Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Attack Plan In Place

With my 2009 goal already met I needed something new to keep me motivated to continue scoring for the remainder of the year. Actually, to keep me scoring until Modern Warfare 2 comes out.

My plan is somewhat of a ripoff of Thrawn's plan that he used during the summer, after the GSL had ended, but only slightly different. I am only going to focus on 3 games (2 retail, 1 arcade) from 3 different genres to keep it fresh and prevent burnout/boredom.

1. Dead Space (FPS/Horror): I have had this game from Gamefly for far to long and I need to finish this up. Im almost half way finished with my first play through and Im currently sitting at 205/1000. The game is fantastic and if you have not played it you need to take your ass over to your nearest Blockbuster and rent it now! This game came highly recomended to me from BL4CK SiLv4 (who has a new blog by the way http://silv4.blogspot.com/ ) and it has not disappointed.

2. Grand Theft Auto 4 (Sand Box): This game is sitting at an embarrassing 15/1000 (not counting DLC). For some reason I never got into this game, I guess Nico just wasnt my kind of guy so the game sat collecting dust. I don't know if Ill get the full 1k in this but any progress in this will be good progress for my completion percentage.

3. Feeding Frenzy (Arcade): 150/200. Only 3 achievements left in this game but they are time consuming. Still needing 40 thousand in the Food Bank, 1000 Sharks eaten, and 10 hours played. Ill work on this for a few minutes a day until completed. As of this posting my Food Bank is at 21k but unfortunately there is no way to track how many Sharks you eat or how many hours you play. Ill be glad to have this game completed.

Now I dont expect to stick to this plan 100% of the time but having this in place will keep me focused. I do plan on doing some multiplayer with friends and boosting when the opportunity presents itself.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Texas

After being MIA for the last month I am finally back on Xbox Live. My move from Cali to Texas is complete. I was able to take a month off between my move and during that time I did not touch my Xbox. It was kind of refreshing to step away from the gamerscore grind.

However, all good things must come to an end. Im re-focused (okay not really) and will be hitting my back log hard. During my time off I decided I wanted to save a bit of money so I will not be buying as many retail games as I normally do, but instead will be working on my completion percentage. My 1 game plan with Gamefly should be enough to keep me satisfied until all the new major releases come out during the holiday season.

Ive already reached my goal for 2009 but with the games I already have I should be able to bang out another 10k before the end of the year without too much trouble.

As for the Army side of things...Im now stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. My new position is sick and it will allow me to do some traveling, and not the middle east type of vacations. It also comes with greater responsibility but the best part is that I will have more time off to do shit that is important to me like chill with the family, advancing my education, and game.

One last thing....GO COWBOYS!

Monday, July 6, 2009

50K....Finally

I didnt win my race. I didnt hit my June goal, but as they say....better late then never. Tonight I finally crossed the 50,000 gamerscore mark that had been eluding me the last month.





After a few distractions, setbacks, and save files corrupting I have reached my 2009 goal. In reality I should have hit this some time in the middle of June but with preparations for my family and I's move to Texas I have been a bit preoccupied.

Once I get settled in to Texas I will re-evaluate my gamerscore goals for this year. Maybe Ill challenge someone or work on my gamerscore completion, which stands at 59%. Right now though I can tell you I want to enjoy gaming for the next month so Ill probably tackle some RPGs that I have left neglected.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

History of my Gamer Tag

Upon the initial setup of my first 360 in late 2006 I was presented a screen to enter my Gamer Tag name. A name that would represent me across the vast network of Xbox Live. At first this little task of picking a name seemed like a daunting one.

For many years I was known by Vindi in the game World of Warcraft but I did not want to continue that name on my 360. I struggled to come up with a creative name to represent my mad gaming skills. However I did not want my name to be like every other 12 year olds name so I decided to go with something a bit more personal, a name I had been known as before. A name that I had been called by on a battlefield and Im not talking Call of Duty.

The name I chose was SabreOscar. Sabre Oscar was my call-sign during my first combat tour in Iraq. During that tour my responsibility was to move forward with the ground forces and provide operational updates to my Attack Helicopter Unit, a Squadron of AH-64A Apaches. Many nights my team and I found ourselves in the middle of no where in Iraq with our sole purpose of calling in air strikes and making sure that the Infantry had the air support that they needed from the Apaches. The men and women that I served with in that unit, 2-6 Cav, still refer to me by Sabre Oscar to this day.

I felt SabreOscar would be a fitting tag as it had a meaning behind it. I kept the tag for two years before recently changing it earlier this year to Sabre x360a.

My reason for the switch was for gamerscore purposes. It was this year that I began taking gamerscore seriously and actively getting involved on the x360a.org forums. I switched my tag but my forum name on the site still remains SabreOscar. Sabre x360a allows me to represent the Army and x360a community.

For those interested here is a little article that was done on my unit. I was quoted in it and for the record the writer of the article miss-quoted me but Im not surprised lol.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=14468

Friday, June 5, 2009

Defeated

My race with Gamergirl6969 ended earlier this week as she beat me to 50k. In what was a tight race early on finished in a four thousand point blow out.





Congrats are in order and I tip my hat to her. Female gamers should not be taken lightly and she be treated with respect as with all gamers. The topic of females in gaming has been highly debated so Ill save my thoughts on this topic for another time.

Once things settle down for me in Texas Ill be looking for another opponent to race.

Monday, June 1, 2009

50K Push

Its been a while since I have posted here so I felt I would give a brief update. Since the completion of the GSL I have taken things pretty easy in relation to point scoring. I have spent my time playing "Good" games and time consuming games which has led to May being my lowest scoring month of 2009.

I completed Too Human and can honestly say that I enjoyed every hour of it. The grind was a daunting task but with the new spider farming method discovered I was able to finish my last two achievements needed. I was fortunate to get the help of some fellow gamers from x360a.org on some of the tougher ones and I have to send a shout out to FlipSwitch from x360a. This guy has a TON of Too Human knowledge. Thanks also goes out to Method x360a and Prodigy1980 for there help as well. Without them I might still be trying to finish the game.

I also finished the story line of Resident Evil 5 but still need to go back and clean it up for the 1k. Sacred 2 has been taking up most of my time the last week and is a very addiciting game. If you dont believe me then you an read ThrawnOmega's blog. Another big time sink for me this past month was Gears of War 2 multiplayer. I managed to reach level 25 but thats about as far as I am going. To many nights of frustration and wanting to smash my controller into the ground for me to go any higher. Although its always a blast to game with my boys ThrawnOmega, BL4CK SiLv4, and Bishop024.

However its time for me to get serious again. With my upcoming move to Texas in July I have decided that I want to close out the month of June by reaching my goal of 50k. As of today I am currently off the mark by 4,610. I would like to get as many if not all of these points from games in my backlog allowing me to raise my 58% completion percentage at the same time. It shouldnt be too hard but I may have to rent a game or two if it comes down to crunch time and Im still short.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Im Back!

After being crippled by the Red Rings of Death this weekend I decided that I would use this time to take a break and catch my breath. That lasted for about 24 hours.

I shipped out my system on Monday and started considering my options of games I could play to pass the down time of no 360 capabilities. My options looked very promising:

1. Wii - Mario Galaxy
2. PS - Final Fantasy VII
3. PC - StarCraft (never played before)
4. PC - World of Warcraft

I used to play WoW pretty seriously for a couple of years. I was a hardcore raider in one of the top guilds on my server. WoW took alot out of me that I did not realize until I quit playing last year. In a moment of weakness on Tuesday I reactived my WoW account and logged in for the first time in many months. I played around for a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and even earned a few achievements in WoW. However, achievements in WoW are no where near as satisfying as they are on the 360. I quickly became bored and realized that WoW was no longer for me.

My Wife was able to sense my boredom and made one of the best suggestions ever in our 5 years of marriage (ok she has probably made better ones). I guess she got tired of me talking to her and told me to just go buy a new one. I know, I know all of you are thinking to yourself how lucky I am. All I can say is I picked a winner!

I walked into my favorite video game store and a few minutes later walked out in style. I went big and bought a new 360 Elite! So now Ill be rocking with my boys and knocking out those chievos with the Black on Black Elite.

Monday, April 20, 2009

RROD

Those three red lights have struck my system again for the second time. The first took place last November. I was playing some MP Gears of War 2 with my friends when my system shut down.

Xbox customer service is always a pleasurable experience.....(hope you picked up on the sarcasm there). I will be sending my system off this week and the nice little lady on the phone, who is somewhere in a distant country, told me my system would be out for three weeks.

I got to find something to fill my 360 time to keep me from going insane.

Monday, April 13, 2009

GSL AAR

What an amazing 8 weeks of gaming! The gaming event known as the Gamer Score League has come to an end. No more latenights, no more boosting games that I would never tell my friends that I played. Best of all, no My Horse and Me 2! If the GSL was one week longer it would have made its way to my door step and I would have been forced to play it...whew that was close.

The Hand of Thrawn was put together by ThrawnOmega with the intent to go out and have fun. In the weeks leading to the GSL we were called out by a few teams, L4A and Rogue Squadron. I happy to say that we crushed both those teams as we cruised to a very respectable 5th place finish (possibly 4th still awaiting word from the moderators).

My Teammates have been nothing but class acts and Id like to thank them all for all the help, games, and latenight conversation they provided.

Week 1 GSL Starting Score: 24,220
Week 8 GSL Ending Score: 42, 655

I put up 18,435 in 5 weeks of play (I rode the bench for 3 weeks). I have to give a special shoutout to Thrawn because if it wasnt for him my score would not have been possible.

Now its time to go back to regular gaming and avoiding all easy games so I have ammo for GSL VIII.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

March Recap

Coming off the best month I have ever had I did my best to keep my momentum going. March was not quite as successful as February but one must take into consideration that I rode the bench for two weeks straight in the GSL.

Gamerscore on March 1st: 33,300
Gamerscore on March 31st: 40,550

Gamerscore
Gained:
7,250
Retail Completed: 3
Arcade Completed: 0
GS needed for 50K: 9,450

There are two weeks to go in the GSL so my scores for April will not be anywhere near as high as they have been for the last few months. Im figuring out now how I want to spend my time on the 360 once the GSL ends.

One thing I know for sure is that I will be going back to complete Resident Evil 5!

Gamergirl6969 is seriously kicking my ass. Our race to 50k will be over by the end of this week. I just have to do my best to make it a respectable race and not a total blow out. For the record I blame ThrawnOmega for sitting me two weeks in a row =)

*Gamergirl6969 deserves all the credit. She has gamed her ass off and put up an enormous amount of points during this GSL.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

AAR GSL Week 6

Week 6 GSL Starting Score: 37145
Week 6 GSL Ending Score: 40475
Week 6 GSL Points Scored: 3330
Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 5th

What was supposed to be a big gain for me after two weeks on the bench turned out to be just an average week. 3,330 points put up for week 6. Respectable but lacking imo. Wednesday and Thursday nights continue to be a struggle as I only get in four hours of gaming on those nights after working 11 hour days.

Saturday was probably my most frustrating day in this whole GSL. It started when my copy of NBA Live 08 would not load all the way for me. I would get ready to start my game and at the loading screen right before tip off I would get the "unable to read disc" error. So I jumped in my pimp ride and went down the street to my local game store and had them buff it out. While I was waiting for my game I was happy to see that the rental place next door had a copy of Wrestlemania Legends available to rent. My Team has been telling me how there is an easy 600 pts in this game so as you can imagine I was stoked to find a copy. Im standing in line for a few minutes behind then get to the counter. I hand over the case to my prized GSL game only to find out that they had mistakenly put the case out for display and they had no copies for rent. Talk about a huge let down.

Good news though is that Im now less then 10k away for from 2009 goal of 50k. Looks like Ill have to tweak it again but not sure what to yet.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sergeant First Class Selection


Most of my gaming friends know that I am a Soldier in the US Army. With this being my Military Gamer Blog I thought I would share the news that today I was selected for promotion by the Army to the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7). Obviously this is a huge "Achievement" in my military career. Now what does any of this have to do with Gaming? Well more rank means more money which means more retail games!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Race Update





I am getting smashed. Gamergirl6969 had two huge weeks in the GSL and has left me in the dust. Last time I got my ass kicked like this by a chick was when I was in the second grade and some fifth grader named Shelly (aka Shelly Smelly!) pushed me down on the playground and took my lunch money.

Its not over yet though. Im back in the lineup next week in the GSL so at least Ill make the race a little more respectable.

Monday, March 16, 2009

AAR GSL Week 4

No score update for me as I rode the bench this past week.

Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 5th

The week off aloud me to catch my breath and watch my team take care of things. We are still in 5th place but the Young Guns gained some serious ground on us. We hold a very slim lead on them but we should be able to pull away in this next week.

Im on the bench again for Week 5 so Ill be continuing to try and support my teammates and try to pre-load some points as well.

In other GSL news there is a very tight race for fist place. KOTOR and Team Short Bus were battling out with the lead going back and forth over the week. Of course I had to get my bag of popcorn as some more drama unfolded.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

AAR GSL Week 3

Week 3 GSL Starting Score: 34265
Week 3 GSL Ending Score: 36510
Week 3 GSL Points Scored: 2245
Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 5th

What was to be a promising week for me turned out to be another dissapointing one. Between work and getting sick on Thursday night I did my best to make to put down as many points as possible.

On the bright side of things this was probably one of the most enjoyable weeks of gaming. Reason being was the amount of time spent playing with friends mixed in with GSL drama. Big shout out goes to Derek1337, my teammate that helped me finish up Lord of the Rings Conquest (what an awful game). The real highlight was listening to Bl4CK SiLv4's all night gaming session as he approached the 100k mark. Congrats again bro on the milestone.





In league news The Hand of Thrawn moved into 5th place this week. There is still a large gap between us and the 4th place team, The Sinster Six, but I have confidence that my team will close on them in the next week.

Monday, March 2, 2009

February Recap

With February being a short month I am very pleased with my numbers for this month. Considering that this month got off to a slow start as I waited for the launch of GSL VII, over at x360a.org, I finished the month quite nicely.

Coming in to the month my GS stood at 23,508. I used the momentum from January and dropped over 9k points, a very large part of that was due to the GSL and my kick ass Team Captain ThrawnOmega who lent me ten games from his collection to plow through.

Gamerscore Gained: 9,792 (oh so close to 10k)
Retail Completed: 6
Arcade Completed: 0 (no time for arcade titles with GSL)
GS needed for 50K: 16,700

My race with Gamergirl6969 has heated up and right now she is enjoying a small lead. She has publicly stated that her motivation is to catch my team, The Hand of Thrawn. My fellow teammates will not allow her and her team Left 4 Achievements to catch us. I just have to do my part and beat her to 50k.



Sunday, March 1, 2009

AAR GSL Week 2

Week 2 GSL Starting Score: 30745
Week 2 GSL Ending Score: 33985
Week 2 GSL Points Scored: 3240
Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 6th

What a disappointing week for me. My goal had been to drop four thousand points this week but I failed to do so.


Eragon, single handily ruined my GSL week. This game was so horrible and boring that I fell asleep on three different occasions playing it, and we all know there is no sleeping in a GSL. It is projected as a 5-10hour game but probably took me longer. The only bright spot was that I did 1k it so I will never have to insult my 360 again by loading up this horrible game.

The game I did enjoy this week was Cars. My Son is a big Cars fan so playing with him watching and cheering me on (or yelling at me when I lost) was a enjoyable experience. The game was rather fun and with the help of the youtube videos I was able to 1k this game also. For the record it took me one hour to find all the postcards.


Im in the lineup for week 3 of the GSL so I plan on making up for some of the lost ground from this past week. I need to hit my local stores and load up on some more ammo. As a team we did fairly well as Bishop x360a and BL4CK SiLv4 led the charge which aloud us to secure the 6th spot in the league. We have a small mountain to climb to break into the top 5 but it is a doable. We just have to remember its a Marathon, not a sprint.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

AAR GSL Week 1

What is an AAR?
An After Action Review (AAR) is a review of training that allows soldiers, leaders, and units to discover for themselves what happened during the training and why. It is also used to solicit ideas on how the training could have been performed better. AARs are not critiques because they do not determine success or failure; rather, AARs are professional discussions of training events. Leaders and evaluators avoid lecturing participants on what went wrong. They use AARs to tell a story about what was planned, what happened during the training, why it happened, and what could have been done differently to improve performance. ~~Army Field Manual 25-101 Battle Focused Training

Week 1 GSL Starting Score: 24220
Week 1 GSL Ending Score: 30695
Week 1 GSL Points Scored: 6475
Hand of Thrawn Current Rank: 7th

With this being my first Gamer Score League I went into the week not really knowing what to expect. I felt I had strong showing for my first week but consistency and endurance will be the key to success.

Planning: I had my weekly plan laid out well in advance which was a huge benefit. Going forward I will continue to do this and discussing my plan with my Team Captain, ThrawnOmega, and my fellow Teammates, DarkTharen, Bishop x360a, BL4ACK SiLv4, and Derek1337

Execution: I played a total of 9 games, completing 3 of them. NCAA March Maddness 07 was my greatest challenge, as I grew very frustrated with the All-American settings achievements. So much so that this game will probably stay at 960gs on my card for a long time. Areas for improvement would be on the researching of the achievement guides before playing the game. I found myself having to pause my game more frequently then I would have liked to look at guides over at x360a.org.

My Week 2 plan is already set and will use the next few days to refine it and strategize with my Team as we make our move up the ranks.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Hurry Up and Wait

Hurry up and wait. The phrase that every new soldier in the US Army becomes familiar with within their first weeks of service.

Hurry up and get to where you need to be. Wait for additional orders.

Never did I think this phrase would relate to my hobby of gaming, but in fact that is exactly what I have been doing for the last two weeks as we inch closer to the launch of GSL VII.

Hurry Up: I have a spread sheet of the games I plan on playing during the GSL. Over the last few weeks I have been hitting the local video game stores, websites, and friends for games that I can buy, borrow, or trade that are on my spreadsheet. With my growing collection I have begun working out the roster of games and what order to play them. I have put my Wifey on notice that any discussion, arguement, agreement we have during the GSL can not be held against me as I will be so focused on unlocking achievement that I probably will not realize she is talking.

Wait: Is it start time yet? Not playing my 360 and unlocking achievements is driving me crazy. I find myself sitting through a episodes of Grey's Anatomy with the Wifey just to keep me away from playing. Waiting. I can only browse through the x360a forums so many times a day, spamming the refresh button to keep me from playing. Waiting. My week 1 roster of games is set, but Ill probably go through it 20 more times before the GSL starts. Waiting.......

Sunday, February 1, 2009

January Recap

January has come to an end and I can honestly say that it was one of my best gaming months. My current Gamerscore stands at 23,508 which put me at a 5,508 gain for the month of January. What is even more exciting about that is the fact that most of those points were earned during a two week challenge. Imagine if I had pushed myself for the whole 31 days! Good thing I didn't do that though because I really need to pace myself with GSL VII just a few weeks away.

Gamerscore Gained: 5,508
Retail Completed: 3
Arcade Completed: 1
GS needed for 50K: 26,492

My Mom always told me to place nice with girls.

Sorry Mom, this girl is going to get her butt kicked. As if I needed any more motivation to reach my goal for 2009, I have agreed to race gamergril6969 to 50K. Should be a very fun race as she is also apart of this seasons GSL.

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Hand of Thrawn


Its official, I am now a member of The Hand of Thrawn. GSL VII can not get here soon enough now. We might not be the early team favorite to win it all but I strongly feel that we have a shot. I have begun planning my route to put up as many points as I possibly can. The 8 weeks of competition should be very fun and exciting.
The Army says a Soldier only needs four hours of sleep to be effective. My military training in sleep deprevation should give me a slight edge on this gaming battlefield.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Quick Update


Another game to add to the completed list for my second 100% compeltion of the month. Madden 08 helped me raise my score past the 23k mark and also sealed my victory is the x360a challenge over on 360voice.com!
x360a.org announced GSL VII and I have entered my name to be drafted. Im looking forward to participating. Im hoping to land on a solid team but most importantly to make some new gaming friends. My gamerscore should see a very nice boost from the competion which is a big plus.
My goal to hit 30k by the end of 2009 is going to be smashed early this year. Im officially changing my goal to hit 50k by then end of the year; hopefully by the end of the GSL if Im lucky =).

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Fallout 3 Sig

Photobucket
Was hooked up with this awesome Fallout 3 sig by DirtyMcHater. This guy is extremely talented. You can view some of his work at the following link.
No new gaming news to report. I have taken the last few days off to focus on English class which is probably a good thing. Once I knock out this essay for the week Ill be back in action.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Nice Start to 2009


As the countdown to the end of '08 ended and 2009 began, I made a New Year resolution to to take my achievement whoring a bit more serious. On January 1st, I sat at a measly 18,000 gamer score. My goal that I set out for the new year was to reach 30k by the end of '09 which would be a 1k a month pace.


Its three weeks in and I'm well ahead of schedule. So much so that I will have to adjust my goal here shortly. I was in a race to 40k with a fellow member over at x360a.org but due to some girlfriend aggro he had to pull out. Not all is lost though as I am also racing Masonasaur to 60% completion. This race will be very close.


Currently I'm finishing up Cabela's Big Game Hunter. Once completed Ill be just a couple hundred shy of 23k and 5k for the month of January.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Allow myself to introduce, myself.

Whats the deal? My name is Tim but I carry a few names and titles. Staff Sergeant T, T, SabreOscar, Sabre x360a, but my favorite name is Daddy.

Ive been in the U.S. Army since the age of 18 and will hit my ten years of military service on May 27th. Its an achievement I am very excited about. The life of a soldier is not always easy but I have enjoyed journey along the way.

I have been gaming since I was 6 years old. It all started on Christmas of '86 when my parents got my younger brother and I our very first Nintendo. Over the years I have gone through many different games and systems. The XBOX 360 has been my platform of choice since it came out. I recently became hooked on getting achievements and have found myself trying to earn as many as possible. In the achievement world my 21k score is not much but with the help of friends and an amazing website www.xboxachievements.org my 21k will greatly rise this year.

Not sure why I got the urge to create this blog. It seemed like a good idea but only time will tell.