What I learned when I reconnected

Three Days.

That's as long as I could last. Not long for a self-imposed hiatus, don't you think? I just had to reconnect my Xbox 360 last night and play some games. And after just a few minutes I learned a few things.

First, I don't even have to look in my CD case to get overwhelmed with what game I'm going to play next. All I have to do is look at my list of Arcade games. I picked the games I thought I could unlock achievements in.

Second, I could be working on a particular achievement for days and after a brief break I can load up the game again and get the achievement in the first game without even trying. I picked up a couple of new achievements last night. I wasn't working towards them but I got them anyway. The achievements I WAS working on last night I didn't get. Couldn't even come close. I don't know if getting the achievements is because of the break and that I can look at the game with fresh eyes or that playing the game and not worrying about them means I subconsciously do the things I need to do to get the achievement that I couldn't do if I was thinking about it. Make sense? I didn't think so.

Third, free tournaments in Texas Hold 'Em are boring. They might as well just had their money over to me at the start of the game. I played a really smart game last night. Betting when I knew I would win so I'd get people to play hands they should have folded. Laying off hands that might look good but knew I wouldn't be able to do anything with them. I knew I would win the game from the very first hand . . . and I folded that one. I just hated sitting around waiting for everyone to give me their chips. I'm not as confident when I play the $4,000 buy in tournaments. There's a little more at stake for players in those games. I'm confident I'll be in the money and win something, but just not to win the whole thing. Maybe in time.

Fourth, friends will send you invites to games when they know you don't want to get out of the game you're currently in. Like in the middle of a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. Or a ranked match of Catan. By the time you finish your game their room is full or they've moved on to something else.

Fifth, there's always someone on your friends list who will have the latest game as soon as it comes out. And they'll be playing it. It doesn't matter how much it costs or how many new good games come out, they'll have them. You'll be jealous and spend your time checking up on the achievements for the game to help you get a feel for the game play.

Sixth, there's always someone on your friends list whose gamer score will keep going up and up faster than you can say "what's your gamer score?" How do they do it? Do they not have a job to go to? Do they not have a life? Are they sharing their account with someone else? Is that why it appears that they're online all the time?

Seventh, those little pop ups of who's online and such are annoying. I hate it when you know there's an update for a game that everyone seems to play. Every time someone loads that game they get disconnect from Xbox Live then a few moments later you'll get the pop-up that they're on again. I know you can turn that function off but I like getting the pop up message when I unlock an achievement and I do want to know which friends as just getting online, but not all night long.

Eighth, I think my problem with staying connected to ranked games in Catan might be my connection. It happened again last night. I don't know why this is an issue because it doesn't happen in any other online game or even in player matches of Catan. How on earth am I suppose to get 500 or 1,000 Victory points in ranked matches if I keep lagging out and don't get credit for the game? Can I still get credit for the points? I don't know.

And lastly, I should never go that long without playing my Xbox 360 again. I'll just have to figure out some time sharing plan between all my systems. Or maybe I should take a day off from work just to play video games. Hmmm.....