20% Coupon

All right, well it looks like I'm finally back on my xbox blog so I thought that I would start out with a bang and post a 20% coupon that I just got!!!

Finding the Scarab Gun

A few days ago I finally got the Halo 2 Achievement for finding the Scarab gun, it was an incredibly complicated task that took several days of trying. I've embedded a video below that shows what you have to do.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - Beat It

A few days ago I finished Vegas 2 on Realistic. It felt great to be done with the campaign, now I can focus more on the multiplayer and working my toward the coveted Elite Status.

DS Lite Deal

I try to keep things more on the Xbox side of life here, but I just a coupon for a used DS Lite game for 25% off from gamestop. With an edge card that can give you a 35% savings. So here it is.

Crackdown - Beat It!

I just finished Crackdown last night. I'd forgotten how much fun it was to jump from one building to the next. I'm not sure what I'm moving on to next, but I know that I want to finish RSV2 on Realistic pretty soon.

Christian Thoughts on Grand Theft Auto IV

Here are a couple of great reviews and comments that I found from believers on Grand Theft Auto IV.

1) Al Mohler has some timely comments here.

2) Plugged In has a great review here.

Gamestop Deal

I just got the weekly Gamestop e-mail and saw that this weekend they are having a buy 2 get 1 free deal on all used games!!! They also have Gears of War for $30. Happy shopping.

Back to Crackdown

Last year when the Halo 3 Beta was going on I rented a copy of Crackdown for a month so that I could get in on the beta, which was awesome!!! In the process I accidentally started playing Crackdown and ended up really liking it. I only played through the first third or so of the game, but I always wanted to get back to it. About a month ago I borrowed a friend's copy of Crackdown and last night I finally cracked it open and started in again. In short, it's a a lot more fun than I remembered and I remembered it as being a lot of fun.

Halo 2 - Beat It

I finished Halo 2 on my PC a couple of nights ago. I still remember waiting in line the night that Halo 2 came out for Xbox. My brother Ryan and I waited at Gamecrazy in Bakersfield, CA. We picked up our copies and rushed home to play. There was a lot of criticism of Halo 2's storyline and there are certainly thing to criticize it for, but none the less it was and still is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to diving a little more deeply into the multiplayer now.

Frontlines Fuel of War - Beat It

This one is a little bit late, but I rented "Frontlines Fuel of War" last weekend and played through it. I was looking forward to this one, but have to say that I was a little disappointed. The graphics were pretty good and it was a pretty good shooter, but the weapons felt underpowered and in the end the game just seemed to be more of the same. I checked the online action, but each game I got into only had 4 or 5 players in it. I was able to get a few points out of it, but not as many as I would have liked. I did find one glitch that was kind of fun in the achievements, you can read about it here.

What to Do???

The gamerscore blog has a great article on what to do if you have a new console and had already purchased a bunch of stuff on your other console that now won't work. You can find the article here. The steps are outlined below:

1) Attach your hard drive or memory unit.
2)Turn on the console.
3) Sign in to Xbox LIVE with the gamer profile that originally downloaded the content.
4) Go to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and select Account Management, Download History.
5) Select an item and then select Download Again.
6) Repeat step 5 for each item in your download history.

A Bunch of Random Stuff

Like I said in my last post, it's been a while since I've been able to put anything significant up. Here are a few random things that I've been thinking about doing, etc.

1) I bought the Legendery Map Pack for Halo 3 and I'm really enjoying it. They have a remade version of Lockout called Blackout, which I love. There's a new map called "Ghost Town" which is great and a reimagined version of Sidewinder called Avalanche, which is probably my favorite of the whole bunch.

2) My trek through Halo 2 on PC continues on. I'm on High Charity with the Master Chief right now and loving every minute of it. I did try out the multiplayer and actually had a really good time with it. I got a bunch of achievements and it was genuinely fun.

3) I'll be renting a game next weekend (any suggestions).

4) My brother got his 360 back after only a few weeks in the repair shop (AMAZING!!!).

35% Off Used 360 Games

I know that it's been a long time since I last posted, but I hope that this post makes up for it. Today, I checked my new Gmail account (Gmail is awesome by the way) and low and behold I found a 25% off coupon for any used 360 game at Gamestop!!! What makes this an even better deal is that you should be able to stack this 25% coupon with your regular Edge Card and walk away with a cool 35% off!!! I should also mention that the coupon is only good for a couple of days. So, without further ado here is the coupon, use it in good health and happy gaming!!!

IGN

I finally broke down last night and signed up for my own IGN Account. I've been bumming off of one of my friends for the longest time and decided that it was worth the $20/year to be able to edit my own profile, keep a list of my games, etc. When I signed up it said something about sending me a free magazine, which I really hope that they don't do. The last thing I need is another magazine coming to my house that I won't read. Anyway, I'm pretty stoaked about my new IGN Membership. The only thing I use the site for is Xbox 360 Related news, but I'm sure that I'll probably use for DS Lite stuff as well...if I ever get back to playing my DS Lite.

New COD4 Maps

Saturday, I bought the new Variety Map Pack for COD4, but didn't have a chance to actually play it 'til today. In short, it is awesome!!! I'm a huge fan of each of the maps, but I especially enjoyed the China Town map. It was amazing.
Also, it looks like the Double XP Weekend is still going on b/c I continued to get 20xp for each kill, etc.

RSV2 - Beat It

Last night Jose and I finished playing through the RSV2 Campaign. The gameplay was awesome as you would expect. I've been ranking up pretty fast toward the elite rank and my ACES have been adding up really fast. My only complaint is that the story is just plain abismal. There's just nothing good for me to say about the story, b/c it was so stupid. I was also really turned off by the foul language in the game. In the future, I'm just going to turn off all of the voices (I am glad that they included that option). My next thing is going to be to run through it on Realistic with whoever's willing to jump in with me, as well working through the Terrorist Hunts and working my way toward the coveted Elite status.

Port Forwarding and Xbox Live

After about 3 months of not knowing what to do, I finally sat down today and decided that I was going to figure out how to open my NAT, so that I could stop getting the stupid message in Halo 3 about my NAT being closed and so that I can feel like order has been restored to my network's universe.

I sat down and called Xbox Support, which was almost no help whatsoever. As I listened to the poor woman on the other end of the phone try to stumble her way through a script and to give me answers while not knowing what she was saying, I knew this would be a long process. The helpful information that I did get from her was that I needed to open up several ports on my router (UDP 88, UDP 3074, and TCP 3074), whatever that means.

My next step was to hit the internet. After poking around some forums for a bit I finally stumbled across this site, which was tremendously helpful. It wasn't exactly what I was dealing with, but it gave me enough information that I could use what I already knew and put all of the pieces together. Anyway, I am happy to report that I now have a completely Open NAT and now the world is at peace.

Cheap Video Games

If you're looking for a great deal on used video games try using coupon codes CAG16, SAVER, and your Edge card to receive a 26% discount and free shipping on used games at gamestop.com. Please note that you must purchase at least $25 worth of items to receive free shipping.

I haven't tried this one yet myself, but I'm sure that I'll give it a shot sometime soon. Anyway, happy hunting for good used games.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 XP Boost

Out of the goodness of her heart my wife gave me my birthday present early yesterday. As I unwrapped the package I found a bright, shiny copy of Rainbow Six Vegas 2. When I threw in my copy it gave me something completely unexpected, I was ranked as an elite and given a 2,500 XP Boost as well as some really cool armor, clothes, etc.

What was strange was that my friend who was playing with me didn't get the same boost, although he was a higher rank than me in the original RSV. After researching a little bit, I finally got the scoop. If you were an Elite in multiplayer in RSV or if you completed the story mode on Realistic you got the Elite Boost in RSV2. Otherwise your boost was significantly smaller. Anyway, that's the deal. Happy hunting.

Back to Oblivion

Well, I'm back to Oblivion now. One of my JH Staff members mentioned that he just got the Game of the Year Edition and it inspired me to get back to my regular old edition. Anyway, I'm working through Miscarcand, which is definitely getting toward the end of the main quest. Here's a video of the quest. I haven't gotten too serious about it yet, so I'm probably just about half way through or so.

I Got Halo 2!!!

Just a quick update that I did end up purchasing Halo 2 for Windows Vista the other day. I installed it on my new laptop and it's such a hefty program that my laptop can barely run it. This is another reason why I don't do much PC Gaming, the sheer cost of keeping your computer up to snuff to run the latest games is just way to prohibitive. Anyway, I am able run it so I'm going to make my way through the storyline, although I probably won't do much with the online stuff.

One really cool thing about Games for Windows is that you log in with your live account and you have all of the regular features of Xbox Live. I was even able to bring up the guide and use it to listen to a voice message on my computer!!! Another really cool feature allowed me to plug in a 360 controller and use it on my computer in the exact same way that I'd use it on the Xbox. This worked even to the point of giving me the face button prompts (A, B, X, Y) for all of the various aspects of the game. How cool is that!!!

Anyway, I'll be working my way through Halo 2 for a bit as I chase down some more achievement points. I'm especially looking forward to the achievement for getting the Scarab gun (awesome!!!).

COD4 Walls (Part 4)

This is definitely the final wall for me in COD4, the only problem is that I really don't know if I'm going to be able to get through this one. It's the epilogue of the game on veteran and I've been playing it for quite some time and just can't seem to finish the deal. I've got to the hostage 3 or 4 times and each time I've shot him...bummer. Anyway, here's a video to give you an idea about how hard this thing is.

Extra Rainbow Six Vegas Content

Major props to Xbox 360 Fanboy for pulling this information together in one place. It seems that there are a couple of free pieces of content in RSV2 if you have the proper codes. Here's the original article from Xbox 360 Fanboy:

With the recent release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, many gamers are discovering the wonders of the game's multiplayer. Far fewer gamers were able to score the Best Buy Gun Code that was on the sticker of the game's box at Best Buy stores. The sticker has a code on it (a button code, not a marketplace one) that unlocks a free gun in the game. The instructions for that code are as follows: Enter the follow button commands at the Main Menu of Rainbow Six Vegas 2: (Hold RB) Down, Down, Up, Up, X, B, X, B, Y, Up, Up, Y.

The second RSV2 freebie we got wind of was a map brought to us by Comcast. This is again unlockable from within the game and visiting the marketplace is not required. To access the Comcast Bonus Maps, select Extras from the game's main menu. then select "Comcast Gift" and enter the code "Comcast Faster" when prompted to do so, and you should have access a map called "Comcast Event"

Vegas 2 Video

Amy bought me a copy of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 yesterday, although I can't actually open it 'til next weekend, which is my birthday. Anyway, I just found this video from the gamerscore blog and thought you'd enjoy it.

New COD4 Map

I just found this videon of one of COD4's new maps. It looks pretty awesome!!!

COD4 Walls (Part 3)

This post is a bit of a misnomer, seeing as I've already beat COD4. At this point I have one outstanding achievement in COD4 and that's to beat the Epilogue on Veteran. I've gotten pretty far in my pursuit of this crown jewel but I have to admit that I'm probably going to give up here pretty soon. To be honest, I just don't know if it's worth the time investment b/c this is a REALLY HARD thing to do. I've watched videos and everything and I have no idea how these guys are pulling this off. Well, I guess we'll see what happens.

I forgot to post about the final wall that I hit when I was going through the campaign of COD4. On the last level there's a section where you have to make your way through a number of hallways before you reach the control center for the nuclear launch facility. This took me FOREVER!!! There's one section that has a single hall that has two passage ways splitting off from it, which I just could not make it past. I finally figured out that I needed to clear everything from the main hall way, through a flash bang in one passage way, clear the guy from the other passage, sprint into the room, kill the guy who comes down the other corridor and than slowly make my way down that passage to clear out the last guys. It REALLY HELPS if you can have a sniper rifle with you, which you can get on the level before. It's in a box right after you go through the chain link fence. Anyway, that's about it for COD4. I'll keep playing the multiplayer for sure, at least until Vegas 2 comes out!!!

Halo 2

I just got this awesome Laptop the other day, so I'm thinking about trying out some of the Games for Windows games on it. The ones that I'm looking at right now are Halo 2 and possibly Universe at War. I'll admit it, the primary motivation behind these is that they have Achievement points and they look like pretty good games. Anyway, I still need to check out the Universe at War review before I think about it any more. I think that Halo 2 is pretty much a given, I'll just wait 'til it goes on sale.

Weekend Rental

Well, the weekend has really just begun and I'm already sick of Turok. I played through at least 5 levels of Turok and have now officially decided that I don't like it at all. Maybe it's just me, but Turok just feels like more of the same when it comes to FPS Titles but w/o achievement points to spur me on, it completely lost my interest. Oh well, I'll just chalk that one up to experience.

Weekend Rental (Turok)

I'm home for a couple of days now, so I decided to try renting Turok and working my way through it. To be honest, so far I'm a little bored with it which doesn't say much b/c I just started it. I'm not sure if it's b/c there aren't many achievements to get in the single player campaign or b/c it just doesn't seem to be a good game or possibly a combination of the two, but so far I'm less than impressed. Even a bad game can keep me playing if I know that there are some achievements in store for me, but from what I can see I probably won't get much for this game and that's not giving me any motivation to keep going. Well, I'll at least go through a couple more levels but so far, I'm pretty disappointed.

COD4 - Beat It

It's been quite a while since I posted on this blog, so let's see if I can catch up to speed. Before I left for Shepherd's Conference and the Mexico Recon Trip I did manage to beat COD4 on Veteran. The only achievement that I haven't gotten out of it is the Epilogue on Veteran, which seems right next to impossible right now. I'll probably come back to it later but I'm going to simply bask in the glory of having beat the storyline on Veteran for now.

PGR3 - Beat It

Last night I ended up beating the last level of PGR3 no Easy. All told, I've gotten 250 points out of the game so far (not bad for $8) and I still need to go through it on Normal and Hard.

COD4 Walls (Part 2)

The other night I hit another wall in Call of Duty 4, it's the last section of the "One Shot, One Kill Mission." You end up making your way to an abandoned carnival where you have to defend yourself for several minutes as swarms of enemies try to flank you. I actually made it thorugh the first major onslaught without much trouble, but once the helicopters were called in I couldn't make it through. I finally googled the problem to see if I could find any advice and was amazed by the following video. I tried it that night and it totally worked. Here's the video:



Sorry Ben, it really was that easy.

Broken Xbox 360's Make Babies Cry

Cheapy D just put out this video and it's a must watch.

Sunday Morning Deals

This Sunday, there are some pretty amazing deals at Circuit City & Target if you own an Xbox 360. Circuit City has a copy of Lost Planet for $20 or a copy of Bioshock for $48 or a copy of Halo 3 for $48 (although, who doesn't already own a copy of Halo 3???). Target has the Orange Box for $40 (which is outstanding, you get 5 high quality games for $40!!!), or Project Gotham Racing 4 for $40. All in all, it's a good week to be an Xbox gamer.

My Last Ferrari

I just bought my last Ferrari for PGR3 and got the 45 point achievement, next stop Lambourghini.

Gears of War 2 Confirmed

This just in: Microsoft just confirmed Gears of War 2 will be releasing this November!!!

It's Official

HD-DVD is officially dead according to the following IGN Report. It looks like Toshiba has officially pulled their support for HD-DVD, which effectively kills the product, so Blu-Ray will be the official media of the next generation...unless digital distribution wins out...hmmmmm.

COD4 Walls (Part 1)

The other day I casually picked up my copy of COD4 and decided to set the difficulty level to veteran and give things a try. Since then, I have become utterly obsessed with finishing this game on veteran and have made some pretty good progress, but I thought it might be kind of fun to write about the walls that I encounter along the way. For your benefit, I define a wall as any point in a game that causes extreme and excessive frustration bordering on insanity.

Fortunately, I've only hit one place thus far that I would call a legitimate wall. There have definitely been a few frustrating spots, but the only wall thus far was in the news room in the level "Charlie Don't Surf." The frustration began when I made it to this point one night, decided to wait to beat, but simply turned of my xbox w/o saving. The next day I awoke to the horror of having lost all of my progress on the level. After slogging my way back through the streets of the middle east, I finally made it back to the newsroom and was firly stuck for at least 45 minutes to an hour. This is an extremely difficult run with snipers, rpg's and seemingly omniscient soldiers finding you even from behind cover. Fortunately, I made it through w/o throwing my controller through the TV, although I came close, and have now made it through the rest of Act 1.

As I move forward from here, my greatest fear is coming up in "One Shot", which I have it on good authority is one of the most difficult levels ever...although I don't think anything can compare to "The Silo" in Call of Duty 2. I nearly lost my sanctification on that one.

The Death of HD-DVD

According to X3F it looks like HD-DVD is done for. Hopefully Microsoft will get a Blu-Ray Player to market sometime soon.

Check out the article here.

My Next Ferrari

Last week I picked up a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3 for $8, using a 25% off coupon stacked with my 10% off Gamestop Card (Score!!!). I've avoided racing games for a long time, b/c I just couldn't get the hang of making the turns. For some reason, I kept ending up running into wall, after wall, after wall. Since, this only cost me $8 I decided to take the plunge and force myself to buy a copy and see if I could make some progress. Turns out that was a pretty good decision, as I'm really starting to get the hang of it (although I'm only going through it on easy right now). I'm trying to collect all of the feraris in the game. I've already got quite a few, but I just added it up and it looks like I'm going to need about $2.5 milllion to get the last 8. Fortunatley, I'm earning about $200,000 per tournament so I should be there pretty quick. Next comes Lambourghinis (I have no idea if that's how you spell it).

26,000 and Counting

This news is a couple of days old, but I recently passed the 26,000 mark for my gamerscore. I was playing Viva Pinata and received the "Longevity" achievement (ironically enough). I wish that I could say that I earned every single one of my achievements, but sadly this is not the case. I, like so many others who got their Xbox early on, have Madden '06, NHL 2k6, as well as most of the other culprits that have contributed to inflated gamer scores. At the same time, I do have a lot of achievements that I am proud of, like beating COD2 on Veteran, Rainbow 6 on Realistic, and GRAW 2 on Elevated Risk, as well as all of the Single Player Achievements in GRAW 2. Anyway, my real goal right now is to hit 30,000 by the end of the year, which I think is totally doable.

Welcome to Drew Dog's Xbox

I'm a little surprised that I'm actually doing this, but I figured it was about time that I came up with my own blog site about my love for my xbox. To be clear (as Major Nelson would say), my xbox is a distant last compared to my love for Christ and my love for my family but I do enjoy fragging it up with the best of them and I especially love playing games with my family and friends. Anyway, on this site I'll try to post any news that I think is interesting, any great deals that I find on games, hardware, etc. and the rest of the time I'll probably keep a running commentary going of my progress through various games.