. . . in breaking my Xbox Live addiction is to unplug my Xbox 360. I finally did that last night. Unplugged it. Disconnected all cables. And buried it in the bottom of my TV stand (next to my original Xbox and Game Cube).
Currently the only game system still connected to my big TV is my PS2. My Super Nintendo is still connected to my smaller TV in the bedroom. It's just to much of a hassle to disconnect that one when I'm not playing.
That doesn't mean I'm giving up playing video games. I don't think I could ever do that. I just need to play something else. My Playstation games are getting so lonely. Besides I miss playing my PS2.
There was a time when that was all I played. Even after I got my Xbox and Game Cube I always found myself playing Playstation games. I put a lot of time and effort, but especially a lot of time, into Playstation games but I only finished 2 of them (Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy X). I have more games for the Playstation 2 than any other system I own. And if you throw the original Playstation games into the mix, well . . . let's just say I have a lot. (PS=59, PS2=125, PSP=12, Xbox=42, Xbox 360=23, GC=24, N64=12(if I don't find the ones I think I'm missing), Super Nintendo=23, Gameboy=63(all types).)
I've been playing the Xbox 360 so long now that the Playstation dual shock controller feels strange in my hands. It didn't use to be that way. The dual shock controller use to feel like it fit in my hands. The N64 controller felt awkward. The Xbox controller felt fat and heavy. The Dreamcast (my brother's system) felt weird and unbalanced. After moving up from the simplicity of the controller for the Super Nintendo the dual shock felt like what a controller should feel like. I miss playing with that controller.
So after I rearranged my electronics it was late and I probably should have gone to bed. But I just couldn't resist playing just a little bit on my PS2. After all, why did I dismantle my Xbox 360 to have more time to play my PS2 if I wasn't going to play it? And I learned something last night. It doesn't matter if I'm playing on Xbox Live or my PS2 I'm still going to stay up playing video games much longer than I should. Oh well.
Besides, who needs sleep anyway when you have an addiction to feed.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Good news . . . and better news.
I've got good news. I finally beat 3 AI opponents on hard in Catan. I thought I had done it the game before I actually got the achievement, but I realized once again I accidentally hit the button to switch the difficulty back to easy. Oh well. I played one more game and finally did it. Now if I could just get credit for playing a ranked match of Catan I'd be happy. I don't care about the wins I just want to start accumulating victory points.
And on to better news. I was in Game Stop over the weekend and noticed pre-order displays for Assassin's Creed. I'm sure you could pre-order the game long before now but after my experience with my pre-order for Final Fantasy XII I've decided to wait to put in my pre-orders until as close to the date the game is actually coming out. I'll never pre-order something more than a year out again. I can't take the anticipation.
So what if the displays were out, right? Well that means the game will be coming out soon. November. I've read some previews that have made me a little nervous to see if the developers can actually pull this game off. Right now though, I'm still excited. My brother has had his eye on Mass Effect (November release) for some time, but for me it's been Assassin's Creed. I couldn't tell you specifically why, but maybe because I'm a sucker for a mysterious guy in a cowl.
And on to better news. I was in Game Stop over the weekend and noticed pre-order displays for Assassin's Creed. I'm sure you could pre-order the game long before now but after my experience with my pre-order for Final Fantasy XII I've decided to wait to put in my pre-orders until as close to the date the game is actually coming out. I'll never pre-order something more than a year out again. I can't take the anticipation.
So what if the displays were out, right? Well that means the game will be coming out soon. November. I've read some previews that have made me a little nervous to see if the developers can actually pull this game off. Right now though, I'm still excited. My brother has had his eye on Mass Effect (November release) for some time, but for me it's been Assassin's Creed. I couldn't tell you specifically why, but maybe because I'm a sucker for a mysterious guy in a cowl.
Friday, October 5, 2007
My Favorites Games - Game Cube
Okay, you'll still have to wait on the my favorite games for the N64. I know I've got more games stashed somewhere I just haven't found them yet. So I'm moving on to the Game Cube.
My brother and I both had a Playstation 2 and would meet up every Saturday at my parents house to do laundry. We'd play games all day long. I remember when the Xbox and Game Cube came out. Neither one of use was making enough money to get both systems so we came up with a plan. He would get the Xbox and I would get the Game Cube (he was making more money than me at the time). When we'd meet up on laundry days we'd bring those systems and share. (See mom and dad we can share our toys.) The only problem was the games.
We both wanted to play games from the other system at other times of the week. I wanted to play Hunter the Reckoning to blow off some heads. And He wanted to play some Pikmin to throw little leafy head creatures around. Within a month or two we both broke down and bought the other system. And while that put us both on a very tight budget for awhile neither one of us are sorry we did it.
Here are my favorite games for the Game Cube:
#1 Pikmin 1 & 2
How could you possibly NOT love this game? I knew practically nothing about it when I bought it. It looked bright and comical so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm so glad I did. I've played this game through to the end 3 times but have never gotten past the last boss. I keep restarting it trying out a different strategy. And I don't regret any minute of doing that. When Pikmin 2 came out I was excited . . . but also a little intimidated. Now you have 2 pilots to control and 2 groups of Pikmin to order about. It's been twice the fun . . . and twice the frustrations sometimes but completely worth it.
#2 Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
Monkey Target is a blast. Monkey Bowling is a hoot. And Monkey Baseball can get really hilarious. And that's not even getting into the mazes that will open up all those mini-games. Most of the can be down right frustrating until you discover the secret to getting through them alive. Once you figure that out it can be a little disappointing on some of the level but there's always more that will make you say "yeah right. How am I suppose to get through that?"
#3 Ikaruga
This was another game I knew very little about but could get cheap. I'm all for cheap game as long as they're good. And Ikaruga is good. In an old school kind of way. You fly a ship in a vertical scroller firing at things along the way. You have the ability to switch between a light and a dark ship that fires corresponding missiles at the enemy. Based on your ship color and the enemies bullets depends on how much damage (or health) you'll take. Figuring the whole thing out is half the fun. Can you do it?
#4 Mario Cart: Double Dash
I love cart racing games. And this time you can love it twice as much. You're not the only one racing to win the game. You've now got a passenger your opponents will have to deal with. You can mix and match who you place in the cart (and even mix and match your cart to your people) and each person has a different quality and ability they'll add tot he game. Do you want to toss a giant banana behind you as a special attack? They you better pick Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong as one of your players in your cart. And since your players can swap out between driving and throwing red koupa shells around there must be hundred of ways to tailor the perfect driving experience.
#5 Super Mario Sunshine
This is the Game Cube game I'm suppose to be finishing along with my brother. I have to admit I haven't played it much but I still like the game. Who knew cleaning graffiti off of the town walls could be so much fun. Or cleaning up what appears to be oil slicks. Have you ever wanted to fly or propel yourself forward with the power of water? Well now you can. I still have a ways to go in the game but I think my brother made a good choice when he put it on our "must finish" list. May only compliant is why does Nintendo still insist on putting the word "Super" in all their game titles (at least at the time this game came out)?
Honorable Mentions:
Mystic Heroes, Crystal Chronicles, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Evolution Worlds
My brother and I both had a Playstation 2 and would meet up every Saturday at my parents house to do laundry. We'd play games all day long. I remember when the Xbox and Game Cube came out. Neither one of use was making enough money to get both systems so we came up with a plan. He would get the Xbox and I would get the Game Cube (he was making more money than me at the time). When we'd meet up on laundry days we'd bring those systems and share. (See mom and dad we can share our toys.) The only problem was the games.
We both wanted to play games from the other system at other times of the week. I wanted to play Hunter the Reckoning to blow off some heads. And He wanted to play some Pikmin to throw little leafy head creatures around. Within a month or two we both broke down and bought the other system. And while that put us both on a very tight budget for awhile neither one of us are sorry we did it.
Here are my favorite games for the Game Cube:
#1 Pikmin 1 & 2
How could you possibly NOT love this game? I knew practically nothing about it when I bought it. It looked bright and comical so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm so glad I did. I've played this game through to the end 3 times but have never gotten past the last boss. I keep restarting it trying out a different strategy. And I don't regret any minute of doing that. When Pikmin 2 came out I was excited . . . but also a little intimidated. Now you have 2 pilots to control and 2 groups of Pikmin to order about. It's been twice the fun . . . and twice the frustrations sometimes but completely worth it.
#2 Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
Monkey Target is a blast. Monkey Bowling is a hoot. And Monkey Baseball can get really hilarious. And that's not even getting into the mazes that will open up all those mini-games. Most of the can be down right frustrating until you discover the secret to getting through them alive. Once you figure that out it can be a little disappointing on some of the level but there's always more that will make you say "yeah right. How am I suppose to get through that?"
#3 Ikaruga
This was another game I knew very little about but could get cheap. I'm all for cheap game as long as they're good. And Ikaruga is good. In an old school kind of way. You fly a ship in a vertical scroller firing at things along the way. You have the ability to switch between a light and a dark ship that fires corresponding missiles at the enemy. Based on your ship color and the enemies bullets depends on how much damage (or health) you'll take. Figuring the whole thing out is half the fun. Can you do it?
#4 Mario Cart: Double Dash
I love cart racing games. And this time you can love it twice as much. You're not the only one racing to win the game. You've now got a passenger your opponents will have to deal with. You can mix and match who you place in the cart (and even mix and match your cart to your people) and each person has a different quality and ability they'll add tot he game. Do you want to toss a giant banana behind you as a special attack? They you better pick Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong as one of your players in your cart. And since your players can swap out between driving and throwing red koupa shells around there must be hundred of ways to tailor the perfect driving experience.
#5 Super Mario Sunshine
This is the Game Cube game I'm suppose to be finishing along with my brother. I have to admit I haven't played it much but I still like the game. Who knew cleaning graffiti off of the town walls could be so much fun. Or cleaning up what appears to be oil slicks. Have you ever wanted to fly or propel yourself forward with the power of water? Well now you can. I still have a ways to go in the game but I think my brother made a good choice when he put it on our "must finish" list. May only compliant is why does Nintendo still insist on putting the word "Super" in all their game titles (at least at the time this game came out)?
Honorable Mentions:
Mystic Heroes, Crystal Chronicles, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Evolution Worlds
The Gods of Catan don't like me
I figured the best way to get all the achievements in an Arcade game was to stop trying to play them all and just focus on one or two. Currently I'm focusing on Texas Hold 'Em and Catan. And I'm not having much luck in either one of them. My Texas Hold 'Em bankroll got wiped out awhile back so now I have to start from scratch. And Catan has been even tougher on me.
For the life of me I simply can not beat 3 AIs on hard. It seems I'll never get that achievement. I've been close . . . but no cigar. I've tried focusing on upgrading my settlements to cities as soon as possible. I've tried getting the longest road as soon as possible. The largest army. The most settlements. I just can't seem to pull it off in the end. I've even tried just buying development cards the whole game. That was a bust.
I tried varying my placements at the beginning of the game. I've tried monopolizing a particular resource. And trying to get a little bit of everything. I've tried uses my cards as soon as possible. And tried to hold on to them as long as possible. When I do that someone always rolls a 7 and I lose almost everything I have. I've even tried swapping out the AIs I play against. I still can't find a way to win the game on hard.
To get my achievement for Builder of Catan (for the longest road 10x) I had to go back and play a few games on easy. On hard someone always stole those points from me just in time win the game. And if you're trying to get the Knight of Catan (largest army 10x) achievement make sure Elizabeth isn't in your party. I've learned that the hard way. I guess I'll have to play some easy games again to finish out that achievement.
And playing a ranked game is impossible. I've joined 4 ranked games, but I've never gotten credit for any of them. My ranked matches show as zero wins/zero losses. Every time I get into a ranked game someone either drops out or lags out leaving 3 human players behind. I don't know if those games would still count because a little while later I'll look up and see all AI gamer pictures staring back at me. Everyone's gone.
At first I thought everyone else dropped out so I kept playing the game. I'd get the credit right? Wrong. After the second time this happened I looked at my recent player's list and found that at least 2 of the other players would be playing a match and have exactly the same victory points as they had in the game with me. Does that mean everyone is lagging out? Why can't I stay in a nice 4 human ranked match? I've played a couple of player matches and haven't had a problem.
I just think the Gods of Catan don't like me.
For the life of me I simply can not beat 3 AIs on hard. It seems I'll never get that achievement. I've been close . . . but no cigar. I've tried focusing on upgrading my settlements to cities as soon as possible. I've tried getting the longest road as soon as possible. The largest army. The most settlements. I just can't seem to pull it off in the end. I've even tried just buying development cards the whole game. That was a bust.
I tried varying my placements at the beginning of the game. I've tried monopolizing a particular resource. And trying to get a little bit of everything. I've tried uses my cards as soon as possible. And tried to hold on to them as long as possible. When I do that someone always rolls a 7 and I lose almost everything I have. I've even tried swapping out the AIs I play against. I still can't find a way to win the game on hard.
To get my achievement for Builder of Catan (for the longest road 10x) I had to go back and play a few games on easy. On hard someone always stole those points from me just in time win the game. And if you're trying to get the Knight of Catan (largest army 10x) achievement make sure Elizabeth isn't in your party. I've learned that the hard way. I guess I'll have to play some easy games again to finish out that achievement.
And playing a ranked game is impossible. I've joined 4 ranked games, but I've never gotten credit for any of them. My ranked matches show as zero wins/zero losses. Every time I get into a ranked game someone either drops out or lags out leaving 3 human players behind. I don't know if those games would still count because a little while later I'll look up and see all AI gamer pictures staring back at me. Everyone's gone.
At first I thought everyone else dropped out so I kept playing the game. I'd get the credit right? Wrong. After the second time this happened I looked at my recent player's list and found that at least 2 of the other players would be playing a match and have exactly the same victory points as they had in the game with me. Does that mean everyone is lagging out? Why can't I stay in a nice 4 human ranked match? I've played a couple of player matches and haven't had a problem.
I just think the Gods of Catan don't like me.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
I hate sniper rifles
I hate sniper rifles.
I just had to say that. Because I really do hate them. Hate being killed by them. Hate using them. I've never seemed to master the techniques needed to become proficient using that weapon.
I don't know why but I can't seem to lead someone right when using those long range weapons. I either shoot way behind them or way in front. When I use other weapons (and thus have to get closer to my target) I can lead someone pretty well. But the further away I get the poorer my shots become.
I first started trying to use sniper rifles when I was playing Star Wars Battlefront. On the right map there's plenty of opportunity . . . and safety to just sit there trying to shoot people's heads off. Kashyyyk's docks is a really good map for that. But I couldn't get people to hold still long enough to shoot them. And the lag made people jump around so much you never knew where they were going to be. I much prefer a good blaster at my side, or a rocket launcher for those pesky vehicles.
Since Gears of War has a specific achievement for the Long Shot I thought maybe I should try practicing with it. While I kind of got the hang of it I found that I ended up with tunnel vision. I could never see anyone coming up around me. My friends all thought this was funny so they'd walk up to me and tap me on the shoulder (or bump into me) to get my attention before they'd put a bullet through my head. Geez, thanks guys.
And last night I played some Halo 3 and they swapped out the weapons to only snipers and shot guns. Our starting weapon was the sniper and I had a hard time finding another weapon to swap it out for. I couldn't hit anyone and I always had a hard time getting out of the scope's zoom when I needed to. (Apparently when I get startled I flinch and click on the zoom unintentionally.) I think I died 9 times before I found where I could swap a weapon out. But it wasn't always there when I needed it.
There's only one game that I've learned how to use a sniper rifle (and a sniper cannon) in. And that's Chromehounds. I don't know why but I can lead it so the enemy hound walks right into the shot. I can also still keep a good eye to what's happening around me so no one can sneak up on me. I don't know if it's the view looking through the scope or what but I don't have too many problems in Chromehounds. I just have to build a hound fast enough (and strong enough to carry the load) to get to the good snipping positions on the map.
I hate getting killed by the sniper rifle as well. I prefer a straight face to face fight. No sitting back on the other side of the map just waiting for me to walk into your sites. Come out and fight you little cowards! I'm sure that has something to do with my initiation to fighting with the melee fighting in the Hunter The Reckoning games. I might die a lot but give me close range fighting any day.
I guess it's just a long range thing for me because I don't like bow type weapons either (though not as much as sniper rifles). I just really do hate those sniper rifles.
I just had to say that. Because I really do hate them. Hate being killed by them. Hate using them. I've never seemed to master the techniques needed to become proficient using that weapon.
I don't know why but I can't seem to lead someone right when using those long range weapons. I either shoot way behind them or way in front. When I use other weapons (and thus have to get closer to my target) I can lead someone pretty well. But the further away I get the poorer my shots become.
I first started trying to use sniper rifles when I was playing Star Wars Battlefront. On the right map there's plenty of opportunity . . . and safety to just sit there trying to shoot people's heads off. Kashyyyk's docks is a really good map for that. But I couldn't get people to hold still long enough to shoot them. And the lag made people jump around so much you never knew where they were going to be. I much prefer a good blaster at my side, or a rocket launcher for those pesky vehicles.
Since Gears of War has a specific achievement for the Long Shot I thought maybe I should try practicing with it. While I kind of got the hang of it I found that I ended up with tunnel vision. I could never see anyone coming up around me. My friends all thought this was funny so they'd walk up to me and tap me on the shoulder (or bump into me) to get my attention before they'd put a bullet through my head. Geez, thanks guys.
And last night I played some Halo 3 and they swapped out the weapons to only snipers and shot guns. Our starting weapon was the sniper and I had a hard time finding another weapon to swap it out for. I couldn't hit anyone and I always had a hard time getting out of the scope's zoom when I needed to. (Apparently when I get startled I flinch and click on the zoom unintentionally.) I think I died 9 times before I found where I could swap a weapon out. But it wasn't always there when I needed it.
There's only one game that I've learned how to use a sniper rifle (and a sniper cannon) in. And that's Chromehounds. I don't know why but I can lead it so the enemy hound walks right into the shot. I can also still keep a good eye to what's happening around me so no one can sneak up on me. I don't know if it's the view looking through the scope or what but I don't have too many problems in Chromehounds. I just have to build a hound fast enough (and strong enough to carry the load) to get to the good snipping positions on the map.
I hate getting killed by the sniper rifle as well. I prefer a straight face to face fight. No sitting back on the other side of the map just waiting for me to walk into your sites. Come out and fight you little cowards! I'm sure that has something to do with my initiation to fighting with the melee fighting in the Hunter The Reckoning games. I might die a lot but give me close range fighting any day.
I guess it's just a long range thing for me because I don't like bow type weapons either (though not as much as sniper rifles). I just really do hate those sniper rifles.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Old friends and good memories
So I decided to kick it old school last night. Okay, Star Wars Battlefront isn't exactly old enough to be old school but it's close enough. It brought back a lot of memories.
I was a little intimidated when I first got Battlefront and saw my brother playing it online. It looked there were too many things to be aware of that I wouldn't enjoy the game. But is was Star Wars so how could I NOT at least try to play it?
I joined a couple of rooms and quietly got my ass kicked. I almost gave up, but I'm too stubborn for that. After a lot of play time I finally got to the point where I had more kills than deaths. I then came up with a plan. I'd pick someone on my team who was better than me and just follow them around, watch what they did and learn from it. I picked Killafoola and set my plan in motion. Even if we weren't on the same team I'd still try to find him and hang back far enough not to get killed but close enough to watch.
After a couple of weeks I found my skills greatly improving. I was now able to get the better of Killafoola every now and then when we were on opposite sides. I was feeling pretty confident in not looking like a fool while I played. This was about the time I started talking during games. Several people were surprised I was a girl but most of them accepted me and have since become good friends.
I did find out however, that I wasn't the best player out there. Far from it actually. Since my strategy worked before I decided to apply it to another regular player in the game. Evil Ric became my next target . . . I mean mentor. And to be honest he still is today. But once I learned all I could from him I moved on to the next one. Big Gamer67 (or is it 69?) and MasvHdWndHarry (or spelled something like that), Sdlkal (who we used to call sol-cal because of the way the fonts looked like in the game), Brno32 and HarleyRacer, Kralon and CleeLost, El Sand Dog and DewBird. Devo and Snakes Venon. And all the other regulars I played with and learned from.
But there's one player I always wanted to learn from and although I'd tried my best I was never able to beat him . . . and never will. Ice008. If you've played the game you know the name. Cool as a cucumber, quiet and reserved but with the deadliest skills I had ever seen. And although he doesn't play the game as much as he used to his skills are not as rusty as anyone else's. He's a guy that knows how to play the game. And it's always a challenge going up against him. If you kill him it should count as 2 kills because, more often than not, it will be you who does the dying.
So when I jumped in to a game last night and it was like no time had passed at all. We laughed. We cursed. We killed. We died. We took it personal when we lost. We gloated when we won. We had fun. Some of those guys have moved on, like myself, to the Xbox 360. The new system and newer games take up a lot of our time. But every now and then you can find a bunch of us still kicking it old school. With old friends and good memories.
I was a little intimidated when I first got Battlefront and saw my brother playing it online. It looked there were too many things to be aware of that I wouldn't enjoy the game. But is was Star Wars so how could I NOT at least try to play it?
I joined a couple of rooms and quietly got my ass kicked. I almost gave up, but I'm too stubborn for that. After a lot of play time I finally got to the point where I had more kills than deaths. I then came up with a plan. I'd pick someone on my team who was better than me and just follow them around, watch what they did and learn from it. I picked Killafoola and set my plan in motion. Even if we weren't on the same team I'd still try to find him and hang back far enough not to get killed but close enough to watch.
After a couple of weeks I found my skills greatly improving. I was now able to get the better of Killafoola every now and then when we were on opposite sides. I was feeling pretty confident in not looking like a fool while I played. This was about the time I started talking during games. Several people were surprised I was a girl but most of them accepted me and have since become good friends.
I did find out however, that I wasn't the best player out there. Far from it actually. Since my strategy worked before I decided to apply it to another regular player in the game. Evil Ric became my next target . . . I mean mentor. And to be honest he still is today. But once I learned all I could from him I moved on to the next one. Big Gamer67 (or is it 69?) and MasvHdWndHarry (or spelled something like that), Sdlkal (who we used to call sol-cal because of the way the fonts looked like in the game), Brno32 and HarleyRacer, Kralon and CleeLost, El Sand Dog and DewBird. Devo and Snakes Venon. And all the other regulars I played with and learned from.
But there's one player I always wanted to learn from and although I'd tried my best I was never able to beat him . . . and never will. Ice008. If you've played the game you know the name. Cool as a cucumber, quiet and reserved but with the deadliest skills I had ever seen. And although he doesn't play the game as much as he used to his skills are not as rusty as anyone else's. He's a guy that knows how to play the game. And it's always a challenge going up against him. If you kill him it should count as 2 kills because, more often than not, it will be you who does the dying.
So when I jumped in to a game last night and it was like no time had passed at all. We laughed. We cursed. We killed. We died. We took it personal when we lost. We gloated when we won. We had fun. Some of those guys have moved on, like myself, to the Xbox 360. The new system and newer games take up a lot of our time. But every now and then you can find a bunch of us still kicking it old school. With old friends and good memories.
Monday, October 1, 2007
How cheaters wiped out my bankroll
I love to play Texas Hold 'Em. I use to play it every night on Xbox Live. It's important that you know that especially when I say I could care less if I ever played it again . . . almost. And it's all because of the cheaters.
It seems there's a glitch in the game that allows players to accumulate large amounts of money for their Competitive bank rolls. It has something to do with giggling your internet cable or pushing your standby button on your modem. Whatever it is you have to do you lose connection with the game (or I should say everyone else at the table loses connection with you) so the system thinks they all dropped out which makes you the winner of $2,000 chips (for the free tournament) without playing a hand. Since it only takes a couple of minutes to get a full table and just a couple of seconds to giggle your cable you can rake in a lot of dough in a very short amount of time.
If you ever looked at the leaderboards for the game you'll see a lot of people with large amounts of money with a small amount of hands played. They're either very lucky or very sneaky. Not everyone on the leaderboards are cheaters but it makes it very hard for legitimate players to get there.
So what does Microsoft or Tik Games decide to do about it? They decide to come out with an update for the game that will reset the leaderboards, stop the glitch to prevent cheaters and reset everyone's Competitive bankroll back to the default. Finally someone being proactive about cleaning up a game run by cheaters. It just would have been nice if they would have informed everyone about it before they implemented it.
I've been slowly working towards an achievement in the game to get one of your bankrolls up to $100,000. Since I didn't like battling on player tables where people can just keep buying more chips and I can't bluff the AI in a single player game I figured my best bet would be to work with my Competitive bankroll. I was getting up there too. I had $83,200 before I logged in to play. I got the usual "there is a new update for this game" window and didn't think anything about it.
That was until I tried to find a Competitive Tournament to join and noticed my bankroll. $2,000? WTF? My single player and player match bankrolls were the same but what happened to my Competitive bankroll? I went on line to bitch and moan about this on Xbox's forums when I saw a thread talking about the update. I read it and then I knew what happened.
Now I'm all for resetting the leaderboards and eliminating cheating but why couldn't they have told us about the update before hand? I would have played a few more games the night before to get that $100,000 achievement instead of going to bed. Now all that hard work it gone and for what? Nothing.
Cleaning out the leaderboards and bankrolls of cheaters is a good thing but why does honest players such as myself have to suffer as well? I don't know how you could legitimately tell who was cheating and who wasn't so you could subjectively reset their bankrolls but I have 2,500+ hands and my highest bankroll is (was) only $83,200. I don't think I look like a cheater. Now if this solved the problem so no one could cheat again then fine, I accept this set back for the good of the game. But it didn't.
Within 24 hours of the reset there was already someone in the top spot on the leaderboards with over $104 million dollars. Now I know once you get to the higher buy in tables you can really win a lot of chips but that amount seems a little unrealistic in such a short time. No matter how mad I am at the game I still like playing so I tried my hand at a couple of games and guess what? People were still glitching. Giggling their cables, pressing standby or whatever before the first cards are dealt. In two seconds they win and move on to their next cheat. Things are just as they always were. And things will probably be reset again later. So why bother playing if my bankroll is going to keep getting wiped out?
There will always be cheaters. That's just a fact of playing games, whether that's online or sitting at home with friends. I accept that. I also accept the fact that I will never see my gamer ID on the leaderboards. The only way that will happen is if no one else is playing the game and I played it enough to knock everyone else off the leaderboard who's already on it. And that's no going to happen. I just wish my bankroll hadn't been wiped out because of cheaters.
It seems there's a glitch in the game that allows players to accumulate large amounts of money for their Competitive bank rolls. It has something to do with giggling your internet cable or pushing your standby button on your modem. Whatever it is you have to do you lose connection with the game (or I should say everyone else at the table loses connection with you) so the system thinks they all dropped out which makes you the winner of $2,000 chips (for the free tournament) without playing a hand. Since it only takes a couple of minutes to get a full table and just a couple of seconds to giggle your cable you can rake in a lot of dough in a very short amount of time.
If you ever looked at the leaderboards for the game you'll see a lot of people with large amounts of money with a small amount of hands played. They're either very lucky or very sneaky. Not everyone on the leaderboards are cheaters but it makes it very hard for legitimate players to get there.
So what does Microsoft or Tik Games decide to do about it? They decide to come out with an update for the game that will reset the leaderboards, stop the glitch to prevent cheaters and reset everyone's Competitive bankroll back to the default. Finally someone being proactive about cleaning up a game run by cheaters. It just would have been nice if they would have informed everyone about it before they implemented it.
I've been slowly working towards an achievement in the game to get one of your bankrolls up to $100,000. Since I didn't like battling on player tables where people can just keep buying more chips and I can't bluff the AI in a single player game I figured my best bet would be to work with my Competitive bankroll. I was getting up there too. I had $83,200 before I logged in to play. I got the usual "there is a new update for this game" window and didn't think anything about it.
That was until I tried to find a Competitive Tournament to join and noticed my bankroll. $2,000? WTF? My single player and player match bankrolls were the same but what happened to my Competitive bankroll? I went on line to bitch and moan about this on Xbox's forums when I saw a thread talking about the update. I read it and then I knew what happened.
Now I'm all for resetting the leaderboards and eliminating cheating but why couldn't they have told us about the update before hand? I would have played a few more games the night before to get that $100,000 achievement instead of going to bed. Now all that hard work it gone and for what? Nothing.
Cleaning out the leaderboards and bankrolls of cheaters is a good thing but why does honest players such as myself have to suffer as well? I don't know how you could legitimately tell who was cheating and who wasn't so you could subjectively reset their bankrolls but I have 2,500+ hands and my highest bankroll is (was) only $83,200. I don't think I look like a cheater. Now if this solved the problem so no one could cheat again then fine, I accept this set back for the good of the game. But it didn't.
Within 24 hours of the reset there was already someone in the top spot on the leaderboards with over $104 million dollars. Now I know once you get to the higher buy in tables you can really win a lot of chips but that amount seems a little unrealistic in such a short time. No matter how mad I am at the game I still like playing so I tried my hand at a couple of games and guess what? People were still glitching. Giggling their cables, pressing standby or whatever before the first cards are dealt. In two seconds they win and move on to their next cheat. Things are just as they always were. And things will probably be reset again later. So why bother playing if my bankroll is going to keep getting wiped out?
There will always be cheaters. That's just a fact of playing games, whether that's online or sitting at home with friends. I accept that. I also accept the fact that I will never see my gamer ID on the leaderboards. The only way that will happen is if no one else is playing the game and I played it enough to knock everyone else off the leaderboard who's already on it. And that's no going to happen. I just wish my bankroll hadn't been wiped out because of cheaters.
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