Well my 360 died again about a month ago. Called it in and shipped it off as soon as possible. Now about 4 weeks later it's scheduled to finally be delivered tomorrow. I'm sure everyone has heard the stats about 360s failing way too often and my own first hand experience certainly bears that out. I've had two 360s die on me that were treated with kid gloves. I just hope the third fatal error rears its head before the warranty runs out.

Microsoft has fixed it at 0 cost to me both times which is great. But I've never had a console fail on me before *knock on wood* and now the 360 has failed twice. It's just not built or designed well.

Well I thought I was done with achievement whoring but I ordered The Club on that gamefly deal a few days ago and looking at a list of cheesemints for it got my juices flowing. Next thing I knew I was mining Tetris Evolutions for cheese.

Anybody want to play me online so I can get the Give Em Twenty cheese?

I see achievements as just a uniform across the entire platform extension of what many games have been doing forever. In other words instead of trying to do things to get stars and unlock all of the characters and karts in Mario Kart Wii I'm trying to achieve certain scores or perform other specific tasks to unlock achievements in Tetris Ev.

This show kicks ass. I've liked John Henson's snarky humor since his Talk Soup days so it's good to see him again.

I even enjoyed the hell out of the recent "best of" clips episode they built around a fake awards show "The Wipies"

Budge and wubb team up
Pwning nubs in multiteam
Halo Olympics

My 360 is currently out for delivery. If I do get it back today that'll be just over 2 weeks from the day I sent it.

Started up the license where I'll be using a kart and manual steering (or a bike with manual steering for 100cc)

50cc is still pretty much cake. 2 starred or 3 starred the first three cups I've run. But I did try a 150cc cup and that was a scrap to pull out a win and an A rank. (1st/2nd/1st/2nd on the four courses.) I think I should look at switching to a medium character. Right now I'm using Toad on the Mini Beast.

If you wanna get whooped by me online sometime feel free to hit me up.

Yesterday was a banner Mario Kart day for me. I defeated the GGT's Mario Kart champion to become Mario Kart King of the GGT in addition to the OTT and cracked 8K VR points. And to top it off I attained the 3 star rank.

Okay on to an analysis of the best Mario Kart control scheme. I've played extensively with the Wii wheel, gamecube controller, and remote+nunchuk (hereafter referred to simply as nunchuk.) This will have very minor spoilers concerning POW blocks.

Wii wheel - This control scheme is the most fun, but it's also without a doubt the least precise. Since you jerk the wheel up to perform a trick it is very easy to mess up your steering or at least slightly alter your course when you pull a wheelie or a trick. Also it's just simply more difficult to know when you are doing a max turn than it is with the control stick on the GC controller or nunchuk. I think the reason there is obvious.

Gamecube controller - Switching...

First off I am the Mario Kart King of the OTT and if anyone has a problem with that we can settle it on the track.

Anyway, I'm completely addicted to Mario Kart Wii and have decided to go for 3 stars in all cups. If I achieve this noble goal I will get 3 stars by my name in online play.

Currently I have Mirror mode and 150cc completed and need need about 5 or 6 more cups between 50 and 100cc. Those lesser cups should be no match for my awesome skill now. It's just a matter of taking the time to play the cups.

Once I 3 star everything I plan to start a new license using a kart and manual steering and try to win every cup using that setup. Right now I'm using a bike and automatic steering.

Played a bit of online Monday evening with the CAG crew and gained a few VR points. I think I'll be able to crack 8K now.

If anybody has a favorite character/kart combo to use please leave me a comment with...

My 360 died yesterday. I'd been away for the weekend and when I got home I hopped on after getting the tip that it was Halo day and there were a few free things to grab (including a new map!) but my 360 gave me 2 flashing red lights right from the start.

I tried everything I could think of, but couldn't get anything except 2 blinking red lights and nothing on my TV screen. So I called up Microsoft to set up a repair.

I have to say the phone call went about as well as possible. I was on hold for just a minute or so after getting past their automated system and the woman who answered the phone spoke reasonably good English -- I only had trouble understanding her when she spoke quickly but I could usually figure out what she was saying enough to not need her to repeat things. It was a little odd as I thought she was a native English speaker when she first answered. :shrug: It's possible she was and just runs her words together when she talks...

darthbudge is my friend and we play Halo 3 together.

His brother also plays sometimes, but he licks the microphone.

budge's Xbox Live ID is Time 1ord because darthbudge was already taken and Time 1ord was the closest alternative available.