The Clean Up 3.0 (Part Two)

Afternoon,
Took a lot longer to get this pile started but it is now finally happening, last time I attempted to start this pile I got hit with a 2.7GB update which took all night to download and install. This time I'm going to start with the Xbox games instead and do the PlayStation ones last just in case something comes up again.

First up will be Wartech Senko Ronde which is a Japanese anime mech fighting game sorta like Zone of the Enders if I can remember right, been a few years since I picked it up. The back of the box looks like Zone of the Enders anyway but time will tell.

What the hell! it's a fighting game as in one on one with health bars, you know Tekken/Street Fighter style but uses mechs instead. The Combat sort reminds me of the side scrollers in a way but I hate these type of games, so no guess where this game is going. Very unhappy with myself for not testing this game before and not noticing on the back of the box the health bars.

Next up is Rage which I was in two minds about at GAMEFest last year, let's see if I can get a better impression this time around (Picked up the game cheap in the January sales).

RAGE - Image thanks to Rage.com

So all I remember of this game was it's a first person shooter set in a ruined earth style world with mutants and some kind of army not liking me. Will give you the run down of the story from the back of the game box.

"After an asteroid impacts Earth, humanity attempts to rebuild. Sheltered in cryogenic lifeboats, survivors emerge years after impact to a devastated planet where some of mankind survived in struggling settlements or murderous bandit clans, while horrific mutants roam the dead cities. And a mysterious tyrannical government is on the hunt... for you"

Sounds good but will have to see how the game turns out, as I said at GAMEFest the demo did not really jump out at me.

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Very impressed with the game with what I played at the start, it's basically a shooter with rpg elements so inventory, quests etc so yes like Fallout but more heavily on the shooter side. Good game and what I played was a lot better then that demo so I will be keeping this game. Going to try Wolfenstein next since shooters are easy to try out and quicker, not a big fan of horror but I use to play Wolfenstein 3D and Return to Castle Wolfenstein a long time ago.

Opening cinematic as a super spy escaping off a German boat then use a supernatural medallion he finds to vapourise the soldiers. He escapes and now is being sent to find the origins of this medallion which of course is in Germany, not so sure about this story it's not gripping me so far. Hopefully the game play is better although I got feeling maybe it won't.

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Well I was wrong after all, it's not a bad shooter after all and I do like my first person shooters. I think the real test will be when I get further into the game and hit the supernatural parts, but for now I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and keep it. Going to jump onto Tropico 3 next which should be interesting, I do like my simulator type games but never really played anything like this. I play more stuff like Age of Empires, Command and Conquer and so on. To be honest I had forgot that I even owned this game and I remember looking into the fourth one around Christmas time.

I'm half way through the tutorial and I'm bored, it's not a bad game but just not interested in it at all. It's city building and I prefer city building with armies and having fun exploring, Settlers to name one series or Civilisation. Anyway it's going into the trade in pile to join Wartech, so I'm going to end this post now since it's got quite long and finish off the last few games on a second post.

Hope you all enjoying these posts, catch you soon
~Iznic

Things Can Only Get Better

Morning folks,
You probably all noticed that nothing happened on Friday and Saturday like I had promised, well I had some terrible news on Friday afternoon so all my plans was cancelled. Don't really want to talk about it other then I'm not getting back on with the things I need to do, so yeah sorry for the delay. I will be catching up with some small jobs around my room first then I will jump back on the wagon and finish off the third pile of games I've got sitting next to my bed.

Later on tonight I've got a couple of other posts I will be putting up as well, just need to sort a few things before I do. Trying to think what else I've got to report to you guys, hmm oh yeah I finished the story on Lego Batman and just doing the collectible stuff now. Last night I finished the Justice League arena levels which where hard, seriously annoying hard but I do jump with joy when the two gold trophies appeared at the end. I will be reviewing that game in the next few days so again keep your eye's open for that as well.

That's it really for this post, it was just another post to say I've not forgotten you guys but things beyond my control cancelled everything. I hope all of you are having a good weekend and I will catch up with you later,
~Iznic

Not to Plan

Morning folks,
Sorry about the lack of posts but thing's came up that kept me busy, seems I've woken up to Blizzard being hacked and that was not how I wanted to start my day. Seriously why do people do this, seems the EU only had e-mail compromised but still going to go change all the passwords in a minute.

Apart from that bad news it's been great the last few days since the last post, first up the patch finally downloaded and installed on it's second attempt (error message on the first). Took an over night download to get it done in the end, so I will be trying out the games again this evening as long as nothing comes up.

While the patch was downloading I did some MMO gaming and man was it great, first up I jumped onto Warcraft to play my main druid character. The Darkmoon monthly faire was running so I did a few quests and bing! achievement unlocked for archaeology, I just hit the 300 mark in it's progress. For those that don't play WOW each profession as stages that you can learn up to then you have to get trained in the advance version, max is 525 right now (until Pandaria). Since I need to get my character sorted for the new expansion, profession levelling is one of the things I need to do. I was chuffed to see I had hit 300 since it takes forever to level archaeology, plus with hitting 300 I can now go to Outland and do new dig sites.

Anyway when that popped up I thought I would check to see how the other professions are, Fishing done, First Aid done and Cooking done so only archaeology was left in the secondary sets (each play can have two main professions and as many secondary professions as they want). My character is leatherworker and skinner for his mains, skinning was max before I even hit max level and I found out I'm only 500/525 on leatherwork. Must had been working on it in the past so very happy with that, plus I got 600+ leather sitting on my alt character.

So all I need to do with my druid is level up leatherwork, archaeology and clear out space in his inventory. Oh yeah I also need to clear some of the quests out of my journal to make space ready for the new ones. Not as bad as I thought it was and nearly forgot my mate put some more game time onto his account, good news for me since he was using a scroll of resurrection from me which means I get the new special spectral mount.

How cool is that!? was doing a little happy dance when I realised I had finally got it. I did not do much with my new Shaman character, think I did one more level so he's now level six and that was it. I was pushing for time and really want to play some Star Wars so I jumped over, had some fun there as well. Did some quests and a group quest which was great, grouped up with another bounty hunter and Sith to take some rebels down. Really want to play a Sith since the lightsabre animations look so cool, want to play a Jedi as well.

That was it for my MMO night and I had a blast, just need to get some more time on them both though hopefully this weekend but we will see.

Apart from that I did some gaming yesterday on Lego Batman 2 for the Vita, it's OK but not great still got plenty of problems but I will review it soon. Really stuck on the Justice area challenges so might need to look up what I'm doing wrong since I'm getting very frustrated with it.

Last thing my Nintendo Club leaf trophy arrived yesterday and I was over the moon with it, was a bit worried it would be cheap looking but as you can see by the picture it turned out great. I was a little disappointed to find out the shell trophy went up the day after I ordered this but no regrets, it's going to sit next my Old Republic statue soon.

Anyway that's it folks for now, I will catch up with you all later so have a good one!
~Iznic

Delays

Evening,
Well I'm assuming you are probably wondering where the post is with my progress getting through the latest batch of games, there is a delay thanks to an update for the second game. 3GB update to be more specific and my PS3 as decided that it needs an estimated time of 232 minutes, don't think that time is accurate because it's not changed since the start and it is now 15% done. Still going to be a while before I get on with the list though, so I thought I would get this post up to say sorry but I don't think the third pile will be done tonight at this rate.

On the other hand I did play a bit of Lego Batman on the Vita and I've finally set up my Vita grip, amazing accessory so far but I want more time using it. I will post up a review for it in fact at a later date once I've used it more.

Anyway I'm going to go jump into Warcraft or Star Wars for the rest of the evening, I know it won't help with the download of the update but I really don't care right now. The Darkmoon Faire is on in WOW so going to jump on my main character for a bit and do some of the quests there, then start to get my character ready for the expansion. Jump on my new Goblin character since I need to get all the pets out of the mail from the collector editions, then depending on time Star Wars with some levelling.

So have a good one folks and hope you all playing something awesome,
~Iznic

The Clean Up 3.0

Morning,
So I've had a nice long break yesterday evening/night so I'm ready to go this morning, once again I've been digging through my collection and put together another pile. Personally I think I might have one or two more piles of games after this, a lot of the other games I have tried before so I know they good. After the clean up is done then it's onto completing these games to make space, I would say there are few where once I've completed them I would trade them in.

Third pile is slightly small this time compared to the last two but that's because I have put in quite a few RPG's this time around, plus it's much more easier to manage smaller piles at a time. This time around the collection contains:

• RAGE (Xbox 360)
• Tropico 3 (Xbox 360)
• Rune Factory Oceans (PlayStation 3)
• Wartech (Xbox 360)
• Disgaea 4 (PlayStation 3)
• Atelier Rorona The Alchemist of Arland (PlayStation 3)
• Wolfenstein (Xbox 360)
• Resonance of Fate (Xbox 360)

Small fact to know that six of the eight games are still sealed in the factory wrapper, I think there will be a lot more keeps in this pile compared to last time. So I think it's time I got on with some gaming so I will catch you all later with the posts updating my progress, before I go though I am curious if anyone else as been inspired to go through their collections?

~Iznic

Taking A Break

Good Morning Readers,
Well I know the first pile of games was not posted up yesterday evening and that was because I took a break. Over the last week I've been stressing a lot and on Monday I was not well so I'm trying to chill, last night I just wanted a few hours break from everything. It was nice just to chill and read a book, watch some South Park and I even started my rental game. My plan worked and Lovefilm did send me Lego Batman 2 for the Vita, so far the game play/levels look and feel better then Harry Potter. They still got the horrible cut scenes again because they ported over badly, makes me cringe thinking that the Vita can do so much better.

Anyway I've got the games picked for the third clean up post ready so I will be doing the introduction post in a bit but first I wanted to get this general post up. Might take a breather later from the clean up and play on my MMO's since I'm still wasting money on them right now and I do actually want to play them. Apart from that I think that is everything I wanted to say, oh wait they did just realise the new multiplayer trailer for Black Ops 2 and it does look awesome.



But I did say the same about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and I've still not got around to playing the multiplayer, I've still got the pre-order packs sitting on the side unused and no doubt the codes for the xp bonuses no longer work. I do have a deposit down on this game so if I am going to get it I really need to give the multiplayer ago this time around, need to get back onto Battlefield 3 as well since I've only done one match.

Hmmm need more time, just not enough in the day/week/month/year for my liking. So I better get on with my day since I do have work in a bit, as I said at the start the plan is continue the clean up, maybe get some time on the MMO's and hopefully do a little more on Lego Batman. Think that's a good plan for the day, what you guys up to? anything good?
~Iznic

Second Attempt Begins (Part Two)

I've decided to start with the handheld and went with the 3DS games first, mostly because my 3DS was right next to me charging at the time. Not sure at this moment where my PSP is since I've not used it since 2011, think it's beside my bed somewhere (I hope). Anyway back to the point I've started with Samurai Warriors which is pretty much the same as the other games in the series and that is the problem. It's not that different to any of the other console versions so I don't see myself rushing to play it, I've had it since the launch of the 3DS over a year ago now as well.

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This was a hard choice but I'm going to go with the trade in pile, as I said it's just the same as the other ones and I have no rush to play it. While I was deciding what to do with the Samurai Warriors I did try out Tales of the Abyss, very nice graphics and again another anime type game. It's a real time combat RPG which works pretty well and the 3D effects look great, so this is defiantly going on the keep pile. Bit too early to tell where the story is going, well other then I got some kind of magically power and I'm part of the royal family plus there is a prophecy about me.

Not a bad start to this pile with it being 50/50 but it's time to dig out my PSP and it's just come to me that no doubt the battery is flat, I do hope the charger is nearby the console.

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Heart attack over! what is with this game clean up causing me health issues, just plugged it in and it would not charge. Think the battery needed time to revive itself before it started charging, was worried because my PSP is the Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary one which I really do not want to lose. Least I did not take out the TV this time around, think I've had enough trouble for now.

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Seems I need a new update for my PSP in order to play the games but of course I cannot update since the battery level is not high enough, even though the console is plugged into the mains. So leaving the PSP on charge while I'm going to go play the Xbox games instead, had enough of updates this weekend already. Think I will start with First of the North Star which I've heard is meant to be like the Warrior Series but then again so was that Guilty Gear game yesterday.

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Oh dear not sure now thanks to the opening trailer since it shows the start where the main character is beating up an army of thugs in a war torn world then it shows a one on one melee duel. Reminds me too much of a fighting game (Tekken, DOA etc) which I'm not a fan of.

Yeah it's going in the trade in pile, there is no fighting like Tekken or anything which was a relief but the game was just not my cup of tea. Several times I was trying to hit people and it was clear that my punches and kicks should hit but nothing happened, then the case of every time they punch or hit me I would go flying across the map which just got on my nervous. Also when punching it felt very sluggish, so yeah this was not my game but it does resemble the Warrior series a lot.

But good news since my PSP as now updated itself while I was playing and God Eater Burst just booted up, the opening trailer was in anime form as well so I'm looking forward to it.

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The game is basically a Monster Hunter game, use giant weapons that no normal man should be able to carry but they can. You are sent on missions to hunt down giant well demon/monster like creatures in a world that looks in ruins. It's good but again it's like Samurai Warriors Chronicles, when will I play it? when will I make time for it? think I need to have a think about this one.

Since my PSP is on right now I might as well put in the 3rd Birthday from Square Enix, not sure about this one.

So basically your mind as been sent back into the past where a terrible event as happened, some kind of horrible monsters/demons have ravaged the world and this is the starting point. So guess what you going to do is find out what happened and put a stop to the events, well this is my guess anyway.

It's a 3rd person shooter and it's not that bad of a game but for me it falls into the same category as the God Eater, will I play it? and after an hour of thinking about both of the games the answer is no. They would be some of the last games I would pick up to play, not saying they bad just that there are other games I rather play so instead of them setting on my shelf for another couple of years, both are going into the trade in pile.

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So far that's one to keep and four to trade in and my god it's hard, because I keep thinking you know what I might make time later. Then I remember I say that with most games, I'm really sick and tired of the pile of shame that I have a massed over the years. Wish I could be one of those people that buy one game at time, play them then get another one afterwards.Life would be so much simpler and a lot cheaper too.

Anyway enough with the ranting and back to it, I'm all done on the handheld games so think I will try out the two armored core games on the Xbox then finish off with the PlayStation 3 games. Scratch that I just saw the time and so I'm going to call it a night, I won't end this post but instead continue tomorrow and have one giant post but in the future I think I will split the posts up to make it easier to read.

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Good afternoon folks and I've just got back from work, just making a cup of tea then I'm jumping straight into it. Going to start with the Armored Core games like I originally planned then finish off with the PlayStation games.

Armored Core 3 is up first and I remember playing this game now, its a mech fighter where you can customise pretty much everything. The controls are pretty easy but the problem I had with it and still do is the graphics and missions, your mech looks great but the battlefield looks really basic visually. Plus the missions are really dull, kill all the tanks, kill all enemy mechs etc seems to lack depth for the story but maybe I'm not giving it enough time.

Never played Armored Core for Answers but just found out its a standalone expansion so everything is pretty much the same except they now added giant mech platforms that you got to fight. Just loaded up a video of someone playing one of the missions, it's the same to what I just played but I do admit the giant combat mech platform thing does look cool.

Although they are ok games and yes I would play them but I would not any time soon so like the PSP games both are going to the trade in pile. Hopefully I did well when it came to picking the PlayStation games and hopefully got a few keepers there.

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 Amazing all three of the PlayStation games are still sealed, just further proof that this is needed to be done. First up is Sengoku which reminds me of the Warrior series and was why I bought it, although I should stop doing that since Guilty Gear and First of the North Star did not turn out good for me. Nevermind I just put on a quick battle and soon as it loaded I knew it's a keeper, it is like the Dynasty Warrior games. Well that was quicker then I thought it would take so time for the next game which will be White Knight Chronicles, don't think I will have a problem with this game since I do love my RPG's. 

Just waiting for the install to finish since it's one of those games, wish it would hurry up so I can get on with this. Hooray! finally we have a opening trailer so it's time for some gaming. Graphics are nice and I love the start city with the giant castle in the middle. Not a bad RPG but got to say quite a few cut scenes at the start to the point I was skipping most, although I did rush through the combat information so I had no idea what I was doing when I got into my first fight. But I am impressed with the graphics, story as not really started but I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and the game play was not too bad either just need to learn the controls instead of skipping.

So it's time for the last game of this pile and that's the second RPG "Trinity", again I don't really have doubts about this game but we will see.

Sold, sold, sold and sold! opening battle which is barely five minutes into the game is awesome. Basically it's a action rpg so real time combat system where you have certain attacks linked to each button, pressing R2 changes the skill set so you got a wide variety of attacks. The game as three main characters that work as a team and a simple press of L2 let's switch between them, instantly I was fighting well lesser demons and get into the spirit of the game. Then out comes this giant floating eye thing which could take a beating then the game prompts me to use a team attack, L1+R1 and bang all three characters attack together to do massive damage. Earlier on I did while fighting the lesser creatures and they all hit the ground causing a earth quake type move that wiped out the enemy forces around us. I don't need to put any more time into to know this is a keeper so there you have it the second pile is now sorted.

Four out of the ten games where to keep and the rest went to the trade In's, technically four of those games could had been kept but as I said I could not see myself playing them any time soon. In fact I can say right now that I could not see myself playing them until 2013 at the least. I've already took some of the trade in pile in and walked away with £15 cash, not great but the in store was only £19ish so I might as well. Maybe could had got a bit more at CEX but they never seem to have any cash days any more which I have no idea how that works but oh well.

Going to take a breather folks then I will start going through my collection again to find another pile to work on.
~Iznic

Second Attempt (Part One)

Afternoon folks,
Just had a bit of a break to try and de-stress so my headache would go away, feel much better but still not one hundred percent. Now that my break is over I thought it would be best to jump straight back into and start the second pile of games, took me less than five minutes to find some.

For those who missed the previous posts check out the label "Clean Up" which can be found to the right or at the bottom of this page. Basically I'm going through my huge collection of games and trying them out to see if they are keepers or to be traded in. So far I've done ten games and only two went to the trade in pile which I thought was a pretty decent result.

So here is the second lot and quite a mixture this time around, I'm trying to keep the piles to around ten at time since that is more easy for me to manage and write about. If you cannot make out what's there then here is the full list:

• Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage (Xbox 360)
• Samurai Warriors Chronicles (3DS)
• Tales of the Abyss (3DS)
• Gods Eater Burst (PSP)
• The 3rd Birthday (PSP)
• White Knight Chronicles (PlayStation 3)
• Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes (PlayStation 3)
• Trinity: Souls of Zill O'LL (PlayStation 3)
• Armored Core For Answer (Xbox 360)
• Armored Core 4 (Xbox 360)

I will be talking about the games as I play them in separate posts but I got a funny feeling that there will be quite a few games for the trade in pile this time. Mostly because I'm unsure on a lot of these games if I will like them or not.
~Iznic

Still Cleaning Up (Part Three)

Getting tired right now but I'm determined to get a few more games tried out before I decide to call it for the night. I've just tried out Two Worlds 2 and was pleasantly surprised that I did enjoy the opening level for it, the story is pretty decent so far and the opening cut scene was great. Of course there are quite a few bugs with the guys but I knew that was coming since all the reviews that I read before I bought it did say that was the problem, but anyway it's above average and so it's going into the keep pile. Might even put it on the list to play soon since I was enjoying it until Xbox Live disconnected and me fail the tutorial lock pick which meant I was stuck, hopefully next time will work out better.

So it's 50/50 right now with two to keep and two to trade in, next up is Knights Contract another RPG.

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Wow the trailer on the game menu for Knights Contract is amazing, witches, demons and a town being ripped apart by them. Very gruesome in some part but looks amazing none the less.

Ok this game is for the keep pile, the game play is pretty much close to God of War which is one of my favourite all time games. Story is pretty sweet so far and the controls are not hard to understand and work well. Story involves a immortal knight that hunts down witches, undead, demons etc and from the looks will be working along side a good witch to save this poor town that's been overrun. Already unlocked two achievements and was starting to get into before I stopped myself, think I have another game for the play soon list.

Anyway time for a small break and to make myself a cold drink, getting really warm again and I wish the weather would just make it's mind up.

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Just played the opening level for Legends of Troy, not sure why I even put this on the list to try since it's exactly the same to Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors (two of my favourite games). So as you can guess it's on the keep pile, some of the combat moves seem a little lacking compared to the Dynasty Warriors as in they feel sluggish but then I have been playing the more updated Warrior games.

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Hunted the Demons Forge is next and the loading screen as already got me won, it's giant cavern city with a black dragon attacking it that's breathing lightning. Also helped with the opening trailer showing huge cities, a beautiful open world plus a giant underground land filled with monsters and dragons.

Yeah this game is for the keeps from the start, the controls are brilliant and yet simple at the same time. Just been playing the female elf with the bow which is basically aim with the left trigger and shoot with the right trigger. Looks like the story based around two bounty hunter/treasure hunters, nothing really as been revealed yet and I did not get too far in mostly because I was tired. Yes it's tomorrow, this post was started last night but I got tired and still had a few games to go.

Anyway so another good rpg to add to the list to play, blimey I've got some games to get through but I'm glad the games where not all a waste of money. So that's five good games and two games for the trade in pile, next up will be Dungeon Siege 3, finger's crossed it will be another good RPG. That reminds me before I went to bed last night I made a small list of games ready for the second clean up pile to go through, was about to go to sleep then a load of game names came to me.

Hunted: The Demons Forge

Well I had to wait for the TV since it was recording this morning but I've kept myself busy with a few blog posts and I've also updated the stats for the year as well. Now that the TV as finished the Xbox is just currently loading up Dungeon Siege, not sure what to expect from the game.

It's a top view dungeon crawler (think a bit like Diablo), graphics are not too bad and the story could be interesting. Seems you are one of the last surviving members of the legion who was killed by the villain, it's year since that event and the land is torn by war. So my guess is you going to restart the legion and go after the villian. Either way seems decent enough so adding this to the keep pile, I tried out the warrior class and it was enjoyable. Look at the enemy and press the green button to attack, shoulder button to change weapons. Nothing outstanding really to shout about yet but it is the start, anyway that leaves me now with only two more games to try out. Divinity 2 and Agarest are the last games and I will be starting with Divinity since my Xbox is currently on, my bets are on that I will keep it since it's a RPG that looks similar to Oblivion and Two Worlds which is the type of game I like.

Oh my god I forgot about this game! the menu trailer is currently playing and it was showing some epic fights going on then it showed the player transforming into a dragon. Now I remember why I bought this game, it was so I can play as a dragon, think we all know where this game will be going.

Started the game up and first thing I do is attack the chickens in town, even got XP for them plus loot (chicken leg). Interface/controls remind me of Fable yet the graphics are like Oblivion but not as good, I did pick up Divinity 2 The Dragon Knight Saga which comes with this one I'm playing with everything upgraded (heard it's a lot better too). So far though it's not a bad RPG but story as not really kicked off, looks like I'm training to be a Dragon Slayer.

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Just had an hour break since my head was killing me again, I did get a little further with the Divinity game and even did some training by killing Goblins. Looks to be a promising RPG so yeah it's staying in the keep pile, cannot wait to try out turning into a dragon. Also this means when I do find out Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga that can stay in the keep pile as well. So one more game left to go and then that's the first pile done, took longer then I hoped but after the mess with setting up the Wii and the fact I've been blogging everything it makes sense.

Agarest (Generations of War Zero) as started like an episode of a Anime series which is pretty sweet in my books but I am left confused what this game is meant to be about. I know its a JRPG set in a fantasy setting and thats all I know, guess there is only one way to find out.

Woah ok was not expecting anything like this, story is basically twelve gods made the land but they where not perfect which meant the land was not perfect. Like in most stories the gods went to war and so did the world, eventually they found peace and so did the land but it was split thanks to the fighting. Now once again the forces of darkness fight the forces of light, so it's the typical good vs bad scenario but I'm shocked because the graphics are old school.

Also the voices are in Japanese with the writing English, was a bit shocked since I was not expecting but very cool. I like the old school RPG's but I never really finished one, the image above is from the Agarest Wikia and looks like the combat is turned based but not got to that stage yet.

Right just did the opening battle in the tutorial, it's a grid base battlefield and take it in turns to move then attack. Plenty of stats to keep track but an awesome game none the less, love the old school RPG's so yeah this is going to the keep pile. Although I do wonder how this story is going to pan out, will it be go after the dark forces to stop them or take on the gods.

So I've finally finished the first pile of clean up games and out of the ten only two where not for me, so not bad at all. Think I will take a break to have myself some lunch and relax from the computer, then I will start the opening post for the second pile which I need to do dig out.

~Iznic

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan DLC

There as been quite a few rumours about a new DLC in the works ever since fans found some some random files in the latest patches. Well I was just browsing IGN and found this lovely trailer had been posted up last week.



I'm a big fan of DLC for games that I love, mostly because it adds more time to my favourite games but sometimes I hate it when they just quickly add something that as no real meaning other then to make money. Let's add a new character with a quick back story, or lets put a new quest in with a "legendary" weapon which is useless after about five minutes

Looks like Leviathan will fall in the good category this time, learning more about the origins of the Reapers is something I've always wanted to know it annoyed me that it wasn't massively touched on the game. Also add in the rumour that Leviathan is a rogue Reaper sounds like it could have a great plot to work with. The trailer as pretty much sold it to me with the beautiful water planet and the huge fight taking on all the harvesters. So yeah soon as it goes live I will be picking this bad boy up, will any of you be doing the same? or have you had enough of DLC?

~Iznic


Source: big thanks to IGN for the trailer

Thank You

Morning,
I'm still working on the third clean up post from last night and it will be up shortly once I've tested out a few more games, also I've already got the second lot of games in my mind so around midday I should have that list posted up as well. But I wanted to take a minute to thank you my readers for reading my blog, it's amazing to see the stats every day and I still cannot get my head around it. Right now I'm currently hitting around 15-20 hits a day (even on days I'm not posting) with some awesome days hitting 30-40+. Might not be huge numbers compared to some sites but to me it's a lot, so thank you for taking the time to read about my gaming adventures and ramblings it means a lot.

I'm also finding myself checking out the stats page pretty much daily to see what people are reading, I was amazed last week when a post back from 2009 appeared on the weekly popular list. Hell all the stats are amazing, like America is my biggest audience followed by Russia then my home of UK. I have readers from France, Japan, Indonesia and many more.

My only regret with this blog is the lack of comments, I would love to get you my readers to post and see what you enjoy about gaming. Not sure in what I can do to get that changed but I will keep working on the blog and hopefully one day it will happen.

So what's in store now for my blog? well I want to finish cleaning it up since there is still a lot to do. First up I want to clean up the information bar on the right side, example would be losing the about me information and turning that into a page. Facebook and Twitter previews will be turned into button links to reduce the size as well. The new "Most Popular Posts" is doing really well so that will be staying, I did not think it would work but people seem to be using it a lot.

Hmm what else, oh yeah the 2011 stats page will no longer be linked at the top instead a link will be on the 2012 stats page instead. Also going to work on some kind of archive index to help navigate better but that's still in the planning stage. So plenty to come and plus I've got a ton of posts lined up that I want to do, just need to get my ass into gear and get them up.

Again thank you my readers for sticking with me and again leave feedback, or talk about what games you playing because I would love to hear! I'm always interesting in hearing tales of peoples gaming.
~Iznic

The Clean Up Continues (Part Two)

It's barely been 10-15 minutes since I posted up the last post with the games that I selected and already one game as gone to the trade in pile. Overture Guilty Gear was my first pick and if I'm to be honest I was not shocked, I was unsure about this game when I first bought it (after Christmas sale so no real money lose). It's meant to be sort like Dynasty Warriors Empires where you go around the map leading a small army and take over parts of the map to win.

So the disc went in and it brought up a opening trailer showing a demonstration and it put me off straight away, from the looks you can bring up a map and you have to summon the troops you want for the battle. I saw what looks like that anyway since they decided to go really fast for the demonstration but what confused me was he kept spawning some kind of robot trooper to help, then despawn him again which then happened four more times before he decided to finally leave the starting area.

After that he ran ahead and got into a battle with the enemy, well I guess it was the leader and started fighting with their troops too but nothing seemed to happen to the progress bar on the top. In the end I turned the video off and booted up the training, let's get the hands on approach and maybe it will be better.

I pick my character spawn on the map with the enemy leader in front of me, the training window appears in the bottom corner telling me to pause the game. So I pause and on the screen I get all the lovely game options like but in the top corner it tells me to resume the game to continue training. Ok no problem so go back into the game and it tells me to pause again, as you can imagine it got a bit confusing. So I try out some buttons and found the attack, jump and reset match all the while the enemy just stands and does nothing while I attack. I run around the map and cannot seem to capture anything, no buttons for the map to summon and still this box tells me to pause even though I have five times.

I'm ten minutes into the game and I just eject the disc and put it in my bag ready to trade it in next time I go to the shopping centre. I'm guess I must be doing something wrong and no doubt there are fans yelling what a newbie I am but oh well it's not for me. So onto my next game and I'm going with the Wii titles next which will be interesting since I think I'm going to have to dig around to find the controllers and reset the sensor bar back up.

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What was I thinking when I picked out those Wii games, the console as not been on in over a year and I had to decide to play it. So far I've had to search high and low for the sensor bar and controller, had to do some major tiding up for that. Of course the battery pack for the controller is fully flat so just put it on the charger (god that needs to be cleaned) and I'm not sure if it's charging or not since the light is flashing. Then I remembered I traded my second set of controllers since my girlfriend bought her own Wii, think I need to find some batteries out to use for now.

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Don't think I've ever swore so much in my entire life, well I found some batteries but then released I have no idea where the original battery cover is for the controller (the recharge battery comes with it's own cover that is glued to the batter). Then when I turned the Wii on and no picture came on so I checked to find it's not plugged into the tv, no problem just follow the wire and plug it in. Hmm what's it caught on, maybe give it a tug, yeah that's the PS3 that's making a banging sound. In my panic to stop tugging on the wire I nearly fall over and take out the TV with me, so five minute break to cool down and stop cursing.

The Wii is now on finally but I do wonder why I got a turtlebeach headset plugged into the composite ports, another problem to sort another day. Oh my god, last play date was 20th May 2010 according to the calendar and I was playing Wii Play which is still in the console. My god it's been over two years since this console as been used, I think my friend Lesley would have a fit.

Well first need to up date it and hook it back up to the Internet, dreading how long it will take to do two years of updates.

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System is up to date and it only took around ten minutes so I was surprised about that but did have a heart attack when I thought for a second that the eject had broken when I tried to get wii play out. It's all good though and now it's finally time to play some games, first up Sakura: So long, My Love!

Another game for the trade in pile since I'm over fifteen minutes into the game and still no game play, a lot of talking and cut scenes so far with just two chat selections. The story is really not my thing either, basically it's anime game which I normal love but this is not me. Basically starting to work for a crime fighting division for the Japanese government that works secretly under a theatre where the forces actually do singing and dance on the side to entertain the crowd to keep them calm. Steam punk setting with some mech fighting which I did not get close to trying, guess that will be the gameplay for later once I've settled into the base.

Bit disappointed so far since that's two for two now but I think the other games will be ok, but then again I never know and on that note it's time for Xenoblade.

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Fourteen minutes into Xenoblade and I'm in love, the games opening was a pretty sweet way to do it which involved you a few mates making a last stand against a mech army. Controls seemed a bit dodgy but I think it would be better played with the classic controller instead of the Wii Remote, anyway the story looks awesome and the gameplay was not bad so this is a keeper. It's that good I've not put it on my list to must play soon and I really want to continue but I must try the other games.

Xenoblade

Speaking of the other games I'm going to stop for now on this post and do the other games on part three, did not realise how long this post was and I'm only three games in with seven more to come. So far only one game to keep and two to trade in, bit disappointed but I'm glad Xenoblade turned out good. Stay tuned for part three which should be up later on since I'm still continuing to test the games.

~Iznic

Clean Up (Part One)

Like I mentioned in my last post I've decided to start testing out some of my games that I own. Too many times I've finally come back to a game after months/years of owning them to find it ... well rubbish. Dr Lautrec on the 3DS last week was the last game to turn out to be disappointing, I was really surprised since for all purposes it was mean't to be a game I would had loved. So I'm now pulling out games from my collection to try and when I say try, I mean like an hour or two to see what they are like.

So here is the first lot of games I've pulled out and as you can see there are quite a few games across different consoles. In fact this would be the first time my Wii as been turned on in over a year at least so this be will interesting. I will be doing more posts that relate to this one as I go through my collection, part two will cover what I think of these games and then part three will be another set of games etc.

Anyway for now I'm going to list the titles below then head off to go start playing.

• Hunted: The Demon's Forge (Xbox 360)
• Overture Guilty Gear 2 (Xbox 360)
• Two Worlds 2 (Xbox 360)
• Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii)
• Warriors: Legends of Troy (Xbox 360)
• Dungeon Siege 3 (Xbox 360)
• Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
• Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (Xbox 360)
• Agarest Generations of War Zero (PlayStation 3)
• Knights Contract (Xbox 360)

~Iznic

Halo 4 Limited Edition Console

I've been wondering since E3 would there be any special edition Xbox 360's this year and with Halo 4 coming out in November I had my vote's it would be there. I was thinking maybe a Call of Duty one as well but then I remembered so far only the Modern Warfare series have been given the console treatment.

I was not shocked when a few weeks back when the Halo 4 console was announced, but I was shocked on how good it looks.

Gone for a Forerunner look I've got to say I love it and the blue light's was a nice touch, shocking since Microsoft have always kept to the green with every console. This limited edition bundle comes with the following:

• One Xbox 360 console Halo 4 styled with blue lights, custom sounds when turned on and tray opened
• 2 Controllers (Rotating d-pad + blue lights + Halo 4 themed)
• 320gb Harddrive
• Halo 4 game
• Wired Headset
• DLC Codes

My deposit as already been put down ready but need to work into the budget, would love to see some information about the DLC that's included since nothing as been announced yet. Usually I would guess avatar gear but you never know they might break tradition.

Also announced along side the console was the controller separately but get this, it's not the same one in the box. This time around the controllers included in the box are in fact exclusive to the bundle, the separate controller is a special edition.

The design is similar but instead is themed on the UNSC in the game and again comes with the blue lights instead of the green. No word yet about any DLC but so far every limited edition controller as come with some kind.

So far I've picked up pretty much all the new themed limited edition controllers so I probably will be picking one of these up too, but again it's all about the money and if I have it.

Anyone else interested in the console or the pad?
~Iznic

A New Month

Good Morning...no sorry Good Afternoon,
I swear time is flying by right now for me but anyway it's time for another update on my adventures in the gaming scene. I'm happy to announce I've finally sat down and finished the story campaign for Resistance 3, I don't think it was good as the past ones but still an OK shooter. I'm glad that I did stick with it since I've completed all the other games in the series so far, felt a bit wrong not to finish the last one.

Anyway will have to wait and see what Lovefilm will send me next but I did sort out my rental list, there was quite a few games on there that I was not in the mood to play right now. In fact I think the list now consists of only two games, Lego Batman for the PS3 and Vita. No doubt I will get a message saying they cannot send them since there is no stock right now and that I need to add more games to my rental list.

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So what are my plans for this week? well I'm going to work on my collection, last week I was disappointed that Dr Lautrec turned out to be rubbish for me. Especially after all the information and trailers made it out to be a good game for me. So this week I want to go through my collection and play an hour or two on most of the games to see what they are like. There are plenty of games still sitting on the shelf sealed or not touched, like Dr Lautrec I'm under the impression they will be great when I do play them.

Any games I don't like can be traded in towards the Christmas fund which by the way I've started working on the list of games I want. At first it was quite small and I was proud of myself then yesterday I remembered a ton of games I forgot about plus I had completely forgot about the Wii U might be out this year. So I will be needed to go back to that list this week and see how bad it will be this year.

Back to the original topic of what I will be playing, so yeah I will be going through my collection to sort it out but there are some games I want to play as well. I need to put more time into the MMO's still, I was shocked to hear that Old Republic will be free-to-play soon since the low subscribes. It's a brilliant game but it was really was designed for singleplayer, still I want to get more time into it and get some group questing on the go.

World of Warcraft is going to need a lot of time as well now that the expansion is out in less that two months. Need to clear out my bags, sort my characters out ready and level up my professions so I'm all set for the new stuff. Plus the fact I've started my new Goblin character although I am worried they will do some big changes to the classes so I'm wondering if I should just hold off on my new character. That way when the expansion is out start then so I'm learning the new stuff instead of have to learn the current build then have to relearn the new stuff when it's out. Does that that make sense?

Way too much to stuff to do right now and I have no idea where to start, plus I think this post is just me rambling on about this different subjects. Think I will call it for now and continue later on, hopefully you guys are having a great time gaming and I will catch you all later.
~Iznic

Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition

This September was my break period where I could save up some money ready for the Christmas rush, so you can imagine I was banging my head on the desk when I read the other day that the new expansion for World of Warcraft was coming out on the 25th September.

It's funny though because I did take a quick look at the release dates and there are few games out that month so I really need to sit down and plan out what I want so I can see when they come out, anyway back to the topic.

So Mists of Pandaria is finally coming out which does not shock me since the Beta is pretty much finished but I was banking on it coming out November/December in time for Christmas. At the time of the announcement there was only the standard edition and the digital collectors edition which is the first time that's ever been done. This edition comes with all the in game content that you would normally get with the collectors edition, anyway next day while I was in work I saw a message saying the collectors would be website only. As you can imagine I was straight onto my phone ordering it, Blizzard make some of the best collectors edition and so far I've had all of them for World of Warcraft except the original game. In fact I need to do a unboxing of them all before Mists of Pandaria comes out, I will add that to the list of things to do this week.

On the right is a picture of the Collector's Edition box which is the same as the others, the box is a giant slevee where you can pull out the inner box which holds all the contents.

But what's made me happy is the in-game content, for the first time we also getting a mount! The Imperial Quilen flying Mount plus the puppy pet as well. Normally the collector editions only have a pet in them but seems Blizzard have decided to add more this time around. Also like normal there are Starcraft 2 Portraits and a new banner sigial and accent for Diablo 3 themed around the new expansion. Anyway check out the full list below to see whats included in the box.

• Copy of the game
• Behind the Scenes DVD & Blu-ray
• Soundtrack (20 tracks)
• Hardback Art Book (208 pages)
• Mousepad (Chen Stormstout Brewmaster Artwork)
• Diablo 3 Banner Sigil & Accent
• Starcraft 2 Battle.net Portraits
• In-game Flying Mount (Imperial Quilen)
• In-game Pet (Lucky Quilen Cub)

Anyway that's it for this post but I cannot wait for September and to get my hands on this expansion. Of course expect a unboxing post when it does arrive and plenty of posts of my tales when I'm playing it but for now have a good one folks.

~Iznic

P.S. Check out the in-game pet and mount, very cool looking!

 

Too Early

Morning Folks,
Really did not want to get out of bed this morning, even if it was 8.30am it's still early for my liking but got work soon so I guess I better get up. Anyway I thought since I do have a bit of time before work that I would spend it updating the blog again, this would had been done sooner but the Olympics have kept me busy the last few days. To say I'm not a sports fan I've really got into the spirit of the game and I'm hoping for a gold today for Team GB.

So onto my gaming news and I'm happy to announce I actually played World of Warcraft yesterday, I went on to check my in-game mail since my characters needed to pick up the Diablo 3 Collector's Edition pet. Plus my new Goblin Shaman character needs to pick up all his pets out of the mail, every time I start a new character I will get all the collector editions pet sent to me by mail. Unfortunately when I did login into I had missed out by a day or two so they where all deleted, mail only lasts 30 days before it's deleted.

After a quick curse I restarted my character which was luckily that I had only got up to level 5, anyway I got back up to level 5 and left the starting zone to the new ship wrecked island so I'm only slightly ahead from last time. But least I still got my pets back now which are still sitting in the mail but I'm determined to put more time over the next week so I will open the mail next time.

Oh dear

Need to get some more gaming time in the week along with Old Republic so I can get my money's worth. I just remembered that I forgot to mention about my last post, I did not get too far with my gaming plans the other day but I did finish the first act of Diablo 3. The Skeleton King went down and I'm now on to Act Two which is awesome, I've been busy with the blacksmith making some cool armour for my Barbarian and I'm all set for what ever comes next.

So this week I want to make time for the MMO's, be very cool if I could start the second act for Diablo and I need to work on Resistance 3 my rental. I did do another level the other day and I'm struggling, it's not a hard game it's more wanting to play it. I'm finding that the game is starting to become boring to me but I keep hoping that it will turn around. I think I will give it another hour or two before I give up, speaking of giving up on games I did send back Neverdead.

Very weird game that does not really explain the story very well at the opening and I found the sword controls to be wrong. Basically you swing your sword with the right analog stick but it as to be in the direction your sword is aiming on the screen. Yeah it gets annoying really fast and the problem is the sword is pretty much the best weapon for dealing with the demons. So I really could not be bothered with giving it a chance so I sent back, rather spend my time on games I will really enjoy.

Well that's it for today's rant, I'm off to get ready for work so have a good one folks and I will try to get the site stats updated this evening.
~Iznic

Weekend Gameplay

Morning Folks,
Got plenty of plans for today involving Lot's of gaming, going to be heading over to Diablo 3 in a bit since it's been a while. Also I registered my collection edition codes in the week so I can now around with my angel wings, also my Warcraft time is now up to December. Later on I want to get back on Resistance 3 since I've had that game on rent now for a month so really could do with finishing it, think I was on level 10 the last time I looked. So far it's not been a bad game but I was expecting something a lot better, hopefully it will pick up for the last half.

Also I do have a second rental which is Neverdead, still unsure what to think about this game and I'm very close to finishing the first level. Some of the controls feel very awkward and the story is not that gripping, since the first boss fight is about to begin I'm going to attempt it later and let that be my deciding factor on if I should stick with playing it or send it back.

Really could do with sorting out my rental list because there are quite a few games on it that I'm not in the mood right to work on and knowing my luck they would be the next games to be sent. Anyway apart from that I need to find some time for Old Republic and Warcraft because it's been a few weeks now since my last session.

Speaking of Warcraft they announced the release date for Mists of Pandaria and it's the 25th September world wide, put my pre-order down for the Collectors Edition which was a no brainier since I have the last three expansion collector editions. Although I hate the date for it since it's right bang at the start of the Christmas line up and September was meant to be the quite month so I could save up.

Going to have to sit down and start working out what I want this year and what I can wait for, there is way too much stuff. So yeah plenty to do today and to be honest I think the days need to be longer so I can fit it all in, I've also got Minecraft on PC as well in the week so I want to get some time on that and I picked up Pokemon Conquest so I really want to start that as well. I think it's safe to say I'm currently screwed right now, at this rate I'm going to burn myself out.

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Well I lost pretty much all morning and most of the afternoon watching the Judo Olympics then the Cycling at the end, cheered my heart out at the end when we got the Silver. Thank god for Lizzie getting our are first medal for Great Britain.

Anyway time I get on with some gaming, so first up Diablo 3 and time to take down the Skeleton King Solo. I did it with a friend co-op a few weeks back but because he had done it before it was kinda rushed so I want to see the story pan out properly.

So catch you all later and have a good weekend folks
~Iznic

Long Time No See

Hello folks,
It's a lovely summer morning here today which is unusual for England although personally I prefer the winter. So I better start with saying I'm sorry for the lack of posts over the last week and a half but it was my Birthday last week so I went on holiday for a few days. It was nice having a break but I'm back now and I got quite a few things I need to catch up on with the blog.

First up the big news which in a way should not be a shock if you read my blog regularly, I'm stopping my 200,000 gamerscore challenge. I've known and you guys should have known too for the last several months that hitting the 200,000 mark by end of the year was now impossible unless a miracle happened. At the start of this year I did say I would not do a challenge because it usually took over my gaming and I would not play anything else because I needed to get achievements. When I started the 200,000 challenge I promised myself I would not let this happen, well over a week ago I realised I was letting the challenge take over.

I cancelled a MMO Night because I needed to earn some achievements for the week and it was the day after that I realised I needed to cancel the challenge. This of course does not mean I won't stop getting achievements, it's still a passion of mine to keep getting them but I do want to play other games on other consoles.

The 2012 Gaming Progress will be kept going and in fact I just updated the page yesterday, I'm happy to announce I finished Uncharted Golden Abyss on the Vita yesterday. Another great addition to the series and I hope they do more for the Vita, of course I want to go back and platinum all the Uncharted games. They all brilliant and you cannot beat a good treasure hunter story, I'm sucker for them.

This week my plans are to work on my rental games since I have two now, Resistance 3 which I did start before my holiday and got quite far into it. It's good but I'm not getting into it like the last lot, not sure why but I just don't seem to care about the story so far. Hopefully the story will pick up in the later game and give it a good ending.

The second game is Neverdead and I'm not really sure what to expect from this game, guess time will tell and I will post my thoughts once I've tried it. Not sure how a game with the main character being immortal works, how do you fail if you cannot die.

Also got the new patch for Minecraft (Xbox) which as added pistons to the work so I really want to muck about with it, I did start a new game yesterday and made a lovely one floor house with a giant moat around. Going to expand it soon and start hunting down slimes so I can make sticky pistons, that's going to be fun since I've never come across slimes before. My friends have started picking up the PC version since it's more advance and you can do a lot more with it, I'm very tempted and especially with the creative mode. Argh! there is too much coming out, I got Pokemon Conquest this week and I need to renew my Playstation Plus since it ran out a few days ago and the new free stuff as just gone up. Plus in a few weeks the 2012 lineup begins with Borderlands 2, why does everything have to cost so much.

On that note I'm going to end this post since I got quite a few things to do before work, I will try and get a few more posts up later or tomorrow since I've still got quite a few things I want to talk about.

So until then have a good one folks,
~Iznic

Unboxing: Uncharted 3 Explorers Edition

Several days late I know but I finally got around to it so welcome one and all to another Unboxing post, as promised this week I will be showing off the Uncharted 3 Explorers Edition (UK edition). This is one of my favourite collector editions in my collection due to the fact how awesome the chest is. I still remember it arriving on my door step and spending the first thirty minutes just staring at the packaging thinking how awesome, I was really shocked how much effort went into everything. The packaging as you can see is well decorated and it's one of the few outer boxes I've kept since they are normally too bulky and well just plain looking.

Explorer's Edition

How awesome is this!

The chest as got to the best part of the entire thing and it's not cheap material either. The entire thing is wooden and well decorated on the outside with atlas of the world and art sketches of Nathan on the sides. Leather straps and handle as well which have buttons to shut the lid plus the small metal lock as well.


Inside everything is stored and there was bubble wrap around everything to keep it all safe, very impressed since most don't seem to care once it's left the warehouse. The chest can also store 19 games by the way but I can never see myself using it for that, when I get my own place I'm going to have my own gaming shelf showing all these cool things (maybe a gaming room? wonder if Lynn will let me get away with it)

Plenty of Goodies Inside

Starting with the main game itself as you can see in the picture above it was the special edition of the game which the case is entirely cardboard. The reason for this is because the entire thing is designed to be the journal from the game, there are several pages with printed notes/pictures to match the real one from the game. While this is a very cool feature I hated the fact the disc is stored in just a slip page at the back, just glad blu-ray discs are harder to scratch. Also inside was all the multiplayer bonus dlc that came included (golden weapons, exp boosts, extra skins etc) although I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer.

Journal Case

I would love to see a full edition done for Nathan's journal one day, it's one of the first things I fell in love with when I started playing this series. I bet there are quite a few fans out there who would also buy it as well, although by now that journal would be pretty big since of the four games. Maybe do a set of them so there is one for each game, I would buy it anyway.




Sorry to say I did not get the statue out of the protective box and I know I promised that my future unboxing posts would show everything. Reason being I just have no space to store the statue right now so I rather keep it safe until I can, you can still make it out perfectly though.

Nathan Statue

Drake's Ring

Think the face could had been done a little better but oh well still looks cool and cannot wait to finally get it on display with everything else. So what's left to talk about in the box, well how about some cosplay items in the form of Drake's ring and his lucky belt buckle which I hear changes for every game.

Lucky Belt Buckle

If they announce another game and I'm still working in the Video game industry I will dress up as Nathan next time for the launch. Will even get some pictures up on blog if I do, hmm in fact maybe Halloween would be another good time as well. Anyway they are both very cool looking and they made up my mind when I was trying to decide if this explorers edition was worth buying.


The final item in the box is a 3D art card of Nathan Drake which can be seen below, it's quite big and dwarfs the PS3 case. To be honest I had forgotten about it until I started taking the photos for the Unboxing so I might get this into a frame on my wall, think it would go nicely above my desk.

So that's it for this post folks and I hope you enjoyed this Unboxing, I would love if you could leave some feedback on what you think and what improvements you would like to see. Next week I will be doing another Unboxing but this time I'm going to allow you my readers to pick which game I should put up, don't worry in the end I will do all of them but for now just leave a comment here or on Facebook/Twitter with which game you want next.

Assassin's Creed Revelations Animus Edition
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Codex Edition
Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty Special Edition

~Iznic

Knockout

Afternoon folks,
Well I just decided to start my latest rental game from Lovefilm "Resistance 3" and was told I need to download the latest update, not a problem I thought until it came up with "1/4" and as been stuck on 20% for the last 30 minutes. So in the meantime hello folks! Have you missed me? No? Oh well I'm back anyway.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last week but well it was one of those weeks in which I wished I stayed in bed, swear this year as to many of those weeks so far. Putting the bad week to the side I do have my holiday next week and I cannot wait for some time off, popping to Chester for a few days to go see the Zoo there and of course chill out. Also added bonus I will be levelling up to 27 and for those who don't get that it means my birthday next week, feel right old and that dreaded 30 is coming up closer.

Anyway you are not hear for that so time for some gaming updates, well how about two games completed?. Sat down with Resistance Burning Skies last week and got the Platinum trophy in two days without trying, the levels are a decent length but the game as only six levels so it doesn't last that long. Even with that I would still recommend it to everyone since the controls work! I mean they really work for a FPS which shocked me. Uncharted is a great game  but some of the aiming for me just annoys the **** out of me so I was shocked how Resistance seems to get it right and I really do hope everyone other shooting game takes notice.

After that I did finish the story for X-men Destiny finally, been saying for the last month I would sit down and play it. Well I got my ass into gear when I realised the disc had arrived back in May so I needed to get it down, I was shocked how fast I flew through the game to be honest. The levels are not that long but the entire game is the perfect length, the only down side had for the game was the story. I just could not get into it or want to care about the characters and I think it's because the story did relied heavily on people knowing the X-men Universe which I don't other than the newest movies. Anyway I cleared up the last of the achievements this morning but of course they don't count to last week's score but it does mean another game 1,000g.

On that note I think it's time to dig out the stats for my challenge:

Week 21
Starting Total: 139,434
To Earn: 2,422
Achieved: 215
Difference: -2,207

Total So Far -
To Earn: 42,981

Achieved: 15,283

Difference: -27,698

Honestly it was a good week last week with just hitting over 600 gamer score (see the challenge page for the archived results) but I'm getting to the point that I really don't care any more. Don't get me wrong I still love my achievement hunting and getting that 200k milestone but the challenge is longer possible. Also add in the fact I'm starting to get annoyed with myself that I'm putting other consoles because I need to get some achievements this week, so don't be surprised if I end this challenge soon.

So what will I be playing this week and that's a good question, well Resistance 3 of course since that is my latest rental and I'm thinking Castlevania Lord of Shadows on the Xbox 360. I did say I want to get this started since the second one was announced at E3 so why not, also need to sort out a handheld game to take on holiday with me. Might take Uncharted Golden Abyss since I've still not finished it off yet which is a sin in itself. Oh that reminds me I did pick up Theatrhthym for the 3DS, it was ok but I really did not see myself playing it enough. I did several series songs (basically it picks a game and does 3-5 songs from it in a row) then did some of the challenges and after a couple of hours I just could not see myself sticking to it so I've just traded it in yesterday with Resistance as well.

On that note I'm going to end this post off but I do have the pictures ready for my next unboxing post and my download is only at 64% on the first part so expect another post in a minute. Until then have a good one folks and I hope you all had a great week of gaming.
~Iznic

P.S. The Knockout title is reference to the fact I've clocked both Resistance and X-men, about time I got some gaming done.

Results: Week 21-24

Week 24
Starting Total: 138,759
To Earn: 2,359
Achieved: 675
Difference: -1,684

Week 23
Starting Total: 137,974
To Earn: 2,296
Achieved: 785
Difference: -1,511

Week 22
Starting Total: 137,694
To Earn: 2,240
Achieved: 280
Difference: -1,960

Week 21
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,163
Achieved: 330
Difference: -1,833

Total So Far -
To Earn: 42,981

Achieved: 15,283

Difference: -27,698

Short Notice

I almost forgot myself until last night when I realised today is 4th July and of course America are celebrating Independence day, to all my American readers have a great day!

Anyway back to my point I remembered it was also the Calendar Man event as well in Batman Arkham City. So sorry for the lack of early reminders but still got until the end of the day to go visit him and listen to his latest gruesome story.

If you not done this before basically you need to speak to Calendar Man in the game on twelve separate days, one for each month of the year to earn the achievement/trophy. He can be found locked up in the court house basement, access can be gained by going through a door outside at the back of the court house. Speak to him to listen to his story then when he sits back down go find a checkpoint to save up, there is one if you leave the court house. Also there is a wall calendar by the cell which will cross out the months that you have done so far to help keep track plus all the dates are circled of when you need to visit him but just talking to him again and he will give you clues to the next day.

So that's it folks and I will be catching up with him later myself once I've finished work and yes I will be doing a MMO night as long as everything goes to plan (famous last words).
~Iznic

Busy Week

Afternoon folks,
Been busy all morning playing Resistance Burning Skies, if you have a Vita then you need to pick this game up. I'm shock how well it's turned out with the controls, it works perfectly so far and I'm enjoying every minute of it but from the looks the game is short though with only around six/seven levels. Although the levels are pretty decent length hopefully the the last few will add more time, would hate to finish the game on the first day.

Anyway I've updated the stats on the blog and I'm happy to say this week I earned a decent amount of gamer score, of course I did not hit the week target but we all knew that from the beginning. I did finish off Lego Batman 2 yesterday and I got to say it's the best Lego game in the series so far, the voices work and I'm happy about that because I had my doubts to the point I thought it would ruin the game. Only problem I had through out was the amount of glitches in the game, several times it froze mid-game and I had to restart my Xbox plus characters getting stuck or levels not loading. I would had thought a lot of this would had been caught in the Beta since there quite a few people on the forums having the same problems. Oh well I guess you cannot get everything perfect but anyway that was 33 game for the year so far.


Week 24 - This week
Starting Total: 138,759
To Earn: 2,359
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,359

Week 23 - This week
Starting Total: 137,974
To Earn: 2,296
Achieved: 785
Difference: -1,511

Week 22
Starting Total: 137,694
To Earn: 2,240
Achieved: 280
Difference: -1,960

Week 21
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,163
Achieved: 330
Difference: -1,833

Total So Far -
To Earn: 40,622

Achieved: 14,608

Difference: -26,014


As you can see the increase this week is not too bad compared to the last few weeks although I think I will be taking a hit this week, well it depends on how short Resistance is. Once I've finished the game I will be finally working on X-men Destiny and yeah I know I've been saying that for the past month.

That's it really in the ways of this post I do have some new games I want to talk about but I will be saving those thoughts for separate posts, I also do have a MMO night planned for this week but still not decided if it will be on Wednesday like normal or tomorrow (tomorrow I would get a lot more time).

I will be getting the next unboxing post up as well probably around mid-week or end of the week in time for the weekend, have to see where I can get the time from. Still need to make a few hours spare so I can continue working on the blog and to do the E3 posts that I've been promising for the last month.

So much to do and yet so little time to do it, I better get on with it so have a good one folks and don't forget to drop a line with how your week's been.
~Iznic