9th June: GS Update

A new look blog, with some frustrating/fun gaming this week =D

borandi likes to game, I like to game, this is a match made in heaven! It takes a gamer score like 98,884 to be as cool as him. That is a boost of 150 points over last time! He made some progress on NFS Most Wanted winning 1 achievement, Rock Band, PES2008, Blacksite, N+, Catan, Wits & Wagers finishing 4 achievements, and oh... don't tell borandi this, but I have been getting in a little video chat in the off-hours. Booyah!

I've noticed that I've been doing a lot of driving type games recently - this week, NFS:MW, but also the racing in GTA IV, etc. Along with that, some Rock Band, and pursuing various 360voice badges as well.

Wits & Wagers 165 of 200 10 of 12 Achievements I bought Wits and Wagers this week in order to go after that 3* Party Badge at 360voice. Along with Party Animals (see below) from LoveFilm, I should be getting this badge today. I've seen a couple of people with the full 200GS, and so far it's been quite easy to get GS. There is one main problem - as the questions are tailored to each region, I can't play with the US players (where the majority are) unless I change my Locale on my profile to the US. As such, I did and set up my Turbo pad to keep joining online games and answer the default answer for each question. Now I only need two more achievements - 'Play with 10 different people online' and 'Answer every question'.

Rock Band 50 -> 245 of 1000 13 of 50 Achievements Green Grass and High Tides, the final song on the guitar, was quite hard. With a few suggestions and an hour in practice mode, I finished the track, using the overdrive/star power only when I really needed it. As such, that makes all guitar difficulties complete! Along with that, Nellas and I are going through World Band Tour mode thing, and we've a couple of achievements in that mode. I've tried doing some singing on medium, only passing the tracks I actually know =D

NFS Most Wanted 10 -> 265 of 1000 11 of 15 Achievements Ah, what a frustrating game. My first achievement in this game was many, many moons ago. It's been labelled as an 'easy' game, and I was fed up with it sitting there on my profile with 10GS. I also want points towards my 1* Race badge at 360voice. So I'm about 1/2 way into this game now, and one controller fewer. The aim of this game is to meet certain requirements to race against particular people - win races, get police bounty. The downside is, in the races, a normal car/SUV/people carrier will appear out of nowhere, you crash into it, and the other cars will pass you, even though you've lead for 99.99% of the 8 minute race, meaning you have to do it again. Bleh. Also, with the police bounty, x360a.org has a nice guide to get bounty, but doesnt tell you how to lose the police in order to keep it. So I've had to devise my own method. This game is also very odd - the final two achievements are 550GS (iirc) in total, yet they'll probably be little difference in getting them.

Boogie Bunnies 30 -> 55 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements On Boogie Bunnies, I finished a level in under 2 minutes, got a large bunny combo and reached the jungle. I tried passing the beach levels twice now, but the bunnies never seem to line up nicely. Bleh. Still a bit away from my 1* Puzzle badge at 360voice.

Spider-Man 3 50 -> 110 of 1000 7 of 43 Achievements After large frustration at GTA IV (see below), in order to get my 1* Sandbox badge I decided to boot up this game (which is crap). It had several very easy achievements I hadn't bothered to get - Swing 50 miles, Ride 5 miles in a car, and go splat 25 times. Easy stuff.

GTA IV 550 -> 580 of 1000 36 of 50 Achievements Ah, another reason to get angry. On the achievements side, I completed all the assassination missions, and got further in the story. I actually only have 2 or so missions left, but the mission I am on is a biatch. It starts with a 15 minute or so gun fight, followed by chasing a boat in a bike then jumping into a helicopter. After the firefight, if you make one mistake on the chase, you fail. I've now done the firefight 5 times, only for the bike to crash, or the boat to glitch and speed off too quickly. Bleh.

Speedball 2 100 -> 130 of 200 9 of 12 Achievements A game I've neglected, but randomly decided to play when bored. Last time I left it, I was in the top division in league manager mode, and needed to win it to get the achievement. So I played the season, quitting out if it looked like I was losing. 15 minutes gave me that achievement.

Party Animals 720 -> 1000 of 1000 50 of 50 Achievements I got VP:PA from LoveFilm this week. Last time I got this, I should have finished the full 1000 - it's very easy. I had to do a 7 race game, then a few 1 race games to play as each characters second colour. Then find all the shortcuts, race every race, then play every game. Very easy. Game Complete!

BOMBERMAN Act:Zero 350 -> 425 of 1000 28 of 50 Achievements After some talk online about this game, I decided to put it in to get some more achievements. There are a few problems with the achievements of this game - some are online, and no-one plays it online; some take years of grinding. So I went online and actually found some players! I got the achievements for hosting 10 and playing as each colour/sex. With a boosting partner, I could probably get 600GS or so quite quick.

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GamerScore:	97,749 -> 98,909
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	24 / 59
Completed Retail:	48 -> 49 / 200
GS Completion %:	45.65% -> 46.10%

Country Rank:	262 (I switched to US for Wits and Wagers)
World Rank:	515 -> 508
Completion Rank:	1,026 -> 993

9th March: GS Update

From the shackles of work, to an easter break full of gaming. I've done quite a bit this week - a couple of new games, a near completion too on a favourite.

There are people out there who think video games are violent. But after borandi played yesterday with his gamerscore of 79,081 points, there wasn't any violence at all. A little drooling maybe but definitely no violence. That is an increase of 530 points over last time! That puts us above 79,000 points! He rallied NEW RALLY-X winning an amazing 12 achievements to finish the game, Guitar Hero III gaining 1 achievement, Guitar Hero II, Bee Movie Game, Catan, G.R.A.W., Small Arms acquiring an amazing 8 achievements, Forza Motorsport 2 acquiring an amazing 6 achievements, FC Instincts Predator, as well as stared off into space... thinking about the one that got away.

This week, I picked up two games - Bladestorm and Virtua Fighter 5. Bladestorm I believe holds the record as the biggest demo on the XBLM at 1.9GB - it was an alright demo, lots of hack and slash. I last played VF5 as a rental, and thought it was a lot better than DoA4. I found it cheap, so I picked it up. I also received in the mail a lot of MS points - 12600 to be exact. I managed to find them at a 20% discount, but haven't figured what to spend them on yet. So far, Small Arms and New Rally-X. But I'm also thinking some Pac-Man too.

Forza Motorsport 2	665 -> 930 of 1000 42 of 44 Achievements
Small Arms	0 -> 110 of 235 8 of 14 Achievements
Bee Movie™ Game	0 -> 560 of 1000 37 of 50 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	295 -> 310 of 1000 32 of 59 Achievements
NEW RALLY-X	0 -> 200 of 200 12 of 12 Achievements
Speedball 2	40 -> 100 of 200 7 of 12 Achievements
Burnout Revenge	55 -> 165 of 1000 10 of 36 Achievements
DEAD OR ALIVE 4	245 -> 295 of 1000 20 of 45 Achievements
Poker Smash	70 -> 80 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements
BLADESTORM	0 -> 300 of 1000 6 of 18 Achievements
Eternal Sonata	10 -> 20 of 1000 2 of 22 Achievements
Marble Blast Ultra	70 -> 75 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements
Halo 3	735 -> 745 of 1000 23 of 49 Achievements
Marvel Ult. Alliance	230 -> 250 of 1250 19 of 58 Achievements
Mass Effect	270 -> 395 of 1000 15 of 45 Achievements

It's been a brilliant week for my Forza gameplay. To start, I finished all the arcade races gold, then I was fortunate enough to get given 10million from ZACHSP8 10K. That was just enough to buy every car in the game. Now, I'm sending them to Roquey (my brother) so he can get that achievement too. All I have left is to get 1,000,000 credits online, and complete the time trials. I've tried a few of the time trials though, especially that one at the 147-corner Nürburgring - was 30 seconds off pace. Might need to practice that one.

I purchased Small Arms, hoping it was an easy set of Gamerscore. Well, 110GS was. The rest consists of getting 50 kills in a survival mode, and winning 100 matches. Some simple grinding should get all but the 50 kills.

I got the Bee Movie Game from LoveFilm this week. I'd heard it was an easy 1000GS. I've so far done the story, now it's a case of doing the specific missions. The jobs were long and arduous, now I'm after concept art, and the human encounters. Sooner or later, 1000GS should be mine.

After many weeks of trying to get 200k on Cult Of Personality in Guitar Hero III, I finally achieved 201k! I just picked up the game, and got the achievement. No warm-up necessary, though the 499 note streak at the beginning helped :)

New-Rally X is defined as one of the easy arcade games. I'd just not been in a position to get it. An easy 200GS, I got it in about an hour. I found getting to level 16 harder than the 100k score target. Game Complete!

I boosted the online achievements for Speedball 2 - also got the 'injure 5 people in one match' achievement. I still need to get the achievements related to the leagues and knockout tournaments.

Burnout: Revenge is a game I haven't played in ages. I tried joining some online games, only to find I was booted for not having a mic, or not being in the right region. Bunch of bastards. In the end, a couple of friends and I got together and we played online for a while. Lots of takedowns involved.

I helped Roquey boost a little on Dead or Alive 4. We got his win streaks, as well as gold/silver/bronze stars. On the way, I got my 50 wins. I also left the 360 on overnight, and got the 5hrs and 10hrs played achievements.

I managed to finish the Poker Smash puzzles, netting 10GS. Tried going online for the achievement - played a couple of games which lasted 10 minutes each, but I didnt get a win.

I fired up some Bladestorm. It's quite fun - hack and slash meets RPG/Dynasty Warriors. 150GS for creating a character (takes 5 mins), then another 150GS in the first 5 hours. The premise of the game is that you're a mercenary during one of the many English/French wars. You can accept jobs from the English or the French, after all a mercenary should have no ties.

It an effort to go after that 3* RPG badge over at 360 voice, I fired up Eternal Sonata. It looks like I've only played the game for 3 hours, so I put another couple into it, and netted one 10GS achievement. I should put some time into this game - its quite fun.

I opened up Marble Blast Ultra for a little while - did one of the advanced levels, and also hunted down the easter egg achievement.

Roquey still needs the legendary Halo 3 achievements, so this week him and I (with another friend) went through a level or two of the story. I also found a skull, thanks to the guide that was put on Inside Xbox.

Also for the 3* RPG Badge, I did a little of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The game really is a bit boring, and much better when in co-op.

I managed to complete the story for Mass Effect. It looks like the I didnt get the 'play through most of the story with X ally' achievements - I would have to do most of the sidequests to get those. Thus, only 3 more playthroughs to go!

GamerScore:	77231 -> 79081
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	16 -> 17 / 47
Completed Retail:	37 / 182
GS Completion %:	40.63% -> 41.02%

Country Rank:	123 -> 111
World Rank:	801 -> 779
Completion Rank:	2,001 -> 1,894

21st October: GS Update

A busy week in terms of work, so not much gaming. But it was luck that a new shop opened this weekend: the second largest GameStation in Europe. They were having some bumper deals on the opening weekend, so I picked up six 360 games for not much money (some of which I havent played yet). I also bought Eternal Sonata, and imported Beautiful Katamari, which should be here next week.

borandi seemed really excited to play yesterday. Our current gamerscore is 51,949 . That is a profit of 10 points over last time! He rocked out to Eternal Sonata finishing 1 achievement, Puzzle Quest, Streets of Rage 2, and then he started getting all these friend requests because of high awesomeness levels.

And the games:

Battlefield 2: MC	210 -> 250 of 1000 12 of 46 Achievements
Open Season	0 -> 40 of 1000 2 of 46 Achievements
CM 2007	0 -> 365 of 1000 16 of 42 Achievements
Streets of Rage 2	175 of 200 11 of 12 Achievements
Puzzle Quest	0 - > 60 of 200 5 of 12 Achievements
Eternal Sonata	0 -> 10 of 1000 1 of 22 Achievements
DDR Universe	0 -> 190 of 1000 6 of 32 Achievements
Speedball 2	0 -> 40 of 200 3 of 12 Achievements
Halo 3	170 of 1000 14 of 49 Achievements
Bankshot Billiards 2	175 -> 200 of 200 12 of 12 Achievements
Ridge Racer 6	0 -> 5 of 1000 1 of 36 Achievements
NFS Most Wanted	0 -> 10 of 1000 1 of 15 Achievements
Call of Duty 2	230 of 1000 4 of 13 Achievements
Sonic The Hedgehog 2	125 -> 145 of 200 9 of 12 Achievements

I've done a little boosting on BF2:MC, getting some more of those online achievements. In particular, I got the Navy '5 water vehicle kills' and '20 C4 kills' while helping a friend from 10k get some other achievements.

Open Season was one of the cheap games I picked up this week. Looks fairly easy, though I didnt play it much - too many games, not enough time!!!!!

CM (Championship Manager) 2007 isnt a bad game. I'm always reluctant with Football Management sims as they usually are overcomplicated and take too long (or have an elaborate load/save system). So I started a season with Man Utd., and in a few hours I was winning lots (thanks to reloading after a loss) and got quite a few achievements fairly easily. Not many people have this game, and I'm already in the top 300 in the world for GS.

I started a new game on SoR2 on Hardcore, going after that 800k achievement. Basically it'll be like going after the Golden Axe one - beat an enemy without losing health, then save. If hit, reload. I'm halfway through stage two, with ~125k score.

Played a bit more of Puzzle Quest. It's annoying that it's different from the DS version - you cant infinitely raise your stats given enough money, and my favourite weapon has been dulled a little. However, I'm hitting for 11 for every 3 skull combo, and winning easy.

Eternal Sonata's graphics are awesome - they look better than Blue Dragon/Two Worlds/Gears of War. They look Cel Shaded, but its done in such a good way. I played the game for a little over an hour, and I cant help but feel that these new RPGs just aren't as varied as the Final Fantasies of yore. There's little to do with regards to side quests. What might be annoying with Eternal Sonata is that to get 1000GS, you have to play through it twice.

I imported DDR Universe - I had a feeling it might drop off the side of the earth soon. It's an easy game so far - if you start to fail you never lose, and can keep going. It's the only DDR game I've seen with a story mode (which is a bonus), which improves the game immensely over other DDR games/clones. Overall, it looks like an easy 750GS, but some of the challenges look immensely hard.

Speedball 2 came into XBLA this week. It's a game I've been waiting for a while, and one I used to play on the Commodore 64 and Megadrive. The XBLA port is a very good one - improved graphics with retro style as an option, and a much easier to navigate front end. Kudos!

Nellas and I played some social matches online. We came 1st/2nd on a king of the hill game, though a few online players were bunny hopping everywhere. Cheating b*stards!

I finally completed Bankshot Billiards 2. I turned it on, played a large number of games, then thought I had 20 left, so turned it off. Next day, I log in, play 2 games and that final achievement unlocked. =D Game Complete!

I opened Ridge Racer and Need For Speed: MW to get the 'Launch King' badge over at 360voice. I've had the games in my collection for ages, just never opened them. I'll take a better look at them at a later date.

I also went back to CoD2 - I still need to complete this game on Veteran (I've done it on easy on PC already), and it's still quite hard. Grind, grind, grind!

After watching a video online to get the Chemical Plant 1 quick time, I had a bash at it. Took around 15 minutes to get the correct path just right, and another 20GS.

GS: 51,629 -> 52,354

Completed XBLA:	12 / 34
Completed Retail:	24 / 125
GS Completion %:	37.84%
GS % (Non-Demo):	40.25%

Country Rank:	239
World Rank:	1,529