Fallout 3 (360)

Yeah, yeah - another week, another 7 days of emptiness on this diary. It's not my fault - it's Fallout 3. Because Fallout 3 is the greatest game ever made ever. Possibly. Well, since the last greatest game ever, anyway.

I am now more than 77 hours in. 77 hours. That's a long, long time. It's more than three whole actual days. And am I bored yet? Of course not.

Having said that, I am starting to run out of "main" things to do. I've done all of the achievement-able quests (bar one, which I can't do since I killed someone needed to complete it), killed all the super mutant behemoths, found all bar one of the bobbleheads, and found about 120 locations on the map (I think there are around 140 in total?).

I'm most impressed that I've managed all this without using a guide, and with only the minimal amount of being pointed in the right direction by people on a forum.

Fallout 3 (360)

The clock ticked past 60 hours play this evening. Very few games ever get to this point. GTA IV did. Oblivion did. Both Viva Pinatas did. But most games are over and done with before they even get to 25 hours. 60+ is for something special.

And Fallout 3 is special. It's everything I hoped for, and more. It's Oblivion, without being Oblivion.

And I'm still nowhere near done.

Today I found Oasis. Not the band, but a... place. A place of trees! Real actual trees! With leaves and everything! And in Oasis, I found a tree that speaks! A tree that speaks, and what he said was - "Kiiiillll meeeee".

Oasis is a silly place.

Banjo-Kazooie (360)

Hey, Rare! You can keep your Nuts & Bolts rubbish. THIS is what you need to be doing. Proper, decent, fun platformers. Not confused drivey/flyey/jumpy/mini-gamey RUBBISH.

Using the Super Secret Link to Xbox.com, I managed to buy this in advance of the real release date (the Wednesday after next, I think), and played it today.

What is good: It's the N64 game all over again. Only with slightly better graphics, no fogging, and a few nice Xbox 360 features like achievements and stuff.

What isn't good: It hasn't aged quite as well as say, Mario 64 has. It's not bad by any means, but where Mario 64 now plays like a great game that looks a bit old, Banjo plays like an old game that looks a bit newer. It's difficult to describe.

I've so far 100%ed the first world, and got about 60% of all the stuff on the second.

Fallout 3 (360)

Yes, look. I know I haven't updated this diary again for several days, but the thing is, I've only really been playing Fallout 3. A lot. And more.

58 and a half hours elapsed, says my saved game. That's a lot of hours. And I'm still not done with it. I've a fair few quests yet to even find, let alone start, and loads of locations yet to see. I picked the "Explorer" perk as the final one upon reaching Level 20, and was amazed at how many locations it added to the map. I've been slowly working my way around them all, exploring, but not really doing a lot.

Things I have achieved this week include completing the Agatha's Song and Big Town quests, and I've also found myself a dog (called Dog Meat). He's currently waiting at my Megaton house with Fawkes, my Super Mutant chum.

Cubello (Wii)

Today was New WiiWare Download Game Day on the Wii's Shopping Channel, and I bought this and Strong Bad Episode 3. Just in case I run out of Fallout 3 to play, or something.

I gave Cubello a bit of a go, and it seems quite nice. I think I need to fiddle with the brightness settings or something though, as the black and grey blocks are both black, and the white and light blue blocks look the same.

Pinball FX (360)

Been a while since I last played this, but the Street Fighter II table for it was released recently and, in an attempt to break free from the evil clutches of Fallout 3, I gave it a go.

It's a pretty good table, actually. Better than most of the others in Pinball FX, anyway. It's difficult to light the lights above the top-left bumpers as they're hidden, but aside from that it's very nice. Except Trousers is already above me on the scoretable, beating my score of about 5 million with one approaching 9 million. Boo!!

Fallout 3 (360)

Two more days play, another, erm, 12 hours clocked on the game. Completing it seems a distant memory now, as more important tasks in-game have replaced the fate of the DC Wasteland.

Tasks such as finding four people and not killing them as asked. Well, except Tenpenny, but he deserved it. I put a grenade in his pocket. Anyway, these four people gave up some keys and as the great Lord Atari once said: "Save keys to open doors!". Doors in the basement of Fort Constantine, of course. I was supposed to return the keys to Mister Crowley in the Underworld, but I decided to take a look at what he wanted to use them for. And I found some AMAZING armour. And a bobblehead!

But that wasn't all, of course. I helped some Brotherhood of Steel chaps rescue an initiate from a building, I found and plundered the Bethesda Ruins (another bobblehead!), and finally completed the very first side-quest I was given in the game: Moira's Wasteland Survival Guide.

Oh, and I moved some people into The Lincoln Memorial. And! I'm now on Level 20, so I'm maxed out as far as levelling up will take me. Mind you, I'm pretty powerful now, with small guns (my preferred method of execution) up to 75, and that can still be increased by finding a bobblehead and reading some associated literature.

And am I still enjoying the game? Bloody hell yes.

Fallout 3 (360): COMPLETED!

To my regular readers, it may appear I've taken a break from gaming for the last week or so. This is not quite the case. In fact, I've probably squeezed more gaming hours into the last seven days than any other seven days in the last 15 years or more. Yes, that's a lot of gaming.

All of it (bar a 10 minute Lego Batman demo blip) on Fallout 3.

Today, I completed the main story after a total recorded time of 38 and a half hours. In reality, this figure is actually closer to 45 hours, as I spent a lot of time Doing Things I Wouldn't Normally Do Just To See What Happens. Such as Fat Man everyone in Megaton into the aether. Yes, that makes no sense to anyone who hasn't obtained a Fat Man in the game.

I won't even begin to describe the wonders of the game so far (yes, I'm not done with it yet), but there are so many amazing bits. The reveal in Vault 87. Liberty Prime's dialogue. The kids in the caverns. Eulogy Jones and His Pimp Hat of Small Guns Power. Mercs, fire ants, and all sorts. Fantastic!

Alien Crush Returns (Wii): COMPLETED!

Bought, downloaded, played, and completed all in the space of 30 minutes.

That's not to say it's rubbish, as it isn't. It has issues (mainly in that some areas of some of the "tables" are too difficult to reach, and the swooping camera is sometimes too slow to keep up with the ball), and is short, but it's fun. And pinball games aren't all about the story mode, are they? No - it's all score-chasing!

Sadly, the online high score leaderboards aren't active for the Story Mode, so I can't compare my aceness with other people. Boo!

Fallout 3 (360)

Two days of play in one handy diary entry. Hurrah!

I was heading for Rivet City, at first through the Metro, then overland along the river. Found a house where a drunk called Dukov lived with his two lady friends, and considered killing him, but decided against it. Found loads of bandits and super mutants on the way down the riverside, as well as some centaurs, who are like squid-faced man-crabs that spit actual crap at you. Nice action!

Eventually made it to Rivet City (after rescuing two hostages from the million mutants on the way), and talked to as many people as I could. Found Doctor Li, who told me my father and her had a lab in the old Jefferson Monument. Before heading over there (although it was just next door to Rivet City), I got roped into the Blade Runner ripp-off storyline of an escaped android. Dr Zimmer wanted me to find and return him, but I bumped into another android who gave me an android bodypart with which to convince Zimmer that his android was dead. He's not, but Achievement Get! anyway.

I had a sneaky look in some places I shouldn't onboard the Good Ship Rivet, then went over to the Monument to kill more mutants and find my father's audio journals. They implied he'd gone way west of Megaton, to Vault 112, so I returned to Megaton and set out.

I reached an old Metro station half way to the vault marker on the map, and was then attacked by mercenaries out to kill me. A mini-nuke not only killed all three of them at once, but launched the body of one onto the roof of an abandoned diner. Thankfully, he left a leg behind for me to search and obtain all his goodies. Killed a raider called Sam who was also not only shooting the mercs, but me as well! He left me a sniper rifle. Aces!

Then I found a church, which was obviously a raider hideout, as once I'd entered they came home. Luckily, I saw them and laid mines out in the doorway. Boom!

Finally (for now), I came across a mercenary barracks. REVENGE! Killed all the mercs there, then had a kip in their bed. Now I've just found an entrance to their officer's quarters...

Oh, and I'm now on level 12 after almost 20 hours play. I gained two levels in quick succession as one of the perks is to instantly gain another level, so it was rude not to!

Naruto: The Broken Bond Demo (360)

WHAT

This is the most disjointed, bizarre, and nonsensical game I've played since 2DO on the Saturn. There's running, platforming, puzzling, first person flying, side-on fighting, QTEs galore and tag team action. It's very, very odd. And wrongness.

Scene It! Not Ripping off Buzz at All (360)

Well, the demo of the new Scene It gives a horrifying glimpse into the world of Xbox Avatars. It also seems to cover a better range of films than the previous game, although some of the quiz rounds (the crossword one in particular) are totally baffling.

Fallout 3 (360)

GNR Relay dish GET!

So many Super Mutants and Super Mutant Brutes to kill both in the museum and on the run to the Washington Monument! And then I found a barracks, full of brutes, so I ran away.

I'm on Level 8 now too. Still loving it!

Fallout 3 (360)

Today I managed to make it to the Galaxy News radio tower, where I had to see off a giant super mutant outside it, before being given a quest by Three Dog to go to a museum.

Took aaaaages to get there, mainly because I kept getting lost in the metro system. And, when I did get to the museum, I found a million super mutants waiting outside. They took some taking down!

I've played for about 14 hours now, although my in-game clock says 12. I know it's more due to a few reloads I had to do because I did stuff wrong, or forgot to actually reach and "find" a location before fast-travelling away (meaning I couldn't fast-travel back!).

Fallout 3 (360)

Oh, it's just like Oblivion all over again! It's impossible to stop playing! Nooooo!

Today, where I only played for four hours, I managed to find Lucy West's Brother, went exploring a lot, and started making my way over to the Galaxy News radio tower. Found the Metro entrance you need to take to get there. There was a raider waiting outside, so I shot at him with my hunting rifle. My first shot missed, but hit the car he was standing in front off, which then exploded taking him out.

But the best bit? Just as it went bang, "I don't want to set the world on fi-yure" started on the radio. B-E-A-U-TIFUL.

And setting the Protectron robot on the raiders in the supermarket = aces.