Achievements Earned Today

• Graduate - Halo 3
• Completed Act 4 on Hardcore - Gears of War
• Completed Act 4 on Casual - Gears of War
• A Dish Best Served Cold - Gears of War
• Completed Act 5 on Hardcore - Gears of War
• Soldier - Gears of War
• Mercenary - Gears of War
• Completed Act 5 on Casual - Gears of War
• I Can't Quit You Dom - Gears of War
• Council Legion of Merit - Mass Effect
• Paramour - Mass Effect
• Rich - Mass Effect
• Sniper Expert - Mass Effect
• Tactician - Mass Effect
• Medal of Honor - Mass Effect
• Young Gun - Guitar Hero 2
• Ready to Rock - Guitar Hero 3
• Bronze Streaker - Guitar Hero 3
• Silver Streaker - Guitar Hero 3
• Perfectionist - Guitar Hero 3

A Pretty big day today so far. I will probably be playing more later on tonight. I was pretty happy that my brother and I got through Gears of War. It sure helped increase my Gamerscore a lot. I haven't decided if I am going to go for all of the online achievements for Gears of War but it's certainly a possibility. I have not played any Gears of War online, but I just might give it a shot later on tonight.

Review: XBOX Live 3 Month Gold Card

Two days ago, I purchased a XBOX Live 3 Month Gold Card for two reasons. One is that, obviously I wanted to try out the XBOX Live service and gain achievements. Secondly, I wanted to test out the cards to give a review of them, because I'm fairly certain that the direct credit card transfer on the XBOX website is not a complicated process at all. I've had plenty of experience with MMORPGs so I figured that it wouldn't be worth it as a review.

I purchased my card at a local RadioShack. I had to pay tax on it, so it was just a few dollars more expensive than the regular service price, but I guess that's the price you pay for this convienence.

Since I was still on my lunch hour and I knew I wanted to play when I got home, I went to the XBOX website, signed in with my Windows Live ID, and proceeded to my gamercard. All I had to do was scratch off the silver bar on the back of the card and type the code into the website. It was very easy and I became a gold member in a few short minutes.

I would certainly recommend this card to people who do not have a credit card and can just sign up online and save money on the tax. Also, for someone who does not need a recurring account or just wants to try the service out. I would also recommend this to people as gifts for family members or friends who are XBOX Live members. For anyone else, it just seems easier to put in your credit card info and become a gold member that way.

Achievements Earned Today

• Two by Four - Guitar Hero 3
• A Couple of Streakers - Guitar Hero 3

My brother picked up Guitar Hero III last night so him and I played a few songs in the co-op career mode. It was easy to see that GH3 was made for the XBOX360 while GH2 was just a port. The graphics and sound quality were much higher. I certainly enjoyed the game and will keep going through the career mode with him.

Achievements Earned Today

• Search and Rescue - Mass Effect
• Geth Hunter - Mass Effect

Not much playing today as I watched the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game when I got home from work. Now I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow should be a more fun filled evening of video game playing.

Achievements Earned Today

• Completed Act 2 on Hardcore - Gears of War
• Completed Act 2 on Casual - Gears of War
• Broken Fingers - Gears of War
• Completed Act 3 on Hardcore - Gears of War
• Completed Act 3 on Casual - Gears of War
• Honor-Bound - Gears of War
• Initiation - F.E.A.R.
• Honorarium of Corporate Service - Mass Effect
• Dog of War - Mass Effect
  

Today I went up a few more points with some achievements earned with the help of my brother. I was also watching him play some Halo 3 on XBOX Live and I must say I am really interested in purchasing a Gold membership to try as well. With the few games I have, it seems I can only unlock half of the achievements offline and the other half on. With my birthday coming up, maybe I'll ask for some of those XBOX Live gift cards.

I must say, the achievement system has sure changed the way I look at video games. Not only is it a way of determining how dedicated someone is to playing the games, but also an incentive to play many different games. I've found myself not wanting to play my older XBOX games with my 360 because there are no achievements to unlock. But also, I've been to video game stores looking at all sorts of XBOX 360 games because of the potential to raise my gamerscore a few hundred points.