Christmas Thoughts

Morning readers,
It's amazing how the post counts drop as it got closer to Christmas and I do apologise like I always do but with working in retail you can guess how busy it gets. I swear next year needs to be different because I cannot go through with another Christmas like that, its nearly killed my Christmas spirit and my gaming time went out the window.

In fact I was on the last bit of Uncharted 3 for the last three weeks, was finally able to finish it off last and got to say it was a great story just a shame the controls are buggy and annoying.

So anyway enough with the ranting and moaning, time for a big update and I'm going to start by updating all the stat pages and challenges.

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Just finished updating the stats and I've got to say I'm impressed with the fact that I did complete 52 games this year. Of course I do think that could had been a lot higher if it was not for the last few months with work but oh well, still a good number though.

Of course my challenge for the year as pretty much gone out the window, currently sitting on 32% for games I've bought this year completed. In fact it would not shock me if I had just replaced all the games I've completed, my pile of shame still looks huge. Next year (2012) I don't think I will be doing anything amazing in the ways of challenges and goals, just enjoy my games and do my best to get some finished. Although give it a week or two and no doubt there will be a new goal up on my blog.

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 Hoping to finish Lego Harry Potter on the PS3 this week which I've rented from Lovefilm and it should be the last game I finish this year. Doubt it very highly that I can get another game done this week. I will be starting Assassin's Creed finally too since I've been waiting until I've finished Uncharted 3, once I've started I can then pick my game of the year which is a very tough choice this year. So many good games have come out and speaking of good games, 2012 is already looking jam packed. Have you taken a look? IGN the other day put up there top 10 they looking forward too and I was shocked what was coming out. I know the Vita and Mass Effect 3, but forgot Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 heart of the swarm, Hitman and many more are coming out/

I need to try and be good next year by spending less but already I can see that being a problem with what's coming out. Anyway going to wrap this post up for now and go play some Lego, catch you all soon.

~Iznic

I'm alive, I think!

Evening one and all,
How have you all been? It's been a busy month for me thanks to all the new releases of games at work. Cannot believe how many games are coming out over the next few weeks and how many have come out.

Been trying to stay on top of my new purchases but still stood on 30% competition for this years releases, I do take that as a good sign though since I've picked up so many new releases and not dropped below 30. Speaking of completing games, quite proud of myself these last two weeks since last Saturday I clocked NCIS for the full 1,000 gamescore and then on Sunday finished the battlefield 3 campaign on hard. This weekend so far I've done the entire campaign for modern warfare 3 on veteran, not bad for a days work. Now working on uncharted 3 and playing skyrim on the side, both games are amazing and breath taking.

Anyway this was just a quick update, I've updated all my stats and challenges as well. Going to shoot for a bit to do some jobs then do some gaming finally. Tomorrow I will be putting a Christmas theme on the site so stay tuned, also will be posting more and doing some reviews finally.

Until then have a good one!
Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Forty-Six (Part One)

Good morning one and all,
As promised I'm trying my best to get back into my habits of posting quite often, this post will be in several parts since I've got plenty to talk about today. First off thought it would be a good start to get the stats updated on my challenges and the yearly progress, of course not all the stats will be updated since I'm currently in the middle of some games.

With my 2011 Progress I'm now standing on 39 games completed with 12 new releases for this year finished which brings me up to 30% so far. Got to say I've let myself down since I had a really good start to the year with completing stuff, I was easily finishing 6+ games on some months and was knocking my pile of shame down.

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The Summer Challenge is now over and I've finished with seven of the fourteen games completed, so in a way it was a fail since I only did half of the games on the list. But to me it was a win, why you ask? the whole point of that challenge was to complete the prequel games ready for the new releases this year and I did all of them. So in my books it was a pass but yes it would had been really cool to finish off some of those side games.

Currently I have no plans to do any more small challenges, pretty much from now until the new year my work load will increase thanks to all the new releases coming out and spare time will go into playing them lol. I have planned to do a list of the upcoming titles I want later and probably will do a tick off list of ones that I buy and when I've finished them. But for now the only challenge will be the Golden Key.

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So that's my stats and challenges updated finally, so going to end this post in a minute and start playing some Deus Ex with maybe Lego Pirates on the PS3 later (rental game). Actually one thing I did do last night was look through my xbox profile at the achievements I've got for my games, I was shocked on how many achievements I could do. There are tons of games that have collectibles or achievements for doing a certain thing that I've not done, just by glancing I could several thousand gamer score easily. In fact it would not shock me if I could get another 10k if I pushed it, might go through my profile again later and list everything on a post.

Anyway time to shoot off and get some gaming on the go, catch you later and have a good one
~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Forty-Four

Friday 22nd July 2011

Evening one and all,
It's been nearly a week since the last time I posted but I've been very busy (work, birthday and major tidy up of the mess that I call a room), so not had much free time spare for posting. So anyway hope you guys are all doing well and been getting plenty of gaming in, I've not had much time for gaming unfortunately. Did start the week off well by finishing off Starcraft 2 finally, woot!, but my progress in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood as pretty much stopped for the time being.

As I mentioned above I'm trying to tidy my room up since it's a joke and I want to have some space finally, also be nice to finally unpack some of those figurines I've got and have space for all the new stuff that is coming out. That and having a awesome gaming room in time for the new releases would be nice, place where I can relax and chill out while saving the princess, defeating a boss or two etc.

So with that I will warn you now, the next week or so there won't be too many updates like in the past while I attempt to get this huge job done, but I will make it my mission to get a giant update in now and again.

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Back to the point about what gaming I've been doing this week, it started with Starcraft 2 being finished at the start of the week (think Monday if I can remember right), so another game to my clocked list. Which brings me up to 36 games completed this year, an amazing results for me to be honest.

It was also on both of my challenges this year as well, so woot! can finally update some stats and slowly make some progress towards some of those goals. For my Golden Key challenge its knocked my fourth goal up to 60% for completing five new games, just need to finish two more and that's one more goal completed. Then for the summer challenge it's pushed me up to five games of the fourteen completed (36%), so not bad but could do with picking up the pace a little bit there.

So overall good results with finishing that game off, the story was amazing and the levels where challenging yet fun at the same time. Really looking forward to seeing the rest of the trilogy now and could do with going and playing Starcraft 1.

Apart from Starcraft I was doing my Warcraft dailies like normal and did unlock the Warden phase which has some pretty cool quests, also should be unlocking the next phase in the next few days. They take less marks to open since they will be mostly opening up vendors etc so hopefully in a week or two, I should have opened up all the fireland area and get the fire hippogriff mount as my reward (very excited about that).


Finally I did start Assassin's Creed Brotherhood but not touched it in the last few days, but dang what an amazing game! just unlocked the brotherhood part where I can now finally start recruiting assassin's to my cause. It was so cool watching one of my recruits spring out of some hay as the mark ran past, looking forward to putting some more time into it.

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Of course without blogging for a week there is a lot of stuff I want to talk about, especially with all the new stuff being announced. First will have to start with the announcement from yesterday, R2-D2 themed xbox!!! omg! seriously looks amazing and I want one now.

Love the C3-PO controller as well, its even got the wire details around the edges and top it all off the console makes R2 sounds when turned on. Comes bundled with star wars kinect, white kinect sensor (looks very nice), kinect adventures and some exclusive dlc as well. Price is set at £350 right now so no idea if I can afford it, especially with me still wanting the gears of war one as well!!. System link would be cool though but think might have to go through everything I want this year finally and decide on what to do.

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Next up for the announcements that are going to cost me, Star Wars Old Republic collectors edition is now up for ordering!! priced up at a whooping £130 though but the contents looks outstanding (praying for a price drop and hoping the game comes out next year as well).


You get the following in this edition:

• Figurine of Darth Malgus
  
• Collectors artwork box
• artwork book
• authenticator
  
• soundtrack
• Metal case with game discs
• galaxy map
• journal of master gnost-dural annotated by satele shan
• extra 7 dlc items as well
• - flare gun
• - training droid
• - STAP vehicle
• - Mouse droid
• - collectors edition in game store with a assortment of items
  
• - holodancer
• - holocam (says that it records visual of your in game adventures which is awesome if its the way I think it is)

Seems all worth it to me and so put my deposit down both in store and on the website (game exclusive) just in case there is problems, especially with some sites reporting that EA cannot guarantee the levels of stock. Did get a pre-order pack from store which gives me a in game crystal to change my lightsabre colour and blaster shots as well, also early head start to the game before it launches as well.

On that note I'm going to finish here for the night, there is a lot more stuff I want to talk about but I really need to do a bit more tiding before I hit the sack. Hopefully I can knock out another post over the weekend but until then have a good one folks!

~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Twenty Eight

Morning,
How goes every one's weekend? hopefully you been getting plenty of gaming in like myself. Well got to say I'm please so far with the fact I clocked Uncharted and half way through Green Lantern, hoping to finish it off today and I will then trade it in. After that I've got my rental game Thor to do as well as all the summer challenge games I've got listed, thinking one of the PC games to be honest. Either Starcraft 2, Bulletstorm, Dawn of War 2 Retribution or Fable 3. Also do have some pick up games to finish off like Where the Wild Things are on PlayStation 3, X-men official game with one achievement left and Pirates of the Caribbean Worlds End with one achievement left as well. So plenty to do afterwards, just no Idea where I will start...anyway I'm going to jump straight into Green Lantern, no time like the present.

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So if you remember from my last post last night I was opening a series of doors and died which put me back at the start, this time I took my time and now opened the main door and entering the main chamber for which I'm guessing is the boss fight with the queen again. Got to say the two mace power is the best for controlling groups of enemies, been a life saver the last few fights.

Level 6 finished, boss fight was pretty cool basically the queen merged with a giant well statue. Anyway now on my way to Biot to rescue one of are friends who is missing there.

Just making my way across several levels, a moment ago just finished off another Ultra Manhunter. While I'm playing keep making sure to do the upgrades since they make a lot of difference, in fact just found one awesome upgrade that I'm getting next. When in ring surge mode you get unlimited energy for your attacks, well you can get upgrades that increase damage, reduce damage taken etc while in that mode. Anyway there is a second upgrade for the reduce damage that makes you invulnerable while in ring mode, score!

Got the upgrade and it is awesome, just go into ring surge mode and Gatling gun everything without worry of damage. Anyway I'm going in circles since I'm back at the start again but on a higher level this time, then back down to where I took on the Ultra. Honestly the levels look exactly the same, from the looks I will be going back to the Ultra area again.

Back at that area again and just shooting down floating mines, picked up another upgrade that allows me to refill the ring surge meter faster. LMAO just took on two Ultras and just went into ring surge mode, they stood no chance and now level 9 thanks to that.

Just died trying to open the third gate and back to the start with the two ultras again, this can be very annoying. Right defeated them both the hard way and got the last ring surge upgrade to give me more time in that mode. Woah just got level 10 on the top floor! so maxed level now as well.

Boss fight against the Grandmaster, was able to open all the doors with the perfect timing of the ring surge mode. Really does make all the difference, if you do decide to get this game put all your upgrade points into it. Took a while and he was tough but was able to get him down, found out the traitor which shocked me to be honest was expecting him. Anyway just finished upgrading all the basic attacks so now putting points into the constructs.

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Another level down but this time it was a flight one and the boss fight was horrible, basically you was just taking on another Ultra Manhunter but you pushed close. Imagine playing a flight sim but the plane is pretty much stuck against a wall, you cannot aim with the guy because of the angel so just have to pray that the missile lock will work.

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Just had a huge break and spent some time with my dad watching tv, so back now and time to finish. According to my achievements I'm on level 9 of 10 so pretty much in the end game now and currently have 505 gamerscore so far. Will have to go back and mop up while finish off purchasing the missing upgrades but should not be too hard.

Making my way through the level trying to find Kilrogg or what ever his name is, just unlocked the missile pack construct so now working on the x kills with it for the achievement.

Took out the second generator to open some kind of vault door and had one small bar of health left, one hit and would be down. Made it through several groups and got some health back only to die to an attack from a group with a fighter aircraft backing them up. Of course made it through the next time since I knew what to expect and now currently heading down a huge evaluator with tons of manhunters attacking me in groups so spamming the mace attack. Just purchased the mech suit construct, good as time as any to get the x kills for it.

Just got completely wiped out by three ultras! and it puts me right back up at the top again...

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Made it down this time but was ready so kept my ring surge ready...what the hell two huge ultra, well lets call them grandmasters in a way just attacked.

Right here we go going into the central area now and I can see one huge manhunter in the background. Kilowog is the name of the green lantern and hes powering the so called "Highmaster". Oh that's great, boss fight and if you move the giant fans around the area take up the whole screen so your blind! good development, ever heard of alpha and beta testing.

Seems to only happen when in co-op since the camera has a limit thanks to the second player, makes it a lot hard to dodge for both of us. Auto aim is shit, keep trying to find throw bombs at the boss but at the last second hal will decide to turn and throw at my coop buddy...

Done it finally, bloody hell they really should had tested this game in coop because the camera can go badly at the wrong times, hell that boss battle was unplayable at most points. Anyway time for the last level and to end this game.

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Died at the end of the second stage of the fight, doing feck all damage to him and he takes out 40% of your health per hit and block does not work.

Lmao ok so made it through the three stages and just barely on the last bit then the sound dies...yup no sounds just the talking voices so no stomping or fighting sounds. Now having a giant mech battle and its just weird without sound, sound came back half way through the battle at least and the mech battle was actually quite cool in the end. So that's the game completed, well the story anyway so time to go back and clear up the missing collectibles and x amount kills with certain constructs.

Only a few meteorites are missing so that's cool, ah dinner is ready be right back!

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Good lunch, now on mission three cleaning up and just picked up my first green meteorite which was the last one I needed which was cool. Just two blue left to go, one here and one on the level 9.

Just picked up the first blue meteorite and now loading up level 9 to get the last one, after that I just need 100k points to get the last upgrade and that's the game fully 100% clocked.

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Had another break and went to watch a film, currently now on my 6th play through of level five in which I'm just grinding out upgrade points. So far its the fastest way I've found and only need four more to finish off.

And done! 1,000g for Green Lantern, which now brings me up to two games finished this weekend so a job well done. Of course I then look at my collection and groan realising I got ton still to go, but least I'm getting there. Think it's time to update all my stats for my progress this year and the challenges, so be right back.

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Just updated the progress and now standing on 31 games completed but my percent for new releases only increased by one so still sitting on 26% so really could do with knocking out a few new games next really. On the ways of my Golden Key challenge I'm close to getting Level 12, sitting on a nice 36% for the fourteen old games as well. But still got a long way to go for the rest of the goals, my gamer score goal is dragging thanks to the massive PlayStation marathon I've been having lately.

Still in two minds on what to play next so I think I will take advantage of this free time to do some updates on the site that have been waiting, first up changing that countdown timer since E3 ended ages ago. Going to set it to the first release of the massive load of games that are coming out later this year, right now that starts with Deus EX on the 26th August.

Ok that's up now and running, currently got 60 days left! not much time to get my summer challenge finished really. So what next can I do for the site....hmmm where is that list I put together, think it's on the iPad hang on!

Ah ha! right first up going to finally put up a post about E3, if you remember I did post a while back saying what I hope to see at the conferences. Well time to go back and see what came true and what did not, from the looks a lot of the stuff I was hoping for came true but there was a few things that did not happen but oh well.

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Well forgot to do the daily Lord Ahune quest in Warcraft, feck! probably the day I would got something knowing my luck. Did have a huge session on WOW though with my mate Matt again, this weekly thing is great and hopefully be doing it more often then a Sunday Night. We got up to level 12 and now finished with the starting zone and in the real world.

Goblin starting zone is without a doubt the best zone I've played in a long time, from giant mechanical chickens to zombies, to mechanical shark submarines and rocket boots. Every minute you was doing something wacky that only a Goblin would come up with and we blew up a volcano and destroyed an island! That's a fun night

Anyway off to bed so catch you in the morning, have a good one!
~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Sixteen

Afternoon,
Busy day so far and wish I had more time, how's things for you guys? hope you having a good weekend of gaming.

So what's my plans you wondering, well I've got blog updates, E3 updates, gaming and stuff to do in my room as well so when I say it's busy, it really is. Before I get on with anything I must update Dragaknight stats! the page is finally working today so I can see the posts again.

All done, blimey he is getting through that goal quite fast. Stands on 12 of the 40 which is 30%, might had not hit the 20 by June goals but the end of year will be easy.

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Game last night started taking orders for the Mass Effect 3 collectors edition, ordered straight away lol but only just noticed now that they listing a bonus mission and character included. It just keeps getting better and better, seriously cannot wait for next year.

Since I'm on the topic of new games, there is a new trailer for Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines. Reveals Chaos! and my god the combat looks amazing in it!

Also this morning my mate Galerian on twitter made me aware of a game I'd missed while watching E3. Kingdom of Amular reminds me a lot of oblivion which is a good thing in my books, watch the trailer below to see what you think. I was sold in the first few minutes and then seeing the crafting system and those mage scythe weapons was just the icing on the cake.

Cannot seem to get the video to embed so pop over to EA's webpage here to see the video

Found a second trailer on the EA youtube channel which shows off some of the cool combat system, love the blades made out of energy!

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Just watched a Live Action Trailer for Mass Effect 3, looks awesome!!!!

Ok here we go, Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights E3 trailer. Might remember this in my posts ages ago for upcoming games, pretty much Professor Layton really but still looks awesome. Hmm ok the embed link is not working for this either, check out the trailer on Nintendos Magazine site here.

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Ok time for a breather from all these trailers, think I'm going to jump on the PlayStation 3 and start Batman first. Need to clock my rental and get it sent back before these weeks become months.

Well that was the shortest install or could be the fact I was flicking through several websites and not paying attention to the time. Hate the whole installing/updating taking ages on the PlayStation 3.

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Time for my fifth play through, feels weird on the PlayStation controller though.

This is one of the best games ever made, it's just so easy to jump in and out. The game play can be both stealth and combat. It's just flawlessly made! Anyway the Joker as made his daring escape and I'm currently hunting him down, still quite earlier on in the game but already earned a few trophies.

Ah finally the first Titan, this is the start of the main game now :) ohh first upgrade too, has to be the inverted take down. One of my favourite all time moves in this game

Time to track down Bole and find Gordon

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You know after all these fights with Batman you would think they would know dropping a evaluator on him won't work. Time for some climbing them! ah my first hidden message of "spirit of arkham".

Trying to get the x10 combo but they just won't get back up lol anyway got to love the bad guys in this game. "Batman won't stand a chance" and yet I'm already behind them taking them out one at a time silently, anyway about to do my first giant room where you got to take down all the guards. Love these areas

Soon as I got through the vent took my first guard down by sneaking behind him, quickly got on top of the outpost and jumped through the window in the roof to take down the second. Less than five minutes and already they down two :-D love this game!

Finally one down through the window in the roof again, ohh second wave :) bring it!

All done and my second upgrade and going to go with the armour upgrade, always need health when I get into brawl.

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Oh dear Bole is down for the count lol like we did not see that coming, :) ah good old Ridder just made his first radio broadcast. Anyway I'm already collecting the riddler trophies, recordings and solving the riddles as I'm going through the game.

Finally made it outside and still on the hunt for the Commissioner Gordon, off to the car to get some explosive gel.

Hooray! combo x10 thanks to the guards outside the medical wing

Got my first trophy for collectibles, I'm on a roll today...and another upgrade, going to pick up the auto detection on the explosive gel. always good for a trap.

Finding this game a lot easier thanks to all the play through, keep taking down multiple guards at the same time using several traps all at once. Going to take a few minutes break

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Back with a cuppa! cannot rescue doctors and stop super villains with out a cup of tea at hand.

Well I've saved the doctors and ambushed the patrol that came up from the lower floor, just picking up trophies and taking joker teeth before head down. Got another upgrade as well thanks to the fight, going to take the second armour upgrade since I know later the health will come in handy with the long titan fights.

Ah Scarecrow time! love these boss fights with him.

First run in with Scarecrow is over, time to continue the search.

Wow I'm father in then I thought, on the bit where you have to stealth your away through the room taking everyone out then take on Harley which leads into the boss fight with Bane. Time really does fly when you having fun.

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Just unlocked the second collectors achievement while I was in the middle of taking down a guard, found a riddler trophy in the vent behind him.

Well that's Gordon free, Harley taken down and Bane defeated not bad if I don't say so myself. Right another upgrade for all that work which I'm going to pick up critical combo strikes. Time to head to the batcave, going to pick up as many collectibles as I can on the way so the clean up job later will be quicker.

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All done with the Bat cave and now have the batclaw, right time to find the good old doctor Young. Making my way through the catacombs and thanks to solving some riddles I've picked up the third armour upgrade so my health should be sweet from now on.

Made it to the surface again but found some sniper towers, hate these things with a passion.

Got past them and several teams of thugs but caught by the second set of towers and lost of my health.

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Inside the mansion now so time to find the good doctor, dang! just got a x15 combo was so close to the 20. Anyway just went into one of the side wings and found a ton of riddles etc so got another upgrade so I've got the last armour upgrade. Got to say I'm flying through the game today, might put Uncharted on hold till I finish this since I think I could get it done in a day or two.

Was a bit sloppy with that fight but had to chuckle at the end since the riddler said I was doing so well I could help look for his socks next time.

Lol love the joker bomb with the giant punching glove

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Made it to the archive wing and currently causing chaos by dropping from the gargolys and hanging up the thugs. Just setted up a few explosives on the walk ways, hopefully it will catch a few thugs for me since they don't want to split up.

Dang the double explosive didn't work!

Finally got them all by doing quite a few gliding take downs then retreating quickly, also picked up another collector trophy on the way. Thanks to that I'm now 50% towards level 12 which is one of my goals this year, very chuffed about that.

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Second scarecrow fight time! even though I'm quite far in, I know I've still got a quite bit left to do. Going to stop in a bit once I've finished this boss fight to get on with some tasks I need to do.

All done and got an upgrade for my trouble so picked up the sonic batarang, good for tricking thugs to traps. Right that's it for now, time to get on with some tasks and while I'm at it get another drink. See you all soon

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Well I'm back and to be honest really want to do a bit more of Batman, really getting into it.

So time to find the good old warden and Harley again

Found the warden and now have the Cryptographic Sequencer, what a mouth fall! anyway taking a small mini break to make some tea.

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And I'm back, noodles for tea so now full and ready for some more gaming. Time to go find Harley and finish her off for good.

Just did the huge fight on top of the cells and sucked a little since lost a bit of health but did get enough exp to do another upgrade, so upgraded the power of the sequencer. Later on there are few control panels that take some time and can be a problem.

Phew, hate that timer with the gas bomb and having to deactivate three control panels and save two guards. Done now so back on the hunt!

Love this game but think the thing I do hate about it is that you spend way too much time in detective mode and don't really get to see the beautiful graphics of the game much. Don't get me wrong I love the idea of detective mode, it worked well just wish there was mode balance.

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Just locked her up and really did enjoy that fight this time around, hate having to keep jumping from each platform before getting shocked while at the same time fighting tons of goons. Used explosive a lot though to thin them down. Anyway time to go find the titan facility

Ohhh another upgrade, blimey I'm leveling up quick today...hmm thinking the sonic batarang upgrade that makes collars explode. Could be useful in the room clear out missions.

Never noticed that before, just outside on my way to the gardens and noticed one of the crazy inmates sitting on top of the statue head of the warden.....lol batarang soon sorted that

Working my way through the gardens right now, done quite a few riddles a long the way. Had to laugh at the opening room, filled all the gargolys with hanging thugs. Anyway got another upgrade so increased the range of the sequencer.

So that is it for now, going to go watch a film that I've had on rental for two weeks lol.

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Film was ok but not great, just came back on to post this up but before I opened the blog noticed a update on MMO champion. Seems a new loot staff for druids in the next patch turns cat form into a fire cat when in combat. Looks awesome!

So ending with that note, take care all and see you tomorrow. Thanks for reading my madness and have a good one!

~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Fifteen

Evening all,
Been a very very long day but I can now relax and chill since off tomorrow, woooooottt!! so to celebrate going to finish Resistance 2! bring it on!

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Just watching the credits now, what a game! the ending was awesome and very happy I decided to give a good go. Best few hours well spent! looking forward to seeing Resistance 3 now

So better update my challenge stats, give me two seconds while I look up how many trophies I earned.

Right the winning numbers are: 1 gold, 1 silver and 12 bronze trophies which to be honest doesn't seem a lot. Shame but was still worth every minute though! So just going to add that to my 2011 progress and update all the lists to say I've finished this game. According to my list this was number 27 for completed games this year, very chuffed just wish the last few months had more completed games like the first couple.

Ok that's all the challenges updated, one of my goals this year is to finish fourteen old games and now on four down with ten to go. Getting there! and the summer classic challenge as started with 1 of the fourteen down.

Need to update Dragaknight stats but facebook won't load for me to see the stats, have to wait till later to do that. Anyway time to think about what to play next, thinking I might work on two games. Want Uncharted to be my next game since I want to see if this series is to my liking, really don't want to go and order Uncharted 3 collectors edition or Uncharted for Vita if I won't like the series. Now the second game is my rental Batman, I want to play Batman but wanted to wait until after Uncharted but since it costs me to rent I'm going to attempt to work on both.

Anyway that's later, right now going to take a breather!

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Took a longer break then I was planning so going to call it a night since watching simpsons and eating pizza with the girlfriend. Tomorrow hoping to finish up posting about E3 game trailers and updating that list finally. Oh and need to review Resistance 2! so much to do

Anyway see you tomorrow and thanks for reading my madness,
~Iznic

My Challenge - Iznic

Progress

1. Complete two JRPGS! - Not started

2. Complete one JRPG to the 100% - Not started

3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below - 5/14 (36%)

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below - 4/5 (80%)

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West
• Starcraft 2

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy - 32% currently
6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360 - 124,954 (15,046 to go)
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile - Completed! 10th July 2011
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3 - Completed! 27th December 2011
- Lego Star Wars 3 The Clone Wars
- Megamind
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
- CSI Fatal Conspiracy
- Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7


Failed! - 2/8 Goals Completed

Reader Challenge - Dragaknight

Progress

1. 40 Platinums by the end of the year - 13/40 (32.5%)
- Dead Space 2
- Killzone 3
- Sly Racoon 2
- Sly Racoon 3
- Assassin's Creed 2
- Lego Star Wars 3 The Clone Wars
- Tomb Raider Anniversary
- Rio
- Tom Raider Legend
- Megamind
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
- Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- Portal 2

2. 20 Platinums by June - Failed

3. 20 100% Playstation Network Games - 4/20 (20%)
- Sly Mini Games
- Back to the Future: It's about time
- Back to the Future: Citizen Brown
- Back to the Future: Double Visions

4. 10 100% Playstation Network Games by June - Failed

Last Updated: 25th June

Challenge Update

Going to make this quick since I pretty much covered everything in the last post, few more games completed and bit more gamerscore but that's about it. With the new releases dying down hopefully can start working on the back log of games again and completing some of these challenges.

1. Complete two JRPGS! - Not started
2. Complete one JRPG to the 100% - Not started
3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below - 3/14 (21%)

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Naruto The Risa of a Ninja
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
  
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion
  

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below - 1/5 (20%)

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
  
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West
• Starcraft 2

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy - 24% currently
6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360 - 110,354 (29,646 to go)
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile - Currently Level 10
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3 - 0/5 (0%)



I've also got another update, If you think back I did say one of my reader as decided to join me in the challenge and so here is an update with how he's doing.

Dragaknight

1. 40 Platinums by the end of the year - 5/40 (13%)
- Dead Space 2
- Killzone 3
- Sly Racoon 2
- Sly Racoon 3
- Assassin's Creed 2
2. 20 Platinums by June - 5/20 (25%)
3. 20 100% Playstation Network Games - 2/20 (10%)
- Sly Mini Games
- Back to the Future: It's about time
4. 10 100% Playstation Network Games by June - 2/10 (20%)

Dragaknight decided to increase his challenge by added PSN games completions to the list, some serious gaming this year. So far he's on track and I'm amazed how fast he's going through this challenge, would not shock me if he's done before the year is over.

Golden Key Challenge Update

Decided to put the post into two from now on, reason being is that one of the readers as decided to join the Golden Key Challenge.

Dragaknight as decided to set his goal of 40 Platinum trophies this year, 20 by half the year (need to find out if that's June or 6 months after joining the challenge).

Now that is a challenge and to be honest I did have a slight doubt he could not do it until I got a message the day after saying he got the platinum in Dead Space 2 then week or so later again for Killzone 3. So I'm very impressed right now and got no doubt that he probably could blitz this and then some if he keeps up that pace.



Now for me, well I've slacked the last few weeks so I need to pick up the ball and get back into the game. Espically now that I've realised I've got 12 games for 2011 (13 if I like the rental game Gray Matter) and only completed 3 lol. Only thing to change is I did one more game off the old game list (Batman AA GOTY PC) and increased my gamerscore slightly, nothing to report really.

1. Complete two JRPGS! - Not started
2. Complete one JRPG to the 100% - Not started
3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below - 2/14 (14%)

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Naruto The Risa of a Ninja
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
  
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion
  

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below - 1/5 (20%)

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
  
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West
• Starcraft 2

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy - 25% currently
6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360 - 109,914 (30,086 to go)
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile - Currently Level 10
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3 - 0/5 (0%)


So that's it for another update, give me a shout with what you been playing would love to hear how things are going for my readers.

End of Month Update

Well it's the last day of February so thought I would do another update on my stats for 2011 and the progress towards my Golden Key challenge. Been quite an increase since last time thanks to my two rental games and I've got to say I'm impressed with myself. Completing 6 games in Janurary and now 8 in February is an achievement for me since as I said before it use to be one a month barely.

Games Completed In 2011

1. Fable 3 (Xbox 360)
2. Command & Conquer 4 Tiberium Twilight (PC)
3. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP)
4. Ghost Trick (DS)
5. Batman Arkham Asylum (PC)
6. Plants VS Zombies (Xbox 360 Arcade Live)
7. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS)
8. NHL 2K6 (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
9. Mass Effect 2 (Playstation 3)
10. Transformers War for Cybertron (Xbox 360)
11. Resistance Fall of Man (Playstation 3)
12. Call of Duty World at War (Playstation 3)
13. Bulletstorm (Xbox 360)
    
14. Eat Lead: Return of Matt Hazard (Playstation 3)

Gamerscore Earned This Year
2,300

Trophies Earned This Year
3 Gold
20 Silver
81 Bronze

Games Working On
Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition (PC)
Pokemon Soulsilver (NDS)


2011 Releases Completed
- 3/7 - 43% -

1. Ghost Trick (DS)
2. Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
3. Bulletstorm (X360)
   

Playstation as the most love the last few weeks but I have got Batman back on the works again so the gamer score should be seeing some love soon. Think the main reason the playstation is getting the most love is the fact I've got ton of exclusives unplayed and sequels for all them are coming out end of the year. Add in the fact the trailers for these sequels look amazing just makes me want to finish them off so I can get them.

With February ending it means we now in the crazy launch peroid which my the 2011 completion rating as started to show, going to take quite a knock by the end of the month that's for sure. Bank account going to take a knock too! lol

Anyway on to the Golden key Challenge progress

1. Complete two JRPGS! - Not started
2. Complete one JRPG to the 100% - Not started
3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below - 1/14 (7%)

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Naruto The Risa of a Ninja
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
  
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion
  

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below - 1/5 (20%)

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
  
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy - 28.5% currently
6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360 - 109,414 (30,586 to go)
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile - Currently Level 10
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3 - 0/5 (0%)

Update time!

Time for an update, I was meant to be updating the stats every week but I was so close to finishing two games I held off the updating until I was done. Since the start of the year I been trying to do the rule of three (think star wars rule of two), basically one major game and one minor game. The third game is reserved for handheld titles since I do stay over the girlfriends on a weekend meaning no big consoles.

So last week I decided to play some of the games on my golden challenge list, hopefully to clock them in time for the end of week. Reason for that being its the start of the new releases this week (see my week away posts and you will understand), of course this did not go to plan since Lovefilm sent me two game rentals so now I'm overwhelm with games and time as run out. So here is what I picked and what was sent.

Batman AA GOTY on the pc was my first choice, it was on the list of old games and would easily give me 600 gamerpoints to my xbox score, add in the fact I love the game it was a solid choice.

Second game I picked Resistance fall of man, this game as been sitting on my shelf since day one. I played for a like an hour on launch then never bothered with it since, end of this year sees the third in the series being released so I thought it was time to finish it so I could get on with no. 2 (which is also sitting on my shelf). Again it was another game on my challenge list but no trophies, shame but it would be nice to get another old game finished.

Finally the third game is Pokemon Soulsilver, with the release of Black and White soon I had a craving to play some Pokemon, that and the fact I cannot find my Phoenix Wright cartridge did not leave me with much choice.

Then as I said Lovefilm threw two games at me, both on the Playstation 3 Call of Duty World at War and Eat Lead Return of Matt Hazard. Two easy games but both would take their time to finish, but on the plus side both give plenty of trophies.

So I'm in the middle of those right now but I did divert from the plan on Sunday and finished the last few levels on Transformers War for Cybertron. I suddenly remembered I was close to finishing the game and by doing that it was one more game clocked, one more knocked off the challenge list, some more gamer points and a game to trade in towards the new releases. Not a great game to be honest, better than the other transformers game out there but still not good. I will do a review later for it and go into detail why, the good news is that the trade in price is higher then I paid so woot!

Anyway last bit information before I finish the post with the stats, I just finished Resistance fall of man the other day. It is amazing, very underrated game that's for sure. Again like Transformers I will be doing a review later and I'm now looking forward too playing the second one. So onto the good stuff, the stats, first up the 2011 details so far:

Games Completed In 2011

1. Fable 3 (Xbox 360)
2. Command & Conquer 4 Tiberium Twilight (PC)
3. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP)
4. Ghost Trick (DS)
5. Batman Arkham Asylum (PC)
6. Plants VS Zombies (Xbox 360 Arcade Live)
7. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS)
8. NHL 2K6 (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
9. Mass Effect 2 (Playstation 3)
10. Transformers War for Cybertron (Xbox 360)
11. Resistance Fall of Man (Playstation 3)
    

I just realised that I've completed six games in Janurary and five in this month so far, that's really impressive for me since I barely do one a month normally.

Gamerscore Earned This Year
1,970

Trophies Earned This Year
1 Gold
8 Silver
60 Bronze

Playstation as been getting a lot of love lately, glad it's starting to get some use. Just need to play more Wii more then once a year and I will be happy.

Games Working On
Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition (PC)
Eat Lead: Return of Matt Hazard (PS3)
Call of Duty World at War (PS3)
Pokemon Soulsilver (NDS)


2011 Releases Completed
- 2/7 - 28.5% -

1. Ghost Trick (DS)
2 Mass Effect 2 (Playstation 3)

The new releases have come out and now my completion score as dropped, need to pull that back up so I can complete my challenge goal and not have another stack of unfinished games on my shelf.


Finally the Golden Key challenge information

1. Complete two JRPGS! - Not started
2. Complete one JRPG to the 100% - Not started
3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below - 1/14 (7%)

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Naruto The Risa of a Ninja
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
  
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion
  

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below - 1/5 (20%)

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
  
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
  

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy - 28.5% currently
6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360 - 109,084 (30,916 to go)
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile - Currently Level 9
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3 - 0/5 (0%)

My Challenge

Just been thinking about what challenge to set myself for the Golden Key 2011. In the end there are at least half dozen of different things I would like to do which would not last the year by them selves, so I've decided my challenge will be built on several goals.

Of course I have done several year long goals in the past and never hit them due to many factors, hopefully this year I can keep on track/keep the motivation up. My goals are mostly set on past games that have been gathering dust on the shelf, if you been read the past posts at the start of the year you know full well I've got half dozen piles to get through. The constant "I will get around to them" keeps annoying me so I'm using this challenge as a excuse to play them. So without further stalling here are my goals for the ultimate gamers challenge!


1. Complete two JRPGS!

Every year I say I will finally complete one and for the past two/three years I've not even done one yet! So instead of trying to complete one I'm going for two. Call me insane but this is a worthy challenge in it's self.

2. Complete one JRPG to the 100%

I'm going to regret setting myself this, the 100% means all achievements or trophies

3. Complete fourteen old games off the list below

• Prince of Persia
• Half-Life Orange Box
• Lost Planet
• Naruto The Risa of a Ninja
• Uncharted
• Resistance fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Killzone 2
• Alpha Protocol
• Dark Void
• Halo 2 (PC)
• Gears of War (PC)
• Batman AA GOTY (PC)
• Tombraider Underworld (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3)
• Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations
• Apollo Justice
  
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Alan Wake
• Star Wars Lethal Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors 6
• Borderlands
• C&C Red Alert 2
• Fallout 3
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Stranglehold
• Spiderman Web of Shadow
• Too Human
• Rise of the Argonauts
• X-men Wolverine
• Elderscrolls Oblivion
  

4. Complete five of the new games off the list below

• Castlevania
• Bloodstone
• God of War Collection
  
• Transformers War for Cybertron
• Fallout New Vegas
• Dragon Age Origins
• Majin Forsaken Kingdom
• Spiderman Shattered Dimension
• Red Dead Redemption
• R.U.S.E
• Miles Edgeworth
• Pokemon Soulsilver
  

5. Complete at least 50% of the new 2011 releases I buy

If you been reading my stats that I post you know I'm already been keeping track of this and trying to stay on top of it

6. Hit 140,000 gamerscore on the Xbox 360
7. Hit level 12 on the Playstation 3 profile
8. Gain five more platinum trophies on the Playstation 3

Just throwing some stat boosting challenges in there


So that's it, 8 goals for my Golden Key Challenge. Each one a hard challenge in its self and I'm sure I'm going to regret setting them later on. Wish me luck! and hope to see your challenges soon

The 1st Golden Key Challenge

I've decided to host a site video game challenge for everyone to take part in, so the 1st Golden Key Challenge is born.

Want to partake? it's quite simple, to make this interesting I'm going to let you set your own challenge for the year. Of course nothing to easy it has to be a challenge that can last the year e.g. finish X amount of games, gain X amount of achievements/trophies, complete a huge game to the 100% max or two games.

Once you have decided what you going to do just reply to this post or the facebook post with what your challenge is. I will be doing a update post quite regularly on my challenge and will be looking forward to hear your updates as well.

Will be listing everyone who is taking part in the posts and will put your updates on there as well, of course if you don't want any of your information posted up just say. I've also made a mini logo image that can be used to show you part of the challenge

Hope to see all of you taking part
~Iznic