27th August: GS Update

I got my first weekly update from 360voice.com today - it's a bit skewed due to the fact that I've been putting in all my previously completed games in order for it to be recognized by their system. As a result, it's thinking I've put these games in for the first time:

Someone ask for a weekly recap? Even if you didn't, here it is: I told borandi that 4 days of playing would be ideal... so last week there was some extra effort to get us there. Good job!Ready for this? Last week saw an increase of 780 points! My eye almost bleeds looking at a number that large! Getting 249 achievements can do that to you. I was there. I saw it!

For the record, we played 27 new games over the last week. They were Gears of War, Crackdown, Saints Row, FC Instincts Predator, Quake 4, Bejeweled 2, Geometry Wars Evolved, Outpost Kaloki X, Chromehounds, Catan, Mad Tracks, LEGO Star Wars II, Cabela's Safari, X-Men:TheOfficialGame, Bomberman LIVE, Marvel Ult. Alliance, Blue Dragon, TMNT, Prey, Enchanted Arms, Phantasy Star Universe, Madden NFL 06, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Carcassonne, GALAGA, 3D Ultra™ Minigolf, and Boom Boom Rocket. They were all fun... in their own little ways. Oh, and from what I remember, borandi's favorite game last week was Chromehounds. He played it on 4 of the days.

So that's it for now. It was a good week. On to the next one.

As for the games I really played:

Guitar Hero II	430 of 1000 29 of 50 Achievements
Texas Hold'em	115 of 200 7 of 12 Achievements
Bionicle Heroes	880 of 1000 44 of 49 Achievements
Blue Dragon	10 of 1000 2 of 43 Achievements
Bomberman LIVE	30 -> 60 of 200 5 of 12 Achievements
Track and Field	170 -> 200 of 200 12 of 12 Achievements
LEGO Star Wars II	290 of 1000 9 of 29 Achievements
Chromehounds	120 of 1000 5 of 49 Achievements

Picked up GH2 again - I'm still plugging through the EASY tour (I done the medium on 5*). It's god awful boring... so much so that I'm making stupid mistakes! But I've done 18/35 tracks so far. When I started, I warmed up on a bit of Less Talk More Rokk on medium. Did a couple of songs on Hard - got one 5*, so I'm well chuffed - though it didnt have any 5th fret action iirc. I also tried that track on expert, and completed it \m/.

I still suck at Texas Hold 'em. I was trying for the 'all scenarios' complete achievement, but the CPU are ultra conservative and always win every hand unless I scare them off. Bleh.

Still on the way to getting Bionicle Heroes done (after the severe data loss at 860GS, thus requiring me to complete the game again to continue to get the other 100-ish). Did another couple of levels, now it's showing 40% complete.

Blue Dragon is still at the top of my list of 360 favourite games - I'm now about 14 hours in, all my characters are level 20, and I'm more than half way through the Mural Valley (there are eight cats ;) ). There is a great Blue Dragon review over at x360a.org - check it out!

I did some more of the stupid achievements on Bomberman LIVE: Blow 3 CPU players up with one bomb (get the bomb with the skull and crossbones on it, and max firepower), and the 130 tiles in a zombie match (same tactic, but make powerups indestructible and scavenger on). I'm slowly working my way to 60 costume balls.

The final Track & Field achievement (qualify with every attempt on a run through) took about an hour of solid plugging to get the hammer throw just right. It takes at least 6 turns and 38 degrees to get the 73m required! For the high jump, as long as you clear the qualifying height without fouling, you can foul the rest, and the final achievement is unlocked as you start the second round. Chalk another XBLA game 'complete'!

Lego Star Wars II is still as boring as hell... I did another story gold block, but that's about it.

More Chromehounds online for me as well - I've realised I suck at soldier hounds and much prefer sniper hounds with fast ammunition :) I do use a soldier hound for 1vs1 conflicts :)

GS: 44,254 -> 44,314

Completed XBLA:	10 / 25
Completed Retail:	21 / 96
GS Completion %:	41.36%
GS % (Non-Demo):	44.62%

Country Rank:	1151/838700
World Rank:	1997/1522127