Technical Difficulties . . . please stand by

No I haven't fallen off the face of the planet.  I've just been having technical difficulties with my blog of late.  And this time it's not a "carbon based error".

It seems that Blogger only supports the most current version of Internet Explorer and the version just before that.  Which means if you're using IE 8 (which I am on all my computers) you can add format your posts, add pictures and do other stuff you're use to doing.  Luckily I have Google Chrome on my laptop as well as IE8 but I'm not use to using my laptop and and I've been sharing it with a friend so I don't always have access to it when I want.

I really like to type my posts up on my work computer after I've logged out of work for the day.  After staring at a computer screen all day, as soon as I turn the computer off the last thing I'm thinking about is turning another one and getting online.  The last post I typed on my work computer and saved as a draft.  I had to go in and change the formating to make it acceptable to post.  I hope I fixed everything.  I also hate typing on my laptop's keyboard.

The only way I think of to get around this problem is to upgrade my IE or to change my blog.  Since I always seem to have problems when I upgrade anything I'm not all that excited to rush out and do that.

What I have been thinking about a lot lately is moving my blog to WordPress and get my own domain name.  Instead of having the ".blogspot" part in the name it would be only "lifeofagamergirl.com" (unless someone else has registered that name.  There is a cost involve but I don't think it would be too much to handle.

Except now my account has revert to silver because I don't have the money to comfortably renew my Xbox Live to gold at the moment.  I'm hoping to be able to go back to gold by the middle of November.  If not it might have to wait until Christmas.  It makes shopping for an xmas gift for me easy.

I have wonderful friends!

Just when I think everything has gone to crap I'm reminded that I have wonderful friends.  Since I had to go "silver" on Xbox Live due to some severe financial constraints (that hopefully will get fixed within the next couple of weeks) I've had 3 friends step up and offer me codes to go "Gold" for a total of 4 months.  That will definitely help and I CAN PLAY ONLINE AGAIN!!!!!!

Their kindness and generosity will not go unnoticed as I have a "thank you" planned for each of them.  It won't be much but it will be heartfelt and hopefully worth it to them.  Stay tuned for more on that later.  Even though my mother doesn't think I can be friends with people I've never met, I'm reminded that it's not their face that makes them a friend . . . but their hearts.  Thank you!

Sleeping with the fishes

So yesterday I thought I'd pull out the old Xbox (original version) and play some games the way they were meant to be played. Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way.

It started with the fact that I couldn't connect to Xbox Live at all from my original Xbox. I knew they were stopping games on the 15th but I thought there were still games out there you could play online. Maybe the servers were full. I tested my connection and it failed at the Xbox Live stage so my system was okay (although a little dusty).

So I couldn't play online but I could still play games right? First I had to disconnect the Ethernet cords so I wouldn't get the online error message every time I changed games. And I changed them a lot.

I've been replacing all my games since the break in but I've been testing the original Xbox games out on my 360. Most of them can play on the newer system. Some of them can't. So I started to test those games. Unfortunately some of them were getting disk read errors. Yeah me. I'd put a disk in and it wouldn't load at all. Or I would get through the title screen only to start the actual gameplay and find the game freeze up before getting a disk error.

I put all those disks aside with the note to find their case and maybe try to replace them . . . again. What I found interesting was that some games that played on my 360 were having problems on my Xbox. And sometimes it would have problems the first time but the second time I put it in it would work fine. There were even some that had issued on the 360 that played just fine on the Xbox. I think I'll have to do more testing before I start replacing games a second time.

I ended up with six possible replacements. And four duplicates.

Yes, when replacing games I actually replaced some of them more than once. I didn't really have a good system to keep track of items I was bidding on in ebay vs. items I had won, paid for and received. Throw in the fact that I had to bid on 7 or 8 different auctions in order to win some games and you can see why I might have been confused.

Some of those duplicate games I already have. Others I'm waiting to receive in the mail. I figure I might just sell them to GameStop and use the store credit to pick up some of the last games on my list or maybe some new ones (I've picked up a couple new games in the process, but more on that later).

There is a duplicate game that I might give to a friend if he ever comes back online. It's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. I've been dying to play that game (and the original one) but all of my friends have sold their copies back a long time ago. I'd give it to any one of them if they would play with me but one of them might need the help financially more than the others.

I know I won't get much store credit for old Xbox games but I just don't understand why people would sell back good games (besides the duplicate issue I'm having). If you really don't need the money for something why not keep it and enjoy it for years to come?

Don't get me wrong, I do know what it's like to need money. I had a job a long time ago that was really hard to even live pay check to pay check. I've pawned items to make it to pay day (and then got those items back). One month it would be the Tv, the next month the stereo, etc. I lived off of Ramen noodles and sometimes hot dogs (sans bun because I couldn't afford 'em) or potatoes. Maybe that experience has taught me to cherish and keep the things that make me happy and entertain me instead of toss them to the wind as my fancy strikes me. But now the original Xbox is dead.

So after three hours of testing games and trying to get online on my original Xbox I went to bed wondering if the Xbox has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Is it extinct? Will you ever be able to connect to Xbox Live on your original system again? Is there any games left that you can play online? I don't know. It was late. I was tired. I went to bed. While my sleep was refreshing for me I couldn't help but think the original Xbox experience is now "sleeping with the fishes". May it rest in peace.

Gamer's alter egos and hidden identities

Super heroes have alter egos and hidden identities. So why can't gamers? Superman hides behind glasses and the name of Clark Kent. Spiderman is know by Peter Parker. Even Dr. Jekyll had a Mr. Hyde. Okay, not quite the same but you get the idea. If you spend any time playing online games with an open microphone you know that sometimes gamers have alter egos and hidden identities too. And we're not just talking about descriptive gamertags.

There are mild mannered, polite husbands and fathers who turn into raving mad men when something sets them off. It could be snipers and knifers and glitchers oh, my! It could be friends jumping out of a game just before the last kill because they don't want to take a particularly bad loss. At those times that sweet, polite, considerate, jolly good, well mannered individual becomes a raving, slobbering, ranting, poo-flinging lunatic. And that might be a mild case.

And what do I do when grown men de-evolve to poo-flinging monkeys?

I laugh.

I'm sorry, I can't help it. Every time I experience the transformation to Mr. Hyde from someone's previous Dr. Jekyll I'm reminded of the song "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies. The line in particular is "I can't help it if I think you're funny when you're mad". That just sums it up right there. They rant and snarl and nash teeth. I laugh like a hyena. Hopefully with my mic muted.

I'm not an angry person. And I'm about as patient a person as you can find (sometimes I think that's a fault and not a virtue). But yes, sometimes I get pissed off while playing video games. I express my displeasure with a carefully chosen word or two and then the moment has passed and I've put it all behind me. Listening to my friends erupt in a fiery bit of verbal diarrhea strikes me as totally hilarious when it comes from those mild mannered friends. And from those that constantly spew their eternal dislike and hatred towards a game or player don't stay on my friends list for long.

I've had players direct some of their venom towards me. Friends and strangers alike. Strangers do it because they're ignorant assholes. My friends have done it out of frustration. Do I hate them for it. No. It just makes me uncomfortable and self-conscious, but I know it's based on something I should have done, or something I shouldn't have done. I usually deserve it. But all eruptions directed towards me are mild little bubbles compared to other Mr. Hyde appearances.

Do I wish we could all just along? Sure. But then where would I get my nightly entertainment when Mount Saint MadMax erupts? I know my friends are not Mr. Hydes in real life. And as long as they continue to be Dr. Jekyll they'll stay on my friends list. Remember, "I can't help it if I think you're funny when you're mad". Just don't be offended (and start yelling at me) if I start laughing when you start slinging poo around. And maybe one day you'll see what form my alter ego/hidden identity takes on. I just might surprise you.

Anti-social gamers

To all my friends on Xbox Live I'm sorry I haven't played with you since . . . well Saturday. It's not that I don't want to play with you, it's just that . . . well I don't want to play with anyone. Don't take it personal. There's sometimes when I'm just not in the mood for some of the shenanigans that happen online when multiple people are playing a game together, friends or strangers. You see, when I get stressed I like to keep things calm and peaceful so I don't blow a gasket. And I've been extremely stressed lately. I guess deciding to buy a house will do that you. But we've got a weekend coming up so maybe I'll let all hell break lose and I'll see ya in the virtual world. And if I kill you, don't take that personal either . . . it's just therapy.

Call of Duty 4 is very bad for Xbox Live

If I were to ask you what game is the best representation of the Xbox 360 console in game play, what the system can do and fan base what would you say? I'm sure a lot of you are thinking Halo 3. Oh sure, it's the easy choice. The original Halo game is what put the original Xbox on the map. And at it's release that game had more hype than a Brittany Spears night on the town.

But you're wrong.

If you ask me the same question I'd have to say Cal of Duty 4. Why? Just look at the facts. There's nothing personal or preferential in my choice. I've played a lot of Call of Duty 4 (mostly multiplayer) and not so much of Halo 3. I haven't played enough of Halo 3 to really get a firm opinion of the game or the franchise. But what I have played I've liked . . . except for most of the people that I've played against. I just want you to know that because my decision is not based on my opinions of the game but what the game has done for Microsoft and their Xbox Live service.

When Halo 3 came out there were stores staying open until midnight to sell the game. And once it was out everybody seemed to be playing the game on Xbox Live. The system was a little slow for that first week but it wasn't disruptive to those not playing Halo 3. Call of Duty 4 on the other had was a whole different story.

The release wasn't so much the media event as Halo 3's was. But at the same time there were just as people playing Call of Duty 4 as there was Halo 3. There was a bit of a slow down in the Xbox Live network for COD4 but once again it wasn't as much Halo 3. What's different about COD4 is that it's audience grew by word of mouth and more and more people bought the game and started playing it. With Halo 3 you were pretty much going to get it at release or you'd wait until the price comes down or you wouldn't get it at all.

The more people who started to play COD 4 the more the Xbox Live network started to have problems. Over the Christmas holiday was the worse. You could feel the slowness of the network in COD4 and it affect not only your gameplay but everyone else's gameplay on the network.

Yesterday a batch of new maps were released for COD4 and things went down hill from there. The market place crashed and you couldn't get to the place where you could download the maps. And some of us were kicked off of Xbox Live altogether while we were playing other games. Yes, that's right. I was logged in but I was playing Begeweled 2 when I heard that lovely little beep. I had thought I unlocked an achievement. Nope. What I got instead was "Pengwen has been disconnected from Xbox Live". Why? Probably because I wasn't really playing a game over Xbox Live and they needed the server space/power for someone else who was. Do I think it's just a coincidence that this happens on the day the COD4 maps are released? I don't think so. So what does that tell us about COD4?

To me, it says that more people want to pay 800 points for 4 new maps for that game. Enough people to overwhelm their network and make it difficult for some of the rest of us to get online. Has this happened with anything for the Halo games? Not that I'm aware of. There's been map packs for previous Halo games and the rush of users trying to download those and play them hasn't tanked the system. So you've got to see that Call of Duty 4 is more the quintessential Xbox 360 game instead of Halo 3. I know the Halo fanboys out there aren't going to like it, but it is what it is. And for some of us it means we won't be able to connect to Xbox Live through our consoles until everyone's had their fill of the new maps and have moved on.

Back in the game

I got my profile back.

Can everyone say Hallelujah!

After discussing the matter with my brother he pointed out that no company likes to take the blame when something goes wrong. And Microsoft is no different. He said it wasn't my internet connection that was timing out but the Xbox Live servers. With all the people playing games on Sunday resources needed to be diverted to those people. And for the rest of us that are doing "minor" things like recovering our gamer profiles there wasn't enough resources to keep the servers processing our requests.

During the fiasco after more than a half hour the process would stop half way and error out. When I tried the same thing again at 10pm it took 15 minutes and it was all done. That's all. I can game again.

So I'm thinking. If Xbox Live can't handle the volume of users over a regular weekend, what are they going to do once school is out for the summer? Or even closer yet, spring break. We all know what happened over the Christmas holidays, and the MLK holiday, oh and don't forget President's day weekend. More people are off work or out of school so they play more video games (naturally). The servers can't handle the load and lagging becomes an issue. Not to mention losing internet connect, getting dropped and all other kinds of wacky connection issues.

For a company that is built around computers you would think they would have the resources and/or capacity to handle and/or plan for these surges in use. So why don't they? And what are they doing to ease the load before the final bell rings in shcool? I hope they do something otherwise it's going to be a very slow, laggy summer. By then I might have to dust off my single player games or decide to invest in a PS3 now that Blu-Ray has won the HD war.

I hate it when I'm right

Well, I was right. With all of Xbox Live's issues there was bound to be someone to make a stink about it. Three people in Texas filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for not being able to connect to Live in December (and after last night you could extend that into January).

They supposedly asked for $5,000,000 for the pain and suffering the lost service caused them. What they don't know is that with a class action lawsuit that $5,000,000 judgement (if awarded) would be split between all the Xbox Live users. Since there are 6,000,000 users on Live we each would get about $.83 cents from the lawsuit. It doesn't sound like much but since a Gold membership is only $.13 cents per day that sounds about right, don't you think?

Besides if you read the papers filed these three individuals are suppose to "act on other plaintiff's behalf and in their best interest" or some other such wording. Who are these people to say what's in my best interest? They don't know me. And they probably don't know the whole story.

I've had a few friends put away Call of Duty 4 because of the terrible hassles you have to go through to get a match started. They haven't stopped playing altogether either. They just went back to older games. Gears of War and Rainbow 6: Vegas have been dusted off. They say they haven't had any problems getting into matches with those games. They still have occasional issues with getting connected to Live but once that happens everything is fine.

Reading around with some of the stories that have come out about this I found it funny that one story "uncovered" that in the licensing agreement we all had to agree to before activating our membership stated that there is no guarantee of uninterrupted service. If they had read their licensing agreed before checking the box maybe they would have know that. But be honest, how many of use have actually read the licensing agreement? I didn't.

I'm a very patient person. I don't mind waiting to get a game started. What bothers me the most about what's going on is that whole parties dissolve when a game match crashes. When that happens you have to spend the next 5 minutes getting everyone back into your party. Some people might not be on everyone's friends list, others might be booted completely to the main menu. By the time you get everyone back into the party it's time to find another match to get into. And then the problems start all over again.

One thing our party did last night was to start looking for matches other than Team Deathmatch. It seems everyone want to play that and the servers can't handle all of the requests. But other match types like Ground War, Headquarters, Sabotage, etc. are much easier to get into. You still get experience points and can complete challenges (those matches even have their own special challenges) so why doesn't everyone start playing them more often?

I just think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion. And gamers are going to feel the heat for it. Yes, we'll get a new Arcade game out of this as Microsoft's way of apology but what's going to happen to the online experience? And who are these idiots in Texas to say what I really want out of my gaming experience? And when I play Halo 2 or 3 can I sue Microsoft for a sexual harassment from the traumatic gaming experience of someone tea bagging me? What other lawsuits are gamers going to raise because they're not happy with their gaming experience? 'Cause let's face it, Microsoft (and the rest of the world for that matter) are just here to please us, right?

Man, I hate it when I'm right.

Compensation for your troubles

Well, it looks like we might be receiving some compensation for the troubles everyone was having on Xbox Live over the holidays. What that amounts to is still pretty vague. All I can say is that it better be a new game that isn't already available because I probably already have it. And it better be something I'll like. But I'm sure everyone is saying that. Read the whole story here.

Xbox Live unfaithful

If you have an Xbox 360 and have been trying to get connected to Xbox Live over the last couple of weeks you've probably noticed a problem. If you haven't been trying to connect to Xbox Live you still might have noticed a problem with all the loud voices complaining over the service they've been getting . . . or not getting . . . form Xbox Live. It's gotten so bad that I've even heard people talk about a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. It makes sense in a way. We've paid for a service that Microsoft promised but we're not getting so shouldn't we be compensated for that loss of service? And what about the pain and suffering associated with that failure to serve? And believe me there is pain and suffering along with heartaches, frustration and despair when you can't get connected to the Live service. But are we ready to take everything that far? A law suit? Microsoft and Xbox Live have been unfaithful to us but once this is all said and done and everyone is playing again, how many of us are going to become unfaithful to Xbox Live and Microsoft? It should be interesting to see.

Xbox Live is 5 years old

So Xbox Live was 5 years old as of yesterday. How long have you been on Xbox Live? Me? I can't remember exactly. I think it will be 3 years in January. If not 3 years than it's only been 2 years since I joined Xbox Live.

That doesn't mean I've only been playing video games for 2 years. Far from it. It's just that I was always too timid to join in the online community of gamers. Also I didn't have the right connection speed with my internet. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure it will be 3 years come January.

I'm really glad I decided to join the ranks of online players. I've met some really great people through various games. Some of them I would never have the opportunity to meet otherwise. Some I just wondered why I'd never met them before.

I've been really lucky about meeting great people too. I think it goes back to the games I played when I first on online. Star Wars Battlefront is a great game. And it's filled with great people. I only ran into the occasional idiot while playing that game. Most of my friends from those old days have followed me to the 360 era of gaming. We were not just gamers we were Star Wars fans and I think that is what added to our fun, excitement and respect while playing.

So Happy Birthday Xbox Live! Gamers might have been playing online with their computers long before you came around but you changed the face of online gaming forever. When people's only compliant about a great game is that it doesn't have online multiplayer game play you know you've made an impact on the gaming world.

The first step of recovery . . .

. . . 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.

I'm dying on the "River"

Texas Hold 'Em. A poker game you either love or hate. Right now for me it's both. I love seeing the Flop and the Turn but when it comes to the River card I just want to scream.

I played in a tournament game last night on Xbox Live. I folded the first couple of hands until those "all in" fools get knocked out with their tiny 7 - 2 off suited cards. Who are they kidding anyway? Once the table gets down to 4 or 5 players I'll turn the heat on and see who I can force to play a hand they wouldn't otherwise play.

I'm not much of the "all in" type. When someone does that I've found they usually don't have squat but are trying to bluff you out and steal the blinds. At $4 and $5 blinds why would you do that? If you happen to call them (and have the chips to cover them) they're just hoping to get lucky on the Flop. It's pretty easy to beat those types but I'll let someone else knock them out. I only play the hands I know I can win with. That is until I see the River card.

Last night in head to head action I could have knocked the other guy out and won the tournament. I was forcing him into playing hands that any sane person would . . . and should . . . have folded a long time ago. He usually folded at the River. But one time he decided to play his hand through. I had him completely beat with the Flop. The Turn card helped him slightly but I was still the overwhelming favorite to win. There were only 2 numbers that would beat me. A total of 8 cards out of 52 that he could pull out a win if it was played. And guess what? The River card was played . . . and he won. He doubled up, but I was still the chips leader. For once he got lucky.

A couple of hands later (and a lot more chips on my side) he was down to needing a very limited River card to win the hand. This time all he needed was a 7. Any 7 would do. So that would be 4 possible cards out of 52. I wanted to beat this guy from the moment the game started. He was trash talking before we even figured out who would get the dealer's button to start the game. Imagine his surprise when he would find out he lost to a girl? I couldn't wait for the River card.

I had a smile on my face. I was feeling confident and a little cocky. Waiting for that moment when I'd turn my mike on and say "good game". Then the River card was played. A 7. Once is being lucky. Twice a coincidence. Would there be a third time?

I was a little bit mad at how things were turning out. The guy was still talking trash. My mike was still muted. And I was folding good hands because I was too steamed to play. After a little while I thought I was ready to play a few hands and give this guy the loss that I felt he deserved. I bet aggressively but conservatively and before I knew it the chips were split 50-50 (he had a slight $20 lead). What had gone wrong? I'm a better player than this but I guess those 2 big losses were really effecting me.

I struggled to get myself under control when the next hand came up. It was good. A pair of Kings. I slow played him to an "all in" bet after the Flop. There was a King in the flop so I was sitting on 3 of a kind. He had a possible straight. All he needed was a 3. I was a little nervous that lightening would strike for the third time but I liked my odds holding a set of Kings. The Turn card was played. It was a King. I was sitting on four of a kind. I knew I had won this hand. I flipped open my mike, ready to say those two little words when the I took another look at the board.

Yes, he was working on a straight but if he got the 3 of diamonds he would have a straight flush. I had about half a second to rack my brain trying to remember if a straight flush beat a four of a kind when the River card was played. You guessed it. It was the 3 of diamonds. I remember him laughing a lot and that awful message that says you placed 2nd in the tournament. Yes, I won some money but I lost? To this guy? A guy I should have knocked out on two other occasions. I picked my jaw off the floor, muttered a "good game" into the mic and shut the game down.

I love playing Texas Hold 'Em I just don't like losing on the River.

Where have all my friends gone?

So where have all my friends gone?

Up until a couple of days ago it was normal to have 20+ friends online at any given time. But for some reason, I've been lucky to see that number higher than 9. What are they doing? Why aren't they playing? Or are they hiding?

When my brother lost his job he spent a lot of time during the day playing video games. He didn't want me to find out so he changed his online status to show offline so I wouldn't see him playing. (He didn't know that when you do that and you are actually playing a game all your achievements and gamerscore are blanked out. If you are truly offline then other people can still view your achievements.) But once I told him I knew he switched his profile back to show his status. I have another friend who switched to "offline" to avoid the constant badgering of someone on his friends list. Hell, I've been known to show "offline" at time to avoid someone. Some people just can't take a hint. But the latest craze seems to be showing "away" when you really playing a game. Why?

I don't know why this is any better . . . and it might be even worse. If you show "offline" than people won't think you're on playing. If you show "away" then they know you've logged in so they'll send you a message, game invite or chat invite knowing that when you "get back" you jump in and join them in what ever you're doing. Last night I had 9 friends online but 5 of them "away". The funny thing is that the games they were playing while "away" were always changing.

And then there was the guy in the Texas Hold 'Em tournament. His status in the game said "away" but didn't say that on the dashboard. He folded every hand right away and it got down to just me and him. I hadn't paid attention too much to this pattern so I folded a few hands before catching on. Once I realized what he was doing all I had to do was call while I was in the small blinds and I won every hand. Of course at $2/4 and $5/10 dollar blinds it took awhile for him to relieve him of his chips. I won but it didn't really feel like a victory.

Play the game or get out is what I say. I just wish I had some more friends online to play with.

I want my Gamerscore on my tombstone

My Xbox Live Gamerscore is going to be the death of me.

I'm a competitive person by nature so I was expecting a little competition among friends when it comes to our Gamerscores, but now I've been consumed by the beast. Is it healthy? Probably not. Do I care? Not as long as I keep unlocking achievements. But that's the rub.

When I first got my Xbox 360 at the beginning of the year I was embarrassed about my Gamerscore. 25 points? For Hexic? That wasn't anything to brag about. But I was just learning about and messing around on the whole online dashboard. Then I got in to some actual gameplay.

Now I want to hear that little bleep. I need those achievements. It was all well and good while I was one of the early people from my old original Xbox friends list to get a 360 (we were having too much fun playing Star Wars Battlefront to worry about a new system, besides I wanted some time for them to get all the bugs worked out of the new system's launch). My 120 Gamerscore beat their big fat zero any day. And that was just for starters. Then one by one they all started to get 360s.

I still have a few holdouts that are content with their original Xboxes but they'll come around in time. One of them just got his 360 last weekend. Now Ice is a very nice guy and a good player but I wasn't all that happy to see him go from zero to a 115 Gamerscore in just a couple of hours. Give him another week or two and he'll be busting my butt again in whatever games we happen to be playing together. He's just one damn good player. I'm thrilled that I'll finally get to test my mettle against him in Gears of War, but in no time at all he'll leave my paltry Gamerscore behind.

Now I know I could hatch a plan with my friends to set up a ranked match in Gears for just us so we can work on all those 100 kill ranked achievements in the game but to me that's just cheating. If I get an achievement I want to earn it. Fair and square. But I'm not against hedging my chances though. I set up a Hearts game last night and invited my brother (someone who hasn't played Hearts but whose Gamerscore is climbing faster than mine) thinking I could use him to get a few wins and hands in towards an achievement. What does he do? He shots the Moon . . . and the Sun in the same game. What do I do? Come in last place. So while I walked away with ZERO points for my Gamerscore he walked away with 40 points without really trying.

I remember when I broke the 1,000 point barrier. I was excited. It looked more like a serious score than the laughable 990. Why? I don't know. With all my friends getting 360s and increasing their Gamerscore my competitive nature kicks in and says I need to stay ahead of them. My brother, once more than 300 points behind me is now only 20 points away from matching my score. I have too many other friends creeping up behind me . . . and some passing me that all I want to do is play video games and listen for that bleep.

When at work, I check out my friends list hourly on http://www.xbox.com/ just to see who's recently unlocked an achievement and in what game. I take notes of what achievements I think I can unlock that night when I get home. I've sent messages out asking friends for advice on how to unlock those pesky ones that I can't seem to do on my own. But despite my best efferts I don't always get to hear that blessed bleep. I need to hear that bleep. I need the points for my Gamerscore. It's consuming my life and I don't know how to stop it.

My Gamerscore will be the death of me. And even if it is I want it carved on my tombstone, but only if it's better than everyone else's.

Crash and Burn . . . then reading a book

Okay, what was up with Xbox Live last night? We crashed 3 rooms in about 20 minutes. It's kind of hard to get into a game when every other map the whole system "wonks" out. I eventually gave up and read a book. No wonking out going on there.

And speaking of that. The book I finished up last night was Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. A GREAT book. With a different style of magic the book is not your typical fantasy. "Burning" a metal gives a user special abilities. Of course that metal has to be ingested first. A band of skaa (peasants) thieves try to overthrow an empire that's been in existence for thousands of years. There's just one little problem . . . the empire is led by an immortal god. An ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC read. It's the first book of a trilogy. Much more greatness to come. You should check it out. I'd love to see a movie made from this book. The fighting would surpass anything The Matrix or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon could ever do.