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

16th December: GS Update

It's been a mass weekend of gaming. I've finished my deadlines for the year, so its back on the 360 for some serious gaming!

My power supply almost exploded! borandi turned on the juice and we did some serious gaming! 64,052 points of total gamerscore is pretty good. Admit it. That is an increase of 490 points over last time! Another day, another milestone. The 64,000 barrier has fallen! He rocked out to Pro Evolution Soccer 6 winning 1 achievement to finish the game, The Outfit gaining 2 achievements, Arkadian Warriors, Amped 3 adding 3 achievements, ARMORED CORE4 picking up 3 achievements, Guitar Hero III finishing 1 achievement, Blazing Angels 2 adding 4 achievements, Blue Dragon, and borandi won't admit this, but I had to force him to stop.

Hahaha lots of gamage. It also goes hand in hand with my new Christmas present I got this week. So far in my 360 career, I used a 13" CRT (which sucked trying to read text on Dead Rising/PGR3), then moved to a 'HD Ready' 19" LCD. Now, however, I have the pleasure of playing on a beautiful 32" LCD screen, complete with 1080i compatibility. Everything is bigger, and better:


Here it is as I was setting it up, with a good Eddie Izzard on the set. I have noticed some motion blur on it (as quoted in some reviews), but generally it is, in general, better than the 19" LCD I had.

As for the games this week, most of them being on Friday/Saturday:

Blue Dragon	50 -> 80 of 1000 7 of 43 Achievements
Blazing Angels 2	0 -> 50 of 1000 4 of 50 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	270 -> 275 of 1000 29 of 59 Achievements
ARMORED CORE4	0 -> 80 of 1000 3 of 39 Achievements
Amped 3	340 -> 530 of 1000 8 of 15 Achievements
Arkadian Warriors	0 -> 60 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements
The Outfit	15 -> 40 of 1000 3 of 41 Achievements
Pro Evolution Soccer 6	880 -> 1000 of 1000 23 of 23 Achievements
SmackDown vs RAW 2008	510 -> 865 of 1000 22 of 26 Achievements
Party Animals	665 -> 720 of 1000 41 of 50 Achievements

So I've spent the best part of Sunday, and part of the night on Saturday, still pursuing Blue Dragon achievements. Armed with my trusty guide (after spending 30 hours without one, I restarted with it), I'm now happily 18 hours into the first disc, having just arrived in Jibral. On that merry journey, I've picked up one of the hardest achievements in the game - Wagon stage complete. In order to do this achievement, you basically have to train from your first hour to get it, then memorise a pattern, and execute it successfully. Having tried ~30 times previously, I was able to do it in 3 attempts on this new save. 30GS coming my way - beautiful!

I rented some Blazing Angels 2 this week (because next week I no longer get free rentals D=). I enjoyed the first game somewhat, even though it got repetitive. BA2 is roughly the same - just with easier controls and more stuff to do in each mission. I got the first two missions done and picked up a couple achievements just to get the feel of the game. Overall, it's a nice WW2 flight sim - if you like those sorts of games.

I also continually got hold of some GH3 - this time in search for some Lefty Flip achievements. On completing Easy on lefty, no achievement popped up (apart from the complete easy one) - so I was a bit annoyed~! I have plans so go through it again (in search of the 5* easy achievement), so hopefully it'll unlock then.

In an attempt to actually play all the games I have, I busted out my copy of Armored Core 4. This game is quite 'rare' in the UK - I've only seen a few copies, but I managed to pick this up pre-owned for 20 quid at Gamestation. Unfortunately, I went into Game and they had it for 20 quid brand new :( But on the whole, Armored Core 4 is fun. It's like a cross between Chromehounds and Earth Defence Force. You build your mecha/'NEXT' with bits you buy/unlock, then shoot the crap out of everything that moves in a mission style based game. Good fun all round! Overall, achievements seem ok - complete the game on easy then hard nets most of them.

I also returned to some Amped 3. Last time I got an achievement in Amped 3 was in March, well before I started this blog. Well I liked the game then - it required skill and persistence to get the achievements. This time round, I went purely for completion of story mode, which I was able to do in about 90 mins (after being half way through already) to net 290 GS. The rest of the achievements require me to participate in all the challenges, and to show my skillz in each mountain. After completing the game, I'd done around 80 challenges - the game has 240, so technically I'm only 33% into those achievements. Ouchies =P

Arkadian Warriors is an XBLA game released this week (with Gripshift). I'll quote what I said on the 10kclub forums after playing the demo:

To me this game (or what I saw of the demo) looks like a random dungeon generator placed within a storyline. Pick up quests (main storyline or just random), go into a randomly generated dungeon or two, get the quest items/kills, back to town.

Its basically an RPG with the level design effort taken out. like Ehrgeiz for the PSX, or Eternal Quest for the PS2 - neither of which did well, but neither had a story line.

There isnt much graphically you can cram into these XBLA games, especially when trying to create individual 3D environments for RPGs - its easier to create a racing game or puzzle game. I reckon they just tried to create a 30hr RPG within the space constraint, and as a result had to stick in the random dungeon generator and scale down the polygons.

I did buy it, and currently about 33% through Story mode. Hack, Slash, Hack, Slash, New Dungeon, Repeat. That's all it is, and its mindless fun. Most of the achievements can be got going through the game, so I'll be working on that. It has a cool co-op mode, but I haven't tried it yet.

I rented the Outfit again, this time to focus on the story mode. I've only done the first couple of missions (each takes ~20mins) in single player and it's a lot like the last time I played it. Just keep shooting and spawning stuff as you go through the map until you win. Ultimately more fun in co-op though.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is FINALLY COMPLETE!!! I spent a good deal of Friday and Saturday playing over 100 games to get the final three leagues complete on this game. It's a fun game, don't get me wrong, but the achievements for completing each league took the biscuit. At 40 games a league, you seriously just have to sit there and grind through the games (whilst watching a show on your laptop). Well I can put this on the shelf, and work on PES2008 now =D Game Complete!

I rented out WWE 08 again this week, for the main purpose of getting most of the online achievements. This was successful (the only online achievement I still need is the 'defend a title 5 times against 5 different gamertags in 24hrs') while boosting with Rican Ninja89, and I got a few more single player achievements too. Another rental (and a successful streak online) should see this game complete.

Same goes with Viva Pinata: Party Animals. All I'm missing are single player achievements, which I could probably grind in 5 hours or less, but that involves playing around 10-16 games offline which will take a while. Fun game, fun achievements, low replayability. Though it's a fun game for 5-10 year olds.

GS: 63,012 -> 64,082

Completed XBLA:	15 / 39
Completed Retail:	29 / 149
GS Completion %:	38.92%
GS % (Non-Demo):	41.24%

Country Rank:	143

A note about Christmas blog postings: As usual over Christmas, one goes to see their extended family over this period. I will have access to 360 gaming, but possible not teh interweb for posting. I may wait and do an extended post. You'll just have to wait and see.

25th November: GS Update

Good week for gaming and releases - Guitar Hero 3, Mass Effect:

Have you ever wondered what it was like to play games with someone who has a gamerscore of 60,082? Well guess what... you will never know, and I do! borandi is mine! All mine! No touchy! That is a profit of 45 points over last time! He made some progress on Mass Effect picking up 2 achievements, Gun, Prey, Open Season, Phantasy Star Universe, Enchanted Arms, Track and Field, TMNT, Oblivion, Boom Boom Rocket, Guitar Hero III finishing 1 achievement, Blue Dragon, Undertow, as well as stared off into space... thinking about the one that got away.

And the gamage:

Guitar Hero III	0 -> 160 of 1000 18 of 59 Achievements
Undertow	0 -> 50 of 200 5 of 12 Achievements
Mass Effect	0 -> 135 of 1000 6 of 45 Achievements
The Outfit	0 -> 15 of 1000 1 of 41 Achievements
Party Animals	0 -> 665 of 1000 37 of 50 Achievements

Guitar Hero III is a great game - much like GH2. Now that I've played GH2 a lot, GH3 is almost second nature. Though they have increased the difficulty somewhat - hard on GH3 is like expert on GH2, thus expert is near impossible. I started on hard, which was quite straightforward to begin with. I'm 80% into it - though stuck on a Slipknot song in tier seven. It's got quite a few doubles in it, and my mind doesnt work in doubles :D. Played a bit online too, all co-op.

Undertow was released on XBLA this week - this is a game I've been waiting for a long time. It's a great game - some easy single player and online modes. Its a shame it'll never get the recognition it deserves - after a few days I was still 70th on the leaderboard for gamerscore, even though I'd only played a couple of hours. The achievements look straightforward - the only difficult ones will be 'do each stage on ultra difficulty' and '10000 kills' - luckily the 10k kills also counts in offline mode against the CPU, so its just a case of finding the best level to do it on.

After playing GH3 for a few hours, I was starting to get hand cramps, so I went out and bought Mass Effect. There's been lots of talk online about this game, how it's an action RPG/FPS mix. Its an awesome game - I've played it seven hours, and you end up looking for clues, talking to people for a couple of hours, then shooting shotgun for the next couple. It's a great mix. You also get to respond positively or negatively - i.e. be the hero or be an ass. Some of the ass comments look hilarous, but for achievements sake I'm going good the first play though, then an arse the second time. To get all the achievements, you have to play through 3 times though! At the minute, my character looks like a Hulk Hogan throwback, but its fun :D

I rented out The Outfit for a friend, but we only played the first level. It looks like a great game - the ability to deploy stuff to destroy other stuff :D I'll get it some other time to play it proper.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals is like Fusion Frenzy 2 - but good. It's a fun mix of racing and minigames - most of them quite easy for kids and grown ups alike. It's a short game, and was easy to get ~700GS. Some of the others require a little grinding, so I'll rent it again.

GS: 58,617 -> 60,107

Completed XBLA:	15 / 38
Completed Retail:	27 / 137
GS Completion %:	39.45%
GS % (Non-Demo):	42.01%

Country Rank:	162
World Rank:	324

w00t! 60k =D