ScuzzyBunny's Blog - Apr to Jun 12 (3 followers)

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I like the sound of it, but don't think it's that great an idea...there have been plenty of "promotions" and such that offered "real" rewards for achvs, but the cheaters always manage to ruin them (RIP Old Spice!).

Hopefully, like a lot of people are suggesting, it will be rewards based on specific games/ achvs and not some random reward based on total GS. Maybe even a small msp reward for improving GS month to month (encouraging you to play more).

Whatever it is, I will most likely participate, as free stuff is free stuff...and between Bing and XBL rewards, I already get enough msp every month to get some free DLC or an XBLA title (or this month, with the double Bing and GoD sale, I got retail games!)

UBISOFT took a bit of a different approach to their mp characters, and I have to say I like it. The game is far from perfect, has lots of server/ party issues, and definitely needs some patching to improve the entire challenge system, but the leveling, IMO, is pretty decent.

Supposedly a lot of people were compaining that the game is "unfair" to new players, as weps and attachments earned at higher levels make the game too hard, but I had no problem playing legit matches, solo, and leveling up just fine, and earning equipment and weapons that helped me level up even further/ faster/ easier (I think the main problem is that so many people just play every game/ mode as TDM, and don't realize that objective games don't reward as well for simply killing someone). I did take advantage of the double xp weekend and a boost session to get to the max (level 50), and that is where their "take" on MP advancement is different from the norm.

Once you reach level 50, you get another character "skin", you get to choose a weapon from Bodark and Ghost to use with the opposite faction character, you get a respec token (to use with any one character and re-do your choices and attachments), and what I liked the best (compared to other MP games where you either hit the limit or "prestige" (i.e. start over, usually with nothing but a new badge or something)...GRFS, though, gives you a new character of the same class (so once you reach level 50 with a Rifleman, for example, you then have a lvl 50 and lvl 1 Rifleman to choose from when playing), the new character has a different "look" to show off your "prestige", with other new skins available as you level them, and you get to choose all the decision points again as you level up. This means that instead of playing a game and simply re-equipping your character the same/ optimum way, you can actually have two rifleman with different specialties and equipment. To me, this gives a bit more incentive to play, as you are building an entirely new character, and can still load up the lvl 50 if a match turns south and you need those unlocked weapons and gadgets to turn the tide.

All in all, I find GRFS fun, but I do think it's a bit inexcuseable that the game was delayed as long as it was, in addition to the beta being delayed almost 2 years, and then the beta being released so close to the game launch that there was no reasonable expectation that any input could have made any significant difference to the "final product". Hopefully some patches will make the game better live up to it's potential, but until then, at least there is a unique leveling system and rewards for maxing out a character!

Battlefield 3 is really pushing the limits of my patience! Living in the boonies, I really don't enjoy having to leave my 360 running all day/night just to download an UPDATE! The game is already 2 (installed) discs...actually I can probably delete the single player disc now, since I think I finished all those achvs!...but these massive updates are just strange. This one is 2.38 GB, the "rent a server" was 1.02 GB, and the "Back to Kirkland" update was 2.07 GB. These three updates are actally bigger than most retail games.To put this in perspective, the Games on Demand version of Skyrim, a pretty large open world game, is 3.68GB...the whole game! Hopeully this large update is like the first one, and is simply the new modes/ maps "free", then you purchase the unlock for them when they are released, because I can't imagine "tweaks" being anywhere near this large, unless they just decided to forgoe any kind of compression at all.

If it wasn't such a great game, I probably wouldn't care, but my 320GB hdd is really starting to fill up (had 1GB free the other day, forcing a "purge" of installed games I wasn't playing and demos). Where is the MS TB hdd I so need?? The sad thing is that I actually have all my music/ kinect games and DLC on my OTHER hdd (250GB).

I guess the easy answer is that I need to get moving and start completing some games so I can get them off my hdd. 1/2-2 GB XBLA games don't seem like much, but when you have hundreds of them they add up!

Ghost Recon Future Soldier is another in a long line of games that have released recently that seem to be making the argument FOR rentals and against actually purchasing Day 1. After multiple delays, and a "beta" that seemed to have been launched after the game went gold, it's here, and, IMO, it just doesn't seem like the polished product that it should be after years and extra years in development.

The current trend seems to be to launch a mediocre game, hope for good sales based on product name (most games, like movies, are sequels), then drop the price 2-3 weeks later, encouraging the "it's too good a deal to pass up...new game for $39.99!" Throw in the fact that most of the "pre-order" DLC is no longer exclusive, is usually available to purchase soon after release, and in some cases is included in later versions of the game (see Dead Island GOTY)...so why are we pre-ordering games, letting other people hold our money, earning interest, for months, so we can pay full price, and watch the price drop the week after?

This gamer is finished with "new" games at launch...for years I was buying almost every game, but now I find it's much cheaper to pick it up from Red Box or GameFly, drop some msp on the online pass (if I can't acquire one for free!) and any DLC, and if I really like the game, I just wait a week or two and save myself $20.


NOTE: If you ARE buying new games at launch, KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS! Some companies have a "screw you" policy (Gamestop, for one), that will not refund you the difference if they drop the price even a day after you bought it, BUT nothing says you can't buy a new sealed copy on sale, then return it within 30 days of the original launch with that receipt!!

So, I was browsing xbox.com looking for the Forza 4 Porsche expansion pack (not on the xbox page, of course), and what do I see? Dragon's Lair in the new release XBLA titles! I figured it was just a new video, or maybe some more Avatar gear, but nope, I click the link and see that the hugely popular nostalgia-fest came out last Friday, and simply got zero visibility. Didn't see any release "news", no friends are playing, no dash ads or promos...so sad.

Anyhow, it's out now (for 800), and if you want the Porsche pack, its 1600 from the marketplace, but supposedly cheaper for VIPs through the in-game marketplace (but no deals if you had the season pass...HA! So glad I avoided that one!!)