Can you spell “irony”?
I got this email today at work: Sorry to be pedantic but whoever did the pop-up for interview day has spelt pracitse wrong. I should point out that it wasn’t me that did the pop-up.
My 360 RIP, part II
Yesterday, I emailed Microsoft with the problems I’d been having. Today, I got this reply: Hello Andy, Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support! We have received your email and I understand that you found that your game discs got scratched while they were inside the Xbox 360 console. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. Scratches on a game disc can occur for several reasons. However, scratches do not necessarily prevent the disc from working. If you move or reposition …
My 360, RIP
Like 16% of other Xbox 360 owners, I too now have a dead console. Unusually, mine doesn’t suffer from the “red ring of death”, but instead seems to dislike playing games. You might recall the problems I was having a couple of months ago with Eternal Sonata, crashing and freezing. Well, a couple of nights ago, Viva Pinata Party Animals started doing the same thing. Last night, it froze completely, and will no longer play at all. Here’s what I …
Viva Pinata Party Animals (360)
Well, we played it for a bit, at least. Got a couple of competitions done (I won both), but then it crashed. And that was it. It no longer plays at all. I put the disc in, the screen goes black, and the 360 freezes. When I take the disc out, it’s marked. If I clean the marks off and try again, exactly the same thing happens and the disc gets marked again. Gah! I think my 360 is knackered.
Viva Pinata Party Animals (360)
This arrived today, so my wife and I played it a lot this evening. It’s very easy to unlock achievements, isn’t it? I got 200-odd points in the first game! It’s much better than I recall the demo being, but it’s no Mario Party. Still fun though, especially as I won every game. Then it crashed and told me there was no disc in the drive. Pff.
Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland (DS)
Really getting into this now, even though it is almost entirely guesswork. I think it’s the high rating it scores on the Quirkometer. And I do like games with high quirkery. My bodyguard died, and I hired another (a clown) who was totally useless. Hurrah! And I found a load of pearls, sold them, and made loads of money. And paid the Village People construction worker bloke to fix a bridge. And mapped some stuff. Amazing scenes!
Tomb Raider Anniversary (360)
It’s odd, but I seem to start new games on Sunday evenings more often than at any other time. So today, in this strange tradition, I started Tomb Raider Anniversary. It has been a long time since I played the Saturn original, but it certainly is different. Of course, it has the Tomb Raider Legend engine behind it now, and the graphics are much improved, but so far it isn’t really all that familar. The grid-based areas are much less …
More Brain Training (DS)
The confusion continues! I did worse on all three tests than I did yesterday, and got an age of 22 – one year better than yesterday. I think the maths in this game is up the spout. OH! THE IRONING!
N+ (360)
Right. This is now getting too hard. It’s not fun any more, and every level is becoming a million-attempt slog because you have to be pixel-perfect with every jump and micro-second accurate to avoid baddies. It’s a shame, as I’m only half-way through the game. I can’t see me liking the rest at all if it keeps this up.
More Brain Training (DS)
I’m even more confused now. I did worse than yesterday, only ended up with an improved age: 23. I seem to recall similar anomalies in the first game too. How odd. I then played Hard Mode of Germ Buster for a bit. It’s very hard – not least because you have three “pills” dropping at once.
N+ (360)
Eh? The game had forgotten that I’ve played Episodes 5, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14. Even though I still had leaderboard entries for them, and I only played them in order. How very odd. So I played them all again, and as before, got stuck on the final level of Episode 14. It’s very, very hard. I died so many times, I got the “You’ve died 1000 times!” achievement. I did manage it, finally, however, and quickly got through …