spoiled by gamerscore?

It’s entirely possible that I’m addicted to Achievements.

No, not the real life kind. Getting a promotion or saving up to buy a house are all well and good but I’m talking Achievements with a capital “A” – Xbox 360 Achievements. I long to hear the little plunk sound that means I’ve met the requirements for an Achievement, and have been rewarded some Gamerscore points for my efforts.

As of this moment, I am between games. I just finished playing through Bioshock for the second time (for which one of my motivations was to pick up the last three unattained Achievements) and I’m trying to decide what’s next. There are several GameCube and O.G. Xbox games that I own and want to play – games that I’ve either played before and want to play again, or new-to-me bargain bin purchases that I want to play for the first time. Every time I think about playing one of those games I feel a subtle tug at my will, a tug that seems to say, “Jooohhhnn….Joooooohhhhnn….now why would you want to play any of those old things, hmmmm? What can they possssibly give you, hmmm?”

That’s right. I find myself hesitating to play anything that doesn’t have the potential to beef up my Gamerscore. WTF. What has Microsoft done to me? Are there any tangible rewards for these points? No. Is my Gamerscore so incredibly super awesome that letting it stagnate would cause me ego-crippling shame? No. So why does it have such a hold over me? It defies all logical sense. My current dilemma of indecisiveness might have something to do with the fact that, as of now, my Gamerscore stands at 9,957 – a number painfully close to 10,000 (a goal that I set for myself in what was, most likely, a wine-inspired twitter post).

They say that knowing you have a problem is the first step in defeating it. Well I say, “Yes I do have a problem, thank you, now can I have some more of that delicious Gamerscore crack, please?!?!” I can’t help it!

So here’s what’s going to happen. It’s tough love time. I’m going to play some GameCube now. And you, Mr. Evil Inner Demons Achievement Addiction, you’re going to have to deal with it for a while. Because even though you make playing games ever so delightfully quantifiable, you’re not the reason I play.

one of each, please

These Super Mario Bros. mushroom lamps elicited from me a barely-audible squeal of delight when I saw them. I read about them on Engadget and couldn’t resist picking up one of each color. Nothing says Christmas like a gift for yourself!

i say saladin, you say salah al-din

Game Review – Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft Montreal (Xbox 360)

Hype is a fickle mistress, my friend.

The release of Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft Montreal saw quite a bit of the old ultrahype. Touted as a “true next-gen experience”, the game crafted an awfully big pair of britches for itself to fit into. Early reviews were wildly varied, but I decided to give Québécois-U.S. relations a boost and picked up the game.

So is it an assassin or just plain ass?

the galaxy is not as it seems

Game Review – Mass Effect from BioWare (Xbox 360)

Mass Effect is the latest RPG epic from the good doctors at Bioware.

I’ve played every major release from BioWare since getting hooked on 1998’s Baldur’s Gate. The one thing that ties them all together is their focus on good damned storytelling. Memorable characters and moving plights are everywhere to be found. Hell, with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic they injected magic back into the franchise for the first time in twenty years! I always look forward to throwing myself into the worlds they’ve created, and to savoring all the little details they pack in for completionists like me.

Yes, my expectations were high. Will BioWare finally strike out with Scranto? Duh duh duhnnn!

back to basics

As with most of my creative endeavors over the past five years, I got sick of this blog and decided to start over from (almost) scratch. I want to focus on reviewing media – books, games, movies, music.