This week one of the more eventful. On Wednesday, I got my 360 back from Microsoft Repair and it's doing just fine. Also, on that Wednesday, I got my first taste of Gears of War 2. So far, I'm lovin it. The campaign is definately what Cliffy B said it would be; 'Bigger, better and more badass'. It's clear that Epic has definately broadened GoW's horizons. Instead of you and Delta squad walking through corridors taking on wave after wave of Locust, you feel more part of a war the whole of humanity is involved in. *SPOILER* Like when you've just made it underground and loads of drill things are dropping all over the place, gives you a sense of a full-scale war *SPOILER END*

There is also more emotion in Gears 2. *SPOILER* Like when Tai kills himself , it really hits home. *SPOILER END* Horde is just crazy. It only needs that word. At the time of writing, I am on Act 4 so there will be lots more. I don't want to go into too much detail or this post could end up a review, which I plan to do by the way.

Also, as long as things don't go terribly wrong, I'm hoping to have Fable II finished by the end of next week, then I will give it a score. I'm not one of those people who give a game a score without completing it. So far, it's on course for a 9. I just the quest for Salty Jack in the pub in Bloodstone, Treasure Island of Doom or something. 

At the time of writing, the New Xbox Experience (NXE), is just 4 days away. I am really looking forward to it. It looks sooooo sweet. I will be definately making  an avatar. I've heard Xbox 360 Fanboy might be making a list of games that run better on disc and games that run better on Hard Drive. All I know so far is: Fable 2 is better on HDD and Halo 3 is better on disc. 

Also, on Tuesday, I picked up my MacBook from PC World for Xmas. I can't wait till the 25th now. Also, I noticed the lack of games on my wishlist. Gears 2 is here, that's it. CoD5 is not my thing, neither is GH: World Tour. I will be back on GTA IV when the 360 exclusive DLC arrives for it. Also, Halo 3: Recon, but the wishlist is a bit bare. 

However, weren't we saying this after the gaming avalanche of 2007? And, look at 08. Fable 2, Fallout 3, CoD5 and Gears of War 2. While it hasn't been as packed as 07, it's definately got it's blockbusters.

The main thing that has been annoying me this week is the amount of people who EXCESSIVLEY use the chainsaw in Gears 2. So annoying when you hit someone about five times with the shotty and they just soak it up, roll up to you, rev it up and your in half. Argh!

Anyway, gaming goals for next week are

• Complete the main quest in Fable 2
• Complete Gears of War 2 campaign at least once
• Successfully create a kick-ass avatar that looks like me when NXE hits
• T-bag a noob who tried to chainsaw me and got his head taken off.
• Find out what the GTA IV DLC could be!

Take it easy.

 

This is a short post, because I just wanna get back and play Gears of War 2. However, thought I should just let you know, 1 week and 5 days after I sent it off, my Xbox 360 is back. So happy. :)

So I've got my most wanted game ever, Gears of War 2. Shame is, I haven't nothing to play it on. However, I was greeted with some pretty good news on Xbox.com. My 360 is on it's way back. :D So hopefully, I should be poppin some Locust heads soon. I'm thinking anywhere between Monday-Wednesday, hopefully. Over a week without no gaming has seriously taken it's effects on me. One being serious boredom. However, it has allowed me to get on top of my homework. So if I were to pick one good point that would be that.

Gears of War 2 looks brilliant. When some people said, Horde was just something that Epic just strapped on so they could say it had something different to the original Gears, they were wrong. It looks like I could lose a lot of my life playing Horde. Also, I hope that the multiplayer will be more refined. As in a party system, a matchmaking system and just something that we have come to expect on Xbox LIVE. As always, I can't wait to dig into the single player. When I heard it was 8 hours, I was like 'Perfect.'

Also, I was planning to do this before Gears but my 360 broke. I wanna complete Fable 2. I was having SOOO much fun with that game. So I also wanna complete that.

Also, I can't wait for the New Xbox Experience (NXE). It is just what the 360 needs. A cleaner, friendler dashboard.

So, if my 360 arrives when I hope. You can catch me fighting for humanity.

Until my 360 packed in, (read the blog post before this) I'd say Fable II was on course for a perfect 10, in which only one other game has recieved, GTA IV. Yes, the menus are a bit laggy and their are few gameplay issues, for example the infuriating camera in co-op. Whilst I'm on the topic of Fable 2 co-op, I'll go straight in and say that yes, the co-op is not the best. A disappointment? Not quite. I still love the fact that say I'm stuck on a bit, I can just pause it, send a message to your friend and say 'Hey, I'm stuck on this bit on Fable II, can you come help me and I'll give you 50% of the gold we earn to take back to your world.'

Despite it's flaws, I'm having just as fun as when I first picked up Gears of War. The fact that you can live this life, do anything and how the decisions you make and your actions can affect your game. Also, instead of you just dieing and come back to life, you get a scar, I really think that this suits Fable II perfectly.

I also noticed that someone off my friends list gave Fallout 3 and 9.5 the day the game came out. How can you give a game the score it deserves after one day? Anyway, Fallout 3 came out today here in the UK, and while I'm not getting it, I hope all that pick it up today love it and you didn't waste £40.

Onto my 360, well so far I'm impressed. I've heard a lot of bad things about the whole 'Getting your Xbox repaired' process but so far it's been good.

29th October 14:20: After finally giving up trying to bring my 360 back to life, I call Xbox Customer Support to organize them dropping off the label that I stick onto my box containing my 360.

30th October 12:45 UPS drop the label. I nip round to Staples to pick up a box and some scotch tape.

31st October 12:18 Right Now I'm waiting for UPS to come pick my 360 up for it to be shipped of to Germany to European Microsoft Repairs. Then I just have to play the waiting game.

Have a good one, Oh and..

Happy Halloween

I'm on Fable II, finished buying some new furniture for my second family, when my screen goes peculiar...weird. I check my HDMI cable is properly plugged into my TV and my 360 and it is. I tell my friend who is in private chat, 'My screen has gone weird, I'm going switch my 360 off then switch it back on again. I switch it off, leave it for a few seconds, then press the power button again. It says:

System Error, Please Contact Xbox Customer Support.

I'll admit it i've had this problem before. The last time I've had it, I removed my hard drive and it worked and went straight to the dashboard. I turned it off and put my hard drive back in place switched it on and everything was dandy.

So today, when I faced this problem I simply thought, 'Easy, I'll do what I did last time.' I do this process and, NO LUCK! Iam worried now as Gears 2 is just over a week away. I ring Xbox Customer Support, they tell me to repeat the process I had just done. No LUCK AGAIN. Then he says the dreaded words, no not 'Can you hold for a moment please?'. He said, 'Well I'm sorry but it looks like we are going to have to repair your Xbox 360.' Then he starts going on about what to do to get UPS to pick it up.

Of all the times to do it, one week before Gears 2, my 360 has finally cracked. So what am I going to do for the next 2-3 weeks? Maybe read a book, watch tons of DVDs, watch the Bond film, and recieved tons of gloating from my friends on Windows Live Messenger about how good Gears of War 2 is and how much I'm missing. I had it all planned, get back from school, play the campaign for about an hour, then play multiplayer till about three in the morning. Them plans have been chucked out the window.

But, the fact that it takes Microsoft 2-3 weeks to return my Xbox is a massive discredit to the company. I was reading a article on the The Times Online, and it said that the Xbox 360 was so prone to failure, that many UK repair centres had told Microsoft that they weren't taking any more 360's due to the sheer amount they were recieving. Apparently, Microsoft has one repair centre in Somerset. So it decides to break on me, now my 360 gets 2-3 weeks by the sea.

Iam seriously gutted, but it's one of them things. To be honest, it's one of them things you have to take when you own a 360. It could be worse, no seriously it could be, it could have broken the day AFTER Gears 2 came out, then I would have had a taste for it. Wow, actually writing this post has helped me a bit. I am gutted, and I will be seriously bored over the next 2-3 weeks but when it's back, *fingers crossed* it should be able to take the sheer pressure of me playing Gears 2.

Obviously, there will be no 'What I've Been Playing This Week', but I'll try to keep you updated of where my 360 is in it's repair stages.

Time of Death- October 29th, 14:10.

R.I.P

LOL, have a good one.

dan scfc

Just a quick post, as I really want to get back to Albion. Been playing Fable II since I got in from school and I'm lovin it. It is just an awesome game, not going to go into much detail, cause I really want to get back. The only thing I have to say is I think it might be better than GTA IV... maybe.

Anyway I've been playin this week:

Halo 3

Gears of War

FIFA 09

Fable II

Two weeks today till I get my hands on Gears 2.

Also I've drawn up the nominees for my 'Best of 2008', until recently this year hasn't been to good for games. Also, these are games I've played.So if you feel that you've played a game that is better than all these, it's because I haven't played it. Except Gears 2. Also, the game doesn't have had to been released this year. Best of 2008 means what have been my best games of 2008.

Best Game of 2008-

1. Halo 3

2. Gears of War 2

3. GTA IV

4. Fable II

5. FIFA 09

Most Surprisingly Good of 2008

1. Civilsation Revolution

2. FIFA 09

3. Fable II

4. Burnout Paradise

Best Shooter-

1. Halo 3

2. Gears of War 2

3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Best RPG/Adventure Game-

1. Fable II

2. GTA IV

3. Civilisation Revolution

Best Sports

1. FIFA 09

2. FIFA 08

Worst Game of 2008

1. Bully Scholarship Ed

2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (don't ask why, just didn't like it)

3. PES 2008

4. Army of Two

5. Assassins Creed

While your all playing Fable II spare a thought for us in the UK who have to wait till Friday. I don't see any reason why the game can't be released simultaniously here on this side of the Atlantic. Anyway, on to the game. The world you explore looks brilliant, the communication with locals and how you grow up and explore this alive world is fantastic. While the reviews haven't been as good as I thought, I still can't wait to get my hands on it.

I probably won't be able to pick Far Cry 2 up till early 2009, which is a shame. It was either Fable or Fry Cry which is easy for me.

Gears of War 2 is just over two weeks away. The fact that I have to juggle between Fable and Gears is a really great problem. The weeks leading up to Xmas are going to be brilliant, with Fable and Gears. :D

It's taken a while, but finally, Iam starting to love Windows Vista. At first, I thought it was a terrible OS, and it's main attraction were 3D windows and translucent windows. Now, however, I think it's brilliant. People say it's just eye-candy nothing else. Well, first off it's not but the eye-candy is brilliant. The 3D Window Switcher is brilliant. It's real time, it's amazing.

As you can see, I've tried to combine the best of Vista and Mac OS X. The little app at the bottom is the Rocketdock. An application that takes the brilliance of the dock on OS X and puts in on XP/Vista. Even though I love Vista, I truly believe that OS X is better than Vista. That is the reason why I'm getting a MacBook for Christmas. It's taken nearly two months and finally I think that Vista is better than XP.

On to different matters, after weeks of 'I'll do it this weekend', I've FINALLY pre-ordered Gears of War 2. So, (touch wood) I'll definately be playing GoW2 on November 7th.

Also, my new map, Apocalypse will finally be released tomorrow on ForgeHub.

Speak to ya soon,

dan scfc

Let me kick straight in,

What I've Been Playin This Week 26/9

Halo 3

Call of Duty 4

Guitar Hero III

FIFA 08

Gears of War

There we go got that done. Anyways, GameSpot's Fable II Launch Centre is out. Which leads me to the question. Should I get Fable II or not? To most people this question is super-obvious, but I can't afford to waste money cause I really need this stuff:

MacBook (£700)

New Mobile Phone (£150)

Microsoft Office for Mac (£150)

iPod Nano (£100)

FIFA 09 (£40)

Gears of War 2 (£40)

Rock Band 2 (£100+)

So, as you can obviously see there is a lot on my wishlist. There isn't a enough room for games I'm not sure whether I want or not. Probably... Fable II is a no.

On the other hand, I am super excited for FIFA 09. I randomly remembered that I haven't bought a game since Civilization Revolution back in June! I've basically been getting through playing Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. I've played the demo of FIFA 09 and I'm not sure whether it beats 08, but massive improvement in gameplay.

We CANT FORGET GEARS OF WAR 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just over a month away. If this lives up to the hype, I will just play it to death. The campaign, the multiplayer, screenshot mode. Brilliant!

Also, how we thinking about the title update for Halo 3? I think it's a decent update, people really expected too much. Halo 3 is a dead-cert to be the most played game on LIVE for this week when Major Nelson's report comes out next week.

Also, (I'm just pretending your interested here) I'm finished with Firefox. It crash on me again, so I've gone back to Safari,

Have a great Friday,

dan scfc

If you've been on Bungie.net recently, you would have noticed the cryptic messages on the blog page. A lot of hardcore Bungie fans are trying to work this out. Could it be hype for the AU2 update which came out on Tuesday? or maybe a clue for the next Bungie game? Who knows...

Halo 3 Title Update 2

On Tuesday, Bungie released 'Title Update 2' for Halo 3. This update included 750 gamerscore of achievements and a new ranking system in which now noobs can be generals by playing the hell out of it, but it will only be in one playlist. Like, for example you could be a Brigadier in SWAT and a General in Slayer but your overall rank will be a Major if your highest skill level isn't above 35. Confused?

Bungie News: Title Update Info

Also if you've noticed Xbox LIVE is down completely on Monday for 24 hours! God knows what I'm going to do after school. On Friday October 3rd, the gaming autumn/fall season kicks off with FIFA 09. You will catch me on that till Gears 2 hits.

Have a good one,

dan scfc