Fallout 3 (360)

I've been waiting for this for what seems like forever. Forever since Oblivion, anyway. It's like every other game between Oblivion and Fallout 3 has existed solely to pass the time. Anyway, I've spend five hours game-time (but actually, longer - read on) already today. That's a lot for me. Addicted? Of course not. Honest.

I'm really, really enjoying it.

The opening sequence in the vault was brilliant. I redid a bit of the escape as I didn't manage to save Butch's mother first time, so my five hours is a bit longer there. Then when I made it to Megaton, I told the Sheriff about Mr Burke's plans, he went an confronted him, and to cut a long story short, I ended up accidentally getting the Sheriff, Burke, two bystanders and Moriarty all killed. I was shocked with myself.

After about half an hour's more play, I was overcome with grief, so reloaded an earlier save and prevented the deaths. So add *another* 45 minutes or so to that 5 hours :)

Then I went on Lucy West's Sexy Quest (it isn't sexy) and found... spoiler. But on the way, I stumbled across Vault 106, so after the Best West Test Quest Fest, I went in. Amazing! Found my first bobblehead in there (well, second really - there was one in the game box ;P) which gave me +10 Science. And now? I have no idea! So much to do! So many places to explore!

LOVING it.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

A few more levels today, after getting a load of pinarctic pinata into my garden and master romancing Bunnycombs, Pengums and Flapyaks. No sign of any Jelis yet though, and getting Walrusks in is going to be a pain as I just don't have space for all the snow and water they need.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Several new pinatas in my garden today - Fizzlybears, Mallowolves and Polollybears all made resident and sent to parties, knocking my level up to about 132. I also master romanced Hoghurts and Peckanmixes, as well as Goobaas, which helped raise my level.

Got two achievements today too - one for getting a Polollybear, and the other for completing all of the Region 2 party challenges.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Demo (360)

It's not a Banjo-Kazooie game. It's not a proper platformer, you have none of the abilities that made Banjo-Kazooie different to other platformers of it's day, and it plays like a confused mess.

Sorry, Rare, but once again you seem to have forgotten how to make games. Either you do a Banjo platformer, or you do Nuts & Bolts sans Banjo and Kazooie. What you've got here is a mishmash of illfitting game elements, in Banjo paint. You've alienated those people who were looking forward to a new Banjo game, and you've alienated those people looking for something new who weren't fans of the Banjo series. So basically, you've aimed Nuts & Bolts at nobody.

And please stop using that awful wax-graphics filter in your games! It was crap in Perfect Dark Zero, it was crap in Kameo, and it's crap here.

Tomb Raider Underground Demo (360)

I thought Tomb Raider Legend looked impressive, but this is head and shoulders above it. More than that even. It looks amazing. And it plays really well too. It's fluid, varied, well animated, and gorgeous - and that's just completing the demo.

I'd be very likely to buy it, but I can wait. The last two Tomb Raider games I've bought were at bargain prices only a few months after release, so I fully expect this to do the same.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Went up loads more levels today - up to 124 now - mainly through getting Moojoos in and romanced, as well as Juicygooses, but also managed three entire levels just because I got a Tigermisu resident and sent it to a party. I haven't even begun to attempt romancing it yet!

de Blob (Wii): COMPLETED!

I've played this a lot today. Which is evidenced by the fact I've completed the final four levels (and hence the game), getting a gold on each, and each taking (on average) an hour. Yes, so I played it a lot.

It started to get really tricky near the end, especially as it threw loads of tanks and turrets and inky walls and bottomless drops and all sorts at you. The final level, on a space ship, also had a boss - something there hasn't really been previously in the game.

So it's now complete, albeit missing the bonus missions I've unlocked along the way. Those I have completed there, though, have been much shorter than main levels however - around 5 minutes or less each - which is good for going back to and dipping in, I suppose.

Final thoughts? It's an excellent game. It's quite long, doesn't get boring like you might expect it to (after all, you do little other than colour stuff), appeals to people like me with Gamer's OCD, and has fantastic jazz funk music. My only minor complaint is lack of mid-level save points, which is a pain when the level might take 90 minutes to finish. but, as I said, a minor complaint.

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

I downloaded the Proto Man and Endless Mode content for this during the week, but didn't really get a chance to try it out until today.

Endless Mode is great. You get random sections of the game, tweaked a bit, one after another with no break, one life, and no shop. The idea is to get as far as you can without dying, with your record recorded in number of rooms. I managed 24. The current online leaderboard says the person at number one has managed over 3900. So... no chance of me even nearing that, then.

Proto Man is just Mega Man in a different suit. Or so I thought, until I realised he has a useless slide move, and takes twice as much damage as Mega Man. Needless to say, I was rubbish with him.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Apart from a quick go on Mega Man 9 yesterday, this is pretty much all I've played this week. And I've played it a lot. It really appeals to my OCD side, as I systematically work my way through all the pinatas, getting them in the garden then master romancing them.

This week, I've managed Ponockys, Horstachios, Chewnicorns, Moozipans, Swananas, Rashberrys, Zumbugs, Galagoogoos, Profitamoles and Pigxies. I've also managed to make resident, or evolve to (but not yet romance), Moojoos, Salamangos, Hoghurts and Pudgeons. And I've managed to max-growth a load more plants and trees. It's like a second job!

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Didn't play for all that long today, but did manage to master romance Geckies, and as a result, finally get some Badgsicles in my garden. That meant I could complete two of Langston's challenges, opening up several more that I could access and complete.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

More master romancing "fun" today - Bark Barks and Quackberrys, mainly. I also managed (finally) to get my Choclodocus to grow into adulthood. It seems I must have missed off a bone from the list of things I needed him to eat. I didn't get anything for doing it, though.

I did, however, enter him into the "P Factor" contest, which he won, netting me an achievement.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Well, it seems to have got much easier now. I had a fight against the Cardinal (or rather, a demon-fused version of the Cardinal) which was alarmingly easy. He cast Doom on three of my characters, but since I killed him in just two hits (my White Mage's "Holy" spell did over 300 damage!) that wasn't a problem.

He was a sort of end-of-chapter boss, as I'm now onto Chapter 3, and am about 20 hours into the game. Of course, I've spent nearer 25 so far as I had so many failures (mainly on the hangman's noose level) and retries that don't count towards that time.

I've started swapping some jobs around too, with my White Mage becoming a Mystic, and my Squire becoming a Knight. I have a Monk too, but she's useless.

Mayhem in Monsterland (Wii)

It's the only C64-exclusive game I can ever remember being any good. Admittedly, I only ever had it as a demo from some Commodore magazine cover tape, but still.

And it is pretty good, yes. I'm not a fan of the up-to-jump mechanism so often favoured in computer (as opposed to console) games, especially when it leaves a fire button free and unused as here (well, except when you want to jump down a level, but that just makes the "up" seem even more strange). Pressing up on a d-pad to jump never seems right in a platformer.

Anyway, after about half an hour's play I realised I had no idea how to actually progress in the game. Turns out you have to collect magic bags (les sacs magiques, n'est pas?), then drop down a hole, then collect stars. So I went back and started again, managing to complete the first level, Jellyland! Hurrah!

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

I was very pleased with myself when I managed to get past the magma on Dr Wily's level, only to find I hadn't - I needed to pass it again in a different way shortly afterwards. And, of course, I couldn't. Gah!

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Bah. It would appear that the next fight is a bit hard too. And it didn't help that, once again, I picked my really weak female knight instead of Agrias (or whatever her name is) as they both look so god damn the same. I ask if they want ice cream and they both say yes.

Assorted Xbox Demos (360)

Demo catchup time again:

PDC Darts
Crap. But with amazing northern loons doing "commentary".

NBA '09
Crap. You can't even shove. And there's no BOOMSHAKALAKA.

Beat 'N Groovy
Impossible to control and crap. Why is the green "note" X? And the blue one the d-pad? What?

Crazy Mouse
Awful. Worse than crap.

Age of Booty
OK, but looks like it'll be a bit tedious. It's like a RTS only with no S.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Oh. My. God. I finally, finally, managed to beat Gaffgarion at the hangman's noose. Only just though! I realised my magic users are mostly useless, as they couldn't attack without causing friendly fire, and couldn't survive more than two hits, so I sent them up out of the way to kill off the two Mystics and lay into select enemies from a distance. Phew!

I've only spent 10 hours on this one battle, you know.

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

JEWEL MAN BEATENED!

PLUG MAN KILLEDED!

Hurrah! Of course, now I have to kill Smarmy Smiley Dr Wily. Or even just get to him, as his fortress is clearly impossible to penetrate, what with the magma streams you can't get through. Gah!

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

OH I AM BEST NOW!

Not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR bosses defeated today! First up was Splash Woman, who was very easy to get to (but quite hard to defeat). Then came Concrete Man, who was both tricky to reach and hard to kill - until I used Splash Woman's weapon on him.

Next came Hornet Man, who was a nightmare to reach (that flower clock bit was a real pain) but was killed on my second attempt - partly due to Splash Woman's weapon again, but also because I'd found there's a shop so had half-damage and health filling power-ups.

Finally, Magma Man, who was really easy to reach, and with Tornado Man's power you can blow his flame out making him a walkover. I killed him first time.

Jewel Man and Plug Man, however, remain impossible.

de Blob (Wii)

Another level (the Gugentraz one) completed! It took over an hour though!

It's getting quite tricky now too, and I'm not liking these Ink Bike things and Ink Turrets at all.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 2 (Wii): COMPLETED!

And quickly, too. It seems that reading the Help that comes with the board game thing actually helps, as it tells you that a fight that results in a draw means the opposing side can't move. With this, I used The Cheat to prevent Strong Mad from moving, Homsar to ground Strong Sad, Coach Z to distract Homestar, and The Poopsmith to hide The King of Town every move.

In 9 moves, I'd won both the battle, and the game. Hurrah!

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

Just one battle played (and won) today. I went back to the only place on the map I can currently reach where random battles can occur, in the hope I could play and bump up my stats a bit.

Killed all the baddies bar one, and got him stuck in a corner while I hit him with as many non-HP-reducing attacks and spells as I could, until he decided to attack me, and I countered, killing him. Sadly, nobody went up a level in the fight at all. I have, however, gained more JP so hopefully that might help.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Played this loads today. I've managed to rank up to level 83 or 84, around 8 levels or so. Did this mainly through master romancing Kittyflosses, getting Buzzenges resident, converting some sours (Cocodile, Macaraccoon, Lemmoning), sending loads of things off to parties, and catching a few Pinarctic pinata, like the Pengum.

Oh, and other species were master romanced too - Pretztails, Pienas, and some others. Now I just need to figure out what other stuff I need to feed to my Choclodocus to make it grow...

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 2 (Wii)

OK, so I managed to convince both Pompom and Homsar to join my country, leaving Homestar and Strong Mad. Strong Mad had me puzzled for ages, until I realised what to do with my sword, and then he gave me something I could use to rig the Draft Wheel making Coach Z join the Homestarmy.

So, with the army assembled and all the countries joined as one, I became King of Town!

Only now I don't want to be any more, so I have to play a board game to make the old King win, so he comes back to the castle. Or something. But I can't win it as it's too hard.

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

Grrr! I got to Concrete Man (after finally figuring out how to defeat the Evil Elephants without dying), but he's too hard. Neither of the boss weapons I have are effective against him, and it's all to easy for him to turn me to stone, then jump on my head, then shoulder-charge me, wiping out half my energy in one go. Gah.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 2 (Wii)

Hurrah! I convinced both The Cheat and Strong Sad to join my country! Turns out all The Cheat needed was pilot's badge, and then he gave me his lighter, which I used to torch everything Strong Sad owned, pretty much. Now I'm stuck again, having no idea how to impress Pompom, or how to converse with Homsar.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

Got back into this again a bit this evening. I master romanced arocknids and rashberries, as well as send lots of things off to parties.

Still having problems getting Buzzenges or Kittyflosses to eat my Sparrowmints. They're just not interested! Why?

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 2 (Wii)

Yes, I downloaded Episode 2. After Episode 1, I couldn't just leave it, could I? No, of course not. The plot of this one is that everyone in town has set up their own country. It seems that I have to get them all to become part of Strong Bad's empire - Strong Badia. I'm yet to manage this though, having not persuaded anyone to join.

It's still funny though!

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

I beat another boss! After $hlmun attempts at Tornado Man's level, I finally got to the boss. Then promptly lost all bar one of my lives, before managing to beat him on my final life with just two bars of energy left. Phew!

Oh, and Galaxy Man's weapon on him is more than useless.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 1 (Wii): COMPLETED!

Um, yes. I would say "already", but it did take about 5 hours. It's just I've played it a lot.

And excellent it was too. I finally figured out how to beat Pompom, and the section in the castle was all sorts of amaze. And the snake game is fantastic in its crapness.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 1 (Wii)

I love point and click adventures, and I had a load of spare Wii points from when I bought Mega Man 9. So it was only a matter of time before I bought SBCG4AP (as the game refers to itself as).

And? It is amazing. Very few games are genuinely funny, and fewer still are actually hilarious, but this? This is real actual side splittingly funny. I was aware of Strong Bad (the web "thing"), but knew very little about it, so was surprised that it wasn't just full of in-jokes. Of course, it may still have them, but the dialogue, characters and references are plenty to be getting on with.

So far, I've figured out I have to win The Race to the End of the Race, and have managed to dress myself up as Homestar. I've rigged some of the race, but Pompom still keeps winning. Hmm.

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

Hardest. Game. Ever!

Tried to get to Tornado Man today. Failed. Lots. Bah.

de Blob (Wii)

That's 5 levels down now (and another couple of "secret" ones). I still can't get over how much fun this is to play. There have been a couple of slightly challenging bits so far, but even when you fail a challenge you're not punished - you just have to start them again, only anything you've already done is saved: e.g. You have to paint 20 buildings, you paint 19, then run out of time. You restart and 19 are still done. Without this, I can see frustration, but thankfully, there's only Super Happy Fun.

de Blob (Wii)

Amazing! An absolutely amazing game! Fun to play, original, funny and excellent!

I've completed the first three levels, and one of the "secret" levels so far, and the difficulty ramping is perfect so far. It's still easy, but it's certainly getting trickier. I've spent ages longer on each level than necessary, simply because it's so much fun to colour everything in. It's almost a shame to go through the exit at the end of each level.

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

So! Very! Hard!

I know Mega Man games are supposed to be hard, but this? This is impossible. Maybe. I did, after many, many attempts, manage to beat Galaxy Man. Actually beating him wasn't an issue - I did it first attempt. No, the difficulty was getting to him in the first place. Hard? Like a diamond.

Duke Nukem 3D (360)

Episode 2 COMPLETED! Hurrah!

The last couple of levels were pretty short - the boss one especially. The boss himself was somewhat easy too, thanks to run-mode circle-strafe and a full compliment of rockets and devastator ammo. Excellent, though.

Duke Nukem 3D (360)

And another couple of levels done. Still enjoying it, still loving the level designs, still getting completely flummoxed every time there's a place I could use a jetpack as I keep forgetting such an item exists...

Must be near the end of the episode now though, right?

Mega Man 9 Demo (360)

Yes, I know I bought the Wii version this morning. I just thought I'd try it and see how it fares on the 360.

Of course, it's virtually identical. I'm glad I did buy the Wii version though, as the 360's pad isn't designed for digital control - the dpad is in the wrong place, and the stick has too much dead-area. As well as that, the added XBLA bits on the menu break the retro-game illusion too.

Duke Nukem 3D (360)

Completed another couple of levels on Episode 2 this evening. They're certainly longer this episode than last, and there appear to be more of them too - I've just finished E2M5, and the first episode only went up to E1M4.

I'm also further into the game than I ever got on the PC or Saturn :)

Mega Man 9 (Wii)

With Xbox Live down, the 360 dpad being crap, and Nintendo finally announcing that from next year you can store downloaded Wii games on an SD card, I bought this.

And oh my god is it hard.

After many failed attempts at all of the first four stages, I gave up (for now). It's a bloody nightmare!

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

TOO BLOODY HARD!

HATE!

SMASH!

ETC!