A Look Back

Morning folks,
Just posted last weeks results for my challenge and archived the last four weeks onto one post (link can be found on the Challenges page). Barely did 10% of the required gamer score last week but I was just out to have fun this time around, finally finished all of Kane's Challenges which was very tough on the Nods last level. I did think I was almost done with the game because I was sure there was only one achievement left for completing the game on hard mode but it seems I had two more achievements on top of that to work on.

Both where secret achievements but after checking out the on line achievement I've found that I missed two bonus missions, might give them a shot when but I think on hard mode it could be a pain so might redo the levels later on in a lesser difficulty.

So apart from that I also took part in the Mass Effect 3 community event on Sunday, basically needed to complete a Silver Reaper challenge to earn a nice special equipment pack on Tuesday. This pack gives one rare N7 weapon (random picked) which at this time is only in the singleplayer part of the game and through the collectors edition only as well. If the community also  killed 1,000,000 Brutes across the event another different pack will be awarded to everyone (even people who did not take part) granting some extra bonus items.

Found myself playing with a friend off Twitter for the first time, now when I say it was hard...well we started at 1pm (did have some breaks) and finally clocked the challenge at 10pm.

Brute

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is basically Gears of War horde mode with a few random side quests thrown in like kill important targets before the timer is up. It's ten levels long with the eleventh level being a hold out for five minutes until extraction happens.

Starts off quite easy but at level four you start getting Brutes (See above) and then at level five you get Banshees. Those things give me nightmares, there horrible screams indicate they coming and then they can teleport around chasing after you. If they get to close they do a stab attack which basically picks you up and stab you in the heart which is pretty much 90% chance of instant death.

Most of the day we kept failing on level 5-9 but at the end we got grouped up with two awesome guys and finally did it, but the whole thing was insane! on the last level everything just spawned around us in large numbers. It was the most intense 5 minutes of my life, the countdown started and in front of us spawned three brutes, two banshee, ravagers, marauders argh!! too much.

I barely lasted the first two minutes, quickly revived a team mate and dodged back since I was being shot at while I was reviving for only to roll right into a brute. Next thing I know every one was down but luckily one of the random players that was part of the party had a medipack, revived himself and ran around the map for the last 20 seconds to finally get extracted. Thank god you only need one person to get extracted to win the mission because there was no way all of us would had made it.

Watching that mission success window appear was amazing though and did make up for all the failures. I cannot wait to see what the results are today for the rewards, hoping for the Shotgun or Pistol since I could not see the Assault Rifle on the list. Have to admit it was very challenging and I cannot imagine how bad Gold challenge will be, actually I can since Bioware released some stats yesterday for the multiplayer. Of all the successfully multiplayer matches less than 1% are done on Gold (check out VGI site for all the stats) which I can believe after doing silver, there is no real thought put in to make it challenging other then less spawn tons of things to overwhelm them.

Would had been awesome if they threw in some kind of giant boss that required team work to take down parts of it, or a cruiser comes over head and bombs the open areas every few minutes so have to dive into buildings before the timer is up. You know something just spice things up instead of that mess.

----------------------------------------------------------------

 Anyway enough rambling and get back to the point, I did crap on the gamer score increase but then again it as been like that for a few weeks. This week I want to get some time in on some games so hopefully you will see some increase this week so watch this spot.

Week 9 - This week
Starting Total: 131,549
To Earn: 1,680
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,680

Total So Far -
To Earn: 11,691

Achieved: 5,270

Difference: -6,421

 

 Plans for this week? Mass Effect 3 and Uncharted Golden Abyss!! I really need to put more time into these two great games. Anyway that's it for this post so take care all and hope you had a great week of gaming last week.

~Iznic

Results: Weeks 5-8

Total So Far -
To Earn: 11,691

Achieved: 5,270

Difference: -6,421

Week 8
Starting Total: 131,384
To Earn: 1,645
Achieved: 165
Difference: -1,480

Week 7
Starting Total: 131,134
To Earn: 1,631
Achieved: 250
Difference: -1,381

Week 6
Starting Total: 130,839
To Earn: 1,582
Achieved: 295
Difference: -1,287

Week 5

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 390

Difference: -1,122

 

Calendar man Event Tomorrow

Afternoon folks,
Just realised tomorrow is St Patrick's day and that means the next Calendar man event in Batman Arkham City. So don't forget to visit him in the cells under the court house to hear another wonderful bed time tale and of course one date out of the way towards the achievement/trophy.

For me it means I will be making a quick trip home to login before heading back for work, the things we do for achievements and trophies....well the things I do anyway. Of course I know I can change the dates/times on my console but I prefer to get it the legit way.

So no doubt I be seeing lots of people playing Batman tomorrow, until then have a good one!
~Iznic

Assassin's Creed 3 Details

Morning folks,
Just catching up on all the stuff I wanted to talk about on the blog and realised this morning that I never came back about the stuff announced for Assassin's Creed 3. Before go into anything if you not watched the announcement trailer then check it out below, if you have seen it well watch it again! its awesome.



This time around the game looks a lot more brutal in the way of fighting, check out that awesome kill move with the rifle under the soldiers chin. There as been talk that they have scrapped the combat engine and rebuilding it from scratch, should be interesting to see how that turns out because I did like the combat in the other games.

Did you also notice through out the trailer that he's always on the move, never stopping to get into a fight. I remember reading before the conference it was mentioned they wanted it to be like that and I can understand it since you could be in the middle of giant battle so you really don't want to stand still with bullets flying about.

Anyway check out this post on Xbox360achievements.org that as a huge list of details/information about what will be happening in the game.

Overall I cannot wait to play the new Assassin leaping through the trees, stalking patrols and maybe just maybe get some more answers finally.
~Iznic

Top 10 Platinum Trophies

Found the PlayStation blog last week very interesting when it posted up the top 10 platinum trophies that most people have.

1) Assassin's Creed 2
2) Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
3) Uncharted 2
4) God of War 3
5) Resident Evil 5
6) Infamous
7) Uncharted
8) God of War (HD Collection)
9) Borderlands
10) Sly Cooper (The Sly Collection)

I'm not surprised with Assassin's Creed 2 since its a pretty doable platinum, I am shocked with some of the others though. For me I have none of those games but there are several on there that I would like to finish off and get. Check out the link below for the post on the blog since it as some interesting trend information as well, like none of these have multiplayer trophies, all have 89%+ review scores etc

Personally I'm not a fan of multiplayer trophies/achievements since it puts a time scale on getting them, eventually people stop playing and servers get turned off.

What about you readers? how many on that list have you got?

~Iznic


Source: PlayStation Blog

Arcade Changes & Achievements/Trophies

In the week it was announced that the policy for the Xbox Live Arcade games gamer score cap will be increasing finally. In the past the game had to launch with a 200 gamer score, now it must launch with 400 gamer score and with DLC can go up to 800 with up to 62 achievements in total.

Sounds awesome to me and about time, the arcade achievements are always just a quick throw in at the end and now maybe we will see some thought put it in since they will have more room to play with. This new policy starts in April and all games from then on must abide from it, anything this month can still use the old policy if they wish.



Speaking of achievements what are your thoughts on the matter readers? do you love or hate them, same for trophies too. I know this is a big topic that keeps being used over and over but I never really get involved, personally I both love and hate the concept.

I love collecting, it's in my blood, only got to look around my room at the huge collection of games, books, movies etc to know that. Same for in some games as well, in World of Warcraft I collect mounts and pets. When Star Wars Galaxies was running I had a house full of rare items and turned into a museum of collectibles. So it's naturally I would be into achievements and trophies, it's nice to be able to show off what you have done in game. In fact thanks to achievements I swear I get more out of my games, in the past I would never play the other difficulty settings except normal or easy. I wouldn't bother with collecting the treasures or getting all the unlocks.

Also I'm more open to different games than before, if it wasn't for achievements I would have never tried Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires. The game was brilliant and from then on I've been playing and purchasing every single one since and the spin offs too. I do get quite a bit of lip from people saying I only play the easy games for achievements and that they don't count, they really don't think on how much time and effort that as to go into finishing those games. In fact some of those games I love to bits, Shrek 4ever after, Spiderwick Chronicles and Meet the Robinson's are brilliant games. You know when I found a game I love because I usually will make the time to play it both on the Xbox and PlayStation to get both achievements and trophies.

So at the start I did say I hated the concept as well and I do, I love collecting achievements and in a way I think my back log of games is due to that. In the past any major long games where put to the side for the sake of playing the quicker easier games, my other consoles that don't do a reward scheme are pushed aside. PSP, DS, 3DS, Wii and PC don't get as much time as they use to as well because I'm usually working on clocking a game on the Xbox or PS3. Maybe spending less time collecting trophies and achievements, more time gaming I would get a lot more done.


So my final thoughts on the matter? Overall I think they are good idea, you find yourself doing more in the game then you originally would, I find myself playing more different games and to have something to show what you done and be rewarded for it is great. But like everything in this world there is a downside, just need to make more time for the other platforms that don't do it achievements.

So give a shout with your thoughts I would love to hear from you, until then have a good one!
~Iznic

Battlefield 3 Close Quarters

Hello again folks,
Remember last week when I did all those posts and talked about Battlefield 3 expansions, well a trailer went up this week for the first one "Close Quarters".



How awesome looking is that? looks intense and I really could do with getting online ASAP to try out the online. Love how the walls and building pretty much comes apart around you, wonder if you can blast through the walls to make a short cut.

Think I really do need to get online soon, need more time!
~Iznic

Week Review

Morning folks,
Sorry for the lack of updates but there is a lot going on in my life and all I need to say is I work for GAME, says it all really. Anyway last week finally got my hands on Mass Effect 3 and my god it's brilliant, not played it non stop like I said I would since well it's the last game...I don't want it to end. Hearing a lot of bad talk about the ending so I'm not looking forward to seeing that as well, anyway I will be back on it later and yes I am writing the review as I play so expect to see that shortly after I finish the game.

Now onto some really good news, remember how I always talk about finishing online achievements? well I finally did it! completed all the online achievements last week for Command and Conquer Kanes Wrath. If you have been reading the blog for a while you will know I kept saying I would go online and do it but never did, finally got a mate to work on co-op with me so we nailed it in one night and now working on Red Alert 3. It's pretty sweet clocking some unfinished games finally, also talk of doing Portal 2 which would mean I be on the 900+ for that game. Cannot wait! might have another co-op buddy soon for Dynasty Warrior stuff as well, will have to wait and see.

Not much on the gamer score increase again this week sorry to say, seems to be a steady 200-400 each week instead of the need 1,500-1,700.

Week 8 - this week
Starting Total: 131,384
To Earn: 1,645
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,645


Week 7 - last week
Starting Total: 131,134
To Earn: 1,631
Achieved: 250
Difference: -1,381

Week 6
Starting Total: 130,839
To Earn: 1,582
Achieved: 295
Difference: -1,287

Week 5

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 390

Difference: -1,122

 

Total So Far -
To Earn:10,046

Achieved:5,105

Difference: -4,941

 

 

So my plans for this week? well I will be working on Mass Effect 3 of course and I will be doing the co-op on Red Alert 3. I have started to get back into RTS games again so I have found myself enjoying Kane's Wrath so no doubt I be playing that too. Finally I could do with starting and finishing Captain America since it's a rental that I've been sitting on for the last two weeks!

 

Hope you all had a good week and have been enjoying some new games, catch you all later

~Iznic

Several Pokemon Events

Plenty of posts today since I'm trying to catch up for the week and this week of course seems to be announcement week as well. Since I'm still waiting for Mass Effect 3 to arrive in the post I might as well catch up while I got the chance, no doubt I will be distracted when the game arrives.

In the week there as been several new Pokemon put up for download so thought it be a good idea to group them all up into one post so easier to find.

Reshiram 
Game: Pokemon White
Date: 10th March - 8th April 2012
Editions: English - America, Europe & Australian, Non-English - Europe
Where: Wi-fi download
Details: Level 100 and holding the Dragon Gem, special moves Blue Flare, Fusion Flare, Mist & Draco Meteor

Zekrom
Game: Pokemon Black
Date: 10th March - 8th April 2012
Editions: English - America, Europe & Australian, Non-English - Europe
Where: Wi-fi download
Details: Level 100 and holding the Dragon Gem, special moves Bolt Strike, Fusion Bolt, Haze and Outrage

When these two Pokemon are sent to the global link they open up the special Pokemon Movie dream house and it will unlock the C-Gear for each Pokemon.

Lucario
Game: Pokemon Black & White
Date:  Ends 23rd May 2012
Editions: English - Europe & Australian
Where: Global Link
Details: English Password LUCAEUROGAMERNET, Spanish Password LUCAEUROGAMERES, Germany Password  LUCAEUROGAMERDE


Well that's it folks several new special Pokemon so make sure not to miss out, in fact I don't think I've downloaded them yet myself so better do that today.
~Iznic

Update (2nd April): My apologises, I did not realise I missed out a letter for the English password for Lucario. The password is now correctly typed and working, again sorry about that.

Battlefield 3 Expansions

It was announced in the week that Battlefield 3 will be getting three new expansions and you know what I felt sad about it, want to know why?

I've still not played online yet!!! I still cannot believe I've not been online with it yet after the fact Battlefield Bad Company 2 was pretty much my number one multiplayer game for ages and still is. Think this needs to be a kick up the ass for me to start playing and in fact I'm determined by the end of the week to have at least played one match. So enough with the ranting and time to talk about the new expansions that are upcoming.

First expansion will be "Close Quarters" (June 2012) where you will find yourself put to the challenge with no vehicles and levels that are designed to be tight and close up fighting. I'm expecting knifes and shotgun fun for this expansion, it's described that the environment will be exploding around you and debris piling up on the floor so sounds fun to me and can imagine grenades will be a pain in the ass. Also listed is new weapons, dogs tags and assignments.

Following that is "Armored Kill" so as you can guess its the opposite to the first one where you will be in the biggest map ever made for Battlefield (cannot wait to see that!). New maps, vehicles (tanks, ATV's, mobile artillery and more). I'm sensing this expansion could be my favourite of the lot but will have to give the game some time finally to see.

Last one as no details yet other then the fact its called "End Game" but it will be this winter so hopefully will get some details in a few months.

So what do you guys think? excited? I am for that Armored Kill expansion and hopefully in a few days you will see me posting that I've finally sat down and been online, anyway that's it for now so take care all!

~Iznic


Source: xbox360achievements.org

Medal of Honor Warfighter (Part Two)

Hello again folks,
Welcome to the second part of the Medal Honor post and why bother with a second part? well a teaser trailer appeared in the week for it so why not check it out below and see what you think.



Not sure what to think about it to be honest, does look action packed and could be a good story if done right. I really want it to be better then the last but still I do wonder if it will be just the same and I'm glad to see a lot of you felt the same with the last one.

Hopefully we will see some game play at E3 this year and it will be everything it should be, until then we can only hope!

~Iznic

Very Late Stats Update

Morning folks,
Sorry it's took me nearly a week to finally update last weeks stats but you know what it is like when you get busy, anyway enough excuses time for a chat. Since I'm waiting for Mass Effect 3 to arrive I thought I would start catching up with all my posts I wanted to do. Last week I did not earn much again but mostly because I started to work on Enchanted Arms (yes a JRPG!), I knew it would be a while before I earned any achievements due to the fact I've attempted this game twice already.

So I got up to the main city in the game which was a few hours off where I last played and it went south from there. What happened you ask? well I was barely surviving the fights after leaving the city, every fight I saw half of my party going down on the first turn. Then it hit my why I stopped last time I got really far and then could not progress since the enemies where too hard for my party, travelling back wasn't an option since the nearest heal point was ages away and my last save not in this region was over five hours back.

I realised it was the same thing going to happen all over again, so I took a look into a nice guide on Xbox360achievements.org and my god the game is a lot bigger then I first though. Everyone quotes around 20 hours and the game is very linear in the case it always points where you need to go. What I didn't realise is there is a ton of side stuff to help you and there are load of option quests on the side to explore temples to find some of the best golems for your party. The guide even explains that at the first city there is a casino (I walked right past) where it gives you tips to earn some quick money to use on getting some powerful golems from the local shop (missed them). Then it explains several important tips on levelling with what stats to aim on and the best parties to use to pretty much own the game.

So I stopped after reading that and decided I will be following this guide from now on but not right away, when I realised all this it was barely a week away for Mass Effect. I don't want to be half way through only shelf it when Mass Effect arrives so I will continue after instead. Lesson learnt though and that's to explore more in a RPG, you never know what you are missing.

Apart from that I did complete Sudoku on my phone and did another massive marathon of Gears of War 3 on Sunday with some friends, in fact we did another 1-50 sitting on horde insane. Clocked around five achievements worth 180g so it was a brilliant night to end the week with.


Week 7 - this week
Starting Total: 131,134
To Earn: 1,631
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,631

Week 6
Starting Total: 130,839
To Earn: 1,582
Achieved: 295
Difference: -1,287

Week 5

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 390

Difference: -1,122

 

Total So Far -
To Earn: 8,415

Achieved: 4,855

Difference: -3,560

Wow I am falling behind but in the end it cannot be helped unless I just work on easy games all year and even then there are not enough to cover it. I am working on some old games with some friends so hopefully now and again will see some boosts but in the end I'm not worried, it's all a bit of fun!

anyway that's it for now, catch you all later
~Iznic

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

This week wasn't just one new game being announced (AC3), oh no there as been plenty of stuff announced. Earlier on the week I was a little surprised to see Xbox360achievements.org talking about the new Medal of Honor.

I don't know what to think about this, you see I do love my shooting games mostly because I can just pick them up and play then quit when I feel like it. Plus the fact there is nothing massive to learn about them like an RPG for example, its simple point and shoot.

Of course I do like a shooter to have some kind of story to keep me entertained, now Medal of Honor world war 2 games do that. Call of Duty does that well, I know the characters, I know what's going on and I do feel like I'm part of the game. But with the latest Medal of Honor I could not connect with the any characters and my god was it short it as well. I remember finishing it (on hard as well) in a few hours and saying "that's it?", the only thing I can remember about the game is the great sniper level in the mountains and that's it. So as you can tell that game really was that good.... so not sure what to think about this new edition.

Maybe they learnt their lessons and made a jaw dropping brilliant shooter that could take on Call of Duty. Guess will have to wait and see for some trailers and more information, although they have confirmed there will be a lot more player choice this time around when involving missions so maybe it will make me feel part of the game this time around.


But until I see more I have plenty of doubts, what did you guys think of the last Medal of Honor? great game for you? or a massive disappointment?

~Iznic


P.S. Just read they will be adding a hardcore mode with a one hit kill system, ok now that sounds interesting but could turn out to be terrible if they do it wrong.

Assassin's Creed 3

It makes me laugh to read news sites and comments about the leaks this week and the confirmation that Assassin's Creed 3 will take part in the American Revolution. It was already talked about months ago in the survey that was done along with numerous hints in AC2 and Brotherhood but this week was the solid hint. 

*SPOILER ALERT*
Highlight the text to see the spoiler

Last week saw the release of the lost archive dlc and half way through there are several rooms you go through with memories of....yes you got it the American Revolution, could you get any more of a bigger hint than that?

*SPOILER OVER*

Anyway on with the point of this post and that is I cannot wait for the 30th October, check out the box cover just below. How cool does that look and Game Informer as posted up tons of information, this could be a huge contender against Mass Effect 3 for Game of the Year.

I be interested in how it play out since the lack of huge cities and buildings, its going to be quite a difference from the past series. Also add in the effect of more guns as well will probably mean a lot more stealth elements but then again this is just me guessing. Ubisoft have confirmed that tomorrow evening there will be some announcements and talks, maybe a trailer too?? I hope really hope so!

So fingers crossed for plenty of answers tomorrow so until then have a good one folks!
~Iznic

Last Week

Morning folks,
Thought it would be a good time to up date with what happened last week and what my plans are for this week.

I did pick up my lovely new Vita along with Uncharted Golden Abyss but I only put a hour or two into it, reason why? Dante's Inferno. I was over the half way point for my first play through at the start of the week and since it was a Lovefilm rental as well, I really wanted to clock it before getting distracted. So come Friday I had my platinum trophy (no. 14) and was very happy with the out come, even put together a review for the game as well (check out the review page, link at the top of the blog).

Think I was more chuffed with writing the review then clocking the game, mostly because it was my first review for the year and looking back it's nearly been a year since my last review. Of course I'm hoping to rectify that problem from now by writing the reviews as I play. Anyway back to last week, as I said Dante's Inferno pretty much took over my week. I did do a Gears of War 3 session on Sunday night with some friends which was awesome, clocked a few achievements and completed Beast mode on Insane and 33 waves of Horde on insane. Not bad for a few hours work and hopefully can continue this week.

Also I clocked my first Windows Phone game, Minesweeper for the full 50 gamer score. I wasn't even trying to be honest, been addicted to this and Sudoku for the past two weeks. Every time I'm travelling back from work you can find me on the Bus playing. So think it was Wednesday night I was shocked to see the achievement pop up and to realise it was 100% done, also there is only one achievement of Sudoku left as well so I would not be shocked to see that clocked this week.

So there is roughly ten days left before the Reapers arrive in the way of Mass Effect 3 so my plans are to sit back down with Batman Arkham City PC since I was about half way through it and to finally give some time on my Vita. With that in mind I'm going to round off this post with the updated stats for my 200k Gamerscore Challenge, since it was mostly PlayStation 3 week it was another failure week.

Week 6 - this week
Starting Total: 130,839
To Earn: 1,582
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,582

Week 5

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 390

Difference: -1,122

 

Total So Far -
To Earn: 6,833 

Achieved: 4,560
Difference: -2,273 

 

Hopefully Batman will boost my score a little up but I have my doubts about hitting this week target since it's so high, guess have to wait and see what happens.

~Iznic

Pokemon Announcement

Afternoon all,
Well what did you think of the weekends announcement then? I was shocked to be honest. For those who have not been following, it was announced earlier on that last weekend would see a new Pokemon game. I really did think it would be the sixth generation and on the 3DS since the handheld could do with some good games this year. Instead it was announced to be the missing third game in the Black and White series, all past Pokemon games have a third game that comes out several months to a year after. Usually it combines the two together with most of the Pokemon then add something extra to get people to buy it, either a new feature/story etc.

What makes this game shocking for me? well it's being split into two games and called Pokemon White 2 and Pokemon Black 2. I cannot get my head around how this will work since if it's still the fifth generation then that means pretty much no real new Pokemon and still using the Unova region. I always question myself when I buy the third game since its just the last two together but I always tell me self "this new feature looks awesome". This time around it's going to need to be something huge to justify splitting into two games, because right now alarm bells are ringing in my head screaming "someone is pulling a fast one".

Then again have to wait and see for more news since there is none right now, for all we know it could be the best games so far and put Pokemon on the top. So far all they showed was a picture of Kyurem in its new forms, Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. Oh and that the new games will be on the NDS since its the third game in the series, was really hoping for a true Pokemon game on the 3DS. Guess will have to wait another year then for that to happen.

Keep an eye on serebii.net / V.G.I for announcements and up to date information on the new Pokemon games. 
~Iznic

P.S. June release for Japan and Autumn for Europe and America

Review: Dante's Inferno

Story
You follow Dante (Templar Knight) as he journeys through the nine circles of Hell to save his beloved Beatrice from the hands of Lucifer. Along the way Dante must face his own sins from the past and how he caused his beloved to end up in hell.

Although it's not a seat gripping story it does keep you interested through out the game and I found myself wondering how it was all going to end. The flash backs into his past was a nice touch especially when they are related to what circle you are currently in.

Controls
I hate games that need a 1,000 page guide on controls and Dante's Inferno is quite the opposite, it's simple and that is what makes it brilliant.

Played God of War? or Darksiders then you will feel quite at home with this game. Light attack, heavy attack and range attack are your basic controls and you can put points into a skill tree to open combos which are not over the top where you will need to grow a third hand to help you. Simply press the light attack three times or tap twice with a heavy attack and you will see Dante doing some very awesome combos. Execution moves and parts of boss fights involve a quick time event with a series of buttons to press but unlike most games you given a few extra seconds to react.

Nothing complicated what so ever

Length
This is the only disappointing thing I could find with this game and that's it too short, yes you can easily find yourself playing over ten hours on your first go but I just found some of the circles where just a quick visit to say hi. They had so much to work with and could had split the game into a full on series and really did something with it. In the last few sins I just felt like they rushed it as if they realised the deadline was coming up.

Graphics
Brilliant, I love the feel of each circle with the designs gone into it. One minute you passing by rivers of liquid molten gold (Greed) or climbing up walls that contain trapped spirits crying out. The place reeks of no hope and despair, its bang on for what a hell should be.

Gameplay
I'm a big fan of the God of War series and Dante's Inferno is pretty much the same, an over the top hack and slash game with plenty of puzzles included. Execution moves are awesome either you ripping demons in part or absolving with the cross from Beatrice. Along the way there are plenty of things to collect, relics that improve your stats, Beatrice stones, coins and shades. Shades are famous spirits through out hell that you can either punish or absolve and give you a major boost on your stats. 

Everything was enjoyable and there wasn't a point where I just wanted to end the game, I spent a good few nights saying "just one more level" only to find it was 2am.

There is nothing I can say wrong with the game other then it could had been longer and the circles given more time in. Saying that it did not stop me from playing it on the Xbox and PlayStation, two play through on both to get the full achievements and trophies. It's a brilliant game that I love going back to.

Last thoughts
Overall a great game and one that I believe all gamers should try out, I would gladly pick up the sequel if they ever sit down and make it.

Dante's Inferno (PlayStation 3)
Score: 9 out of 10
Gameplay: Good
Graphics: Good
Story: Good
Length: Short
Controls: Good

Updates and Cleaning up

Afternoon folks,
Been a few days since my last post but what can I say, the Vita was out and I was busy with Dante's Inferno as well. This morning I've been working on a few things for the blog, cleaning up some of the labels, adding share buttons and deciding on what I want to do with the blog in the future.

Over the next few weeks I want to tidy up the pages that are linked at the top (Challenges, stats etc) and probably create a few new labels to spread out my posts so they are more easier to navigate for specific information (maybe have console labels).

Big thing that I want to change is to do more reviews of the games I play, especially after I checked out my review page and realised that all the games listed there where from the start of last year. Of course like I always say the reviews are not meant to be professional, just my feelings and thoughts about the game. Although this time I'm thinking about writing the review as I play and maybe make the review a little big longer, that way the experience is still fresh in my mind instead of writing it several weeks after I've finished the game.

The last thoughts about the future of the blog is to redesign it, layout and theme/colours but I've not decided on anything yet except less dark colours. So that's it really for my thoughts on what to do with the blog, will keep you all updated with how it goes. If you have any thoughts or ideas about the blog just leave a comment, I'm always up for hearing new ideas.

Have a good one for now,
~Iznic

Day Before

Afternoon folks,
Well tomorrow is the big day and the Vita is finally launching, good news is I've got the day off so I can play it all day but the bad news is no Uncharted Golden Abyss until the weekend (thank you Amazon). The only thing that's stopping me from being angry is the fact I'm only having to pay £28 for it since I put the pre-order down back before the prices where decided and it was a price promise.

I am thinking though about picking up Dynasty Warriors Next and really tempted to also get Dungeon Hunter Alliance, although with the later I'm still unsure about. Have to see what happens tomorrow with the out come of the bill, I did trade a ton of games which pretty much covers the entire price of the console so it should not be a big blow to the bank account lol.

Anyway that's tomorrow so for now let's talk about now and last week, in fact let's start with the challenge. I did say the increase of gamer score would drop. Ended the week on 130,654 so I've only gained 205 points, dang that's a lot worse then I thought it would be. I really thought I would be on 400-500 at least, although I think its because I was putting quite a bit of time into the valentines event for Warcraft.

Also I've started playing Dante's Inferno which I did mention in one of my past posts just before the weekend. This week I should be clocking some more achievements from Batman on the PC and I'm trying to clean up on Minesweeper and Sudoku on the Windows Phone (these two are very addictive games). Of course with the Vita out tomorrow and Uncharted on the weekend I can see that taking over for sure (plus Mass Effect 3 in three weeks time).

Week 6 - This Week
Starting Total: 130,654
To Earn: 1,547
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,547

Week 5 - 

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 205

Difference: -1,307

 

Total So Far -

To Earn: 6,833

Achieved: 4,375

Difference: -2,458

Wow so I'm 2,458 behind for the year and that's not including this weeks target as well, lol really cannot see myself hitting that 200k marker. I'm toying with the idea of actually starting Enchanted Arms this week but I think I will still wait and see, I rather get Dante and Batman out of the way first.

Going to stop here and go play some games, I do have work in a few hours so I want to get some game time in. Probably be on later and make another post about the Vita so until then have a good one
~Iznic

Diablo 3 CE

Forgot to mention that earlier on the week the pre-order went up for Diablo 3 Collectors edition, so far both GAME and Play.com are taking orders and when I say it's limited, it really is! Think Starcraft 2 but worse then that, in fact we been told it's not coming into store just web only unless they can get more stock.

Check out the Blizzard web site for the full list of contents with full details but here is a short run down of what you get.

USB Pen Drive (shaped like a Soulstone with a Diablo Skull holder)
USB contains both Diablo 2 and the expansion Lords of Destruction
Ingame WOW Pet Fetish Shaman
Ingame Angel Wings for Diablo 3
Ingame Banner for Diablo 3
Ingame Dyes for your armour in Diablo 3
Diablo 3 themed Starcraft 2 Portraits for Battle.net
Soundtrack
Artwork Book
The Game of course
Behind the scenes DVD

Blizzard always do a great collectors edition, in fact I've got four so far and just missing the original one (which goes for about £250+).

By the way if you got the World of Warcraft annual pass which is giving you Diablo 3 for free don't worry, if you get the collectors edition you still get all the in game stuff and they will give you several months of WOW time for free since technically if you will have two copies of the game.

 As you all can guess my order is already down and in fact I might put a second one down just in case of any trouble.
~Iznic

Weekend Finally

Morning folks,
Been one hell of a week with lots of gaming and news, you been keeping up? love the Assassin Creed stuff that really made my week. If you not heard the news then basically Ubisoft gave the release day of 30th October for Assassin's Creed 3, at first I was worried that this was rushed then they also said they been working on it for three years. Cannot wait to see what the new assassin and time line, if you remember last year there was American Revolution, Egypt Pharaohs and Japan Shogun period all on the books. All of these would be awesome and you know what just make all three, there you go that's Assassin's Creed 3, 4 and 5 sorted!

That was not the only news though, just a day before the achievement list appeared for new DLC for AC Revelations and its single player!. Some very interesting achievements as well, first one is take the introduction leap of faith. Could this mean using a new assassin? from the looks the DLC is more a Desmond level, the second really interesting achievement is crossing the river Styx. Is that not Greek Mythology??? so many questions and I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Although it should not be too long for the DLC since the achievement list is now out and if you want to see the list check out xbox360achievements.org.

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Not really done much gaming this week since I did not want to get into anything too big because of two factors. First one being the launch of the Vita and Uncharted Golden Abyss next week which I'm looking forward to getting into. Then in three weeks time is Mass Effect 3 which is one of my top ten games of all time and I had a small go at the demo at the start of the week and it's pretty much hyped me. Might as well say that March will be Mass Effect month and nothing else will be touched until I finish it.

I have been putting a lot time into the World of Warcraft Valentines event to get the daily quests done for tokens, in fact I finished this morning and picked up the Swift Lovebird mount. Also was luckily enough to get the Toxic Wasteling pet off the boss event as well which made my week. There is one day left of the event so I will attempt the boss one more time in the hope that I might win the Love Rocket mount but I have my doubts since the drop is super super super super rare.

The only other thing that took up my time was my new Windows Phone, finally upgraded and been playing on the Xbox Live with the free games (Sudoku, Minesweeper etc). Soon as pay day comes around I will be picking up quite a few games on it so no doubt see achievements popping up left and right for it.

My plans for the next few weeks is to work on Dante's Inferno since I do enjoy the game and it's my current rental, it will take two play through to complete but the game is quite short so I should have at least one and half done by the Vita launch. Other then that I would like to work on a JRPG and Batman Arkham City (PC) but not sure with all these new games coming out, really don't want to start anything then shelve it because something better came out.


Guess will have to see what happens, anyway that's it for now and I will talk to you all later.
Have a good weekend folks
~Iznic

Batman Arkham City Valentines Event

Morning folks,
Happy Valentines and don't forget to visit Calendar Man today in Batman Arkham City to add towards your achievement/trophy.

Not done it before? basically the achievement/trophy "Story Teller" requires you to have twelve dates with the villain Calendar Man. All you got to do is talk to him each month on a special day to hear a small story about one of his killings, yes this will take a year unless you change your date/clock times on your console but I find it more fun doing it legit.

To visit Calendar Man you need to have at least saved Catwoman from Two Face, after that all you need to do is go back to the court house but before going in just fly around to the very back of the building to find a second entrance. Pop inside then go down the stairs to the cell area and find him locked up in the last cell and that's it. Make sure to talk to him on the days required and listen to his story, when hes done he will sit back down and when you talk to him again he will give you the next day to come back on. Make sure to pass a saved point when done (if you leave the court house through the door again it auto saves after you get outside which is very handy).

Also to note on the wall is a industry wall calendar with all the dates out lined for you, also every time you go to talk to him again you will notice the months you completed will be scribbled out.

That's it anyway folks, next event is Saturday 17th March - St Patricks' Day
~Iznic

I Hate Mondays

Morning Folks,
Another Monday ... meh! ... not a fan, always find myself getting nothing done at the start of the new week, not sure why but it's just that way. Guess I should stop ranting and get on with the post, well good news I finally cleaned up Dante's Inferno last week and now have the original 1,000 gamer score for it. I'm not picking the DLC up at this point in time due to the fact Dark Forest is a rip off (400 Microsoft Points for less then 10 minutes of game play) and I'm also hearing the second co-op DLC is bugged so no last achievement. Since I cannot get a verified answer if it is bugged or not I don't want to chance it, hate wasting money. Maybe I will go back to it at a later date when they fix everything and make it cheaper as well.

That was it really for the week, I have been doing the Valentine daily quests on WOW still and this week I did have a big marathon on Old Republic which got me to level 14 so I've now got my space ship. Cannot wait for my next session now, just need to free up an hour or two so I can.

Oh yeah last night had a blast on Gears of War 3 with some old work colleagues which was awesome, did some Horde, Beast and Insane campaign. Also picked up the Lambency achievement in a Versus Team Death match so that was a nice 50g achievement boost. Starting to get back into Gears again so could do with freeing up a night for it or maybe an hour or two every few days, would love to get the Seriously 3.0 achievement.

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Mentioning achievements you have no doubt read my last post about the results for the challenge, it was a shame that I did not even dent the weekly target but I knew it was coming. I really want to clean up my collection this year, I'm sick of having tons of games that never get played but in order to do that I need to put the time into the big games which means less achievement whoring. I did promise myself I would not allow the challenge to take over and so far I've kept it, I do have doubts about hitting 200,000 but I really want to get as close as possible. So with the failure from last week that means this week as increased a bit, here is the target for week five.

Week 5 - this week

Starting Total: 130,449

To Earn: 1,512

Achieved: 0

Difference: -1,512

Not sure what I will be playing this week since I've got quite a few games I want to work on, new and old along with the fact I really want to start a JRPG finally. Too much to work with, might just pull a name out of a hat again and let you know later on in the week with what I'm doing.

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Before I end this post I really wanted to talk about this morning announcements, you seen the new Pokemon? its a deer type Pokemon called Keldeo. Check out Serebii.net for all the shots of it and what's been announced which is not much right now. They did say that in the next few months they where announcing a new game, so maybe a true Pokemon Game for the 3DS? that would be awesome. By the way the Mewtwo event I talked about the other day went live early so you can now download it!

Anyway that's it for me today folks, have a good one and thanks for reading my random ramblings about the world of gaming and my life.

Results: Week 1-4

Since I'm posting the results for each week together it will eventually make the post too big, so every four week's I will "archive" the results on a separate post that will be linked on the challenge page at the top.

So with that in the mind here is the results for last week and the total so far, of course last week was a big fail but it was expected since I was working on cleaning up an old game. As I said before this will become a trend since I really do want to get through my back log of games that has built up over the years. In truth as well I don't really see myself hitting the 200,000 mark since it needs so many achievements but in the end its all for fun!

Going to wrap this post up now since this will be archived, stay tuned for the normal general post in a minute and that will contain this weeks target.
~Iznic

Total So Far -
To Earn: 5,321
Achieved: 4,170
Difference: -1,151

Week 4 -
Starting Total: 130,274
To Earn: 1,484
Achieved: 175
Difference: -1,309

Week 3 -
Starting Total:  128,499
To Earn: 1,491
Achieved: 1,775
Difference: +284

Week 2 -
Starting Total: 126,759
To Earn: 1,498
Achieved: 1,740
Difference:+242

Week 1 -
Starting Total: 126,279
To Earn: 848
Achieved: 480
Difference: -368

Pokemon Event Download

Morning folks,
Keep meaning to post this up but there are two Pokemon Events running right now, well technically just one the other will be starting soon.

First up is a level 70 Mewtwo for Pokemon Black and White, this event will start on the 12th February so this Sunday and it's a simple Wi-fi event. Just connect to your Internet and download it through the Mystery Gift system on the menu.

Mewtwo will be holding the Kings Rock and as the following moves Psystrike, Electro Ball, Shadow Ball and Aura Sphere. The event will also end on February 26th and is available to Europe and America.

The next even which is currently running is for Arceus on the Global Link website and will end on the 1st May. It's level 100 and no special abilities that make it exclusive but still its level 100 and a very cool Pokemon. Just log in into the site (link here) and connect through the dream world, password is ARCEUSVOTE.

That's it folks so don't miss out and if you want more information pop over to serebii.net which is awesome for all things Pokemon.
~Iznic

Morning Chat

Morning everyone,
This is the third attempt at writing this post and in fact the last post about last week result took several attempts as well. Think I'm a bit too tired and could do with a solid day off just to chill out and do nothing, maybe next week if I'm lucky.

Currently just working on the Kingdoms of Amalur demo on the PlayStation 3 to get the unlocks in case I want the games on their, although it did just freeze and crash so not going well so far. Over the next few days I'm just going to focus on my rental game which is Dante's Inferno, plan is to get this play through completed so I can finish off the last of the achievements then I might do the Dark Forest DLC then send it back. The other DLC I've heard is hard and broken at the same time so I really don't want to waste my money on it if that is true.

Other then my rental I'm just playing World of Warcraft and Old Republic, currently the valentines event is live on WOW so I'm doing the daily quests. This year they have added a new mount which can be bought using the tokens you use, plus there is a daily dungeon which gives you a chance for a second mount plus some cool gear and a new pet. Of course the drop percent is very low so I havent got my hopes up on the later stuff but one can wish.

I did have a several hours on Old Republic on Sunday like I said in my last post and I was really getting into it, hoping to put some more time in later or tomorrow. I love how the conversation dialogue works, I really do feel apart of the story more. Also I'm hoping to earn a few levels this week so I can unlock my ship which I will post a screen shot soon as I get it. Oh that reminds me my mate told their is a bug in game to do with the stretched character graphics and its to with the nvidia graphic cards, so drivers soon hopefully.

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 Apart from that not much else to say other then Square Enix are doing a huge sale on Xbox live for the week and I pretty much want to buy everything. It's amazing that most of the stuff I was thinking about buying yesterday morning is now in the sale. Deus EX Missing Link DLC, Tomb Raider DLC and episodes etc check out the full list at xbox360achievements.org. Also next week they knocking down the Batman Arkham City dlc as well so I might pick up the Nightwing bundle finally.

Plenty to keep me busy for the time being, although I was already busy with getting through the huge pile of games that I already own. Anyway I'm going to shoot for a bit so I will catch you all later, have a good one
~Iznic

2012 Games List

Just like last year here is the full list of games I've bought so far and it will be updated through out the year has I add more too it. Hopefully this time I can finish most of them...

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Xbox 360)
2. Uncharted Golden Abyss (PlayStation Vita)
3. Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360)
4. Plants vs Zombies (PlayStation Vita)
5. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (PlayStation Vita)
6. Shogun 2 Total War Fall of the Samurai (PC)
7. Witcher 2 (Xbox 360)
8. Pandora's Tower (Wii)
9. The Last Story (Wii)
10. Plants vs Zombie's (Vita)
11. Welcome Park (Vita)
12. Sniper V2 (Xbox 360)
13. Pure Chess (Vita)
14. Dynasty Warriors Next (Vita)
15. Kid Icarus (3DS)
16. Minecraft (Xbox 360)
17. Ghost Recon Future Soldier (Xbox 360)
18. Rune Factory Oceans (PlayStation 3)
19. Dragons Dogma (Xbox 360)
20. Diablo 3 (PC)
21. Lego Batman 2 (Xbox 360)
22. Resistance Burning Skies (Vita)
23. Gravity Rush (Vita)
24. Pokemon Conquest (DS)
25. Lego Batman 2 (Vita)
26. Spec Ops the Line (Xbox 360)
27. Borderlands 2 (Xbox 360)
28. Angry Birds Trilogy (Xbox 360)
29. Lego Batman 2 (PlayStation 3)
30. Dishonored (Xbox 360)
31. Pokemon Black 2 (Nintendo DS)
32. Pokemon White 2 (Nintendo DS)
33. XCOM (Xbox 360)
34. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (Nintendo 3DS)
35. Testament of Sherlock Holmes (Xbox 360)
36. Mass Effect (PlayStation 3)
37. Mass Effect 3 (PlayStation 3)
38. PlayStation All Stars (PlayStation 3)
39. PlayStation All Stars (PlayStation Vita)
40. Ratchet and Clank Qforce (PlayStation 3)
41. Assassin's Creed 3 (Xbox 360)
42. Assassin's Creed Liberation (PlayStation Vita)
43. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 (Xbox 360)
44. Zone of the Enders HD Collection (Xbox 360)
45. Hitman Absolution (Xbox 360)
46. Uncharted Fight for Fortune (PlayStation Vita)
47. Wonderbook: Book of Spells (PlayStation 3)
48. Lego Batman 2 (PlayStation 3)
49. Lego Lord of the Rings (PlayStation Vita)
50. Lego Lord of the Rings (Xbox 360)
51. Virtue's Last Reward (PlayStation Vita)
52. Halo 4 (Xbox 360)
53. Family Guy Back to the Multiverse (Xbox 360)



Updated:1st January 2013

Week Three Results

Morning folks,
Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend but had some real bad news on Saturday, anyway don't want to get into it. On Sunday I decided to have a huge gaming marathon which was pretty awesome, finally sat down and finished FIFA 06. It killed me to do it since I'm not a sports fan and can't stand FIFA with a passion but having it on my profile with only 500g  was annoying. Sunday morning I had that in the bag then played several more games (Harry Potter, Halo CE) then finally sat down with Old Republic. Levelled up several times and got myself to level 10, won't be long before I get my own ship.

Stats wise it was a good haul for the and I'm now in the plus for the challenge, currently on +158 for the whole challenge. This week I think will see a dip along with the next few weeks due to the fact I will be working on my longer games now and not easy gamer score games. But it will be worth it in the end if I can finally get through some of my back log of games.

Anyway that's it for now, bit too tired to get into any writing so I will post later.
~Iznic



Week 4 - This week
Starting Total: 130,274
To Earn: 1,484
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,484


Total So Far -
To Earn: 3,837
Achieved: 3,995
Difference: +158

Week 3 -
Starting Total:  128,499
To Earn: 1,491
Achieved: 1,775
Difference: +284

Week 2 -
Starting Total: 126,759
To Earn: 1,498
Achieved: 1,740
Difference:+242

Week 1 -
Starting Total: 126,279
To Earn: 848
Achieved: 480
Difference: -368

Just a quick one

Evening folks,
Just quickly popping on to say hello and that I'm still alive, along with a quick update before I dash out. It's been a long stressful week but it's now over and I'm off for two days so plenty of time to game and catch up on my jobs I need to get done. I did update my 2012 gaming stats in the week since I clocked Truth or Lies (horrible game) on both Xbox and the PlayStation, never again! its unbelievably broken beyond words.

Thanks to that 1,000 game score though it means I only need around 400 to finish this week off for my challenge and if I can make up the missing 130 from week one the better. Not sure how I will do that right now since not sure if I got any easy achievements left to collect. I'm currently working on mopping up achievements on some of my games but it will take time before any reward is seen (Dante's Inferno, Saints Row the Third).

Apart from that nothing really to report other then I did pick up Final Fantasy XIII-2 a few hours ago when I finished my shift, also the collectors edition strategy guide. Nice hard book guide with plenty of in depth details for areas, monsters, items etc. Also got my pre-order bonus steel book too which is really nice, in fact here is a picture of the lot.

Anyway I need to shoot since I'm going out but might be on later but if not will be on tomorrow morning since I really could do with some tiding on the blog and posting some more. Until then anyway have a good one.

~Iznic

Monday Gossip

Good morning folks,
Thought it was time to catch you all up with my weekend, so I've got my cup of tea ready and just need a biscuit and we can start. I had a wonderful start to my weekend by going out for a few meals and having a day trip with the girlfriend. Of course you not here to hear about that are you, I'm guessing you are here to find out what gaming I've been up to and how the challenge is going.

So let's start with that shall we, all week I've kept away from working out the stats and instead just enjoy my gaming. I did start Harry Potter like I said I would and it was ... was... hmmm... well it was just ok, nothing special at all to be fair.

The game is called a spell shooter and it's truly is that, think third person shooter with just a wand instead and Harry shouting the incantations rarely (think they forgot about it). You can take cover the same as any other games, zoom in to get the better accuracy etc. 

Luckily the zoom also does a mini lock on to enemy targets because the aim system is terrible, even if you spend time making careful adjustments the enemy A.I are all over the place (then again I guess that's good in way since no moron would stand still in a battle). Part from that though its ok and it's not that bad, spent about an hour on it and got quite far but just ran into my first set of  side missions. You get side missions where you go protect muggleborns on the run or attack death eater camps etc, basically game filler but it works ... so no complaints there (not yet anyway).

Anyway back to the story so where was I, oh yeah I've not looked at my stats all week until Sunday morning when I finally caved. It was my day off and had plans to pretty much game all day so I thought I would check out the score and see where I stand with it. As of Sunday morning I was on roughly 750 gamer score for the week so was just about half way there and with just one day to go. Now as I said at the start of the challenge I would not let it control my life, I wanted to still enjoy my games and not keep thinking "achievements".

And that is what I did, Sunday was amazing and one of the best gaming days I've had in a long time. I played everything and I do mean everything, I didn't work on just one game instead I just let myself play what ever I was in the mood for. Started off with uDraw which I just picked up in the week since it had dropped to £40 finally (plus get my staff discount). Spent all morning just doodling and having laughing, in fact I've only got five achievements left to get on it which will take abit of time. From it I must had clocked roughly 600-700 on top of the 100-200 in the week.

Tried out Damnation as well (another game I bought, will talk about that later) and did the first act which was several levels long. Not a bad game at all, a lot of platform jumping with a steam punk civil war era. At first I was a bit annoyed with the controls since you have to hold down the left trigger to stay in combat mode for shooting but after a while you just get use to it. Soon as the first act was completed I decided to take a break for lunch.

Then was the awesome part in which I just went through my library of arcade games, decided I was going to finally finish that level on Toy Soldiers with the Rail Gun boss which turned out to be the last level of the campaign so clocked that game. Then Found a old demo for Sealife Safari which is pretty much Pokemon Snap with sea life, so decided to buy it since I was enjoying it and did three of the five levels (not bad for 400 Microsoft points).

After that found two games I had picked up and not touched, first up the free game Harm's Way which is basically a racing game like Mario kart except there are turrets around the course that other players can control to blast you apart. After a couple of games I clocked 190 out of 200 with the last achievement only needing to play one game online, so should have that cleaned up by the end of the week. The other game was Undertow back when Xbox Live went down for several days and they gave out for free to say sorry, it's not a great game but can be a little fun if you got some spare minutes. Did the first story act and gave up on the next level since my allies where, well to put it politely rubbish.

Finally I finished the night by completing the second restaurant on Diner Dash which took me several attempts and then ended with Dead Space Ignition which is an interactive comic with puzzles. There is no combat just three different type of hacking puzzle games that you come across through the story, you have several options on paths through the story and I have heard it takes four play through to do it all. But the game is really short and I had the story finished in 55 minutes, would had been a lot quicker if I knew what I was doing and did not keep pausing.

Anyway so that's my Sunday in a nut shell, a huge gaming marathon that was brilliant and to top it off I hit my goal in the end. I was able to score a total of 1,740 so in just one day I hit 1,000 gamer score and I'm very happy to say I enjoyed every minute of it. So week two as brought me back on course for my challenge and hopefully week three will be just as good.

Week 1 -
Starting Total: 126,279
To Earn: 848
Achieved: 480
Difference: -368

Week 2 -
Starting Total: 126,759
To Earn: 1,498
Achieved: 1,740
Difference:+242

Total So Far -
To Earn: 2,346
Achieved: 2,220
Difference: -126



Week 3 - This week
Starting Total:  128,499
To Earn: 1,491
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1491

This week according to TrueAchievements I need to earn 212.8 a day still so round that up to 213, going to take a few weeks before I start to see that number any less. Happy to see I pulled back some of week one and now only 126 beyond the total target. Anyway with that thought I'm going to shoot, took a while to write this and I want to get some gaming on before work. So take care and I will catch you all later
~Iznic

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer

Don't think words can describe how good this looks

Good Morning

Morning all,
Currently playing the Kingdoms of Amalur demo, I'm mostly after the Mass Effect 3 DLC and to get that you need to finish the 45 minute demo to get the last item. Although I am enjoying the game, it reminds me of a more mature Fable game with the regards of it being a bit more violent when doing finishing attacks. At first I thought it would be quite a linear game with the tutorial pretty much guiding me through the tower but now that's finish the world is open to me and I'm now hearing that the developers are quoting 200+ hours. Very tempted to pick it up but I still think it won't be day one purchase but I will get it eventually.

So apart from that I bet you wondering what game I'm going to go with next, well I'm going to try out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. Been wanting to play this for a while and with the second part already out I thought it would be time to give it a chance, expect to see some achievements for it later hopefully. While I'm talking about games I'm going to play just been sent a e-mail from Lovefilm saying they sending Dante's Inferno for the Xbox 360, so looks like I will be doing that final play through soon after all.

While I was typing this up I was also playing the demo, just finished the timer and unlocked the weapon for Mass Effect. As I said earlier its not a bad game and I really did enjoy playing a caster but still cannot justify getting it on day one. Might download the demo on the PlayStation 3 so I've got the unlocks on that system too since the demo is console specific for its rewards.

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Bit of rant coming up now and that's with game publishers and DLC, just saw a post announcing the upcoming DLC to be released for the new Soul Calibur. Really? really? come on the game is not out yet until next week and now they announce content to come out for it a week later. I'm sick of this keep happening, it's clear they cut out content from the game to hold it off for a week to charge you for it. It's worse when they release it on launch day or when the content is on the disc! but just locked. DLC was meant to be a way to extend the game's life span, to give it a new life several months down the line so gamers can jump back in after completing it. DLC is basically meant to be the console version of PC games expansion packs, not a way to be greedy!

Another one to peeve me off is Call of Duty, guess what folks you getting 20 DLC included with your Elite Subscription. Sounds awesome right, quite a bit of DLC but it did shock me to see the announcement that this week we will see the first two DLC. 

Two Maps...yeah now it clocks doesn't it, it's not 20 map packs, it's 20 maps if we lucky anyway. There is a rumour list going around showing the full list of content we meant to be getting, extra modes, maps, survival missions etc. Of course I'm not trusting that rumour list since as anyone else read the fine print yet? maximum of 20 it says on the bottom. So technically it could be a lot less, now I'm not a big fan of the Call of Duty Multi player and in a way it doesn't bother me that much but I did pick up the subscription since I got the Hardened Edition. I was looking forward to seeing some of the survival missions extra content, maybe even an extra single player story level etc. Now I got a feeling this subscription was just one big rip off and I was kidding myself, but then again everyone said that on day one.

So that's my rant for today and I hope this year we don't see this trend kicking off any more.

~Iznic

P.S. I forgot one more DLC rant! Mass Effect 3 is putting codes into their figurines and art books for DLC on the multi player, extra weapons, races etc So if you want to play that awesome new race with that great assault rifle as well, expect to have to buy that expensive art book and over priced Shepard figure. Not to mention the codes are going to be random as well, seriously talk about milking it.

Annoyance

Afternoon folks,
Well I've finished the story campaign for Generator Rex this morning and I've had enough now, I was going to attempt the full 1,000 gamer score but my Patience for the game as run to thin. It's an OK game and with a little bit of time it's a doable thousand but I'm really not in the mood to go through the entire game again in time trails. Then there are levels that need to be done with out taking damage and that means doing that level several times to get it right, then achievements for taking no damage on certain boss fights or taking a boss out in a certain time. Finally the achievements for collecting DNA of the evo's which is a random drop so very time consuming.

So yeah I'm on 500-600 gamer score and sending it back to Lovefilm for now, maybe rent it again in the future when I feel up for attempt all that rubbish. Always like a challenge but usually on a game that I enjoy and feel passionate about. Hoping to get sent Dante's Inferno next either on the Xbox or the PS3, just need to do one more play through on the Xbox version to get the full 1,000 for it, then there is the DLC to do afterwards.

Now that's being sent back I'm not sure what to play right now, there are several games I really want to get stuck into but I'm not sure where to begin. I do want to finish a JRPG and I've got my mind set on Enchanted Arms since that was the first RPG I picked up for the Xbox 360. Plus the factor that and I've so far attempted the game three times which always ends up with me getting further and further into the game to just stop. I will finish that game one day! and every other JRPG I've got sitting on my shelf which is quite a lot at this point in time.

Back to the games I want to play, there is also Batman Arkham City and Fable 3 for the PC which both have stack able achievements lists with their Xbox counter parts. Also got Velvet Assassin, Damnation and Majin Forsaken Kingdom screaming at me to be played for the last two weeks. So many choices and oh not to forget there are tons of games need cleaning up with the ways of achievements, both Assassin Creeds (Brotherhood and Revelations) have ton of achievements I can pick up easy. Saints Row side missions, Deus EX needs another couple of play through's and still not tried out the DLC "Missing Link" yet. Gears of War has released the Shadow of RAAM dlc that I've still not looked at yet, I did download it but caught up in Saints Row the Third.

Argh!!! where do I start?

You know what I'm going to do, write down all the games I want to play and put them in a hat and pull out a random one to play. Probably the best solution at this point, so time to change the subject for the time being.

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Well I was shocked yesterday to hear that Blizzard will not be doing a Blizzcon this year and that the next one will be in 2013. At first I was a bit disappointed and could not figure out why, yes they did state they wanted to focus on their new games but did not feel like that was the whole picture. Then it come to me with Diablo 3 about to release, Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm this year and the new expansion for World of Warcraft possibly at the end of the year. Blizzard really don't have anything new to announce other then their mysterious MMO project Titan. So I guess it does make sense to postpone this year and start again next year, hopefully with the more time working on the games we will see all three this year! that would be awesome. Still going to miss watching the streams though, one of my favourite things to do in October but least still got the Starcraft 2 tournament.

You know what I'm going to call it a night, I'm tired and had a long day at work so I need my bed. Will chat some more in the morning and decide on a new game to play, so until tomorrow have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Announcements

Over the last week I have been talking about the upcoming games I'm looking forward too, while I was doing this several more got announced and I swear February is turning out to be worse then November for releases.

So I want to talk about some of them and so in essense this post could technically be called "Upcoming Games Part Three". Let's start with today's announcement which is Warriors Orochi 3 that is coming out on the 30th March (official website link). You should all know I'm a big of fan of the Warrior series by now so as you can guess I will be picking this up on day one.

I was shocked to see this time its got some characters from Dead or Alive staring in it, Ryu and Ayane are listed along with Joan of Arc from the Bladestorm game. Should be interesting to play as these characters but I do get the feeling they running out of ideas on what to do with the Orochi series.

One thing that annoys me is that I've not finished the other two Orochi games yet, in fact I got stuck on the first one when I was fighting one of the end level bosses and think I gave up in the end. I would say I would wait to buy this one so I could finish the first two but the Warrior series is one of those that normally vanish off the shelves in the first few weeks to never be seen again. In fact it just came to me I still got several of the Dynasty Warriors to finish off as well, dang I need to do some catching up.

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The second and last big announcement was last week and a game I'm really now looking forward too, Total War Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai. It's a standalone expansion like Napeoleon was for Empire, this game is pretty much the movie "the last Samurai". Love playing the skirmish games on Total War and my favourite so far is Empire, this looks to be a mix of Empire meets Shogun so its going to be ace.

As I was getting the trailer link I just read that it will come out in September and it's a downloadable game only from the looks. Hmmm I like the hard copies because most shops do different dlc or extra cool special edition boxes, guess have to wait and see what happens with regards to release

So that's two more games to the buy list this year on top of the other twenty plus, anyway I will catch you all later!
~Iznic

Challenge Update + Weekend

Morning folks,
Don't know about you but I'm starting to hate Mondays, so far my HDD for my TV decided not to record since it was turned off Saturday night of course it forgot it was turned back on Sunday with no problems but that did not stop it from not recording this morning. Least I have a cup of tea and had a brilliant weekend to go with it.

Yesterday I finished the story campaign for Saints Row the Third, what a game! every bit of it was outstanding. It's just over the top madness and that's what kept me going back to it, wish I had played it sooner. Seriously how many games do you fight a wrestling match with a chainsaw or making a getaway in a slave driven cart pulled by a gimp. I kid you not the game is just that insane and the amount of fun it makes of things is just great, there's even a Tron style level too which is just awesome. Go try that bad boy out and you won't regret it, I feel bad for ever doubting the game and cannot wait for the fourth.

So with that game now clocked I'm standing on just three games finished this year, I was going to replace it with something else but I think I've got a little too much to play. I found it pretty hard to juggle a main game with two achievement/trophy games on the side, so I'm hanging off until I finish either Lego Indiana 2 or Generator Rex.

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Time for the challenge update and we all knew I would not hit that 800 weekly target in two days but I did get more then I thought would. Picked up 480 thanks to Saints Row plus a few games on Forza to round it up a little, of course a level for Generator Rex as well yesterday. It's not a big loss since I only missed out on 368 so it should not really push the daily average up but I cannot allow this to keep happening or it will get harder. This week target will be the first real week so it should be interesting to see what happens.

Damn! according to TrueAchievements my average as gone up to 213.5 a day now, blimey I did not think it would be that bad. So round that up to 214 and my second weeks target is 1,498, ouch that hurts. It's only the second week and already I'm dreading this challenge.

Week 1 -
Starting Total: 126,279
To Earn: 848
Achieved: 480
Difference: -368

Week 2 - This Week
Starting Total: 126,759
To Earn: 1,498
Achieved: 0
Different: -1,498

Think I need another cup of tea to calm me down, catch you all later
~Iznic

Morning Report

Thought I would do an update before I  jump into some gaming, the other night it really did hit me after I posted up the challenge how hard it was going to be. 200 Gamer score a day is a lot, in fact that's 1,400 a week so that's two Batman Arkham Cities a week (current score is 700+). I have no idea on how Stallion83 can clock 600-900 a day, the man is a gaming god.

So my idea is instead of looking at 211 a day I'm going to work out the week total and report how I'm doing towards it, saves me having to keep thinking I need to do 200 a day instead just think by the end of week I need to be here. Hopefully I can hit the total and more, the more I do the less the daily average goes down and so does the total for the week. Need to make sure I don't let this challenge rule my life still of course, its hard though not to keep thinking what achievements I need to get.

Anyway since I started the challenge in the middle of the week the total will be a little less, challenge was issued on Wednesday so need four days. The daily average is 211.8 so going to round that up to 212 so that comes to 848 by the end of Sunday.

 ....just turned my Xbox on to get some information and realised it was still paused when I went to get my drink yesterday (turn my TV off so it doesn't pixel burn) and so my xbox as been on all night.

So with that stupid moment out of the way here is the information for this weeks challenge.

Starting Total: 126,279
To Earn: 848
So Far: 30
Difference: -818

Need to clock some stuff over the next two days, it's a good thing I've got the days off!

2012 Upcoming Games Part Two

Morning folks,
It's time for the sequel of last week's post about what games I'm looking forward to this year and there is plenty to talk about. So we finished part one with the 3rd person shooter Inversion and now we hit it off with a new console.

That's right, the next big thing after those games will be the launch of the PlayStation Vita, everything the PlayStation Portable should had been. I've been really looking forward to this launch for a while now but I am still in two minds about getting it on day one, especially with the price being quite high and Japan having a price drop.

My order is for the Wi-fi model which is currently costing £230 then let's now forget you need to add on a memory card to save so the price is increasing quickly and then the games. I can see it getting close to £300 plus and I really could do with out that. Right now I'm thinking the smallest memory card since I only want to pick up Uncharted at this point in time. Although they have announced Dynasty Warriors Next and if it's going to be like the other Warrior games then we will see a few copies on launch then that's it, so maybe make that two games then.

But on the positive side the console looks amazing, two touchscreens, two analog sticks as well finally! and graphics on par with the PlayStation. We not talking small handheld games any more, we are talking full blown console games (length, graphics, story etc) that you can take any where and let's not forget the icing on the cake as well, full trophy support.

Overall it's got to be a day one buy so I guess I better start saving.



Above is the video for Uncharted Golden Abyss being demoed on the Vita, have a watch and tell me you not impressed. I love how easy it is to jump from touch controls to normal with out having to change any settings.

I'm also a big fan of the Uncharted series so it's pretty sweet see it's not lost anything on the portable, when ever a big game series brings a release on a handheld its never close to the normal high quality that's expected (e.g. Assassins Creed ). The game setting is going to be a prequel to the first so it should be very interesting to see Nathan in his early years.

Still cannot believe this is a launch title, normally I struggle to find a game I want on launch for my new console.

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Next game I mentioned is Dynasty Warriors Next which was only just announced for a launch title, finally watched the trailer for it and I'm not 100% sure now. Think I need to see a bit more about it and read up on it, maybe wait closer to the date before deciding. The touchscreen controls look awesome (See below) but I feel like its taken a step back in a way. Example being the soldiers only appearing when you are few feet away from them in some of the trailer parts, one on one with a enemy leader is cool but as I said have to see more before I decide. Think I was expecting more since the Vita is light years ahead compared to the other handheld consoles so I was expecting the games to be on par with it.

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Next up is a game for the Nintendo Wii believe or not, The Last Story is pretty much a Final Fantasy type game. In fact its made by Hironnobu Sakaguchi who is famous for his work with Final Fantasy so that's why the game is so similar. The story is a tale of a group of mercenaries looking for work, although I have heard they basically looking for work so they can get out of the life to become full fledged knights. So far its an action rpg so no taking turns and reports say its awesome, with a one detailing talking about sneaking into a castle using tranquiliser darts to take out the sentries. Its not a typical JRPG, I do want to pick it up but again I think will wait for the time being since I don't see myself playing it straight away. But it is nice to see that the Wii is getting some love finally, first Xenoblade and now this.

That's it for this part and expect part three soon with the last of the February releases and March, then part four will list the games that don't have a date yet.
Until then have a good one folks,
~Iznic