A Gaming Diary
360
Xbox 360
Dec 6th
PGR3.
I just missed out by 0.3 of a second on a seven and a half minute Hot Lap event.
What was my reaction?
Well, quite pleased to have a good excuse to do it again, actually.
Nurburgring + F50 = Excellent
Xbox 360
Dec 6th
What was I thinking? Of course I still need Halo 2!
In hasn’t suddenly become less fun. In fact, it’s become more fun. Why? Because it looks absolutely beautiful now. Somehow, it’s more vibrant. And it’s obviously clearer, now it’s running in a higher resolution. Clearer, means easier. I was definitely better today than I used to be. That could be because of the controller, it could be because I’ve been playing so many games over the last few days, but it’s probably because of the graphical upgrade.
It’s odd. It’s both an argument for and against the 360 being a new generation. “Look how good the 360 can even make old games look! It’s the next generation!” “But look how good Xbox games can be with just a few more pixels and some anti-aliasing! It looks almost as good as Perfect Dark Zero!” But, anyway, I don’t care which argument is correct, I’ll leave other people to argue about that.
When the 360 came out, I seem to remember saying something along the lines of “Halo 2 in a higher resolution and in widescreen is all I need to make it worth buying” and even with everything else that’s turned out to be great about the 360, I’m not sure I was so wrong.
The stats I thought had been wiped when I changed my Gamertag reappeared again as soon as I got online. I’ve now played 75 ranked games of Halo 2. And… drumroll please… I’ve just won my first game ever! Yes! I won a game! Of Halo 2! Online.
Played: 75 Won: 1
That’s what it says now on the Bungie site. I’m so proud.
Xbox 360
Dec 6th
Oh dear.
I’m trying to play Halo 2 and it’s not going to well.
First off, I got an error trying to download the update to the emulation code, but got that on a second try. Then it wouldn’t see my Live account, but a restart fixed that.
Then I tried to download the multiplayer maps. When I tried to go into the map dowloader my TV picture went mental and came up with an ‘invalid scan fequency’ message. So I had to turn off the console and restart.
I think I know what’s happening. I’m guessing the old Xbox Live interface you need to use for this sort of thing runs at 50Hz and my TV doesn’t do 720p at 50Hz, usefully. So I’ve gone into the 360 setup and set the console to run at 480p. (Looks very chunky in that resolution I must say.) Now I can download the maps. When that’s done I need to eject the disc, set my 360 back to 720p mode and then start Halo 2 again.
Why on earth they’ve set these old download screens to run at 50Hz (or whatever odd resolution and refresh rate they’re using) I really don’t know. Another thing Microsoft might want to think about fixing in an update. It really only goes to confirm that this backwards compatibility thing is something of an afterthought.
Still, I’m only testing it to see how it works. Perfect Dark Zero will do for my online killing needs now.
Xbox 360
Dec 6th
King Kong kompleted!
Ending’s a bit of a downer.
I’m in a quandry now, though. The idea was to play through it and then trade it in at Game. However, getting through the game has unlocked a score attack mode. Which wouldn’t be enough on its own, but combine that with the fact that it’s an absolutely fantastic experience…
I know I’ll want to play through it again. The question, though, is whether I’ll actually get round to it. If so, I should keep it. If not, I should swap it for something I will play. Obvious, really, but trying to decide is difficult.
Hmm, well. I don’t have to decide yet.
Oh, and I got a total of 1,000 gamer points for playing through that, so now my gamer is huge. Hooray for Kong!
Xbox 360
Dec 5th
Well, despite not thinking I was going to, I went back to Kong and got back where I was and further still. Some of the visuals are incredibly beautiful and it’s got loads of set pieces, some of which are just some of the best ever. The one from the demo you might have seen is a standout, but there are more, lots more. As I think it’s obligatory to say here, now this a real interactive movie!
Anyway, I got to hard bit, so I decided to play Perfect Dark Zero. (I’ve also been to the toilet, phoned my girlfriend, made a sandwich, browsed the web and watched a bit of TV between posts. I’ve not spent my entire day playing on the 360. Just most of it.) Anyway, I’d played with the controls a bit, so I thought I better test them out in single player before jumping online. Did one level, which was all right. Not the best fun ever, but not bad. Definitely underwhelming. So I jumped online and found a good bunch to play some Dark Ops with. Playing Infection (of course), Onslaught and Sabotage. Onslaught I’ve not played before, but is ace. Sabotage was confusing, because none of us had ever played it. The other team beat us 100-11. Oops. Infection was predictably brilliant. I had a great time being the last human alive and back away as a swarm of skeletons ran towards me. Didn’t last long, but it was a great gaming moment. I’m having a lot of them lately.
Kong, Gotham, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, Shadow of the Colossus… it’s a good time for gaming right now.
Xbox 360
Dec 5th
King Kong today. It’s very good – if just another Xbox game tarted up for the 360 – but I just forgot to save and so have lost a huge chunk of progress.
Everything should autosave. And autosave often.
Good thing it’s fun, otherwise I’d have been even more annoyed with myself.
Still, I think I’ll leave it for a while now.
Xbox 360
Dec 5th
One setting the 360 needs but doesn’t have is a “don’t boot game automatically” setting.
I quite often turn on the box wanting to go straight to the dashboard, but it spins up the disc and starts playing. Okay, so it’s not like the old days when you had to get up and eject the disc, you can now just use the guide button, so it’s progress, but it’s not quite there yet.
(Unless there is a way I’ve just not found yet.)
Xbox 360
Dec 4th
More Infection this afternoon. It’s even fun when you join a game with only three other people, all of whom are German, and in which the host has opened the maps up to their full size. Not as fun as a small map with a dozen other people that I can talk tactics with, but still fun. Did a bit of co-op, too, missions three and four. Shamefully, we had to take it down to Agent difficulty because I couldn’t kill the big flying thing at the end of the level without completely running out of ammo and couldn’t find any more. It was very odd.
Apart from Perfect Dark Zero, I’ve just played some Geometry Wars and Hexic HD. Geometry Wars is just fantastic. Hexic’s okay when I play with music from my iPod playing.
Also, I’ve now got a full five-star reputation ranking, so that guy who left the unjust and unfounded unsportsmanlike rating doesn’t seem to have hurt me too badly.
Xbox 360
Dec 4th
Word of the day: Infection.
It’s the name of a game mode in the Dark Ops section of Perfect Dark Zero multiplayer. Basically, it’s a zombie movie turned into a game. Living players try to hold out from an approaching horde of skeleton players. If a living person dies, they become one of the skeletons. If the living players survive five minutes then they get the points.
(I’ve heard of PC game mods along the same lines before, but never played any of them.)
We played a load of games with about eleven players on the Urban map. Every game, the humans would hole up in a hotel with only one entrance and the skeletons would have to pick off people when the got a chance until the balance had shifted enough for the skeletons to storm the hotel and for the living players to try to flee.
I only survived once, but that was a sweet, sweet moment.
Apart from that, I’ve only played Geometry Wars 2, which is like a quick blast of Mutant Storm Reloaded, sort of thing.
