2nd March: GS Update

An up and some week with a myriad of games and gamerscore.

When borandi was walking by I pretended to be off. I think it tricked him into turning me on for a few games. Gamer score stands at 77,026. That is a gain of 80 points over last time! That was enough to cross the 77,000 mark! Good stuff! He rallied Guitar Hero III, Poker Smash adding 2 achievements, Undertow, Two Worlds, Mass Effect acquiring 2 achievements, and after we were done, borandi hugged me with his eyes. It was one of those platonic hugs... you know...

Oh and it is time for a gamerscore challenge update... listen up... If you are curious, follow along over here. 4 other people are also involved... which is madness. Currently borandi is holding the number 3 spot in the group... decent. And while we have 5 days left, let's not procrastinate. Pick up that controller and get to unlockin'!

On the bright side, I ordered 6 Xbox Live 2100 Microsoft points cards this week, at the fantastic reduced price of 12.97GBP each. They normally sell for 16.99/17.50 each, so I thought this was a bargain =D Hopefully I'll be able to stockpile on some easy XBLA games and get some that I've always wanted.
On the flip side, I was expecting Kingdom Under Fire from my LoveFilm subscription. Instead, they decide to send me the ~30th game on my list - Superman Returns.

And the gamerage this week consists of:

PES2008	55 -> 130 of 1000 5 of 28 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	285 -> 295 of 1000 31 of 59 Achievements
NBA 2K7	545 -> 655 of 1000 33 of 50 Achievements
Mass Effect	210 -> 270 of 1000 13 of 45 Achievements
Poker Smash	40 -> 70 of 200 5 of 12 Achievements
WARRIORS OROCHI	110 -> 140 of 1000 6 of 29 Achievements
Eragon	540 -> 660 of 1000 27 of 37 Achievements
Superman Returns	360 -> 1000 of 1000 18 of 18 Achievements
Rapala Tournament	40 -> 90 of 1000 3 of 30 Achievements

PES2008 should be an easy 1000. Apparently, according to online forums, we're looking at around 150 hours or so. The main achievement requires 500 games worth, plus some online bits. At 5 minutes minimum a game, thats some serious time. On the other hand, I did 8 or so games of the first league. That netted be 10 straight wins and the 100 goals achievement.

Looking at my GH3 achievements, I realised I'd missed an obvious one - 5 star all songs in all easy songs. Turns out I needed to do that final Slayer song. Also, that annoying fact that it didnt award me the lefty/righty achievement when I was working on it last.

I last played NBA 2k7 in July 2007. The main problem I was having then was that it was almost impossible to block a CPU team. However, this time, I was able to get most of the online achievements. All that's left on that front is the 10/20 wins online, which shouldnt take much time. I just need an easier way to get blocks.

I also continued doing some Mass Effect. I'm now on Ilos, and finished the Paramour achievement. Level 34, on easy. Died once on Matriarch Benezia, but kept it together. I'm still plotting my next two playthroughs of this - currently on 20 hours and in the last dungeon, so it shouldn't take longer than Blue Dragon for the full 1000GS.

I went out of my way to get two Poker Smash achievements - the 'triple smash', and the conservative 'get to level 7 using only triples' achievements. Both were relatively easy - I did get slightly annoyed with that last one, as I got to the end of level 6 and bodged the last triple with a full house. But within 20 minutes, it was done =D

Warriors Orochi is still getting the grinding done - now more than 40 levels of abilities. Havn't really tried going to complete the story modes yet, as I got my ass handed to me last time.

I still cant stand Eragon. Maybe 3 or 4 levels at a time until it gets done. And when it's done, I'd like to get rid of it. Bleh.

Ah, this weeks annoying rental - Superman Returns. Last time I played it, I complained that the story mode didnt go as fast as I wanted. This time, I spent 60 minutes on my save file and I'd completed the story mode. Nice and easy. I then worked on the Bizarro minigames, which did somewhat annoy me when the controller would not pick up the combo I was doing (RB, X+A) and decided to pick up something else (X+A) which wasted time. The 100 kittens took two hours, and that left me with 10000 miles, 12 hours, and 10000 tons needed. I used my girlfriends hair band to hold RB and one of the analog sticks, and left the Xbox on overnight (~10 hrs). When I came back to check, I'd done 19hrs total and 10500 miles. I restarted a new game and went to WarWorlds to pick up the big apartment type buildings for an hour to get the 10000 tons achievement. It needed 300 pick ups of those big things. Ah well, now I can send this game back. I wonder what they'll send me next. Game Complete!

Rapala is still fun ;) I managed to finish the first tournament - quite comfortably. The second lake challenge was quite easy - I just kept casting where I started, and five pike later, I ended the day around 30lbs ahead of the competition. I also emailed Activision Value, the company that produces this game. Why? Well, achievements are glitched. The max GS on this game is 720. So they should either a) fix it, or b) reduce the maximum. So get on with it already.

GamerScore:	76106 -> 77231
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	16 / 45
Completed Retail:	36 -> 37 / 180
GS Completion %:	40.0640.63%

Country Rank:	120 -> 123
World Rank:	813 -> 801
Completion Rank:	2,125 -> 2,001

24th February: GS Update

A random slew of games this week. Played some new ones, played some old ones, focused on some RPGs and did some multiplay.

borandi showed up yesterday ready to dominate. Total gamer score stands at 75,521. That is a boost of 740 points over last time! Another day, another milestone. The 75,000 barrier has fallen! He made some progress on Poker Smash, NHL 2K7, The Orange Box acquiring an amazing 10 achievements, NBA LIVE 07 picking up an amazing 8 achievements, Guitar Hero III, Undertow picking up 2 achievements, Two Worlds gaining an amazing 6 achievements, and before I even realized it, he was finished and I was sad.

Oh hey, time for the gamerscore challenge update too... borandi still has that going on and stuff. There's so much action in this one, you may pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!!111! Witness the spectacle. There are 4 other people rocking out on this thing which keeps it fun. Out of all those people, borandi is currently parked at number 2. With only one day left though, we need to make that last big push!

Also got through some gamerscore, hitting that 75k barrier. That's 10k since the year beginning. It might go up somewhat, as I've now started a LoveFiLM subscription for games and films, so I can start renting again. I've opted for the 3 games/films at a time for 18.99GBP/month. Just got the confirmation email, so I might see some games in the post by Tuesday. First on my list is Kingdom Under Fire, as I've had a couple of inquiries about whether I had it or not for online multiplayer. Then after that, it's Thrillville, Avatar and some other easy games.

Now for this weeks gamerage:

Rapala Tournament	0 -> 40 of 1000 1 of 30 Achievements
Splinter Cell D.A.	0 -> 100 of 1000 4 of 38 Achievements
The Orange Box	0 -> 205 of 1000 26 of 99 Achievements
Eragon	270 -> 540 of 1000 22 of 37 Achievements
Two Worlds	270 -> 800 of 1000 35 of 41 Achievements
Undertow	115 -> 165 of 200 11 of 12 Achievements
NBA LIVE 07	0 -> 650 of 1000 11 of 15 Achievements
NHL 2K7	535 -> 650 of 1000 12 of 17 Achievements
WARRIORS OROCHI	40 -> 110 of 1000 5 of 29 Achievements
LMA Manager 2007	870 -> 1000 of 1000 22 of 22 Achievements
Lost Odyssey	110 of 1000 4 of 36 Achievements
DEAD RISING	140 -> 240 of 1000 12 of 50 Achievements
Arkadian Warriors	190 -> 200 of 200 12 of 12 Achievements

I've always been a fan of fishing games, just out of blind ignorance I suppose. Rapala on the 360 got a bit of rap as it's not that indepth, it's a boring game and a significant portion of the gamerscore is glitched. However, I caught a few tiddlers - enough to unlock a 40GS achievement. Not many people have played this game it seems, as there isnt a significant guide for it.

I also started to play Splinter Cell Double Agent. A couple of training missions, the first story mission and half an online game. The online game was 'half' as my 360 froze mid game (it's been doing that since the repair). The game loading was slow, the controls are stodgy and clunky, and it's not really a fun stealth game. However, it seems a little boostable so I'll keep with it a little while.

I've been after The Orange Box for 360 for a while. I've got it on PC, and competed Portal and played some TF2, but never really tried the linear storyline. I didnt buy TOB, but a friend got it so I borrowed it. I completed Portal (again), and did most of the achievements on TF2 - just needing the 1k kills and the 'room of eight' achievements. I also started the single player HL2 campaign - it's going ok so far.

Bleh - Eragon is a long, boring, crappy game. I don't want to know the story line. I don't want to play through 18 levels, both on Normal and Hard difficulty. If they included points on the game for kills and so forth, it'd make this a more fun game. It's just that the combat is almost superfluous and boring, and most of the levels are just running though a stage trying to avoid the combat. But nevertheless, I'm now over half way through.

Now I've got the guide for Two Worlds, the game got a bit easier. I completed the rest of the storyline (including that final 370GS achievement), and now I'm searching around for all the 'visit' achievements and getting level 50. Should be straightforward - apart from the 'find everything' achievement. Hopefully this will get me the 2* RPG badge on 360voice too.

Undertow had a mixed myriad of achievements when it was released - especially the 'complete each stage on co-op' and 'complete each stage on ultra' achievements. Both of which I was able to complete thanks to rican ninja89. It was touch and go on some of the stages, but we pulled through with active defences. All that's left now is the 10k kills achievement. Thankfully, offline kills count too, so several hours doing the same level over and over should do it.

I've had NBA Live 07 a while, not really bothered to play it. However, I stuck it in with NickHarkonnen to see what it was like. 8 minutes and 150GS later, my interest was piqued. I looked online for a guide to the achievements, and got another 500GS in 15 minutes. The only achievements left are online ones which should be easy to get - apart from the 'play online with 1000 people on' achievement, given that when I saw the lobby, there was 27 people online.

I was able to get the 'win an online achievement' for NHL 2k7 this week. I now have to play as each team once, win 100 matches, play 30 online and quit 10 online. That gets me to 950GS - but the last achievement in this game is glitched, to 950 is the max. EA should sort this out. They fixed The Godfather - now fix this.

NickHarkonnen and I also did some Warriors Orochi. We just grinded out some abilities, and in single player I was also able to get some more characters. When my abilities are almost maxed, I'll go after completing the storylines.

I fired up LMA 07 with two leagues to go, at ~6pm at night. By midnight. I had the final achievements. Luckily, there was not much reloading needed, and I'm happy this game is finished. Game Complete!

I didnt get any more achievements in Lost Odyssey, but I played a while - now nearing the end of the first disc I think. The bosses are still hard, and the story is still excellent. Good stuff.

For the blast from the past game of the week (might be a new feature), it was Dead Rising. A game I regret not playing more. However, this time, with a little guide, I got the hang of driving round in cars and vans, running over zombies. This lead to the 1k kills and 10k kills achievements, and I picked up a couple of others on the way, as well as my first finish of 72hr mode. It should be easier when I hit level 50.

Finally, Arkadian Warriors. I finished it shortly after last weeks main post (hence the mini-update), with a few playthroughs of the first stage. Game Complete!

GamerScore:	73836 -> 76106
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	15 -> 16 / 45
Completed Retail:	35 -> 36 / 180
GS Completion %:	39.28% -> 40.06%

Country Rank:	130 -> 120
World Rank:	856 -> 813
Completion Rank:	2,394 -> 2,125

[Aiming for that 3* RPG badge on 360voice]

17th February: GS Update

Various ups and downs gaming this week. I ended up putting in all the games that I own that I've not played yet into my xbox, so they would all show up in my profile. Hopefully some 0 GS games would shame me into playing them ;) Also received my copy of Lost Odyssey =D

It is that time of the week. I got your weekly recap right here: Oh man are my cores just rocking... borandi played seven days last week! SEVEN! That is a NUMBER SEVEN followed by NO ZEROS! HOT! Ready for this? Last week saw an increase of 1784 points! My eye almost bleeds looking at a number that large! Getting 87 achievements can do that to you. I was there. I saw it!

I told borandi to try 15 games last week: Poker Smash, The Club, The Godfather™, DEAD OR ALIVE Xtreme 2, Football Manager 2007, Hitman: Blood Money, LOST PLANET, Need for Speed™ Carbon, Over-G, Pimp My Ride, Rapala Tournament, Rumble Roses Double X, SAMURAI WARRIORS 2, Star Trek Legacy, and NBA LIVE 07. It was a mix of good and bad. Oh, and borandi seems obsessed with role playing games lately... You can tell because Blue Dragon was the favorite last week. He played it on 5 of the days.

There are still a couple of games in my US pile I still need to put in ;)

Arkadian Warriors	95 -> 190 of 200 11 of 12 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	275 -> 285 of 1000 30 of 59 Achievements
LMA Manager 2007	670 -> 870 of 1000 18 of 22 Achievements
WAR TECH:SenkoNoRonde	490 -> 520 of 1000 17 of 25 Achievements
WARRIORS OROCHI	0 -> 40 of 1000 2 of 29 Achievements
DEAD OR ALIVE 4	80 -> 245 of 1000 16 of 45 Achievements
Two Worlds	260 -> 270 of 1000 24 of 41 Achievements
Lost Odyssey	0 -> 110 of 1000 4 of 36 Achievements
Undertow	50 -> 115 of 200 9 of 12 Achievements
Pimp My Ride	0 -> 30 of 1000 3 of 30 Achievements
Football Manager 2007	0 -> 9 of 1000 3 of 50 Achievements

Arkadian Warriors was added to the RPG genre over at 360voice. Thus it became higher up on my priorities list =D For some reason, playing the game this time round was incredibly easy. I completed the last 7 missions in the main quest, got the 500k gold achievement, and at the end redoing the final level netted the 'level 20' achievement. All that's left now is the 'kill 100 with exploding vases' achievement. It should require a bit of grinding the first mission, but not too difficult.

The first GHIII achievement in a while came my way this week =D Was playing some co-op with Nellas, and we got the 100% a song co-op achievement. Unfortunately, some games are weird with two players getting the same achievement at once, so Nellas didnt get it. It was an easy track, so we can get it again.

Last week, I was 10 games into the German season on LMA Manager 07. This week, I finished the German league achievements and the French league achievements. All that's left is the Dutch and Portuguese leagues. Four, maybe five hours of simming I reckon.

I didn't actually play any WarTech this week. I just left the console on for a few hours while working around the house, and got the '10 hours played' achievement. While doing nothing, might as well try and earn something ;)

I started playing Warriors Orochi on advice that it should be an easy 1000GS - about 30 hours or so. Its like Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, but more RPG and Story based. It's fun - each map takes around 20 minutes (rather than 5) and is quite easy to win (unlike Ninety Nine Nights). Well, except for the final bosses. I got my characters to level 40ish and the final boss kicked my ass. More grinding, better weapons, more skills. Not too hard, just a little bit of playing and grinding.

As I've stated before, Dead or Alive 4 is an annoying game. It's got an annoying difficulty curve, and I suck at it. So rican ninja89 and I went and did the online achievements - 5, 10 and 20 consecutive wins, beat people on 10-14, 15-19 and 20+ win streaks, achieve rank B and D. I didnt take long =D

I opened up Two Worlds for the first time since September this week. I had no idea what I was doing. Controls, storyline, nothing. So I bought the guide - it has the main storyline and all the side quests explained, so the rest of the achievements should be fairly easy. Didn't play it much though. Will focus on it soon ;)

Lost Odyssey. All the best elements from Final Fantasy in a Japanese-RPG, and I'm only two hours in. Seemless transition from FMV to in-game action sequences. It makes Blue Dragon look like a minor 'Side Project' or 'concept car' to test the engine. Get this game, now.

Also did some online achievements in Undertow with rican ninja89. We also started the story mode on Ultra, and did about 5 stages. 200/200 is perfectly possible on this game, just needs some grinding and a small amount of skill (hopefully).

Pimp My Ride is one of those games that has been labelled as 'easy' by the gaming community. So I gave it a 45 minute whirl when I was putting in all my unplayed games. It looks easy, and a bit of a grind. I'll play some more later.

Also with Football Manager 2007 - I just simmed for about 30 mins, and got a few achievements. This game reminds me of FM06, which was crap. Bleh.

GamerScore:	73072 -> 73836
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	15 / 45
Completed Retail:	36 -> 35 / 178
GS Completion %:	43.51% -> 39.28%

Country Rank:	129 -> 130
World Rank:	860 -> 856
Completion Rank:	1,812 -> 2,394

It looks like the new PSU achievements kicked in on mygamercard.net - hence the 36 -> 35 game completion drop.