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About me:

Well, on a purely statistical level: 100k per year for the last 3 years, 99%+ completion rate (if I complete the game I'm working on, of course), 500+ completions including Catherine, Rumble Roses, DuckTales, Limbo.... yeah, not just easy stuff.

 

 

I'm a 30 year old accountant with a love of games. I've been gaming since the parents brought home a 286 PC with a new fangled thing called a hard drive. I remember playing King's Quest II, Quest for Glory... so many PC classics. I kept upgrading though. Moved onto Super Mario Brothers 3 on NES, Super Metroid on the SNES, Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation, Beyond good and Evil on Game Cube and now my 360. In between, I played a lot of Sim City and Civilization on PC.

 

Stats (as of June 10, 2014):

Completions: 535

Retail Completions: 328

Arcade Completions: 200

Xbox One Completions: 7

Completion rate: 99.28% (1179g over 99%, 912g from 99.5%)

All time best completion rate: 99.33% (June 9, 2014)

 

 

Table of Contents.

 

January 18, 2014 - Retirement

January 21, 2014 - Completions

January 23, 2014 - Awards

January 24, 2014 - 4000th Post celebrated with Chicken.

January 25, 2014 - The Backlog

January 28, 2014 - Addiction and Mental Health in Gaming, part 1 and part 2

Januray 30, 2014 - Collectibles

February 1, 2014 - Grinding

February 4, 2014 - The Classics

February 6, 2014 - Kinect and Peripherals

February 11, 2014 - Goals

February 13, 2014 - Assassin's Creed

February 17, 2014 - An Update

February 21, 2014 - A 400K note

February 23, 2014 - Milestones

February 25, 2014 - Untitled Doctor Who and Assassin's Creed related entry

February 28, 2014 - The Achievement Database

March 4, 2014 - Difficulty

March 7, 2014 - Real Life - Pixelated

March 10, 2014 - Simulated Business

March 13, 2014 - Conservation

March 17, 2014 - "Nuh-uhn!"

March 24, 2014 - All-Time High

March 28, 2014 - The Odyssey

April 1, 2014 - Stacking

April 2, 2014 - Cheating

April 7, 2014 - Comic Books and Graphic Novels

April 8, 2014 - Super Tasty Fish

April 10, 2014 - Far Cry 3 & other assorted details

April 15, 2014 - VGO's and awards revisited

April 16, 2014 - Proper Pasta

April 21, 2014 - Until Next Time

Edited by Capn Doug
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Awards:

Site Stuff

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NBA Live 07 - 1000 People Online...Again

User supported x360a in our 2nd attempt the achievement on 31st Jan 2010

This was my first award, and when I first sort of became active in the community. My buddy got the game and I mooched it for the achievement and the award.

 

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Word of Mouth

This member has been seen spreading the x360a word

x360a Representer

This member is part of the x360a Ambassador program, at the Representer level.

XBA Representer

The representer cycle. I became Capn Doug x360a in the last days of the JDM era, saw the representers revived under Jappe and was one of the first people to become an XBA representer.

 

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PAX Meet 2010

This user came and had a beer with the x360a team at PAX 2010!

If you haven't been to PAX, you should. We started having x360a parties back in 2010, and they are worth coming to Seattle just for them. Plus, you can discover some rest games at PAX. This was the year of "Devin Bieber."

 

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2,500 Posts

This member has made 2500 posts on the forum

Not much to say about this one...

 

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Subscriber - Gold

This member is in the gold range of the X360A subscription program

Donator - Level 5

This member has donated $500+

Money well spent.

 

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Submit - Gold

This member submitted unknown achievement pictures, game tiles, game covers, or avatar awardables from 10 different games

This was mostly for submitting DLC achievements and occasionally colour tiles for more obscure games. I don't tend to play a lot of games when they are first released.

 

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Achievement Guide - Gold

This member has had 10 achievement guides published by the site.

A lot of my guides are for games that just got ignored. And rhythm games. A lot of rhythm games.

 

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Road Map - Emerald

This member has had 20 road maps published by the site

I've been writing Road Maps since back in 2009 since every game deserves a good road map.

 

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Over Achiever - Gold

The member has unlocked 30 achievements from the Over Achiever checklist.

Arcade Crazy - Gold

The member has unlocked 30 achievements from the Arcade Crazy checklist.

43 and 47, respectively. Double Platinum is a realistic goal.

 

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GSL 10 Winner

Member of the winning team for Gamerscore League 10

The big one. The hardest award to get. That year I managed 52,495g in 51 days while only dropping from 96.38% completion to 95.42% completion.

 

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GRID 2 Award

You know that x360a designed the achievement list for GRID 2, right? Well what better way to celebrate that then by completing it?

 

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Staff - Community and Events Team

This staff member is responsible for events and programs that directly involve the community

Yup, that's why I have the purple name.

 

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Community Gaming - Gold

This member has participated in 20 community gaming events

Play games with XBA. I've fallen off in doing this because of my voice issues...

 

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Defeat in the Cross-Site (GSL 12 vs THL 5)

This member put up a valiant but vain effort and failed to defeat PS3T.

Because we keep to our word on this site.

 

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CABS Beta Tester

Assisted the site by testing out the beta version of Creech's baby

Last year, Creech got pissed off at TA. Like wrath of the dragon, pissed off because of their cheater policy. So, he decided to ramp up a few things on this site and dust off a few ideas that had been on the back burner for a while. Creech's Achievement Boosting System took a long time to get up and running, but it's finally here thanks to the staff and subscribers.

 

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Green Thumb - Bronze

This member has contributed to 1 guide in the Greenbook and has had them published by the site.

I don't write a lot of guides anymore, with the CET duties keeping me pretty busy, but I saw the Road Map for Beyond Good and Evil sitting there and basically was able to fix up the road map from memory.

 

Staff Clubs

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Staff Club - Minty

Staff Club - Tyger7

Staff Club - troy0891

Staff Club - DEG23

Staff Club - Rajeanero

Staff Club - Nozza x360a

Staff Club - Shiftie

So far, I haven't played any games that I had no interest in for Staff Clubs. I usually have a bunch done already and just need the added motivation to either pick the game up or pull it out of the backlog.

 

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Staff Club - Capn Doug

The best staff club ever. Mass Effect 3, The Walking Dead, Limbo, Dance Central and Catherine. 5 rewarding and worthwhile completions. And a great picture.

 

Challenge/Franchise Clubs

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Adhere to the Creed Franchise Club - Tier 1-3

Regardless of whether or not I need future games for awards, I will always try to have 100% completion in the Assassin's Creed series.

 

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Toilet Bowl Challenge Club - Tier 1

Yeah, I play a lot of games that people think are terrible. Not surprising that I got this at launch.

 

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Family Corner Challenge Club - Tier 1&2

Easy games that I had busted out during one competition or another.

 

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Scratch the SURFACE Challenge Club - Tier 1&2

The games on my Surface are mostly fun little time wasters or easy gamerscore games. I don't play a ton of them.

 

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Can This Make Phone Calls? Challenge Club - Tier 1&2

Just like the Surface, my Windows phone is for time wasting. I have a blackberry for actual business and calls.

 

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I Can Read! NTSC-J Challenge Club - Tier 1-3

I don't actually own a Japanese console. I just borrowed one for GSL.

 

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You ARE the Controller Challenge Club - Tier 1

How could I not get this at launch? I actually had to work for this one. And by work for it, I mean download and complete 10 Frame Bowling in a few hours.

 

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Best of XBLA Challenge Club - Tier 1

I can't really claim that this came naturally, but they were all games that I had some interest in. The award just gave the kick in the butt that I needed to get them done.

 

 

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Off to the Races Challenge Club - Tier 1

I can't claim to be a huge racing fan, though I enjoy some of the games. I did lose a lot of hours to Mario Kart on my SNES, after all.

Edited by Capn Doug
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The Backlog:

 

 

Alan Wake's American Nightmare - 0/12

Alone in the Dark - 0/49

Alpha Protocol - 0/50

Amped 3 - 0/15

Attack of the Movies 3D - 19/20

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - 0/60

Batman: Arkham City - 0/70

Batman: Arkham Origins - 0/62

Battleblock Theater - 0/30

Bejeweled 2 - 0/12

Bejeweled 3 - 0/12

Bejeweled Blitz Live - 0/12

BioShock Infinite - 0/80

Black College Football Experience - 26/27

Black Knight Sword - 0/12

Black Light: Tango Down - 0/12

Blue Dragon - 0/43

Borderlands - 0/80

Braid - 11/12

Bug Village - 0/7

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 0/37

Crackdown - 0/50

Dance Dance Revolution Universe - 27/32

Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2 - 31/36

Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 - 36/40

DanceMasters - 32/40

Dark Souls - 0/41

Darksiders II - 0/50

de Blob 2 - 0/25

Dead or Alive Extreme 2 - 0/46

Dead Rising 2: Case West - 0/12

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - 0/50

Dead Rising 3 - 0/115

Defense Grid - 0/22

Devil May Cry 4 - 0/46

Diablo III - 0/45

DJ Hero - 0/50

Doritos Crash Course 2 - 0/28

Dragon's Lair - 0/12

Ducktales Remastered (Arcade) - 0/20

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon - 0/50

Earthworm Jim (WP) - 0/19

Eat Lead: The Return o Matt Hazard - 0/50

Endless Skater - 0/20

Fable 3 - 0/60

Fable: The Journey - 0/50

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 0/19

Final Fantasy XIII - 0/35

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 0/31

Forza Motorsport 5 - 0/98

Freefall Racers - 0/20

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - 0/43

Geometry Wars - 0/12

Gravity Guy (Win8) - 0/20

Gravity Guy (WP) - 0/20

Green Day Rock Band -46/48

Guitar Hero II - 47/50

Guitar Hero III - 51/59

Guitar Hero World Tour - 49/50

Guitar Hero: Metallica - 46/50

Guitar Hero Smash Hits - 42/50

Hexic (Win8) - 0/20

Hexic HD - 11/12

Hitman: Absolution - 0/46

Home Run Stars - 0/30

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet -0/17

Iron Brigade - 0/23

Jetpack Joyride (Win8) - 0/20

Just Dance 4 - 0/40

Kinect Sports Season 2 - 0/70

Kinect Star Wars - 0/50

Kingdoms of Amalur - 0/61

Knight's Contract - 0/50

Last Remnant - 0/22

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 - 0/49

Lego Rock Band - 48/49

Let's Dance - 0/34

Madden NFL 07 - 0/50

Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 45/47

Marvel's Avengers - 42/43

Max & the Magic Marker - 0/12

Mega Man 9 - 0/12

Michael Jackson: The Experience - 43/47

Microsoft Minesweeper - 18/20

Microsoft Taptiles - 0/23

Midway Arcade Origins - 28/31

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - 8/14

Mirror's Edge - 0/50

Major League Baseball 2K10 - 49/50

Monsters Love Candy - 0/20

Ms. Splosion Man - 1/12

Naughty Bear - 0/66

Netflix - 9/10

NIER - 0/41

Nights into Dreams - 0/13

Ninety Nine Nights - 0/10

Outpost Kaloki X - 0/12

Peggle - 13/15

Planet 51 - 0/37

Prince of Persia Classic - 0/12

Rabbid's Big Bang - 0/20

Resident Evil 4 - 0/12

Ride to Hell: Retribution - 0/38

Rock Band - 49/50

Rock Band 3 - 58/62

Rock of the Dead - 24/26

Rock Revolution - 49/50

Ryse: Son of Rome - 0/73

Saints Row the Third - 0/80

Samurai vs Zombies Defense - 0/20

Secrets and Treasure: The Lost City - 0/5

Shoot Many Robots - 0/12

Silent Hill HD Collection - 0/50

Skyrim - 0/75

Sonic Adventures - 0/15

Sonic Adventures 2 - 0/15

Sonic and Knuckles - 0/12

Sonic CD - 0/12

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 - 0/12

SoulCalibur II HD Online - 0/30

Spongebob Surf and Skate Road Trip - 0/50

Super Meat Boy - 0/12

Tales of Vesperia - 0/50

Tetris Evolution - 0/40

The Beatles Rock Band - 46/50

The Darkness 2 - 0/50

The Hip Hop Dance Experience - 39/40

The Incredible Hulk - 0/50

The Sims 3: Pets - 0/50

The Splatters - 0/20

The Walking Dead Season 2 - 0/24

Thrillville: Off the Rails - 0/50

TMNT Arcade - 0/12

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD - 0/16

Totemball - 0/12

Tropico 4 - 0/60

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty - 0/39

Watchmen: the End is Nigh - 0/12

Watchmen: the End is Nigh Part 2 - 0/12

Wheelman -0/50

Wipeout 2 - 0/44

Wrecketeer - 0/40

Z0mb1es (on teh ph0ne) - 0/20

Edited by Capn Doug
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Well hello everyone. It's been a while since I had an outlet for my thoughts, goals, dreams and ambitions. I used to be an almost daily commenter on 360Voice, but got away from that when I started the slow march toward retirement from competition. It's something I had considered for a while, but really never pulled the trigger until the end of GSL 12. And why wouldn't I have issues retiring? For the last three and a half years, my gaming has been focused around competition. From GSL Rush, a tiny little subscribers only 48 hour sprint where I went toe to toe with this guy named Creech and something called a Japanese console, to multiple GSLs, the new Subscriber's tournaments, the Skyline ands HERBIE challenge on 360Voice. But it all ended last year. MVP contender for the longest time, then I destroyed my shoulder, got sent to the hospital and saddled with a butt load of clean up.

 

I am proud of my competition career, though. I have a GSL win under my belt, a top 10 finish every year, a few wins on 360Voice, and a bunch of friends made. But now I need new goals. It is really hard to muster up the will to play games like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when there is no competition to drive me forward in it. Even though it will give me the full series completion in all Harry Potter games (odd because I have never seen the movies or read the books) and help me towards 400k.

 

So, what are my goals now? Well, I am only two awards behind Creech for the overall lead in I have a bunch of games in my back log that I want to get through, some of which will get me awards. I have the tier 2 of Kinect award in the backlog with Fable The Journey and Kinect Sports Season 2 both being on the list of Kinect games that I didn't get to during GSL. Enslaved and Stacking will get me into Nozza's Club, Dark Souls into Gackt's Club, Mirror's Edge into Ceris's Club.... I really have a lot in the back log. And a lot of good games there, too. I have Skyrim and Arkham City in the backlog.

 

 

And that's one of the big reasons why I retired. There are so many games that I just haven't been able to play because of the competition schedule. So let's start busting those out. But first I need to shake the tendonitis that has been bugging me for the last little bit. After that, it's time to march toward 400K. But, I need to do that while maintaining my 99%+ completion rate. So stay tuned for how that turns out.

 

Until next time.

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Hello all. I originally wanted to talk about awards today, but since everyone seems to want to have a list of the staff clubs they are working on in their blog, as their first post, I think I'll pass on that subject for a few days. Instead, let's talk about something that some people see as a sickness brought on by the achievement system. Let's talk about completionism.

 

My 99% completion rate is something I am extremely proud of. It's just an arbitrary milestone, but it says to me that there isn't that much left to do in the games I've played. But more important is the fact that I have completed 501 games and only have 34 games on my tag unfinished. So I have almost 94% of the games I have played completed. And some hard games, too. Games like Catherine, Limbo, every BioWare game, every Dance Central game, Rock Band 2, Rumble Roses, Splosion Man... Yeah, I could have had a really sadistic staff club off I wanted to. It's one of those things where, that's what I do. I start a game and I want to finish it. I want to do everything in it. The achievement list offers a good guideline for that. You have 100% of the achievements and you can be done with the game. But that isn't always the case.

 

 

Sometimes you want to do more with a game. I remember wanting to pass the Endless Setlist in Rock Band 2 with 420 stars. I finished with 419... I remember being a little disappointed that I didn't get an achievement for hitting #1 on the leaderboards in a song on Rock Band 3. I finished off the final chase in Need for Speed Most Wanted, even though it was kind of hard and came after the final achievement in the game. I didn't play Avatar beyond the first fight, though. Even I'm not that crazy.

 

 

And I think a lot of people might see completionism jus like that: crazy. A product of achievement addiction. But it started well before that. Remember the phrase "Got to Catch 'Em All?" Well, I did that. And I know I'm not alone in doing that. Granted I did it when there were only 150 Pokémon, but still. I got 500/500 puzzle points in Quest for Glory back in the day. And when I went to replay the series last year, I was really disappointed that I only got 499/500 when playing from memory. I got the Gold Chocobo, all the warp whistles, became a paladin, got every mega buster upgrade.... It's not something that is limited to the 360 or the achievement system. And I think if you think back on your gaming history, you'll find all sorts of things that you did in games because you wanted to do it. You wanted to "complete the game." Nintendo Power may or may not have helped.

 

 

I don't like leaving a movie before it is over, either... You know what, I could be here for a while if I keep listing all the different forms of completionism. I'll leave it up to you to think of more examples (and there are a lot).

 

 

On the gaming front, it has been pretty slow for the past few days. I've had a few things going on, but I am making some good progress on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It doesn't seem like it will be that bad, just a lot of collectibles. I might get done with it today. I'm also plugging away at Minesweeper on Windows 8, to the point where I am setting my system time back in order to do previous daily challenges. It's still going to take until the suffer to finish, but this will shave four months off the time it takes to complete it. I seriously don't understand the people who just proclaim that they will never complete the game because it isn't worth it, after only seeing the achievement list. Sigh... ok, maybe it is a little crazy.

 

 

Until next time.

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Good morning all. I kind of wanted to talk awards earlier in the week, but decided against it since it was being done by so many people. But, there's more to talk about than just the awards I have and the awards I am going for (spoiler: I'm going for them all, bwahahaha!).

 

When you think about it, the idea of going for awards seems a little ridiculous. When the 360 came out, we were presented with the game within the game of achievements and the game across all games of Gamerscore. A meta-game of sorts. Then sites came along which created a game out of Gamerscore. A meta-meta-game, perhaps? 360Voice's genre system, TA's arbitrary ratio that people claim means difficulty (I could write a whole article on the ridiculousness of that notion, but... I don't care about TA anymore), GamertagNation's awards... I sort of cared about all of those at one point. And now (ok, for the last year) XBA has been in on the action. And these make sense. Well, mostly for the fact that they are based on completions, which is something that I do normally. The awards just help me choose what game to play next if I am having issues.

 

But, when you think about specifically playing games to get awards, it still come across as a bit ridiculous. We have Gamerscore and we had to make another game above it to keep it interesting? Soon we will have a game made up about awards... wait, that's already happening as a few people are competing to see who can get more awards.... It almost sounds like by the 9th generation we will be freebasing achievements just to keep things normal.

 

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I am at 31 awards, just behind Creech at 33. So what can I do to catch him? Are there any low hanging awards that I can get without much hassle? Of course there are.

 

The Adhere to the Creed Franchise Club: I actually own every game needed, I just need to play them. But I have plans of hitting 400k with Assassin's Creed, so that will happen pretty quickly.

 

The Best of XBLA Challenge Club (Tier 1 & 2): I don't own all the games, but the ones I haven't completed are ones that I have been interested in for a while and am just waiting for them to go on sale (or I'll break down and buy them at some point since Double Fine is pretty good). I already have the hard ones done.

 

You ARE the Controller Challenge Club: The only game in the entire thing that I don't own is Nike+ Training. And if I was healthy, I would have busted out Fable and Kinect Sports during GSL, since they are fast but skill dependant (something I don't lack with Kinect).

 

Ceris's Platforming Club: I love me a good platformer. All I have left is Mirror's Edge, which I own (seriously, my backlog is big).

 

Nozza's Path of a Hero Club: Despite having only 2 of the 5 games completed, I have done the hardest one and own them all. So now it's just a matter of working through the backlog, and only Far Cry 3 isn't in a different award that I am going for.

 

Rajeanero's Two Girls, Two Pigs and a Shepard Club: I only have Enslaved left, and it isn't too hard, just heavy on collectibles (there's another article on those coming at some point). And I bought it back in 2011, but haven't played it yet.

 

So, what's that... 8 awards that I don't have to work that hard for or even buy anything for? And that doesn't include thing like Gackt's club where all I have to do is complete Dark Souls (which I own), Skillet's Club where all I have to do is complete Geometry Wars (which I own), Never Final's club where I just have to complete Skyrim, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 (all of which I own... seriously, next article has to be on backlogs...) or any number of clubs where I just have to buy some easy games to complete them.

 

Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the awards that started it all: Arcade Crazy and Over Achiever. Right now I am at 43 achievements on the Over achiever list and 17 more that are in games that I own. For Arcade crazy, I will drop down to 46 once we decide what to do about Marvel vs Capcom 2, but I have another 17 achievements in games that I own. Going Double platinum (50 achievements from each list) is a pretty good goal, and eventually I think Double Emerald (75 from each) might not be unrealistic.

 

But of course, all these goals will be taken one game at a time, since that's how I play. I got some serious progress made on Harry Potter since the last time I wrote about it. The game is a collectible fest and one of them seems to have glitched on me, I sincerely hope it is just a matter of going back to do the task again, since I have no desire to do everything in the game again just for one achievement. Some people on the forums seem to have had the same issue, so hopefully that remedy will work for me, too. Even with the collectibles, the game isn't too bad. It's kind of nice being able to wander around Hogwarts, though I get the feeling that this is designed for people who have seen the movies or read the books.

 

Until next time.

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Good luck with those awards. Far Cry 3 is one of my favorite games despite the co-op stages. Enslaved is pretty awesome also even if the collectables, as you mentioned, take huge amount of time. I lack one game for "You ARE the controller"...10 Frame Bowling. My overarm throws aren't registering right for some reason. Any tips?

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Good luck with those awards. Far Cry 3 is one of my favorite games despite the co-op stages. Enslaved is pretty awesome also even if the collectables, as you mentioned, take huge amount of time. I lack one game for "You ARE the controller"...10 Frame Bowling. My overarm throws aren't registering right for some reason. Any tips?

 

For the overarm throws, treat it like a shot put, if you know what that is. The big problem I had was the slow ball throws, since I had a hard time throwing them in the sweet spot: hard enough to knock down the pins but slow enough to count as a slow ball.

 

 

I'm not really a fan of the Kinect Sports Gem model, though. I own all those games through the 2 Kinect Sports games, and they are more robust there. I'd rather just play those.

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Well hello. After just over 5 years on the site, I realized I was at 3,999 posts last night. So, I figure that in my 4,000th post and gaining my 4th gold star, I should reveal something important. That I should impart some great wisdom... So allow me to present one of the many...

 

 

Capn Doug's Secret Chicken Recipes

Ingredients:

 

 

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 green pepper, diced

1 small can tomato paste

1 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella or a mix of Italian cheeses)

1/2 cup crumbled bacon

1 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon oregano

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt to taste

Olive Oil

 

 

Optional step:

Marinate the chicken breasts overnight. I tend to use a cup of chicken broth, a few squirts of habanero sauce, a few pinches of sea salt and garlic and some Mrs. Dash.

 

 

Step 1:

Use a rolling pin to press the chicken breasts flat and thin, trying to keep them relatively symmetrical. If you are feeling particularly skilled, instead of rolling flat, make a small incision in the chicken breast and create a hollow space inside. Coat one side (or the outside) of the breasts with olive oil. Cover that side with the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano, red pepper garlic powder and salt. Place the chicken breasts on a cooking sheet, coated side down, and spread the tomato paste over the chicken breasts.

 

 

Step 2:

Divide the green pepper, cheese and bacon amongst the chicken breasts and fold the breasts over like an omelette. Use toothpicks to hold the breasts closed if needed.

 

 

Step 3:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken on middle rack and bake for 30 minutes or until chicken meat is white. Flip the breasts half way through to ensure even cooking of the coating.

 

 

So that's how the Capn makes a chicken pizza. It's a delicious creation that I came up with a few years back. You can adjust the recipe down, I just found that a full pepper and a small can of tomato paste ended up over stuffing the chicken. But play around with it, make it your own. There's no right way to make this. And it's a little different every time I make it, too.

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Good morning, all. The backlog. I know at least a few of you reading this will understand what I'm talking about and just how easy it is to get lost in the backlog. To paraphrase Ryot Control, they are a renewable, almost infinite resource that we just need to harness. And why is that? Sales! Undeniable bargains that you just can't pass up. And of the 109 games that I own but haven't even touched, I can count on one hand the number of them that I paid full price for.

 

 

The demise of the video rental store was a windfall for my backlog. So many games where I just couldn't pass up the bargains. Even if it was for truly terrible games like Dead or Alive Extreme 2. Because a completionist like me is really going to play a game where it takes hundreds of hours and a lot of luck. But it was only $3! Well, crap... can't pass that up. And it's the same way at EB, Future Shop, the little independent used game store that I occasionally find impossible to find games it.... You see the game, you see the price and you can't pass it up.

 

 

One thing that has really helped keep the backlog low compared to some other people round these parts is the Windows Phone. I try not to accumulate that many games on the phone, and when I buy them, I usually play them pretty quickly to prevent against the much higher likelihood of beige delisted or having achievements break. And make no mistake, that is a problem. I have a few games that have rotted on the shelf, Darksiders 2 being a good example. When I bought the game, it was fully completeable, but I haven't played it and now I can't finish it.

 

 

And I know a few of you will say, "but Doug, it's a great game. You should play it anyway," and that may be true. But when I have over 100 other games that I can complete that I haven't played yet (You can see the full list HERE). Some of the greatest hits include Assassin's Creed 4, Arkham City, Arkham Origins, Bioshock Infinite... I'm going to leave it there since it's kind of depressing.

 

 

But when I talk about the backlog, I'm also talking about games that I have started but haven't finished, so add another 34 games to the backlog for that reason. That leaves me with 143 games in the backlog. Well, hopefully 142 after today as I am just one achievement away from finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I managed to unglitch the collectible that I was concerned about, finish the story and am now just left with a story only play through on Hard. And after the Easy play through, it seems like there is only one or two spots where you can possibly fail. But then it's on to Enslaved for my march to 400k and a new award. So my stay above 99% will be brief.

 

 

I could also knock out some clean up. Avengers: Battle for Earth is sitting there, some easy achievements just waiting for me. Legend of the Guardians, Crysis and Prey just need another play through. Yeah, I have options. And getting a little more wiggle room between me and falling below 99% than the 377g that I'll have after polishing off Potter is an attractive prospect to me.

 

 

Oh, and like Creech, last night I drank some bourbon and fell asleep after getting the current round up and running for Staff vs Subs.

 

 

Until next time.

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Hello all, today is going to be a little different. I don't know if this is a global thing, but in Canada at least, one of our largest companies is using today to raise money for Mental Health issues and has been spending the last month raising awareness for them. And this is a major issue effecting millions, and something I've seen and dealt with personally, which is why I want to talk about it today. But it's also something that I keep seeing in the gaming community, which is why I think this is the appropriate venue for the discussion.

 

 

Addiction

 

 

It's very easy to crack jokes about someone being addicted to video games. I mean, I've spent 70+ hours a week playing 360 on occasion, usually during GSL. I've showed up to work bleary eyed because I was playing 360 long enough to only allow me 90 minutes of sleep. The amount of money I've spent on gaming is staggering and something I really don't want to calculate. The last day where I didn't get an achievement was February 19th, 2010 because I was watching Team Canada curl against Denmark during the Winter Olympics when they were in Vancouver. But I am not addicted.

 

 

For a second, swap out gaming with something else. If you exercised every day for nearly four years, would people say you were addicted? If you were up late on a date, would people say your were addicted? If you spent 70 hours a week reading (perhaps powering through the complete works of Tolkien), would people say you were addicted? I'm thinking the answer is no. But gaming seems... different. Maybe it's because gaming is seen as something you grow out of. Maybe it's because games are immersive. Maybe it's because games are not seen as having any inherent benefit, despite a lot of clinical evidence otherwise.

 

 

But the biggest thing is that on some level most addicts hate their addiction, sometimes even while the are using. They hate that have lost something because of it. They hate their inability to stop. They hate that they can't seem to function without their addiction. And I know, because I've been there. In my former life I worked with a lot of not for profits, one of which was a homeless shelter that helped addicts get clean. And without fail, every single one of them hated what the drinking or the drugs had one to them. And even knowing that getting clean wouldn't get them their old life back, they still feel it is worth it to stop hating themselves.

 

 

And that's how I felt. Before I really got active on x360a, I was on a road trip to Saskatchewan that was mired with car troubles. In the end, I had to spend a few days in Saskatoon while my car was repaired. I had my laptop and a few friends in the area that I would visit with, but really, there wasn't much to do. So, while puttering around the internet I clicked on a link that I had seen many times before and was sort of curious about. It was an ad featuring some scantily clad women for an MMO called Evony. I played around with it a little in Saskatoon, set up a city, that sort of thing. Even got recruited for a clan. But of course my car eventually got repaired and I made my way home. Or close to it. I stopped at my mother's place in the Okanagan for a day and got quite sick, which just gave me more time to play. More time to build, more time to get to know the clan. More time to experiment with in game purchases.

 

 

You could play the game entirely for free. And a lot did. Most of our clan went around and raided dead cities. People who started the game and just abandoned it. People who hadn't logged on in a week. But not me. I started spending money on the game, buying "spins of the prize wheel," hoping for something that would allow me to automatically finish building an army or something like that. I got elected to the head of my clan, was burning up the leaderboards... if I didn't know better, I would have thought that life was pretty good in the game. So good that I started seeing the real world as a distraction from the game. Work was just an 8 hour break from the game. At one point, I was in Toronto with the girlfriend after visiting the Niagara Peninsula. I was in her hotel room since she was flying out later and as she was kissing the back of my neck I was playing Evony, not even realizing that she was at that very moment "DTF." At the same time, I was starting to hate every time I would hit the button to by the spins of the wheel. Because I knew I wouldn't stop. I knew I would keep pressing buy until my credit card said no. And it got worse when our clan went to war. But at that same time, I got really lucky.

 

 

I was in a car accident and couldn't move without serious pain. It hurt to even sit up. My physiotherapist wanted me to start going for walks to make sure I didn't atrophy, and I couldn't even make it to the end of the block. But at the same time, I couldn't sit up to play, or even type if I wanted to. So after spending days pressing buy trying to get something that would keep our clan alive and hating it more and more every time, it all just stopped. No more throwing good money after bad trying to keep things going. My kingdom probably disappeared, I don't really know, and rather than feeling sad or depressed, I was relieved. It was almost like that was my only way out, and I knew it. Some people like to make fun of EVE Online's economy and that in some of the biggest battles $10,000 real dollars disappear. When whoever took my capital finally succeeded, over $1000 of my personal dollars disappeared. And in the two months that it took before I could us my computer again, I was over it. I never went back. Though I occasionally see ads for Evony and wonder what if.

 

 

Having been through that, I know. I don't hate myself when I am a zombie at work. I don't hate myself when I see a game that I paid $60 for and haven't played on sale for $20. I don't hate myself when I look at the backlog or the credit card bill with 3 different purchases at Future Shop or EB. I don't hate myself when I trudge down to the console just to get an achievement and lock in my achievement a day streak. I don't hate myself when I fail. Even when I use up my final life on the last jump of the game or fail the Endless Setlist on song 82 of 84, I don't hate it. I pick myself up, dust myself off and try again. And I'm fine with that.

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Mental Health

 

 

But there is another issue at play. Far too many people use gaming as treatment for mental health. And this is something that I have seen many times before. Whether it's depression, social anxiety, bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (the actual kind, not the kind that people seem to see everywhere) or any number of other problems, it is far too easy to escape into gaming.

 

 

And why wouldn't we want to escape into gaming? Games don't care what you do for a living, what you look like, how well you did in school. Games value your intelligence, your reflexes, your ingenuity and your perseverance. Plus, they are a lot of fun. You can meet new friends, gain a feeling of accomplishment and generally experience new things in games.

 

 

I've seen many friends take that attitude. People who play World of Warcraft for days when they are feeling down. People who retreat into Call of Duty when they are upset. Heck, I'll even admit to playing Rock Band to make me feel a little better. And sometimes that's fine. It's like listening to a song that always makes you feel good or going to the gym. That's sometimes the appropriate way to make yourself feel better.

 

 

But at some point, and I'm not sure exactly where that point is, it becomes very easy to use gaming as a substitute for medical or psychiatric help. And it almost never works. When you stop, it doesn't take long for the depression/aggression/anxiety to resurface. It's like treating the problem with alcohol. You feel fine for a while, but when you sober up the feelings come back. It also is probably the reason behind a lot of the misconceptions around gamers and video game addiction. They see games masking an existing condition or attempting to treat it and draw the wrong conclusions.

 

 

In the end, this isn't something that I have first had experience, though. I got checked for depression when I was feeling down for a rather long time, but it was a fairly normal reaction to what was going on at the time, apparently. We all get down from time to time, after all. Last year, one of my friends just stopped showing up to things, though. We would meet up every Thursday as a group, and he just stopped showing up. We couldn't get a hold of him by phone and after a few days I got concerned enough to go and knock on his door, getting no answer. It wasn't until we finally got a hold of his parents that he had become so depressed that he had isolated himself from the world. The only thing he was doing was play WoW and watching Netflix to try and take his mind off it. The scary part is I've known two people who have done similar things. Both committed suicide.

 

 

That's kind of why I wanted to do this blog today. I don't know if anyone reading this will have had similar experiences, or have ever thought to themselves that there might be something wrong with them. But if you ever feel like what you are going through isn't normal, please talk to someone. Even if it's just a friend, don't suffer alone. Asking for help is sometimes the hardest part about mental illness, particularly if you've gotten responses telling you to suck it up or get over it, but it is the best thing you can do, even if it is just talking to your friends about it.

 

 

There's a man trapped in a hole and he sees a priest walk by. He says, "Father, can you help me?" The priest sys a prayer and walks away. The man waits a little longer and sees a doctor walk by and say, "Doc, I'm stuck down here, can you help me?" The doctor writes a prescription and throws it down the hole before walking away. Finally, the man sees his friend walk by and says "Buddy, I'm stuck in this hole, can you help me?" So his friend jumps down into the hole. The man exclaims, "Are you crazy? Now we're both stuck down here." His friend replies, "Yes, but I've been down here before. I know the way out."

 

 

If this is your first time reading my blog, don't worry, I'll be back Thursday to talk about the Kinect Avengers game, completing games, my cat and probably collectibles. But just for today, take a moment to think about yourself and the people around you.

 

 

Until next time.

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Excellent blogs! Heavy subject matter but a good one that we as gamers don't talk about as much as we should. I've used gaming and Netflix as an escape plenty of times. Especially following serious injury when movement and activity were severely limited. But, I know others (some who are very close to me) who use it to escape facing life or growing up. I've suspected a few times that it may be masking something else but it's hard to know. And even if I knew it were indeed masking a mental/emotional issue, I'm honestly not sure what to do to help.

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You haven't played Skyrim yet? Madness!

 

Me too. Still on the shelf.

 

I think I'd rather have it in the backlog than play it and not give it the attention it is supposed to deserve.

 

And this is why. Same with Oblivion and Dark Souls. Just haven't been able to commit the time to appreciate it.

 

Capn Doug's Secret Chicken Recipes[/size]

 

I must try this...

 

"Yes, but I've been down here before. I know the way out."

 

http://s23.postimg.org/sr4tnugnb/brofistcthulhu.gif

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There's a man trapped in a hole and he sees a priest walk by. He says, "Father, can you help me?" The priest sys a prayer and walks away. The man waits a little longer and sees a doctor walk by and say, "Doc, I'm stuck down here, can you help me?" The doctor writes a prescription and throws it down the hole before walking away. Finally, the man sees his friend walk by and says "Buddy, I'm stuck in this hole, can you help me?" So his friend jumps down into the hole. The man exclaims, "Are you crazy? Now we're both stuck down here." His friend replies, "Yes, but I've been down here before. I know the way out."

 

Call me what you will, but that's poetic. Now, I'm sure that may not be your own words - most likely something said elsewhere - but damn…I really like it. It speaks wonders.

 

I hope the friend you speak of is doing better, or well, at least.

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Wow Doug, the mental health posts are eye opening. I hate when people tell me I'm addicted to gaming when they sit there and watch Netflix for 6 hours a day... Just because mine is video games.

 

Gaming can be a beautiful escape from problems, and I've used it plenty of times as well.

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Call me what you will, but that's poetic. Now, I'm sure that may not be your own words - most likely something said elsewhere - but damn…I really like it. It speaks wonders.

 

I hope the friend you speak of is doing better, or well, at least.

 

 

It's from The West Wing. One of my favourite TV shows, and the story is one I tell with some regularity when I see someone under a little too much stress and about to burn out.

 

 

And yes, my friend is doing better. I don't think he's out of the woods (this all happened during the last GSL), but he's at least having way more good days than bad.

 

Excellent blogs! Heavy subject matter but a good one that we as gamers don't talk about as much as we should. I've used gaming and Netflix as an escape plenty of times. Especially following serious injury when movement and activity were severely limited. But, I know others (some who are very close to me) who use it to escape facing life or growing up. I've suspected a few times that it may be masking something else but it's hard to know. And even if I knew it were indeed masking a mental/emotional issue, I'm honestly not sure what to do to help.

 

 

One thing to do is to never give up on them (and never let them give up on you). Keep inviting them out to things that would interest them from time to time, even just to let them know that you are still there for them. When I was injured after the car accident, I wasn't exactly wanting to do things, but sometimes you just can't pass up Chicken McNuggets and a friend to watch hockey with. It was similar with my friend, we made it clear that we were there for him when he was ready.

 

Wow Doug, the mental health posts are eye opening. I hate when people tell me I'm addicted to gaming when they sit there and watch Netflix for 6 hours a day... Just because mine is video games.

 

Gaming can be a beautiful escape from problems, and I've used it plenty of times as well.

 

It really is a beautiful escape. How else can we be a rock star or a war hero? Travel to new planets or back in time? Everyone wants to be more than they are. You can get that with a good book, too, but I prefer gaming (well, not to Jules Verne, but to some).

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Gaming has been a form of escapism for me for quite a while now, relying on games to make my problems temporarily disappear saved my life. That's something that I will get into another time though, on my own blog. When I feel like talking about it again...

 

That post just really hit home for me.

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Hello all, It will be a much lighter fare today. I'm almost done with what I'm going to do on Marvel's Avengers for the time being, so today seems like a good time to talk about grinding. Wait.... how.... what.... Consarnit, jackanape! I wanted to talk about that today! It just makes so much sense for the Avengers.... Alright... Let's talk collectibles.

 

 

I really don't know when I first became aware of collectibles. I know I collected every Pokémon in Red, but now that I'm older and wiser that's not that different than getting Vincent or Yufi in Final Fantasy VII. Yes kids, Pokémon is just a JRPG with a lot of characters. I know that the old school Temple of Doom game that I played on PC required you to rescue all the children, and of course, Sonic always required you to get all the Chaos Emeralds, so they have definitely been with us for a while. And they have hated me for a while.

 

 

The big thing is that I don't think I realized just how much they hate me until the achievement system cropped up (I almost called it current gen...). I can't begin to describe how many games I have had achievements for collectibles glitch on me or just generally be a pain in the ass. Probably the biggest one was Lost Odyssey. If you haven't played it, it is an amazing game, but the Treasure Trove achievement is just insane. It requires you to pick up every item in the game, meaning that you have to open every chest pick every flower that would get you an item, find every item in the submarine.... I made a word document of what I needed to pick up before I started my second play through. It was 30 pages long. And the reason I needed a second play through was because some way, some how I missed an item the first time through. I started keeping records of what I had and hadn't picked up before I was through Disc 1, but I still managed to miss something. Maybe I died and didn't recollect something, but I went through the list twice and never did find what I missed. So I waited a year and a bit to replay the game and went through the list meticulously for a second play through.

 

 

Sometimes the second play through is just the best option. But sometimes it is required. In Darksiders, I got every chest and as a result, maxed out every skill. But I didn't get the achievement for getting all the chests. In Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, I missed a sarcophagus (well, not really, I just used the autosave trick in order to go back and restat my character, and somehow had the sarcophagus get uncollected). In Assassin's Creed... Ok, that was my own damn fault, really. I played Assassin's Creed before I really knew what an achievement guide was. It was actually while playing Assassin's Creed that I stumbled upon x360a and achievement guides though it was actually for Fable 2. The game told me to go to bed... how was I supposed to know that I was supposed to sneak out and talk to Lucy?

 

 

But the big reason for talking about this now was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The game includes something lie 400 things that you have to magically interact with. Torches you have to light, statues you have to push, pots you have to repair... And of course I spent an hour trying to get a single collectible where I had to get a book to fly and then set it on fire. I don't know why I got the cutscene for doing it but not the points, but the game at least allowed me to do it again and gave me the points a few days later.

 

 

And now, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I am starting up Enslaved today after I finish grinding out the character challenges in Avengers. All those orbs to collect... I'm going to have a ton of fun, I think.

 

 

Collectibles aren't terrible, but if the developers could at least get their act together and give us a bit of a hand with them, it would be perfect. A counter showing how many we are missing, preferably with some indication of where or what we are missing. Assassin's Creed giving us a map after we have reached a certain point was great. We don't exactly need to have everything handed to us, but at least narrow our search a bit.

 

 

Until next time.

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With Enslaved it only tells you the percentage of orbs you've collected in a level. That's the part that sucked the most I think. You could be at 99% and be missing 3 orbs or sitting at 97% and only be missing one. With Pigsy's Perfect 10 it only gives you a percentage for the entire DLC levels. A guide is highly recommended for this.

 

We all know you are a completionist. When I see your games I'm blown away at how you pretty much complete everything. When I see that I think "Holy crap this guy is good" and think that you just breeze through games. Do you ever get pissed and get stuck for hours on something? I mean, you've completed some (in my opinion) difficult games and I'm sure there are at least a few that you have just wanted to break something. Just curious.

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With Enslaved it only tells you the percentage of orbs you've collected in a level. That's the part that sucked the most I think. You could be at 99% and be missing 3 orbs or sitting at 97% and only be missing one. With Pigsy's Perfect 10 it only gives you a percentage for the entire DLC levels. A guide is highly recommended for this.

 

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely be careful about the DLC.

 

 

We all know you are a completionist. When I see your games I'm blown away at how you pretty much complete everything. When I see that I think "Holy crap this guy is good" and think that you just breeze through games. Do you ever get pissed and get stuck for hours on something? I mean, you've completed some (in my opinion) difficult games and I'm sure there are at least a few that you have just wanted to break something. Just curious.

 

 

I have a few games where I actually abandoned it for years before finally sucking it up and trying again. Turtles in Time Reshelled comes to mind. I went through the game and finally got to the point where all I had to do was get the Survival mode done. When I first tried I couldn't get passed level 3 because of the stupid mines. So not even the hard part of the game, I got stuck on one of the easy levels. I think I started it in early 2011 and didn't complete it until I took a day or two to buckle down and complete it last summer.

 

 

As for wanting to break the game... Catherine. Catherine came very close to breaking my soul twice. It's an amazing game, but on the hardest level of Babel, the blocks dropped in such a way that after 8 hours of tying, I could see the exit, but there was no way I could get to it. My tower was unbalanced. The only moves I could make just made the tower collapse into more of a checkerboard pattern. If you've ever read the story of Tantalus, it's like that. Catherine also has an achievement for getting every other achievement. It doesn't unlock right away. After watching the final ending for the final achievement and not having it unlock was about the longest 90 seconds of my gaming life.

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