Gaming video connection test.

I wanted an Elite console for HDMI and the Black finish, the larger HDD was a bonus though I'm sure it may come in handy in the near future. I have turned my current 360 into a black console with the XCM Black Knight case. I have done some tests, though this may not be the ideal way to test but it's a test none the less and on my TV these are the results...
I have my PS3 connected by HDMI and 360 by VGA (VGA on my TV looks much better than component). I have downloaded the Colin McRae: DiRT trailer from the PS3 Store and I have the game on the Xbox 360 (which has the same trailer on the game disc) and so switched between HDMI(PS3) and VGA(360) and I will admit it was very hard to tell the difference. On closer inspection the PS3 with HDMI did look better as I had the console set to RGB under its display settings, but it was only noticable on the blacks which look a little bit darker. I realise this varies between TV's but it is the only way I could come up with some sort of test for my personal set up and I am now more than happy with my VGA connection. I did dig out the old Xbox 360 Component cable and did the same test, if Component was my only choice for a HD connection then I would be more inclined to uprgrade to the Elite for the HDMI but for my setup VGA and HDMI are almost identical, minus the zero overscan on VGA.
I will be looking into trying some other trailers and what not soon but I expect similar results.

I am glad I thought of trying this out as I have been tempted by the Elite for a while now, even to the point of considering importing one. This was because I just love the black finish of the console and was expecting some massive improvement over HDMI, while I have my console in black now and have reassured myself with my VGA connection I am certainly happy to stick with my own personalised Xbox 360 Elite, minus the HDMI connection and 120GB Hard Drive ;)

Band of Gears.

A recent update for Gears of War has included an extra eight achievements, taking the possible gamerscore attainable in the game to 1250. Now while I have all the previous achievements before this update, I have recently been ploughing through the game and gained all but one of the new achievements in one day. The only achievement that remains for me to acquire is "THIS! IS! ANNEX!", which is worth a respectable 40 gamer points and so it should be considering you must complete 100 matches of Annex. I play the game a fair bit so I'm not concerned with this one too much, I shall get it as and when I play the Annex game type - however it's not exactly my favourite game mode but still, I should acquire it soon.

A side step from gaming now -- Has anyone seen the series, Band of Brothers? Seriously, I had no idea what I was missing out on, I find it more enjoyable and interesting to watch than any WWII film before it. It's been out a while but after reading various good comments accross different forums I decided to give it my time, and it's well worth checking out.

100% Domination!

Yup, after owning Prey since late last year and completing the campaign shortly after on Normal difficulty, I have recently revisited the game to claim all multiplayer achievements and as of last night, I have now completed the game on Cherokee or Hard difficulty. This wasn;t much of a problem as such, but there were some moments where I got stuck and I recall these same moments from when I was playing on Normal difficulty last year, after some time aimlessly wondering around I found what I needed to progress.

I have also now unlocked the full 1000 gamerscore from NBA Street Homecourt (Yipee!!). I quite enjoyed this game, surprisingly.

Chasing 30,000 gamerscore.

I find as I draw ever so near to the next big milestone in gamerscore land, I like to look back and see what games I have that I can perhaps revisit and re-enjoy all in the name of gaining some achievements and putting me closer to 30,000 gamerscore. While playing some of the latest and greatest games as and when I can there are times where I look back and think "I can get this..", some online achievements are not so boring if you have a few buddies online to play with, as I have recently found with revisiting Prey. As of late I've really gotten back into this game and collected all but one multiplayer achievement, which is for 250 kills in Team Death match. The achievement that I gave up on early on was the Black Jack one tied to one of the arcade machines. Once I knew how much I needed to win, then I had it down - still struggled with it a bit though, but I got it in the end ;)
Having gotten back into multiplayer I'm now in the mood for revisiting Prey on Cherokee difficulty and am hoping to gain the last singleplayer achievement in the game.

Other than Prey my time has been spent with NBA Street Homecourt and while I wasn't "feeling it" it at first, I've now got the gameplay down to a T and I can really get stuck in and dominate - I'm playing on easy though :P.

So completing those two games should put me that bit closer to 30,000 gamerscore. I'm also working on getting as many achievements that I can get from TMNT 1989 Arcade Classic and Aegis Wing (US Arcade exclusive - free).

Dare say my time will be moving back to my usual multiplayer gaming without being concerned so much for gamerscore once I have these few small goals out of the way. Those games being Gears of War, WWE SVR 2007 and Shadowrun, this last game in particular has plenty of achievements for me to gain, though most seem attainable as you play without being concerned over the specifics.
Still plenty of other games to revisit and some recent ones that I have not yet had the chance to scratch the surface on - achievement wise.

Yes, I'm a gamerscore nut. I admit it, you happy? I don't really mind as much as I like achievements and earning them. I still try to play for fun and try my best to avoid bad unenjoyable games - unless they are incredibly easy for gamerscore. Heck, I can't be as bad as some people as I still play games I have all the achievements on regularly, these are only Gears and WWE SVR 2007 though.
The thought of the new Gears of War achievements which tie into Annex and the new multiplayer maps has me salivating and this I believe would be my first game where I would have over 1000 gamerscore for one game. So I'm looking forward to that.

This is the end...

Gaming community nights for the Halo 3 Beta are done and dusted for both communities of MSXbox World and WCF. The MSXbox World H3 Beta night was rather successful with some entertaining games, hopefully some of the videos from the "good" matches will be featured on our site - that's assuming members submitted some videos to MSXB. I am just about to share a video now which sees myself doing rather good at the beginning as well as some other members gunning skills in the warthog. Hopefully when the Beta is over, perhaps we can still share and view our H3 game videos.

The H3 Beta WCF Community night this past Saturday... well the less said about this the better, it was utter crap. It's not that no one turned up as the majority of players did show up, but by the time the rest of the team decided to come on, myself and the others who were gaming on time had quite simply had enough, lets just say we had a fair amount of bad games. So me and the Buck ended up on Gears of War instead - which was much more enjoyable (for the most part).

Final thoughts now on the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. This is expected to end sometime tonight and I feel somewhat annoyed with myself for not spending as much time with it as I perhaps should have. I mean, come the release on Sept 25th, I likely will be addicted to Halo full time once again. The Beta for me though, just didn't quite meet my expectations. This is probably due to being forced into matchmaking when at times all I really want to do is just play a custom game with buddies. There is a way around this but I feel even though it may not have benefited the development of the game that Bungie should have supported custom games as well as matchmaking to make a better experience for their users. It's not that its bad, its just I'm a sucker for being drawn into hype and I love this fact, though I had a feeling once I played the Beta that while I may enjoy it - it may not leave me as hyped for Halo 3's release. The madness surrounding Halo 2's hype a few years back was insane. I remember booking the day off work for the release day and then I got a text while I was at work telling me it arrived, which was a day early - that day didn't half drag...
My point is, this Beta has left the hype for Halo 3 flat, at least for me anyway. I'm sure Microsoft will start the hype machine rolling again soon with more trailers and hopefully more info on the campaign.

Shadowrun Review + Halo 3 Community Gaming Night's

I have been spending some time with Shadowrun this past week and have been enjoying it so much as to recommend it to some online buddies. It seems though there are more than a few negative reviews about the game around the interweb effecting some peoples decisions, hopefully people will see Shadowrun for how much fun it is when they get a taster in the form of the multiplayer demo of Shadowrun which is scheduled to release tomorrow. You can check out my review of Shadowrun by clicking here.

The Halo 3 Beta has been out for a few weeks now and with the end of the Beta looming on June 10th, I have taken the oppurtunity to milk whats left of it by arranging 2 community gaming nights. One has been arranged for the MSXbox World Community on June 7th and the other for the WCF Gaming Community this Saturday. So, hopefully we get a plethora of Halo 3 gaming action in and more importantly have a good time.