Getting Work Done!

I am still working on the achievements earned blogpost. It is far more of a bitch than previously thought. I have been gaming pretty avidly, and getting prepped for a few massive undertakings.

I started Gears of War 3 for the 3rd time, this save file is my co-op one. We only got ACT 1 completed because we had already played it twice before. Stupid collectibles. I missed 1 and had to go back to get it. I only played 1 chapter of ACT 2 so I'm going to focus more on the co-op file to finish it out more achievements and far more fun. I started some of the secondary modes with HORDE being my favorite. I'm looking to hook up with a good team for it because most people don't have the fortitude to go to 50 it seems.

Picked up COD: WAW and I'm not sure if I like it more than MOH: Airborne. It is a good experience so far with some inventive achievements and of course NAZI ZOMBIES! But like all games of this nature it will take time. Nothing but sheer time.

I started PC gaming again, shocking for me. I'm going to have to either upgrade my current PC a little more or just break down and build a new one. I'll probably start planning my new one in the next few months. I'm hoping to find an I7 processor on sale. Or I could just breakdown and run Bootcamp on my mac and buy a copy of Windows to run on it....might be cheaper. The mac is grossly overpowered and would handle any new game coming out easily along with exceeding the requirements of the other games I have sitting here for PC. I started TINKER which I have to say is actually really fun. Just kind of time consuming and sometimes the achievements can be glitchy, but it isn't anything that I cannot fix(just reload the game should fix it). I also started Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, and am currently searching for co-op partners for it, but while I am waiting on that I am playing through solo getting acquainted with the game.

I am finally nearing the end on NHL 2K6....I'm not a huge fan of sports games, so this has been annoying for me. I only have 1 achievement left and plan to get it done tonight or tomorrow so I can just throw the game away. Mostly because well it isn't worth shit. You can buy it for 99cents or less at gamestop. So trading this in would net me pennies or even more possibly I would have to pay them to take it.

I rented Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 from Blockbuster and plan to get into it today or tonight. I have the unlimited pass and am seeing the benefit of it. Especially now that they raised 1 day rentals on some games to 2.99. So for 16 bucks a month I can rent all I want with no late fees or time limits. And seeing as how I can blow through 7 or more rentals a week when I am in the swing of gaming this is a very good deal.

I still have my Gamefly membership, I downgraded to 1 game out at a time. I'm waiting on them to hopefully send me Family Game Night 3. I enjoy little board games like this when its late at night and I am feeling lazy. I wish shipping didn't take so long, that is a huge complaint. I doubt I will see this game before next week. I sent my previous game on tuesday so I might get lucky and get it saturday if I'm lucky.

Redneck Neighbors, Angry Deer, and Games...Typical Week Around Here!

The past week or so has been incredibly long, here is a brief rundown on some of the unfun crap that happened:

 I sat at a car dealership for nearly 2 hours waiting for my mothers car to get a oil change and filter, rock chips fixed and a tire rotation and wash. I nearly fell asleep at least 10 times. The free food and drinks were nice but the lack of having something to do was driving me up a wall.

A deer headbutted my car after I didn't hit him,  I swerve and avoid the deer the natural reaction and gift of thanks is for this damn animal to take his rack and shove it through my passenger headlight. I officially now despise all of the fucking deer in the world. They do say 1 bad apple can ruin it for the bunch...

The asshole rednecks upstairs decided to act loud and disorderly and wouldn't shut up for about the 300th time, is it the 25th yet so I can go to court already and have them shot or whatever?!?!?! Then their equally redneck and incredibly obese friend decides she wants to start something with her little Chihuahua by her side after I witness them doing a drug deal in the parking lot. She tries to attack me, the police are called she runs(actually waddles) away like a child, did I mention she is close to 40? She hasn't been over for a few days or at least I haven't seen her, its whatever, now the cops know about drug activity in the area, kinda makes me laugh, the cops wouldn't have been called if she didn't start shit, she ruined it for everyone because she thought she was tough shit.

Now that I have that off my chest I feel a bit better on to the point of the post. GAMES!

I am trying to come up with a new way to challenge myself, to make gaming more fun again and feel less like a chore(with some games it feels like torture). I'm thinking of a challenge having to do with the day it is. If it is the 1st I have to get at least 1 achievement that day etc, with the difficulty increasing as the month rolls on. I figure this would start in February so I can make a game plan and maybe figure out a good run of games to get me there. I'm also thinking of signing up for a gamerscore league to add some competition to the mix. I know 360voice has some good ones and xbox360achievements have a few as well so I will start looking into it. 

On a side note I am 1 achievement away from a perfect 1500g completion of You Don't Know Jack. I despise Cookie Masterson and will finish the Enscrewsiast achievement tonight and pack it up and ship it back to gamefly. I seriously hope I can control myself from cracking the disc into little tiny pieces before then.

I'm going to have to buy a new headset, the standard microsoft one has finally died. I hate the cheap flimsy cords that are so easy to damage even from normal use. Ugh, there goes another 20 or so bucks out the window, I'm not sure if I am going to buy a replacement right away. I don't really play online all that much so at this point I could take it or leave it.

I am prepping an achievement update for all the score gained since the 10th of this month. Which is no easy feat. But I am about halfway through. I would expect it up sometime tonight or early tomorrow morning. 

Achievement Haul 1/10/2012...Or my Rise to 55k

Today(or yesterday now) was actually a very productive day. Despite being bogged down with crazy amounts of housework and all sorts of family drama I felt increasingly motivated. I didn't set out to make my gaming count as much as it did, yet here I am staring back at 55k. A feat I figured I wouldn't have reached until the end of the month if I had continued on my slump. Well all lazy things must come to an end...On to the point of this post...

I played numerous games today, some I gained score in, others I made progress towards some that will aid me at a later date.

The totals for today(while not my best) are as follows:

Burnout CRASH!

This game takes me back to the old days. To the days when I played my PS2 all night and before achievements existed. This installment of the Burnout series is a play on the Crash mode of Burnout 3: Takedown along with a new twist and a new viewpoint. It reminds me why I used to love the series, and why I used to buy every game the day of release(this has since faded I despised the installments of the Burnout series on the 360). For an arcade game this is a game with substance, and for the 10 dollar(800msp) price-tag it feels at home. I bought this on sale for 400msp or 5 dollars. It is an absolute steal at that price. With over 270 stars to collect through 3 different modes of crashing this game will keep you busy for quite some time. The inventive achievements can sometimes be frustrating but not so much that you want to throw your controller out a window or through the tv.

Achievements Gained Today:

2 for 20G

Set 'Em Up, Knock 'Em Down for 10G

Blast Zone for 10G

Total Gamerscore Gained in Burnout CRASH!:

8 for 60G

CSI: Fatal Conspiracy

This was a pickup from Gamefly a couple months back when they had a massive sale. It is the same point and click boring unbelievable plot line that has come to be expected from the CSI gaming franchise. As a show I love it, as a game it is fair. Be warned you should really follow a guide in order to make this as painless as possible. Otherwise you will find yourself replaying levels and wanting to kill yourself for missing one little thing. Xbox360Achievements.org has an amazing roadmap and guide along with numerous level specific guides for 100 percent completion. 

Achievements Gained Today:

15 for 630G

Boss Fight for 15G

CSI: Fatal Conspiracy for 90G

Smoke the Hive for 90G

All Washed Up for 30G

He Said, She Said for 30G

Tapped Out for 30G

Human Polygraph for 90G

I Like to Watch for 15G

A Tough Job for 30G

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! for 90G

Planting Evidence for 30G

Fool Me Oncer for 15G

Can't Get Fooled Again for 30G

Research Grant for 30G

Under the Hood for 15G

Total Gamerscore Gained in CSI: Fatal Conspiracy:

21 for 760G

MOH Airborne

This game is rough, well probably not for those who normally play war based shooters, and can take alot out of you. I do not play these types of games often and when I do I tend to find myself wanting to jump off a cliff. I'm sure if I played more often I would improve but I only marginally enjoy these types of games and they tend to be a passing mood for me. This is still one of the best WWII games I have played and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good game based in that time period. Besides, any game that has an achievement for kicking a grenade at an enemy and killing him with it is good in my book.

Achievements Gained Today:

14 for 165G

Weapon Handler for 25G

Paestum Ruins for 20G

Shoot to Kill for 10G

Death From Above for 10G

Greased Landing for 5G

In Yer Face! for 20G

Village of Adanti for 15G

Homerun! for 10G

Tick-tick-BOOM! for 20G

Purple Heart for 10G

Pop-n-Drop for 5G

Jump Training for 5G

Flared Landing for 5G

Go Go Go! for 5G

Total Gamerscore Gained in MOH Airborne:

14 for 165G

Full House Poker:

This game is fun...sheer simulated gambling fun! I also picked this up on sale for 400msp. Seems to be a growing trend around here. I have had the Windows Phone version since its release and the experience and chips gained there transfer over to the console version every time you login. So you can earn on the go and rank up next time you sign in at home. It makes it much easier to get the level 50 achievement. It is nice to see the integration of my phone and my console to my knowledge Fable Coin Golf also does this and I'm certain a couple of other titles do it as well.

Achievements Gained Today:

4 for 45G

I Hate ATM Fees for 20G

Gone Fishing for 10G

Ding! Grats! for 5G

Ding! Double Digits! for 10G

Total Gamerscore Gained in Full House Poker:

4 for 45G

Daily Totals:

Achievements:35

Gamerscore:860G

Gamerscore Total:

55,179G 

(I despise games with uneven gamerscore achievements...Gotta find something to even this score back out)

If I can keep turning in days like this I can easily break through the 100K mark before May. Now to only keep up the motivation. I have a backlog that would scare any gamer out of their chair. Maybe all that variety will keep me putting up big numbers...Here's to hoping...

Skyrim, You Have Stolen My Life...

Ever since Skyrim came out. I have been engrossed in it. I got it nearly a week early because of a retailer being stupid and breaking street date without realizing it. Gotta love people who don't normally work in the electronics departments getting thrust into it and not reading the large red/yellow tape that says do not display until (insert printed date here).

I gotta say I only kinda liked Oblivion, and it took me a long time to come around to it. When I started it I couldn't get into it. This was NOT the case with Skyrim. I loved it from the moment I first loaded it up.

I have 720/1000G done on this time sucking game of awesome. It is mostly just main storyline stuff left too. I have fallen prey to the Markarth Forsworn glitch(I have yet to fix it by sneaking to the temple of talos) I have had Hagravens fall out of the sky on me at random locations, I have seen dragons fly backwards, and watched their bones randomly animate and walk around the map. I have even watched my game freeze frustratingly at inconvenient places. And yet I still love this game.

I got my smithing to 100 pretty early on, I just made loads and loads of iron daggers, and leather bracers. I would bow hunt and soul trap deer, elk etc and take their pelts to make into leather and leather strips, and I mined my own iron ore and smelted it down for ingots. Not only did my smithing rise but so did my archery, and enchanting skills(the constant recharging of the bow and having all those soul gems filled really helped out and still helps me out now).

I also discovered that I could just get a non-killable npc to just keep hitting me to up my heavy armor and block. You can constantly follow the guards around at night and sneak behind them on their set paths to raise sneak(equip the muffle illusion spell and cast it as soon as magicka permits every time to raise that skill at the same time).

I used the mannequin glitch by accident when I discovered it. I accidentally put my legendary dragon armor on the mannequin and took it off before closing the screen out and noticed next time I came back to my house I had multiplied it. This is awesome for getting the achievement for having 100,000 gold on you at one time.

I noticed you could re-clear dungeons after a certain period of time, as well as redo some of the dragon wall locations(along with the chests that went with them) to get the Delver achievement.

That is just a taste of what I have learned and discovered while roaming Skyrim. I stand at well over 200 locations discovered and I have yet to even partially fill in the map...this game is massive and epic all at the same time.

I won't lie I will be a little sad when I finally 1000 this, but then again there is also DLC to look forward to, I mean have you seen how much further the line of sight is into Morrowind and Cyrodiil....it has to be there for a reason right????

Time will tell. Thank you Bethesda for creating my personal GOTY for 2011(and nearly everyone else's) and for creating an adventure that truly has kept me engrossed long after most RPGs have already started collecting dust on my shelf.

Long Time, No Post....Oh Damn It's 2012

It's 2012 and the busy Thanksgiving/Jesusmas holidays are now behind me. New Years is down and the next big holiday is a couple of months away. I can finally exhale and get back to focusing on gaming instead of family get togethers and whether or not someone is going to like the blender or whatever we bought for them.

My little cousin got a 360 this year and I set it up for her. She hasn't stopped playing. The bug is finally spreading through the family.

I finally hit 50k, and am nearly to 55k. I haven't spent much time with most games on my backlog mostly because of Skyrim. I have 700/1000G for it and it is mostly the main quests that I have left.

It is 2012 and I'm back....to gaming and to posting. Now if I could hurry and finish Skyrim I could work on that backlog issue over my head....Off to kill dragons...