had a small handful of video games, and every weekend I would rent a cartridge from the video store. I'm going to assume you know what cartridges, rentals, and video stores are, because I don't want to feel that old. Anyway, this lack of choice forced us to savor what we had, even if the game was terrible. Yes, it meant we ran the risk of ruining a weekend by picking up a sweet-sounding game based on a movie and finding out it was made by LJN, but it also meant we embraced the games we played and enjoyed even the mediocre ones.

If you're staring at a growing video game library on your shelf, Steam list, PS3 , or Xbox 360 menu, I have a way to recapture that old-school feeling. It's the Two-Game Rental Challenge, which removes the massive, mind-boggling, paralyzing choice and forces you to confront the games you own.

Start by wiping away your gaming library. Any games that are installed on Steam? Uninstall them and delete the local content (keep your save games if you want). Uninstall every game installed on your PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U($679.99 at Amazon), Wii, 3DS, or Vita. Uninstall any games you have from GOG.com or Green Man Games. Take your shelf full of game discs and throw a sheet over it. Pretend they're not there.

Now, on Friday, when you get home from work and have the weekend and free time to play video games, look through your libraries of purchased games and peek under the sheet covering your game discs. Pick two games and install them if they're on Steam or other game stores or pull them off the shelf and place them on your coffee table if they're discs. Those are your weekend rentals. These are the two games you may play. The other games on your shelf and in your libraries? They're dead to you. You can't touch them. They're the games you left in the video store. The two games you rented are the only games you can play for the weekend and the next week.

If one game sucks, you can play the other game. If one game's mediocre, you can play it for a few days and then put it away. The point is you make an effort to play them, because they're your only games. Back in the rose-tinted days of youth, game rentals, and allowances, even mediocre games were enjoyed because they were playable and they were new. It was a fresh experience compared to the few games you owned that you already played to death.

Next Friday, "return" the games you rented if you didn't like them or played them to completion, or keep them as part of your library if you want to keep playing. This challenge isn't meant to limit you or prevent you from playing your favorite games. It's meant to force you to try out all of the untouched games you've built up in your library. If you find yourself building up a solid library again, you'll know each one of those games was played and enjoyed by you, and is worth another look. You keep the rubbish off your computer and hidden on another shelf and keep only the best of your collection available. After a few months, you might find yourself with a library identical to the one you scrubbed away at the start of this, or you might find yourself with a handful of new gems you've owned for ages but never got around to playing.

This exercise will help you address the backlog of games you have. It's also the best way to tackle the Steam Summer Sale, which will likely have many bundles of dozens of games, which you can't possibly all play in a reasonable amount of time. Don't think of your purchases as filling your library with games you won't play. Think of them as stocking the classic video rental store where you happen to have a flexible, lifetime pass and can look forward to those weekend rentals every time Friday rolls around.

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