Two new reviews are up in the review section. Lord of The Rings Online: Mines of Moria and Scene It? Box Office Smash. Enjoy. I’ve got Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe coming soon to review, otherwise not sure what after that but I’m sure I’ll be busy again soon enough!

As you can see from my gamercard, I’ve finally hit 70k! Might even manage 71k by the end of the year, but I doubt it. Certainly pretty close though. This time next year 100k? Certainly achieveable. On a gaming note, I still can’t decide with Fallout 3. I’ve played it a lot more and I am wanting to play it but I’m not craving it. It still just feels alright to me. I love the VATS system but some other parts of combat feel irritating to me and clunky. I guess I’m just the exception, as I don’t know anyone else who hasn’t been impressed by it. I was the same with Oblivion, so maybe it’s just that I don’t get on with the game engine. Who knows! Still, I’ll press on and get it completed. The story’s not bad, it’s just not provoked much emotion from me, certainly not compared to the likes of Lost Odyssey. I’d probably give Fallout 3 7/10 which funnily enough is the same score that Edge gave it so at least I’m not entirely alone!

I’m saving my main gaming rambles for the end of the year round up so onto the personal stuff. My elbow is much improved, it’s still a bit lumpy and sore at times but well on the road to recovery. I’ve got an appointment about it on Wednesday but I’m hoping I can cancel it. In not so good news, the puppy (named Charlie in the end) didn’t work out Despite being great with people, he went ballistic at the cat and attacked him, so we just couldn’t keep him. Luckily for ‘Charlie’ he now has a good home with an RSPCA Inspector’s family so I’m sure the two kids there are keeping him very entertained!

Despite the build up to Christmas being incredibly difficult, the actual day went pretty well. The first roast dinner me and my Mum have ever made without my Dad (so 24 years worth) went well and was very nice and we managed to eat it too. My Mum loved the presents I got her (2 of which were PS2 games, I’ve created a monster!) and I was very fortunate for presents too. I received Prince of Persia and PGR4 from her, as well as a few books, a Frankie Boyle DVD, Mock the Week DVD, the new X-Files movie DVD, Family Guy Season 7 and some new trainers (which I desperately needed as the sole’s worn down on my old pair!). As well as that, my good friend Nokkonwud bought me Mirror’s Edge which was a brilliant surprise Really enjoyable game too, certainly unique both in terms of graphics and control system. Not going to be the longest game in the world but with enough replay value to it thanks to the time trial system and achievements. Thanks again Nokkon, really very kind of you

I’ve also been given some money to spend, as well as have plans to sell some old games so expect me to have even more games sooner or later! Probably Left 4 Dead at least, and possibly CoD5.

And finally……I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.7 (doubt anyone can tell the difference! Think it was all behind the scenes) and I’ve also applied Lightbox to some of the pictures. As an example, click on the Quantum of Solace Faceplate below and see what I mean. I’ll be using that more in the future so I can have thumbnails leading to the full image without you having to click away. Clever eh?

Currently I’m busy reviewing Scene It: Box Office Smash and Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria so expect those reviews in the near future. After that I’m not sure what’s lined up but I’d quite like a break over Christmas! Think I’m spending more hours reviewing than I do with my paid work at the moment!

It’s been a good week gamerscore wise. The AV Forums Xmas Challenge has done my motivation wonders! It’s also mainly thanks to Scene It: Box Office Smash which I’ve got nearly 700 points from just two evenings play. GRAW isn’t bad either and great for points. I’ve been using the invincibility cheat because I’m lazy but it’s quite fun. Can definitely see why it was so highly regarded at release. I’d be tempted to pick up GRAW2 when I can find it cheap enough.

Space Chimps is ok, usual easy 1k platformer aimed at kids but it’s quite good mindless fun. As you can see, all these games helped me hit 69k. Only 1000 points off my target for the end of the year which should be quite possible. Mixture of Madden 09, NBA2k9, Scene It and whatever is the next rental I receive should certainly do it. Not forgetting games like Quantum of Solace and Fallout 3.

I also treated myself to a new faceplate:

It looks much better at night but still looks cool. The website address on it is a bit tacky unfortunately. Oh and yes I know the cables are a mess, really must get round to tidying it! Although not right now as my elbow’s well and truly knackered for now.

As regular readers may have seen in my previous entry, my elbow was swollen and slightly infected due to a fall. Now it’s properly infected and I’m on 2 types of antibiotics 4 times a day for a week as well as some stronger painkillers. If it doesn’t improve I’ve got an appointment for the end of the year (literally, it’s New Year’s Eve) to see a different doctor (presumably the last Doctor has run out of ideas if the antibiotics don’t work) who will assess it. Then possibly I have to have a steroid injection in my elbow, pleasant. Anyways, it bloody hurts. More than it did last week. My elbow is now about twice the size it was, it switches between burning and stinging. It’s always red and hot and even brushing against my own clothing, it hurts. Bending it hurts…..well you get the idea, it hurts! It’s crap only being able to use one arm most of the time, I can’t even use my left arm to pick up the remote because it involves twisting, grrrrr! Plus the antibiotics are making me feel crap both mentally and physically. Luckily no work till Sunday so hopefully it’ll have improved significantly by then as I really couldn’t do work without lots of pain at the moment.

And on the plus side, there will be a new addition to the household soon! No it’s not a baby *gets scared at the very thought*, although it’ll probably need nearly as much care as one :p
It’s a puppy!

Meet…….puppy. There is a fair chance he will be called Rufus, but for now, puppy

He’s 10 weeks old and a rescue pup. Him, his 3 brothers and sisters and his Mum are at my local RSPCA. We actually went on Sunday to go dogwalking as we’re volunteers there, then promptly fell in love with him! We’ve got to visit him a few more times and be home vetted but fingers crossed it all goes fine and we get to take him home soon And wish me luck with house training :p Having never done it before!
Feel free to try to guess his heritage. So far I think people have counted about 7 different breeds in him which sounds about right!

As you can see in the past week and a half, it’s not been a big one for points. The vast bulk of the points came from Halo 3 which we finished on Legendary the other night. It was brilliant fun, a true testament to how a relatively average game can become something special when you play it with friends. If it wasn’t for the fact Bungie upped the game’s points a few days ago, I’d have a fairly respectable 760/1000 but as it stands, 760/1750 is a bit poor. I doubt I’ll play much multiplayer though, just not my thing, I much prefer CoD4 online. I’ll keep Halo 3 in the hope for the rumoured expansion pack though and our team of four can return to it then!

In somewhat shocking news, I’ve sold (yes sold, NOT bought) 14 games! I had a bit of a clearout of games that I keep intending to go back to, but never actually do. This also included Infinite Undiscovery which I realised I just wouldn’t get round to properly completing, so figured I’d cut my losses and sell it while it still had some value to it. Not like it cost me anything in the first place anyhow. Didn’t get much for many of the other games but I should now have enough set back to be able to fulfill my pre-orders of Fable 2: CE (despite its lack of figurine, fate cards and fancy box anymore ), Gears of War 2: CE and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (with a free copy of the original on XBLA).

I did however somewhat impulsively buy Fifa 09. The first football game I’ve bought since buying PES6 for about £10 two years ago when I first got my 360, and possibly the first football game I’ve ever bought in the first week of launch (I can’t remember any others at least). I mainly bought it on the strength of its demo, a few forum threads and Nokkon raving about it, and I’m glad I did. The tides really have turned in Fifa’s favour rather than PES. It’s truly the full package with manager mode, be a pro and updated stats for the year. I love Be a Pro, it’s a feature I’ve wanted for years in football games and it’s finally been realised! And I love it Plus the achievements aren’t bad to achieve either. The game’s definitely going to take some practice but it’s very rewarding to score an impressive goal.

The only other noteworthy game I’ve been playing is Viva Pinata. I returned to this as after playing Viva Pinata:TIP I felt like going back to the original until I have a vision cam. It’s at a nice and relaxed pace so far but the micromanagement hasn’t kicked in full time yet so I’m sure that’ll change things a bit. I still feel pangs of guilt when I have to sacrifice my Bunnycomb to attract a Pretztail to my garden…..I’m sure that makes so much sense to someone who’s never played it

Birthday Thursday, and I’m fairly certain I’ve got either Too Human or Brothers In Arms:Hell’s Highway. Either will be good by me I think, I love WW2 FPSes and BiA has had some ok reviews. Too Human is a little hit and miss but hoping my RPG loving nature will convert me to the ‘liking it’ side.

Operation Find the Dog that makes me and my Mum think we must have it (catchy title eh?) isn’t going brilliantly. Just not found the one yet. We are pretty exact with what we want. We want a rescue dog, young dog (well, under 5 but not a puppy), reasonably active but not crazy active, good with kids and cats and small to medium but not too small as my Mum wants to feel safe walking it on her own. Bit like Goldilocks isn’t it?
We’re regularly looking on a few sites and visiting our local RSPCA so fingers crossed we get lucky soon We’re not rushing into a dog that’s ‘ok’, it just seems like something that instinctively we’ll know when the dog is right (even if half the things I just listed aren’t the case, the only true essential is being ok with the cat), but it’s just not happened yet!