Wii Fit (Wii)

Another 20 minutes today. I've unlocked a couple more games today too - the penguin-feeding one and the fantastic Rhythm Boxing.

LocoRoco (PSP)

Today I worked through most of World 4, not finding it especially difficult. Of course, getting a perfect score on each and every level is a life's work, but I don't think I'll be doing that. It's too frustrating, as sometimes a mis-jump takes you past a point you can't return to without trying the level again.

Wii Fit (Wii)

Another 20-odd minutes on this tonight. I didn't get a chance to play yesterday, so should really have made a bit more effort today, but anyway.

Did the jogging thing again, this time chasing after the dog what runs past you. This altered the course a little, but was a nice touch. Also beat my previous scores on Hula Hooping and That Game Where You Tilt Balls Into Holes. The new Yoga pose I'd unlocked (Palm Tree) was hard, as I kept almost falling over.

And I was rubbish at skiing today.

Ape Academy (PSP)

Bought this at the weekend (although not for me), and gave it a quick go this evening. It's... very odd. You play noughts and crosses, with each square being a monkey-infested minigame. Kind of like single-player Mario Party. With monkeys.

It was pretty good, although I did only complete the first "level" of the academy.

Wii Fit (Wii)

Yay! I managed to ace the Step Aerobics game! Well, not ace as such, but I did only get one miss. And I scraped a few more seconds off my Tightrope time, and improved on my Ski Jump score - but still can't beat my wife. I did, however, thrash her football score of 100 with my amazing score of 234. Ha!

LocoRoco (PSP)

With Katamari done and dusted, I returned to this. Didn't play for all that long though, but I have now finished off all of World 3. I understand there are five worlds, and with a play time of just over three hours currently, it looks like it's going to be a pretty short game.

But that's OK - I think it would drag if it was much longer, as although it's fun and everything, there's not all that much variety between levels.

Me and My Katamari (PSP)

So... that's pretty much it. I've completed the few remaining levels (all of which were Volcano Island "strange request" levels), and on every level I've managed a reasonable-or-better score, with many levels having a score of 100. I don't really fancy playing it again for better scores, as each level was almost the same as the last, so I feel I've been playing the same level over and over and over already.

Besides, the 360 is easier to control, so I could just play that if I fancied a bit more rollyball "action".

Mario Party 8 (Wii)

Had a go of this today with my wife, on the Shyguy Train board. Things got off to a bad start for me, as for the first four turns I couldn't roll higher than a 3, and by turn 8 I was still starless while everyone else had two or three.

However, I somehow managed to turn it around, and on the final turn had three stars, beating everyone else. To further prove my superiority, I then won all three bonus stars, and the stats showed that regardless of which bonus stars had been randomly chosen, I'd have won the game anyway - even if I hadn't picked any stars up on the board. Amazing!

Wii Fit (Wii)

Racked up another 24 minutes today (same amount as yesterday), but spent less time on the Yoga and more on the aerobic and balance exercises. I'm finding the tightrope walking easy, the ski jump impossible to break 300 on, and the jogging on the spot was actually quite good fun. Yes, fun. Amazing.

Me and My Katamari (PSP): COMPLETED!

Completed in that I've done all the main levels and the end of game sequence and bonus game, at least. I think there are a few more animals to sort out on Volcano Island, although I've done most of them too.

It's a shame that the levels are all the same and it's too easy (I haven't failed a single level), but it's still rollyball fun like the others in the series - it just happens to be the weakest in that series.

Oh! And this would be my first completed PSP game! Hurrah!

Weekly Round Up

I've been a bit busy this week so haven't had time to fill in my diary. So here's a brief rundown of what I've been playing:

Me and My Katamari (PSP)
It's been this for most of the week. It is good and all, but I'm finding it a bit limiting. There are so few locations in the game (even fewer than the 360 version, in fact) that almost every level is a repeat of the last, with a different - or not - arrangement of objects. The controls are very fiddly too, with going straight and large turns being easy enough, but minor adjustments are difficult.

There's also the dual problems of pop-up (so bad that you sometimes collect items before they've even been drawn on the screen) and slowdown, marring enjoyment somewhat. There's another strange thing too - I actually kept running out of things to roll up. I'd reach the target size, and have so much time left over I could not only roll up every single remaining item, but also have another minute or more left in which there was nothing to do.

Thankfully, it's still fun, and it's still Katamari. I think if I'd played the other games after this one, perhaps I'd not be so bothered by the problems.

Sega Superstar Tennis (Wii)
This was £15 in Asda, and as it had had some reasonable reviews, I thought I'd get it. Even though common sense dictates that because it's a Sega game, there's a good chance it'll be crap. But it isn't! OK, so it isn't fantastic, and the Wii swinging controls are a little unresponsive, but it's more fun than Top Spin 2 on the 360. Some of the mini-games are pretty ace too - especially the House of the Dead one.

Wii Fit (Wii)
This arrived this week too, and it's brilliant. I don't go in for it being an actual tool for really actually getting you fit, but if it makes me more active at least, that'd be good. It's also a great novelty too, using your entire body as a controller. And it's worth the price for the skiing and ski jump games alone. Almost.

I won't be posting my BMI and weight and stuff here, just my progress. Which so far, hasn't happened. I've played most of the unlocked Yoga poses (one of which my body simply rejects), all the balance games, and a couple of aerobic exercises. I'm not planning on even touching the muscle exercises though. Press-ups? No.

Me and My Katamari (PSP)

Hurrah for new games arriving in the post! Boo that this should have arrived last Monday and my local post is crap. Hurrah for it being aces! Boo for it having really difficult controls (no dual analogue sticks). Hurrah for that not really mattering all that much.

And most important of all, hurrah for the King of all Cosmos: Swimsuit Edition! Amaze!

I've only completed two levels (and the training) so far, and it feels much more like the PS2 version than the 360 version. the mid-level loading is there (which is a shame, but not a deal-breaker), and the graphics do look a lot worse than on the 360 - something I didn't think would be the case, as on the 360 they didn't seem that much better than the PS2 version. None of this matters, as it's Katamari! Yay!

Patapon (PSP)

Haven't played this for just over a week or so, it seems, so I did get a little confused as to the rhythms for the commands. I need to take on a load of guard posts, but after three defeats (the first because one of the posts has a Patapon squishing device on it!) I decided to try something else instead, and went back to an earlier level for a bit of hunting.

After that, I returned to kill Dodonga (now on level 3), but almost there as well as he was much harder than I was expecting - I had just two archers left. I need to level-up my Patapons somehow, but can't figure out how. the game suggests killing old bosses, but I can't even do that without dying. There's a cook somewhere that can make me potions, but where?

PaRappa the Rapper (PSP)

Amazing! I finally managed to finish level 2! And not just level 2 (the learn-to-drive one), but also level 3 (the fleamarket one). Level 3 was actually much, much easier for some reason.

Now, I have to bake a cake out of fish, and, after $hlmun attempts, I still can't do it. It's far too hard. Even though my rapping appears to be in time, it clearly isn't.

MySims (Wii)

With skate. done and dusted, I was going to move on to something new, but then realised how many old games I still have uncompleted, and saw this on the shelf.

I was at just-over-4-stars previously, and today spent almost two hours barely improving on that. I think the bar is now at around 20% full, rather than 10%. Mostly spent the time prospecting for stuff and growing trees, but also moved a fortune teller in, and completed tasks for her and Goth Boy (who is now "complete"). Also moved in Master Aran, and made him some furniture.

I now need to find skeletons. They're in the desert, apparently, but I can't find any.

Viva Pinata Party Animals (360)

I've just realised - I've not added this to my list of games I own. Hmm.

Anyway, me and my wife played one game on this, which I won. It's the first time I've played it on my new 360 Elite (having gotten rid of my old 360 mainly because it wouldn't play it). After our game, my wife played it alone for a bit. Then it crashed. Now it won't play any more.

What the hell?

skate. (360)

ALL DONE! Well, except the online stuff (although see about that in a minute).

First off: the two races. The slalomy one that ends up in the big round bit of road didn't take too many tries, the the one in the Old Town (where 2x2 of the racers start on opposite sides of the road) was EVIL. Even though I finished in first place several times, I came last due to not going through enough markers. On the flip side, going through all the markers left me in 4th too. Thankfully, I eventually found an alternative route which, although had no markers, but me a good 25+ seconds ahead of everyone. Hurrah!

After that, I found and Owned all the remaining spots. Then, I wasted 10 minutes messing around in No Skate Zones to get the 3 Hours In No Skate Zones milestone.

Finally: I beat all the remaining Pros at S.K.A.T.E. Bloody hell was that hard. You have to hope each messes up, so you get a chance to set the tricks rather than them, and then it's a waiting game. It's entirely random if they bail or not (although it seems each successive Pro is less likely to), and which trick (or even how difficult the trick is) is totally irrelevant. They appear to bail as often trying a simple Ollie 360 as they do attempting a Nollie 360 Flip 360.

Once they'd been beaten, I'd done all the challenges (Achievement!) and all the milestones (Achievement!), but then something odd happened - I instantly unlocked another 6 achievements, and they're all online ones. I got one for playing 50 online games, one for winning 6 games in a row, and I've reached Pro and Icon Trickster status (but not Amateur for some reason). I'm not complaining at the 225 extra gamerpoints, I'm just very confused...

skate. (360)

For some reason, three of the races I'd previously completed were unlocked again. So I attempted them all, but only managed to win two. That leaves the remaining one and the one that I hadn't completed before left to do.

I then set about ticking off a few milestones - namely the smash myself to bits ones, mainly by throwing myself under cars and jumping off the megaramp at the X-Games stadium at funny angles to land on my face. After that, it was time to get chased (and escape) a lot from security, and then I went and beat a couple more Pros at the S.K.A.T.E. challenge bit.

Finally, I Owned The Spot at all the unlocked locations. I still have 5 left to find, though.

Here's a clip of me doing a 14-bone-shattering bail on the Megaramp:

LocoRoco (PSP)

Just four more levels (in World 3) to complete today. Lots of being eaten by the shape-changing owl (the programmers were on drugs, right?), and I found another friend - a red LocoRoco.

I also managed to lose almost all of my LocoRocos on one level, as they got sucked up a draught thing, leaving just two behind for me to control. Gah!

skate. (360)

More achievement bizarreness today. I'd completed all the tricks yesterday, but the achievement hadn't unlocked. However, upon completing a deathrace today, the achievement unlocked. Why?!

I then spent ages trying to complete another deathrace only to find it isn't possible. I did manage to complete the remaining video tasks, however, and owned another two spots.

skate. (360)

Verymostodd. I'd previously managed to complete all of the contests, and made Skater of the Year (the Thrasher cover), but neither achievement was activated. Then, today, for some reason they unlocked. All I did was a relatively minor bail while skating. I hadn't even completed an event or goal or anything. Bizarre.

I then pulled off the last two tricks in my trick book, and the achievement for that hasn't popped up either. What the hell is going on?

skate. (360): COMPLETED!

Well, I didn't think I'd ever get there, but today I managed it. Unlike many other games, I really feel my skill within the game had actually improved, and it feels like a much more realisitic skill progression than the Tony Hawk style of stats and levelling up. In skate., it's me that improves, not my skater.

That's not to say everything is better than Tony Hawk, though. The Pro Skater games are more arcadey and less realistic, but big, ridiculous tricks are fun and impressive. skate., however, is a simulation. A real skater's moves and actions have real control analogues, and the flick-it system is intentionally hard to master - just like a real skateboard. You have to actually try tricks, not just remember the button you have to press. Lining up, shifting your body and reacting quickly is more important here than in Pro Skater.

So I enjoyed it. A lot. However, the actual goals of the game were those parts I liked least. Some of the final ones (the 360 flip and then the 360 flip-to-FS crooked) were just frustrating and not fun at all. Thankfully, I managed them - the Rob and Big one taking three hours of attempts in the end, but I have the proof:



After that, I went on to complete some more Thrasher goals, getting the front page of the magazine (although I didn't get the achievement - must be a bug?) and unlocked the final area of the map and another jam session, which I easily won. So that's me then, a skate. Icon!

I have four goals (two Thrasher, two The Skateboard Mag) left to do now, but I've done the final events and reached the highest status in the game, so I'm considering it completed. I'll probably play it a bit more, though.

And, for fun, here's a bizarre glitch that launched me like a pinwheel for no reason:

skate. (360)

Ah! I figured out what the "ride the hubba and 360 flip" pro challenge was. It seems a "hubba" is just a platform, and a 360 flip is not a flip through 360 degrees - it's a specific (and very difficult to pull off) trick. Basically, you have to hold the right stick at the 3:30 clock position, rotate clockwise to 7:30, then flick to 2 o'clock very, very quickly in one movement. Not easy.

Anyway, with that done (and some more Thrasher photo and video challenges complete), I unlocked the Rob and Big Black pro challenge. Oh joy! It's another 360 flip! Only this time, you have to flip to a FS Crooked grind, and avoid Big. Clearly impossible.

As usual, here is my latest painful bail. I did some ace tricks too, but it's actual physical pain you all want to see, isn't it? Of course it is.



This was an attempt at a MASSIVE DAMAGE bail, but somehow, I survived:

LocoRoco (PSP)

I didn't realise you could find and unlock other LocoRoco blobs to play with/as. Until I unlocked two today - a pink one, and a blue one. And here's the genius bit: they have their own voices that they sing along to the level music in! Fantastic! Even if the blue one has a really deep manly voice and sounds a bit creepy...

Today I completed all of the levels in World 2, all bar one completed with at least 15 blobs - the other was just 6. I had 18, but some spikes trapped me and I lost all bar 4. Which means, if I hadn't hit the spikes, I've have collected all 20. Bah.

skate. (360)

Amazing! I've really progressed today, both in terms of how far into the game I've managed to get, but also in my skill at the game. I finished off everything to do with the Skateboard Mag (beating P-Rod at SKATE was virtually impossible, though), which unlocked the two X-Games events - both of which I managed to get Gold in. The giant ramp you unlock after the events really helps nail some of the Thrasher videos, as high scores, big air and huge jumps are easy with it.

So I did that, and then went round a few other Thrasher events to try them. Managed a couple of videos and photos, but that's about it.

Since I'm 100% done with The Skateboard Mag, about 60% done with Thrasher, have impressed more than half of the pros and Beat The Spot at almost half the locations, I'm wondering why I haven't got the achievement for 50% of the game's milestones. Is there a huge extra bit to unlock or something?

skate. (360)

OK, so I improved today. A lot. It seems I hadn't actually been doing the Thrasher goals much, so had loads of them ready to attempt. Also took part in a Jam session that I easily won, and plenty more photo and video spots too.

Here are a couple of today's bails:

skate. (360)

It really is getting too hard now. I can't find any more goals (or "milestones" or whatever EA calls them) that I can realistically complete. It's a good job the skating around aimlessly is so much fun, otherwise I think I'd have to stop playing.

LocoRoco (PSP)

Just another couple of levels completed today. The ice one was ace - loads of sliding all over the place!

skate. (360)

Well, I managed to get a combo worth over 10,000 points. That took over an hour...

Mr. Driller Online (360)

3000m: FAIL.

LocoRoco (PSP)

Having played all the demos I could find over the last wee or so, the full game finally arrived today. Only managed to get as far as completing the first two levels, though, and played about with the house, and the crane minigame.

It's very cute, isn't it?

Mr. Driller Online (360)

Quest Mode 1000m completed! It netted me an achievement too, for getting 10 quests completed in a row. In the process I discovered something: there are items you can use! No one told me this! I've played (and completed!) many Mr Driller games before, and have never noticed items before. How did I not know this?

Assorted PSP Demos (PSP)

Downloaded some more PSP demos today and had a play. Hurrah for free things!

Hot Shots Golf 2
Or Minna no Golf 2, or whatever the English name is. Lovely! Only three holes, and I had to guess the controls, but it's cute and colourful and plays just like those other golf games that I like. You know the ones - ones that aren't crap.

Ape Escape 2
Erm. Monkeys. And a terrible, awful, rubbish camera. And it uses the "analogue" nub, so is instantly rubbish. Tch, eh?

SOCOM Firezzzzzyawn
Guh. Can you aim without moving? Can you move without getting shot? Is it any good? The answers to these questions, and more, is "no".

Thing With A Cat And A Frog And A Rabbit In
No idea. All in Japanese. Looks cute, haven't a clue what to do. Lots of text. Amazing!

Patapon (PSP)

I totally OBLITERATED the Zigotons today, completely wiping the floor with their three attacks they attempted. One was a mission where I had to escort a cart being pulled by some horses, but even though the horses seemed to complain they were being attacked, I quite easily saw off the enemy.

I also have a few flame bows for my archers. Torching the enemy = fun!

skate. (360)

More of the same, really. I managed to get myself up to Pro status (mainly buy completing photo, Pro and video goals) though. I don't know how to change sponsor, which is annoying. I'm currently sponsored by Zero for my deck, but I have Baker, Almost, Girl and a few others unlocked but unavailable. Anyone know?

I played online a bit today too, eventually (EA's servers weren't letting me in - glad to see they've "improved" since the bad old days of Burnout 3...). That was pretty good fun, especially on Own the Spot mode.

Here are a few pictures from today's play:

Patapon (PSP)

I got a horse!

In fact, I got TWO horses! And more archer Patapons. And then went and fought a load of Zigotons. Then some more. And hunted a bit. Then! I found a Patapon with some spoons that smacks a mountain's rock toes. No, really.

Amazing!

Lumines (PSP)

I have no idea how far I got playing this, or how much I scored, as I forgot to look. But I managed to get through at least six skins and was playing for about 40 minutes.

PaRappa the Rapper (PSP)

Hurrah! I completed the first level! Amazing!

And then completely failed to get past the second level. I did, however, manage to get the lyrics "check and turn the signal to the left/now turn to the left" wedged in my head.

skate. (360)

I like it. I really do. I like the freedom and the more realistic skating. But the fact that it's so realistic makes me like That Other Skating Game more. The way that doing tricks is harder here just seems to make it less fun.

That said, just aimlessly skating around is more fun than in TOSG.

As a result, I achieved virtually nothing bar a couple more photo and video goals today, even though I spent ages playing it.

skate. (360)

I'm trying to like it. I really am. I do enjoy playing, but all of the challenges are too hard - especially those requiring you to get 700 or more points in one trick (not one line!) which is plainly not possible. Even a nollie'd kickflip 360 backflip grab will get you just 380-ish. Rubbish.

Anyway, I have a video that I uploaded this morning:

Mr. Driller Online (360)

Thanks to some people in ugvm "bigging this up" (as the kids would say, I think), I ended up buying it tonight. Well, playing the (very short) demo a little and having exactly the right number of MS Points to pay for it also swayed the decision a little...

But is it any good? Of course it is. It's Mr. Driller. It is very hard though. The 100 and 500m levels (on both normal and "quest" modes) were very easy, but 1000m? Impossible. I have no idea how I'll cope with the even-harder levels.

skate. (360)

Yes. It is far too hard. I spent ages trying to gap over the wavy platform thing and have decided it isn't actually possible to ollie that far.

I'm actually starting to get a bit irritated with the game as a whole, actually. There aren't many tricks you can do, most can't be done unless you're travelling at an exact speed and you're exactly lined up and you flick the stick exactly right, and vert tricks are virtually impossible. I spend far to long trying to the the "pumping-then-Christ-Air" challenge.

That's right, friends, Tony Hawk is better.

skate. (360)

Finally, I get hold of this! I know it came out, what, 8 months ago? I just never saw it for under £25 (I don't buy games that cost more than £25), but now it is. And it arrived today!

Today's play was mostly a repeat of the demo. The same training, learning the controls, and the first couple of challenges. Then I moved on to a game of SKATE with "Shingo", which was harder than it needed to be. After that Shingo showed me to some school or something where there was another challenge for me to do which was far too hard, so I failed.

I get the feeling this is going to be VERY difficult. I just can't string together many tricks, can't ollie very high, can't maintain speed, keep forgetting to ollie up kerbs, and keep pressing Y to grind. Grr!

Misc PSP Demos (Demo) (PSP)

With my new-found ability to download game demos to my PSP, I put a load on to play today.

Space Invaders Extreme
Excellent! It's exactly what the title suggests - Space Invaders, only Extreme! It's a lot like the DS Space Invaders game from a couple of years ago, but with more power-ups and a combo system. And bonus levels. Apparently there's a DS version of this PSP title too, which is supposedly even better.

LocoRoco
Several demos, in fact. I really can't wait for the full version to arrive, as it really is quite amazing.

Ridge Racer
Yawn. Ridge Racer is, and always has been, pretty dull. And this version is no exception. Give me Outrun 2006 any day.

Some strange Japanese thing
No idea what it's called, but it's a platformer where you are a boy with a grapple hook, and you grapple a fish and then have to grapple across a river and I couldn't do it and drowned a lot. Hm.

Patapon (PSP)

Oh! Now I've got the "Don" drum too! That means I can summon rain, allowing me across the desert. Which I did! It was quite difficult, as you have to get Fever active to summon the rain, and the rain doesn't last forever so you have to summon it often. And, if it's not raining, your Patapons die as it's too hot...

After that I went and killed (an improved and more powerful) Dodonga again, this time with more Patapons, so he was actually very easy. And I went hunting some more, and gave the trumpet man some stuff and got things from he dancing tree. Ace!

Beautiful Katamari (360)

Once more I played to try and improve my scores/times/ratings/whatever. I think I have to re-roll all the planets and stuff, having dumped them all in the black hole to complete the game first time around, but there's no way of telling which planets I have left to do, so I keep doing the same ones again not realising.

Not that I mind, of course. I just wish my brain would remember those I'd done again. Perhaps using the Power of Pen and Paper I might be able to keep track...

Patapon (PSP)

Oooh! Lots of excitement today! Not only did I figure out how to create more Patapons to use in my now-growing army, but I also found a tree-and-trumpet-man mini-game that gives me stuff, AND I can now Chaka-Chaka-Pata-Pon (defend)! Aces!

The Chaka thing was especially useful on Dodonga - the first proper "boss" I encountered in the game. Most of my army were defeated during the fight, but thankfully I collected their caps that they leave behind, so they were reborn after the mission.

LocoRoco (Demo) (PSP)

I have the game on order, but no-one told me you could download demos for the PSP! So I did!

It's great, as I expected, and possibly the most cute thing ever created. The way your blob sings along with the music is brilliant, and even better is when you split him up into several blobs, they all sing - some singing different parts of the song! OMFG!

But, uh, the game. It's ACES! Although my sticky R button is a bit of an issue. And not knowing what the hell I needed to do didn't help. But it's rolly tilty cutey fun. Hurrah!