Trigger Happy

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a blast this Christmas season. I know I haven't posted in a long time and that really sucks... a lot (sorry). We've been incredibly busy and frankly, have had some weird happenings going on keeping us from blogging among other things. But Christmas is turning out pretty well!

So lets catch up... A few months ago, Borderlands FINALLY made it to our doorstep and we couldn't be happier. The game is an absolute blast! We've logged 45 hours in the game and we've still got a ways to go. We have a few minor complaints, but overall, its definitely one of our favorites.

The following month, Halo 3 ODST came out and we had a blast with that one as well! The campaign really surprised me, I was not expecting such a gripping story and incredible graphics. Its hard to believe its just a tweaked Halo 3 engine. We've also had a lot of fun with Firefight which is definitely way more exciting than survival/horde modes in other games. I really hope Bungie is working on some Firefight DLC, but it doesn't sound like that will happen. Firefight could definitely use some more maps.

Earlier this month, my lovely wife gave me an early Christmas present. Just like last year, we were slaying zombies before Christmas, this time in Left4Dead2. The game definitely has a lot to offer despite all the controversy. Although, I must say, I wouldn't pay full price for it. The survivor AI got dumber and the AI director got tougher. After the fourth time one of our AI buddies spooked a witch, I started getting really annoyed. We left them behind quite a bit because going back for them was usually more trouble than it was worth. Overall, it is a fun game, and I look forward to logging some more hours on it. I'm not sure I want to try the next difficulty without having a full crew of friends though. The AI was just too aggravating and I don't think we stand a chance with them.

Achievements! Wow, I've had fun with achievements lately. I'll just list my recent favorites...

From Left4Dead2: CL0WND, CLUB DEAD, and HEAD HONCHO were all a blast.
From Halo 3 ODST: Be Like Marty (drove my wife around on a 'hog), Vidmaster Challenge: Déjà Vu, Vidmaster Challenge: Classic (way easier than I thought it would be), and Vidmaster Challenge: Endure.
From Borderlands: You're on a boat! (ok, I confessed, I kind of cheated on this one), Facemelter (LOVE corrosive weapons... *sizzle*), and that's it so far. I really want to figure out what the rest of those secret ones are but without cheating .

I'm REALLY looking forward to Halo Reach. The trailer was fantastic. I'd link to it but I won't because I strongly recommend you download it on your 360 and see it in HD with glorious sound. I've watched it several times now and I'm still all giddy.

Another one on my list is Brink. There are four videos on XBL for that as well. They show off the SMART system of movement which is pretty snazzy. Its Mirror's Edge craziness but easier (or at least the dev made it look easy). The other videos show off a few different classes and the objective system. Brink is really shaping up and six player co-op has me extremely excited. If there's no split screen, I'm going to be extremely bummed.

That's about in on the game front and I don't have a whole lot to add about anything else either. If you see me online this weekend or next week, send me an invite! Tuesday, we're getting together with my brothers for some in-person gaming but other than that, we're pretty free. So again, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I thought I would follow up my last post with something a little more up-beat by talking about the new Borderlands game... which I'm really enjoying. For me, personally, I know I'm really into a game when I go to bed at night and instead of falling into a nice peaceful slumber, I am still in a constant state of kicking zombie/skag/horde ass mode. This could also be a sign that I have an addiction and I'm in need of an intervention, but as long as it doesn't interfere with my ability to take care of my two kids, then I don't think its too serious of a problem

Before I go on, I should probably remind those of you who are looking for tips, or a good/bad review about the game, to look elsewhere. You probably won't find any useful pointers here... lol.

I'm currently playing the game as Lilith. She's the only female role in the game, which I was pretty bummed about at first, because honestly, as I told my husband... I would much rather watch her than play her. She is definitely one of the hottest characters for a video game I've seen thus far. As my husband and I started getting into the game, the more I started to realize just how kick-ass she really is. Besides being a pretty attractive, sassy, redhead she has the power of invisibility where she not only has increased speed during this time, but also has the ability to harm her enemies with a shock-wave upon returning to her normal self. Granted her power lasts less than a minute and there is a cool-down time, but it's a great way to sneak up on your enemies and surprise them from behind. Now I know some of you may think this is a pretty cheap fighting tactic... ya know sucker punch them from behind or when they least expect it, but she could always be a little less ballzier than she already is. For instance, my husband is playing through the game as Mordecai. Mordecai has what I guess you could call a sidekick. A pretty powerful falcon that he can send in to attack enemies. So while I personally go in (with use of my invisibility), he uses his pet bird to do his dirty work... lol.

The game seems to have a never ending supply of weaponry. My favorite weapon being the KKA22 Static SMG which sends a nice bolt of electricity through your enemy... works well on skags. I also enjoy the T04 C Detonating SMG, which, in most cases, will kill your enemy in one shot. I am still hunting for a decent sniper rifle, but I usually let my husband take care of the sniping. I don't have the patience to sit back and snipe all my enemies.  I tend to run ahead, which works fine in this game, because if I get too carried away I can always use my invisibility to run back, unharmed, with my fiery red hair wagging between my legs. Yikes... that sounds worse than I thought it would!!

Anyways... the world itself is quite a bit bigger than I expected it to be. I thought we would be through with the game by now, but it's difficult to find the time when you have two kiddies around. The only negative thing I have to say about the game is that you cant play splitscreen online. Which is difficult for my husband and I because if one of us finds the time to do some gaming the other is usually in the mood to do the same. My husband keeps pushing me to buy another xbox. Its a difficult process trying to make a full blown tech geek understand that its a waste.. lol.

We have yet to get through Halo ODST, so if your up for that, we could use the company!

If you've been following the Borderlands news, you're probably well aware of the crazy promise Mike Neumann made over Twitter last week. To recap, in case you missed it, Mikey promised valuable loot to anyone who could prove they've preordered Borderlands. Of course, I jumped on that offer as fast as I could and earned myself a spot on his list (above... 3rd page, 1st column, 10th name).

I'm very excited about this for three reasons. First, the achievement I previously mentioned which is awarded for playing a co-op game with a Gearbox employee or someone who has the achievement. Obviously this isn't the most important reason, but it would be cool to achieve this one firsthand.

Second, LOOT! One of the best parts of Borderlands is the loot, even better is free loot from a Gearbox employee. That's pure money.

Third, and most important, I just want to chat with a Gearbox employee. That would be really cool. I can't wait for this extremely rare opportunity.

We played a match of Social Big Team - Neutral Assault against a team of eight level 45-50 generals/brigadiers last night. We got slaughtered. I have a message for them:

You are lame. Plain and simple.

If you get a kick out of joining up with eight equally lame friends and exploiting extremely unfair flaws in a map so the other team instantly dies after spawning for 15 minutes straight during an objective game, you need to see a shrink. There is something wrong with you if you think that is fun. You could have won the game in a couple minutes by picking up the bomb and planting it in our base a few times. I even would have forgiven you for T-bagging us a few times. I don't understand why you would want to put your balls anywhere near another man's face but that's at least a little more normal. But no, you carried on slaughtering us as we spawned until we left after seven minutes. I'm not sure why we attempted to put up with it that long but that's not the point. The point is, SEEK HELP.

On a better note, while waiting for one of the next matches to start, one of the kids on the other team felt he needed to share that he figured out how to identify noobs...

You want to know how to tell if someone is a noob? If their weapon of destruction is the battle rifle, they're a total noob.

Right... We then slaughtered their team 100-68. The funny part is four of them had BR as their tool of destruction. It's really silly to label a weapon as a noob weapon. Obviously it is a good weapon and players do well with it, so why would someone pass up a good weapon for an inferior one? I think that kid just sucks.

I can't wait for Halo 3 ODST and Borderlands. Not only because they're both kick ass games, they'll give us a break from the obnoxious kids that play Halo 3. More on those games soon.

Game with the Lame Generals
Game with the Noobs

Check out the awesome new trailer embedded below and also browse the achievements for Borderlands. I was hoping for more oddball achievements but there are a fair amount of secret achievements so maybe those are the oddball ones. I'm looking forward to a game with Randy Pitchford to pick up this one:

Play in a co-op game with either an employee of Gearbox or someone who has this achievement

However, if I manage to pick that one up, it will most likely be for the "or someone who has this achievement" though I'd just like to play with Pitchford to pick his brain (or any developer for that matter).

My wife (FoxxyLadie) told me to order whatever game I want for my birthday, which coincidentally is the day after Borderlands' release date, so naturally I pre-ordered it. I can't wait for this game. Hopefully we'll see a bunch of new stuff coming from PAX.

Borderlands Gameplay Montage - [Game Trailers]
Borderlands Achievements - [Xbox 360 Achievements]