Game Completed: Phantasy Star Universe

This is the first of hopefully many blog posts I write which give a mini little review of the game I have completed and my story of how I got the achievements. I do not plan to review the game properly, just bring up points that I liked/disliked about the game.

So Phantasy Star Universe! I was aware this game gave you 1000 just for completing the game, no collecting or tricky/frustrating achievements and no need to examine a Road Map careful, I just went straight into the game and started my 30 hour quest. Despite it being extremely cheesy (the universe is going to die, we must save the world crap) it did manage to amuse me and I ended up watching the hours worth of cut scenes throughout the game. I need to mention that it sucks I wasn't able to fully appreciate what the game had to offer as I stuck to the same sabre and gun throughout (despite getting better versions). The main reason for this was because I didn't understand how to synthesise weapons and stuff. The game did explain well but I never picked it up and it was only on the last level of the game did I realise there was armour which was explaining why enemies were being able to kill me so easy! Last point I can be bothered to make is moan about the lack of checkpoints as having to go and repeat 30 minutes worth of progress when you die really isn't fun.....

Final Verdict: - If you want easy gamerscore then play this but it'll take you 20+ hours for the 1000. It's fun but does get repetitive and can become a bore but the game does offer enough RPG characteristics to spice it up and make it more enjoyable. I recommend.

Changes to Friends on XBL

Okay so Thrawn wrote an interesting blog explaining why he doesn't just accept anyone into his friend's list. I ended up writing a long comment in response and then thought I could make a blog post out of it. Read what I had to say below.

"There's aboslutely nothing wrong with declining friend requests, especially with Microsoft having a 100 limit (I've been at that for years now!).

I too do get quite a lot of random friend requests and when they come without a message it's usually an automatic decline (unless I can be bothered to send a message back asking who they are and why they added me in case it's for boosting). The worst for me is on Youtube, I'm a unique skater and people seem to dig it on there so I get friend requests every other day from randomers I don't know, I have a message in my bio on there similar to yours.

Finally I think the friends list should be enhanced. I know it is going to be eventually but no word has been given (I believe) except that the total amount of friends allowed will rise. I am hoping for groupings to be created allowing you to split up your friends in to groups with "authority" levels granted on how they can access you. We all have family, friends and online friends but I also get random online people who seem cool add me and others that want to boost. The latter two would be added to my list just so they could see I'm online but features such as game invites, party invites and other features wouldn't be granted until/unless they get into my "authorised" list.

Now I've blabbed loads here and apologies for doing so, it's just a problem that bugs me."


Read his original posting here.

End of GSL Statistics

With the organization of GSL being pretty poor it's meant that trying to gather these statistics together a frustrating task. Nevertheless check out what I accomplished.

Bolt: - 37 Achievements, 1000 Gamerscore
Boom Boom Rocket: - 7 Achievements, 60 Gamerscore
Call of Duty 4: - 9 Achievements, 200 Gamerscore
Call of Juarez: - 19 Achievements, 440 Gamerscore
Condemned 2: - 12 Achievements, 240 Gamerscore
Dark Sector: - 1 Achievement, 30 Gamerscore
EURO 2008: - 27 Achievements, 660 Gamerscore
Facebreaker: - 1 Achievement, 60 Gamerscore
Feeding Frenzy: - 7 Achievements, 110 Gamerscore
Golden Compass, 6 Achievements, 220 Gamerscore
Guitar Hero 2: - 1 Achievement, 30 Gamerscore
Guitar Hero World Tour: - 3 Achievements, 20 Gamerscore
Halo 3: - 5 Achievements, 415 Gamerscore
Hour of Victory: - 32 Achievements, 620 Gamerscore
Jericho: - 42 Achievements, 1000 Gamerscore
Kung Fu Panda: - 39 Achievements, 1000 Gamerscore
LMA Manager 2007: - 22 Achievements, 1000 Gamerscore
Luxor 2: - 1 Achievement, 15 Gamerscore
Madden 08: - 37 Achievements, 750 Gamerscore
Mirror's Edge: - 8 Achievements, 295 Gamerscore
NBA 2K7: - 16 Achievements, 335 Gamerscore
NFS Pro Street: - 1 Achievement, 20 Gamerscore
Pacman CE Edition: - 6 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore
PGR 4: - 44 Achievements, 845 Gamerscore
Phantasy Star Universe: - 2 Achievements, 200 Gamerscore
Prince of Persia: - 12 Achievements, 170 Gamerscore
Prizefighter: - 12 Achievements, 140 Gamerscore
Rainbow 6 Vegas 2: - 1 Achievement, 20 Gamerscore
Rock Band 2: - 3 Achievements, 65 Gamerscore
Sega Rally: - 7 Achievements, 135 Gamerscore
Skate 2: - 37 Achievements, 850 Gamerscore
Smackdown vs RAW 08: - 1 Achievement, 350 Gamerscore
Smackdown vs RAW 09: - 7 Achievements, 260 Gamerscore
Stuntman Ignition: - 20 Achievements, 375 Gamerscore
Summer Athletics: - 37 Achievements, 1000 Gamerscore
TNA Impact: - 19 Achievements, 365 Gamerscore
Turning Point: - 2 Achievements, 75 Gamerscore
UEFA Champions League 06/07: - 8 Achievements, 385 Gamerscore
Vampire Rain: - 13 Achievements, 650 Gamerscore

For a Grand Total of.....

564 Achievements, 14485 Gamerscore

Now on the GSL page of x360a where the scoring is shown I currently have 14005 gamerscore being shown, 480 less than what I have calculated I gotten. If 480G had been lost from all 6 of our members and L4A had lost none (hypothetically) then that would have given our team enough gamerscore to have taken 7th Place. Now this angers me but there isn't much I can do as I can't be bothered to go through the hour long process I have just spent on myself for 11 more people to determine if the Not So Silent Ninjas did deserve 7th place. But enough of that, a few more statistics to give before I finish this post.

Number of Games played: - 39
New Games added to Gamercard: - 27
Number of Completions: - 5

I have gotten achievements on a total of 39 games throughout the GSL league with 27 of them being newly added to my Gamercard since the start back in the 18th of February. You can see how the GSL has impacted my Completion Percentage as I only managed to complete 5 of the new 27 games added to my card. Since the end of GSL I have been working on improving that number (is at 7 now I think) but the damage hasn't been as bad to my percentage total as you may think. I'm still at the 55% stage which is the same as when I started, just have to bump it up to 60% now.

My GSL Daily Updates

Throughout the GSL weeks I played I would write a paragraph explaining what games I played in the day and what gamerscore came with it. As the x360a forums for GSL will be deleted soon (I assume) I decided I would copy and paste all of what I said into a blog which can be seen below.

Week 1

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3

Yesterday, on the 20th of February 2009 I unlocked 18 Achievements giving me 375 Gamerscore.

Boom Boom Rocket: - 2 Achievements, 25 Gamerscore
Prizefighter: - 7 Achievements, 55 Gamerscore
Skate 2: - 2 Achievements, 10 Gamerscore
Mirror's Edge: - 3 Achievement, 220 Gamerscore
EURO 2008: - 4 Achievements, 65 Gamerscore

Not as good as the previous day but things should improve as I've now got Call of Juarez and Summer Athletics at my disposal. I'm glad I finally completed Mirror's Edge, such a god damn frustrating game.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Yesterday on the 21th of February 2009 I unlocked 15 Achievements giving me 153 Gamerscore.

Summer Athletics: - 10 Achievements, 108 Gamerscore
Feeding Frenzy: - 2 Achievements, 20 Gamerscore
Pac-Man CE: - 1 Achievement, 5 Gamerscore
Luxor 2: - 1 Achievement, 15 Gamerscore
Boom Boom Rocket: - 1 Achievement, 5 Gamerscore

Was a bad day as I had to babysit the younger children and went for a skate during the day. Playing on Summer Athletics helped get achievements for Sunday though.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 22th of February 2009 I unlocked 28 Achievements giving me 902 Gamerscore.

Call of Juarez: - 1 Achievement, 10 Gamerscore
Summer Athletics: - 27 Achievements, 892 Gamerscore

Must have spent around 10 hours today playing Summer Athletics in order to get the 1000 on it and be able to send off for a replacement to arrive for week 2. Got worried at times I wouldn't be able to do it but I persisted and it payed off.

End of Week 1

JJBDude48's Progress at End of Week 1

From 18th of February 2009 at 9PM to 22nd of February at 9PM I unlocked 85 Achievements giving me 2180 Gamerscore.

It definitely hasn't been a brilliant start but it hasn't been terrible. I did get messed around slightly by my rental company and I didn't game saturday so I have a couple of excuses but really not much can be said. I don't have any 2K6 or other easy games to play so gamerscore has come from games like Summer Athletics which are moderately easy but take 10+ hours to play. I need to try and better this score next week, that should be my permenant aim, to keep improving.


Week 2

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 1


Yesterday on the 25th of February 2009 I unlocked 4 Achievements giving me 110 Gamerscore.

EURO 2008: - 4 Achievements, 110 Gamerscore

The day is only 3 hours long on a Wednesday but still just 110G for a day is pretty poor I'll admit. I am also a completionist and therefore wanted to get the most out of EURO 2008, the hour and a half it spend getting 15G for winning the tournament wasn't the best of time management but oh well.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 2


Today on the 26th of February 2009 I unlocked 21 Achievements giving me 380 Gamerscore.

Jericho: - 19 Achievements, 355 Gamerscore
Pacman Championship Edition: - 2 Achievements, 25 Gamerscore

Full day of college meant getting home at 5:30PM knocked lots of potential gametime here. Still I have managed to complete 3 out of 5 missions on Jericho and aim to get the 1000 tomorrow (645G more) which will be good. Over the weekend I will play Call of Juarez and hopefully be renting an easy gamerscore game which will keep me on track for getting 3K this week, the aim Dan set for us.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3


Today on the 27th of February 2009 I unlocked 14 Achievements giving me 430 Gamerscore.

Jericho: - 14 Achievements, 430 Gamerscore

Okay so I didn't quite manage to complete Jericho, the gun achievements took longer than I thought and I wanted to relax with girlfriend as college always tires me by the end of Friday. Shouldn't have any problems getting the 200G rest from it tomorrow morning though so no big problem.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Today on the 28th of February 2009 I unlocked 15 Achievements giving me 325 Gamerscore.

Call of Juarez: - 4 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore
Feeding Frenzy: - 1 Achievement, 10 Gamerscore
Pacman Championship Edition: - 1 Achievement, 20 Gamerscore
Jericho: - 9 Achievements, 215 Gamerscore

I finished of Jericho really quickly this morning which was good and I've been working on Call of Juarez. Problem is I really can't be bothered with it, it's fun but the collectable achievements are infuriating me and putting me off wanting to play the game. So I took a break and played Pacman and Feeding Frenzy getting 1 achievement respectively.

Good chance I will game all day tomorrow, I need to if I want to reach 3,000 gamerscore for this week.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 1st of March 2009 I unlocked 15 Achievements giving me 370 Gamerscore.

Skate 2: - 4 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore
Call of Juarez: - 11 Achievements, 290 Gamerscore

I really shouldn't have boosted for 300 online kills on Call of Juarez, that wasted a few hours of my time but people were ready to boost so I wanted to get it done. Still finding Single Player frustrating despite the game being fun. Went on Skate 2 at the end just to boost my score a tiny bit more as it's been a disappointing day for me overall.

Will either make a new post or edit this later when I can be bothered to do my weekly total.


Week 4

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 1


Today on the 12th of March 2009 I unlocked 17 Achievements giving me 535 Gamerscore.

TNA Impact: - 11 Achievements, 225 Gamerscore
Mirror's Edge: - 2 Achievements, 30 Gamerscore
LMA Manager 2007: - 3 Achievements, 250 Gamerscore
Guitar Hero II: - 1 Achievement, 30 Gamerscore

Easy for 2 hours of gaming as TNA is very quick, LMA I had ore-played and Mirror's Edge and Guitar Hero had easy achievements to get too. Hoping to get Halo 3 done tomorrow and will then play one of the many games I have at my disposal.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 2


Today on the 12th of March 2009 I unlocked 16 Achievements giving me 695 Gamerscore.

Pacman Championship Edition: - 1 Achievement, 20 Gamerscore
Vampire Rain: - 13 Achievements, 650 Gamerscore
Mirror's Edge: - 2 Achievements, 25 Gamerscore

I didn't play too much today so I decided in the evening to give Vampire Rain a go in order to make it look like I have gamed today. Truth be told I barely did and me and Wadinho boosted together on Vampire's Rain for an hour and a half getting 650 gamerscore respectively. I urge anyone who hasn't played this to rent it, very easy indeed.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3


Today on the 13th of March 2009 I unlocked 6 Achievements giving me 70 Gamerscore.

Golden Compass: - 1 Achievement, 10 Gamerscore
TNA Impact - 5 Achievements, 60 Gamerscore

70 Gamerscore is baaaaad but I did boost Dan to 650 on Vampire Rain which should be mentioned. I also want to say OMG to Golden Compass! It's taken me like an hour and 20 minutes to finish the prequel and level 1, makes me think the game is going to be a long boring process.

But anyway, better gamerscore to come from me tomorrow and Sunday.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Today on the 14th of March 2009 I unlocked 15 Achievements giving me 620 Gamerscore.

Halo 3: - 5 Achievements, 425 Gamerscore
NBA 2K7: - 1 Achievement, 30 Gamerscore
Skate 2: - 6 Achievements, 85 Gamerscore
TNA Impact: - 3 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore

Big shout out to Darth who went through the last level of Halo 3 I needed to do, giving up an hour of his time to get me 425 Gamerscore. I finally did the tag team crap on TNA (which I am proud of lol), did 1 quick match on NBA and did quite a bit of progression on Skate 2.

Hopefully game a lot tomorrow to end the week off strong so I hit my target of 3k. Now sure how far away I am from it but it can't be too far.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 15th of March 2009 I unlocked 25 Achievements giving me 475 Gamerscore.

Skate 2 :- 9 Achievements, 195 Gamerscore
Feeding Frenzy: - 4 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore
NBA 2K7: - 7 Achievements, 145 Gamerscore
Sega Rally: - 4 Achivevements, 45 Gamerscore
Pacman Championship Edition: - 1 Achievement, 10 Gamerscore

Today was frustrating, especially on NBA 2K7. I wasted lots of times thanks to carelessness if I'm honest, making the match too short so I didn't reach the criteria in time, wasting 30 minutes or not realising the criteria hasn't actually been met when I think it has. Was happy to get 300,000 score on Feeding Frenzy and glad I am able to play Sega Rally, the game is hard! Skate 2 is all easy for me as I done it all before on PS3 getting trophies, just need to put the time in and I did a bit today.

End of Week 4

JJBDude48's Progress at End of Week 4

From 11th of March 2009 at 9PM to 15th of March at 9PM I unlocked 79 Achievements giving me 2395 Gamerscore.

Day 1: - 17 Achievements giving me 535 Gamerscore
Day 2: - 16 Achievements giving me 695 Gamerscore
Day 3: - 6 Achievements giving me 70 Gamerscore
Day 4: - 15 Achievements giving me 620 Gamerscore
Day 5: - 25 Achievements giving me 475 Gamerscore

This has been my best week on paper but has it really? I wouldn't say so as 425G was gotten from Halo 3 which was easy and a few hundred from LMA which was pre-played and finally easy TNA, Vampire Rain and Skate 2 achievements. I don't mind, it just means I definitely should have got 3,000 and guess what, yet again I haven't lol. Might have done if I bothered with SvR 2008 for 350G and if I boosted TNA online but oh well, as long as I get over 2,000 I am personally happy, my aim will just be 3k though for Dan. heheh


Week 5

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 1


Today on the 18th of March 2009 I unlocked 8 Achievements giving me 235 Gamerscore.

Skate 2: - 4 Achievements, 90 Gamerscore
LMA Manager 2007: - 4 Achievements, 145 Gamerscore

Was unable to finish pre-loading my Spanish league unfortunately on LMA Manager 2007 so that 100GS will be gotten next week. Also got quick gamerscore from Skate 2 which I had pre-loaded.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 2


Today on the 19th of March 2009 I unlocked 4 Achievements giving me 170 Gamerscore.

Skate 2: - 4 Achievements, 170 Gamerscore

I didn't know what to play so I ended up being inefficient and going through lots of challenges on Skate 2 which I should have done off weak in order to save time. I don't mind though as I was unmotivated about what to play.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3


Today on the 20th of March 2009 I unlocked 9 Achievements giving me 210 Gamerscore.

Call of Duty 4: - 6 Achievements, 120 Gamerscore
Stuntman Ignition: - 3 Achievements, 90 Gamerscore

I'm glad I bothered to play Stuntman, have had it for ages and always refuse to play it when I shouldn't as it's really good fun. Also got Call of Duty 4 today (with Oblivion and other games which my dad bought as he got a 360 for the family) which gave me an easy 120 gamerscore as kizwiz recommended me to play (there's your credit before you moan kiz!).

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Today on the 21st of March 2009 I unlocked 9 Achievements giving me 145 Gamerscore.

GH World Tour: - 2 Achievements, 15 Gamerscore
Stuntman Ignition: - 8 Achievements, 130 Gamerscore

Slap my wrists I'm bad. I barely played today, wanted to skate and go out instead. Really not had the motivation this week, will hopefully try make up for it tomorrow.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 22st of March 2009 I unlocked 22 Achievements giving me 535 Gamerscore.

Stuntman Ignition: - 9 Achievements, 155 Gamerscore
Call of Duty 4: - 3 Achievements, 80 Gamerscore
LMA Manager 2007: - 2 Achievements, 125 Gamerscore
Prizefighter: - 5 Achievements, 85 Gamerscore
Sega Rally: - 3 Achievements, 90 Gamerscore

I gamed for pretty much the whole day, so we're talking like 10 hours and I got 500+ gamerscore to show from it. Thanks to kizwiz I got Prizefighter done which is quite annoying as 85G for an hour and a half of boosting (just me) isn't really worth it. Sega Rally also took the same amount of time and got me 90G but I boosted back for the other guy. The rush of gamerscore I've gotten on Stuntman will most likely stop now unless I am able to put the time and effort in to 5 starring everything or finding an online boost buddy. Finally I went and did another level on Call of Duty 4 on Veteran and finished of my Spanish season on LMA. Not the best scoring day ever but I'm happy.

End of Week 5

From 18th of March 2009 at 9PM to 22nd of March at 9PM I unlocked 52 Achievements giving me 1295 Gamerscore.

Day 1: - 8 Achievements giving me 235 Gamerscore
Day 2: - 4 Achievements giving me 170 Gamerscore
Day 3: - 9 Achievements giving me 210 Gamerscore
Day 4: - 9 Achievements giving me 145 Gamerscore
Day 5: - 22 Achievements giving me 535 Gamerscore

This may actually be my worst week for scoring. Again there are excuses such as not being able to get hold of Kung Fu Panda/Indianna Jones and not being able to boost TNA with Ducky Dan but at the end of the day I just haven't put the required effort in. I'm happy with how I ended the day though and I'm still on track for reaching 90,000 by the end of the competition as planned (depends if i miss out 1 or 2 weeks though).

Bought NFS Undercover for £5.55 from CDWow last night, heard it's easy for gamerscore (although maybe timeconsuming) and considering I can trade in for £9 cash afterwards I didn't see any reason not to buy it.


Week 7

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 1


Today on the 1st of April 2009 I unlocked 27 Achievements giving me 550 Gamerscore.

Hour of Victory: - 5 Achievements, 85 Gamerscore
Madden 08: - 21 Achievements, 365 Gamerscore
Phantasy Star Universe: - 1 Achievement, 100 Gamerscore

In just 2 hours I managed to rack up this gamerscore getting 100 from Phantasy Star in just 1 minute and then simulating in minutes on Madden and finished it off on Hour of Victory by boosting online. I continued to game into the next day, will discuss that below.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 2


Today on the 2nd of April 2009 I unlocked 26 Achievements giving me 715 Gamerscore.

PGR4: - 4 Achievements, 90 Gamerscore
Madden 08: - 6 Achievements, 135 Gamerscore
Hour of Victory: - 5 Achievements, 135 Gamerscore
LMA Manager 2007: - 11 Achievements, 455 Gamerscore

Had stayed up until the early hours of the morning from the previous day in order to get a couple of achievements on Hour of Victoy and spent an hour finishing off my pre-played LMA Manager. Had to go college during the day but got home and was able to get more achievements on Madden thanks to super sim, few more boosted ones on Hour of Victory and played PGR4 for fun getting 90G in the progress. This was another good day which had me gaming until the hours of the morning so the 335G i got from UEFA Champ League will be in tomorrow's update.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3


Today on the 3nd of April 2009 I unlocked 44 Achievements giving me 1505 Gamerscore.

Madden 08: - 10 Achievements, 240 Gamerscore
Smackdown vs RAW 2009: - 4 Achievements, 70 Gamerscore
Disney Bolt: - 18 Achievements, 340 Gamerscore
UEFA Champ League: 3 Achievements, 335 Gamerscore
Smackdown vs RAW 2007: - 1 Achievement, 350 Gamerscore
NBA 2K7: - 8 Achievements, 160 Gamerscore

Thanks to having a day off of college I was able to get a lot of gamerscore on this day. From the previous night I got the 3 achievements from UEFA which was good and then went to sleep. Playing when I woke up consisted of playing a bit of Madden and Smackdown in the morning and Bolt during the day. In the evening I bothered to get the 350 achievement on SvR 07 and kizwiz helped me get some easy gamerscore in NBA 2K7. A very good day for me.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Today on the 4th of April 2009 I unlocked 29 Achievements giving me 970 Gamerscore.

Kung Fu Panda: - 3 Achievements, 60 Gamerscore
Smackdown vs RAW 2009: - 3 Achievements, 190 Gamerscore
Disney Bolt: - 18 Achievements, 625 Gamerscore
Dark Sector: - 1 Achievement, 30 Gamerscore
Skate 2: - 2 Achievements, 35 Gamerscore
UEFA Champ League: - 2 Achievements, 30 Gamerscore

Managed to play for the majority of the day again today as I played Skate 2 and UEFA the previous night and got easy achievement on Dark Sector and SvR 09 in the morning. The day has consisted of me completing Bolt for the majority, got a bit of Kung Fu Panda in later on too.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 5th of April 2009 I unlocked 53 Achievements giving me 1210 Gamerscore.

PGR 4: - 10 Achievements, 135 Gamerscore
UEFA Champ League: - 3 Achievements, 20 Gamerscore
Kung Fu Panda: - 36 Achievements, 940 Gamerscore
Facebreaker: - 1 Achievement, 60 Gamerscore (thanks Dan)
NFS Pro Street: - 2 Achievements, 20 Gamerscore
Disney Bolt: - 1 Achievement, 35 Gamerscore

I was starting to feel the burn on this last day but thanks to staying up until 7:30AM of the night before I was able to get lots of Kung Fu Panda done, completing it within 24 hours of starting. Kung Fu took up the majority of my time throughout the day but I was able to play Bolt, NFS and Facebreaker during the previous day night to help get some easy gamerscore. Finally after I was done with Kung Fu Panda I spent the last hour and half or so of the competition getting easy gamerscore on PGR4 and a couple on UEFA. Was a grand ending day of the competition for me, I'm extremely satisfied with my performance this week.


Week 8

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 1


Today on the 8th of April 2009 I unlocked 4 Achievements giving me 195 Gamerscore.

Phantasy Star Universe: - 1 Achievement, 100 Gamerscore
Skate 2: - 3 Achievements, 95 Gamerscore

This has pretty much all been pre-played, Skate 2 just took 5 to 10 minutes to finish off and I hadn't quite gotten to the boss yet on Phantasy Star (was pre-playing just an hour before GSL started) and ended up taking up an extra hour than anticipated. Have gone on to play PGR 4 too, will be posted in tomorrow's daily update.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 2


Today on the 9th of April 2009 I unlocked 24 Achievements giving me 490 Gamerscore.

PGR 4: - 24 Achievement, 490 Gamerscore

You might have not known it but PGR 4 is an easy giving gamerscore game. Not had to play excessively today and still managed to get a good amount of gamerscore. Will probably leave the game for now (unless I can get some online) as the rest will be time consuming.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 3


Today on the 10th of April 2009 I unlocked 37 Achievements giving me 575 Gamerscore.

Condemned 2: - 7 Achievements, 115 Gamerscore
Rock Band 2: - 3 Achievements, 65 Gamerscore
GHWT: - 1 Achievement, 5 Gamerscore
Hour of Victory: - 20 Achievements, 360 Gamerscore
PGR 4: - 2 Achievement2, 30 Gamerscore

Didn't think I'd be able to improve on Day 2 but I have done, a day of rain made it possible for me to game most of the day and that time was mainly taken up by playing Hour of Victory during the day and Condemned 2 in the evening. Playing PGR 4 in the morning and 30 mins of Rock Band 2 and GH World Tour got the other points. Was a good day for me.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 4


Today on the 11th of April 2009 I unlocked 21 Achievements giving me 405 Gamerscore.

Skate 2: - 3 Achievements, 90 Gamerscore
Rainbow Six Vegas 2: - 1 Achievement, 20 Gamerscore
Prince of Persia: - 12 Achievements, 170 Gamerscore
Condemned 2: - 5 Achievements, 125 Gamerscore

Was able to boost for easy gamerscore last night in the hours of today for a hundred gamerscore and played Prince of Persia for an hour or so today simply to get quick easy gamerscore from there. Other than that I've wasted plenty of time on Skate 2 and quickly took a picture of myself for RSV2. Definitely could have gamed more but I'm exhausting myself and just want to enjoy my gaming again now lol.

JJBDude48's Gamerscore Daily Update - Day 5


Today on the 12th of April 2009 I unlocked 11 Achievements giving me 350 Gamerscore.

Hour of Victory: - 2 Achievements, 40 Gamerscore
Golden Compass: - 5 Achievements, 210 Gamerscore
PGR 4: - 4 Achievements, 100 Gamerscore

I had to resort to horrible Golden Compass today which took up like the whole day nearly for only 200 gamerscore, hated doing it but I needed points so I could get to my 2000 total for the week. Played PGR 4 for hours in the morning and was able to get 100g there while boosting on Hour of Victory in the evening netted me 40G (was hoping for extra 50 but it's glitching on me ).





So there it is! A lot of typing I did during the GSL as I gave myself daily updates. My next blog post will be my final on GSL 7, I will be analysing my gaming and hopefully come up with some interesting statistics to share!

End of Week 8 of GSL

I didn't think I would be playing this week, the schedule had me down for being a sub but due to Wadinho going on a holiday and kizwiz not wanting to play I was basically forced (by myself, no one on the team made me) to play as I fought to get the Not So Silent Ninjas to 7th. Check out my mini reviews of the games I played in my last and final week of the GSL.

Now Skate 2 came out late January, just when I happened to get the RROD so I purchased it on PS3 (not wanting to miss out on playing it) and ended up trading it in and getting it on the 360 just when the GSL was about to start. I had already gotten the majority of the trophies on the PS3 version and therefore wasn't fussed about waiting a couple of months for the GSL to end for me to play however I was aware it had easy gamerscore so throughout the 8 weeks I have played it gradually, finally getting to Week 8 and after a bit of pre-playing before the week started got nearly all of the achievements done. The game is really good and it's been great to take a break from whoring crappy games during the GSL to play a bit of something I love and still manage to get gamerscore from. I won't discuss the game anymore as I fancy doing a blog dedicated to the game but wanted to include it in this end of week review as I did play a lot pre-week and finish off the majority of the achievements.

From the previous week I bought PGR4 as a friend of mine wanted me to get it so bad he was willing to spend £5 towards me doing so. I was aware it did have easy gamerscore so I decided to act and buy the game for Week 7. It helped that week (200 QUICK Gamerscore) but I didn't have the time to give the game the attention I wanted to do, that's what I did this week. I have been so hooked on playing this game (up until yesterday, 3 days after GSL when I finally got to Rank 1) as it's so god damn fun and easy for gamerscore, I entertained myself collecting the random puzzle achievements and eventually bored it out in Career mode trying to rank up. Been unable to play online with my friend much as I've been so focused on the Single Player aspect, that will be done soon as I aim to get Gold on everything in Arcade (and maybe Platinum if I'm lucky).

This World War game should have been left in the 20th century with those that had fallen in war as it's a pretty bad game, as I discovered when I finally played the Story Mode after boosting online for weeks. Throughout the week and the days post GSL I have managed to finish off the game, getting a full well deserved 1000 gamerscore from it. Having to go through the majority of the levels 3 times, one for each character (total of three) wasn't as hellish as I had imagined it would be thanks to the levels being rather quick (got longer as the game progressed though!). I was extremely greatful for the simple structure the achievements have which is simply complete every level on the game for the gamerscore. There's no need to collect any crap or play on Veteran difficulty which meant I need not worry about missing out achievements which if you didn't know causes me lots of stress. I can forgive the (at times) dumb AI and the odd glitch where you get stuck in between the door as overall the game is quick and different, meaning you won't get bored as you continue to gain easy gamerscore. I recommend this to all, even completionists (if you can be bothered to boost for 10+ hours online which I'm sure you will).

They are the three games I mainly played during the last and final week of the GSL. I will be writing another blog post shortly writing about the overall experience of participating in a GSL and hopefully throw up some interesting statistics about my performance during the competition. Other games I played this week were:

Golden Compass (oh how crap!, will speak about in the future), Phantasy Star Universe, Prince of Persia and Condemned 2.

End of Week 7 of GSL

So this is the third time I've done an end of week review, I didn't do one last week as I did not game but this week (well the one just finished) I did and got lots of gamerscore (5,050 to be precise). It was my last week (I don't wish to play in 8, I'm burnt out) so I gamed really hard, staying up until 7:30AM on Sunday in order to help me get the eventual 1000 gamerscore on Kung Fu Panda. I enjoy the style I have taken towards doing these blog posts, meaning I am going to carry on with describing each individual game and using a box shot of the cover to help illustrate it.

Now I've played a Madden game before but this was Madden 06, packed with 10 or so easy achievements which a friend helped me get with ease. I barely played the game and didn't have a clue what was going on. Fortunately this remained the same in Madden 08 with me simply simulating over half of the achievements in just minutes which made life easy for me. However there were some achievements that no matter how many times you simulate will not unlock, therefore I actually needed to bother to learn how to play a Madden game. After a couple of hours of playing I now have a grasp of the concept behind playing what I previous was a game of chess but on a sports field. The 10 or so achievements I got legitimately (without simulating) really were not too hard, instead at a good difficulty for a novice like me who is playing their first Madden game. I got 800+ gamerscore of this with more being possible however for now I'm going to leave it.

The first "kiddy family game" that I played this week out of two (Kung Fu Panda being the other). This game is definitely a lot better than some of the crappy family games I've had to put up with throughout my time of gamerscore whoring. Playing as Bolt (the dog) is a fun experience as he has a wide variety of attacks and special powers which makes for entertaining battles. Penny (the girl you also control) has a unique gadget which allows her to climb walls and slide accross wires which helps add depth to the level variety. I was able to get the full 1000 on this game by using the achievement guide to make sure I collected all the collectibles. Overall it was a good 1000 to get and although not amazing I am pleased to have it on my profile, would probably play it again for another 1000 if there was another copy lol.

Why have I added NBA 2K7 to this post? Well it's not because I spent a lot of time playing it, it's because I finally finished off the majority of the achievements on the game. With just 3 left to get (2 being silly online ones) I have basically completed the game and thought now would be a good idea to talk about it. So what I did this week in GSL was to get all the players I still needed to get the respective achievement with in to one team and then played against a team with who I gave 5 created players at the height of under 5 feet. Thanks to my brothers help it now became a doddle for me to be able to block all the shots he made against me, considering he was so small and my players were generally tall I didn't even need to jump to block. I have found the achievements on this game to have been good fun to get. There should be achievements for actually bothering to play through career mode and such but I'm not complaining as I have been able to play the game properly and still get the achievements (without the need of simulation which I remember doing on NBA Live 06).

With under 24 hours left of the competition to go I knew I should set my sights on playing Kung Fu Panda as it apparently only takes 6 to 8 hours for the thousand. Now I'm not quite sure how long it did take me but it was definitely around the 10 hour mark and I only needed to go through the game twice unlike three times for people who mess up the don't die achievement. This game has been know as being one of the best family games on the market and quite rightly so as the game has a fresh feel thanks to slick looking graphics and combat features galore. It has a lot of fault though, my main one being the too many repetitive fights which go on for too long found on a few levels. Achievement wise it's a good list involving you to need to get 100% through the game twice. It's a right pain in the arse that the achievements wern't stackable but it doesn't matter, I bothered to complete it twice in a day and now I'm reaping the benefits of a 1000 gamerscore more on my gamercard.

There were other games that got played by me this week however they are not near completition (apart from LMA Manager but I already discussed that). It's worth noting that easy gamerscore was gotten on Smackdown vs RAW 08 (350 for GM mode) and 09 as well playing minimal amounts on PGR 4 and UEFA Champions League. I got 100 gamerscore on Phantasy Star Universe but there's plenty more boredom still to come from that game so I will feature it properly in the future. I'm done for now, will do an in-depth post soon giving an overall summary of the GSL.

Week 7 Off to a Flying Start

With Week 7 being my last one of the competition (due to me most likely sitting out Week 8) I have really put the effort in to ensure I definitely do get to 90,000 gamerscore before the end of the week, hitting my tournament aim.

It's started off really well as I got 100G in minutes on Phantasy Star Universe for spam striking a boss, resulting in it's early grave. Put in Madden afterwards and in 5 minutes or so another few hundred gamerscore had been collected. Unfortunately I got invited to boost in a 6 person Hour of Victory session which I knew I shouldn't turn down due to the probability of never getting a chance to do so if I turned it down now. So a couple of hours there got me 140G and then it was time for an hour of finishing off the simulating the achievements on LMA Manager, netting me the full 1000 gamerscore on the game and another 500 gamerscore to the kitty.

So I've started strong and gotten around 1200 gamerscore already, with so many new games to choose from I have the best chance yet to beat my personal best this week, I'm sure I'll do it this time.