Aaaaaaaand Here We Go

After a lengthy, relaxing, and joyous holiday, Linz and I are back in action here at Achievos.  During our break, we spent time with family, devoured some delicious holiday eats, and played all the new games left for us under the tree.  Starting off a brand new year, I had some major gaming victories.

First, my gamerscore broke 30,000.  Keeping in line with Lindsey's trend of blasting past milestones, I have added over 400 points to my score in the eight days since it happened.  While reaching that high number felt nice, it definitely didn't feel as amazing as I thought it would.  Hitting the 5,000 mark was fun and reaching double digits with 10,000 was great.  And I remember losing my mind when I hit 25,000; it felt like such a big deal.  But 30,000 just hasn't done it for me.  I took pictures, I let out a little brag, but I mostly just kept playing.

One of the major gaming events that did rock my world was reaching the final level in Age of Empires Online.  My Greek civilization final hit level 40 unlocking 100 glorious points.  Of those who know me, or better yet, have me on their Xbox friends list, can easily see that a huge amount of my 2011 was spent playing AoE.  I might be playing less in 2012, but it will still be on my to-do list.  I have already started my Egyptian civ and so far I'm sitting pretty at level 7.

The best was yet to come.  On January 1, 2012, the very first day of what is destined to be a wicked awesome year, I completed Skyrim.  I didn't just finish the main story line, I earned every single achievement that game has to offer.  The only other time I have felt this proud was when I completed the last Elder Scrolls game, and Fallout 3.  All of these were made by gaming behemoth Bethesda Software, and all three of the titles clocked me in at over 100 hours of gameplay.  There should be an achievement alone for dedicating 300+ hours of your life to one developer.

This is my 105 hour victory

All that being said, we have major things in the works for our personal lives, our gaming lives, Achievos, and for you.  Be on the lookout for more blogs, more misheard titles, and more free stuff !  We found a hidden cache of leftover PAX goodies and an OnLive console that are just dying to be shipped to a deserving reader.  With that, we here at Achievos wish you all the gaming best in the new year !

Guest Blogger Kevin WK: Gamer, Nudist, and Activist

Hi, my name is Kevin, and I have Gamer A.D.D. I can't to commit to a game for more than a few hours at a time, let alone finish it, even if I enjoy the game.   It’s a problem many people face, so bad that over the years, games have been made shorter to appeal to gamers with my condition.   I don’t know how many of you are out there, but if you have Gamer A.D.D. too, I feel your pain, temporarily…

There are many games out there that cater to this disorder, some great, some not.   We are going to look at a few of both.

I love you but, I'm not in love with you.

Games like the Call of Duty series, for instance, are great A.D.D. time fillers.  The single player experience can usually last 5-7 hours, making perfect play time for people who can’t commit.

Portal 2 so far holds my heart for best game of the year.   Its story is great, simple, and short, but not “I wasted 60 bucks for this!?” short.  The single player campaign clocks in at about 6-8 hours long, with a separate multiplayer story that can last about 4 hours.   Even then, only 63% of Steam users who have Portal 2 actually finished the single player campaign.

Shadows of the Damned is a bit of a niche title but I played this game from beginning to end in one sitting, the whole 6 hours it was.  It was entertaining with enough innovation to keep me playing without getting too bored.   The storyline was hilarious as well and kept me wanting to know what would happen next.  Shadows is pretty cheap if you can find it and definitely worth your short attention span.

Along with the good, here comes some games that people with Gamer A.D.D. should avoid, not for the game being bad, but just being a game that you would never see the end of.

Let’s just get this one out of the way early. You have to dedicate a lot of time to RPGs.  A person like me will never know the endings to any of these games. Don’t get me wrong, I love these games and will continue to buy and support them, but I’ll be surprised if I could put more than 10 hours into it.   I know my limits, and there is a point in RPGs where I’ve reached my level of enjoyment.  Once that hits, it goes on my shelf or is traded in at the game store for something else, never to be played by me again.

There was a time when all I played was RPGs, now I can only watch from the sidelines as friends tell me their experiences.   Final Fantasy has always been one of my favorites, since the beginning on NES, I have a special place in my heart for them.  But once again, ill start the game, love the first few hours, then I'm done.   Final Fantasy XIII had potential to win me back, it had everything I wanted in an RPG and looked amazing.  Still, I was too far gone to enjoy it.

There is one exception to the rule, and this is out of pure love , but I have always made time for this series…

Snake, I wish I could quit you ....

MGS is a game that can take a long time to complete, not because of the gameplay; this game is full of story.  Metal Gear Solid 4 rang in around 6-8 hours of actual gameplay, but the cut scenes made it last 12 hours.  There is one scene that is 90 minutes!!!!  I did laundry while I played MGS4, I folded all through Act 4.  Despite this, I will continue to play and enjoy every Metal Gear game that comes out.

In closing, I know that I’m not alone on this issue. There are many gamers out there that buy games just to trade them in within the first week of release, not because they hated the game, just because they got their fun out of it. Whether they saw the end credits or gave up during the beginning tutorial, here’s to you, my fellow gamers!  Have fun with your games, until there’s something else that comes out next week…

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"What's in the box???"

Remember all that wicked awesome PAX swag I bragged about?  Of course you do.  We are giving away a little package of goodies to a lucky reader with our first ever giveaway!  The way to win is to tell us about your best Gamer A.D.D. moment!  Comment on Kevin's Facebook link, Lindsey's Facebook link, Debbie's G+ link, replying to our twitter (@achievos) or comment right here on the blog!  What exactly will you win?  You'll just have to wait and see!

AirMech: Something New From Someone New

Image straight up jacked from carbongames.com

Here at Achievos, we absolutely love indie game developers.  Its always fun and inspiring to hear about a small group that has been able to exercise passion and creativity without restriction.  So when I found a small booth along a back wall with some intense peddlers, I was more than intrigued.

The developer, Carbon Games, was demoing the real-time strategy AirMech.  Players control and attack in the air or transform to fight on the ground.  Different land units are generated and can be carried around the map for defense and progress towards offense.  By the time I stopped at this booth, it was my third day of standing in lines and walking around.  It is fair to say that mental and physical exhaustion had begun setting in.  With all that in mind, I was still able to walk up to the controls and effectively play within a minute.  I consider that a pretty solid testament to the game's intuitive controls. 

If you would like to see video of the gameplay or even sign up to help test the beta, head on over to Carbon Games.  You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.  There you can find all the deets on the different aspects of the game that my fatigued mind failed to retain.  I highly recommend you give this gem a try.  I have no doubt that AirMech will be seeing a major release.  But why wait?  Go check out their site for details on the game and the history of the team behind it all.

PAX Skyrim Booth Renews My Faith in Humanity

After years of anticipation, the long awaited sequel to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is just a few months away from release.  Even though Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim won’t be hitting shelves until 11/11/2011, the creative and loving souls over at Bethesda let PAX attendees have a crack at the game early.  After standing in line for almost an hour (the shortest wait line for the game all weekend), I was allowed to play the game for 15 whole minutes.  Read and bask in the details.

Each attendee walked up to a monitor that had a saved game loaded.  We could choose the character classes and move into game play.  Everyone started in a cave and then they were allowed to leave and explore wherever they felt like.  Most people went into either a small local woodland village or a mine.  There was also plenty of general landscape to explore including snowy mountains, dense forest, and a large glistening lake.  All locations had plenty of enemies to fight and characters to talk to. 

Starting with just the looks and general feel of the game, it was beyond amazing.  The textures and environment were crystal clear.  The definition and depth of the surroundings were amazing.  Even when swimming under water, the bottom of the lake was full of rich detail.  The menus also took on a major upgrade.  They are far more easy to navigate and much less overwhelming.  All items in the inventory are displayed individually and quite large so all the intense detail can be seen with ease.  The stats for each weapon, spell, and piece of armor are clearly visible and easy to calculate.  The weapons and spells are dual wield.  Players can carry a two-handed weapon, two one-handed weapons, a weapon and a spell, or two different spells.

I think there might be dragons in Skyrim.  Call it a hunch.

One of the more advertised features is the use of the Creation Engine (developed internally by Bethesda) that helps facilitate random events.  Certain enemies like dragons or physics related elements like weather are completely random.  It was widely discussed around the convention, in panels, and online that even the developers were completely unable to predict certain events in the game while working through the testing phase.

Overall, this game looks amazing.  And the 15 minutes I played completely hooked me.  It was more than worth standing in line for an hour.  The toughest part of the game will be trying to wait two more months to get it.  In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe to the blog and follow us on twitter @achievos !