My phone is going to get me in trouble someday.

Well it’s the end of the year and as they say, “Out with the bad, in with the good.” It’s entertaining to see the parade of failed goals of the year ticker across the board. Of course, one of the biggest excuses has always been, “Life gets in the way,” and I always considered that an excuse, even if it is the truth. The same excuse for leaving purchased games played on the shelf and our hard drives, creating the backlog situation that plagues gamers of our caliber.

Usually I would back up a lot of my writing with references and supporting facts, but I’m at a serious disadvantage at the tools at my disposal in my current position. Despite my own life getting in the way, I still manage decent movement with my own gamerscore. If it wasn’t for the WP, then you wouldn’t be seeing anything from me at all. Thankfully I’ve gotten the opportunity to calculate what I’ve managed.

Since deploying near the end of September, these total numbers earned were:

September: 500gs, equaling 605 TA
October: 2885gs, equaling 4078 TA
November: 2470gs, equaling 3543 TA
December: 3140gs, equaling 4374 TA

A grand total of 8995 gamer score, 12600 TA score and roughly 36 games completed, almost purely by windows phone. (40 points are credited to Tinker.)

When you see the prices of DLC and games, don’t forget that there is more to the product than what sits before you. The names that show on the credits aren’t there simply for you to sit through to earn that achievement. They are on the other side, doing the things that most of us aren’t capable of doing, which is creating the content we are so quick to judge. We as gamers are given the right, and entitled to our own opinions on wither something is worth its cost; we are the market’s voice. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they take it personally if they ever read through the comments that unfortunately permeates the front page news. Just as we as consumers are entitled to use our voice, developers and publishers are just as entitled to set the price of the content we want to buy. Of course there is the business end of this industry, and there is one more reason why products are priced the way they are; after all, we as a collective whole have made the bed we’re sleeping in right now. Read about the process and maybe even give it a try, then ask yourself when everything is done and your own creation is up on the indie marketplace if the blood, sweat and time put into your creation isn’t worth more than 80ms points.

As for me, when you begin to see crimson traces smear across the cell phone screen, although it would make for a great story, it’s time to reconsider the priorities.

New Year’s Resolution: Come home with all ten fingers. (Insert any monophonic Fallout 3 BGM here.)

Don’t just wish for a good new year; be the change you wish to see in the world. Do it like you mean it, and then do it well. At least do it better than those who settle to bark rather than bite. If you’re as deep-rooted into the gaming culture to the point where you joined communities such as TrueAchievements, gaming is not something that gets in the way of life, it’s a part of it.

Update: Bomberman

9/5/2011

8 hours of online gameplay
continuous draw game loop
2:00 min rounds
random placement off
pressure blocks off


No new achievements.

Burning the Backlog... again.

A backlog, in regards to the gamer, is a collection of unplayed games. When a gamer gets to a certain lifestyle of game play, backlogs are a natural occurrence that stems from a gamers' attempt to save money by purchasing games on sale that they will play in the future. It's so common an occurrence that there is a site online that helps document your progress on your progress on burning the backlog. However, some cases of backloggery are more extreme than others.

In the month of June, 2010 I accepted a verbal challenge with Botafogo "The Enabler" 007 that I w/couldn’t drop my completion percentage from 75% to 50% and build it back to 75%. In actuality, my percentage was higher than 75% and I was around 115,000 at the time. It took around 117 games, according to True Achivements to achieve 49.9%. My percentage and many people’s feeds were properly raped that month; and it was all done at a time before the terms “Bean Dive” and “Feed Rape” actually HAD names. Today, I have hit 60% and I’m looking at an all too familiar backlog that found its way back on to my shelves and into my hard drive.

Backlog? Again? That’s totally unacceptable. 

I remember when I first heard that what I had done had become a community event. At first I was slightly annoyed that what I had originally done to separate myself from the norm became a mainstream event. Then it was funny to compare their efforts to crush their card compared to my own. I figured that a genuine percentage dump wouldn’t be able to be recovered from the same year; but I have to remind myself that their reason for having a backlog is totally different from my own. Most gamers are not exactly Gamer Scoring League participants, or into Competitive Gamerscoring.  However it did serve its greater purpose of freeing gamers from the personal restrictions that they bind themselves to. 

From a mathematical standpoint, it takes a much greater effort for me to gain and drop percentage than most people. It would take me 185 individual achievements to gain 1%. In comparison to other extreme cases, StophJ requires 275 to achieve the same results. Vandetta x360a, who has a 40k Gamerscore, only requires 39 unlocked achievements for a full percentage gain.  Interestingly enough, both Stallion and Smrnov need 295 achievements to acquire a gain of one percentage point. This is on top of the fact that these numbers only remain true if these gamers do not add any more games to their tag, which is an impossibility considering their playstyle. This is probably why completion percentage races are generally unpopular for higher tiered GS tags; it is the equivalent of running uphill wearing a parachute when playing against those with significantly lower gamerscores.

Believe it or not, it gets HARDER to drop in percentage the higher you get. In fact, it is now a mathematical impossibility for the top scoring gamertags to make any truly significant percentage changes because of the sheer mass of achievements they have already accumulated. There are not enough games available for the top 10 to drop 25%. So the lesson learned is that as a gamer adds more games to their history, completion percentage gets harder to manipulate. Eventually, there is that theoretical threshold where gamers' will find that it is harder to drop their completion percentage, as opposed to raising it. Unless you’re already there, like everyone’s favorite personal stalker Jason3535 or Omfamna, who seems to have played everything that Xbox has to offer. (Information is accurate as of August 29, 2011.)

From 60 to 75%, it would have taken me 2766 total achievements. That would have been cake. However I have decided to play what I have on hand. But why am I dumping at 60%? Why aren't I waiting until I reach my personal goal of 75%, when I made that personal challenge?  Let’s just say I have my reasons.

Update: Bomberman

8/27/2011

8 hours of online gameplay
continuous draw game loop
2:00 min rounds
random placement off
pressure blocks off


No new achievements.

8/28/2011

12 hours of online gameplay
continuous draw game loop
2:00 min rounds
random placement off
pressure blocks off


No new achievements.

Update: Bomberman

8/16/2011

8 hours of online gameplay
continuous draw game loop
2:00 min rounds
random placement off
pressure blocks off


No new achievements.

Mayhem 3D

Although categorized as a racer, Mayhem 3D’s main focus is obviously demolition derby style than traditional racing. The cel-shaded comic book style artwork can be a pleasant change or a total eyesore, depending on your tastes. And as the title implies, there is 3D, but you don’t need it if you don’t want it.

For GSL competitors, Mayhem 3D will be a pleasant vacation from the typical, “Guide and Game, hand in hand” play style that gamers adopt when game completion efficiency is concerned. That means you can put the laptop away; the charm that GSL players will find from this game is that there are no collectables or missable achievements. It’s fast, it’s streamlined, and the game doesn’t ask for too much skill in order to complete it.

Game speed completion: Short of requiring a second account to unlock four online achievements, the game is built on the simplicity of placing 1^st in every event to meet achievement requirements.

The game can be realistically completed in five hours. Difficulty does not affect achievements, but there is one achievement that requires that one exhibition match be played in the hardest difficulty with seven computer players. (Which is not as difficult as it may seem, with the guides that are available online.) All cumulative achievements are earned through obtaining all stars in races.

In short, Get a boost partner for ten minutes, play on easy, come first in every event, and then address all special circumstance achievements for the full completion.

GSL Potential:  Mayhem 3D can be used in many different circumstances in considerations for GSL strategy. Point stacking may not be one of them however since story mode achievements are unlocked in chronological order, and especially if the GSL player wants to keep the game off the radar. Cumulative achievements are unlocked systematically, depending on number of stars earned. Perfect score achievements can be stacked if visibility is not an issue, and if done so, a fast 400 points total can be earned for each one, and would also include the 100% career completion achievement.

Because of the accessibility of the game, it can be utilized as a “vacation game” or something fairly enjoyable to play in between point grinds. It is fast enough to be burned through in five hours, or completion can be spaced out to be done in between other games which require higher levels of attention. The mental reprieve gained from playing a game that does not require an open guide or a checklist is noticeable and can be good for raising morale of a GSL participant who is getting burned out.

What the guides don't tell you: Although the stats of the car seem like they get better as you unlock them, in one or two particular races it is actually more important to pick a different car type to maneuver the track successfully and around the competition.

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2. I love the story. I hate the multiplayer. The first time I decided to give Gears multiplayer a chance, it was a public match on the first version, and my entire team proceeded to gib me with the shotgun the moment I would spawn. Never did care to touch any of that until recently, where I’m in a situation where I will the one doing the gibbing with no chance of recourse whatsoever.

Game speed completion: This is not a fast completion by any means. There is an extensive list of single player and multiplayer achievements in both the co-op and versus flavors. Fulfilling some of the achievements requires extensive attention as well so if the achievement hunter is looking for game value for achievements, this would be an investment in your time.

The single player achievements can even be done with the assistance of a co-op partner, and also has achievements for doing so. This co-op option has been used to exploit the difficulty specific achievements where one partner plays on the game’s easiest setting and carries the lion’s share of the work while the other partner plays on Insane and hangs back to reap the rewards.

Multiplayer achievements can be affected by the gamer’s MP level, which is earned through any active participation in any multiplayer experience. Reaching a prerequisite experience level and a specific task such as reaching a specific horde wave take up a majority of the MP achievement list, and will require dedicated boosting partners for maximum efficiency. Expect to work with a team of for exp and horde level grinds and larger groups for misc verses achievements.

Time frame for expected completion for casual game play would take months. A proactive team (of working adults) dedicated to completing this game can complete the achievement list in two weeks realistically, or within one week if nothing else was played and if a exp multiplier event was available to exploit during that time frame. Outside equipment such as network bridges can also prove useful in expediting the completion of this game.

GSL Potential:  The stacking potential of achievement points is incredibly high in this game. The game contains an in-game progress tracker that periodically reminds the player of how far along they are in fulfilling requirements for specific achievements. Achievement progress can also be checked from the main menu as well. Due to the cumulative nature of a majority of the achievements, progress can be purposely delayed until the appropriate time to unlock achievements comes along.  

Most achievements are dependent on the multiplayer experience level of the player. Also, progress in Horde specific achievements will not begin until the appropriate experience level is reached first. Grinding to level 100 will allow the GSL participant to begin completing all horde wave achievement prerequisites. The GSL participant should start at wave 2 on every horde map with their boosting partners to leave the easiest wave incomplete and proceed to fulfill the rest of the horde achievement requirements. When it comes time to pop the achievements, each achievement will only require the completion of the first wave to fulfill requirements. Doing this method can potentially provide 365 points in 10 minutes for the horde mode achievements only. The stacking method can also be applied to all the cumulative weapon kill, complete map pack, collectables and story mode achievements. Story mode difficulty achievements stack, so a potential 275 can be popped, with an additional 50 if the GSL participant decides to complete the game in co-op as well. If the GSL members are on the same team, payoff is doubled.

Stacking visibility is fairly high for competitors. Achievement stacking can be recognized by story mode achievements being completed with or without the story mode completion achievement being unlocked on casual difficulty. Level stacking can be recognized if the GSL competitor has completed the MP rank update DLC, which are the only MP ranked achievements that do not have a second set of requirements to unlock.

What the guides don't tell you: Your MP progress is saved onto your gamer profile, there will not be a game save file on your xbox. The data can become corrupted if data save gets interrupted in any way, which usually comes from players taking shortcuts while playing the game. Always be aware of your habits to ensure that you properly quit to the main menu of the game before quitting to the Xbox live dashboard. Also refrain from varying the method of boosting. Do not grind horde levels online in co-op one day if you have been conducting it solo for the majority of it.