Tuesday 11 August 2015

Rare Replay's Huge Impact

Start Your EnginesThis post will feature four days ranging from the 4th-7th as just one game was played across the range in the form of new collection Rare Replay (X1) with the first session seeing a 17 unlock haul starting with Start Your Engines (15G) for playing R.C Pro-Am for the first time.



Join the Jet SetLet the Games BeginLet the Games Begin (15G) unlocked for playing Slalom for the first time and was soon followed by Join the Jet Set (15G) for playing Jetpac for the first time.



Strange New WorldsNo Time For DiplomacyNo Time For Diplomacy (20G) came after playing Killer Instinct Gold for the first time with Strange New Worlds (15G) popping up for playing Lunar Jetman for the first time.



Theater PatronSnakedown Cruise Snakedown Cruise (15G) unlocked for playing Snake Rattle N Roll for the first time and was instantly followed by Theater Patron (10G) for filling up the first ticket with stamps.



Can't Stop the SignalI Can Dig ItI Can Dig It (15G) unlocked for playing Digger T.Rock for the first time with Can't Stop the Signal (15G) popping up for playing Pro-Am II for the first time.



Insert CoinA Particular Set of SkillsInsert Coin (15G) unlocked after playing Battletoads Arcade for the first time and on the same game,  A Particular Set of Skill (15G) popped up for defeating 1000 enemies with standard attacks. 



Rash ActionFinish the FightFinish the Fight (15G) unlocked for completing every stage in Battletoads Arcade with Rash Action (10G) popping up for completing a Battletoads Arcade snapshot.



Back in AticForce FeedbackForce Feedback (20G) unlocked after playing Blast Corps for the first time with Back in Atic (15G) following for playing Atic Atac for the first time.




How Does One Apply The Brakes?Sabre RattlingSabre Rattling (15G) unlocked for playing Sabre Wulf for the first time with How Does One Apply The Brakes? (15G) popping up after skiing five kilometres on Slalom.



Mechanical SandwichGate ReviewThe next day saw another huge haul as 13 achievements unlocked starting with Gate Review (10G) for completing a Slalom snapshot with Mechanical Sandwich (10G) popping up after completing an R.C. Pro-Am snapshot.



The Professor's MemoirsNo Flies On YouNo Flies On You (10G) unlocked after completing a Battletoads snapshot and was followed by The Professor's Memoirs (30G) which popped up after sampling every Battletoads game in the collection.



Step On the Gas!Do You Have Battletoads?Do You Have Battletoads? (15G) unlocked after playing Battletoads for the first time and was followed by Step On the Gas! (10G) for completing an R.C. Pro-Am snapshot.



Lonely Out in SpaceAdded DepthAdded Depth (10G) unlocked after completing a Digger T.Rock snapshot with Lonely Out In Space (15G) popping up after playing Solar Jetman for the first time.



UnphasedSneaky SnakeSneaky Snake (10G) unlocked after completing a Snake Rattle N Roll snapshot with Unphased (10G) popping up after completing a Jetpac snapshot. 



Up in the GodsThe Shoulder of OrionThe Shoulder of Orion (10G) unlocked after completing a Lunar Jetman snapshot with Up in the Gods (10G) soon popping up for reaching the Player Rank of Follower.



Forced ApartCurtain CallCurtain Call (30G) unlocked after watching the credits which is the simplest unlock so far on this game. The day day saw another 13 unlocks starting with Forced Apart (20G) popping up for playing Jet Force Gemini for the first time.



A Whole New WurldeJump To ItA Whole New Wurlde (15G) unlocked for playing Underwurlde for the first time with Jump To It (10G) popping up for completing an Underwurlde snapshot.



The Explorer's DiarySheep's ClothingSheep's Clothing (10G) unlocked for completing a Knight Lore snapshot followed by The Explorer's Diary (30G) for sampling every Sabreman game in the collection.



New Sheriff in TownOpening KnightOpening Knight (15G) unlocked after playing Knight Lore for the first time with New Sheriff in Town (15G) popping up for playing Gunfright for the first time.



Made a SplashTake a Look at the LawmanTake a Look at the Lawman (10G) unlocked after completing a Gunfright snapshot with Made a Splash (10G) popping up for completing a Cobra Triangle snapshot.



Defying GravityGetting Your Sea LegsGetting Your Sea Legs (15G) unlocked after playing Cobra Triangle for the first time with Defying Gravity (10G) popping up after completing a Solar Jetman snapshot.



A.C.G. WhizzStiff Upper LipA.C.G. Whizz (10G) unlocked after completing an Atic Atac snapshot with Stiff Upper Lip (10G) popping up after completing a Sabre Wulf snapshot.




And the Kitchen SinkDojo Mojo The final day of the quartet saw two further unlocks on Rare Replay in the form of Dojo Mojo (20G) for sampling every game mode in Killer Instinct Gold and And the Kitchen Sink (30G) for completing the Collect-a-thon Playlist.


































Monday 10 August 2015

August Opens With Infinity Runner/Solitaire/Sleeping Dogs

Silver BulletSpaced OutAfter a year where updates have been forgotten, finally regular updates can resume with this post featuring the first three days of August - 1st-3rd. The month began with three unlocks on Infinity Runner (X1) starting with Spaced Out (15G) for getting to an outdoor section with Silver Bullet (15G) popping up for dying in wolf mode. 

Ice Castle in Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Win 10)Points Mean PrizesThe day ended with the unlocking of Points Mean Prizes (15G) for scoring 65,000 points. The following day saw a single unlock which came on Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Win 10) in the form of Ice Castle (30G) for playing the J,Q and K of a suit in succession on Klondike.


In With the GangEnvironmentalist
The third day saw a new milestone of 450 games played as I started on Sleeping Dogs:Definitive Edition (X1) after spotting it on sale and after completing the original on the 360, knew it would be a good game to play with upgraded graphics. Two unlocks came from the opening session starting with Environmentalist (15G) for performing five unique environmental kills.
In With the Gang (5G) later popped up for completing Night Market Chase.












July Summary

After catching up a huge backlog with monthly summaries, I decided to continue with July before hopefully returning to daily updates as had proved successful before the deluge in recent months.

July

After June saw a welcome return to gaming highs, July went even further with a new record amount of unlocks in a month beating the previous record from December.

The biggest positive of the month was of course setting a new record but also the joy of having a new platform in the shape of Windows 10 to earn unlocks on.

In terms of numbers, July became only the second month to ever reach 200 unlocks with a haul of 235. This saw the biggest split between the two main platforms in the shape of 206 on the Xbox One and a slim 29 across the Xbox 360/Windows platforms. 

The month saw two games completed with Max:The Curse of Brotherhood and Lego Batman 3 both finished on consecutive days of the 18th/19th and both on the Xbox One. The 3,595 G collected in the month was great compared to the majority of the year as was the haul of 6824 TA with a split of 5,834 on the Xbox One and just 990 coming via the Xbox 360/Windows  platforms.

Wednesday 1 July 2015

June 2015 Summary

After catching up a huge backlog with monthly summaries, I decided to continue with June's before returning to daily updates as had proved successful before the deluge in recent months.


June

As May suffered due to busy days away from gaming, June saw a return of the success which has dominated the first half of the year.

The biggest positive of the month was reaching the all-time goal of 50 completed games which has taken just under eight years to do.

In terms of numbers, June succeeded in reaching 100+ unlocks after May's narrow miss and did so with 122 overall split between 69 on the Xbox One and 53 on the Xbox 360/Windows 8 platforms.

The 2,325 G collected was down on previous months but enough to continue steady progress towards the year's goals.

After May's decline, TA points in June topped 5,000 with 5,444 overall with a split of 4,307 on the Xbox One and just 1,137 coming via the Xbox 360/Windows 8 platforms.

Thursday 11 June 2015

Xbox Backlog Recovery Summary Apr-May

Continuing from the previous post, I will analyse the months of April and May before starting June fresh in the next post with potentially three posts for the first 10 days.

April


After the huge successes from March, April saw a single goal completion in the form of 125,000 G on the third with the milestone of 190,000 TA reached on the same day. As part of the 2015 Achievement Chase of getting an unlock on 150 different games, the first milestone came on the 21st with the 50th. 

Zombie Driver Ultimate EditionThe final milestone of the month came on the final day of the 30th as I reached 195,000 TA - an accolade that was completed by a huge rise of points on the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft which saw the 29th/30th take their places as second best days for TA overall with a combined 3300 odd.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT LIVE!The month saw three game completions with all three on the Xbox One starting with Zombie Driver Ulitmate Edition on the 11th, Trivial Pursuit Live on the 12th and #IDARB on the 29th.

#IDARBIn terms of numbers for the month, a haul of 122 unlocks was split at 80 on the Xbox One and 42 on the Xbox 360/ Windows 8 platforms.

A best of the year in TA points with the first five figure haul of 11,608 but it was only temporary as will be displayed in the May statistics.

The 3,721 G collected kept up the run of four figure amounts for the year which has averaged at around 3-3500 per month.

May

As mentioned above, May suffered a blow after the success of April with no game completions for the first month in 2015 and a TA dent which will go down as the worst in my gaming history.

The positive of the month was the goal of 200,000 TA being reached on the 20th while the milestone of 130,000 G was achieved on the same day making for a double celebration in a mixed month.

In terms of numbers, May became the first full month (Feb exempt) to not feature 100+ unlocks with a haul of just 95 which was split 76 on the Xbox One and 19 on the Xbox 360/ Windows 8 platforms.

The 2,476 G collected was down on previous months but enough to continue steady progress towards the year's goals.

However, the TA points stand out with just 1969 earned overall despite over 5,000 across the month but the gap came after a losing 2,179 via Minecraft on the Xbox 360.



Hopefully, the next post will feature the first few days of the current month of June as not a chance am I letting this blog slip so badly again but glad that I have been able to salvage it from a potential shut down.





Xbox Backlog Recovery Summary Feb-Mar

After letting this blog slip massively into a three month slump without a post, I considered ending it completely while also thinking about full catching up. However, even at the rate of even ten days per post, the amount of content would take so long that the backlog would never be fully ended.

As a result, I have decided to try and summarise the missing four separate months with the use of the usual totals from posts and the milestones, goals and completions for those months.

February


Although this month was featured full until the last post from the 13th-17th, the summary of the second half of the month saw a single milestone in the form of 180,000 TA points achieved. The period saw a single game completion which ironically was started on the 18th and finished six days later on the 24th.


Costume Quest 2The game Costume Quest 2 was an interesting and graphically amazing game with the 18 unlocks making for around eight hours total playtime. 

Overall, February despite being two/three days less than the rest of the year, saw a good set of numbers with a total of 82 unlocks with 61 on the Xbox One and 21 split across the Xbox 360/Windows 8 platforms.

2020G with a huge uneven split of 1795 on the Xbox One while the Xbox 360/Windows 8 platforms saw just 225 with a strong 4278 TA points collected over the month.

In terms of goals, no completions but progress made towards the 120,000G and 6500 achievement accolades.


March


After the sub 100 unlocks in February, March saw huge success across the board with the first few days seeing the milestone of 120,000 G completed with 185,000 TA reached to the end of the most and a new 'Best Day Ever' on the 27th.

The fact it was that date was strange given it came exactly four years after what was the current record of 27 March 2011. 

Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious (Xbox 360)Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious (Xbox 360)The new trio of records stand at 48 unlocks, 1830 G and 2039 TA in a single day and the day also saw the 45th game completion in the form of  Forza Horizon 2-Fast and Furious (X1) with its sister version completed the following day.

The final milestone of the month came on the 29th as I reached 6500 achievements (not inc apps) which made for a superb month on all accounts. 

The numbers for the month saw a haul of 151 unlocks with a 110 on the Xbox One and 41 split between Xbox 360/Windows 8 while a massive haul of 7742 TA came mostly from the aforementioned completions as did the 4625 G.

XBOX Blog Recovery

Judas in FIFA 09After somehow forgetting I had this blog, I have had to catch-up days in order to continue posting and this backlog begins back at February 13th with a single unlock in the form of Judas (10G) on FIFA 09 for beating my favourite team with a rival.



The Wings of AngelsCrossroads Souls in Project SparkThe next day also saw just a single unlock as Crossroads Souls (10G) popped up on Project Spark for beating a Crossroads Adventure without taking damage while February 15th saw a quartet of unlocks on Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell which began with The Wings of Angels (10G) for being airborne for a combined 10 minutes.

Cluster LuckLevel One DemonLevel One Demon (10G) unlocked after making my first purchase from the Upgrade Store while Cluster Luck (10G) popped up for collecting five Soul Clusters without touching the ground.


Credit Spender in Project Spark (Win 8)Soul in OneThe day ended with the unlocking of Soul in One (20G) for finding 100 Soul Clusters and the Achievement Chase continued into February 16th with a solo unlock on Project Spark of Credit Spender (5G) for unlocking a Credit Unlock Item.


More OverdriveSave EveryoneFebruary 17th saw a session on Sunset Overdrive which saw five unlocks starting with Save Everyone (35G) for saving the city from the second highest robot while More Overdrive (30G) popped up after unlocking a Rank 4 Overdrive.


Mixology 101ExcalibroExcalibro (20G) unlocked after forging the mythical Excalamune which was soon followed by the popping up of Mixology 101 (10G) after collecting 20 Amps from Floyd.


The Clown That Honked 1000 Ships in Costume Quest 2Orange SodaThe session ended with the unlocking of Orange Soda (15G) for killing a total of 5000 OD with the Chase moving on to February 18th and the solo unlock of The Clown That Honked 1000 Ships (50G) for using the clown horn 100 times on Costume Quest 2.