Well, hello there! I’m back from Dundee. Well, I’ve actually been back since the 28th, but I’ve been too busy playing the Xbox 360 I bought to post an update here. But more on that in a bit.

Christmas was good. I didn’t get much in the way of presents, just money mostly (which contributed towards the aforementioned 360) and little things like socks, diabetic chocolate, etc. I haven’t gotten my presents from my parents yet, since my dad isn’t back from work until the 3rd, so we’ve decided to wait till then, since he’s missed Christmas and is going to miss Hogmany as well. But Christmas in Dundee was alright. Was good seeing all my family again, most of whom I hadn’t seen for close to a year. so, that was fun.

So yeah, I bough an Xbox 360. An Elite one. Aww yeah. It’s lovely… and black, so it matches my PS3 and my TV. I’ve only got four games at the moment though: Gears of War 2, Mirror’s Edge, LEGO Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda. I was supposed to get an extra controller with it as well, but the Gamestation store where I got it (In Glenrothes) was out of individual ones, so they had to give me a pack with a controller and the last two games I mentioned instead. So I got two games I wasn’t expecting to get, which is nice. Although, the controller is white, so it doesn’t match the console (or my other controller), which made me sad. Perhaps at some point, if I happen to have a shit-load of disposable money from work, I might buy a second black one.

So I’ve been playing it mostly since then. I’ve completed Gears of War 2. Last night, myself and a friend played through the majority of the campaign mode on co-op, which was much fun. We had previously done the same thing a few months back with Resistance on the PS3. Now I just need to play through it all again on the higher difficulties for the achievements. Shame I suck. The game is fantastic though. The graphics are sublime. Seriously, this thing could rival Metal Gear Solid 4 in terms of graphics quality. The story was alright too, even if I had no clue what was going on (I haven’t played the first game). Of course though, this all pales in comparison to the fact that your main weapon HAS A FUCKING CHAINSAW ON IT!

Seriously, killing enemies with your awesome chainsaw gun NEVER gets old. There’s nothing quite like seeing your character rip the chainsaw into an enemie’s chest, blood going everywhere, while your character just screams “AWWWWWW YEEEEAAAHHH!” It doesn’t get much better.

Mirror’s Edge, on the other hand, was a little less overwhelming. In fact, it’s a pretty mediocre game in my opinion. I haven’t completed the story, but I’m about 2 thirds of the way through (ish), and it doesn’t show any signs of getting much better. Not a lot is actually explained plot-wise, and the characters aren’t particularly likeable. Combine that with what could possibly be the most frustrating gameplay you have ever played, and you have yourself a rather poor game. It’s an interesting concept, and it’s always nice to see companies coming up with something original, but it’s just not been executed pretty well. The focus is on the whole free-running aspect, but the flow of your run is always broken by a miss-timed jump, send you off the top of a building to the pavement below, or desperately trying to find out how to get where you need to be. Often accompanied by 3 or 4 police officers pelting you with machine guns. I’ve surprised I’ve gotten as far through it as I have without throwing my controller through the TV screen.

As for the other two games, Kung Fu Panda is surprisingly good for a game based on a movie, since they almost always suck. It’s still not good enough to make me want to keep playing though, although that may be in part due to the fact I’ve seen the movie and already know the story. LEGO Indy is great though, I’m really getting into that. I loved the LEGO Star Wars games and this is just as much fun.

I’ve also signed up for Xbox Live as well, so if you have a 360 and want to add me as a friend, my gamertag is “leslij55″, minus the quotes, obviously. The only multiplayer game I have is Gears 2, but I’ll no doubt be getting a load more in the coming weeks. Call of Duty: World at War and Left 4 Dead are priorities.

Anyway, I’m off to go chainsaw my way through some more Locust.

So, the open beta of PlayStation Home was finally released on Thursday. FINALLY. this thing has been in development since 2005. For those not in the know, Home is a “social gaming experience”, or something to that effect. Basically, you create a virtual version of yourself, and you can then walk around virtual environment chatting and interacting with other people. It’s pretty cool. You can go to the theatre and watch trailers and things, go bowling or play pool, or just hang out in the Square or in a friend’s apartment.

Unfortunately, being a beta, there isn’t much content at the moment. The choice of clothing and accessories for your character is appalling. You’re basically limited to 3 or 4 pieces of each type of clothing (tops, bottoms, shoes, etc), so everyone looks very similar. You have the option to buy more things, but that selection is piss-poor as well, and each item costs 59p! I don’t really want to pay 59p for a pair of virtual shoes…

But anyway, it’s looking good and has a lot of potential. And even this content lacking is quite fun. Nothing quite like getting a massive line of people doing the “Running Man” dance.

The work night out I went to on Thursday was a lot of fun. Being new, it was a good way to get to know everyone, especially the ones who I don’t have the same shifts as. I had a great meal: melon for starters, chicken stuffed with black pudding (Mmm :D) for my main, and a Bailey’s chocolate cake thing for desert. Once we finished the meal, a load of us went down the pub, and a few (myself included) were out drinking till about 1am. I was a little hungover in the morning, but I didn’t start work till 1, so I managed to get a decent lie-in.

I had to work two shifts on Saturday to make up for the hours I lost on Thursday (I was meant to work 6 till 10, but obviously couldn’t because of the night out). I had to work 8am till 12. Then back in from 6pm till 10. That was a long day.

Anyway, I’d better be off. I have a college assignment due in tomorrow which I’ve barely started. :S

Remember me posting a while ago about how my PS3 packed in and it would have to be replaced? Well, I got my replacement yesterday ad I was a very happy bunny.

That is, until I came to restore all the data from my last one. When my last PS3 went kaput, I created a backup on everything on its HDD: save data, demos, and game data (updates, downloadable content, etc). However, upon restoring it all to my new PS3, I find that the only thing that was actually restored was my save data, music and movies. No game demos, data, etc.

Apparently, it wouldn’t restore it because it was from “another system”. WTF? I understand the reasoning behind this when it comes to PSN games: Someone could buy a copy of a PSN game, and then “restore” it to all their friends PS3s. But game demos and game data? That doesn’t cost anything! Now I have to spent ages updating all my games! And the worst thing is, updates to games are mandatory; you cannot play the games until you have downloaded and installed the updates.

Grr.

If I had an awesome Internet connection, this wouldn’t phase me too much. But I don’t, so it does. I foresee many hours waiting for game updates to download in the near future (here’s looking at you, Burnout Paradise).

In other news, The Co-Op (where I now work, for those that didn’t know) are having a night out tomorrow, which I am going to. It’s at a nice restaurant/bar/thing in town, so it’ll be a nice meal and a few drinks. Should be good. Also means I don’t have to work tomorrow night, making my Thursday not feel so long.