1,000 Gamer score challenge completed

I did it!

I took a week off from work and went on vacation July 24th through the 31st and all I did (pretty much) was sit in the hotel room and play video games.  It was great.  I got 3 weeks worth of videos recorded in that week and I made my goal of 1,000 gamer score.

I'm not exactly sure which day I got the achievement that pushed me over the edge.  It was either Wednesday the 27th or Thursday the 28th.  Either way that is a month to get 1,000 gamer score.  If I hadn't have gone on vacation I probably wouldn't have done as well as I did.  I picked up 570 points just in that week alone.  I only needed 140 before I left and I got it.

During that time I played some games just for fun in addition to the ones I've been playing for my YouTube channel.  Below is a list of the games that I played while going for that goal and a list of games that I played while on vacation.

I would love to do that again.  Get away from the house that needs cleaning, the dog that needs to be taken care of and a roommate that is annoying and just play video games.  I've got another week vacation in September but I'm not planning on going anywhere so I'll just have to play games at home.

Even though I played a lot of games (or at least played them for a lot of hours) it really got me excited to play more.  And do other things I love to do.  Like read.  It's been a struggle sometimes to find time to read and I haven't been that in to the books that I was reading.  I don't know if it's a combination of the books I've read lately or this new energy to spend time doing the things I love (the bathroom can wait another day before I clean it right?) but I love reading again.  I've recently read The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan and The Scorch Trails by James Dashner.  I'm alternating back and forth between those two series (currently reading The Novice) and once I"m done I think I'll read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and start that series.  Now I've just got to find the time to do everything.

Games played to meet goal:
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Xbox One)
Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One)
Peggle 2 (Xbox One)
Plants vs. Zombies (Xbox One)
Rayman Legend (Xbox One)
Ancients of Ooga (Xbox Arcade)
Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Xbox One)
Gems of War (Xbox One)
Assault Heroes (Xbox Arcade)
Costume Quest 2 (Xbox Arcade)

Additional Games Played While on Vacation:
Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360)
Rayman Origins (Xbox 360)


I played Assault Heroes because I was in the mood to play a racing game as I was searching through my games and stumbled upon that one.  I know it's not a racing game, but it is a driving game and it would do (I was too lazy to look through the rest of my games and they are alphabetically).  I was very surprised to get an achievement in that game.

Gems of War is my new Jewel Quest or Puzzle Quest addiction.  They're just games that I play and chill out to.  They don't stress me out and it's easy to get in a match or two before doing other things.  I was playing it on vacation while I was waiting for videos to process and render.  It fit the time perfectly.

I play Rayman Legend when I want to remember how fun playing Rayman Origins used to be.  I haven't been having a lot of fun in that game for awhile.  I'll still make videos in it and finish it, but I can only play a level or two before I start to get really frustrated and want to chuck my controller through the TV.

Ancients of Ooga is a game that I had the trail version for a long time before I bought the full game.  I had tried playing it several times but just wasn't getting what I was suppose to do.  I still liked the game even if I found it frustrating.  I started playing it again for this challenge and for some reason things just clicked this time.  I figured things out and I was able to get through a bunch of level . . . and then I got stuck so I moved on to something else.

I keep trying to play Plants vs Zombies with friends but it never seems to work out.  They're getting offline just when I get online.  I usually end up just messing around in the Backyard stuff before moving on to something else.  I would really like to play some PvZ games with my friends.

Now that I'm pretty far ahead with my videos I have some time to really sink my teeth in to a meaty game.  I think I'm going to play Red Dead Redemption.  I've debated about if I will film the play through or not and I still haven't decided.  If I do it will be very light on the commentary because I just want to play the game and enjoy it.

Have you played any of those games?  How long would it take you to get 1,000 in gamer score?  It took me a month.  I think that's pretty good.  If I do the same time of thing for trophies on my Playstation 3 what do you think my goal should be?  Let me know in the comments.

1 minute Zombies game

I recently signed up for the month trial of Netflicks on my Nook.  I've been spending my time catching up on missed episode of The Walking Dead.  I started watching that series at the beginning of season 3.  I missed a few episode at the end of that season but caught a few more at the start and end of season 4.  I really thought it would be a good idea to start watching from the beginning so I know who to cheer for and who should just go kill themselves.

That led me to another good idea.  I was wondering how many zombie video games I could name in one minute.  I got 20.5 (more on that half one later).  So I propose this challenge to you.  Set a timer, an alarm or a clock and give yourself 1 minute to list as many zombie games as you can.  These are games with zombies figuring in prominently.  So for you Minecraft fans out there that game doesn't count.  Yes, there's Creepers but they're not the point of the game.

So why don't you take a minute and give it a go.  I'll start your time right . . . . NOW.

Yep got that one.

And that one too.

Oh, didn't think of that one.

You're missing an obvious one.

If you got that one you should get the other one.

Is that all you can come up with?

And your time stops now.  I said now.  No cheating to get that one you just thought of down.  If you didn't make a list and want to see which ones I came up with before you try it on your own than you can't use any of the ones I thought of.  My game.  My rules.

My list was:

Hunter: The Reckoning
Hunter: The Reckoning Wayward
Hunter: The Reckoning: Redeemer
Dead Island 1-3
Resident Evil 1-6 (?)
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Deadlight
The Walking Dead
The Last of Us
Call of Duty (W@W; BO, BOII): Zombies
and the one that I couldn't remember the name but I could picture the whole part of the beginning of the game.  I later realized it was State of Decay.  I remembered the game, but not the title, so I'm only giving myself a half point for that one.

Here are some that I missed that if I had given myself more time I would have eventually gotten around to remembering them.

Plants vs. Zombies
Zombie Apocalypse
Borderland (DLC): Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

I can't remember how many Resident Evil games there have been.  My memory seems to stop at 6 but I'm sure there's more but I'm only counting what I know.  The Hunter: The Reckoning games were listed first on my list before they are the first zombie games I played.  They creeped me out and still do to this day.  But I loved them enough that I got them all when they came out, even if Wayward was on the PS2 and didn't seem to play the same way.

I also started thinking about the Dead Space games.  Yes, you kill humans made zombies by the head crab thingies but for me the jest of the story is fighting monsters which are different than zombies.  When I was looking up the name for the State of Decay game I came across a reference to Half-Life zombies.  While I haven't played much of that game I'm lumping it in with Dead Space and that it's aliens you are fighting not zombies, in the traditional sense of course.

So, how many zombie games can you name in 1 minute?  Put your responses in the comments and let's see how many more I should have known but missed.  And I don't know about you but I thought this was fun.  Maybe I'll do it again next time with something else.  Maybe vampires.  Or dragons.  Wait and see.