December and 2023 Summary (Catch-Up)

After initial testing for December, this led to every single day of gaming across the month being magnetised. At the time of writing it has continued into January 2024 with hope of a first fully Xbox magnetised year since 2020, this being due to 2021 failing in the final months. 

December itself was a strong month with a haul of 295 unlocks, this would have been 300 but the main goal for the year was ending on 950,000G overall which was done. Hitting 300 wouldn't have toppled the best month so was not considered while nice totals of 20,590G and 31.732 TA (reduced by new update TA drops) proved to be a plus. The played vs completion ratio saw a 50% split meaning of the 34 played in the month, 17 were completions. 

The platform split was one that I hope will improve in 2024 as the Xbox Series X/One play saw 258 unlocks compared to the 37 across Windows/Xbox 360/Mobile. 

2023 itself slotted in as the second best year for unlocks with 2192 which is a long way off the ultimate 2021 total of 2768 but being only the second year to go over 2100 and with my offline life far busier than recent years furthers the success of 2023. 

The graphic below differs from the total seen for completions on the December 31st magnetisation as January began with multiple game updates on New Year's Day which meant 2023 lost completions from 101 to 96 and will continue to do so as more re-completions are done. 

Key milestones for the year saw the passage through 800,000 and 900,000G with the next goal of the 1 Million G set to come in 2024 as well as hopes of 1.5 Million TA score and maybe even 25,000 unlocks overall after hitting 1.2 Million TA score and 23,000 unlocks in 2023. 

December Sees 2023 Completion Century Reached (Catch-Up)

December saw the TA 12 Days of Christmas challenge completed on Friday 15th starting with a spell on Lost Snowmen with two unlocks for 400G sandwiching a quick 20G unlock on Super Tennis Blast. The day and the TA challenge was completed with a drive on Forza Motorsport which saw three unlocks for 45G.

After being used in the TA Challenge, Lost Snowmen was completed on Saturday 16th with three unlocks for 470G and was followed by a random play on Party Animals with three unlocks totalling just 15G. The day ended with a second completion as Reactor X2 had four unlocks for 800G.

Sunday 17th saw another session on Party Animals with three unlocks for 20G before a new addition to the collection in Park Beyond saw a single 50G unlock. Mushroom Savior (Windows) returned with a re-completion after four unlocks and 800G but the completion total stayed at 92 after a previously completed game had a new update.

A new week began with a session on Reactor X2 (Windows) which saw five unlocks totalling 1000G in a new update and moved the 2023 completion total to 93 on Monday 18th. Tuesday 19th saw an evening play session on Park Beyond which saw five unlocks for 120G and the session extended into Wednesday 20th with a further five unlocks for 110G. Park Beyond became the focus of the week with another session on Thursday 21st which resulted in nine unlocks totalling 250G and then two unlocks for 70G on Friday 22nd. 

Saturday 23rd saw a change with a trilogy of completions which began on Lab Crisis with five unlocks for 1000G and was swiftly followed by Mushroom Savior which saw five unlocks for 1000G. Later in the evening, Zombie Derby joined the collection and was completed in around a two hour session resulting in 15 unlocks for 2000G and moved the completion total to 95.

Christmas Eve's gaming began with a new addition and completion in Radioactive Dwarfs: Evil From The Sewers which saw 15 unlocks for 1000G and was followed by a quick play on Party Animals with two unlocks for 20G. The day ended with a play on Mr Driller in Drill Land which saw six unlocks for 60G. Christmas Day itself saw an evening play session on Gabriel's Worlds: The Adventure and saw the majority of the story complete in a haul of nine unlocks for 1100G. 

Gaming slowed down a little the next day as Boxing Day saw a single 25G unlock on Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Windows). Wednesday 27th saw a new addition to the collection in the form of Ballotron Coolbox (Windows) which saw a differing take on the Ballotron series and was completed after ten unlocks for 1000G.The next day saw the Xbox Series X version of Ballotron Coolbox added to the gaming collection and itself completed with ten unlocks for 1000G and took the completion total to 97. 

The day also saw a single 30G unlock on Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Windows) and that was replicated on Friday 29th with Mr Driller in Drill Land popping in with a 40G unlock. Saturday 30th saw a final play on Gabriel's Worlds : The Adventure as seven unlocks for 1180G resulted in the 98th completion of 2023. Another return saw Checkers for Kids played with two unlocks for 300G. 

The final day of the year saw a bumper gaming day with a haul of 16 unlocks across seven games which began with the session of Checkers For Kids continuing with three unlocks for 200G and completion. In order to try and tick off a few games with only a single unlock remaining, both Crossovers by Powgi and Letterbox by Powgi were played and completed with 100G earned on each which meant the century of completions in 2023 was reached at 101.

Play continued with a single 100G unlock on Mr Driller in Drill Land, a single 200G unlock on Paradox Error and then sessions on Super Tennis Blast  and Super Volley Blast with a combined nine unlocks for 245G.

   

December Began With TA Xmas Challenge Focus (Catch-Up)

The Xbox magnetic journey finally resumed after a huge hiatus with December as a testing month before hopefully fully magnetising in 2024. The month opened with the True Achievements 12 Days of Christmas Challenge and meant a wide range of games would be seen this month.

Play itself on December 1st began with the Game Pass simulation game of Coral Island which saw a solitary unlock for 20G. This was followed by the Windows re-completion of Lost Snowman which saw five unlocks for 1000G and brought the completions for 2023 to 89. Saturday 2nd saw Ghostlore utilised with two unlocks for 20G and the same outcome came on Forza Motorsport with two unlocks for 20G.

Sunday 3rd saw the return of Genesis Noir with a solitary unlock for 70G and later on play moved to Lego DC Super Villains with a single unlock for 10G and the Lego session continued into the new week with four unlocks for 40G on Monday with a long session later that day on Forza Motorsport which drove in seven unlocks for 105G.

Tuesday 5th saw another stint on Lego DC Super Villains with four unlocks for 40G before a return to Ghostlore with three unlocks for 60G. The day ended with a new addition to the game collection in Shadow Warrior 3 :Definitive Edition with three unlocks for 50G and the day's haul brought up 1550 unlocks on Xbox One in 2023. 

Wednesday 6th saw another seven unlock haul on Forza Motorsport for 100G and the week ended with a spell on Rare Replay with three unlocks for 45G and the 7-day total is 44 unlocks for 1640G.

Friday 8th saw a continuation of Rare Replay with four unlocks for 60G and Lego DC Super Villains returned with a mix of story missions and collectibles leading to 11 unlocks for 110G and the day ended with the surprise addition of Moving Out 2 which was a Free Play Days game and saw 12 unlocks for 220G. 

Saturday 9th saw a continuation of Moving Out 2 across the day with 16 unlocks for 780G and a completion ahead of the game exiting Free Days on the 11th and in being completed it meant the game became the 90th in 2023. 

Sunday 10th was the busiest day of the month so far with a total of eight game used across the day starting with Forza Motorsport which saw four unlocks for 70G before Gabriels Worlds posted a single unlock for 100G, Paradox Error and Reactor X2 both saw single unlocks for 200G ahead of Super Tennis Blast and Super Volley Blast both smashing in single unlocks for 30G and 20G.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection snapped up a single 30G unlock and on the game menu, I spotted a new version of Microsoft Minesweeper which led to seven unlocks for 295G and could have been more if not for a glitch on the Daily Challenges which is still to be fixed at the time of writing.  

A new week saw a small go on Gabriels Worlds with a single unlock for 100G on Monday 11th and was followed by the return of Genesis Noir on Tuesday 12th which saw the majority of the story played leading to 11 unlocks for 770G. The session extended into Wednesday 13th with the final three unlocks and 230G popping for completion. Dead End Job worked for six unlocks and 260G as did Super Volley Blast which saw five unlocks for 210G. The day ended with a single 30G unlock on Forza Motorsport as the TA challenge neared its completion. 

The True Achievements 12 Days of Christmas edged achingly close to completion on Thursday 14th and the day began with Zoo Tycoon and a single 15 G unlock before a move to the Windows version of Mushroom Savior which saw a single 200G unlock and then another move across to Rare Replay for a single 15 G unlock. Next up was Forza Horizon 5 with three unlocks for 45 before a swing to Super Tennis Blast which hit a single 20G unlock and the week came to an end with a stop on Lost Snowmen and a single 130G unlock. The 7-day totals were 95 unlocks for 4140G. 

2021-2023 Gaming Summaries Catch-Up

A huge delay in the Gaming blog itself if finally being summarised as in the time since the last post relating to August 2021, a lot of gaming has been added to the gamer score. The long term goal of 1 Million in sight for 2024 so catching up as best as I can in preparation for that is the best idea. 

2021 became the best Gaming year overall and at the time of writing this in January 2024, that record still holds with a massive haul of 2768 unlocks and a first ever double century for both Gamerscore (201,865) and TA score (245,091). 

2022 began with less of a focus than the previous year with work combining with the Rugby attendances and at the midpoint of the year, only three of the six months from Jan-June included more than 150 unlocks and just one over 200 as shown in the monthly totals below. 

As the attending eased later in the year and work remained consistent, Gaming increased with all but July above 150 unlocks and the final three all above 200 meaning that despite being a long way off the all-time record total from 2021, this year passed 2000 to become the third year to do so. 

However, 2022 became the first year with a century of completions at 108 (Graphic below taken in 2023 after completion changes) among other Milestones which included hitting 1 Million TA Score in the February, 700,000 G in June and 20,000 Achievements in July. The completion rate and high G and TA scores came as the year was dominated by game title updates as several games were completed then recompleted at a later part of the year. The overall totals are 21126 Achievements, 1,148,325 TA Score and 769820 G. 

The was a plan to reboot the blog as 2023 began but what became a record for attendances saw the Gaming have good success but the blogging side sadly fall behind. However, the magnetics finally rebooted in December meaning this summary for the 2023 gaming ends with November. An amazing start to the year saw 253 unlocks which remained the record across the 11 months and of those months a further two saw double centuries with 200 in August and 251 in November. 

2023 saw a huge amount of milestones and as the title updates mass release extended from 2022, the goal of hitting 900.000 before the end of the year came far earlier with the success in September. November itself saw 23,000 achievements reached overall as was the completion percentage of 61, 470 completions and 1,330,000 TA Score.