Christmas time

Well now that Christmas is coming around I have got a lot more games. As I will be away from home over Christmas I am getting some presents early as I am not taking my xbox with me. So far I have 10 new games and more to come. Have not tried them all yet though.

Managed to finish Assassin's Creed 2. Overall it was very fun. Side quests did drag on a little though as it seemed to just be piles of assassination quests with little variation so I ended up skipping them nearer the end. I also complete Wall*E which is obviously not too hard to do, but it was pretty fun. I had to buy it after watching the film recently as it was great.

We were celebrating my flat mates birthdays over the weekend and decided that Rock Band would be a good idea. I realised at this point how much of a pain it is. Digging out all the instruments, building the durm kit up, plugging into the back USB port of the xbox and we ended up playing it for less than an hour when people got bored. Overall a bit too much hassle

Percentages and Targets

I have been trying to achieve 60% complete by the end of the year. Today I have realised I have next to no chance of making it. Out of my current games I would need to go from 57475 to 67000 to make the target. That is before I add any games to my tag. I have 2 games sitting unplayed and a lot more on the way through December as I am getting some early presents. From what I have been told I have close to 20000 more gamerscore points worth of game coming. If they all go on my tag then I would need to get up to around 78099 points before I hit my target which I won't manage. Time will tell, but I think that target is not going to get hit.

Things to come

Well my push for the full 1000 on Modern Warfare 2 slowed down. I started the spec ops mode and it is a lot harder that single player. Have got the 2 levels that needs a coop partner out of the way, but having trouble playing through on my own. It really has been designed for 2 players. Just got to familiarise myself with each level and I should be able to finish it.

Started playing Oblivion again and have got into it a lot more than my first attempt. There is just so much to do. I am focusing on all the different guilds first. Will play the main quest line after those.

Wall-E arrived yesterday which after playing the demo looks to be a bit of fun. Got it cheap. Not expecting the best game ever, but it looks good enough to have some fun with. Only just watched the film for the first time the other day.

Been looking over the games I need to make a dent it which I hope to play some of soon. Tried to get further in Command & Conquer, but got stuck. The game does involve a good logic for the tactics which after such a long break from it I was forgetting a lot of those.

Friday brings in Assassin's Creed 2 which I am really looking forward to. Have avoided the achievement list for it and a lot of the previews as I want to see the game first hand and not be expecting anything. This weekend I should get a fare chunk played through. It looks to be a lot of fun

Modern Warfare 2

Completed the single player campaign last night. I had skipped the intel though as I feel I miss out on some experience of the game if I am following guides. Managed to get all other single player achievements without reading up tips which is nice. Really enjoyed it. Only took 8 and a half hours. Tonight I plan to play through single player again to get all the intel I need and then onto special ops mode to finish off the game.

I am dying to play multiplayer of course, but want to get the gamerscore out of the way first. I know I will be well behind everyone when I finally get on, but I have a semi decent skill that I don't think I will have much trouble adjusting to others.

50% completion hit

In my efforts to improve my completion from my current list I have pushed past the 50% mark. Have increased Velvet Assassin to 900/1000. Need to put in around 5 hours on that one to finish it off so have put it down for the moment. I did complete sega mega drive collection and have now started to work on the Simpsons game. It is a pretty fun game, but a bit too many collectables which is ruining it a little for me. Probably about another 3 - 4 hours work for it to 100%.

Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 will be arriving this month which will most likely push my gamerscore to less than 50%, but I will play through both to hopefully 100% so won't be down for long.

Set myself a target of 60% by the end of the year. Unfortunately I plan to get a lot of games around Christmas so will be a pretty hard push for it I think. Started to find a lot more fun in my gamerscore again at least.

Scene it Complete

Finally completed Scene It: LCA yesterday. The achievements have ruined that game for me. I know most of the answers on it now as I saw so many repeat questions trying to find 3 documentary ones. Must have played at least 3 hours a night for most of this week. Most time I have spent on an achievement that required no effort and just waiting on something happening in game. Glad it is over as it was becoming a pain. Won't be doing it with the other Scene it game I have as I can still get fun from playing with friends on that one.

2 Retail and 1 Arcade done

Over the weekend I pushed through a lot of my to do list and complete Eat Lead, Prey and Shadow Complex. Tried Braid again, but the game just frustrates me. I do fine on some bits first try but fail others so don't make it in time or I fail the bits I did fine on and complete the others quickly. The game needs a hell of a lot of effort which for 15 points I am struggling to push on with.

Eat Lead as much as I enjoyed the game first time became a real pain. The checkpoints are spread out and I found I would die close to the next one and have to repeat it. I kept turning it off after a few checkpoints out of frustration, but got through it in the end. Prey felt pretty time consuming, but I made the push through with it to get the game finished off. Shadow Complex was an utterly thrilling game to complete. I did just follow the same repeat process for the last 10 levels for my final achievement, but if I had to just play through it again I would have.

I played through a lot of Scene it:LCA to almost finish it off. All I need now is to answer 3 documentary questions. Unfortunately the game only has 6 or 7 out of 1800 questions so it may take a while to get them. Might just play a game each day until it is complete. Also looking through my list of games for the next one to work on.

DLC Cash in

More and more these days DLC cash ins are coming out just after the games release. I can understand this if these are free, but that is rarely the case. Music games seem to be one of the worse with this. I am sure beatles rock band had DLC around the release. I know games companies have to make money to keep going, but it is getting rediculous.

On the other hand the DLC that comes around release with a free code in each new game purchase is a good plan for companies. I generally buy games new rather than pre-owned as I prefer a scratch free game and usually the price difference in minimal.

Gamerscore Antics

Thought I would start a blog mainly on my gamerscore antics. My gamerscore is now up to 52245 out of a possible 107715. Got a long way to go, but am hoping to push for a lot more soon. Have not been looking to get many new games so can try and finish off a few. My current to do list is: Prey, Matt hazard, Shadow Complex and possibly Braid. These will only net me 205 points, but will boost me 2 more arcade and retail completes. I know I can do the first 3 with little effort, just putting in the play time. Braid concerns me though. Tried a few times and am just not quick enough for the speed run. Will keep pushing at it though.

Havn't been a big one on completionism up until recently. Concidering Im sitting on 48.50% it really does show. So many games on my tag that have barely been touched. Just have a habit of losing interest in all the games and buying new ones. Wanting to fix that though so hope I can stick to it. Found some inspiration in getting more games completed after stumbling over jackanape's blog. He is on a push to get to 92% complete from his current 86.42%. I am not going to push so high so quick though. I have too many games lagging behind and with Assassins creed 2 and Modern warfare 2 coming out that I can not wait for I know I will have more distractions. Then Christmas will roll along with more titles to pile up. Got about 15 last year.

Unfortunately just to ruin my current gamerscore push that I have planned I got caught up with World of Warcraft again. Normally I just play once a week with friends, but getting more addicted to it again. Hopefully I can hold off that though as I really do want to push through my gamerscore. I am planning to have all above mentioned games done by end of October. Dead Rising is another title tempting me back. I really want to do the 7 day survivor achievement, but not sure I could push through a whole 14 hours of it in one go.