OMG, what have I done?

So, yea I've been slacking on the blog-post front as of late, but that doesn't mean I haven't been gaming (been sweating to Wipeout In the Zone), writing killer deal articles or even doing some video pod-casting by way of Avatar Kinect. So, without further delay, I present the first episode of the latestchattycast.x in it's two-part glory!

17 Day Score Streak

360voice recently added a scoring streak badge. I'm currently on a 17 day scoring streak. In this time I've played Duke Nukem Forever, Truth or Lies, Bulletstorm, Shaun White Skateboarding, Hasbro Family Game Night, Portal 2, You Don't Know Jack, Red Dead Redemption, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Wipeout In the Zone, Child Of Eden, and Comic Jumper unlocking at least one achievement in each game.

Red Dead Redemption held a 4x XP weekend, which I was able to go from level 28 all the way to 50 and unlock a few multi-player related achievements as well. I managed to 1,000 Truth or Lies using the ever-so-popular fan method. I also purchased what I think is my Game-of-the-Year, Child of Eden, which makes the best use of the Kinect sensor to date.

Hail to the former King, baby!

So I finished as much as I could in James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace before I had agreed to ship it off on Goozex, and since I didn't want to pull the stuff like the guy who agreed to send me Shaun White Skateboarding and finally confirmed it as shipped a whole week after the date he promised, I didn't finish the single player campaign in Bond. The other big reason I didn't finish the campaign is I started the campaign in Duke Nukem Forever, and since I grabbed this from Redbox, I wanted to give it my full attention this weekend.

So far, I think I made the right decision by renting Duke. It is not as great as I had hoped, it feels dated, and the game play is just not doing anything for me. And I'm not even complaining about the multitude of technical issues that just should not be present in a modern-day game. I hope it gets better, and I hope I do find it brings it up a notch like I so desperately want it too. But so far, it seems like Duke is a lot of walking and platforming between a few combat elements. None of which feel particularly challenging even on Come Get Some difficulty.

End of a Streak

So I had a nice little streak going since June 16th where I had earned at least one achievement per day. This probably could have continued for a few more days if it were not for a stupid quick-time-event in James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace that caused me to rage-quit the game in frustration. For some reason I could just not get the timing of that fight down. I'm going to attempt it once again tonight, and if I can't get it I will just go ahead and trade this away on Goozex. Even though I'm only two levels in, I can see this is a bad game so I'm not going to waste my time suffering through it. Especially when I've heard decent things about James Bond 007: Blood Stone.

I knocked out a few sets of Portal 2 co-op, as well as finishing the single player of Enslaved: Odyssey To The West. I'm really glad I finally forced myself to finish Enslaved. I don't typically go for those type of games, but this one actually kept me interested and the combat didn't seem as combo-heavy as say a Devil May Cry title.

I also finally let several other games go that were just sitting on my shelf, and I look forward to getting some  new blood in their place. I think I'm going to try and play more games I actually have been meaning to check out, and less achievement fluff for a little while. Don't get me wrong, I still can't pass up an easy game to auto-pilot to 1,000 points like Truth or Lies though.

Kinect Fun Labs completed

The gadgets contained in Kinect Fun Labs are awesome little examples of what the technology can do. My only complaint is about the somewhat repetitive nature of the achievements, which turned into somewhat of a grind to get the full 200 for all four gadgets. I'm not really sure what else I will start on next, a lot of real-life things are starting to cut into my gaming time, but hopefully I can continue to sneak in some time for gaming at night. The achievement posts may not come as quickly as I'm not really chasing achievements so much as I'm just playing some games for fun, and if I get some points that's just a bonus. I looked over the achievements for Duke Nukem Forever, and while that game is currently getting panned pretty hard by the critics, I will probably pick it up as soon as someone drops the price down into the $30 range. I will be playing it for mainly nostalgia sake, but I have to say I applaud Gearbox for not putting in any obvious multi-player only achievements in that list.

Singularity completed, Kinect Labs started

So I finished up Singularity last week before I had to travel for a few days for work. Great game. I really wish I had gotten into this game before the multiplayer community died, I would have liked to check out those modes. Since I couldn't ever get into a game I simply traded the game away and didn't worry with completing the achievements for this game.

Kinect Fun Labs. Wow, four mini games with 50 gamerscore each. An easy, and free, 200 with only a few "grindy" ones. I finished up Kinect Me, which was pretty accurate considering my lighting issues that my Kinect has always complained about, is a fun little photo-booth style app that scans your face and clothing into an Avatar-like body. Googly Eyes lets you scan objects in and make puppets that you can put googly eyes on, and make little videos to share. Build A Buddy is similar, but you make little "buddies" that you don't puppet around the app.

These games are great little tech demos to show off the power of the Kinect. However, with releasing some titles that are now giving away only 50 gamerscore, is it now the time to start clamoring for Xbox Live Indie Games getting the same ability for their paid versions? Fifty gamerscore seems like a good amount to allow these independent developers to have, and only in the paid versions.

Long Weekend

So I've been working slowly through the single-player portion of Singularity and I'll have to say I'm digging the atmosphere. This game reminds me a lot of Bioshock, with the dark-creepy atmosphere. I really dig the time-line flashbacks that are presented in-game. I think that's a really good touch to present story elements in a way that flows with the overall story and atmosphere of the game. As far as the achievements, it seems like they almost left checkpoints in that the testers exploited for the weapon based achievements. Almost all of the achievements for gun-specific kill counts can be performed at almost the next checkpoint after you get the weapon. All you have to do is restart checkpoint to your hearts content and grind them out. Some of these can even be done the instant you get the gun (here's looking at you Drive By).

Overlooking that slight ability to cheapen some of the achievements, the game throws them at you pretty liberally in the single-player portion, and there are several story based achievements, a handful of collectibles, and a few miss-able ones. A pretty good mix I must say. I'm not sure what the multiplayer population is for this game, so I doubt I'll get many (if any) of those before this one goes out for trade on Goozex.