neolego

@Jeff - That really stinks man. I don't know anywhere that repairs them, outside of sending them back to Microsoft. You can contact them, but I'm not sure what they charge. So, I finally finished Black Ops 2 last night. It wasn't my favorite Call of Duty, but I enjoyed most of it (other than the crap strike missions). The Obama mission was my favorite. I really like the future stuff and would have preferred that the whole game take place in the future. It does get me excited for Ghosts, although I think CoD is finally going to get overshadowed by Battlefield and Titanfall in this coming generation. I will still play them each year though, I love them. Now, next up, is finishing AC4 and playing 400 Days. Once AC4 is done I will be moving on to Tomb Raider. I've got my blinders on with the Xbox One launch in sight. I have to finish these titles because I know what the Xbox One launches I will rarely go back to my 360, so if I don't finish it before then, I probably won't!

I feel your pain man. I have Dishonored, Tomb Raider, and 400 Days calling my name.....but I have to wait until bedtime!

Jeff, I'm playing on my iPad and I LOVE it! Send me an invite: neolego. We can be friends and I can help you with staffing and items. Also, Toy Story 3 is amazing! Probably the best "kids" game that's not LEGO on the 360. Toy Box is a blast.

No doubt. I've played all of the LEGO games. While I am still partial to Batman 2 (until Marvel Heroes of course!), Pirates is probably my 2nd favorite. IMO, it has the best level design of any of the games to date. Playing with the water, under water stuff was fantastic! I think that Pirates is mainly held back, like LotR, by story. They are stuck to the movies they are based on. I didn't think that was a problem since they have been doing that since the original LEGO Star Wars, but now having played Batman 1 and, more importantly 2 and LEGO City Stories, I just love the potential of original stories and just feel they can be more creative in that realm. But at the end of the day, I'm like the biggest LEGO game fan, so I will buy and play them all, no question!

Great game. I was reminded of it recently.http://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/point-pleasant-part2/ That looks fun. Unfortunately, the TellTale's game didn't get a lot of praise, but I picked it up months ago and just haven't played it yet. Since I own it, I'm going to play it! We will see.

My time has honestly been spent with Animal Crossing and State of Decay, not much change. However, my wife is away this week with the kids, so I'm going to be gaming heavy. I have made a list of games that I want to complete before the Xbox One launches. That list looks like this: Tomb Raider, Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite, Far Cry 3, Splinter Cell Conviction, Portal 2, and Jurassic Park. Not to mention I have to finish Black Ops 2 and Assassin's Creed 3. So, starting tonight, I'm going to finish up BOps2 and more of AC3. Then I plan to start Tomb Raider tomorrow. There is just so much good left to play in this generation! Also, if you guys haven't heard yet, Xbox Live is having an amazing "Ultimate Games Sale" this week. I just picked up Far Cry 3 for $20, Borderlands 2 for $10, and Perfect Dark Zero for $3. There are going to be some amazing daily sales this week so I would keep your eyes peeled!

I haven't really said much because I'm still processing most of what has went down this week. I will say that Microsoft has really handled this very poorly. From the beginning really. They needed to explain, in detail, all of the benefit of being always connect. How the power of the cloud "was" going to truly define the future of gaming. How game sharing "was" going to revolutionize sharing games. There was so much great potential, but it was never outlined. However, Geohound is spot on. Online Only should have never been an option. From day one, they should have said, DISC Based games won't change! They could keep everything else, 24 hour connect, DRM, etc with the digital content and no one would have batted an eye. I have been an all digital consumer for 2 years now. I don't own 1 single Xbox 360 disc, but I have a HDD filled with roughly 104 downloadable titles, at least 40 of those are full, retail, Games on Demand. I don't care that I can't trade them, I don't care that I can't share them, and I had to be online to purchase them. So, for me, nothing Microsoft said changed my opinion, I'm always online now! But by cutting out the retail consumer, they shot themselves in the foot. So, after Sony came out and said what they said, and they released the console for $100 less, as much as I hate MS for doing it, they had to make the move. BUT, once again, I'm dumbfounded by the way they are handling this. They should have come out and said they are keeping everything on LIVE the same (DRM, Always On, Shared Library, ETC), HOWEVER, they are going to change the rules for disc based games/purchases. Nope, instead what they said was that EVERYTHING they built their presentations around, and let the public stew over for a month has now been thrown out and your Xbox One is now basically an updated 360. It's just such a kneejerk reaction, and I expect more from a company like MS. In the end, I have both an XONE and PS4 pre-ordered and I will get both systems. I just have to say that I've lost so much respect and excited for the XONE because of this week. The PS4 was doing exactly what the PS3 was doing.....only better. And that's fine, I want to play InFamous. But the Xbox One set out to do something completely new and original. It was innovative. The idea of processing games with the power of the cloud has the long term potential to set the gaming world on fire. However, now that they have changed course and aren't "requiring it" then you will find games use it less and less. So, Next-Gen is going to end up being much like this Gen, you will buy a game on your platform of choice and they will be EXACTLY THE SAME EXPERIENCES on both. It's time for Innovation people. I choose Innovation everytime. Ok, I think I'm done for now. I have plenty more to say, but like I mentioned I'm still getting my thoughts together about all of this.

Not just start from scratch on Mobile, but it doesn't sync between iDevices. So you have to start from scratch on your iPad AND your iPhone. And then there is the facebook game. So, if you really want to be "mobile", you will have to play 3 complete different games. This release quickly went from the best news every to almost the worst. I want to play on my iPad, but I will loose all my progress!

My Father's Day gifts:

I had an amazing weekend for Father's Day. Played some games, but most all of my time was split between Animal Crossing DS and State of Decay. I've mentioned it here before, but SoD is such a good game. I'm off the mountain now and strolling city streets looking for survivors and supplies. I just can't get enough of this game, it is on pace to be my favorite Arcade game of the year! Animal Crossing is Animal Crossing. the game is addictive and fun and suffers from that "just a few more minutes" syndrome. Best 3DS game yet! Anyone else pick up State of Decay yet? Thoughts?

I have 1 friend on my 3DS. Does anyone want to exchange friend codes? I play a lot of Mario Kart, Fire Emblem, Luigi's Mansion, Both Mario Games, and currently, almost obsessively, Animal Crossing! My Friend Code is: 2079-6411-6468

Hi, I just recently started playing Alliance and I have like 1 friend who plays. Anyone want to be my friend?! I promise to send gifts. https://www.facebook.com/neolego

Sort of, it's DRM, so basically you are "licencing a product"....even if it's retail. It works like this. You buy Halo 5 and take it home. The XONE forces you to install that game to your harddrive and then gives you a license to play it. Anyone, on your console can play that game at any time, whether you are logged in or not. Also, you can go to a friends house, log in, and they can download and play that game as well as long as you are logged in. Where it gets spicy is what happens next. IF you want to trade in the game at GameStop, you can. However, the person that buys your used game, when they take it home and install it, LIVE will inform them they need to purchase a license to play the game (no mention of how much that would cost, but the loose talk is basically the full price of the game). On the flip side, if YOU buy the game and bring it home. Same thing, you install it, but in order to play the game you will have to purchase a license for it. Hang on, it doesn't stop there. Lets say you don't trade it to GameStop, but since we are such good friends you want to give me your copy of Halo 5. There are rules. First, me and you would have to have been LIVE friends for at least 30 days. If not, we will have to be friends and then wait 30 days before you can give it to me. Now, once we have been friend for 30 days, you can give me the disc and then you will have to go on your console and "Trade" the license to me so that the game is now mine. Now, let's say that I beat it and wanted to give it to Donbo, I can't, because each game is limited to only ONE trade! So, I could give him the disc, but the license is locked with me, so if he wanted to play the game it would be much like getting a used game and he would have to purchase a license to play it. Now, that may sound really negative and the problem is......IT IS NEGATIVE! If Microsoft really wanted to start down this road, they should have went all digital. Sure, they would have lost some of their install base (which they are doing already), but at least they would embrace the future fully and this wouldn't be a discussion. You can trade in your digital content now, and the console has to be online every 24 hours, so why not just go all in rather than straddle the fence. Why everyone is up in arms is because people can still buy a PHYSICAL product. As long as people pay $60 and have a Blu Ray in their hands, they own something and they should have the right to do with that whatever they want. It seems to me that Microsoft wants to be All Digital and rather than jump in the deep end, they are trying to "train" gamers to adapt and it's blowing up in their faces. Know this, Digital Games......Digital everything is the future. It happened with CDs. We are now seeing it with DVDs/BluRays. Shoot, I have bought a physical comic book in 2 years. Eventually everything will be like Steam and there will be no more physical media. At that time, what Microsoft is doing now will be common place. The sad part of this story is Nintendo and Sony are still in the present while Microsoft has book a one way trip on a Deloreon from hell. I'm sure the Xbox One will sell, I am just not sure what the legs on this machine are going to be.

Nintendo has proven once again they are out of touch with the Market. It's like they have two completely different companies. The one that makes Wii Crap and the one that makes 3DS. The 3DS is EASILY my favorite console right now. Animal Crossing may be my game of the year. It's just amazing! Fire Emblem, Mario Kart, Mario 3D Land, Luigi's Mansion. I may never purchase a 3rd party game, but my 3DS will always be amazing. Add to that PokeMon this year and then Smash Bros next. It's brilliant. Then, there is the Wii U. I almost bought a Wii U a couple of months ago because I really wanted to play LEGO City...thank God I didn't. There is just nothing to play on that system. They announced a new Donkey Kong this year (eh), The Wonderful 101 (which looks like an XBLA game), Mario Kart (which I have on my 3DS) and then Mario 3D World.....that was the earth shattering, killer app that you had for 2013. A Mario game that looks like an HD version of 3D Land, which I already have!?!? I was expecting Mario Galaxy on Steriods....or something worth my time. How I wish Nintendo would stop making home hardware and just develop and publish games on the PS4 and Xbox One. Not only would they make SO MUCH MONEY, but they would also have such better tools to work with. Dang that Japaneses pride!

Well, I'd like to start my morning with a health dose of CROW. So, Sony did NOT follow suit with MS and that shocked me completely. If you would have asked me Sunday, I would have said that Sony has no way to "win" this Generation. Now, there is no way they can "lose" it! They are launching with none of the restrictions of the Xbox One, better 1st party studios, PlayStation plus which is an amazing service that will offer a free game every month, and they are $100 cheaper at launch. Holy Cow. Well done Sony, well done! As for me, I'm still on the fence. I pre-ordered my Day One Xbox One right after the conference. And THEN, last night I also pre-ordered the PS4. I will not buy both (at least, right now I don't think I will), but I'm finding myself really, really torn and not sure what to do. Here's where I stand: Xbox One: -Most of my current gaming is on 360, so my Achievements mean a lot. -The Controller, the reason I play more 3rd party games on the 360 is the Controller is SO MUCH BETTER than the Dual Shock -Halo, period, the only MS Exclusive that I care about. -XBLA, the single greatest thing about the current-gen for me has been the Arcade: Shadow Complex, Castle Crashers, Braid, Mark of the Ninja, etc. This will continue into next-gen. -Kinect Voice Controls -Twitch Integration PS4: -Developer Friendly, they can publish their own games. -Playstation Plus, offers so many more features than Xbox Live, including a free game every month! -Sony Exclusives: Infamous, Uncharted, DCU Online, Kingdom Hearts 3, 1886, Killzone, etc. Such a higher quality with Exclusives -$100 Cheaper, I'm a father with 2 kids (and 1 on the way), $100 is $100! Things I don't care about: -Third Party Support, the games I want will be on both: Watchdogs, AC4, Madden, CoD, etc. -Connected: required or not, my console will always be connected to the internet. -DRM/Trade Games: I buy digital only, so this doesn't affect me either way. Needless to say, I have a lot to mull over in the coming days to make a decision. The good news is, we are in for an amazing, AMAZING Next-Gen. The Division, Starwars Battlefront, New EA Sports Games, Watch_Dogs.....there is just ALOT to look forward too and I'm pumped. Can't wait to hear more about the games on the floor starting today!

I have already pre-ordered my Day One Edition of the Xbox One. The system looks amazing and for all of the naysayers, HA - THERE WERE GAMES!! MGS 5 looks amazing, Halo was a given, Quantum Break continues to intrigue me, and Insomniac doing Xbox Exclusive!! I personally have ZERO interest in Ryse, Titanfall, or Forza, but they are there too. I'm most excite for the indie scene. With Below and Minecraft announced, I'm excited about the potential there. All in all, if did everything I needed it to do. The price IS a little steep, I was hoping for $400 for both consoles. And if PS4 can deliver it's product for $400 MS is going to have a problem. But if the XONE follows the trend of the 360 (which with the cloud it should) it will be completely worth the money in the long run. Well done Microsoft!

You do realize it has a proper name right? It's Xbox One.

Just be aware, before hailing the PS4 flag. Sony has been, purposely deceitful in their strategy for the new system. This pressure for DRM is not from MS, it's from publishers, so rest assure, Sony will have something, if not identical, very close to what the Xbox One is doing. If you are not ready to embrace the future of media, I would suggest that you keep your Xbox 360 and PS3! This is evidence of perception and nothing more. Microsoft appealed to a wide audience at their reveal, Sony appealed to the Gamer. Next week, Microsoft is going to BLOW Sony out of the water with games, including the new exclusive from Respawn Titanfall. Whereas, Sony will have to share these same non gamer features during it's E3 spotlight. And the tables will once again be even. Microsoft is a smart company, they are not the company that has been losing money for the last 5 years straight (looking at Sony). MS knows what they are doing. They appeal to the casual market to sell the surplus of their consoles, and then even if they lose some hardcore gamers to Sony, they will still be more profitable in the long run. This is a business, and MS knows how to play the game. Also, MS is being very clear that they are not only supporting, but still PROMOTING the 360. With games like Fable Anniversary and Splinter Cell and GTA V due this holiday. If you are not ready to embrace the digital future, you can still play amazing games, at a great price, with no internet connected needed on a 360. What's funny is that, in a year's time, this will not even be a topic to discuss. Steam has been doing this for years. This is really just something home console folks are going to learn to live with...and in the long run, will actually be best for both the gamer and developer! Also, sorry to double post, but they just announced the Lococyle will release on Xbox 360 XBLA, but will also be available day one on the Xbox One. This game is looking great. I love Twisted Pixel, so this will be a day one purchase for me! http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/07/lococycle-is-an-xbox-one-launch-title?abthid=51b20d2cc807433f44000006

HUGE NEWS on the Xbox One (Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/06/microsoft-details-xbox-one-used-games-always-online) Here are the highlights: -Games will be available Day and Date Digital (this is my MOST WANTED feature!) -The Console isn't "Always Online" but will have to connect to the internet once ever 24 hours to play games. -All Games Must Be Installed, but The Disc Will No Longer be Required. -Games Can be Shared with Anyone in your "Family". -You can "Share" your library with up to ten Family Member, who can play your shared library from Any Console. -Limitations on Giving Your Games to a Friend -You will be able to Trade Games in There is some major new included in the article. I'd love to hear your thoughts. There is a log of Negative going around right now. Also, there is a lot of people jumping ship to PS4. Let me be clear, Sony may be too scared to share their details, rest assure that the PS4 will have a VERY similar requirement to Connecting once a day and DRM of games. After next week, whiners jumping to PS4 right now are going to be embarrassed! Thoughts?

This may have been mentioned before, but I'm not reading back through all 24 pages of posts. I stopped buying Minimates several years ago, but there is one set that would get me started again: Hawkguy and Kate Bishop Make this set, with a naked chase figure of Hawkguy and you will have me addicted once again!

Well, I had a pretty fun night last night. I'm working through my list of "Games to Play Before Xbox One Release", so I'm about half way through CoD: BOPS 2. It's been pretty fun, like most CoD games before it. I'm really excited about Ghost and am hoping for something fresh. I also played a little LEGO Batman 2, My goal is to try and 100% LEGO Batman 1 and 2, LEGO Star Wars Complete Series and 3, and LEGO LotR...we'll see how that goes. But playing through LEGO Batman 2 again, I can easily say it's my favorite LEGO game to date and only makes me more and more excited for LEGO Marvel Heroes! On a final note, I'd like to add that I started "State of Decay" last night. If you haven't heard about it, I recommend you Google it and read up. In short, it's an Open-World, Zombie Apocalypse that you have to survive. Sounds super familiar, I know, but the hook is that it's really all about exploration and survival. You start out at a camping sight with a few survivors. You start getting missions to search tents and cabins for supplies and board up the windows of your ranger station for protection. The great thing is that EVERYTHING takes stamina. So, if you want to RUN across the field you are loosing stamina and if you get attacked by a zombie herd you are going to be in trouble. Wildly swinging your weapon will make you tried very fast. Also, for the record, I'm about an hour in and there is no ammo to be found, all melee, so it is in your best interested in take your time and be quite. Speaking of being quite. When you come to a cooler or backpack that you can search, it takes a while for you to search. During this time you are vulnerable to attacks. You can choose to press the LB and search faster, but searching faster makes more noise which will attract more zombies. The final feature I'll mention, is Permadeath. If you die, you instantly take over the life of someone else inside your base of operations. And you start again at level 1 with no upgrades and none of the items that player died with. And you keep trucking along. The game is about survival and so far it's awesome!! I would recommend anyone give it a shot. XBLA gives you a free trial of any of their games, so you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot! P.S. This is single player only. Undead Labs (the developer) has stated that if this game is successful, their next game (already titled Class4) will basically be an MMO spiritual sequel to State of Decay. So, as much as I'm loving State of Decay, the idea of a MMO set in the same (or similar world) is brilliant! TRY IT!

WHAT?!?! How did I miss this????? To Amazon I go!

I think Minimalistic is the idea I'm shooting for. It's simple with Star Wars because they are min vehicles. With Bilbo I wanted to showcase the ring in a very minimal way. A way that feels like LotR/Hobbit but also is simple in design. I am working on a few new ones, trying to gather parts right now. Current in the design phase I have a TMNT Turtle Van with Leo, TMNT Turtle Blimp with Don, and Stark Tower with Iron Man. I will post pictures as I finish them.

This week has already started off amazing. So yesterday Plants Vs Zombies 2 was announced. It's coming out in July. Such an amazing game!! http://youtu.be/gbcBYs0ljI0 Then, today Lionhead has announced "Fables Anniversary" for Xbox 360, which is an HD remake of the first Fable game. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/04/lionhead-teases-fable-hd-remake?abthid=51adf14283072e4f50000008 And 343 announced Halo: Spartan Assault for Win8 and WinPhone. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/04/halo-spartan-assault?abthid=51adf1995470bf264400000c Also today LEGO Batman 2 AND Tomb Raider hit Xbox Live Games on Demand. Not only that, but LEGO Batman is $20 and Tomb Raider is $30. That's a great price and I will be downloading both this evening. And today is only Tuesday. Tomorrow Stay of Decay is releasing on XBLA, Sunday is Animal Crossing DS, and then Monday kicks off E3. Great time to be a gamer!

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is easily one of my top 5 XBLA games ever. That game is a stinkin blast!! As for my weekend, I played several hours of our Memorial Day tradition: Call of Duty. Every year I get together with my Brother-in-law and whoever else shows up and we rock some CoD to celebrate Merica! Yesterday we ran about 3 hours in Zombie which was quite fun. And then finished off the night with Team-Deathmatch against a bunch of bots. Nice holiday if you ask me!