So it’s been a long while since the last blog update, and in that time a hell of a lot has occurred. The only reason there hasn’t been blog posts on it is because I’m really lazy and also slightly worried that Microsoft would destroy my ass. Because yes, my Xbox 360 broke and yes, Microsoft decided to be sheer idiots about it.

The full story is perhaps too long and complicated, being more suited to an article that would take an eternity to write correctly, but the basics of it are probably enough to get you enraged on my behalf. Basically, my 360 decided to brick it with only one red light, meaning I did not have the pleasure of an extended warranty. Which is a big deal, since after trying everything to fix it and then ringing customer support revealed that it was one day out of the warranty. One day! Microsoft could look at the play history and see when it died, or just accept the truthful facts for what they were, but they decided not to and tried to charge me £60 for a repair.

Now, it’s not really this which is the truly annoying factor… They had a legal right to do such a thing, after all. However, the way they acted in getting their own way was uncalled for. I’m not kidding when I say at one point they shouted at my parents, said Microsoft was “A paperless organisation” and and stated that we had no right to complain. I know the name who the person who was stubborn enough to do this, but I won’t post it on the basis it wouldn’t be fair. After all, the attack from my Mother especially should have been enough to make him bite his tongue.

Still, I have the 360 back now, due to the unexpected generosity of “Game”, a retailer in the UK. Even though my only proof of purchase was a reward card and I was out of warranty, they give me a shiny new 360 and everyone was happy. Just in time for the new Halo map pack too, so hooray!

My birthday also occurred in this hiatus, but there was nothing truly mind-blowing to say about that. I had a great day despite having to go into University, we went out for a meal at night, and a HD television entered my room and promptly made my eyes begin to bleed. Seriously, I couldn’t live without it now, even though I could live without the strange sense of actually feeling older.

Anyway, I’ll end this blog post now, because tomorrow I head to Brussels and promptly get myself shot by the international police for generally being an idiot. There should be much more to talk about then, including how my University work is finally reaching a chaotic first year conclusion, and perhaps it won’t take me three weeks to write about it. Perhaps.

Yes, hello, actually taking time to write blog post instead of glossing it over for doing such things as eating, or shooting people in the head. I actually have a post in draft form that I meant to finish a while ago, but you’ll have to wait for that until another day. For now, be content with pointless pieces of news about my life!

First up is the small matter of my 19th birthday, with April 3rd heading my way fast. There’s only two things I know are going to happen for sure on that date, though - I’m getting a re-subscription to Xbox Live, and I have to go into University and learn. Gah. Anyway, when it comes to other presents I’m pretty much unsure… I have ideas though, with the most childish yet awesome one being to get Tails and Knuckles plushies to join my currently existing Sonic one on my bed. It did strike me that after more than ten years there’s still bits of Sonic that make me act like a kid to a massive extent. Nothing wrong with that though… Just because it’s my 19th birthday doesn’t necessarily mean I have to grow up.

Studies are going… Very slowly. I normally end up saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” and then repeating that action the next day, but fragments continue to get done. I’ll truly hit the books when I return on Monday, and even though I might have to do a little more than I thought I won’t be truly screwed. The only thing that concerns me is my oral presentation - Not only do I have very little idea on what I’m going to say, I have little idea how I’ll cope when it comes to saying it. I’m also losing time on working on it because of my birthday and the Brussels trip coming up, and… I’m just going to stop talking about that because it’s getting me worried.

One final thought concerns the matter of the amount on Internet idiots recently. You may have heard of the story of the guy who stole an Xbox but then stupidly bragged about it. This is idiotic on its own, but the attitude of everyone who went “Let’s harass him lololol” just to get it back… It leaves me uneasy. I know the kid deserved to be punished in some way and forced to return the goods, but making his life a misery via many methods isn’t necessarily the right way. When the harassers finally won out and the goods were returned, the display of glee by them again sort of sickened and annoyed me. Coupled with general teabagging, boasting, swearing idiots on most games and… Well, it’s not a pretty sight to see me yelling at my TV screen, put it that way.

As a soothing finale, though, have this awesome picture…

Yes, awesomeness indeed.

So it’s finally done. At 4:45pm GMT on Wednesday 5th March, my Xbox 360 gamerscore finally hit the five digit mark. I’ve been shamelessly delaying a blog post and working quite hard on reaching this for about a week, and it does strike me that quite a lot of people simply won’t care, but to me it’s genuinely a happy moment. It’s the bonus payoff for playing more of some games I normally wouldn’t, getting seriously angry at times, and enjoying what I think is an almost perfect rewards system. To sound incredibly stupid, part of me doesn’t see it as a number, but a collection of memories and challenges leading up to it, and the idea of many more to come (After I’ve left it alone and bathed in its glory for a while). While you laugh at that, here’s a bunch of random facts and figures surrounding the score…

575 = The number of achievements themselves, each with their own totals that lead up to the final result. Without The Orange Box that number would be seriously lower, though, but I wouldn’t change the amount of 5-point tasks in that game anyway.
Take me to your supply point = The name of my first achievement, on Crackdown, for 10 points. I didn’t even think that much of the achievement system back then, to be honest.
Paradise won = The name of the last achievement for the 10,000, on Burnout Paradise, worth 60 points. I find the name and the sheer nature of the achievement (The idea you’re one of the best drivers in the city) rather apt…
3,050 = The score after receiving the 150 point achievement that was “Street Racer Elite” on Crackdown. I still think this was perhaps the most difficult thing I’ve achieved yet, if only because of the unfair catch-up system the other drivers worked on and the fact your car flipped if someone did as much as sneezed on it. I learnt days afterwards that there were so many ways to “Cheat” the achievement as well. I was rather annoyed I didn’t learn them sooner, but whatever.
3rd April = My birthday, the date last year I got my 360, and the “Deadline” I sort of set myself for the score. Smashed it, of course, so now I have a year and just under a month to get 20,000…

Anyway, enough of what basically comes down to constant gloating and self hi-fives. In other news, I’m going to be best man at my sister’s wedding! Yes, only I could put that after video games. It’s kind of exciting to be in that position, but also kind of terrifying on the basis I’ve got to stand up in front of a ton of people and say important things. I’ve also got to think up the lamest jokes or worst puns possible and see if they raise a laugh. Which, knowing me, they probably won’t… But hey! If all else fails, I’ll pretend to faint and steal all the glory and attention!

Finally, the work quota from University is sneaking back up on me, and I’m getting ready with a shotgun and a brain full of facts to try and take it down before it consumes my life again. Even though after tomorrow I have just over three weeks off, my mindset has already adjusted to the fact that even when the work slows down it never really stops. Instead, it’s a constant battle to stay sane and look extremely brainy in the process. Judging by exam and essay results I’m content that I’m winning that war, but I suppose that doesn’t mean much when it’s only just begun…

Last Friday, it was with a sense of joy and relief that I handed in my last piece of work and finally broke free of the flood that had been swamping me for so long. The fact that I consider that time to be so badly planned (The largest pieces of group work yet in the same week as the creation of a 2,500 word essay?) and rather wearisome near the end didn’t change the fact I thought it was high time for celebration! So, it was off with a friend to see Cloverfield and also to pick up some gaming greatness.

Now, Cloverfield has been gaining a sort of mixed response from people, but the sheer novelty of the idea has me interested in seeing it. Not overly hyped like my friend was, just interested. As a result of this, I was pleasantly surprised to end up finding it to be a rather excellent movie. I’d spout stuff about it perfectly capturing the “Youtube generation”, with one touch I found pretty neat being that you sometimes saw glimpses of other people recording the event, or I could state that the characters were generally likable and the kind you sort of worried for. Heck, I could even try my hand at describing the excellent special effects and brilliant art design. That wouldn’t change the fact that it made me keep stupidly swearing under my breath, nearly falling off the edge of my seat and generally sitting their wide-eyed and completely forgetting I had a bag of epically tasting sweets in front of me. Trust me, to distract me from tasty food is a accomplishment in itself.

Saying that, it wasn’t flawless. I’ll try to avoid giving too much stuff away, but the whole “We’re going back into almost certain death to save someone!” thing really grates on me in any movie. Also, the fact everyone involved was able to take a startling amount of damage or capture the perfect shot when the need arose sort of trashed the illusion a bit. My friend also said the ending was rubbish, but I really liked it. I’d say why, but that would probably make it so I had to put a big red “SPOILER” sign at the top of the page that would make your eyes bleed.

On the gaming side of things, Call of Duty 4 and Burnout Paradise have joined my collection. I’m not going to say as much about these, as my detailed first hours/impressions are now up on ABXY here and here. Suffice to say, though, they’re both great games. Burnout Paradise has a few tiny flaws, such as a pathetically bad new crash mode and the fact it’s far too easy to crash full stop, but that doesn’t stop the sheer fun of speeding down a highway and then jumping off a cliff. “Freeburning” online is also - Dare I say it? - One of the best implementations of an online system I’ve seen. I can’t flaw it.

Call of Duty 4, though, is the game that has surprised me. I was looking forward to it in a casual manner, not expecting anything spectacular, but “Spectacular” is what I constantly keep getting. Again, not giving away any spoilers away here, but any game that literally gets my adrenaline pumping is good enough for me. The online mode is also superb in its execution, but due to the fact that I completely fail at it right now due to the lack of map knowledge or any real skill, anything I say would probably end up in a swearing rant. Which would be bad, considering it turns out my parents are reading this blog. Eep.

Anyway, since the length of this post is now so large it could possibly leap off the page and devour me whole, I’ll stop it there. The next post should occur when something interesting occurs that is worth writing about, and not tomorrow or something, like a few people have suggested I do, those ignorant little bast - Oh, wait…

So it turns out that I’ll be going to Brussels for a few days in April with my University, for what hopes to be a learning experience about different legal systems and the European Union. Well, I say that, but the chances are that it’ll just turn out to be a laugh and great fun in general. Despite never being on a trip like it before, I look forward to it immensely, if only for the fact one of the most famous landmarks there provides excellent comedy value. Oh, and of course, I’ll be writing about it when I get back.

Yet that’s the future, not the present. The present continues to swamp me down with an almost impossible amount of work, but thankfully that should soon be ebbing away as the deadlines are met. In the mean time, my sanity is being retained by a little game called Rez… Well, that’s not strictly true, because after downloading it from Xbox Live Arcade there’s been very little evidence of sanity in it. I could make a valiant attempt to describe the gameplay, the insane visuals and the appeal of the music, but the fact is I can’t… I doubt anyone could, really.

All I can say is that I’ve practically been entranced by it, and I freely find myself sucked into this strange world and enjoying every minute of it. You’d think something that was on rails and had a limited number of levels would get boring quickly, but the amount of extras and the little things you notice and appreciate with every run-through of an area just make it all so damn good. I guess I’m not the biggest fan of it ever - Niggles such as not being able to recognise projectiles heading right at you until they’re practically in your face makes sure of that - but it is just one of those games you really have to play at least once. So, if you have the means, do so. Your mind will hate you for it, but whatever.

Oh, and before I “Log out” (Woo, Rez references ACTIVATE!) I’d just like to say you might see a rant popping up here soon if news channels continue being blithering idiots. Being a writer and hoping to possibly become a Journalist one day, I hate some of the tripe that appears, and the only way to unleash my rage safely about this is to talk to people who don’t really care about it. So there. Huzzah!

Well, this is daunting. The first post on my new blog. Wow.

Anyway, hello to you, whoever you may be. Whether that be someone I know personally, an online friend, or a random stranger who has typed the URL they wanted in the address bar wrong (I’m not SupremeTonic, you know. Try again)… You’re free to stick around and hopefully enjoy whatever I end up writing here. Whatever that may be, I’m not even sure myself yet, but it’ll probably be along the lines of mindless rambling that no-one else cares about. On the bright side, it’s not one of those stupid blogs that goes “Here’s a single cool image as a whole damn post!” or “You can make more money lolol!” at you, so all is good.

Anyway, suppose I’ll leave it at that for now… Although I do owe massive, MASSIVE amounts of kudos and cool points to a certain Kenneth Ormandy—Or Kenny, as I like to call him. Without him being tolerant of my phenomenal stupidity at this sort of thing or his hosting powers, this blog would not exist. So cheers! Have a shameless plug of your blog on me.

So see you around… I’m off to play Guitar Hero for a bit…