Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

We have winners! Thank you to everyone who commented and shared our celebratory post.. And an extra congratulations to our winners: 

Of the OnLive console: Dirtyhands
And our three runner-up winners who will be getting goody bags full of gamer love: Valerie, Jesse & Nicholas
Congratulations to our winners! Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future. 


Winners: Please email us at Achievos@gmail.com with your name and address so we can send you the good stuff.

We Want to Celebrate with FREE STUFF !!!

For anyone who doesn't know, my partner in crime Linz has finally given birth.  I am taking this opportunity to welcome her new son Ezekiel to the world and more importantly to Achievos!! 

This little guy has been wreaking havoc on her electronics for months now.  From within her belly, he has been killing car batteries, phone batteries, televisions, laptops, and more.  We suspect that Linz has given birth to the first of the X-Men.  Baby Ezekiel, aka Magneto, is here and his power is peaking with today's monster solar flare.  I assume the only way to appease our infant overlord is by giving away free stuff.

We are clearing out the gift closet and there are some serious goodies that need distributing.  We have t-shirts, posters, key chains, stickers, and other random paraphernalia we've picked up along the way.  We even have a brand new OnLive console that we are Giving Away For Free!  Unfortunately, the OnLive console is only compatible in the US, but anyone, anywhere in the world could walk away with plenty of other goodies.

The only way to get free stuff is by commenting.  Comment here on the blog and tell us who your favorite video game character is and why.  We will also accept you defending who your favorite X-Men character is, but you better have a pretty good argument if you chose anyone other than Wolverine because he is obviously the best.  You can also comment on the Achievos Facebook post.  You have until next Friday (March 16th) at noon to make your move.  Come on, we want to give you free things !!!!

And of course, Congratulations Linz !!!!

Coming Out of the Turkey Coma + Giveaway!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  Did you eat a lot of turkey?  Have fun with family?  Play a lot of games (board, video or otherwise)?  More importantly, did you go Black Friday Shopping?

I love Black Friday shopping.  I think it's so much fun.  The thrill of the hunt in a sedentary society, and all that.  Every year I hit the games and DVDs pretty heavy.  That said, this year I only got a couple DVDs (cheap TV seasons) and ... brace yourself ... ZERO games.  I didn't try to get into the madness around every electronics department, and I didn't even go to Best Buy.  Unheard of.  In my defense, I am 7 months pregnant and when I was at Wal-Mart two fights broke out at the electronics department.  And at Target the entire area was ringed with people 6-7 deep.  There's no way I was trying to break through all that.

If only we could go at these crowds Dead Rising style.  Then every game would be miiiiine.

But even more than my burgeoning belly, I didn't buy because I was so mad.  I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had picked up 3 new games at Target because they were Buy Two Get One Free.  This was just within the last month or so, so I spent $100 on 3 new games - Dance Central 2, Disney Universe, and Once Upon a Monster.  All three of these games were drastically price reduced for Black Friday.  I believe I saw DC2 for $15 somewhere.   That made me want to punch someone.  (Maybe I should've gotten into the electronics fray...)   Debbie had a similar experience.  In the last month she has purchased Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, Battlefield 3, and has Assassin's Creed waiting on reserve.  Of all those games, only Skyrim wasn't at a $30 or less price point.  Do the math: that's $90 that Debbie could've saved by waiting two more weeks.

This isn't about our lust for instant gratification and buying games as soon as they come out.  If you've put any math together about me as a gamer you know that's not true.  I'm more likely to wait a year or more to play a game just to get it used for $30 or less.  The bigger issue here is that it is holiday season and we gamers are barraged with all the awesome game releases in early November... and with each barrage we are further assaulted by the entire game industry encouraging us to buy on the release date to speak to the developers about what kind of games we want.  There are midnight parties to hype releases.  And we are given bonus content for reserving the game before it's even out.  Well, we at Achievos are here to tell you that an in-game weapon or t-shirt for my avatar does not heal the wound that a $30 price cut a week and a half later inflicts.

Is looking at this picture of a gun worth $30 to you?  It's about that satisfying to play it in the game too.

Heaven knows I've been burned on price before (did anyone else buy Lego Indiana Jones when it was full price, only to be $20 a month later?)  But maybe I've learned my lesson.  Maybe I'll just hold off on buying any new games, especially in early November, before I can try to buy them on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  Were you burned this year?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or over at our Facebook page.  From the comments we will choose a winner for a free Fruit Ninja game code for Xbox Live Arcade.  I guarantee that a free game will soothe your soul.  Contest closes 11:59 pm on Sunday, December 4 and the winner will be chosen December 5.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye !

It's a Trapp !!!

It's announcement time with just a couple quick reminders to start your week off right !  First up, our winner of the random package of PAX goodness is ...... Jimmy Trapp !  What did he win?  Jimmy will be receiving a t-shirt, some buttons, a sticker or two, and any other random item I feel like tossing in there; his dreams really are coming true.  Congratulations Jimmy !!!


Remember, we still have a lot of prizes left to give away including a free OnLive console !  We only had five entries for this last contest so your chances of winning in a future giveaway are great.  But the only way to win is to read and comment when the time is right !!!

Last, but certainly not least, that rascally bunch at Pixeldom.com are having another midnight launch event !  Go say hi to the crew from PixelsnPopcorn and the Sugar Gamers at the Game Stop at 2603 N. Elston here in Chicago !  They are kicking off the release of Batman: Arkham City tonight; prizes and good times await you.

Let's Have a Few Words...

You see, the title is a double entendre.  First off, we're seriously having some words, readers.  Did you see our last entry?  Did you read to the end?  We're offering you free stuff!  All we want is your measely comments.  Justify our love, and all that.  And we've had 92 views since Kevin WK's guest blog went up and the giveaway went live.  And we've had one comment.  You're not giving iDiivil much competition here, people.  I'm sure she appreciates that.  But I want to give you one more chance: make a relative comment on this blog, on the link on Facebook, or on Twitter and you will be entered into the drawing for awesome free stuff.    You have until midnight (Pacific time zone) tomorrow, October 15.

Now for my second set of words for you, and these are significantly more cheerful.  I just have to wonder, am I the last person on Earth to get behind Words With Friends (WWF)?  I think I might be.  But you know what?  I'm just glad that I'm finally on board.  As an English major, any time I can play a word game I am happy as a clam.  A clam that get seriously un-happy when I have 4 N's, an E, an I, a Q and a Z.  Because REALLY?  Or oo, oo, the eternal word-game problem when you have all vowels.  It's too bad I can't spell the noise that my brain is making in frustration, or I'd get 14 points!

I love being able to play against my real life friends though, except when they are totes slow and I am waiting 12 hours for them to play a word.  Just check your game, people!  Don't leave me hanging!  Lucky for me I have like, 10 games going at once so I usually have something to do.

Two beefs - One: I am back on a Facebook game.  Every time I think I break free.  Every time I leave my farm or my mafia or my fishtank behind, let it go, free myself... I'm sucked back in.  This time by beautiful, beautiful words.  And I wouldn't have to be attached to the world of Facebook if I didn't live in the dark ages and just had an iProduct.  But I don't.  Yet.  (Is it ridiculous to actually consider getting an iPhone so I can play Words With Friends more conveniently? - The answer: A Resounding Yes.)

Second beef: For whatever reason when I first open up WWF it totally freezes up my browser.  I don't know if it's really labor intensive on my computer, or if it's not all that friendly with Firefox, or if it's just the E.M.P. fetus I have inside of me... but it's super irritating.  If I just leave it open in a tab then there's no issue when I open up my laptop, although earlier today I was having a lot of "not responding" time from Firefox, so that leads me to believe I'm back to the worn out computer. My computer is neither that old nor that slow, so it shocks me that a web browser game can dominate its capabilities so easily.  When I asked my Facebook friends about this issue in a status, all I got was a lot of invitations to play and made fun of for not playing WWF on an iProduct.  You are all so helpful.

So what's your most celebrated WWF moment?  So far one of my greatest was playing the word "kraken".  I released it, to much joy.

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!