13,000 Points!!!!!!

Just reached 13,000 Points!  Officially have 13,005 points.  Passed 13,000 with the Hero Of Masyaf achievement for Assassin's Creed.

Took longer.  Lost a lot of time playing Lego Batman 2.  Took forever to get all the collectibles and reach 100%, and most of that didn't have achievements.  But I got here and like I said last time, hopefully it won't take as long to reach 14,000

12,000 Points!!!!!!!!!!

I just reached 12,000 Gamescore!  Officially (as of this writing) I am at 12,015 points.  I passed the 12,000 mark with the Dynamic Duo achievement in Lego Batman 2, which is worth 20 points.  Even better is that I got it while playing Lego Batman 2 with one of my nephews!

Took a while to get it.  7 months infact.  I've been going through a period where I didn't feel like playing games.  happens some times.  But I am back and should hopefully reach 13,000 much faster

The last few Penny Arcade strips have been talking about the history of copy protection in PC Gaming, something I've had to deal with since my first two PC games (Maniac Mansion and Eye Of The Beholder 2 in case anyone is wondering) As a result I've seen several methods, including "Find letter V in word W in sentence X in paragraph Y on page Z", code books that give you the answers, maps where you are asked to name the X in grid Y/Z, Match the Picture (or variations of that theme) and my personal favorite, the Code Wheel, as seen in Yesterday's strip



Here is the thing though. I can understand why the code wheel would be stupid for an FPS or something like that, but the first one I got, and all of them since, have been for RPGs and adventure games, where a device like that made sense. It made you feel like you were solving a puzzle in the game, not by remembering some fact or combining items, but by actually interacting with something that would not be out of place in the game world. As a result, there was a level of pseudo-interactivity that added to those games.

Obviously all these methods have been made obsolete with the rise of the Internet. the passwords for Prince Of Persia, for example, kept me from playing the original for years, because I lost the list and my bro-in-law, who gave it, and the game, to me couldn't find his copy or the manual to make a new one. then a few years ago I decided to go online to find it and not only did I find the ones I had, I found the ones I didn't have as well (Saleem's list wasn't complete and we had called each other a couple of time when we discovered new ones, to work towards completing that list) I've done the same for several other games I own, but have lost the manual or copy protection answers that came with them. So obviously there needs to be some new method. Are the current ones the way to go? Probably not, but they are at least better then nothing. Sometimes not by much and in concept only, but they are.

Of course none of them are any match for a good hacker or someone who knows where to look for ways around them.

Mega Man 9 Intro!

For those who have been living under a rock, Mega Man 9 comes out in September, bringing the series back to it's 8-bit roots! (Speaking of it's roots, Check out the craptacular "box art". At least they gave him an arm cannon this time and made him look cooler then last time. Got to love the retro MM1 style "box art.)

Obviously I'm excited. I've been a fan of the Blue Bomber for years and can't wait to play a new game featuring him. It's been 10 years since we last saw the original Mega in action (5 if you count Mega Man & Bass, which is a side story and was ported to GBA in 2003) which makes that line in the intro about Mega not doing this in a while so much funnier.

It's cool that the game is being released on all three networks at the same time, and it should be interesting to see what, if any, differences there are in the different versions. We know that the 360 version will have achievements, and I have heard that something like that will be in the Wii version as well. It's also cool that we are getting our first Robot Master that is officially a woman (in case the name Splash Woman wasn't a give away) There have been female bosses in the past, but never in the original series and never with the word Woman in their name.

One thing I am concerned about is how well it will do. Obviously old school gamers like myself will get it, but since many of us have hung up our controllers, it should be interesting to see how many younger gamers will buy it. If they are true gamers, they will; if they are like my three older nephews and think it's all about graphics and that no good games were released before the XBox came out, then this may be the last entry in the great series.

Cheap Gaming Goodness

My local Walmart has been getting rid of a bunch of it's games, to make room for the new consoles and because they are doing some remodeling. As a result, I have gotten several games, including all the of the Ratchet and Clank games, 2 of the Sly Cooper games, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime 2: Echos, Lego Star Wars, and more. But the ones that have me most excited are the ones I got over the last few days, both games I have wanted for a long time, but didn't want to pay $50 for them.

First, I found Fight Night Round 2 for Gamecube. They had the PS2 version, and I was tempted to get it, but I am glad I waited until the Cube version was moved to the discount rack. So why did I wait for the Cube version? Two reasons.

1.) I'm not much of an online gamer. I play Guild Wars, and I am thinking about getting back into Ultima Online, which I haven't played for a few years. I use to play Jedi Knight, Quake 2, and Half Life online a lot, but since I have spent the last few years play console games almost exclusively, I haven't played many PC games online. I do have my PS2 set up for net play (although I have to change it for DSL access) but I haven't really gotten into playing online with it yet.

2.) because the Cube version has extras. This is something I realy liked. Since the Cube doesn't have online play, companies have added extras to their games which, on the PS2 and Xbox, have online play. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, they added Shao Kahn and Goro (this is the version I want) and in Fight Night, they added Super Punch Out. That's right, they added an entire game. Not only that, but they added a SNES classic!. Plus, if you beat Super Punch Out, you can play as Kid Mac in Fight Night :) If that isn't enough reason to get the Cube version over the others, I don't know what is.

The second game I got was the Gamecube version of Soulcalibur 2. This one was simply a matter of preferance. Each console had a different special character. I didn't want Heihachi, so I didn't get the PS2 version. Spawn would have been cool, but a game I can get on PS2 and Gamecube isn't enough to justify getting an Xbox. And besides. It's Link! How could I not choose a fighting game where you can play as Link!

Now I want to play it. and since I have abou 1 hour and 45 minutes until Church, I think I shall :)

Lego Star Wars

I got Lego Star Wars on Saturday, and finished it today. it wasn't because I played it night and day or anything like that. It is just really short. Most of the game was played this morning. I started around 9 and was done around 2. I not completely done. there is still plenty to unlock or collect, but I finished the story, so I consider it completed. I'll finish it 100% eventually, but I finished the story, and that is good enough for me.

Break Update

Just so you know, but I haven't forgotten about the Game Journal. remember when I said I was taking a break and was going to take the week of Graduation off? well, I forgot that graduation is next weekend at the local high school and several people are having receptions this weekend. So if you don't mind, I will be taking the entire month off. Like I said, I am still playing games, and will post updates on my status. I haven't really played any of the ones listed in the goals list, but I have been playing a few, which I will be adding to the list as Free Play (ones I play when not playing Goal games.)

So don't worry, I will be back in a few weeks, and I will be ready to roll.



BTW: Sorry for not posting more updates and thoughts about E3. I have spent most of the week struggling with various computer problems. I got them mostly under control, but because of them, I either was trying to fix them or I didn't want to work on anything.

God Of War 2 News

While I am eating breakfast, I had to check and see if there wan anything new at E3 Insider since I went to bed, and I found that there was a news story about God Of war 2.

This has me psyched.

One thing I am really excited about is the integration of the Pegasus. We are fully integrating the God of War combat system into the flight experience complete with context sensitive mini games that have Kratos leaping off the Pegasus to dispatch seemingly endless swarms of mythological creatures.

Oh Yeah. Aerial combat :). If you haven't played the original, go out and rent it. it is kind of short (I got pretty close to the end on 1 rental) but it is really fun. easily one of the best combat systems I have ever seen. If The only real problem I had was it was kind of short, but even if it is shorter, as long as GOW2's combat system remains true to the original, I will be happy.

E3 Is Here!

Last Night, I posted that I was taking a break. Well, the reasons I gave were just part of why. The other part is because it is time for E3! I'm going to try to keep up to date on whats going on, and later on today I will give my thoughts on stuff that happened yesterday In the mean time stay tuned to E3 Insider for up to the minute news, trailers, and blogs for your favorite systems and be sure to watch G4 for live coverage.

I need a break

Just so you know, I haven't forgotten about the Game journal. I do apologize for not posting about this last week, but I am taking a break. At work, we went from almost no orders each day to several (we had about 20 different orders on Saturday alone, with 10 being the average daily number of orders.)

Because of that I have been very tired after work. Last week was worst then this week, but I have still been tried. Because of this,and the fact that I have a lot going on right now, I haven't been playing to many games. So I decided to take last week and this week off. I am still playing games, but I don't have any goals to accomplish.

Don't worry. Any major developments will be posted on here, and I will be back on Monday with a fresh batch of goals



And just so that there is plenty of warning, I plan on doing this around Graduation as well. Last year we worked 10 hours a day for a week, which meant going to bed earlier and being tired after work, so I am taking that week off too.


Oh yeah. I did finish the Warcraft goal :)

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children

It came out Tuesday, I watched it Wednesday, but I was half asleep and didn't feel right writing a review of it then.

I watched it again yesterday, and it is definitely targeted at fans. Fortunately Sony decided to help non-fans or people like me who never finished the game by including a rather boring 30 minute recap of the game.

The movie great. the story is kind of thin, but there is so much action in this movie that you won't notice. It didn't seem like I was sitting there for 1 1/2 hours (it did during the recap, but not during the movie)

About the main complaint I have with the movie is the fact that most of the characters from the game show up to fight Behumet, but that is pretty much their only purpose. I understand that they only had 90 minutes, but it would have been nice to find out what they had been up to for the last 2 years.

Speaking of the other characters, there are some recognizable voices. Christiy Carlson Romano played Yuffie in the movie and in Kindgom Hearts (but not Kingdom Hearts 2) and is better known as Kim Possible. (it was kind of weird hearing Kim's voice swearing BTW.) Mena Suvari plays Aerith in the movie and in Kingdom Hearts 2 (Mandy Moore, yes the singer, played her in the first game.) Rachael Leigh Cook played Tifa in the movie and In Kingdom Hearts 2. Steve Burton played Cloud in the movie and in both Kingdom Hearts games and is a long time cast member of General Hospital

Steve Blum played Vincent and has also done about a million voices for video games and cartoons, including playing Spike in Cowboy Bebop. Beau Billingslea played Barrett and also played voices in several video games and cartoons, including Jet, Also from Cowboy Bebop (Actually, looking at the roles these 2 have played, they have worked together on a lot of stuff.

I thought it was kind of interesting that they choose the people who played the voices in Kingdom Hearts 2. I am sure when they were looking for actors, they choose to go with them because of the fact that Kingdom Hearts 2 came out a few weeks before the movie.

Ultimatly, if you like the game, you will proboly like the movie. If you never playe dthe game, watch the recap before watching the movie.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go play Final Fantasy 7 :)

Mommy! Miyamoto Isn't Sharing His Weed!

For most people, this would be late. For me, it's right on schedule. I just found out that Nintendo changed the name of the Revolution to Wii (pronounced Wee)

I tried to figure out some way to use that in the title of this post. I really did, but in the end I couldn't think of anything. All I could think of was what Miyamoto was smoking when he came up with it.

What I don't get is why they went from a cool name, the Revolution, to a dumb name, Wii. I am sure I am not alone when I say that I will continue to refer to it as the Revolution, because it makes sense. Not only will it have the cool new controller, you'll be able to play old Nintendo, Genesis, and Turbo-Graphix 16 games. In other words, all three sides in the 16 bit war will be represented on 1 console! If Revolution doesn't fit, I don't know what does!

But no, we are stuck with Wii. There have been some good jokes though. Here is what Real Life Comics had to say. (I was going to post Penny Arcade's reaction, but I want this to be a family friendly blog.)



Gamespy weighed in on this subject too, and they made some good points. The timing had to be part of a plan to increase exposure going into E3. This, combined with the fact that we will finaly see the Revolution in acction and people can finally get their hands on the controller means this could be the biggest E3 yet for Nintendo. Microsoft and Sony are going to have to pull off something big to top this

Li Kuo, news editor for Gamespy had this to say.

"Nintendo takes more chances than anyone else out there when it comes to thinking outside of the box, and sometimes they get a little carried away (Virtual Boy, anyone? ...Besides, if anyone can get away with calling their console "Wii," it's Nintendo. After all, they're the ones that made little green dinosaurs and fat Italian plumbers cool. "

In the end though, it won't mater. I think Will Tuttle, Console Editor for Gamespy said it best.

"Of course, they could name the console The Awesome FartHammer and I'd still be pushing people out of my way at Best Buy just to sip some of that delicious Nintendo Kool-Aid. We've all been doing it for years, so why stop now?"

Oh yes, we will drink the kool-aid, and it will be good (and black cheery flavored.)

Quake 4

While I was getting ready for work, I was watching X-Play and they did a review of Quake 4 for the Xbox 360. I'm a big fan of the Quake games, so of course I watched. The game looked good, and for a split second I was tempted to buy a 360 in order to play it. Fortunately they said something that brought me back to my senses. They said that the game occasionally had a problem with slowdown, something the PC version doesn't have a problem with (assuming you have a powerful enough system, of course.)

That is one of the reasons I never bought an Xbox. There are only about 8 games that I actually wanted for the system, and most of them are available, and better on, PC. If the games available so far are any indication, I won't be getting a 360 for the same reason. I'll spend the $400 on a PS3 instead. or better yet on a Revolution and a few games :)

E-Bay Wins

Finally, after about 2 weeks, my games arrived :) I got Super Star Wars, so I now have the complete trilogy. I also Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2. I ordered Wizards and Warriors 1, but they advertised the wrong game by accident and gave me a refund, which was cool of them. The total cost, not counting Shipping and including Wizards and Warriors---$2.99 :) The seller is now on my favorites list.

I will probably be posting a link to the sellers auctions list.

First Entry

I got the idea for this blog after seeing Tim's Game Diary. I figured it was a good idea, and would give me some incentive to actually finish some of the 350+ video games I have (of which I have finished 15.) Hope it works.