I had a couple of good post ideas for this week… but Halo 3 ODST is now out so I am busy… Not only that, the girls will be away this weekend at the in-laws so I am on my own with the Dog, my console and footy finals for companions…

In the meantime, here are some video tips from ign.com for Firefight … and yes, like my Halo 3 multiplayer, I suck at this…

Having completed (most of – damn flags) for Assassin’s Creed, I was looking for my next game. Fortunately, I had picked up some extra work for some beer money, just in time for the EB mid-year sales. Last year I picked up a bunch of games and this year was no different. I picked up the following

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
1. Have played this through on the PC already, just wanted to get it for the XBox because it is so damn good. I have already started this… it is taking me a while to adjust to controller. Also, doing it on veteran difficulty so plenty of dying…
2. BioShock
1. I had purchased this previously but when I finally went to play it, the disc was missing aaargh!
3. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
1. Well, I have all the others…
4. The Orange Box
1. I didn’t initially realise that it has Half-Life 2 and episode 1 in it as well, I had mainly got this for Portal. I must be one of the only people that consider themselves Gamers that hasn’t yet played HL2

Woohooo.. Following on from my earlier post, I am continuing my winning ways. This time I have won a Gears of War 2 pack. This contains both Gears of War 2 and a brand new Xbox 360 Pro. Sweet… now I have two consoles and two copies of the game…

Again I have done a winning entry in 25 words or less and I still have no idea what I wrote to catch the eye of the judges.

So now I have to decide what to do… Shall I eBay or perhaps donate to someone less fortunate? Perhaps, I should I just keep it in case of RRoD. Who knows but at least I my luck is holding firm.

Microsoft is celebrating their best year in Australia for the XBox 360:

In Australia alone, the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s high-definition gaming console, has driven more than 4.2 million downloads and 27 million hours on the Xbox LIVE social entertainment network during 2008. 

They go on to quote a number of salient points:

Local facts*

·        500,000 Xbox 360 consoles and 4 million Xbox 360 games sold at retail in Australia to date

·        More than 50 per cent of Aussie Xbox 360 owners are connected to Xbox LIVE

·        Australian Xbox LIVE membership increased by 88 per cent on 2007

·        There are over 17 million members on Xbox LIVE worldwide

·        Australians made 4.2 million downloads from Xbox LIVE in 2008

·        Aussies spent over 27 million hours on Xbox LIVE in 2008

·        Xbox 360 owners have an average of nearly 8 games for their console

·        63 per cent of the 500 games available for Xbox 360 are rated G or PG

·        46 per cent of Australian gamers are female**

* All figures quoted are supplied by GFK except for Xbox LIVE figures
** From Interactive Australia 2009 study by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA)

So, in the light of these figures, you’d think I'd be a doddle to get some local Xbox Live resources, or at the very least, some Asia-Pacific regional resources to be able to make XBox Live a much better experience rather than getting booted from US games because of the lag…

Not only that, but when we will actually get some REAL Video and TV content for the Video Marketplace. in the US, there are all sorts of TV programs, Movies, Netflix and the like… we get a couple of old advertisements and some 2003 conference videos… Hardly the killer app is it..

Xbox 360

As I mentioned before, I have been catching up on some Xbox gaming… GoW2 and SW:Unleashed were knocked over in the early holidays. After that, I decided to go back and complete some of my unfinished games… So far I have completed

Call of Duty 2 

A launch title that I picked up for $10 on the discount table. Still as much fun as all the CoD series have been. I played it through on a harder level  this time. Although I was halfway through when I realised that I wasn’t on the hardest level.. That’ll be for another time…

Blazing Angels

I was a bit over it by the time I finished this. Flying down the Rhine whilst staying below building height not ideal for a P51 Mustang. Especially trying to use unguided rockets on buildings as well…

Ghost Recon 2 

This was another game that I initially enjoyed but I was over it a bit toward the end… I prefer the run and gun to the stealth tactical style shooter… Still fun to snipe with though. The Modern weapons are what makes this good.

I have now completed all the Single payer campaigns on those games. I am now onto Rainbow Six Vegas, GH3 and Lips.

PC

I have finished these ones…

Red Alert 3

Well, I haven’t quite finished it, I have completed the Soviet Single-player Missions and Done at least half of the Skirmish Maps. I still have the Allied and Japanese Missions to do. This is harder as it requires a bigger investment in time..

Call of Duty: World at War

Of course, I had to do this one… While I was wary of going back to WWII, I needn’t have worried. This was a blast… I loved the missions and the carnage that ensued. I had full settings on and I could see the headless bodies and limb-less torsos flying everywhere (this can be turned off with parental controls) and it looked great. The gameplay was good, the Japanese soldiers were sneaky so you had to tread carefully. i struggled a bit more with the Russian Stages as they were so intense.. All in all , a top game. this is also one I may consider getting ( along with CoD4) for the Xbox as well…

I still have a wealth of unfinished and even unplayed games such as Bioshock that I am yet to start.. I haven’t even broached online gaming yet !! See you out there…

Tags: Xbox 360,PC, Gaming

Well whaddya know ? I came home the other day to find a parcel in the mail… I open it and this is what is inside.

It turns out that I have actually won a competition of the Xbox Australia website. I had even forgot that I had entered. It was one of those answer in 25 or less words. I really have to start recording the competitions and , more importantly, the blurb that I enter…

I have jagged a bit of stuff over the years, a Halo 3 pack containing  some bits and pieces, 2 x Office Ultimate Retail and now this…

unfortunately, to this day, I have not ever been able to remember my witty repartee that I had entered in so that I can use it again.

I have been getting right into Gears of War 2. I really did struggle with the first one. I couldn’t shoot straight, Could never get the hang of cover options and just spent more time dying than advancing through. The trouble was that it was competing with Halo 3 for my gaming attention and, well, that was a tall order that it never really could have lives up to.

However, now, I am better, faster and a little more accurate and also spend more time looking for ( and finding) ammo. Mind you it is still competing with Halo 3 on Legendary but this time it seems to be winning. However, there are still a few annoyances which, put simply, give me the shits…

I still everyone in a while get glitches in the cover system. Instead of mantling over cover, I’ll dive out to the side (usually into a hail of enemy fire). More often when I try to dive through the Razorhail , I will end up covering behind a rock in the hail dying in seconds while I try to rise form cover. Dom isn’t that much more helpful, taking cover between me and where I need to be which usually blocks me from moving anywhere but to the floor in a bloody mess.

By far the worse one is when I seem to get stuck next to cover but completely unable to move. Pressing A to take cover only results in Marcus somersaulting on the spot and being completely unable to move otherwise… Fortunately, the Leviathan took care of that situation by reducing Marcus to little fleshy chunks floating on the lake… Considering the patience it takes to kill the leviathan, those kind of glitches really get my goat…

I am still waiting for the day when I game is actually released in a finished form rather than requiring patches, usually within the first month or so…

PS. The Centaur is a really poor substitute for the Warthog….

I usually don’t have either the focus or the interest to be able to complete a game fully on the Xbox 360. I have many many games where I have gotten all hte way through the campaign, mission whatever but none where I have earnt the full gamerscore for a game. Well, as of last night, I officially became a GamerScore whore.. I Collected my last couple of achievements in Lego Batman to finally complete 1000 out of 1000 Gamerscore..

Considering that Lego batman was a game that I had been waiting a looong time for, I have spent hours on it. I wtill play, helping Colleen and Emily progress through their own profiles. This, combined with Lego Indiana Jones has captured our family gaming like no other. I would definitely recommend it for anyone to get these games, they are great fun and I thoroughly have enjoyed them.

So i have finally finished Rogue Trooper (PC) - I liked this game. I was a fan to begin with so it was good to actually play the character. It had some waaay cool stuff you could select like setting your rifle as a sentry gun and a holographic projector that was perfect for detecting snipers.

One stage was riding in the back of a hovercopter which ran like an absolute dog, not sure what happened there... i also had a few glitches where my character got stuck, once on top of a signpost... Other that that, it ran smoothly.

It is a fairly easy game for one experienced in first/Thrid-person shooters but loads of fun anyway..

Well, I have been on Holidays while Colleen was still at work so I have had the chance to get a bit of gaming in...

I have had a few games waiting my attention on the PC that had to wait while i played Halo 3 through...

Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault

I have finally finished medal of Honour: Pacific Assault. the reviews on this game weren't that flash, i didn't have that much of a problem with it. It is very much standard MOH fare and didn't deviate much from the standard script. i was really struggling with a higher difficulty level so i copped out and took it back to Normal level.

Call of Duty 4

This game Rocks !! Fan-bloody-tastic. it looks soooo good. The only graphic drawback i could see was the Water. Halo 3 is still top of the pops for that. Other than that, COD4 simply rocked in every way. I have already played through it twice, once straight through and the other on the Arcade mode playing my favourite missions. The level with the AC-130 Spectre is just an inspiring through process and so much fun to boot.  A must-have game

Medal of Honour: Airborne

A great game for 99% of the game. Great concept to have the parachuting anywhere into the battlefield. the weapons were cool and fantastic with the levels of experience/attachments you can achieve with each weapon. the ONLY drawback was the appearance of the ridiculous Super-Soldiers at the end. Up to 19 shots with the strongest assault rifles to kill, all the time while the carry(!!) a MG42 and tear you to shreds with it. I was able to defeat them when interspersed through out the last level but in the sewer run, where they walk in pairs was too much. A visit to www.gamefaqs.com was required. No sooner had i taken care of them, i walked out and the game was complete... Ridiculous. I may as well have been throwing rocks at a tank. Other than that, it was really good. I have been back and got all three levels of experience in all the levels, including running around smashing everyone with a stick grenade to get the experience points.

Battlefield 2142

Great Concept but seems more of a Battlefield 2 mod than anything else. The worse thing is ( as with Battlefield 2), it completely sucks as a Singleplayer. Yeah sure, you can argue that it is designed as a Multiplayer game but I don't usually play online. I don't have the Time or the Download Limit to play online a lot (thanks to archaic Australian Broadband infrastructure and pricing - now we are going to censor the lot). Anyway, friendly AI in this sucks arse... I mean, you can't take spawn points on your own but your friendly guys will run you down, fail to protect you and generally die a lot without helping at all. I could practice more, get better and all that but i can't be bothered... uninstalled with prejudice..

Games to come...

• Rogue Trooper (PC) - i loved Rogue trooper in 200AD so i hope this works
• Command & Conquer 3 (PC) - I have started and it looks waaay cool. Work in Progress
• Crackdown (X360) - I love Big W sales
• Blazing Angels: Squadron of WWII (X360) - i love WWII Flying, it is so simple yet so complex, no targeting here

Stay tuned to see how i go on those... By the way, love the new Australian Xbox 360 Homepage. A list of the top games and little videos about them when you click on them. Very well done.

I have finally finished Halo 3. My excitement at finishing is somewhat tempered

by the fact that the Halo franchise (as we know it) is done. i had the same feeling after I saw Return of the Jedi ( before we'd heard of prequels and also after i saw the Back to the Future III. Alas.. another milestone completed.

I'm sure that soon enough there will be something else... In the menatime, i am here watching all the halo 3 cutscenes again so i might understand it a bit better..

Now when I think of a streak, i think Australia winning 16 tests in a Row, Haydos and The Don hitting 4 consecutive centuries  or Jared Crouch and his amazing run of consecutive AFL games.

Now this guy takes the cake..

All things must come to an end, even relentless achievement whoring. Derek Dreger, better known by his Gamertag, “Knuckles Dawson,” finally ended a 681-day achievement gathering streak almost two weeks ago. From Nov. 22, 2005 to Oct. 4, 2007, Dreger unlocked at least one achievement per day using his Gamertag. He made the decision to end his run after receiving MVP status from Microsoft on Oct. 1. The streak finally ended when he chose to continue playing a round of co-op Halo through midnight instead of racking up a new achievement. He still plans to collect achievements in the future, though now it will be mainly just for the heck of it.

Yep, that guy should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. And by “Guinness Book of World Records,” I of course mean the Guinness Book of Wasted Lives.

via Gaming Today

So it looks like I am following the suggested trend that Halo 3 might be affecting movie ticket sales ( or is it crappy movies foisted on us).

It is true, Halo 3 has taken up some time but i have been deliberately taking it slow to enjoy it. I have been limiting sessions to 1 - 2 hours. Halo 2 saw me do a big chunk of it in one 8 hour gaming session  but this one i will draw out to get maximum pleasure out of it...

I have also gotten Forza Motorsport 2 and Crackdown, thanks to sales at Big W. Forza 2 has been great, a top driving game although my skillz leave a bit to be desired. the best thing is that i have been playing multiplayer with Colleen and we have been having a great old time. I haven't even looked at Crackdown yet..

Obviously i have been busy at work... too busy apparently as i am being forced to take leave as i have been told by HR... damn !! i have to take leave and Halo 3 still beckons ... At least i haven' been as busy as some, like the guy who only just broke his streak of unlocking XBox 360 Achievements - at least one a day for the last 681 Days !

Off to EB Games in Chermside late  last night and picked  up my pre-ordered Halo 3 at 1203Hrs, home by 1210Hrs and was on within minutes of that..... there were at least 50 people there to pick up copies. I was the 3rd Legendary Edition in the line.

Wow, it is some game.. Interestingly enough, it said that i had to do an update before i continued.. Dunno what that was about. Unfortunately, My DVD Drive isn't as good as it should be and i had to restart a couple of times to get it to read the disc....

Eventually i got it going and got straight into it.. a bit of a cutscene and off we went.. It is funny to hear some of the quotes that we have heard in trailers throughout out the game as well as some of the footage albeit from different angles. I have only completed the first stage so far, i only allowed my self an hour of gaming as i do have to work today. I thought about having the day off but i can't really game during the day as the room is far too bright.

It looks fantastic. admittedly, i am using an el cheapo Centrex 68Cm TV but it still looks damn fine. I got sniped twice while i wandered around looking at stuff.

The Brutes are good adversaries and the grunts make for a lot of fun. I like how at the end of the stage you can get a Carnage Report letting you know how you went. i got killed 4 times, killed one friendly and 84 enemies ( made up of 70 infantry, 3 specialists, 11 leaders and 1 hero). Nice breakdown and gives you something to aim at.

The visuals were stunning as was the terrain in the first level. I am amazed. Not just a normal jaunt through the jungle, it has gullies and crevasses and rockfalls and water and everything.

I soooo look forward to getting more into this game. However, i may delay playing again until the weekend when i can really get into it...I may even set up the DVD recorder so i can record some gameplay and post it.

Take it from me, It is a game for the ages...

This is the game that will finally get me to go onto XBox Live. I have started the cabling under the house already.

before Halo 3 is released !!! I'll be at EB Games tonight to pick up my Legendary edition that I ordered months ago. apparently, i was the last to order from them before they closed off Legendary Edition pre-orders.

I will try to get some sleep before coming to work tomorrow...

Where does it all end? they even have Master Chief in the Wax Museum. Next thing will be a Master Chief going up into space.Now i know the game is going to be good but can it really live up to this kind of hype? Where does the master Chief and indeed Bungie go after this... To their million dollar country homes no doubt for a bit of a party...

From what i have read, there is work on episodic content already...

Halo Wars RTS Demo Video

http://www.halowars.com/Media.aspx

man this looks sooo sooo good. I haven't played a really good RTS since C & C Red Alert. yeah, Generals, Zero Hour and C&C 3 were Ok but they were mostly the same gameplay with fancier graphics, just like releasing Madden & Tiger Woods each year. This one i can get back into...

Halo Short film

http://halo3.msn.com/videos.aspx

This looks tough, gritty and absolutely fantastic! Can't wait for all this to be expanded into a Movie.

Halo 3 Stuff

The Halo 3 XBox 360 has been advertised in stores too ! I saw one advertised in the WOW Stores Catalogue

Halo-themed Bags are proliferating everywhere!! Time, perhaps, for that elusive sling bag i have been looking for... check here and here and here and of course Bungie themselves

Lastly, here on a US Gaming Sales Chart, Halo ranks 2nd and 7th (The Limited Edition). All that and still a month to go...

LucasArts has a news article announcing the upcoming title Lego Indiana Jones due out in 2008. how cool will this be... imagine the Boulder scene from Raiders, the mining cart scene in Temple of Doom and the fight on the tank from Crusade. Not only that, they may have time to  develop episode 4 content!

They cannot make enough of these Lego Games for me... bring on Lego back to the Future and even Lego Start Trek. Can you imagine a Lego version of the epic  battle between Kirk and Spock

Fantastic news just keeps on coming from the Bunker at Bungie HQ. They have Co-Op in Halo 3... and on XBox Live too!! They have a habit of exceeding what everyone wants time and time again. Their marketing engine is well and truly running on all cylinders

Not only that, there will be two new Elite characters to be able to use...

PLAYER 3  -  N’tho ‘Sraom

PLAYER 4  - Usze ‘Taham

Of course there is a whole back-story on each character, check out the Bungie Post to get the full background.