50,000 and counting

I did it. My gamer score is finally at 50,000.  Well . . . actually it's at 50,011 but I still finally crossed that threshold. 

It's been 11 and half years in the making.  As best as I can tell I got my first achievement on January 6th, 2007.  I actually got 3 achievements on that day.  All of them in Hexic HD which came free with the Xbox 360.  I got Flower Child, Cluster Buster and Star Gazer.  And thus my journey began.

I remember the beginning of that journey.  I was not an early adopter of the Xbox 360.  All the stories of Red Rings of Death and such made we want to wait until Microsoft got their act together.  The Xbox 360 was out for more than a year before I finally got one.  I sat and watched all my friends rack up their gamer scores and I couldn't wait to start earning mine.  Unfortunately I was big in to playing on my PS2 and didn't play much on the Xbox 360 for quite awhile.  That all changed once I got Gears of War and found a great group of guys to play it with.

I was always lamenting how fast their scores seemed to increase versus how slowly mine was inching up.  But now, for some reason, getting over 50,000 seems a decent amount.  Of course I have several friends with gamer scores over 100,000.  But they don't have much of a life outside of video games (sorry guys, but you know that's true).

I had a goal of getting to 50,000 by the end of the year.  Getting it this early was a bit of a surprise.  What achievement was the one that pushed me over the edge?  It was in Minecraft (the new version).  Delicious Fish.  Catch and cook a fish.  It was just enough to put me over the edge.  And since that version is different than the Xbox One version I have the chance to double up on the achievements and get my gamer score even higher.

I wonder if it will take me another 11.5 years to get to 100,000.  I don't think so, but stay tuned.  You never know.

My (latest and multiple) Obsessions

So I've been thinking about what my next Arcade games was going to be. I have lots to choose from. You see, I need some small little game to focus on whenever I need a break from the larger, harder and usually more time consuming disk games. Backgammon, Puzzle Quest and Jewel Quest all filled that need. So I've been looking for the next one.

Then I found it.

I loved playing Fable on the original Xbox. I've never got very far in the game because I spent too much time exploring and robbing people (I love doing that). So when I found out Fable II was coming out I was very excited. Then I found out that there would be an Xbox Live Arcade game that you can get before the game comes out that would have mini games from Fable II in it. And THEN I found out if you pre-ordered Fable II you'd get a code to unlock the Arcade game for free. I was there.

From the very first note on the opening screen I was hooked. I love the music of the first Fable game. I even have the soundtrack and listen it to quite often at work. Then I started to play the games. While I haven't figured out any strategy, besides random chance, in the Spinnerbox game I love the other two, Fortune's Tower and Keystone.

When I first started playing I couldn't win anything in Fortune's Tower. Keystone on the other hand was a gold mine for me. And no I haven't been using any of the glitches that make you win big even though you bet small. I finally figured out a strategy for Fortune's Tower and I've been doing well ever since.

The problem is all the games are so addicting. When it's time to go to bed it's just so easy to tell yourself you'll play one more pyramid, or archway or just one more spin. Next thing you know 30 minutes have gone by and you can barely keep your eyes open. Or you find yourself just wanting to get in one quick game before you go to work only to find yourself in a mad dash out the door trying to get to work on time (or maybe arriving late and sneaking past your boss).

Those games are addicting and fun and I'm loving every minute of them.

And then when I feel I need to pull myself away from the Pub Games for the sake of my sanity (and my job) I've started playing Hexic HD. A simple game that can be over quick but that could also provide an extended amount of play and challenges. I wasn't expecting much while playing it but I've pick up 4 achievements in the last couple of days and now I'm getting addicted to that game as well.

I finally made my first black pearl last night in a "just one more game and then I'll quit" moment. Considering I lost 6 silver stars in two separate collapses because I wasn't paying attention before I made the black pearl I was very proud of myself. I wasn't trying for it specifically, just trying to see what I could do. Any game that rewards me with achievements when I'm just trying to have fun and experiment with game play is worth it to me.

The only down side to my latest obsessions is that they're all single player games. I'd love to have an Arcade game that I obsess about getting all the achievements in that I could actually play along with my friends. We usually have such a good time playing with each other, name calling not-with-standing, that it bothers me I can't combine the two things. Oh well, maybe someone will come up with a game (Novadrome, Marble Blast Ultra, Small Arms or something) we could all agree to play.

Until then you can probably find me in the Pub. Spinning disks, rolling dice or dealing cards. At least the din of the background noise in the Pub makes me feel not quite so alone. Now if only my patron could loan me some more money, I feel an obsession coming on.