Zoe update

Perhaps yesterday's post was a bit premature.

Yesterday Zoe didn't have a good day at all.  I could tell she was uncomfortable and hurting.  I had to give her a sedative twice to help her relax and get comfortable.  To be honest, I wasn't comfortable either.  It's definitely summer here now and temperatures were over 110 degrees.  But I haven't had half my tail chopped off.

Last night I did notice that she had started to bleed through her bandage.  It was good that she still had her bandage on, but not good that she was bleeding.  I had to take her in the vet this morning and the news was even worse than that.

The tip of her short tail has gotten infected because she won't leave it alone and keeps chewing at it no matter how many times I scold her or swat her butt.  Now the tissue is starting to die.  She's going to have to go back on Monday for another surgery to remove even more of her tail.  Hopefully it will be so short now she won't be able to get to it to chew on it.

Until then they changed her meds and how often she takes them.  Since they make her very sleepy and she's taking them more often she's basically going to be sleeping from now until Monday morning.  And that's the way they want her.  They figure if she's sleeping, she's not chewing on her tail.  Unfortunately she's an older dog (about 10 years old) and losses control of her bowls when she's heavily sedated.  I'm going to have a fun weekend ahead of me.

I know that the sedation is necessary  to help her heal, but I feel like a real jerk giving it to her.  But I can't be mad at her.  What happened was a complete accident and one of her own doing.  Even the chewing of the tail doesn't make me mad because that is what anyone would do if something irritated them and they wanted to scratch it.  Even losing control of her bowls and pooping in the house I can't get mad at.  That's what happens to the best of us if we were sedated so much and couldn't control or do things. 

There's no one to get mad at and I really want to get mad at someone and vent my frustrations.  Usually when I feel this way, I like to play games like Gears of War or Call of Duty.  Blowing people's brains out is very therapeutic.  Unfortunately, I'm so emotional exhausted by this whole thing (going on 4 weeks now) that I don't have the mental energy to do anything except veg out and start at the wall.  Hey, that's what my dog does too.  Except she's on drugs and I'm just exhausted.  Oh well.

If you see me online and I seem kind of out of it, now you know why.  Please go easy on me.  Maybe let me win a few more games that I normally would.  Or better yet, let me blow your brains out.  It's okay, you'll respawn.

New Year Resolutions

So today's the last day of the year and I'm still questioning whether or not I'll survive the year.  I just can't get rid of this nasty cough.  Oh well.  This cold/mono/whatever has really whipped my ass.  I got sick the week of Thanksgiving and I've been sick ever since, to varying degrees.  It's the cough and extreme tiredness/exhaustion that I'm having the hardest time with.

But the sun keeps coming up and life goes on.  And tomorrow is a new year.

With a new year comes New Year Resolutions.  I make them every year, but I don't always complete them.  Some last almost the whole year.  Some are forgotten or given up on before the end of January.  Either way, I like setting goals.  It's fun and gives me an idea of what I want to accomplish in the next 12 months.

For starters, I have a lot of games.  854 to be exact.  And that doesn't count my PC games, just console games.  I have a really good inventory system.  I kind of have to with all those games.  Of all those games 435 are Xbox, Xbox Arcade or Xbox One games.  Of those 435 I don't have any achievements in 167 of them.  That's 38.39% of games with no gamer score.  So one of my New Year Achievements is to get at least one achievement in all the games I own.  That's a lot of games to play.  I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get an achievement in all of them.  I know, because I've tried in some of those games.  Either way, I'm going to try.

Speaking of gamer score I think I want to get my gamer score at or above 40,000.  I currently have 32,637 and I hope to get a couple more tonight before the new year rings in.  That means I have to get 7,363 in 12 months.  That's an average of 614 points a month.  I think that's very doable.  Especially if I'm going to be playing a lot of games.  I know a lot of people don't care about achievements and gamer score, but I like to see what I've accomplished in the year besides just knowing I spent X amount of time playing video games.  Besides some of those achievements might be hard to get.

I'd also like to complete (i.e. get to the end credits) of 12 games.  That's one a month.  Might be doable, but it will take some effort and planning to achieve.  I'm not sure what those games might be, but I know that a couple of them should be Summoner (PS2), Jedi Outcast (Xbox), Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube) and Final Fantasy VII (PS) since those were the games that started this blog way back on March 2nd, 2007.  That's a long time . . . 8 years exactly . . . and I still haven't finished those games.  I have noticed that since I started my YouTube channel I've finished several games.  That's promising.

The games that I'm the closest to finishing are:
Fable III
Final Fantasy XIII
Gears of War Ultimate Edition
Lost Odyssey
Psychonauts
Rayman Origins
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)

I think finishing these are doable.  I wonder what other ones I can finish before the end of the year.  Is there any games you'd like me to play and finish?  I'm taking suggestions for my channel and for my New Year Resolutions.  Just name something in the comments and I'll let you know if I've got it.  If not, I might be able to pick it up.  I did get a lot of games through Xbox's sale the last 2 weeks.  Not that I needed more games.  But they were cheap and I video games are so much fun.

Do you have any New Year Resolutions?  If so, let me know in the comments.  Maybe there will be something we can work on together.

Digital or Disk?

So I perfected Lego Star Wars and bought my Xbox One.  And I'm loving it.  I'm having a blast in Titanfall and Destiny and recently Gears of War Ultimate Edition (of whatever it is called).  But all this excitement has me thinking.  And that's a scary thing.

I have a shelf full of game cases for all my systems going back to the PlayStation.  I'm running out of room to put new game cases.  I can't image what it will be like a year or two from now.  So I've been thinking about going all digital vs. buying disks.

I probably wouldn't have even considered this a couple of years ago but having the Games with Gold option every month it's nice to get a full game and not clutter up a shelf with a case that will never be used.  Plus I don't have to flip around a big CD case looking for a game disk of what I want to play.  I know the Arcade titles have always been digital but in the past I've preferred to buy a disk when I wanted a retail game.  Now I'm rethinking that.

I don't store my disks in the case they came in.  Instead I put them in to a very big CD folder (which I'm running out of room in between my PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games).  Those game cases are now just decoration . . . and clutter in my living room.  I guess I could always pull a case out and look through the insert manual for help in playing the game.  But wait, games aren't coming with inserts anymore.  And there's no organization to my shelves at all.

So why not digital?

That's what I've been asking myself for the last couple of months.  When I started to budget for getting an Xbox One and heard the announcement of a 1TB system I knew I had to get that larger hard drive space . . . especially if I wanted to get all digital.  On my 250GB hard drive on my Xbox 360, I've run out of space several times.  All of my Arcade titles are now stored on a thumb drive and I've deleted all the extra stuff for games that I probably won't play for awhile.  I figure I'll just re-download them if/when I play that game again.  File management has been a bitch.

A 1TB hard drive should be big enough, right?  If not I guess I'll have to look in to some external storage for my XBO.  I like not having to flip through a case but instead flip through a couple of titles on my screen.  And there isn't the hassle of having to get up to change disks whenever I want to change games.  I can see the beauty in going all digital.  But it doesn't feel like I "own" anything when I purchase a digital game.

I love to read but I have no interest in going to a digital platform for books.  My tablet is a Nook from Barnes & Noble but I have no interest in reading a book on it.  I prefer the paper and glue method of delivery that I've used for years.  I feel like I "own" those books , , , even if I've only just checked it out of the library.  There is something about holding something in your hand and saying "this is mine" that is very satisfying to me.  That's why I've been buying disk copies of games.

And it always seems to me that I can find cheaper copies of the game if I buy the disk than if I buy a digital copy.  Recently I've been looking for a copy of the game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for Xbox 360.  I saw that GameStop had a used copy for $3, but in the game store on my Xbox a digital copy was still going for $15.  Now why would I want to spend $15 on a game when I could get the same game for $3 somewhere else?  (In fact I got the game for $1.50 somewhere else so I saved even more money.)  For less than $60 I was able to pick up 5 games only one of which was new (Gears of War Ultimate Edition $40).  For less than $20 I was able to pick up 4 more games that I wouldn't have been able to if I had purchased the digital version of Enslaved.

Until digital pricing goes down on older games I'm not so sure that I want to spend more money than I have to for older games.  That doesn't mean I won't buy digital at all (and I won't stop getting Games with Gold games for free if I like them).  But maybe I only pay full price on new games.  You know, when the digital copy is the same price as a disk copy.

Yeah, I won't have any little inserts or "24 hours free Xbox Live Gold membership" cards in a case.  But I also won't have a case cluttering up the space in my living room.  I'm running out of shelf space as it is.  And with digital some games have the option to pre-purchase and pre-download so you're ready to play the game from minute one on the day it comes out.  I like that.  But whether it is digital space or shelf space I don't see myself stopping to buy video games anytime soon.  New or used.  I only see more video games in my future . . . especially this holiday season.  Lots more games.

More Achievements for me

So I pulled Borderlands 2 out of the tub on Monday and picked up an achievement.  I even played it Tuesday as well, just for fun.  But I wasn’t really in the mood so I didn’t keep it up. 

On Wednesday I decided to pull another game out of the tub and this time I picked Scene It? Box Office Smash!  I was okay with that choice as long as I could find where I put the special controllers for the game.  Yes, I know I could use the standard Xbox controller but those special controllers make it more fun.  It took awhile before I found them and then I figured I should probably get some batteries because who knows how long ago I used them and if the batteries were still good.   Turns out they were.

I had to disconnect my Xbox controller and just use the game controller otherwise it was thinking there were 2 players in the game.  I wasn’t sure if I could navigate the menus with the special controllers but it wasn’t that bad.  I wondered if there was a way to play a regular game with those controllers.  I figure it would have to be a platformer or puzzle type game.  There just isn’t any fine tuning to the movement with those buzzers.

After I got the controller issue figure out, I started a game.  Just a short game; nothing too fancy.  And at the end of the game I got an achievement.  Whoo Hoo!!!  I played another short game and picked up 3 more achievements.  So . . . I played a third game, but sadly I didn’t get any more achievements.  I think I was close to getting one but just missed out on it.

I tired finding an online match but nobody seemed to be playing this game besides me.  Oh well.  I didn’t think I would get those online achievements anyway.

Well, so far I’m 2 for 2 in playing games out of the tub and getting achievements for them.  I’ve picked up almost 100 gamer score in 3 days so getting to 30,000 is very doable.  I’m sitting at 27,662 right now so I only have to get 2,338 more.  I’m sure if I keep this up I might cross 30,000 long before the end of the year.

I figure this success rate isn’t going to last.  I’m going to run in to a game that’s going to take a lot more work to unlock an achievement than what these last two games have done.  Like, I’m on disk 2 for Blue Dragon but I haven’t unlocked an achievement in a very long time.  Maybe that means I’m close, but I really don’t think so.  Most of the achievements in that game seem to be for completing things or maxing things out.  I figure those achievements will pop up closer to the end of the game.

Instead of dipping in to the tub again today I might try playing some Gears of War Judgment.  It’s the free Games with Gold for the first part of April and I downloaded to the game last night.  My Gears of War games are some of my most completed games for achievements.  I’ve got 77%, 93%, 81% and 35% in them (in release order).  Judgment is the lone 35% completion in that group.  I should really try to make that more acceptable since I love the Gears of War franchise, even if I didn’t like how Judgment told its story.  So maybe I’ll stick with that game for awhile and see what achievements I can earn there.

I also added Terraria to my list of Xbox Live Arcade titles.  It was also a Games with Gold freebie.  I had the trail version and played it briefly.  It’s one that I considered buying if/when I had the money and/or time to play it.  At least now I didn’t have to buy it and I can spend my money on other things.  I wonder how easy it is to get achievements in that game.

1 minute Time Travel game + 3 new games

I know I haven't blogged for awhile but that's because I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life that has made blogging (and sometimes gaming) very hard to do.  For starters my birthday was this month (the 15th).  I've gotten to a point in my life that another birthday is just another day in my life.  But on the other hand I've been feeling a little blue lately that having someone actually acknowledge it's my birthday and want to celebrate with me would be nice. 

On top of all of that my supervisor went out on maternity leave this month and I've had to tag along to a bunch of her meetings before she left so I can step in to her shoes and fill in for her while she's out for the next 3 months. 

On top of that I've had problems with my AC unit.  Right when the temperature starting hovering around 108-110.  I called the guy out the first time and he couldn't pin point what was wrong with the unit, but admitted that it wasn't functioning correctly.  He suggested either the thermostat, the compressor or the blower motor.  The cheapest fix was the thermostat, starting at $200.  My dad suggested I go to Home Depot and buy one myself.  I got one for $25 and he helped install it.  Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem.  After getting another guy to come out and have a look he found out it was the starter relay for the compressor and the compressor wasn't running efficiently.  The bad news is I ended up spending $1,116 to fix the relay and compressor.  The good news is I finally have cold air in my house again. 

So with all those things (and a general disgust with how things have been happening while playing) I haven't blogged or felt like playing for awhile.  I did buy 3 new games though.  It was my birthday present to myself.  And I needed some cheering up.  I got The Darkness 2, Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns and Splinter Cell: Blacklist.  Got 'em used and cheap at Gamestop (although I found out later I could have gotten SC:B even cheaper on Amazon . . . and new too).  I should probably stop buying new games and just focusing on the games I already have. 

If I hadn't had to spend so much money to fix my AC unit I would have gotten a PS3 bundle.  There's a The Last of Us PS3 500GB bundle on sale for $269.  Unfortunately I'd rather have cool air than a new system right now.  I'm hoping it will still be available next month or August after I've financially recovered from this.

But until then I have a new "1 Minute" game.  This time (ha ha) it's with time travel.  You have one minute to list every game you can think of that has time travel as an element of game play.   Your character either travels through time to another point in the time continuum or your player plays in two different time periods.  I'm going to rule out the Fable games.  Starting as a kid for the "tutorial" parts and then playing as an adult for the main game doesn't count.  That's just a gimmick to help you learn the mechanics of the game before getting in to the real story.  So Fable games are ruled out.  For me and for you.

So now lets get to your list.

On your mark.

Get set.

Go.

Time travel.

Don't be cute and try to reset the timer.  That doesn't count as 'time travel'.

If you can get one in a certain franchise you should be able to get all 6.

And no, I'm going to give you a hint.

You better hurry.  You're running out of time.

(hee hee)

And STOP!

Okay how many did you come up with?

Here's my list:
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Time Splitters: Future Perfect
Assassin's Creed 1-3, Brotherhood, Revelations & Black Flag
Gears of War Judgement
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy X and X-2
Blink: The Time Sweeper
Civilization Revolution

That's a total of 14 games.  I'm very disappointed in myself.  I thought I could think up more than that.  There's got to me more, right?

I wasn't going to included Gears of War Judgement because I was thinking it was all flashback story telling but then I remembered that you actually play in the present when the Locus storm the courtroom place.  It's not stereotypical "time travel" but you are playing in two different time periods and I said that would count.

I haven't played Blink for so long but I remember it has something to do with time.  I could be totally wrong about that game.  I think I might have to go look up the story for that game and see if I'm way off.

I will admit that Civilization Revolution was also a stretch.  But since you play in multiple time eras and things change as you play I'm counting it.  Hey, it's my game so I will allow it.

As for the Final Fantasy games I'm saying they count even though I don't understand exactly how or why.  I'm not even sure I can explain to you my reasoning in a way that you'll be understand, even if you have played the games.  I understand all the Summoners and Sin stuff (to a point with Sin anyway) but where (or maybe when) Tidus comes from and how and what Yuna does in the second game to find him is still pretty hazy to me.  I'm working on another play through of the first game and I'm slowing plodding my way through the second game (when I can get my system to load it).  Maybe when I finish the second game I'll have a better understanding.

So tell me how many you got in the comments.  Was there an obvious game I missed?  Did I have some that you think you should have gotten?  Did you cheat and read my list first?  Shame on you. 

When gamers get personal

There's no shortage of trash talking when you're playing a video game online. The gamer doesn't matter. The game doesn't matter. But I have noticed an interesting trend. And it has nothing to do with "yor momma".

I have friends that prefer one game over another. Some like Gears of War, other like Call of Duty. Some like both, but I think everyone has a preference of which one they would rather play. But sometimes you just want to play with friends no matter what game they're playing. So CoD fans will play GoW and vice versa.

Every now and then the trash talking against one game gets out of control. Everybody thinks their favorite game is much better than the other one. Gears has wall bouncers, glitchers, lag and what not. Call of Duty has care package glitches, host quitting, camping, lag and the like. Neither game is perfect but try telling that to my group of friends.

But here's the rub. With Gears the complaining gets personal.

Not with other gamers as much as with Cliff Bleszinski. Who's Cliffy B. you ask? He's the designer of Gears of War. It's his baby and he's not shy about that. If something funky goes wrong in the game my friends will gladly tell you how they feel about Cliffy B. If anything goes wrong it's his faulty . . . personally. If Cliffy B. took any of their comments seriously I don't think he would leave his house for fear of being butt rapped by a group of irate gamers.

But Call of Duty is no different to the whining and bitchfest that online gaming has become. You will still hear complaints from gamers about people camping around corners, lag switching (although in order for this to actually happen it will effect the whole team and not just one person) and spawn killing. But what you don't hear is gamers directing their complaints against one person at the companies who developed the games. Why is that?

Maybe it's because there are two different development houses that do the Call of Duty games. Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Gamers might know those company names and which ones developed which games in the series, but there really isn't anyone one person who stands out as the "face of Infinity Ward" or the "face of Treyarch". They're a no one big faceless company so complaining and bitching is done in the the general sense.

With Gears it's specific and direct. One man made Gears of War his personal vision of how a video game should be. And my friends are taking that literally. He's personally responsible for the games so he personally gets all the complaints directed at him (even if he never hears them).

It seems gamers take their games personally . . . whether they design them or play them.

Almost there

At the beginning of June I set myself a little mini goal. I wanted to break the 20,000 gamer score barrier by Labor day. I had just under 2,000 points to go in order to hit that mark. It would be doable but I'd have to put in the effort.

My score currently stand sat 19,902. So close, and yet so far. It helped that I finally picked up some multiplayer achievements in Gears of War. I got points for hosting 50 matches, 100 chainsaw kills, and 100 revives. I also picked up a few achievements in Mass Effect and one for starting Lego Star Wars III and finishing the story in Puzzle Quest 2.

On the other hand I can't seem to get any more achievements in Clash of Heroes. I really loved that game and I worked hard to max out all my allies and specialists and finally got that achievement. But since then I can't seem to progress in the story. I'm on the third character (the ghost which I can't remember her name) and I got up to level 3 but now I can't win a battle. Everybody I run into is at least a level 5 and my troops just don't seem to have the defense to stand up to the enemy's attack. I think I've played that game for over an hour without progressing or winning anything. It's rather frustrating so I've stopped playing. I don't think I'll be getting any more achievements out of that game before Labor Day.

Since I've always had one arcade game that I obsess about I'm trying to find a replacement to fill my time. Everything I've tried to play hasn't interested me. While I know I can pick up some achievements in larger disk games, I like having a smaller arcade game to play when I want something quick and not so intense.

I've been working on my pistol and Boomshot kills in Gears so that might get me some points towards my goal, but I don't think I'll get those achievements before Labor Day. I might get them before Gears of War 3 comes out but that's later on in the month so I have more time.

I should also be able to pick up another achievement or two with Mass Effect. I want to finish that game before Gears 3 comes out because I won't be playing much else when I have that game in my hands. I'm pretty close to the end of the game but I don't know if the achievements I might get will be enough to push me over the 20k mark.

So I have a month and a half to get 98 points to reach my goal. You would think that because that number is only 2 digits it would seem absolutely attainable, but it doesn't. It might only be 2 digits but it feels so far away. But I can't wait to break that 20k barrier. I'm really tired of looking at a number one at the beginning of my gamer score. My gamer score was higher than Genghis's when I started his last tour of duty. Now he's up around 60,000 or so and I haven't even broken 20,000. And I also thought I played more video games than Sneaka but he's past the 20k mark and has been for awhile. And I don't want to think of Banco Billy's 200+k gamer score.

Will there be any hope for me to reach my goal? I hope so. I'm a competitive person so as long as I have friends with a higher score than me I'll keep trying and playing games. Maybe by the time I'm 80 years old I can reach the gamer score Banco Billy has today. Until then I'll just be happy trying to get to past 20,000.

NEW POLL! What upcoming game are you most excited about?

I know, it's been a long time, but I've got a new poll up. You have until July 8th to vote so make it count. Here it is:

What upcoming game are you most excited about?

Gears of War 3
Modern Warfare 3
Mass Effect 3
Elder's Scroll: Skyrim
the new Batman game

Happy voting!

Oh, and I added a search box to my blog if you want to try that out. Let me know what you think.

Poll Results - What are you looking forward to?

This holiday season (and the first quarter of next year) are looking to be a gold mine for great games coming out. I'll probably get all the big games but I got to wondering which one you guys were most looking forward to. Hence my latest poll. Here are the results.

What upcoming game are you most looking forward to?

Halo: Reach = 1 vote
Fable III = 1 vote
Dead Space 2 = 0 votes
Call of Duty: Black Ops = 1 vote
Gears of War 3 = 1 vote

So let's look at each game individually. Why? Because it's my blog and I said so. Anyway.

Halo: Reach
I'm not like a lot of other gamers out there in that I don't have anything against the Halo games. They're great games, filled with action and excitement. What I do have a problem with is all the shitty players that play the game. I'm not certain but I'm sure "tea-bagging" didn't exist until online Halo games. If you can get into a good room it's not bad. Unfortunately I think stupidity and bathroom humor are staples to playing Halo online these days.

Will I get this game at release? Probably not. But I'll probably wait until it drops in price because there are other games I want more.

Fable III
I loved the first Fable game although I've never gotten far in the game. I loved stealing from people's homes (I most always select a thief-type character when playing RPGs) and I loved the side quest missions. Unfortunately I had other games to play so I've never finished the first one.

I love the second Fable game even more. I think I've actually progressed even less in the main story than the first one because of all the side quests, blacksmithing and wood chopping I could do. Not to mention the pub games. In my first game my save got glitched. It happened just after I bought the Snowglobe DLC. My character wouldn't move properly and when I finally got them to Bowerstone they wouldn't move at all. I tried deleting the DLC but then my game wouldn't load because it had been a part of the last save. I finally gave up and restarted the game. And then I got robbed. So what's a girl to do? Restart the game (again) of course. Some times I get so tired about restarting games that I'm less motivated to even play them. That's were I'm at now.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might even put in a pre-order for it. I'm a RPG fan at heart so I love these types of games. I hope this time no one spoils the story for me by saying my dog dies again.

Dead Space 2
This is a game that I'm late to the bandwagon for. I haven't played much because every time I do my blood pressure rises because it creeps me out so much. Every time I see a body on the ground I have to beat that thing into an unrecognizable pulp before moving on. I've seen what those "dead" bodies can do and it scares the crap out of me.

My problem with the first Dead Space is that I play it in short bursts that I have a hard time remember where I need to go or what I need to do. Then I get to a puzzle, a door that needs to be propped open so I can go through it, etc., and I can't remember how to do what I need to do. So I save the game and go play something else. Eventually I'd like to play this game for an extended period of time, preferably with all the lights out, the volume turned up and a raging windstorm outside. At least until the game scares to death anyway.

Will I buy this game at release? Maybe. I might wait until I've played more of the first one and to hear from my friends who picked it up what it's like. I heard they are changing things to make it more accessible to more gamers and that's not always a good thing.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
While I like playing the Call of Duty games I'm really indifferent to the gameplay. I play them because my friends like them and I like my friends and want to play them. I'm not saying they're bad games or there's nothing to like about them. I really enjoy playing Vacant with a shotgun. And the co-op missions in MW2 are fun to play with Evil and/or kai. I'm sure once I get a better TV I might like those games more. There have been times when I've watched the kill cam and there was no way I would have been able to see my character, let alone kill them. I'm sure that person is playing on an HDTV so their picture is much clearer. If that's something that could help me out in the game I'll go for it.

My biggest problem is that you have to be slow and careful when playing the game. My first experience with shooter games was Star Wars Battlefront. The whole point of that game was to run out there and kill the enemy. There were hardly any corners to hide behind. No boxes/crates to provide cover. You were exposed all the time so your only true defense was to keep moving. With these more realistic games there's any number of places for enemies to hide, corners to shoot around and balconies/rooftops to snipe from. You have to be careful if you want to do well. For me that's taking a lot of adjustment.

Will I buy this game at release? Depends. I'm sure all my friends will buy the game and if I want to play with them I'll have to buy it too. I might try to hold out for awhile but I don't see that lasting long.

Gears of War 3
The first Gears game is one of the few games I've actually played through to the end credits. And I enjoyed every painful minute of it. I can still picture Evil and I battling RAM on the train at the end. Or Zenra and I trying to get through a particularly hard room with a Locust on a troika firing at us. Those were good times.

I was making good progress in Gears 2 on my own when I was robbed. I was in the first area of chapter 5. The place where you have to ride those flying creatures out of the lair and shot anyone that follows. So close to the end and yet so far. Now I've had to start the game all over again (I really hate doing that). I bumped up the difficulty and I've run into problems doing it all on my own. I've even been desperate enough to set up an open Xbox Live room so total strangers can jump in and help me out. They don't usually stay long.

I love the story of the game and the gameplay itself. I just wish I could use the sniper rifle and torque bow as well in multiplayer matches as I seem to do in the single player game. I'm not to the end (but I will get there someday) so I don't know how much the story will make me want the next game, but I'll get it any way.

I know I have some friends that are not really liking the online play lately in Gears 2 but I don't care. I'll get it. I'll play it. And I'm sure there will be things I don't like about it. No game is perfect. I just want games that are fun.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might not pre-order it but this is one game I'll want to have in my library whether any of my friends get it or not.

So now that I've covered all of the games you probably want to know which one I voted for. Well, I didn't. Evey time I went to vote I couldn't decide. It was always a toss up between Dead Space 2, Fable III and Gears of War 3. I eventually eliminated Dead Space because I haven't played enough of the first game to be as "excited-as-a-kid-on-Christmas-Eve" about. And honestly I couldn't pick between Fable and Gears. It would be like picking your favorite child. You love them all but one might please you in one way, the other in a different way. By then the poll had close and I couldn't cast my vote.

I know there's more good games coming out like Fallout: New Vegas and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and many more. Right now I'm just trying to save up enough money to get everything I want when it does come out. It's either that or I go back to eating Top Ramen while I feed my gaming habit.

Poll results - Do you like to host games?

Okay, I was reminded last night I haven't posted in a month which means I MISSED ALL OF JUNE! Oh no. So here's something to tide you over until I actually have the brain power to create something new. Hopefully it won't take another month to do that.

Here's the results from the last poll:

Do you like to host games?

I host so I can play what I want to play = 0 votes
I host because everybody else is too lazy = 1 vote
My connection is too shoddy to host = 2 votes
I would host but nobody wants to play with me = 3 votes
I need that "host advantage" = 1 vote
I would but someone always beats me to it = 0 votes

I'm a little surprised the first choice didn't get at least one vote. I thought for sure that Evil would vote for that one. And what does he like to play? Why, Team Deathmatch of course. And nothing but Team Deathmatch will do. At least it seems that way.

As for being lazy. Well . . . it has been a month since I last posted. Unfortunately I don't host because everybody else is too lazy. Heck, I'm too lazy to host. I do think Mad Max did a lot of our hosting during Gears matches because everyone else was too lazy to host. Personally, I keep forgetting to check to see if I'm host before matches start in Gears. I guess I really don't host that much.

I do have a couple of friends who's connection is so hit or miss that I wouldn't want to be in a match with them as host. I'm not going to name names *cough* Weasell *cough*, *cough* G Sneaka *cough* but you know who you are. It's not that they're bad people it's just that for one reason or another their connection doesn't preform at optimal output (which says nothing about how they preform as individuals *wink wink*). For some it might be location. For others it just might be the shitty Internet provider that they're stuck with. Unfortunately those individuals usually have problems connecting to everyone else, no matter who is hosting.

As for "nobody wants to play with me"? That's not true. I'll play with anyone on my friends list at any time. If I've got the game and I haven't committed to playing with someone else (I'm on a first-come-first-serve basis) then I'm up for it. Even if it's something that doesn't interest me. Like Team Deathmatch. Every night. Over and over again. And again. (Subtle, don't you think?) I play for the friendships and camaraderie that I have with people online. I also play games to win, have fun and explore new worlds. I like playing with people. And I like playing with people I like. And I like playing with people I like who like me in return. Okay, my head is spinning now. If I've got the game and you want to play with me send me an invite. And that includes Arcade games too.

Well, the "host advantage" is what I voted for. For some games it's more prominent than others. I don't care. I want it. I'm not the best player out there. I would consider myself just below mediocre. My kill/death ratio in Modern Warfare 2 is 0.65 and in Gears it's 0.5 or 0.6. Not much of a help to the team, am I? If there is a way that I could get a little edge in a match I would take it. Unfortunately I don't like the responsibility of being host. If I don't catch if I'm host in Gears my teammates tell me I'm fired. And as for Team Deathmatch games? I don't want to select them at all, but I have some friends that won't play anything but that. If I want to play with them I HAVE to play Team Deathmatch. I just bite the bullet (in more ways than one) and play. I guess that's an argument for the "I host to play want I want" option. But I rarely host so it's not a problem for me.

I'm also really surprised no one voted for the last option. I know I have a couple of friends out there who would love to host to get that "host advantage" and to make the connection smoother for them. Evil hates the slight lag he gets when c5 hosts. c5 loathes the lag he gets when Evil hosts. And I'm not a good middle man between those two because of my proximity to Evil (just ask him and he'll tell you). Personally I liked it when Mad Max hosted every night. 1) nobody had lag issues because someone else was hosting (at least none that I heard), 2) I don't have the responsibility of being in charge and 3) I could always count on him to freshen things up and the game play was getting stale, and one more thing: 4) most of my friends seems to be in the same state as Mad Max so their connections seemed to get along better with each other. I could say the same thing about Sand Dog hosting but he hasn't been online in weeks. Man, I miss that Dog.

So that's it. I don't host (or would rather not) because I don't want the responsibility of trying to run things and make everyone happy. And if you want to play anything and I've got the game I'm in. Don't hesitate to ask. If I'm busy with someone else I'll let you know and we'll set up a designated time to play what you want. Then I'll be all yours baby, to do as you please . . . and hopefully it will please me too. Just don't insist on me being host.

Good Old Days . . . revisted

Last weekend it was all about the Good Old Days. We played older games. We caught up with old friends. And I think we all had a good time. I know I did. It started with Star Wars Battlefront . . . or maybe it was Gears of War 2. I can't remember which came first because I was having so much fun I lost all track of time.

Now that a death sentence has been placed on Star Wars Battlefront we've been trying to get a night together where all the old regulars (and some new friends we dragged along) met up for some friendly and high spirited fun in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. It was a blast to play again with Cleelost, DEWbird and others. Some of which I haven't played with since the original Xbox days. Some of which use their Xbox 360 as a DVD player more than a game console. It was easy to slip into old habits and familiar strategies while at the same time discovering new moves and friends along the way. In my opinion a good game should never have an expiration date put on it. There will always be people willing to play.

After (or maybe that was before) Battlefront there was Gears of War 2. With really not that much arm twisting we were able to convince Evil Ric to repurchase the game and get back into the multiplayer. It was a little rough trying to remember which button would reload your weapon, or how to run, after a couple of Call of Duty games, but we eventually got the swing of things and started to get our grove back. The second night of Gears was even better than the first. There were still those frustrating moments but I think there were more good memories than bad for most of us.

It was really nice to play again with G Sneaka. Our paths have crossed occasionally but I still long for those old Battlefront days and hours upon hours of nightly play with the same group of great guys. And that got me thinking.

When Star Wars Battlefront came out I think we played that game for 5-6 hours a night . . . every night. We never got tired of it. We never wanted to play anything else. Once the Xbox 360 came out we did start losing a few of the regulars as they spent time on their new system. But they always came back to Battlefront. And then Gears of War came along. We spent 4-5 hours a night, (we all started to feel our age and realized we needed to get some sleep at night) every night, playing that game. Then Gears of War 2 came out and the process repeated itself. These games kept us together and were played relentlessly. And since then it hasn't been the same.

All the people on my friend's list have fractured out into other games. Nothing was coming out that held everyone's attention for very long. Even games like Modern Warfare 2, a great game, but after 4 and a half months we all decided we would rather play Battlefront or Gears than another night of that game. I started to wonder if there would ever be another game that would galvanize the old gang back into playing 3-4 hours a night (still getting older) every night, every day of the year. . . FOR YEARS! Battlefront and Gears (both versions) had that impact but there doesn't seem to be anything out there now (or coming soon) that appears to promise that.

So until that game comes (probably Star Wars Battlefront 3) I guess I'll have to face the fact that sometimes the only time I'll play with old friends is when we become nostalgic and put in those old games. While we've only got a couple of weeks left for Battlefront lets hope that both Gears games have a longer life span . . . or another really good game comes out that will unite old friends with new memories. A Gamer Girl can dream, can't she?

New Year - New Gaming Goals?

I'm not specifically setting "New Years Resolutions" as I've mentioned before but this time of year has made me look at what some of my Gaming Goals are . . . I mean were. Since the burglary 5 out of my 10 Gaming Goals are now unobtainable. Isn't that nice.

Those goals were 1) finish Final Fantasy VII, 2) All achievements in both Lego Star Wars games, 3) Finish Lost Odyssey, 4) Finish Insane mode with Evil Ric on Gears of War (he sold his game back - how rude) and 5) play Final Fantasy X-2 along with metallicorphan (is he even playing it?). I can't do anything about working on those goals because I don't have the games or systems to play them on. And who knows when that problem will be fixed.

One of those goals on my list was achieved and replaced by a similar goal. I achieved a gamer score of 11,111 and replaced that goal with a new goal to achieve a gamer score of 12,345. Unfortunately I got to a point where I needed an achievement ending in either a 3 or an 8 to get my number just right. The only achievement I had available to me to do that was the "Dupliclone Dash" in Cloning Clyde. It is worth 18 points. The achievement is to finish levels 1-24 and 10 challenge levels under the goal time. Yeah right.

While I think that game is hilarious and fun to play there is no way I was going to be able to get that achievement without going over the goal of 12,345 while playing other games. I have problems with sheep. They're not meant to be ridden. And you're not meant to turn into one. Maybe, eventually, I'll figure out how to play those levels but I realized, with 48 more points to go, that getting my gamer score to exactly 12,345 wasn't going to happen. I put that in my rear view mirror and played on. You live and learn.

There was one goal on my list that I achieved thanks to Kralon. It was to get one of your bankrolls up to $100,000 in Texas Hold 'em. I was almost there a long time ago before they reset the leaderboards and thus your multiplayer bankrolls. I think I was somewhere around $80-90,000. So close and yet so far. When I got that goal I totally forgot it was on my list so I never got around to crossing it off and replacing it was something else.

Some goals are still currently obtainable. And those that are currently on "hiatus" I'm going to have to think long and hard about putting them back on the list when I get my insurance claim straightened out. Games like the two Lego Star Wars. In order for me to get all the achievements I'm going to have to go back and replay all story levels, free play levels, and most of the challenge levels (I was up to RotJ ewok level minus all flight levels). In addition to unlocking all characters, ships, extras and hints. And then I could finish the challenge levels I hadn't done the first time and those special extra levels for each movie and the Lego City and battle arenas. I was so close to finishing the game that I'm not sure I want to put all that time and effort into it again just to get to where I was before I lost my game save.

And then there was Lost Odyssey. If you ever hear me talking about "the one that got away" it will be this game. I've lamented in the past about how many times I've restarted games even when I didn't have to. Lost Odyssey would have been the first game (of any genre) that I started AND finished all in one play through. No restarting for this one. Until the burglary. I was on disk 4 when I lost the game. All areas were open to me and I think I only had one more door/magic seal for Tolten to touch to restore his royal heritage or whatever. After making it through the temple (with your party split in two) I was spending my time going back through older areas to finish side quests and find missing dreams. I had just over 100 hours in that game. Now it is all gone. Do I really want to play those 100 hours all over again just to get to where I left off? Is it worth it when there are so many other new games out there that I would love to try out? I just don't know any more.

I will keep my Gaming Goal to finish Final Fantasy VII. I kind of have to even though I don't have the game anymore. I have a pact with dain about that one (not that I think he's working on his game at the moment). But Evil no longer owns Gears of War and we were half way through the game on insane, do we really want to replay all those earlier levels just to get back to where we left off (even if he is willing to rent it one weekend to play with me)? And I haven't checked in with mettalicorphan on his progress in FF X-2. I just don't see the point any more.

And that's what I hate most about the burglary.

It's not the smashed door. That was fixed. Or the lost items. Those will be replaced . . . eventually. It's all those game saves I lost. All that time and effort for nothing. It wasn't wasted at the time, but now it seems like it was. I have glorious memories of finally beating a tough boss in a fight after trying 6 or 7 times. Or a touching moment in a game when something critical was reveal and a piece of the puzzle fell into place. Game save gone. Memory useless.

If I replay those battles or moments in the story it just won't be the same. I want to pick up where I left off not have to drudge through battles and cut scenes I've already seen or played. And I had so many games that I was in the middle of playing that there was never going to be enough time to play what I already had, let alone work on the games I owned that I hadn't yet played. Especially with great new games coming out.

Maybe when/if I ever get things settled with the insurance company I'll take a week off of work and do nothing but play video games. Will I be caught up then? Not a chance. And that's no even addressing the decision of which game do I start playing first. Right now I want to play them all. At the same time. I miss my games.

Until I know what is happening with my claim I don't think I'll be making any more new Gaming Goals, even to replace the ones I've already finished. But there is one I can keep working on no matter how many (or how few) systems and games I actually own and/or play. That is to post a new blog entry three times a week. I'll really work on that one going forward. Even if I don't have any games to talk about. After all it is "Life of a Gamer Girl" and there's more to life than video games.

Ha Ha!

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Poll Results - 2 for the price of 1

Okay, here are the poll results:

If all of your gaming equipment was stolen what would you do with your new free time?

Buy all new equipment/games immediately and keep playing = 4 votes
Curl up in the fetal position and cry like a baby = 1 vote
Knit all my friends beanie hats = 0 votes
Learn to read a book again = 0 votes
Reintroduce myself to my family = 2 votes
Investigate this thing they call sunshine = 0 votes

What is the best multiplayer game(s) ever?
Halo = 1 vote
Star Wars Battlefront = 4 votes
Call of Duty series = 1 vote
Gears of War series = 0 votes
Counter Strike = 0 votes

And the winner is . . .

Actually I don't think there's any clear cut winner. For either question. But let's start with the first one, shall we?

Some @#$% idiots broke into my house and stold all my gaming equipment I had out. System's gone. Games gone. Controllers gone. Memory cards gone. As much as I wanted to immediately go out and rebuy everything I'm not made of money and it doesn't grow on trees. I would need to wait until the insurance company comes through. And unfortunately I'm still waiting. If anyone wants to be my Sugar Daddy to help with this I'd make it very worth it to you. *wink wink* Needless to say I didn't vote for the spending spree.

I didn't vote for knitting, reading, family or sunshine either. I don't know how to knit, but I do know how to crochet. I already know how to read (although I haven't been doing much of that in the last two years). I use to read 24-36 books a year. Now I'm lucky if I read 10. I already spend a lot of time with family. Sometimes it feels like too much. They just wear me out. Kids'll do it. And sunshine? Where I live there's sunshine 330+ days a year. I could do with a few clouds and doom and gloom every now and then.

I did vote for curling up in the fetal position and crying like a baby. Did I actually do that? No. I've only cried twice over this whole fiasco. Once when I first got home (after having thrown up at the grocery store on the way home from work) and I was on the phone with my dad. I think 5 or 6 tears fell. I cried again later that night (much later) while the glass guy was repairing the door. I was tired. I was sick. And all I wanted to do when I got home was take a nap on the couch for a couple of hours. Instead I had to go through all that mess. I hadn't eaten anything all day. I was exhausted. And people were parading through my house like it was a circus. Some invited. Others not. I laid on the couch and used my remaining strength not to break down into hysterical sobbing. Every now and then a tear slipped through. Another 5 or 6 perhaps. Once the glass guy and my dad left at 11:30pm I finally had some peace and quiet . . . and a dog who was wound up from all the excitement and unhappy that she had been locked away in a room while everyone came and went.

Now for the second poll.

I didn't vote in this one.

Oops.

My first instinct was to vote for Battlefront. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and Battlefront is also the first online game I played. Much like Zak and Halo. But I didn't want my unbridled passion for anything Star Wars to influence my decision so I wanted to think on the matter a couple of days before voting. And then time ran out.

I looked at the influence Halo has had over online gaming. Good and bad. I looked at the staying power of the Call of Duty series and the fact that 2 separate developers are keeping that series alive and kicking . . . or sometimes a more rambling, lurching walk of the dead. But if any game or series would make he question Battlefront for content it would be Gears of War. That game is second only to Battlefront in how many hours/days/months/years of sleepless nights I put in playing it. While some will quibble over some of the technical aspects of the game I still like it. Always have. Always will. End of discussion. But I couldn't forget the splash Counter Strike and the various clones of the game and the effect that had on multiplayer mash-ups. So many good choices . . . no more time to vote.

If I had it open for one more day to vote I would have picked Battlefront. Even though the sequel wasn't as fun as the first one I can't think of an older game that has carried on in the multiplayer online gaming world as Star Wars Battlefront has. And I think it might have the most anticipated sequel known to man . . . Battlefront 3 if/when it ever gets made. One can dream, right?

New Poll - Spare time and Best Multi-player

TWO POLLS! Two for the price of one. Because I'm lazy and generous all at the same time.

Poll #1

If all your gaming equipment was stolen what would you do with all your new free time?

Immediately buy new systems/games and keep playing
Curl up in the fetal position and cry like a baby
Knit all my friends beanie hats for Christmas
Learn how to read a book again
Introduce myself to my family again
Investigate this thing they call sunshine

Poll #2

What is the best multi-player game(s) ever?

Halo series
Star Wars Battlefront series
Call of Duty series
Gears of War series
Counter Strike

You have until just after Christmas to vote in both polls.

What I am thankful for . . .

There doesn't seem like much to be thankful for, game related, this year. Having someone break into my house and steal all my video games and systems just sucks. But I've been thinking, and there are some things I'm thankful for. Like:

1) killafoola
He's the first person that let me follow him around in Star Wars Battlefront and really learn how to play the game when I was a noobie. I sucked, but he didn't mind. I learned a lot from him. Tactics I still use today.

2) Evil Ric
He's the first person to ever talk to me during a video game that wasn't related to me. I think he's also the first person to send me a friend request instead of me sending one to them. And believe it or not we're still friends and we talk almost every night. I guess if he can stand me after 5+ years maybe there's something lovable about me after all. (Of course he might tend to disagree with that.)

3) MasvHdWndHarry
During a rather troublesome Gears of War public match (on Escalation) some of the other members of our team (not friends of either of us) started barking at me and what a horrible player I was. Masv stood up to them and let them have it. I've always remember that and I can't tell you how much his chivalry has meant to me. Then and now.

4) El Sand Dog
When I play with him I always feel good about how I play . . . even if I suck. He just has a way to make even your most embarrassing, or game losing mishaps, nonstressful and totally hilarious. He's the only one I played Wingman with that asked my opinion about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. He never strayed far from me either. We were a team. And I got an achievement for that. Besides, all he has to say to me is "How you doing?" and I get all tingling inside.

5) Hell Weasell
I love his sense of humor. He disarms you with his quiet, calm nature, but man he lets off some zingers. He's cracked me up on more than one occasions and sometimes during a bad night of gaming his comebacks might be the only reason why I stick around. And even though I'm a girl and I'm not suppose to be reading his "Bro Code" entries on his profile, I just have to say I love them. I hope he's saved them.

And my list could go on and on, but there's one more I'm thankful for that might seem a little strange.

6) c5ride
c5 gets a little excited and intense when he plays games. And when I do something stupid, which is not hard to do for me, it's not uncommon to hear "Pengwenn, what were you thinking?" or "Pengwenn, where were you?" or even "Pengwenn, for the love of all that's holy why didn't you kill that guy?". You would think I wouldn't be thankful for getting yelled out, but I am in a way. Thankful that he hasn't removed me from his friend's list because of my stupid game play. There might come a time in the future when he does, but for right now I take that fact that I'm still on his friends list to mean that I'm not a complete ass when I play.

It's not much to be thankful for when it comes to playing video games, but when all your stuff gets stolen you take what you can get. And for those of you not specifically mentioned I'm thankful for you too. If I listed everyone on my friends list and what they mean to me I might overload blogspot's servers and crash the site. I am thankful for you all. And I mean that. "Truly. Madly. Deeply." And if you can guess what movie that last part is from I'll be even more grateful to you. And I mean that too.

So what are you thankful for?

Poll Results - Befriending based on gamer pic/avatar

Better late than never, right? Here's the latest poll results and (what you've all been waiting for) my opinion.

Have you ever befriended someone based on their gamer picture or avatar?

Yes, their gamer picture was hot = 0 votes
Yes, their avatar was hot = 0 votes
Yes, their gamer picture AND avatar were hot = 0 votes
No, I don't like making friends = 8 votes

With my system crapping out around the time of this poll I can't remember if I voted or not. If I did I would have/did vote for "No, I don't like making friends". And based on how everyone else voted it's kind of amazing that any of us have people on our friends list.

Here's how the poll started.

I was messing around with my avatar trying to find something I liked. I went into the game based extras that you can get to trick out your avatar. Nothing really excited me (except for the lightsaber, but I'm too cheap). I had a small odd amount of points to use so I bought a corset from Fable II. Then I started building an outfit and an avatar around that. I wasn't happy with the results but I left things alone for a couple of days to think about it.

In those couple of days you wouldn't believe the number of friends request I got from total strangers. It seemed that every match I played (no matter what game) someone would send me a message about my avatar or send a friend request. Some I deleted right out. Some I gave a chance too. And some have since been deleted. But it got me thinking.

I remember when our friends list was limited to, I think, 99 people. I had a friend who I have played with since the old Star Wars Battlefront days that didn't have room on his list to add me once I got my 360. He had to delete someone to make room. In the original Xbox, and prior to Party chat on the Xbox 360, you would be stuck in a room listening to everyone who was playing on your team. Sometimes that was good. Some times that was down right horrible. But despite that, I picked up a few friends along the way.

Not having the ability to restrict who I talked to like we can in a Party Chat I got to know MadMax, c5ride, Fbody, cyberWRAT, and a number of other people who are now on my friends list. Since we started to have the ability to use Party Chat I haven't been able to listen, talk to, or get to know anyone I'm playing with outside of my chat circle. Since then my friends list has remained pretty much static. Until I changed my avatar.

Thus the idea for my poll was born.

If we're not talking and getting to know someone via their game play, how else are we making friends? Maybe it's their gamertag (see the "hot chick" posts I did awhile ago). Maybe it's their gamer picture. Maybe it's their avatar. Apparently, based on this poll, nobody likes to make friends.

It's not that I'm not happy with the friends I've already got. You all keep me very entertained on a nightly basis. But sometimes a girl would like a friend who will finish an old game (like Gears of War) on insane mode because she can't do it alone. But, NOOOOOO, that friend is going to trade that game in to get Modern Warfare 2. Come on! My friendship can't be traded in for the latest game out there.

Or maybe a girl just wants a friend to kick back with and play a little arcade game every now and then. Gauntlet is sooooo much better when played with friends. And there's so many arcade games to choose from. I'm just saying.

But if any of you are wondering if your avatar is hot enough to get someone's attention, my dog, Zoe, really likes to jump up to the screen and stare at cyberWRAT, Genghis Khan, MasvHdWndHarry, and Zenra Nukenin's avatars. She hasn't seen Zenra's Halloween wolf yet so maybe she'd change her vote if she did.

Poll Results - What kind of soldier are you?

A little late, but here are the poll results:

What kind of soldier are you?

I melee; therefore I am = 1 vote
Double barrel action for me (shotgun)= 1 vote
Robin Hood to the rescue (bows)= 0 votes
A single shot is all I need (sniper) = 1 vote
Call me 1-800-FLOWERS (frags) = 1 vote
Don't call me fat (heavy gunner) = 3 votes

I think I voted for the heavy gunner option. But to be honest things have been really hectic around here (which is why I haven't posted much) so I can't remember if I voted at all. Oh, the shame!

I know, or can figure out, some of the choices of what my friends picked. Kaiakapero is on a sniper kick right now so I know what he voted for. I have some friends that I'm sure didn't vote but I know how they would have voted if they did. El Sand Dog would either vote for grenades (since he was always tagging people in the first Gears of War) but he might vote for the heavy gunner now (because he seems obsessed with the mortar gun, even if he can't pronounce it properly). If Hell Weasel voted I think he would have picked the bow. He's one mean shot with the torque bow.

For me, the two weapons that I can use most effectively in Gears of War 2 are the Scorcher and the Boomshot. Every other weapon is hit or miss . . . but mostly miss. I prefer to stay back from all the fire fights and work on firing as a distraction or a disturbance. I love going on the bridge on the Ruins map and firing across to the Torque Bow/Sniper corner of the opponent. If I time it right I can usually get someone down. Unfortunately I can't get over there to finish them off. But since you automatically die when you've been downed for the third time he's already got one strike against him when my teammates catch up to him.

Now if Gears was like Star Wars Battlefront with up to 32 enemies on a side I would love to just run in there and start firing. It would be double barrel action for me then. But with teams limited to 4 or 5 characters (and no respawns) you've got to be a little more carefull about how you go after the enemy.

Medic!

I think I've found my calling in shoot 'em up video games. I am a Medic!

I seem to play better when I can hang back a little bit and take time to survey the action before rushing in. Then if anyone falls I can rush to their aide and revive them. It seemed to work well last night while playing Call of Duty: World at War on the co-op story mode with kaiakapero and Pogue Moran.

There was one mission where I didn't get shot down ending up in last stand at all. And I think two others where I was only downed once. I let Pogue charge straight ahead. I kept kaiakapero ahead of me, but always in my sights. And I just picked off anyone they missed and tried to revive them whenever they fell. Of course a lot of times it was kai reviving Pogue and me reviving kai. Still, I think it worked out pretty well.

I use to love running right into the action, especially in Star Wars Battlefront. I wanted to get in there and start fighting. I did find that while playing that game it was to my advantage to take a moment to look over the map or area to see where people were at before deciding which direction I was going to run. Maybe it was just having an overhead map that helped. I don't know.

I struggle sometimes in Gears because I don't have an overhead map and so you never know where the enemies are going to come at you from. You have to rely on your teammates to give you a heads up, but by then it might be to late to help them. Since there's no respawning in Gears (unless you play Guardian or the "territory" game types) it's very easy for half your team to rush into an ambush and get wiped out. When that happens pretty soon you find yourself alone and having to take on the whole team. Now you know why I like Guardian. I get to respawn.

When I've played Gears and hung back a little bit, getting a good look around before charging off somewhere, I seem to play much better. And if I'm the last one left alive (a rare feat at that) I find it easier to play when I can pick my ground and plan for the enemies attacks. Of course it helps to have some well placed grenades too.

I don't have the patience to play as a sniper in the Call of Duty games. And I get tunnel vision too easily that I forget to keep checking around me for incoming enemies. There's just been too many times I've been stabbed in the back while snipping. My brother kai on the other hand loves to snipe. He made a point of telling me about it last night before we got online to play. If you can do it, all the more power to you. It's just not my thing.

The movie Saving Private Ryan was on this past weekend and I was watching the final battle sequence. The interrupter they brought along was in charge of running ammo refills back and forth between the positions. Throw a medic's bag over that guys shoulder and that would be me. Except for the fear, sniveling, crying, "what have I gotten myself into" bit, of course. Because I'm a medic that can shoot. But only when I have to. And I might even hit something . . . eventually.

Gaming Goals

I've decided I'm going to set goals when it comes to my gaming, but I'm not going to call them New Year Resolutions. Why? Partly because I haven't been very good at setting them at the beginning of the year (and finishing them in the year as well). And partly because setting a resolution sounds like you're trying to make yourself do something that's painful or distasteful . . . like a diet. I've decided to call my goals "Gaming Goals" and I can set them any time I like. A "goal" sounds much more pleasant than a "resolution". And it means you're working towards something, not forcing yourself to do something. But maybe that's just me.

For now here are the Gaming Goals I've sent for myself. Their deadline is open-ended unless otherwise stated.

1. Finish Final Fantasy VII (I think this one has made the list for the last three years in a row) by June 15th
2. All achievements in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2), Lego Star Wars II (9), Catan (2), Puzzle Quest (3), and Spyglass Board Games (1)
3. $100,000 bankroll achievement in Texas Hold 'em
4. Get my gamerscore to 11,111 exactly
5. Post on my blog at least 3 times a week (feel free to rag on me about this one if I don't keep it up)
6. Finish Lost Odyssey story
7. Get that pesky achievement in Soltrio Solitaire for winning at all classic games (not including expansion packs) (I forget what the achievement is called)
8. Finish Insane mode with Evil Ric in Gears of War (the first one)
9. Finish that last @#$%! level in Feeding Frenzy
10. Find my Star Wars The Force Unleashed disk (I still have boxes to unpack)

So what do you think? What are your Gaming Goals?

Finally!

You might have heard a huge sigh of relief the last two nights. That was me. I finally got two achievements that I've been working on for a long time.

The first achievement was the Purdy Mouth (playing Bullet Marsh 3+ rounds and winning) for Gears of War. My friends took one night and only played that map so a bunch of them picked up the achievement in one night. Unfortunately I wasn't online that night (crazy, I know) so I didn't get to participate in the carnage. Since then my friends have been very reluctant to play that map. Mostly because we all hate it. And because no one likes getting their head popped off by someone they can't even see. Depending on who's hosting our Gears matches at night that map might not be in the rotation. I still have at least one friend who hasn't gotten that achievement yet so I guess we'll still play this map until he gets it. At least I've got it and that makes me happy.

The other time I sighed really wasn't for a particular achievement at all. I just wanted to get ANY achievement in that game. What game was it? Bejeweled 2. I know that probably sounds dumb but I'm having a hard time getting achievements for that game. For the endless one I got up to level 40 something when my save file just vanished after I got booted off of Xbox Live during the middle of a game during that whole Christmas holiday debacle the system was having. Not fun, I tell ya. Since you need 100 or some odd levels to get the Endless achievement I still had a ways to go but I wasn't happy about having to replay the levels I lost.

The Action achievement (I think that's the one) you only need to finish 17 levels. I was only making it up to level 9 before I would get that dreaded "No More Moves" message. I took a break from Bejeweled to play Puzzle Quest and I've found Bejeweled a little bit easier to progress through the levels now. I can still only get up to level 12 in the Action mode but I've earned back 30+ levels in the endless after just a couple of days of trying.

The achievement I got was for completing the Puzzle mode. I use to play that mode every now and then and if I got to a level that I couldn't figure out I would go back to the regular game. I realized the other night that I was close to finishing the puzzle levels . . . and that there were helpful hints available to you. I cruised through all the remaining levels using the hints when I got stuck and it all came down to one level that I couldn't beat. Unfortunately there were no cheats available for this level. I messed around with it one night and couldn't figure it out. The next night I thought I'd try again and after a couple of attempts I finally figured it out. Level complete. Game mode complete. Achievement unlocked!

I finally had an achievement in Bejeweled 2. I've had this game almost as long as I've had my 360. While I'm thrilled I finally got an achievement in that game I feel like the kid who gets overly excited the night before Christmas. When he finally wakes up and open his presents he's left a little underwhelmed about the whole thing. "What? That's it?" He likes what he's got he just can't figure out what all the excitement was for in the first place.

Bejeweled 2 is one of those games where it helps if you can see two or three moves ahead. Kind of like Chess. While I love playing Chess, I'm not very good at it. I can see ahead maybe one or two moves but that usually doesn't take into account my opponent's moves. If you like those types of games you'll probably like Bejeweled 2. And speaking of Chess, I have that game downloaded and no achievements. Oh well. Now I have another game I'll struggle to get an achievements in.