phatal1ty's Blog - Apr to Jun 12 (210 followers)

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after our usual hour(ish) of Apples to Apples, I decided to keep going with my arcade streak and try out Haunt



Its on special this week 50% off (400msp) despite not being on the deal page its a very quick and easy completion...

Haunt reminds me a lot of a basic point and click with a few quick time events thrown in for good measure... you know coz its Kinect! duck, jump, punch.... oh no cover your eyes!!!... it also feels eerily similar to Luigi's Mansion



Which I loved on the game cube...I might have been like 20 when I played it but don't judge me... I'm a huge Mario fan girl... and this is one of the reasons why I love gamerscore I get to play turd-tastic kiddy games and not have to justify it.

Back to Haunt.... it's a first person perspective so to entertain myself I would say over and over in a quakey voice... Mario?... MARRRiiooo... since marching on the spot holding one hand out in front isn't dork ass enough, don't get me wrong I liked the game... it was equal parts dorky and cute, with a big "easy" sticker slapped over it.... The story is a tad trite but funny and fairly well executed.
I think kids might really enjoy this say 6-10?

And being able to go back to clean up collectibles and misc achievements is always a nice touch while there are a little over a dozen collectibles its still has a nice tracker and being newspaper clippings its a nice plot filler.

It took me a little under 3hrs not following a guide exploring every little nook and cranny to complete it but I was reading the clippings and watching cut scenes and a quick 40 min run over the last two collectibles and one misc this morning got me a neat little completion.

Speaking of which... Nick set up a neat little leaderboard for him and his bothers and I'm an honorary participant in his competition, I'd thought I'd share it with you guys as you might want to do something similar with friends... It was awfully nice of Nick to let the three of us know a month after he started it lol... basically he has a leaderboard of the four of us in google docs, and first to complete A to Z in arcades/WP7 is a winner and there is a retail board too. kinda sucks to be me... with the most completions but I'm under no delusions I'll emerge victorious... hopefully it will motivate me to snag those last few in dumb games like Ion ball and Zuma :/

On the way to work today I was cut off at the motorway on ramp by this dickwad...



Open message to David "tick" Collings, I don't know who you are but if you must drive like your blind... try doing it in a vehicle that doesn't have your face and name plastered on the side in peeling vinyls and while I'm on a roll... if your appealing people to vote you in to council... try keeping your vehicle clean... the current state of your vehicle says a lot specifically that you do not give a shit about aesthetics or cleanliness... I'm sure those creepy pedos driving around in similar vans with tinted windows have a higher standard than you do... also I withhold the right to judge you and your beer baby gut when I drive past the window to give you the finger for cutting me off... don't give me a finger back... its not a good look... David "tick" Collings.

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Yesterday was



In theme with my Mechtastic Rawr doodle. Someone needs to explain to me the enjoyment they get from Dynasty games or any KOEI games for that matter to help me relate and understand why there are so many and if they even do well... all I know is that dead eyes look that all the faces have is scary in a killer mannequin dream way.

~Congrats to everyone who got it right!~


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So it seems that today is the last day for round 3!
can you guys believe I've been doing this for 75 days? crazy!!

Everyone at 25 points by next blog will be in a draw for 1600msp and state is wiped clean and tomorrow we start round 4!! Its gonna be fun



Good Luck Ya'll

**everyone is welcome to take a guess and join in on my blog fun but please Private Message me here with your answers, all other blog comments are welcome**

I feel like since Saints Row I haven't played a retail game at all... and last night was no different...



The dark lord of the XBLA Printmatic managed to once again put me under his spell and made me buy a very quick and dirty completion.... while waiting for Fable Heroes and Awesomenauts to hit the market place.

On sale this week is Cyber Troopers Virtual-On OT for 600msp (down from 1200msp) it took us under an hour to complete despite not being able to connect to one another.... Thankfully NiteJokester came to the rescue and helped us out with the onlines but it seems there is very much a middling online community who are brutally hard to beat... not to worry the onlines are for participation and not wins.

The game is a very graphically last gen game with horrific mechanics... and isn't too dissimilar from the region free retail version (be warned while the disk is region free you will need a Japanese account / MSP for DLC) its a very Japanese Mech shooter with a camera that is suck in molasses and a huge cult following... we witnessed several players with over 10000 games played trolling the ranked lobby.
My highlight of the game was seeing the DreamCast VMU despite this game not even registering on my radar way back when.

Prior to Printmatic joining me for the night I sweet talked Stoph in to some Apples to Apples seeing as it was a game I bought a million days ago and hadn't got a point in... and I knew he had it too... upon learning we need three for a game LazfromSanFransisco joined eager to help out... none of us knew how to play but that didn't stop us... Stoph and I quickly worked out the gameplay which is basically word association with your friends being the judge of who's word association is more "accurate"... it took Laz the better part of 50 rounds and even then I'm not sure he completely comprehends the game.... and just when we're all sure he got the hang of it.... black lingerie is akin to faithful.... Its strange to play Apples to Apples with someone who doesn't get it... like a donkey at a poker table.

Apples to Apples is fun but you better have three dedicated friends to play with you as what I can tell 90% of the game is online and I got through the whole single player part in under 30mins which had a tacked on boggle / wordament element and it net me next to no points.

While rummaging around the marketplace with Nick discussing a new completion project (more on that tomorrow) after most had gone to bed I noticed Puss In Boots being one of the newest items on my games on demand...




let me put that in to MSP for you...



Pretty certain no one is stupid enough to pay this ludicrous price for a mediocre kids game.... or any game for that matter.... someone clearly needs to rethink the pricing structure for digital content.
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Cover Up

Yesterday was



since its almost snow season here in New Zealand.... It doesn't snow where I live (Auckland) but Mt Ruapehu is a mere 5hrs drive with two ski fields and a few seasonal townships around it... prefect for a get away weekend... (wink wink)

~Congrats to everyone who got it right!~

**I will clean up the leaderboards soon... I'm just a little behind at work this week**
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Today is



Good Luck Ya'll

**everyone is welcome to take a guess and join in on my blog fun but please Private Message me here with your answers, all other blog comments are welcome**

My should and arm doesn't find pitching / throwing a very natural motion



Don't worry I didn't break my arm... It just feels strange since I'm doing a repetitive motion I'm not very familiar with and apparently I'm a uncoordinated mess trying to use my left as my dominant throwing arm.

I played about two hours of Diabolical Pitch last night and an hour this morning and I've decided its the same level of fun as fruit ninja about two notches higher in difficulty and depth. So in a strange way I'm enjoying it more! but dreading the grind.

Its getting colder now and my house is very much designed with summer months and sunny days in mind... not this crisp sudden chill in the air or the onset of winter. There are high stud ceilings and great big glass walls and ranch sliders everywhere.... So getting out of bed in the morning is starting to become a battle willpower and worse than that the clothing selection to play Kinect in.

This morning I chose a long sleeved skin tight shirt from my ballet days... its one of those shirts that makes the wearer keenly aware of every ounce of fat... and some leggings which are also very body hugging... and a pair of warm socks...
I swear my Kinect is a perv and I'm playing a game of strip gaming each and every time I load up a Kinect game... at some point this morning I was standing in front of my Kinect a little frustrated that it only likes to track skin and not clothed skin even tight clothing... and eventually as always I somehow end up parading around the house in socks and underwear which is a little surreal when the temperature is 10c / 50f

As for the other guy parading around the house naked in socks.... this happened the same day I wrote "at least Kaha is not a destructive dog by nature"



The death of Ratchet... I will likely end up sowing him up a little enough to get another few weeks of play out of it.... anything with a squeaker gets torn apart within days... most other plushies get a few weeks this one has lasted quite a few months. So I was half expecting this for a while now.
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Cover Up

Yesterday was



One of the very few baseball games I've completed... If you haven't yet... its super easy.


~Congrats to everyone who got it right!~

Leaderboard Link
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Today is



Good Luck Ya'll

**everyone is welcome to take a guess and join in on my blog fun but please Private Message me here with your answers, all other blog comments are welcome**

I finally started Diabolical Pitch, a Kinect arcade game



Its pretty fun and very polished much more than I had hoped for seeing as I was burnt by the last two other Kinect Arcades I bought (leedmees and hole in the wall) So I didn't jump right on this but I can recommended it now that I've had a few hours with it.

Basic game mechanics is pretty simple... throwing crazy baseball pitches at zombies to build a powerup (Diabolical Pitch) and collecting random slot machine symbols its rather fun and has leaderboard tracking.

I like the character design and art style but the creepy demonic mascot / plushie bosses are a little scary in a childhood nightmare Donnie Darko sort of way... I can think of one person that might squeal in fear seeing the first boss.

It seems like a fairly straightforward achievement list, a few being a little grindy and one looking to be a little more skill based.... and the obligatory annoying local only multiplayer ones...
I would give it a try it at the very least and a buy it for all the kinect fans

As for other gaming I've been on a bit of play it till I complete it train lately... I shot some "get-er-done" juice and powered though the rest of Deep Black which is a totally forgettable experience.... paired with sports talk on xbox live - McTennisD as the host and Stallion83 guest of the week I don't know how I didn't die of boredom... I learned all about the intricacies of the three day draft event and how Kobe is an underdog... and how much the Lions are overdue for a win... of any sort... and how I'm silly for being a fair weather friend... even though watching sports should be an enjoyable thing... and paying to be disappointed is stupid... we argued Rugby vs NFL and no clear winner was decided... somehow that turned in to USA vs THE REST OF THE WORLD...

In real life... I don't have a whole lot going on outside of work is crazy busy with end of fiscal year rubbish and people needing to get their shit together for those bean counters... meaning I have actual work to do instead of just pretending so here is a random picture from my sketch book.



Finally.... I want to give a special thank you for all the people who are following my blog and especially to Confused Shelf and his monthly blog leaderboard Which always makes for a good read!
I take pride in being placed first this month but its so close between Stoph and I that it shows we both must be doing something right. Go and check out his blog!
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Yesterday was



The only underwater game worth talking about (and thankfully set in watertight underwater city) with minimal trudging about in water.

~Congrats to everyone who got it right!~

Leaderboard Link
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Today is



Good Luck Ya'll

**everyone is welcome to take a guess and join in on my blog fun but please Private Message me here with your answers, all other blog comments are welcome**

I sift memory of all games ever played and I can't think of one instance of any underwater level that I loved...



Nor can I think of any game where I thought Hmmm... gee that game really needed an underwater level... I mostly blame Nintendo and Rare for my poor underwater experiences but even Gears and Tomb Raider add to my argument and the worst moment ever...



Its like a pimple a big sore throbbing red puss filled pimple on the beautiful Kingdom Hearts game.

The reason why I'm ranting about underwater levels is Deep Black... Nick begged me to download it and do the multiplayer with him and sure enough the MP was quick and painless... If we were to play it "legit" it would be less than fun due to tremendous lag and the nature of the maps being largely underwater

The game is 75% underwater shooting at switches opening gates using a harpoon, with the occasional running around some lab collecting disks being shot at by random henchmen... and engineers.... not to fear there are waist high walls everywhere and a fairly straightforward cover system, (with no proper melee) the game is rather forgiving on easy and the achievements requires no additional thinking.

It looks pretty good for an arcade title... but it really feels like a condensed retail title to be fair, and the episodic nature just means it was likely supposed to be a retail that didn't quite make the cut.
Think... timeshift + water lots and lots of water....

Oh did I mention you shoot underwater?... you kill underwater henchmen... with your normal SMG or shotgun.... UNDERWATER?! oh science where art thou? but its not like all logic was tossed out, there are parts where you harpoon people to drag in to the water and drown / stab them with a knife worn like a bayonet on your arm.

As for the way it looks its grey on drab on brown with a blue overlay for the parts underwater... and the character you play as "Pierce" looks remarkably similar to Isaac from Dead Space.

Is it worth 800msp? sure.... is it fun... not really... it gets very old very quickly and very repetitive and it has no soul... its a fun distraction but not something many will find love in. The most major issue is no-one really wants underwater levels!!

I also spent a big part of my weekend cleaning up and finally finishing Saints Row the Third (BRD aka German) which is now complete... a bit of an eyesore that I still don't have SR3 normal version done :/ but I also now know that there is about 10hrs of clean up left in the normal one which makes it less appealing to want jump on that... I think I've had my fill of Saints for a little while. But it was nice to have that comforting grind of a good game something I miss and haven't really done since PUG.... that one game in the disk tray day in, day out till its complete... Its refreshing but I think its not for me, not all the time... just nice to chop up the gaming style a little.

As for real life... I used the toaster today...



at work even... first time since the fire brigade incident.... I also was paranoid enough to not stray more than 3 feet from it till it popped... doing my little hurry up, I'm dying of boredom dance.... I really am that impatient.

**please note...... artistic license used in today's Rawr, there are no water wings or snorkel in Deep Black Pierce just swims... with his magic swim armor suit....
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Cover Up

last time was



Due to my mouse issue... I've resorted to putting random boxes around the garage since a bigger black and white companion of mine has discovered free peanut butter scattered around the garage... Kaha has managed to figure out a way to eat it clean... without setting off the trap! I don't know how he does it but when I try and sneak a peek he rushes up to me looking rather guilty licking his chops grrr

~Congrats to everyone who got it right!~

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Today is



Goodluck ya'll

**everyone is welcome to take a guess and join in on my blog fun but please Private Message me here with your answers, all other blog comments are welcome**