General Update 30: Is this thing still on?

Hello?

Does anyone still pay attention to this blog?

Anyone that follows me on twitter will know that I'm not dead. But if I am then someone is still using my profile! No I've just not really been finding the time or incentive to write, which sounds really bad, but it's the truth.

I have decided that after the purchases I make this week, I will not buy another retail game this year. the games I'm picking up this week are Dishonored and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I was lucky enough to get my hands on both of them at this years Eurogamer Expo, which was awesome.

Other than that there have been some really good games out this year, and more to come. I do hope to get back into my writing again, and while I may not go back and write reviews fora lot of the games I've missed because I've been getting on with the next big release. Who knows I may go back and write the odd one here or there.

For know though, good night.

Review: Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is a first person shooter that is based on a supernatural thriller by the same name. It's a Russian book that takes place in the metro tunnels under Moscow, in the aftermath of a nuclear war, that drives the survivors into the tunnel.


You play as Artyom, a young orphan, that was brought up by a stranger that found him one of the tunnels after his mother died. This isn't mentioned in the game but it is in the book. A friend of your uncle comes to visit shortly before disappearing. His last words to you before he leaves are that should he not return in a couple of days then he is to get to a station quite a distance from his own and let the know that he didn't return. On your way things don't go smoothly and you have to make some detours through stations filled with fascists as well as Nazis and that's if you make it between the tunnels as there are rumours that you might not be the only things in the metro.


The game itself is a fairly decent FPS with a range of weaponry that is a little off the norm to make it feel fresh. It also uses some stealth potions, if your going for some of the achievements which does help to switch it up a little bit. Its got a solid campaign as well, it probably took me nearly 15 to 20 hours to get through it and that's with a guide.





One of the refreshing things about this game is that there isn't a difficulty achievement, so you can rock straight in on easy which is what I did. I also rocked through it with a guide so that I could pick up all the achievements as i was wanting to get it off my pile. That being said I did enjoy it. I also don't think I took anything way from the story by ignoring through it with a guide as I had already read the story in the novel.


I would recommend this game if you've read the book, but I would say it was necessary reading. If you like first person shooters and are getting bored with the same old modern warfare setting then definitely get this game, also being on the slightly older side you should probably be able to pick it up fairly cheap.  
Its been announced that there will be a sequel to the game called metro 2033 last light. There is a book called metro 2034 but it's an indirect sequel, which makes sense as the ending of both the book and game don't really leave it open for a direct continuation so it will be interesting to see where they go with it. Below is the trailer for it.

General Update 29: I'm Not Dead! Promise!

It's been a long time since I last posted and I've been busy not just with work but at home as well. I've started baking which has meant even less time on the Xbox, but it's not all bad, as I've still managed to get some games from my pile out of the way. 


So what have I been up to on the Xbox? I've completed Mass Effect 3 to 100% as well as Metro 2033, Skyrim and LA Noire. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 3, it was sad to see the story come to an end but I was satisfied with the ending. I know there was a big kurfuffle about the ending on the internets. I most recently completed Metro 2033, it was good game, I have read the book it was based on, and they are obviously different if the game was to follow the book it wouldn't make a very compelling game, however I'll touch more of that in my review. 


Before I move on to the next game in my pile, which I still can't decide on what its going to be, I thought I would go back and clean up one of the games that hadn't been out in long while. Fable 2, my housemate has the classics edition that contains the all the DLC which also allows me to clear up the last achievement for the main game as well. The thing I notice most is the fact that the game hasn't aged well in my opinion, don't get me wrong though I'm enjoying playing it but the graphics can be a little flakey in some places. 


So I can't decide on my list as to what I'm going to play next, it's either going to be Assassins Creed Revelations, Rage or Ninety-Nine Nights 2. All 3 of which have been started but I'm not sure which it should be. My house mate has also started ACR so if I do work in that well be able to discuss it as we're going through it, I've also got the fourth novel to start as well, which I want to read only after I've finished the story as that's what I've done with the order books in the series. 


The other thing I've been up to is thinking about possibly give the blog a little over haul. This would mean actually spending more time on it, which is party other reason for me putting together another post. I also felt I should, try and get a review done as I've not done one in like forever. I have been meaning to get back into my writing, a while back I picked up some post-it notes so that I could write down blog post ideas, and it has worked as I've got a few ideas written down, I just need to refine them and get them written up. 


And with that I think I shall leave it there, after all these games aren't going to play themselves. Thankfully!

General Update 28: So Long And Thanks For All The 'Chievos!

It’s a sad day today, because I go back to work tomorrow after being off for nearly a week and a half. The reason for the time off was because I needed to burn off some holiday before my new allowance came into affect on the 1st. I didn’t go anywhere as I didn’t want to, instead it was to try and tackle my way through that list I posted in my last General Update.

I started the first weekend by finishing off Space-marine, as I said before, I enjoyed the story and I’m working on the review for it. I did have some trouble near the end and found a video to try and get some tips for playing. In the end I persevered and beat the final boss. Following that I then went onto to finish Timeshift. I had gotten stuck but again I looked up a video which gave me some Ideas which I was able to use for the rest of the game. After completing time shift I picked up Bayonetta as I was not even half way through it and I finished that as well. It will require another 2 playthrough’s at least, but not yet.

With 3 games complete I thought I should try and knock another title from the list. Seeing as i had completed and action game I started American McGee’s Alice. My first impression is that it hasn’t aged well. The control scheme does feel like a dated platformer, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I also went back to try and put some more hours into a more lengthy game, but completing a few cases on L.A. Noire. I’ve completed 2 of the DLC cases and I’ve got one more Vice case before I move onto the last case desk so progress, despite being slow, is being made.

Oh yeah, before I started back in on Timeshift I went back and started something that I needed to do before March, play Mass Effect 2 as my fem-Shep. According to Raptr, an achievement tracking service, I’ve sunk 33 hours into that play through, and in my defence I did do ‘ALL OF THE THINGS!’. Everyone was loyal and survived, I explored every planet and did every side mission, including some that i hadn’t found before. I also completed the last DLC, Arrival, which I thought add some good narrative to the story but I did think it may have been a little on the short side.

Bioshock: Rapture is finished as well and seeing as, I’ve not made it to Assassin’s Creed Revelations yet, I thought I should pick up some new books. I made my way to Waterstone’s and picked up the 4th Mass Effect novel, Mass Effect: Deception, and Deus Ex: Icarus Effect. Obviously I’ve started Deception, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s interesting to see someone else’s take on the Mass Effect universe as the other 3 were written by Drew Karpyshyn who was a lead writer on the games.

One last thing to mention is that Inversion, the interesting third person shoorter, has been delayed. It was supposed to be released on Feb 10th, but it has been delayed until the vague date or early 2012. This means I’m not going to be buying a new game until march 9th when Mass Effect 3 is launched. Incidentally the demo for Mass Effect 3 is to be released on Feb 14th.

It is now time for bed as I’ve got to try and get used to having early nights and early starts. The rest of this week is going to be long!

Review: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Everyone loves Ghostbusters, it’s a fact. Almost everyone wants there to be a 3rd film. I’m not sure if I do any more. They first two are legendary but I’m not sure if the actors would be able to pull it off now! However if there was a way they could make them immortal then they could still come up with a cracking idea that stays true to the films. Immortality is not possible, but the likenesses can be used and generated in CGI and with the actors voices used to voice the character as well it’s as good as the real thing, which is lucky because that’s exactly what they have done with Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

The story is based 2 years after the last film and a Gozer exhibit is being shown at the museum and things then start heating up from there.  You play as a rookie joining the team which means the tutorial feels natural. The story and humour feel like a Ghostbusters film, and they’ve pulled it off very well, probably because Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd were the writers. The graphics and character models look really good and the voices, voiced by the original actors, are the icing on the cake. During the game you run in to characters old and new and it really does feel like the whole thing has been nurtured and not forced.

I must admit that to start with catching the ghosts is does feel a little clunky but once you get used to it you can really enjoy it, and as silly as it sounds you do start feeling like one of the team. The rest of the controls are easy enough to get to grips with. Another thing I will mention is the multiplayer. It’s no secret that if you provide multiplayer that is a little different from the norm then you are usually onto a winner, take Bioshock 2 for example. Well Ghostbusters fulfils that as well, however I was a little disappointed because it was subject to a lot of lag, this may have been my network but it was a little disconcerting. I believe there was also an achievement glitch that meant one of the achievements wasn’t obtainable this was supposed to be a fixed in a title update, I’m not sure if this is still the case. Having done a quick wiki search to check my facts it says that they are still unachievable.

Overall if you’re a fan of the Ghostbusters franchise then by all means go ahead and get this game. I have at least one friend on my friends list that has it, and as far as I know he enjoyed it. it’s a well made game and will definitely satisfy the child in you.

General Update 27: Famous last words!

“I’m not going to buy any more games!” - Chris Pragnell

It’s a bold statement to be sure, but and one that comes with a couple of caveats. Firstly there are 2 exceptions to this, Inversion, to be released on Feb 10th, and the second is Mass Effect 3, to be released on March 9th. The second caveat is that is my birthday is in February, so it’s possible I may receive games as presents.

Why have I decided that this is to be the case simple, I need to get through a lot of games. My list spans around 20 titles, that I need to start/finish the main story line. That does mean that it doesn’t cover those games I need to go back and put more time into. Here is the complete list, in no particular order.

• Spacemarine
• L.A. Noire
• Assassins Creed Revelations
• Halo Anniversary
• Bayonetta
• Timeshift
• Alice Madness Returns (which includes a download code for Alice)
• Metro 2033
• Sonic Generations
• Wolfenstein
• Ninety-Nine Nights 2
• Skyrim
• Deadspace 2
• Battlefield 3
• Dead Rising
• Dead Rising 2
• Star Ocean
• Rage

While I was looking through the stack of games I did notice an awful lot of first person Shooters, so my aim is to try and mix it up a bit so I’m going to start out with Spacemarine and L.A. Noire. Last weekend I managed to make some good progress on Spacemarine, and I'm liking the story which is always a bonus we all know I'm a sucker for a story. As for L.A. Noire, it’s a fairly long game and probably one I can get a decent amount of ‘Chievo’s on, plus a lot of my friends have completed it so I’m trying to catch up with them. 

My To Do List. . .

What else have I been up to? I’ve tried to go back and get through a few more games on my phone i picked up IloMilo earlier in the week, as there is no reason why I haven’t got any further on it. I also tried to pick up my xbox Arcade version as well but I'm stuck on one of the bonus levels. I completed Gears of War 2 on Insane with the help of my housemate. I enjoyed that, it also means that he’s able to now start Gears of War 3. 

This week saw the demo of Final Fantasy XIII-2 released. I downloaded it along with Asura’s Wrath and Choplifter HD which is an arcade title. I really enjoyed the demo for FFXIII-2, it looks very pretty, and has added some new features to that of the original that are interesting, and it does mean I’m looking forward to it, even if I do need to go back and put some more time into FFXIII. Asura’s Wrath intrigued me when I heard about it, and after playing the demo I’m not so sure. The demo included 2 boss battles and after doing some searching on youtube, for game play between boss fights and I’m worried that, as far as gameplay is concerned, it’s going to lack depth. Choplifter HD, is an HD remake, that I hadn’t heard of, but I thought I would give it a go anyway. It’s a good game but I don’t believe it’s worth 1200 MSP. It doesn’t have any multi-player, but it does have leader boards. In the trailer that plays as you exit from the demo it announces that there will be DLC for it, and following a quick google, it looks like that DLC will be free. Will that be enough to entice me to buy it, not at the moment, if I see it in the deal of the week then it’s possibly I’ll pick it up.

General Update 26 : New Year, New Beginnings!

So it’s fairly safe to say that the end of last year saw me getting a little slack with the old blog. Naughty Praggers. However that doesn’t mean I was being lazy, far from it. December saw me being the busiest that I've been in probably for the entire year.

I had plenty to be getting on with gaming-wise and sacrifices were made. I was very tied up with Gears of War 3 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. As well as Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Lego Star Wars 3. That doesn’t include the games I've bought that are still in their cellophane wrapper, or those I've just not started; DeadSpace 2, Alice Madness Returns, Ninety-Nine Nights 2, Dead Rising 1 & 2, Wolfenstein, Battlefield 3 and the game of the year edition of Red Dead Redemption. That list also included Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and Shadows of the Damned, the last two I got for Christmas, but I’ve started all 3 and finished the last 2 already.

My to start list!

There are a load of mammoth games on the horizon with Final Fantasy XIII-2, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and culminating in Mass Effect 3 at the beginning of March. This is to go on top of Skyrim which still has loads of legs left is in it as does Gears of War 3, especially with all the latest DLC, and I still need to try and finish LA Noire and Rage.

|Gingerbread and Shortbread

The other thing that has been tying up my time before Christmas, is that I've started baking. I baked some Gingerbread, emphasis on the bread, some shortbread and then I went a bit crazy for brownies. It’s something I’ve going to carry on with this year as i do enjoy it and there is a sweet, or savory payout at the end. I have also thought about incorporating it into this blog, giving it a major overhaul and renaming it. We’ll see but in the mean time expect to see a few more baking related posts. I’ve got some ideas, so lets see if I can get them to fruition first. I suppose the first thing I should do is update the blog more often. *winking smiley*

Double Brownies

Just to make matters worse I went out today and picked up Sonic Generations and Halo Anniversary Edition with money I was lucky to receive for Christmas. Happy Gaming.

General Update 25: The Spark of Life?

Halloween may almost be upon us but, don’t be scared by this strange visitation! I know it’s been a while since my last post, I also know that I tend to say that beginning of most posts as well, but I’m still trying to work out a routine for making time for my writing. Unfortunately it’s looking more and more likely that it make have to be at the cost of some of my precious playing time. I’d like to say that the cause of my lack of writing is becuase I have been busy playing a host of this year’s big releases, but the stack of un-played games as well as the stack of games I’ve only started would say otherwise.

So a quick rundown of what I‘ve actually been playing in retail;

            Deus Ex: Human Revolution,

            X-Men: Destiny,

Warhammer 40k: Space Marines,        

Rage,

Batman: Arkham Asylum,

Gears of War 2 and 3,

And Briefly LA: Noire.

“What about on Xbox Live?” I hear silently you ask;

The Maw,

Hydrophobia,

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale.

I’ve been having a little difficulty sticking to one game for any amount of time. Deus Ex and Xmen we completed to 1000g, Gears 3 I’ve mostly been playing Multiplayer which makes a change for me, Gears 2 I’m working through on insane and co-op-ing with my housemate. LA:Noire I wanted to go back and try and get a few more completed cases to 5 stars but I kept messing one up so I gave up. both Space marines and  Rage I’ve only had one sitting on and I’m enjoying both, Batman was in preparation of getting Arkham City, which arrived last night, and me trying to perfect my combat for the Combat Challenges. This isn’t working out so well, but I’m not giving up yet! It does mean that Arkham City will have to wait for a little while.

So what does the future hold? Well if I can find the time to write a couple of blog entries I’m hoping to put together a couple of Collector’s Edition un-boxing posts, for Gears 3, Arkham City and Fallout: New Vegas. I should also try and get a couple of reviews up, seeing as I do have a few things to say especially about X-Men: Destiny.

Review: Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End is a Movie Tie-in game. It’s loosely based on the second and third films but makes come creative license with the ideas on some of the levels. The game starts in the prison in Dead Mans Chest, with Jack Sparrow trying to escape, and uses this as a tutorial are a to teach you the basics you will need to make it through the game, from there it follows the films narrative to the climax fight between Davey Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner.

I first played this game on the Wii, and didn’t really get on with the controls, so when i was in Game recently, no that recently now, I decided that I would pick it up to make up my 3 for £30 as I thought that the controls might be slightly easier to get on with, and I’m happy to say they were. This might be to do with the fact that this game is nothing like the other version. I had only played the first few levels on the Wii and it was only the start of the first level that was similar and once you had gotten out of the first room it changed completely.

The visuals are quiet good in this game and the locations do look good and are fairly accurate to the same locations in the films. Shortly after completing the game I watched all 3 films in one evening so comparing them was inevitable. The voices in the game were fairly accurate but a little ropey in places, as are most of the character models.

One of the things that i did like in this game were the collectible achievements, each one of them had something to do with the level in question or at least the films and were fairly easy to pick up most of them. For example on the tribal island that has Jack is leader of, there are 7 can’s of paprika to find. One of the more tricky aspects I had to master was trying to daze the tougher enemies so that you could then perform a finisher on them, this is the only way you can finish them. It can get a little frustrating when you have weaker enemies re-spawning and hammering into you from the sides so you can get a combo off to daze the tougher enemy.

I recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of the films, or wanting a fairly easily achievable 1000 Gamerscore, as it appealed to me for both of those reasons. As long as you don’t take it too seriously then I'm sure you can over look the few flaws that this game has.

General Update 24: Reach for the Stars.

So it’s been a little while since I last wrote and not a whole lot has happened since I broke the 60k Gamerscore mark, but that’s mostly because of the fact that 3 of the games mentioned in my last post still haven’t come down in price, however Lego Star Wars 3 was on offer in Tesco so it was rude not. I’m going to rant about Game being Rubbish and then write up for this blog but it sort of leads into a big can of worms, and the other reason I've not done mush is because I had been playing Mass Effect again! This must be my 7^th play through? And it’s a massive game and I did all the side quests. After completing Mass Effect I completed Lego Star Wars 3, and then after hearing very good things, I picked up Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I'm loving at the moment.

It’s that time of year again for the Summer of Arcade, I maybe a little late as this is the last week that it runs for. This year the games were Bastion, From Dust, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Fruit Ninja Kinect and Toy Soldiers: Cold War. I downloaded the trial version of Bastion and really enjoyed it so I bought the full game which I am still trying to work my way through. The other trial I tried was for Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. I think there are some interesting mechanics in this game, and once I’ve managed to clear some of the back log from my arcade list then I’ll definitely look at getting the full game. I’ve still not invested in Kinect yet so Fruit Ninja Kinect isn’t feasible at the moment.  From Dust looks intriguing and I should look at getting the trial to see what all the fuss is about.

More Mass Effect 3 Videos

This week is Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany and there have been a couple of good trailers coming from it. So far I’ve see a Mass Effect 3 trailer that shows off some of the combat, but it looks a little too scripted to be game play, see above, and the other one I saw as for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. This game is looking awesome especially from this trailer, see below. It’ll be good to see Altair again as I’m bored of Ezio, and after the ending of Brotherhood it’ll be very interesting to see how the Desmond story line progresses.

More Assassins Creed Revelations Videos

In other news there is a rumour that does appear to be building some steam, Diablo 3 may be coming to consoles, there has been two reports making mention to bringing the game to consoles and it’s this second post that really builds credibility for the rumour, however we’ll have to wait a little longer to see if it does become a reality. If you’ve been following me on twitter then you’ll know that I’m not the only one that is looking forward to this game. The other news is that Borderlands 2 has been announced to be released sometime between April 2012 and March 2013. I did enjoy Borderlands, you can read my review here, and although info on the sequel is slim on the ground at the moment there is some concept are that can be seen in this article, and the teaser trailer that is below.

General Update 23: Onwards and Upwards

Hi All, I thought I should put up a post that shows that I really did reach the 60000 Gamerscore milestone. Those who follow my twitter @Gamerpraggers will have already seen that I have indeed reached 60K. It was the last achievement for Just Cause 2 that got me over the line as well. In fact below is a photo I took once I had finished the game.

Proof that I did reach 60K!! 

I've started on the next milestone of 75k, by playing some Timeshift. It's not a bad little game, that has some really interesting time mechanics in it. I also tried the demo of Bastion which is the first of the titles in this year's XBLA Summer of Arcade. I really enjoyed the demo and I did buy the full game, but then I got back into Mass Effect as a fem-Shep. I must be getting into character as I already don't like her hair style!

Previous GamerScore:   59975
Current GamerScore:     60130
Increase:                          +165

General Update 22: The End Is Nigh!

No I don’t mean the end of the world! I’m talking the end of a long slog. That’s right; I’m on the verge of breaking the 60K barrier. I am also looking to tie it in with the 100% Achievement completion of Just Cause 2. I’m still working towards the 75% completion but I’m getting there, I’m currently on 69.31% and I’ve found a way that doesn’t seem as much as a grind as I thought it would be.

As I was away this weekend I wasn’t able to play on the xbox, however with my schamncy Windows Phone 7 I’m still able to get Chievos, and I did I finished Women’s Murder Club, as well as got a handful for both Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies. With all of those won, I was 25 points away from that big 60k which has been hanging over my head for a while now.

I do have a list of games that I need to play once I’ve finished Just Cause 2, first of all I’m going to go back and finish LA Noire. I loved what I had played so far and can’t wait to play more, plus with my Rockstar pass, I’ve got all the recently downloadable content for it as well. Then I’ll start on the following list;

Mass Effect – Fem-Shep

Mass Effect 2 – Fem-Shep

Fable 2 - DLC

Ninety-Nine Nights 2

Bayonetta

Lego Pirates/Star Wars 3

This is only a shortened version of the list and the only one I need to actually buy is the Lego Games and that all depends on whether the price is dropped, so we’ll have to wait and see. I really can’t wait to go back and play Mass Effect and I’ve decided on how I’m going to play her, she will be all pleasant natured in the first game, but towards the end she’ll become more of a badass as people should have listened to her, and then in the second game she’ll be a right bitch!

The reason I want to go back and play Fable 2 is because I really want that last achievement for the dolls. Which are all available to dig up in the DLC. I really enjoyed N3, Ninety-Nine Nights, but when I tried the demo for the sequel I found it rock hard, but I’m really looking forward to it. Bayonetta should be good as well, as I really enjoyed the demo plus it will be something different and a bit faster paced.

Also as well as all of this going on I’m also working on the Borderlands DLC with my housemate, we’ve completed both the Zombie Island and the Underdome and we’ve made some good progress on ‘The Armoury’, and then it’s the Claptrap revolution. Hopefully all of those should give me enough XP to level up to level 60 and should net me the last achievement. After that I think the plan is to start on Gears of War, or possibly Left 4 Dead 2.

Wow that was a long post, now I think it’s time for me to get on and get cracking with this plan.

Previous GamerScore:   59565
Current GamerScore:     59975
Increase:                          +410

General Update 21: Just 'Cause!

I have actually been fairly busy recently, and some of that was actually playing on the xbox, some of that was even writing future posts. They’ve not been posted yet as I need to go back to each one and amend/change/rewrite where necessary, and given that some of the reviews are for games I’ve not touched in a year it may take a little while longer, but I am getting to them slowly.

So what have I been up to then? Mainly trying to slog my way through Just Cause 2, so I can get back to playing LA Noire, I’ve done all the story and difficulty ‘chievos but I’m now left with all the collectables and completion ‘chievos. It doesn’t help that I’ve also had a bit of a splurge on games for my phone as Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds have now both been released, and last week’s Xbox Deal of the week on Pop cap games didn’t help either as I picked up both Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies on there as well. At the moment I’m trying to decide whether I can justify getting Lara Croft: Guardian of light as it’s on offer until Wednesday (6^th July).

Hopefully I will be able to finish both LA Noire and Just Cause 2 fairly soon as I already have 4 games I want to pick up. Alice Madness Returns, Shadows of the Damned and then both Lego Star Wars 3 and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. I do feel guilty as I still haven’t played Bayonetta or Star Ocean yet. I am however making some progress on the Borderlands DLC. I’ve now finished Mad Moxxi’s Underdome and helped my housemate do Zombie Island of Dr Ned. That just leaves Armoury of General Knox and Clap Trap Revolution.

After listening to the OST for Mass Effect, I really want to go back and play the original. Despite having played it through completely half a dozen times I still have something I want to try. Fem-Shep! She’s going to be kick ass, not sure if she’s going to be a Renegade but I will be playing on Easy so I can rocket through it without getting stuck, plus it will make her look even more bad ass!

I’m very close to getting the big 60K gamerscore, I’m only about 500 points away, but it’s feeling like a real slog. It does help I’m getting some good games on my mobile, it’s just a shame I’m not able to get more time on the actual xbox to make a real big dent in the backlog of games I’ve got so I can then take a good run up at the new games coming out between September and Christmas. Yes Gears and Skyrim I’m talking to you! Maybe it’s time I booked a week off work!

Previous GamerScore:   57730
Current GamerScore:     59565
Increase:                        +1835

General Update 20: I'm not dead, just busy! (Promise)

A friend of my, Maggie, send me a link to this video so I thought I would share it. Incidentally I'm getting this game tomorrow and I feel I must confess that I've never played this one!

Friday LOL 10: Link to the Future

So it's been far too long since I did one of these mostly due to the fact that Bobs House of Video Games is no more. However I saw this video today and had to post it almost immediately. It’s Geeky, it’s awesome and it’s game related!



Enjoy!

General Update 19: “I’m mad as hell,and I'm not going to take this anymore!”

The quote above is part of a speech from a film I’ve not seen called the Network. Where the actor Peter Finch has a rant about how bad things are getting. Anyway this week, yes I know it’s only Monday, but I’ve been getting annoyed. Not because I'm not getting enough time on the Xbox, not because I've got loads of games to try and play through and I'm running out of time to play them in. But I’m hearing more and more things that annoy me. The first, but not the main, shouldn’t really be on here but it’s to do with movies.

My Housemate read out a list of 95 films that have been green lighted sequels. Some of these are films that aren’t even out yet and there are even more films on that list that are from long running series, and there are some from films that don’t need sequels. In a similar vein, I've recently got into the Syfy series Stargate:Universe and although this second series is a little slow to pick up I really enjoy it, but because SyFy are re-branding it’s been scrapped.

Are we that complacent in this day in age that we can’t think of something new? I know that part of the reason is because the costs of making a film are pretty astronomical and in the current climates much more of a risk, but if the film companies won’t take the risks then we won’t see Cult films, like Rocky Horror and Empire Records, “Oh Rexy your so sexy!”, in the same way we do now, and this is disheartening.

The second is this PSN catastrophe. “My name is Chris, and I am a . . . Microsoft Fanboy.” I’ll admit it and i have to qualms about it, and while it has been know for me to dislike some of the things on the PlayStation I don’t go around and hate on it. We’re all gamers here we’re all looking for the same enjoyment out of games aren’t we? so why do the other team in? If karma does exist then all these people saying Xbox Live isn’t hackable are asking for trouble. I’ve always said that one thing I really like about Sony is the trophy system and in particular the gold, silver and bronze medals, but I wasn’t happy that you got Mass Effect 2! But good luck to Sony in keeping the PSN up and welcome back to gaming to those who haven't’ been able to scratch that itch we all get.

Third a double edged sword. Mass Effect 3 has been delayed until next year. First of all this a good thing as it means I won’t have to rush through Skyrim in order to get it. However I've also heard that part of the reason that it’s being delayed is so that it can be ‘laser focused’ on bringing a game that will exceed expectations. However according to this article they are tweaking the game to appeal to a wider market. Mass Effect 2 has sold over well over 6.6 million copies. Do they really need to do this? If they do then people who want to go back to experience the story will be disappointed. ME2 was by no means perfect. I’m sure every time I heard “Probe away!” I died a little in side, but it was a good game and I'm hoping that they are only going to be polishing up the game as it will be the end of an era.

There is a silver lining on the funk in which I seem to have fallen. LA: Noire. The game is released on Friday and I have my pre-order ordered. I can’t wait to see that opening cut scene and to start taking on my first case. I do feel sorry for a friend of mine who had his birthday recently as he’s a PC gamer and at the time of writing this there is no release date for it on PC. It’s a shame that he will be missing out.

Anyway time for bed now, if you folks are lucky i might even write another post before the end of the week, but I will leave you with the video of the speech that the title was taken from.

General Update 18: Where does the time go?

Um Yeah so I said last time that the hiatus was over. and then I didn’t write for a month despite not being at work for the last 11 days! So what have a I been up to? Well I've been on a bit of a game splurge. I bought Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Bayonetta and Star Ocean: The Last Hope in a bundle deal. The reason i got POTC was because I had it on the Wii and thought that it would be better on the Xbox, but its a completely different game! It wasn’t a let down though and did lead me to watching all 3 films back to back.

I’ve not gotten to Bayonetta or Star Ocean yet as I went back to finish Dragon Age 2, as i hadn’t done it yet. Oh Yeah, before I did get back to DA2 I picked up Portal 2 and completed the Solo campaign. I took me a few hours and it was really good. They’ve really nailed the humour in that game. So yeah after logging in at least 45 hours in my first playthrough I then went back and played it again to get the rest of the achievements, and today i completed it to 100%.

So I’ve got to decide what to play next, as LA Noire is coming up on the horizon so that would sway me towards Bayonetta as Star Ocean would be a long slog, and I’ve also got a load of Arcade games to work through as well as I picked up Shadow Complex in the sale, and I’ve still got Kingdom for Keflings to finish and some poker to get back into.

Right I’m back to work tomorrow so I think I'm going to have to head to bed. I will inevitably try and get a review up this week, seeing as I have a few to catch up and try and write. I think the running total is near the 20 mark!

Previous GamerScore:   55470
Current GamerScore:    57730
Increase:                    +2260

General Update 17: The Hiatus is over.

Some would say that it’s been far too long since my last blog post and you know what? Those people would be right. The last post was at the beginning of February. Although I did try and write one around the time of my birthday as I received the T-Shirt in the picture below but I never actually got around to posting it.

Free Publicity! 

Praggers Wins!

As you can imagine my list of games to review has gotten longer and longer as is my list of games to play. I have been slightly slacking on the playing of games but I do have a bloody good excuse for that, and that’s because I've uprooted from the the North of England and moved back down south. I’m all setup now and hopefully I should be able to get back into the swing of doing more posts. I may try and write a post a night for the next week. They may not all get published as I write them but then I can keep you guys tided over with my Xbox news.

For those that are interested, I mentioned in my last post that I was invited to a Nintendo 3DS pre-launch event but I wasn’t sure if i was going to make it. Well I did and it blew my mind. It was incredible, and while i decided that I did want one I wasn’t sure if I was going to actually get one. Well I am really weak willed and as launch day came around I decided that I would get one, however I made the wrong choice of starting game. I went for Sims 3, but then remembered, shortly after starting to play, why I don’t like playing Sims games. But to make up for that I have now bought Monkey Ball 3D which was what the girl in the shop said I should have got.

My Shiny New 3DS 

So what have I been playing lately? Well, Dragon Age 2, Torchlight, Full House Poker, Bulletstorm, Homefront, Fable 3. All of which are great games.

Previous GamerScore:  53370

Current GamerScore:    55470

Increase:                       +2100