Gaming Highlights and low-lights of the week: Halo Anniversary, Disneyland Adventures, Just Dance Kids, Fragger, Quarrel, Chipmunks, Nascar Unleashed, Crysis 2, Burnout: Paradise EA Sports Active 2, and more.
Bloopers reel
Listener questions
Who am I mini game (Send "who am I" answers to E-mail: Gspopcast@gmail.com)
Call (520) 477-6701 to leave us a message with your questions, suggestions, comments or just a shout out.
Kobe scored 24 points against the Clippers on Wednesday night setting me up for a stroll in the park for the challenge on Thursday.
Wednesday: Off Day
Finished off my final achievement in Karaoke Revolution to get that completion. I got the majority of those achievements during my run to 500,000 gamerscore back in October of 2010. I would say give it a go if you like Karaoke, Revolution and lips are the two best on the 360. I hate Lips though! I can't believe I'm sitting here recommending it. Almost 3 years have passed and it still makes me mad. I'm taking that bad taste Lips left in my mouth to the grave with me.
Played 3 to 4 hours of Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventures while destroying my legs in the process. Try doing 14 circuits in a row after doing 20-30 individual exercises. Rough. I was sweating buckets from that and still managed to get some weight lifting in after. I feel like I'm training for the 2012 Kinect summer Olympics as of late, even impressed my cat with my leaping ability.
It feels good being able to do what I want physically. After 500k I did get pretty ill which coincided with the release of Kinect. I felt better for a week or so but got sick again before going out to LA for the XtendPlay debut. I had a right hip problem leading up to the event which left me laid out on the couch for a week. That passed, but a day later I came down with the shingles virus, which was much worse than the hip problem. That happened just days before I needed to catch a plane to LA. Everything got cancelled and scratched, so there I was, out on my ass for weeks. I finally got better again but started getting hip pain right before PAX east. I was thinking to myself, "not this shit again." That only lasted a few days and the pain wasn't as extreme as the first go around. About a month after PAX I was doing hard running and the hip pain came back. I went on a trip to Florida shortly after and I felt really good the entire time. I worked out almost every day but running still wasn't in the cards. I came back home with new found hope and vigor as I was mentally and physically recharged for the first time in a long time. That was also around the time Cindy told me to lay the smack down and where the "WIN" line came from in my 600k video. Not so long after the podcast started I passed out and got rushed to the ER. I checked out just fine, but still, I was worried since nothing like that happened to me before. I did have hip and knee problems up until about three weeks to a month ago.However, I managed to slog through some Kinect games with extreme pain during that time. This has been a strange year as ever for me and I'm not sure why I'm breaking down the medical history report. But I do feel freaking great right now. I'm jumping around like kangaroo on speed. I just hope the trend continues. You don't have much if you don't have your health.
Thursday: Challenge Day - at least 24 achievements needed
Unlocked 8 achievements for 280 gamerscore in Family Game Night 4 EU. I have two achievements left in that, one being the 50 game shows played. A little too many if you ask me.
Darksiders JP got some spin. Darksiders is a sleeper hit from a few years back that I really enjoyed then and still am in the present. Hopefully Darksiders 2 doesn't disappoint when it drops later this year. People having higher expectations puts the pressure on. Good luck team working on that. I unlocked 8 achievements for 95 gamerscore.
Kinect Sports keeps getting thrown into the fire on these challenge days. I probably said it before, but I'll say it again. It's one of the best Kinect games there is and still holds up well. It's well rounded and has a lot to offer, more so than Kinect Sports 2. I unlocked 5 achievements for 90 gamerscore. I think I'll get it done one day. A pretty tough game overall.
Disneyland Adventures was the first new game I've played in a while besides Darksiders JP and Family Game Night 4 EU. I wouldn't call those new since I've experienced the US versions of both. I didn't play enough to come away with much of an opinion, but Disney seems to be top notch. It just screams quality from the graphics to the interface. It's quite long from what I've heard so we'll see how deep I actually get. A weak sauce 2 achievements for 15 gamerscore which took down my progressing completion percentage a bit. I'm always one step forward and two steps back when it comes to that. I just can't help myself.
Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventures....again. I couldn't last long as I was beat from the previous day. Her ass is grass and I'm the lawn mower. She will get hers soon. 1 achievement for 30 gamerscore. 6 left for the completion.
Total for Day 13: 24 achievements - 510 gamerscore - the lowest gamerscore total for the challenge yet.
Friday: Off Day
Not much gaming but I did watch a few episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix. Check this show out if you get a chance or if you need another show fix.
This week was kind of light compared to the previous and I'l get a few more off days. The Lakers and Kobe are back at it on Saturday and Sunday night. That leaves me with a two-day-dip on Sunday and Monday. .
Kobe scored 33 Sunday night against the Pacers. Just about right where I want the number to be for challenge purposes. Not too much, but not too little. Something I find to be noteworthy is that Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls has a torn ligament in his off hand. He will sit out for weeks, possibly months. Kobe has a torn ligament in his shooting hand, lost half of his money in a divorce, but has missed zero games, and is currently leading the league in scoring. On top of the fact that he is 33 years old and has a ton of miles on his body. Respect.
Monday: Challenge Day - at least 33 achievements needed
Went back to Scene it? BOS to clean up a few achievements I missed in the Award Winners DLC.I unlocked 3 achievements for 100 gamerscore and captured the completion w/DLC. Two of those achievements in the AM and the other midday. Thanks to Mr. Johnson for throwing his copy in so I could get the online quiz achievement. Good luck finding any company online.
Had a bit of cleaning up to do in National Geographic Challenge!, mostly the puzzle achievements. I did all the slider puzzles before I retired for the night. 1 achievement for 40 gamerscore.
At about 5:00PM EST I was only sitting on those 4 achievements, which left me with some work to do.
I'm missing a ton of achievements in Kinect Sports so I figured I could nab a few from it. I immediately downloaded the Calorie Challenge Pack since there were about 10 achievements to pick up. I unlocked 11 achievements for 265 gamerscore. I probably enjoy the Kinect Sports games more so than any other Kinect titles that aren't named The Gunstringer.
I got my new PAL Xbox in the mail (post for you Brits) along with Family Game Night 4 EU and that may have saved my bacon. I unlocked 19 achievements 580 Gamerscore. Thanks for trading with me little Nicky.
That put me at 34 achievements with more time to spare so I popped in Victorious: Time To Shine. I felt like this was my day to finally shine and I did just that. I got the gold star in the drum portion unlocking 2 achievements for 75 gamerscore and getting the completion in the process.
Total for day 12: 36 achievements - 1,060 Gamerscore
Tuesday: Off Day
Completed Nat Geo Challenge! by unlocking the final 3 achievements.
Completed WWE 12 by unlocking the final 4 achievements. The servers in this were terrible the day it came out and still are to this day. There should be an achievement just for connecting to the servers titled " The hardest achievement ever"
Played some Kinect Sports (working on a 5 day in a row achievement)
Made a little progress in Family Game Night 4 EU
Kobe and the Lakers play Tonight (Wednesday) against the Clippers so the challenge resumes tomorrow.
A lot more of NBA2k12 was played and I think I'm a tad addicted to my player mode at the moment.
Made a little more progress in Chaos;Head Noah which I probably should of finished off ages ago. It's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Boring and long, but easy.
Day11-
Friday: Challenge Day - 24 achievements needed
I started when the clock stuck midnight on the east coast.
Topped off CHAOS;HEAD NOAH right away by unlocking 3 achievements for 260 gamerscore. The game gave me zero problems which was a relief since 11eyes was giving me tons as the previous game spinning in my Japanese Xbox....but I finally slayed that beast.
11 eyes CrossOver being said beast. It took some tinkering before I was able to conquered it. I unlocked 2 achievements for 170 gamerscore. Good riddance! I'm glad that is over and done with. It was driving me nuts for days.
I was all aboard for some Harbor Master, unlocking 1 achievement for 5 gamerscore.
More NBA2k12 and my player. Surprise! Surprise! 1 achievement for 20 gamerscore.
WWE12 consumed the majority of my play time for the day. I managed to unlocked 9 achievements for 200 gamerscore while slowly chipping away at that completion.
Had to get a work-out in so Jillian Micheals was a good way to do that and knock out some achievements at the same time. 8 achievements for 100 gamerscore was the bounty.
Total for Day 9: 24 achievements - 755 gamerscore
Saturday: Challenge Day - 30 achievements needed
Started recording the podcast around 2am EST...make that 3am EST. Omega and myself are now the warriors of the night. We will be the saviors of this great planet if a zombie apocalypse breaks out. Skype being at our fingertips gives us the advantage, both ready to dial 911 at the drop of a hat. Can you even call 911 on Skype? Whatever. I'll just use my cell. Obviously we won't have to worry about zombitches in the daytime when we are actually asleep, the sun will take care of them then. Don't say I didn't warn you when a zombie is sucking on your melon.
I stuck with NBA2k12 while recording. More my player mode gaining zero achievements in about 2 and a half to 3 hours. It takes forever.
Began plowing away at Otomedius G, another game I'm missing a single achievement on. Got a little closer once I actually figured out what I needed to do.
WWE12 dominated my play time for a second day in a row. I unlocked 20 achievements for 370 gamerscore. I'm getting close to that completion but road to wrestlemania drags on like an annoying teenage girl summarizing her day at the mall. I also recaptured my #1 overall wrestling gamerscore title.
I used the Windows Phone game Text Twist 2 to get my score back to 0's or 5's so I can hit 700,000 on the dot. 1 achievement 1 gamerscore. I get a kick out of looking at that game on my card. Bought it for 1 freaking point. smh
Another day of Jillian Michael's fitness and this time I did work up a good sweat. 10 achievements for 260 gamerscore. The seven remaining achievements in JM will take some effort.
Total for Day 10: 31 achievements - 631 gamerscore
Sunday: Off Day
Not a lot of gaming going on here. Played a single game of NBA2k12 and finished unlocking my last card in Otomedius G for a 200 point achievement and the completion.
Glad to see that Super Bowl XLVI will be a rematch of XLII.
The bar is set for my challenge today, Kobe ended up with 33 in a loss to the Pacers on Sunday night. The 3rd straight loss for the Lakers. The Chris Paul trade that wasn't still pisses me off. They need another PG asap.
Gaming Highlights and low-lights of the week: Saints Row The Third Professor Genki DLC, Victorious: Time to Shine, Halo Anniversary, Stoked Big Air Edition, Jillian Micheal's: Fitness Adventure, Harbor Master, Puss in Boots, Dvinity/arcania, Afro Samurai.
News &New releases: Sign ups for The Gamerscore Popcast Marathon are underway. Go to www.gspmarathon.net for all the details. The prizes are great, but the competition and trash talk will be even better. Get some friends together and sign up. It should be a fun year.
Prizes
The following prizes will be awarded to each member of a team finishing in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place:
1st prize: Choice of Xbox 360 S console (any region) or GAEMS G155 case
2nd prize: Choice of Kinect Bundle or two 360 games (price not exceeding US$120)
3rd prize: Choice 1 year of Xbox LIVE Gold or 4000 MSP
Bloopers reel
Listener questions
Call (520) 477-6701 to leave us a message with your questions, suggestions, comments or just a shout out.
Kobe went into full noob mode on Monday Night against the Mavs tallying 14 points total in one of the ugliest games I have ever witnessed by both teams. I figured he was going to be in killer Kobe mode since the Mavs thrashed the Lakers four to nil for the sweep last year in the postseason to send Kobe, Phil, and the Lakers on an early fishing trip.
And the Kobe face was nowhere to be found during the game.
I would be shocked if it doesn't make an appearance against the Heat on Thursday night.
Tuesday: Challenge Day - A noob like 14 achievements needed
I started off with some NBA2k12 in the AM and I finally created a my player for use in player mode which is addicting as ever. That's all I really want to play at the moment. I also finished off the Legends Showcase DLC. It was fun playing with mini-fro Kobe again and all the other legends of the game. I unlocked a few more odd achievements which resulted in my score not ending in 0's or 5's. I need to fix that soon. I unlocked 6 achievements for 189 gamerscore before hitting the hay.
Victorious: Time To Shine graced my Xbox with its presence once again. The Xbox grew a face akin to a talking tree and told me to "Eat shit and die." I unlocked 18 achievements for 480 gamerscore. I'm only missing two achievements for the completion and what's holding me back is gold starring a single musical performance with the drums. I have no idea why this is giving me such fits. I even busted out my Rock Band drum sticks to play along with it and that did not help. I have the track stuck in my head and I find myself breaking out in song during the day. It goes something like this "cause its alright, keep it together." Here, have a listen for yourself.
I also have a Glee song stuck in my head. Actually, two of them. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "Marry You"
This is a debilitating disease I need to get control of a.s.a.f.p.
I'll have another crack at the little drummer boy portion soon.
That put me well over the 14 achievements I needed for the day. I had to continue along to show Kobe that he is good but I'm Tony Danza.
Even though his talk show was cancelled after 10 minutes, he is still and always will be, The boss.
Since my Kinect was all warmed up, even more so than usual due to my cat snuggling up next to it, I decided to keep the Kinectethon rolling by picking Kinect Sports as my next choice. There is some free DLC I picked up off the marketplace, and yes, it does include extra achievements. It's mostly just new mini-games, which is fine in my book. I unlocked 5 achievements for 120 gamerscore. Kinect Sports is up to 1,500 gamerscore points and I have less than half of those.
Popped In Jillian Micheals to get my 3 consecutive days played achievement. 1 achievement for 15 gamerscore.
Total for Day 8: 30 achievements - 804 gamerscore
Wednesday: Off Day
I got some more time with my player mode on NBA2K12 and I'm making progress in that slowly but surely. It takes a very long time to get all those achievements. It also reminds me of how I need to go back and finish NBA2k11. I still need to plug away on basketball games to fend the vultures off my #1 hoops gamerscore title.
I topped off Mass Effect 2 by finishing off the Arrival DLC. March can't come soon enough! Mass Effect 3 comes out then for those that have been living under a rock or don't care for Mass Effect. How dare you! Mass Effect 2 is the last game that really grabbed me by the balls and said "Play me until the break of dawn." I was freaking hooked on that game. I'm talking about a peanut butter and jelly everyday hooked. Let me explain that. Screw sleep, screw respsoniblites, screw eating properly, screw showers, and ignore your significant other until you get nagged to death for not spending enough time with them. The stars align and your world revolves around that game for however long it lasts. And this feeling, this joy, rarely happens to me. Maybe three to four times per generation. Getting really hooked on a game is one of the best feelings in life. It's what I enjoy doing. People feel the same way about movies and books. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way about a game and thankfully, it's becoming more acceptable every day that passes.
Popped in Cabela's: Survival to capture a couple of quickies.
Tried my luck at CHAOS; HEAD NOAH and I'm making good progress. Hopefully the conclusion ends in a completion unlike 11 eyes Cross Over.
So, I was listening to the newest Jalen Rose podcast and he mentioned how he subscribes to Google Alerts about himself. Anytime someone blogs or says something about him over the interwebs, he will find out and hunt you down. I decided to do the same thing for the hell of it.
Well....I haven't played Goldeneye: Reloaded in a few months now and the guy claims he killed me a few days ago. So if he killed me yesterday, he either did this killing of me in his dreams, there is a Stallion83 impostor on Xbox LIVE, or the dude is just flat out lying. Take your pick.
The Lakers and Kobe take the court again on Thursday and Firday night. Which means more back to back challenge days for me coming Friday and Saturday.
As I said on Day 7, Kobe had another 40 point game on Saturday night against the LA Clippers. 42 points to be exact. That makes four games in a row over 40. That's not even his best streak, back in 2003 he scored 40+ in 9 straight games. In 2007, he scored 50+ in 4 straight. 65,50,60,50 and then was held to 43 points in the fifth game which broke that streak. So these types of streaks are common when it comes to him.
Sunday: Challenge Day - 42 achievements needed once again
The first thing I did was purchased and downloaded Scene It: Movie Night for 800MSP. If movie trivia is your thing you should like the series. I recommend checking out Scene it? Box Office Smash or Lights, Camera, Action, the two best of the series. Movie Night is sub par, too many repeating questions. 10 achievements for 140 gamerscore.
1 Achievement for 30 Gamerscore in NBA2k12
Tentacles for WP7 got some more love and I unlocked 6 achievements for 80 Gamerscore.
Victorious: Time To Shine was up next. I've never heard of this show but I think it airs on nickelodeon. It's a Kinect only title that has singing, dancing, and other goofy stuff. It seems easy thus far and I don't see it causing too much trouble to complete. There's a music portion where you have to act like you are playing different instruments. The drums are giving me fits! It doesn't seem to track very well at all.....but still light years ahead of that abortion known as Let's Cheer. I unlocked 22 achievements for 445 gamerscore before calling it quits.
Briefly played Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventures which also requires Kinect and it seems like a good system to get your butt into shape. I didn't play it long enough to get a good read on everything it has to offer. I should get more time with it on Tuesday. 3 Achievements for 30 gamerscore.
Total for Day 8: 42 achievements - 725 gamerscore
Monday: Off Day
Tried to unlock those last two achievements in 11eyes cross over but no luck thus far. I'd love to break this disc in half right about now. I just need to give it up because it just slows me down and makes me hulk the F out.
Completed Scene it? Movie Night
Re-completed (DLC) in A World of Keflings. Great arcade game, go get it! Try out the trial at the very least.Glad to hear they are releasing more DLC down the road which you can vote on. I voted for Candy of Keflings.
Finished off KR: Glee Vol. 3.
That's about it for gaming.
Kobe and the Lakers played on Sunday night. He finally cooled off scoring a measly 14 points.
They don't play again until Thursday and another on Friday. Which makes for a lite week as far as this challenge goes and the first two day break coming Wednesday and Thursday.
Kobe continues to be red hot. He had another 40 plus point night scoring 42 points against the Cleveland Cavilers. The oldest player to ever have 3 consecutive 40 point games. Something even MJ never did at 33 or older.
Friday: Off Day
Temptation to post that silly ass Friday song is very high but I'll try to refrain.
Off the top of my head I have no idea what I did as far as gaming goes. *Takes a look at achievement dates*
It appears as if I finished off Eat Lead JP. I also played some Ben 10 Galactic Racing and a little bit of NBA2k12.
At pigs request we started recording the podcast early and he STILL feel asleep during recording. Everyone except for Omega and myself are in different time zones which makes it hard to schedule a time for recording that works great for everyone. Next week we are recording at 2:00AM EST, which is the time zone I'm in. It's not very covenant for myself but you got to do what you got to do.
I'm convinced this is pig before and after the podcast.
Saturday: Challenge Day - 42 Achievements needed to match Kobe
The podcast spilled over into Saturday so I fired up Ben 10 Galactic Racing while that was taking place and unlocked 5 achievements for 110 Gamerscore to finish it off for good. Even though I do enjoy my kart racers, I can't recommend Galactic Racing. It could be the worst one for the 360.
Skipping along, I went with NBA 2k12, a game that is so fitting for this challenge. I unlocked 2 achievements for 45 gamerscore. NBA2k11 and NBA2k12 are not only the best basketball games ever created, they are probably the best sports games ever made. There are still tons of faults like online servers not working properly which can be so frustrating. I love to play team-up mode but it hardly ever works.
During the podcast phatal1ty recommend I play Harbor Master on WP7 since it's similar to Flight Control for WP7. Boy was she right! I really like it a lot and it plays exactly like Flight Control. I can't believe I'm just now finding this out. A few of the achievements are ridiculous...like shipping 50,000 lifetime cargo units or scoring 500 on any map. I unlocked 13 achievements for 100 Gamerscore by playing it through-out the day.
It was KR: Glee Vol. 3 time! Yippee Skippy! Mopped up 3 achievements for 250 Gamerscore which leaves me 1 achievement away for the completion.
Guess I couldn't refrain after all. :)
Briefly played Disney Universe which lead to unlocking 3 achievements for 45 gamerscore before moving on.
I purchased Tentacles for my Windows Phone. I never tried the demo before so this was new to me even though it came out some months ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this platformer where you need to use your creatures tentacles to maneuver past the hazards and enemies. If you like the thought of eating eyeballs, this is the game you have been waiting your entire life for. I unlocked 10 achievements for 70 Gamerscore.
I first played The Sims 3 back in July and only popped a few achievements. I just now got back to playing it all these months later. Nothing new here, it's still the same Sims game that sold a bazillion copies on the PC. You eat, shit, sleep, and work. You played this game for reals today. Hopefully you took and shower and yes, this was a friendly reminder. I unlocked 8 achievements for 170 Gamerscore before I took one. No, really..
Went back to 11eyes Cross Over to get that last measly percentage done. I ended up in an all German speaking party and the first thing I heard in English was "Hello Raymond." He tried his best to guide me through what I was missing but we could not figure it out. I'm stuck on 99.70%. 2 achievements and 170 gamerscore is just laughing at me.
Total for Day 7: 44 Achievements - 790 Gamerscore
The Lakers and Kobe played again on Saturday night. He scored another 42 points. That's 4 games in a row at 40! Crazy stuff. They play again on Monday night.
Since starting this challenge Kobe has averaged an outstanding 38 points per game.
