Did i play any video games last month? Yes (a lot of Skyrim, which i 1,000ed in early December). Well, the engage Xbox monthly recap email came again. Here is a testament to my lack of a life...
* Gamerscore: 32,737
* Time on Xbox Live (connected to): 110 hours, 46 minutes
* Most Frequent Activity: Skyrim - 69 hours, 51 minutes
* Other Activities (rest of top 3)
- Two Worlds 2 (i still have to beat it): 26 hours, 35 minutes
- A World of Kefflings (It Came from Outer Space DLC): 3 hours, 18 minutes
Other Games Briefly Played:
- Game Room (for stats)
- Gears of War (part of triple pack): i got stuck early on Berzerker stage
- Halo CE Anniversary
Odd factoid in email:
Non-US Countries with Highest Average Gamerscore:
- UK: 6,467
- New Zealand: 6,403
- Japan: 6,308
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Xbox 360 Metro UI Impressions - Better With Kinect
So, after a small delay, the new update for the Xbox 360 was released. There are differing opinions on the update. Some people seem to like it and others not so much.
Admittedly, i am a XBL Silver member, so i won't know how things like "cloud saves" work (or how Netflix works post update). i may have missed some smaller details too.
Anyway here i go in no order with random bullet (or is that asterisk) points.
* It seems to take more time to shut down (at least completely power down)
* i wish it wouldn't default on the sign in every time (couldn't we set it up to auto sign in)
* The "Metro UI" itself looks a little better to me (and yes there are adds)
* The NXE seemed to be more vertically oriented, the Metro seems to be more horizontally oriented (at least it seems that way to me).
* Your profile no longer shows your XBL points balance.
* You have to have a gold account to use cloud saves. i wonder if in the future they will charge for additional cloud storage space (i would bet on it).
* It is less "cartoony" than the NXE
* It now gives you a little more information on you achievement progress (or it seems to)
* i like the darker (grey) background better than the NXE background
Voice commands seem to work fairly well (but i don't have an accent). Bing would probably be the least effective as it would have to recognize more words. For controller free naviagtion, it seems to work well enough (i can't comment on how it works within Apps). Some basic commands to know
* "Xbox, x" where X = a word on screen, like play game
* "Xbox, Go Home" - to get back to the first "blade"
* "Next" and "Previous" scroll horizontally through selections
* "Xbox, Bing, X" - use Bing to search. This seems to work ok, but can be a little slow
Admittedly, i am a XBL Silver member, so i won't know how things like "cloud saves" work (or how Netflix works post update). i may have missed some smaller details too.
Anyway here i go in no order with random bullet (or is that asterisk) points.
* It seems to take more time to shut down (at least completely power down)
* i wish it wouldn't default on the sign in every time (couldn't we set it up to auto sign in)
* The "Metro UI" itself looks a little better to me (and yes there are adds)
* The NXE seemed to be more vertically oriented, the Metro seems to be more horizontally oriented (at least it seems that way to me).
* Your profile no longer shows your XBL points balance.
* You have to have a gold account to use cloud saves. i wonder if in the future they will charge for additional cloud storage space (i would bet on it).
* It is less "cartoony" than the NXE
* It now gives you a little more information on you achievement progress (or it seems to)
* i like the darker (grey) background better than the NXE background
Voice commands seem to work fairly well (but i don't have an accent). Bing would probably be the least effective as it would have to recognize more words. For controller free naviagtion, it seems to work well enough (i can't comment on how it works within Apps). Some basic commands to know
* "Xbox, x" where X = a word on screen, like play game
* "Xbox, Go Home" - to get back to the first "blade"
* "Next" and "Previous" scroll horizontally through selections
* "Xbox, Bing, X" - use Bing to search. This seems to work ok, but can be a little slow
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Game Room: Report for November 2011
Game Room leaderboards saw a few increases in the month of November. The last game pack was released on December 22, 2010 (i am not sure if i have enough data for that future post, we'll see)
i checked on November 21st and December 3rd.
Observed Leaderboard Increases (for November 4 - December 3)
* Beamrider (+100)
* Cosmic Commuter (+100)
* Crystal Castles (+10,000)
* Dodge 'Em (+100)
* Iron Horse (+1,000)
* Millipede (+1,000)
* Plaque Attack (+100)
* Vectron (+10)
Summary:
A long time coming... Crystal Castles finally reached the 20,000 plateau (after being at 10,000 since leaderboards were added). There were no new games which reached the 1,000 plateau. Will Vectron hit the magical 100 mark? Time will tell. Overall, i observed 8 leaderboard increases for a total of 12,410.
i checked on November 21st and December 3rd.
Observed Leaderboard Increases (for November 4 - December 3)
* Beamrider (+100)
* Cosmic Commuter (+100)
* Crystal Castles (+10,000)
* Dodge 'Em (+100)
* Iron Horse (+1,000)
* Millipede (+1,000)
* Plaque Attack (+100)
* Vectron (+10)
Summary:
A long time coming... Crystal Castles finally reached the 20,000 plateau (after being at 10,000 since leaderboards were added). There were no new games which reached the 1,000 plateau. Will Vectron hit the magical 100 mark? Time will tell. Overall, i observed 8 leaderboard increases for a total of 12,410.
Dview: Skyrim (Xbox 360)
The Bottom Line:
Skyrim is the most recent entry into the Elder Scrolls series (the third on consoles). It is basically a western style sandbox RPG where you level up by using skills. The game has been somewhat streamlined from the previous Elder Scrolls game (Oblivion). Some of it is decent changes like getting rid of the armorer skill (and armor wearing out over time). Some of it is a little simplified. This game still has its share of hiccups, but it is more stable than its predecessors.
Skyrim is more about exploring the world and doing varoius quests than a main cohesive story line (it does have a main story, but it isn't that great).
As far as western RPGs go, this is among my top choices on the Xbox 360 (after the Mass Effect games). Eventually, there will be add-ons (and probably a "Game of the Year Edition")
Skyrim is the most recent entry into the Elder Scrolls series (the third on consoles). It is basically a western style sandbox RPG where you level up by using skills. The game has been somewhat streamlined from the previous Elder Scrolls game (Oblivion). Some of it is decent changes like getting rid of the armorer skill (and armor wearing out over time). Some of it is a little simplified. This game still has its share of hiccups, but it is more stable than its predecessors.
Skyrim is more about exploring the world and doing varoius quests than a main cohesive story line (it does have a main story, but it isn't that great).
As far as western RPGs go, this is among my top choices on the Xbox 360 (after the Mass Effect games). Eventually, there will be add-ons (and probably a "Game of the Year Edition")
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Skyrim (Xbox 360) - Glitches and Stuff i Don't Like About It
If you've ever played any of the console versions of the Elder Scrolls series (at least on the Xbox 360), you would know that these games tend to be a little buggy at launch. At least in this game you don't start out in prison (custody - yes, prison - no)
Saturday, November 19, 2011
My Month in Video Games November 2011-ish
So what have i done this month in regards to the wild, wild world of video games? This covers much of my gaming since my last post.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Game Room: Report for October 2011
i decided to mix things up (semantically) and instead of calling this the November report call it the report for October (since the leaderboard checking period was from 10/3-11/3).
Anyway, Game Room leaderboard increases are still increasing monthly (a little). Admittedly, i cannot get a full picture due to how the leaderboards are structured. i checked two times this month (the first time was to get Game Room working on my computer - though the Xbox version still seems to be working, if your "arcade" is a ghost town). The two checks were on October 21st and November 3rd.
Observed Leaderboard Increases (for October 4 - November 3)
October 21:
* Breakout (2600) - (+100)
* Dolphin - (+100)
* Galactic Warriors (+100)
* Super Breakout (2600) - (+100)
* Warlords (+1,000)
* Black Widow (+1,000)
November 3:
* Missile Command (2600) - (+100)
Summary: If you are playing at home, i observed 7 leaderboard increases for 2,500. Breakout (2600) and Super Breakout finally crossed the 1,000 leaderboard threshhold.
Game Leaderboard Distribution:
* Over 30,000: 2 games (Asteroids Deluxe and Centipede)
* 20,000 - 30,000: 3 games
* 10,000 - 20,000: 11 games
* 5,000 - 10,000: 11 games
* 2,000 - 5,000: 27 games
* 1,000 - 2,000: 29 games
* 500 - 1,000: 13 games
* 200 - 500: 5 games
* 100-200: 6 games
* <100: 1 game (Vectron)
Anyway, Game Room leaderboard increases are still increasing monthly (a little). Admittedly, i cannot get a full picture due to how the leaderboards are structured. i checked two times this month (the first time was to get Game Room working on my computer - though the Xbox version still seems to be working, if your "arcade" is a ghost town). The two checks were on October 21st and November 3rd.
Observed Leaderboard Increases (for October 4 - November 3)
October 21:
* Breakout (2600) - (+100)
* Dolphin - (+100)
* Galactic Warriors (+100)
* Super Breakout (2600) - (+100)
* Warlords (+1,000)
* Black Widow (+1,000)
November 3:
* Missile Command (2600) - (+100)
Summary: If you are playing at home, i observed 7 leaderboard increases for 2,500. Breakout (2600) and Super Breakout finally crossed the 1,000 leaderboard threshhold.
Game Leaderboard Distribution:
* Over 30,000: 2 games (Asteroids Deluxe and Centipede)
* 20,000 - 30,000: 3 games
* 10,000 - 20,000: 11 games
* 5,000 - 10,000: 11 games
* 2,000 - 5,000: 27 games
* 1,000 - 2,000: 29 games
* 500 - 1,000: 13 games
* 200 - 500: 5 games
* 100-200: 6 games
* <100: 1 game (Vectron)
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