Watch me pull an achievement out of a hat. Well, it’s not actually a hat. It’s a plastic container with a lid. And I did pull an achievement out. Sort of.
I seemed to have lost a lot of my motivation when it comes to prolonged
playing of video games. I like getting
on for an hour or so, but then I just start loosing interest and would rather
do anything else. Like watching paint
dry or counting the bumps on my popcorn ceiling. It’s weird for me to feel that way and I’ve
been trying to think of something to do to get myself out of this funk. And I came to a solution.
I printed out a list of all the Xbox 360 games I own, cut them up into
little stripes with one name per slip and put them all into a plastic
container. My plan is to pull a game out
at least once a week and play in that game until I’ve at least earned an
achievement and/or hopefully find renewed interest in playing video games for
longer periods of time. Who knows. I might find that one game that gets me out
of my funk and start playing games for hours on end every night. At worse I play something until I get an
achievement and then put it aside for something else. At least my gamer score would be going up. I had a new year's resolution to hit 30,000 last year, but I didn’t
make it and I won’t let that happen again.
So after I finished cutting everything up, I shock it around and pulled
a game out. The first one I pulled was Rock
Band 2. At first I was okay with that,
but then I realized that I had just played a lot of Rock Band Blitz (and picked
up a bunch of achievements – see the sidebar) and wasn’t even remotely in the
mood to play another music game. Plus, I’m
not sure if my guitars even work anymore.
I put the game back in the tub and spent the weekend thinking about what
an idiot I am.
Today though, I decided to give it another go. This time I pulled out Borderlands 2. That’s a game I’ve played and had 165 points
in so far. I stopped playing the game
because there’s one side mission that I can’t seem to do fast enough and it was
really annoying me, so I quit. Plus I’m
having a hard time with the fact that you can’t carry health vials with you
when you get hurt. I always forget to
keep an eye on my health so I die a lot.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get another achievement in
that game but this time I was going to make the effort to play it and see what
happens.
At lunch I put the game in and started to play. There was a side mission right where I was located
so I didn’t have to go far. It was to
Assassinate the Assassins so I jumped in and started playing. I remembered I had a gun turret as my special
and I should try to use that more often to help me fight a lot of enemies while
I take cover while my shield recharges my health. So I threw the turret out for fun while I
figured out all the controls again, and after 2 kills (puppy skags, no less)
the achievement for getting 100 kills with the turret pops up. I got 20 gamer score points for that in less
than 2 minutes in the game. I could
have quit and done something else (taking a nap before going back to work sounded
like a good idea) but I stuck around and completed the mission and turned it
in.
It was nice playing that game (even without health vials to use) but I
was so rusty with the controls and how to find things in the menus. I got better by the end of my lunch and I
just might try some more missions after work.
I put a tick mark on the slip of paper for Borderlands 2 and put it back
in the tub. This way I’ll know I’ve
played it and gotten an achievement if I happen to pull it out again later.
I did include sequels in the tub even if I haven’t played the first
game in a series. Who knows, I might
find playing Halo 3 more engaging than playing the first Halo even if I don’t
know what’s going on in that world. I
just want to get back in to the habit of playing video games like I use to.
And speaking of playing video games, I’m seriously looking in to
getting an Xbox One. The only problem is
I have to get a new TV if I want to play it. My current TV is a big 32” CRT monstrosity of
a TV. It doesn’t have any HDMI
connections, although it does have component video. The X1 seems to only be an HDMI connection so
it won’t do me any good to buy one if I don’t have a TV to play it on. I’m hoping to take care of the TV part by
next weekend. The X1 might have to come
a little later because I have some other plans I’m trying figure out that will
definitely put a crimp in my finances.
Specifically I’m trying to find and buy a new computer. I would love a laptop, but realized that I could
get something cheaper if I got a desktop instead. I want it to be a gaming PC so that I can get
back to gaming on the PC which is something I haven’t done in a VERY long time
(X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter anyone?).
Depending on how much I spend for the computer depends on how much I
have left over for the X1 system. Plus
there’s other things factoring in to my decision but I can’t divulge those
plans just yet. You’ll just have to stay
tuned and see what happens next.
So, I consider my drawing plan to be a success. I played a game and got an achievement. It don't know if it is enough to get me out of the funk, but it's a start. Hopefully I'll re-find that gaming spark and pull myself out of this funk when I pick a game.
