Gears of War 2: Achievements Unlocked

Gears of War 2 is set to release in a few months. They have a lot to live up to. One of the biggest things I remember about Gears of War was the fact that the achievements actually took skill to get. I mean, yes, even if you were complete garbage you could get them eventually. After thousands of hours of playing of course. That led to a great challenge and of course the mixing up of weapons you used.

The list of Gears of War 2 achievements has just been released by the creators. You can check them out here at IGN. That list is missing a few Gears of War 2 achievements that can be found on the Gears of War 2 website.

What are my impressions? I’m a bit disappointed. There are virtually no really challenging achievements for us. I was hoping they’d do the same “get 100 kills with this gun”. That way you actually had to get good at the game to beat the entire thing. I won’t let something like achievements ruin a game for me, although these new weapons and changed gameplay styles are starting to worry me.

$100,000 Game

Famous rappers Bow Wow and The Game bet $100,000 on a single game of Madden football. Both of them thought they were the best at the game, and let’s face it, that money is like nothing to them. The winner will accept the money and donate it all to charity.

The game was supposed to be on August 25th, yet it just reached the hot news page on Digg a few minutes ago. I’ll get back to you guys with the results once I hear them.

$100k? Are you good enough at any game to consider betting even $100?

Looking For Guest Writers

I’ve been having troubles keeping this blog updated lately. I’m going away for the weekend and that will not allow me to post for another few days. I’m looking for some gamers who would be interested in doing some guest blogging here. What could be more fun than getting your content viewed by so many people? This blog has 100k views so far!

100k and Counting

LTNGamers has finally hit 100,000 views. It’s taken nearly 8 months, but I’ve hit 100k views from search engines and natural traffic alone. It’s pretty exciting to see that level of success with so little put into it. The site honestly has been slowing down lately as I’ve been very busy, however I hope to turn that around.

For frequent readers, thanks for sticking around, I hope to see you at 200,000.

I’ll get some more announcements and rants for you this week.

My Red Ring of Death

I bought my Xbox 360 almost two years ago. It was used, but only a week old. I got a 2 year full coverage warranty from the guy who sold it to me. Man was I happy. The red ring of death is a killer, and I can’t even imagine going 6-8 weeks without my Xbox while I sent it in. So I was in luck, the red ring of death is covered by my warranty.

For those of you who don’t know about the red ring of death, it’s pretty simple. Basically, it’s a defect in the hardware that is a result of overheating consoles. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th player controller lights on the console will turn red, the center will remain green, and the 1st players controller light will remain off.

Microsoft has acknowledged the defect and has extended their warranty to a three year warranty to fix the problem. If you have the red ring of death you can check out xbox.com for more information as to what you need to do to get your Xbox repaired.

Anyways, like I was saying. I got the red ring of death today. A few hours later I drive down to Best Buy. Eventhough the guy couldn’t get my Xbox to actually show the red ring of death, he gave me my new Xbox. That’s why you buy your consoles at Best Buy. They aren’t going to try to avoid giving you a new one. I was very satisfied with their customer service.

PSP Had a Touchscreen?

One of the biggest features that should have been included with the PSP is a touchscreen. Almost every cell phone is starting to use this, and even computers are starting to use this technology. Why Sony didn’t incorporate it in their handheld is a mystery to Jube808, gamer and modder extrodinare. He modded his PSP to work with a touchscreen keyboard.

His work is not finished, however he is continuing to work at making it compatible with more of the key features to the PSP including games.

Madden 2009 8/12/08

Madden 2009 is set to release, and my biggest issue with the game has since been partially resolved. A few months ago when it was announced that Brett Farve would be on the cover I was upset as the guy retired. Well now that he is back, he can keep alive the Madden curse. He’s not on the team in which he is sporting on the cover, and that will be a stinger for any Packer fan.

This year, the game seems to have even more hype than in previous years. There are some pretty big changes that were much needed that will bring this game up to our current expectations for an NFL football game. Now if they were to only fix the one problem left, achievement points. They are too hard to get. Only a die hard Madden fan plays enough to get them.

If you haven’t already seen enough trailers, go ahead and check out this one from Teamxbox. I can’t wait to try this game out.

Rockband 2 Achievements

Rockband 2 will be releasing soon, and with that comes another potential 1,000 achievement pints for the Rockband players. They have just released the full list of the achievements if reading about them interests you, you can check them out here at IGN.

They don’t appear to be too easy. In fact, they appear to be rather difficult for the average player. There are some that just about anybody can get, but in order to get the full 1,000 points you’ll need to master the game.

Call of Duty: World at War Trailers

The third Call of Duty: World at War trailer just released earlier today. The three you can view from this link are all making the game look just as intense as the previous Call of Duty games. There are many changes that will be for the better, yet it still seems to look like the same gameplay. Check them out.

CoD Trailers

Shadowrun: A Worthy FPS Purchase

There are so many different video games out there. Even when you narrow it down to a genre, such as first person shooters, it’s still hard to find the right games. If you’re sick and tired of playing the same fps game you’ve been playing for months, I have a great suggestion for a game that you may have never even considered before.

Shadowrun was released back in the midst of the Gears of War, Halo 2, and Rainbow 6 Vegas era. Launched against so many widely popular competitors caused you to probably not take notice. There was the demo where you could play online with others to get a feel for the game, but that alone didn’t cause much of a stir. The game was slowly forgotten until just recently when Gamestop marked the price for the game down to $15 used.

That’s when I decided to pick it up. My first impressions were, this game seems a little childish for FPS. The graphics aren’t meant to look realalistic like in Gears of War, rather they are given a more simple, computer programmed look. Another thing I took a quick notice of was the different ways you can use your experience to your advantage. You can choose one of four characters. Each has their own perks and downfalls. Then there are a bunch of different magic and technology perks you can buy to help your character. As you learn how to mesh, and use these effectively you will be able to start dominating your opponents.

Unlike Halo and Call of Duty, your experience shows and helps you in your matches. In other games it’s mostly about who can grab the weapon that controls the map first, or who is using the cheap noob tactics to kill you. When you’re good at this game you will be a presence in the game, and you can be the difference between a win and a loss.