for about four hours this morning i was playing red alert 3 on the leningrad mission. throughout, the game had me on the edge of my seat, swearing and shaking like a nervous wreck because i thought i was going to complete the entire allied campaign! i was so close, but didn't quite complete the objectives.

oh well. i might have to start that mission over from the beginning and use my same strategy, if i can remember... but i think i will get there in the end.

this morning i was quickly browsing the union/guild recruitment forum and found a message wanting to recruit officers for the sims union, i signed up.

it has been on my mind all day and i have just been in contact with the union leader who promoted me just now. this is going to be great if i get involved fully.

i left the command and conquer union however. that union had little activity since i joined... actually, probably none. the latest news on the command and conquer front is that the game could become an online game like farmville on facebook. i am not "on" facebook like almost every other man and his dog.

the first union i joined was the splinter cell union and one person who tracks me would know that. i have not yet played the full version of splinter cell: conviction but have played the demo and thought it was okay. it is really like 50 cent: blood on the sand.

i was a member of that union for months but then left after i was afraid i was being stalked.

good times ahead?

i beat 50 cent: blood on the sand last night on the hard difficulty throughout. i can't put my finger on how the game is so addictive and kept me playing for such a long time. the game takes about a good nine hours for one to complete.

this afternoon, i went to http://www.xbox360achievements.org, once again, to find out in greater explanation, more about this game. there are a few more achievements i can score off with the help i received from them.

a hint, tip and cheat book i bought last year with an issue of xbox magazine told me about the cheats of this game. it said,"old half-a-dollar lacks balls on the cheat front...". what an insult.

so, that game is almost complete and it only took a weekend and a bit. back to viva pinata and red alert 3...

*sigh*

without coming across as boasting, i have over a years worth of xbox magazines in my house but i looked through all of them over the weekend and found that i am missing a few issues from late last year.

last week, i bought the latest issue that had arrived in new zealand after delivery problems from australia and was dissapointed with the content in the magazine and what is on the disc. a department store here, i believe, the warehouse, has stopped selling xbox magazine for $9NZ as it has gone back up to almost double, $17NZ.

three games have me interested in this issue and they are dead space 2, medal of honor and nier.

nier came out recently and has not done well. i think off the top of my head, without looking in the magazine, the game received a four or five out of ten. nier was a game i had been tracking but stopped and i guess i should be glad i did. dead space 2 is a game i am tracking now.

in another entry, i was talking about the gameplay of the medal of honor beta multiplayer. it is the only game that has the coalition forces battling taleban insurgents and will go up bravely against the call of duty franchise. it is also a game that i would like to own and play in my home on xbox live. of course, i would likely fight on the taleban side often. what the game is about makes it more realistic but one thing, having the characters jump so high in the air and over obstacles isn't. however, i guess it is required to make up a functional game.

as you know, i own dead space. i fired it up on the console two weeks ago and it wasn't long until i died. i have died three or four times. dead space is my first experience of what is called a "horror shooter" on the xbox 360. i think about the game now but feel let down by my first impressions. perhaps i need to get others games i own like red alert 3, viva pinata and that time i hired avatar, out of sight and out of mind before i can feel comfortable about dead space and play it many times to come eventually beating it. i am feeling less enthusiastic about dead space 2... because of the glitch with the gamespot site at the moment, i can't remove the game from my tracking list.

i am, on the other hand, feeling pumped about 50 cent: blood on the sand. the arcade method of play which is evident in the screenshots looks encouraging and would be fitting of a game with 50 cent in it. the achievements in the game seem to me are those of which i can gain, gaining gamerscore as well.

so soon, i might be battling my way through the middle east hunting those down who have crossed me. he is after millions of dollars after a concert gone bad in that area of the world. that storyline was called something like weak by one reviewer of mightyape.

- - - - -

"he's a window shopper... i think i know why... he's a window shopper... tryin' to get a test drive..."

today i ordered 50 cent: blood on the sand for an incredible $18NZ. the game itself is only $13NZ but i have to pay shipping. the game should be here on friday!

here is the page to prove it... http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Xbox-360/50-Cent-Blood-on-the-Sand/1557779/...

i also found velvet assassin for $20NZ, another bargain. this new game will be the second i have ordered from mightyape. the first being leisuresuit larry: box office bust.

(note: the text of the blog has changed to almost the default, but with a smaller size for the font.)

on politicalcrossfire.com, which still isn't up after what has been weeks, i found a banner ad for democracy 2. democracy 2 is a government simulator that you can download the demo... www.positech.co.uk/democracy2 ....

when i was put in the shoes of prime minister, i governed my country more of a nanny state by having many social policies. i cut military spending heavily to try and decrease debt which took away capitalist value and guess what? it worked. but the trial demo ended before i could do much more as it does so after so many turns.

try it out and if you like the trial, you might like to buy the game.

last night i re-wrote my review for red alert 3 as i believe i have done a better job this time. also up, is a review of viva pinata: trouble in paradise which has received a low 4.0.

check them out.

the soviet forces are in trouble. the allies have come to leningrad, named after the famous lenin marx.

the mission is difficult, but i did manage to destroy four or five of their iron curtain superweapons... there are seven that need to be destroyed to reach the castle that the premier is in,about to leave in a space shuttle to the moon!

i thought that given the final mission of the allied campaign is fought on the moon... yes, the moon... you may only have to destroy the iron curtain superweapons and optionally destroy the vacuum imploder superweapon and leave the castle untouched.

perhaps the game disregards the castle that the premier is in and moves to the moon to end the allied campaign? i wouldn't know and won't find outbut it would be understandable because how can you destroy his fortress and kill the premier before he launches to the moon... if the ending is fought on the moon?

eh... who knows... well, not me anyway.

but i will find out eventually.

this morning i played red alert 3 for about three or four hours straight. the game truly does not fail to immerse one into the game and continue playing for such a long time.

i am now on the final mission of the allied campaign, when i attack leningrad. but, the game didn't autosave! so now, i have to go back and complete the havana mission again... making sure to complete that annoying convert ten soviet units to allied forces bonus objective! it sucks.

oh well, i will have to build up enough strength to play the game for probably, half that time, again. i hope that when i get home, there could have been something i missed or the game has just fixed itself.

the free world remains free soon.

this morning i sat in front of my television with my xbox 360 on and looked through all the games... eight... that i have yet to complete, completely... achievement and gamerscore wise.

i decided this morning that i am finished with smackdown vs. raw 2009 and command and conquer tiberium wars, about a year after purchasing the games. i will continue with leisure suit larry: box office bust and tick off two more achievements of that game. there are three that i have achieved little which are avatar, viva pinata and dead space. i will continue playing command and conquer red alert 3.

ever since i bought my xbox 360 arcade console... may last year, achievements have become an obsession. i get annoyed when i see people on gamespot say that they don't play xbox 360 games for the gamerscore, as it makes me feel like a moron.

i bought the latest issue of xbox magazine this past thursday. there were delivery problems of the magazine getting to new zealand this time, but i haven't checked my message on the official xbox magazine forums as to what was the problem.

when tristan, the former editor of xbox magazine australia and new zealand left... i feel that nic just isn't making the grade with the magazine so far. it has been six months. when tristan was editor, there were more demos on the discs, more content in the magazines and bad, but funny, reviews in almost every issue which were a pleasure to read.

apparently tristan has moved on to online work to do with gaming but he didn't tell us what that was. i miss him.