Steam Treasurehunt

The Steam Holiday Treasure is over, and I didn't even win a single game. I will review my progress in this post.

December 6th-7th

• Self Portrait - Setup an avatar
  Already done.
• Got Tanked? - Become a Desert Fox in R.U.S.E.
  See note below.
• Up the Ante - Unlock The Iron Curtain in Poker Night at the Inventory
  I already owned this game, but not this achievement. It didn't take long to get, though.
• More Cowbell - Set a leaderboard score of at least 1,124,400 in easy (9 minute) mode for the "Paul Hartnoll" level in Chime
  I already owned this game, but I hadn't played the specific song in easy. This took, naturally, nine minuts.

 December 8th-9th

• Friends with Benefits - Have 10 friends on your friends list
  I had 83.
• What Happens in Vegas - Complete Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal achievement in Fallout: New Vegas
  See note below
• Terminal Velocity - Set a leaderbord score of at least 22,600 on the level 'Mash Face Against Mountain' in AaAaAA!!!
  This game has an achievement named after me for some reason, so, naturally, I already had this one.
• Go To Your Happy Place - Play the demo or game The UnderGarden
  Tried the demo, but didn't buy the game.

December 10th-11th

• Join the Club - Join an Official Group
  I'm already a member of 86 official groups.
• Family-Style - Get Back in Business in Mafia II
  I have 100% in this - well, except that one buggy achievement in Joe's Adventure DLC.
• Stack the Deck - Be a Devastator in Magic: The Gathering
  I am not good at Magic, but I already had this one.
• Just Drop It - Set a leaderboard score of at least 85,370 for 'Classic - Small Wonder' in Droplitz
  I already had 100% in this game, so that score was cleared.

December 12th-13th

•  It's Better to Give - Send a gift to a friend
  I'm very generous!
• Take One for the Team - Make a Sacrifice in Call of Duty: Black Ops
  I only got this game because I could get it 40% at release, which made the price reasonable. I'm just missing the Zombie mode achievements, so this one was done.
• Breaker, Breaker - Set a leaderboard score of at least 11,200,000 for 'Bonus Mode' in Shatter
  I already had a score of 15,500,000.
• Zombie Zoo - Create a Crass Menagerie in Left 4 Dead 2
  I love L4D and L4D2 and I play them casually with friends. I have both games at 100%.

December 14th-15th

• Sneak Peak - Download and watch a trailer from each of the following games: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Homefront, BRINK, Red Faction: Armageddon, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and Portal 2
  I had a lot of trouble downloading these because Steam would freeze for a min. everytime I pressed download. After I was done, Valve decided to rename this objective to "Steam Gimme", and you just had to have an account. I got it the hard way!
• Tunnel Vision - Become a Nosalis Hunter in Metro 2033
  I haven't completed a playthrough in this game yet, since I didn't find it that much fun. However, I already had this achievement.  
• Cause and Effect - Create a Destruction Frenzy in Just Cause 2
  I already owned Just Cause 2, but I couldn't play it because it requires Win7, and I'm still running XP on my PC. To took a chance, downloaded it on my laptop, and managed to get the achievement even though the game was lagging like crazy on very low settings.
• Beat It - Set a leaderboard score of at least 3,770,488 for 'Survival Best Score' in Beat Hazard
  Already done.

December 16th-17th

• Smack Talker - Post a comment on a friend's Steam Community profile page 
  I actually had to do this. I'm surpriced I haven't done it before now.
• One-Hit Wonder - Build a Wonder in Civilization V
  Already done.
• Road Rage - Set a leaderboard score of at least 10,515 for 'Slaughter, City Center' in Zombie Driver
  Great game! I already had a score of 127,922.
• Butter Me Up - Build Me Up Buttercup in Bob came in Pieces
  Another great game! I have all the achievements already, so this was free too.

 December 18th-19th

• Suggestive Behavior - Write a recommendation
  As I've already written about on my blog, I have made a few.
• Made in the USA - Become a Founding Father in Empire: Total War
  I already had this one, but I haven't played this game that much, since my game started crashing everytime I got to a specific mission.
• Buzz the Tower - Set a leaderboard score of at least 37 for 'Beach' in flight Control HD
  I think my score for every level is over 100, but for some reason this objective kept going from completed to not completed and then back again.
• Overachiever - Played at least 15 games or demos since March 2009 (When Steam began recording playtime)
  No comments...
  

I really didn't want to purchase a lot of games for this treasure hunt, since you only had to complete 10 out of the 28 tasks to do in the drawing for the 100 games, and I was expecting those 10 to be complete free. In fact, I ended up with 20 free tasks, and 6 very easy ones. The first day R.U.S.E. was 33% off, but I decided not to buy it for two reasons: 1. I wasn't really interrested in this game, and 2. I price was still too high, and I could buy it retail cheaper and just activate it on Steam if I really wanted.

The second day Fallout: New Vegas showed up with no discount, and at first I was happy to see this, since I still didn't want to buy a lot for a perfect treasure hunt, and with two expensive games the first two days it looked like that would be the trend.

Then the next few days came, and I got a lot of free tasks - well, the Just Cause 2 one was a bit of a pain as already described. I was now hoping for a game like Modern Warfare 2 to show up, so I could just say 'Fuck it!', but no. All free tasks too.

It was now Saturday the 18th, and I was only missing those two tasks from the first two days, and my damn OCD kept nagging me about it. It was too late to buy the game retail and just activate them on Steam, and I didn't want to spent 100€ on them on Steam. Thus, I decided to look at some of the other digital stores where I came across Direct2Drive where they were also 100€ in their EU store, and cheaper in their UK store. And on top of that you could add a coupon to get an extra 25% off, which in the end meant that the games was about half-price. I thought I would get an error when I tried to use the UK, and I got one:

Your transaction will require review by a Customer Service Agent. Please contact Customer Service for further information. We apologize for this inconvenience.

I decided to contact support, and let their responce time decide whether I should go for the two tasks or not. At 00:18 I made my ticket, and at 00:30 they responded:

I sincerely apologize that you’ve been inconvenienced!
In order to protect your card from unauthorized internet purchases our system required a manual review by a human being in a random security sweep.  This is a precaution we take as an online, no card present merchant.
I have cleared your account and sincerely thank you for your patience! Please return to making purchases with us as you normally would. No purchase has completed from your previous attempt.
Feel free to contact me with any more questions you might have.
Regards,

That's just crazy! 12 minuts responce time in the weekend at night? Valve could really learn something here! Anywho, I bought the two games without any problems and activated them on Steam. I was not at home so via remote control I told my PC to start downloading them so they would be ready when I got home the next day. To make a long story short, the Fallout: New Vegas task took a few hours, and R.U.S.E. took around 30 seconds.

Click the image below to see the whole contest page:

And, naturally, the epic Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect:

RUSH review and 100%

RUSH is a good puzzle game that never gets too frustrating, and if you do feel a bit frustrated there's a simple hint system that either tells you if your signs are placed the wrong place or tells you where to place signs. However, the game is missing a cute creature like Toki Tori.

The 21 achievements were easily done, but I still had fun doing them. I should have added to the review that the frame rate tends to drop when you start the boxes in the larger levels. This, however, isn't that important since you aren't actively doing anything while this happens. You should still note that some of the loop achievements can be a bit buggy if the game lags.

Rhythm Zone Review

Good and fun music game built up the same way as Guitar Hero just with a keyboard. You can change the difficulty from decent to impossible. It's always a great feature in music games that you can add your own music - in this game you even get an achievement for adding 10,000 songs(!).

One little note: This is possibly the only game ever that gives me nausea. After one song my vision is all weird, and after 4-6 songs I just have to stop.

It's just a bit sad I will never get all achievements in this game. I don't think I have 10,000 songs to add, and the hardest difficulty is just impossible for me.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Review

I've heard a lot of bad press about this game, and seeing that the game had already dropped to 29,99€ after just a few month didn't look good. But since the game had a 75% sale (already!) I could resist, since, afterall, the game has achievements. I won't be getting all the achievements for this game, since a lot of them are for multiplayer, and I don't want to play the multiplayer in this game. Here's the review I've written on Steam (for all my Steam review, look HERE).

Being an IO game I really wanted to like it, but I just don't. In fact, I have a hard time even comming up with something positive to say. Sure, the weird hand-held camera view is somewhat stylish, but it quickly just gets annoying. Also, who's filming and why? And why is gore and nudity censured?

The guns are weak, and doesn't really feel like they do any damage. The story, well, I never really got it - you hunt someone in the beginning, and your girlfriend gets *snip*, and you hunt the people behind? From all previews I thought it would be about a robbery, but that's only the multiplayer part (or arcade mode).

I've played 4.4 hours so far, and that's 3.5 hours of completing the whole campaign(!), and 0.9 hours playing arcade mode. I'll try to complete the co-op campaign, and then I'll just try to forget this game...

New Design

I've changed the design so it looks more like Steam's design, since I really like that. Also, the new design has allowed me to make the text arena more width.

Steam Pre-Holiday Sale

 

The pre-holiday sale on Steam has started, and this year the theme is gift packs - for instance you can get 10-pack of Freedom forces for only 7,49€ (84% off on each game). I'll list each day's sale here:

November 24th

• Shank 33% off
• Alpha Protocal 75% off
• Borderlands 50% off
• Prototype 50% off
• Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse 70% off
• Counter Strike: Source 75% off
• The Deus Ex Collection 75% off
• R.U.S.E. 33% off
• Indie Energy Pack (includes BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity, Galcon Fusion, Gridrunner Revolution, ProtoGalaxy, and Quantz) 90% off

• R.U.S.E. 6 Pack 50% off
• Half-Life 2 10 pack 77% off
• Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition 8 pack 83% off
• Borderlands 6 pack 66% off

November 25th

• EVE Online: Tyrannis 75% off
• Defense Grid: The Awakening 75% off
• Cities XL 2011 25% off
• DeathSpank 33% off
• AudioSurf 75% off
• Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY 66% off
• Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days 75% off
• Indie Story Pack (includes And Yet It Moves, Gish, Puzzle Agent, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, and Jolly Rover) 92% off

• Defense Grid: The Awakening 10 pack 84% off
• AudioSurf 12 pack 86% off
• Left 4 Dead 2 6 pack 75% off
• Puzzle Quest 2 10 pack 65% off

November 26th

• Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box 50% off
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Gold Edition 66% off
• Machinarium 75% off
• Tropico 3: Gold Edition 75% off
• Torchlight 75% off
• Empire: Total War 50% off
• ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead 50% off
• Blur 50% off
• Indie Clever Pack (includes Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time, Eufloria, Iron Grip: Warlord, VVVVVV, and World of Goo) 91% off

• Freedom Force 10 pack 84% off
• Portal 6 pack 86% off
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising 8 pack 75% off
• Empire: Total War 6 pack 65% off

November 27th

• Left 4 Dead 2 75% off
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50% off
• Wings of Prey 50% off
• Supreme Commander 2 75% off
• Galcon Fusion 75% off
• King's Bounty: Platinum Edition 75% off
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light 50% off
• Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 66% off
• Indie Pulse Pack (includes AudioSurf, Best Hazard, BIT.TRIP BEAT, Rhythm Zone, and The Polynomial - Space of the Music) 90% off

• Counter Strike: Source 6 pack 79% off
• NyxQuest: Kindred Spirit 10 pack 85% off
• Red Faction: Guerrilla 8 pack 75% off
• Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 6 pack 75% off

November 28th

• Mount & Blade: Warband 75% off
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction 33% off
• The Ball 50% off
• Street Fighter IV 66% off
• World of Goo 75% off
• Patrician IV - Steam Special Edition 75% off
• The Orange Box 75% off
• BIT.TRIP BEAT 50% off
• Indie Puzzle Pack (includes Cogs, Droplitz, Puzzle Dimension, Shatter, and Tidalis) 90% off

• Osmos 12 pack 81% off
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction 6 pack 50% off
• Just Cause 2 8 pack 75% off 

November 29th

• Aliens vs. Predator 2010 66% off
• Monkey Island  2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge 75% off
• Metro 2033 75% off
• Peggle Deluxe 50% off
• Beat Hazard 75% off
• Colin McRae DiRT 2 75% off
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 75% off
• Mafia II 25% off
• Indie Air Pack (includes Altitude, DogFighter, Flotilla, Gratuitous Space Battles, and Plain Sight) 92% off

• World of Goo 12 pack 79% off
• Aliens vs. Predator 2010 6 pack 74% off
• Trine 8 pack 87% off
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West 10 pack 78% off

Steam Recommendations

As a new feature on Steam it is now possible to recommend a game to your friends. Sadly, you can't see all recommendations for a game. Anyway, it is possible to see all recommendations made by a single user by looking at the Recommended tab under his games (hopefully, they'll add a link on one's profile soon).

Anyway, I've been recommending a few games so far, though mostly games I've already discussed here. You can see them all HERE. The link has also been added to the right hand side.

100% on Flight Control HD

Let me try this again...

This is a new small casual game on Steam, which didn't take long to 100%. This is my review of this game (see all my review HERE):

After ~30 min. you've tried every level, and it already seems a bit too repetitive. If just they've added some simple story mode or some special objectives it would have been much better. If you're just going after the achievements you'll probably have 11 of 12 after those ~30 min and ~30 games, which means your still 170 games away from that last achievement...

All in all, if you have 30 min. where you want to play a small, simple, casual game, then this is a decent pick if you can get it 50% off.

Finally, some free time!

I haven't posted anything for a long time, since I've been pretty stressed with my master thesis, which I've finally finished and passed (I will post a few lines about this later). That said, I will try to be a bit more active from now on. And that said, I will probably spam this blog with posts about things that has happened the past month, and I will try to make an update of my achievement progress.

100% on Bob Came in Pieces

Edit Jule 19th. - the game got 10 achievements, which I have now unlocked, such that I am truly at 100% again.

This game is a different take on puzzle games. You are Bob, a small alien who has crashed landed on a foreign planet. You start with a basic space ship, and as you progress through the levels, you'll find extra rockets and pipes you can add to your ship. The difficulty lies in chosing the right ship design for the right job. The story levels are quickly completed, and all the parts are quickly found. But for each level there are two speedrun achievements (silver and gold), and it's here the really hard achievements are to be found. In addition, the game has two times gotten new levels in the form of VR mission, which have all been really well designed, and I actually found these more fun than the story levels.

All in all, I think this is a really fun game, and I've had a lot of fun trying to complete the speedruns (which I'm usually not a fan of). For the price of only 6.99€, I would highly recommend this small indie gem.

100% on Altitude

100% on Madballs in... Babo: Invasion

After a long time I finally hit 100%. The multiplayer achiements in this game was really hard to get due to two reasons. 1) The player base is not that big. 2) The players playing have played for a long time, and are, thus, pretty good. I had given up on the multiplayer achievements, but then a free weekend helped a lot. Some newbs joined the game and I was able to get most. The last, host a 4-player co-op game, I managed to get with a friend and some random joiners.

100%

100% on Beat Hazard

Beat Hazard is  Asteroids on LSD. You are a small ship in the middle of space. Astroids are flying about and other space ships are trying to kill you. Every level in the game is different because it is randomly generated by a freely chosen song. The more beat in the music, the stronger your weapon becomes, but at the same time more enemies are spawning. You weapons, the enemies' weapons, and explosions are all very colourful, and at hectic times you can barely see the screen from colours.

When I bought the game I was afraid it would be like Bullet Candy, which I didn't like. But it's not! This game is fun, actually really fun, and especially since you decide your own difficulty by chosing songs - slow songs being the hardest. If you have a few minuts and fell like playing a casual game while listening to some tunes, then I would highly recommend this game.

Most of the achievements are fairly simple, and when you get the Veteran achievement (Accumulate 10 hours of play) you'll probably have most of the others as well. At first you'll think it will be impossible to get 1 million points in one track, but after you level up, you'll find 1 million points in one track is a lousy run. The hardest achievement is probably Survival Champion! (Reach 20 Minutes in Survival Mode), but with the right choice of music it's doable - a megamix is a good choice, make sure there's no quiet moments in the songs, nor at the beginning or the end. You'll most probably get the Boss Slayer achievement (Kill 8 bosses in 1 game) while playing survival.

Anywho, 100%!

100% on Fortix

This newly released game (Fortix) is basicly just an old classic from way back. Let me describe it this way: you are a knight running on the edge of a picture. On this picture there are forts that you need to capture. You capture teritory by moving away from your baseline (which is the frame to begin with) and draw a line from one place of the baseline to another. The smallest side of the line is then captured. But things are not that easy! On the pircture there's also cannons shooting at you and dragons flying around trying to kill you. You kill dragons by capturing the teritory they're on. Cannons you destroy by either capturing them or capturing a tricker that fires a catapult.

If you have a few hours to kill, then this game is great fun, but it's also really short. It took me 1,6 hours to get perfect on all the easy levels. Completing the game on impossible took further 3,3 hours. In my opinion, that is too short. If the game only was 2,99€-3,49€ it would be ok - 4,49€ is a bit overpriced for the game when it is this short and the gameplay so simple.

Enough of that - 100% completed!

I'll finish this this post by showing how I completed the achievement "Dragon Crisis" (Let Xitrof lay 15 eggs on the final level, then win the level.)

100% on Simplz Zoo

I'm so ashamed about owning Simplz Zoo... nah. This game is really a child's game or a girlie game. But the most important part of the game is the small puzzles in the game, which are all various Bejeweled games that are all fun. I don't really care about the zoo building aspect of the game, which luckily isn't that important in the game - you basicly earn resournes in the puzzles with which you can buy new things to your zoo.

Anywho, 100%!

100% on Zombie Driver (again)

Zombie Driver, a GTA 1 style game where you drive through streets through hordes of zombies. Too bad the only missions in the game are "drive to this spot and clear out the zombies to save a few people"... WAIT! I already said this back in March. A few days ago the Slaughter mode was released for Zombie Driver, which included 21 new achievements. A bit much, but it's always fun to earn loads of achievements after just haven played ~30 minuts. The Slaugter mode is just you in your car in some sort of closed area with different environmental effects such as fog or darkness. Hordes of zombies then constantly spawn all around, and you have to survive as long as possible by slaughtering as many zeds as possible (note: you can't spell slaughter without laughter!). This mode really fits the title and is actually a lot of fun, especially since they added leaderbords (only ingame, sadly) where you can try to be the best of your friends or simply just the best of all. I must say that the new achievements was too easy to complete. On each of the five levels you need to score a certain amouts of points, but this is set way too low, imo. I did them all either in the first or in the second run. And I did every other achievement except for a few grinding achievements (which aren't crazily high either) while doing this.

100% on Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood (again)

I reviewed this game back in August 2009 when the game came out. I gave it a very poor score because of the big lack of contend - only one level! But, appently, the plan was all along to add extra contend for free later on. They just had to release "a beta-version" early on because they ran out of money (note: their own money!). The new contend pack released back in January helped the game a lot. A campaign with five maps was added, and the chance to customize your character and purchase weapons. I still think that 6,99€ is a bit too much - 4,99€ would be a better price. Anyway, the developers are still working on some multiplayer, which will probably help too.

Back on topic, I once again have 100% on this small game. The new achievements took about 3 extra hours to complete, where the last two hours was basic kill grinding.

100% on Everyday Genius: SquareLogic

I earned the last achievement a couple of weeks ago, namely the "Piece Of Cake" (Solve all puzzles in a region.). When I saw this game released I instanstly bought it, since this is the type of casual game that I really enjoy, and I knew my girlfriend would agree. The game is somewhat like sudoku just where you get some solving help by small equations around the board. It is really well done, and with 20000+ different boards some very easy and some very complicated there is plenty to do. I highly recommend this game to everyone who enjoy casual puzzle games as sudoku.

Achievement Stats for March 2010

This update comes a bit late since I've been busy with various things. Also, since there has been some significant chances to SteamStats, I'm going to change my stats here too. The chances to SteamStats (without knowing too much) include the deletion of millions of accounts (before SteamStats knew about more than ten million accounts, and now there's only a few thousand left). This was done for a couple of reasons:

• Performance - the site was beginning to work really slowly because of the _large_ database.
• Cheaters - now, recorded cheaters are easier to spot, and most cheat profiles are now not known to SteamStats.

Another change is the auto update of Top(something) every day, so the stats from the top players are always up-to-date. It naturally follows from all this that there has been a huge drop in achievement values

Here are my achievement stats for March 2010.

Achievement games owned: 77/104 (74,04%)
Achievements from owned Games: 2084/3435 (60,67%)
Achievements from all games: 2084/4170 (49,98%)
Owned games at 100%: 20/77 (25,97%)
All games at 100%: 20/104 (19,23%)

New achievement games to Steam:

• Just Cause 2 (50 achievements)
• Metro 2033 (39 achievements)
• Shatter (30 achievements)
• Sol Survivor (26 achievements)
• Supreme Commander 2 (47 achievements)

Newly purchased achievement games:

• Shatter (30 achievements)
• Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two (12 achievements)
• Galcon Fusion (135 achievements)
• Football Manager 2010 (60 achievements)

Complete list of new achievements earned:

• (Mar 28) Champions Online: Doppelganger, Damaged Ego.
• (Mar 27) Champions Online: Aegir Master Diver, Lemurian Sub Assault, Palus, Lemurian Sub Triumph, Aegir Rescue Diver, Aegir Master Diver.
• (Mar 27) Defense Grid: The Awakening: Annihilator.
• (Mar 26) Champions Online: Qliphothic Lore, The Kings Shall Rise, Kings of Edom Loremaster, Mystery of Mechanon, Mechanon Loremaster, Historian: Lemuria, Destroyer Research.
• (Mar 25) Football Manager 2010: Invincible!, Star Man, Goal Machine, Unstoppable Force, Iron Curtain, The Boss, Cup Glory!.
• (Mar 24) Champions Online: All About VIPER, Lemuria History: Caliginous Depths, Lemurian Carvings, Qularr Operations, Reflections on Destroyer, VIPER Recruitment, Vanquished Kigatilik, The Harrowing.
• (Mar 23) Shatter: The Boss, High Speed Breaker, Going Further.
• (Mar 22) Team Fortress 2: Tartan Spartan.
• (Mar 22) Champions Online: Aegir Cave Diver, Rift Runner, Revolution under the Sea, Lemuria: Cartographer, Lemuria: Spawn Camper.
• (Mar 21) Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II: Shooter, Hey, That's Mine!, A Chest To Die For, Quest For The Holy Grail, Gestir, Otzi The Iceman, Got A Crush On You, This Is Sparta!, Pop, Lock, And Drop It!, Tricky Shot, This Is Why You Can't Have Nice Things, You Shall Not Pass!, Seeker Of The Grail, Archer, Block N' Poke, Dinah, Weakling!, I Has A Parrot, Kills First, Aim Second, Sharp Pointy Teeth!, Berserker, Huscarl, Cornish Game Hen, Butterknifed!, I'm Invincible!, I Have Never Lost A Melee, Parrot Frenzy, I Shall Smite Thee!, I Shall Feast On Your Bones!, Anger Management, Holier Than Thou, Purple Heart, Why Did I Bother Lighting That?, From Davy Jones' Locker, Hero Kill, Mouse Trap, I'm Burnin' For You, This Is Madness!, Did I Do That?, POW, Right In The Kisser!, I Wish To Register A Complaint!, Great Balls Of Fire, Have A Nice Trip, Captain, Robin Hood, Shish Kebab!, Puppeteer, Agrianian Javelineer, Axed By The Arc, Well Rounded, Trapped Mouse, Madoff With The Chest, Goldmember.
• (Mar 21) Shatter: Marching On.
• (Mar 20) Champions Online: Sandtiger, Vanquished The Bronze King, Karkaradon Texts.
• (Mar 19) Champions Online: Billy Goat Bluff.
• (Mar 19) Shatter: Overkill, Old School, Fringe Benefit, Time, Attacked, Balls Galore, Storm Warning, Kinetic Harvest, Aurora, Shardenfreude, Granule Extractor, Krypton Garden, Freon, Amethyst Caverns, Neon Mines, Argon Refinery, Xenon Home World, The End of the World, Master Batter.
• (Mar 18) Football Manager 2010: Champions!.
• (Mar 17) Magnetis: Cousins, Brother & Sister, Twins, Buddies.
• (Mar 16) Champions Online: Shadow Destroyer, Iguana, Vanquished Vikorin the Blind, Ruin from the Ancient Past, Jouster.
• (Mar 14) And Yet It Moves: Stuntman, Random.
• (Mar 14) Age of Chivalry: Burning Ambition, Face-kebab, BBQ Master, Seek and Destroy, First Blood, Robin Hood (Bronze), Five Star Arching, Char Broiled, Lumberjack, Olympian, Harvester of Sorrow.
• (Mar 13) Team Fortress 2: Joint Operation, Medical Breakthrough, Tam O'Shatter, Spynal Tap, Play Doctor, Soviet Block, Geneva Contravention, Party Loyalty, Doctor Assisted Homicide, Grand Rounds.
• (Mar 12) Champions Online: Vanquished Bleak Elder, Those Who Dwell in Bleakness, Pirates of the Abyss.
• (Mar 11) Champions Online: Resonant, Vanquished Dr. Moreau.
• (Mar 09) Zero Gear: Silver Medal.
• (Mar 08) Team Fortress 2: Class Struggle, Photostroika, Ghastly Gibus Grab, War Crime and Punishment, Engineer to Eternity, Something Stickied This Way Comes, Crock Block, Triage.
• (Mar 08) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two: Reluctant Hero, Millionaire, Pack Rat Strikes Back, Pervert, Moving On Up, POWER SURRRGE!, Arsonist, Lab Assistant, Endgame, Steel Cannibal, The Strength To Rule, Can't Nobody Hold You Down.
• (Mar 08) Team Fortress 2: Where Eagles Dare, Wings of Glory, The Longest Daze, War Crime Spybunal, Dodgers 1, Giants 0, Retire the Runner, Blind Fire, Medical Intervention, Firewall, Quick Hook, Enemy at the Gate.
• (Mar 07) Left 4 Dead 2: STILL SOMETHING TO PROVE.
• (Mar 07) Zuma's Revenge: The Ocho.
• (Mar 07) Champions Online: The Vengeance Journals, The Worms Crawl Out.
• (Mar 06) Football Manager 2010: You're On Fire, Scoring Streak, Unbeatable!, Team Performance, Comeback King!.
• (Mar 04) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One: Pack Rat.
• (Mar 04) Zombie Driver: I Like My Car Clean..
• (Mar 04) Portal: Transmission Received.
• (Mar 03) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One: A Winner Is You, Immortal, Clean Sweep, Silent, But Deadly, Pacifist.
• (Mar 02) Football Manager 2010: He's Signed!, First Victory, Clean Sheet, Hat-Trick, Double Hat-Trick.

Earth Hour 2010

Remember to support the largest climate awareness event Earth Hour, which since 2007 has been supporten by hundred of millions of people around the world. The event is very simple:  

from 8:30 PM local time, turn of all the lights for one hour.

"But it's in the middle of X-Faktor" (Danish program) is no excuse - in fact, they should support the event too by turning of the lights in Parken.

Read more about WWF's Earth Hour on http://www.earthhour.org


EDIT:

The hour has passed in Denmark, and looking out the window while sitting in the dark I have to say I'm quite disappointed. If I remember correctly, then last year my city turned off some of the city light. This year everything was on. Also, a lot of people around the block still had the light turned on. But then again, Earth Hour hasn't really been advertised anywhere this year for some reason...

100% on On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Edisode Two - All achievements done!

100% on Left 4 Dead 2

I love Left 4 Dead, and I love Left 4 Dead 2 almost as much. A problem with #2 is that they made the hunter useless. The hunter was by far the most fun character to play in #1, but for some reason they decided to make him harder to use and make it almost impossible to do high jumps by closing everything off. The boomer is also worse, but after some getting used to he's ok. But the spitter and charger in #2 are really great and fun to play (the jockey just plain sucks!).

Left 4 Dead 2 has some really hard achievements, and I've been working on them for some time now. The expert maps are almost impossible to do alone and you'll never know who joins a random lobby, so you have to hope that you have some friends who's up for the challange. I managed to force them to do four of the maps (also one on realism), but I still needed Hard Rain. After a lot of waiting and seeing that it probably wouldn't happen, I decided to look for a random lobby. After about an hour a lobby was finally created. Thankfully the players in this lobby turned out to be really decent players, and we actually managed to complete Hard Rain Expert Realism in under two hours, which is just crazy.

I'm really happy to be able to say, 100% complete! Bring on Left 4 Dead 3 =P

100% on Zuma's Revenge!

I always loved the old Zuma game, so I was really happy to see this game with achievements. It's more or less like the old game just with a few more modes and boss fights (some of those bosses can be really frustrating. In normal mode I didn't die until the last boss, who killed me around five times.) After normal mode you can play Heroic Frog mode, which is the same levels just way faster. Iron Frog gauntlet, beat 10 levels in a row under 25 minuts (to get the Iron Will achievements) I actually did on my first for-fun-run. The only two achievements I actually had problems with was Foie Gras (Force feed the God of Pestilence 20 balls in 20 seconds) - stop moving already! - and The Ocho (Acquire 8 fruits using the Proximity Bomb) - this doesn't happen as often as you think, and I ended up having to play some random challenge maps to get this one.

100% on Zombie Driver

Zombie Driver, a GTA 1 style game where you drive through streets through hordes of zombies. Too bad the only missions in the game are "drive to this spot and clear out the zombies to save a few people". Also, the game is just too short - 17 missions, all being more or less the same, all just taking a few minuts. Getting all the 12 achievements took me 3,3 hours, and that's with two playthroughs where I did all sidemissions (which are either "clear this area too" or "save the people within x minuts".).

100% on On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is the first installment in the RPG-Adventure game series based on the web comic Penny Arcade.

Too bad we'll never see the third and last episode of this game... Never the less, Episode one and two had a nice price drop a few weeks ago, going from 14,99€ and 19,99€ to both 4,99€, so I grabbed the first episode to try it out. It a decent game, sadly I never found the Penny Arcade comics that funny, so I didn't get all the humour in the game. The fighting system is fine, but I didn't realise until the final boss fight that you could block attacks, which made the game a bit harder than it would have been.  Never the less, I managed to get through without dying. In my last epic battle against the giant evil mine my computer gfx card broke, so I had a couple of easy achievements waiting...

Any way, 100% completion - YAY!

/me goes to purchase Episode two.

Achievement Stats for February 2010

Here are my achievement stats for February 2010.

Total Number of Achievement Games: 97 (91)

• Napoleon: Total War
• Super Laser Racer
• Aliens vs Predator 
• Galcon Fusion
• Pirates, Vikings, and Knights
• Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders

Total Number of Achievements: 4041 (3643)

Total Number of Achievement Points: 5374,53 (4808,76)

Average Points Per Achievement: 1,33 (1,32)

Achievement Games Owned: 72 (69)

• Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One
• Magnetis
• Pirates, Vikings, and Knights 

Achievements Earned: 1875 (1747)

Achievement Points: 1932,08 (1784,35)

Average Points Per Achievement: 1,03 (1,02)

Complete list of new achievements earned:

• (Feb 25) Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II: A Worthy Sacrifice.
• (Feb 21) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One: Steel Devils, Fight 'Em With Items, Level Awesome.
• (Feb 20) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One: Stray Cat, Nine Lives, All Together Now.
• (Feb 20) Zero Gear: Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, Flight of the Falcon, Lemming.
• (Feb 17) Champions Online: Dogcatcher, Gadroon Orders.
• (Feb 17) Zombie Driver: Superbeast, Missed Flight, Zombie Driver, Pimp Car, Guns of Glory, Combo Master.
• (Feb 17) Toki Tori: Hard Boiled, Escargone, Slimy Sewer Hard, Bubble Barrage Hard, Tunnel of Love.
• (Feb 16) Champions Online: Vanquished Buster, Electric Boogaloo.
• (Feb 16) Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II: I'll Be Blunt, Keg Stand!, Swinger, Oops, Did That Hurt?, Skirmisher, Heavy Knight, Parrot Killer.
• (Feb 12) Magnetis: Sunday Player, Beginner, Thougie.
• (Feb 12) Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II: Part O' The Crew, Asleep With The Fishies!, The Last Supper, First Blood.
• (Feb 12) Nation Red: Breather.
• (Feb 12) Age of Chivalry: Green is beautiful!, Timber!!!, Trebuchet Away! , KABOOOM!, I'm too young to die!.
• (Feb 11) Toki Tori: Chef de Cuisine, Who are you going to call?, Creepy Castle Hard, All I got was this lousy T-Shirt.
• (Feb 11) Zero Gear: Disappearing Act, Spring Chicken, I Get Around, Slippy Sez.
• (Feb 10) Champions Online: Major, Predator.
• (Feb 10) Team Fortress 2: Race for the Pennant.
• (Feb 10) Toki Tori: Eggdurance, Forest Falls Hard, Cold as Ice, Close Encounter, True Champion, Master Chef, Bubble Barrage.
• (Feb 09) D.I.P.R.I.P. Warm Up: Team Mate, Level 7 - Rolling Carnage.
• (Feb 09) Magnetis: Pneumatic Drill, Power Hammer, Visitor, Fast Fingers!.
• (Feb 09) Champions Online: High Five, I Believe.
• (Feb 08) Aquaria: A New Chapter....
• (Feb 08) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 2 - Silver Time, Chapter 3 - Silver Time, Chapter 4 - Silver Time, Chapter 5 - Silver Time, Chapter 6 - Silver Time, Chapter 12 - Silver Time, Chapter 2 - Gold Time, Chapter 3 - Gold Time, Chapter 4 - Gold Time, Chapter 5 - Gold Time, Chapter 12 - Gold Time.
• (Feb 08) Torchlight: Cash for Trash.
• (Feb 08) Zombie Driver: I Am The Law!, The Last Express, Die Zombies Die !!.
• (Feb 07) Toki Tori: Sous-chef, Slimy Sewer.
• (Feb 06) Champions Online: Guy with the Gun.
• (Feb 06) Team Fortress 2: Frags of our Fathers, The Boostie Boys, Ain't Got Time to Bleed, Near Death Experience, Sticky Thump.
• (Feb 06) Torchlight: Master Smasher, Down the Hatch, Supreme Slayer.
• (Feb 06) Toki Tori: The Answer, Jeff, Cheapskate, So Sad, Deep Fried, Creepy Castle.
• (Feb 05) Toki Tori: Apprentice.
• (Feb 04) You achieved Toki Tori: Short-order Cook, Harderwijk Fried Chicken, Stackmate, Never gonna give you up!.
• (Feb 04) Torchlight: Only a Master of Evil, Tormented.
• (Feb 04) Champions Online: Contender, Volatile.
• (Feb 03) Torchlight: Potion Whiz.
• (Feb 03) Toki Tori: Dizzy, Cold Feet, Forest Falls.
• (Feb 02) Champions Online: The Lemurians are Revolting!, The Deep End, Marine Memoriam, Lemurian Sub Victory, Sparky, Shadow of the Shark Men, Littlest Pet Shop Boy, Vanquished Stingray, Duelist.
• (Feb 01) Champions Online: Aegir Wreck Diver, Vanquished Khusor the Crooked, The Lemurians are Revolting!.

Broken Computer

Well, my GeForce 8800 GTS decided it didn't want to live anymore last Sunday, so since that day I've been without computer. Sure, I have my laptop - my six year old Medion laptop from Aldi (I was actually looking for a new, but I guess that must wait). Just to whine a bit more, the Friday before my television providor (YouSee) decided to change my full subscription to the basic package leaving my with a very limited amout of channels to choose from.

Hopefully, someone will come this weekend to look at my computer to see what needs changing. With a bit of luck (please!) I can do with just a new graphic card and an extra ram block (I only have 2GB now). If there's room (I don't think there is) I'll get a new internal harddrive too - I need a fresh install of Windows (haven't decided whether it should be 7, or just XP again) and I need to backup the stuff from the old harddrive. Plus, I could use the extra space.

If everything goes as planned, I should be back online with a new and improved computer within the next week. Then I just need to find a new name for it (Skaery is my laptop, and Hal, Chegg, and Zoey were my previous computers).


EDIT:
New parts have now been ordered. I decided to go with a XFX Radeon HD4870 with 1GB and a fresh couple of RAM blocks 2x2GB. Actually I wanted the HD5850 card, since it's only the 5000-series that supports DirectX11, but that series is more or less impossible to get in Denmark at the moment, and I can't wait until someone get some home. Never the less, HD4870 is still much better than my old 8800 GTS 320MB card, and it's only half the price of the HD5850 card. Sadly, though, the place I ordered the gfx card from didn't have any at home, but they should get some on Tuesday, and then with a bit of luck I'll have it by Wednesday (that is, unless they decide to show up when I'm not home).

At the moment the plan is:

1. Replace the RAM (should come Tuesday)
2. Install the new gfx card (hopefully no later then Wednesday)
3. Clean around the spot where my computer usually stands
4. Do a backup of my game files
5. Find a new internal harddrive with around 1TB (might wait a week with this)
6. Find a good version of Windows 7
7. Format C:

100% on Toki Tori

Another game for the collection. Toki Tori, this small indie platform/puzzle game with 80+ levels ranking from easy to almost impossible was really fun to play. You play as Toki, a small cute chicking collecting eggs for something (spoiler free). In each level you'll get a number of items to use such as bridges, telewarps and bubbles. You'll need to plan ahead and carefully use your items in the right places, which can be very demanding from time to time.

Overall, with the price tag of $4.99/4,49€ (and 25% at release) this is a must have for puzzle lovers. The fact that the team behind the game actually adds stuff to the game after release enhances this point. So far they've added two community levels and a new one is comming plus something extra (I might not have 100% after this update!). A MetaScore of 81 is very well deserved, and I would give it 8/10.

3rd Place

After fighting hard to keep my 5th spot on SteamStats on the top list I actually managed to get enough points to reach 3rd place. A lot of these points game from the small indie puzzle game Bob Came in Pieces where I did a few speed run achievements.

100% on D.I.P.R.I.P. Warm Up

Finally, I managed to get the last two achievements I was missing in D.I.P.R.I.P. (Die In Pain Rest In Peace). This game/mod is one big grind, and after doing all the other grinding a long time ago I was still about 2000 kills short in the Team Mate (kill 5000 as a team) and Level 7 - Rolling Carnage (kill 5000) achievements. All that's done now, and I can leave this game to D.I.P.R.I.P..

Computational Commutative Algebra with Singular - Ideals, Varieties, and Gröbner Basis

I finally finished my MAT5 (semi-thesis) last week. The exam went just fine even though I was sick I felt nauseous all day. Well, if you feel like learning about of ideals, varieties, and Gröbner bases in a polynomial ring here is my project.

LINK

Synopsis

We will begin by introducing some of the basic objects of the reports, such as the polynomial ring, ideals, and varieties. The computer algebra system Singular will be used throughout the report to help with the calculations.
The Gröbner bases will be introduced, and these will allow us solve various problems, such as to determine if a given polynomial lies in a given ideal, and to ease the calculation of common solutions for a set of equations.
The correspondence between ideals and varieties will be proved, and examples will be given to show these correspondences. In the last part, mappings between varieties and the quotient of the polynomial ring modulo an ideal will be studied.

The 50 Worst Movies Ever

The magazine Empire made a poll to determine the 50 worst movies ever made. Here is that list (source):

50. Spider-Man 3
49. Showgirls
48. Town & Country
47. Soul Plane
46. Howard the Duck
45. Blade Trinity
44. The Matrix Revolutions
43. Year One
42. Parting Shots
41. Van Helsing
40. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
39. Dungeons and Dragons
38. Son of the Mask
37. Max Payne
36. Eragon
35. House of the Dead
34. I Know Who Killed Me
33. Ultraviolet
32. The Spirit
31. The Pink Panther 2
30. Scary Movie
29. Southland Tales
28. The Sweetest Thing
27. Street Fighter
26. Glitter
25. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
24. Speed 2
23. Freddy Got Fingered
22. Jaws: The Revenge
21. Alone in the Dark
20. Swept Away
19. Gigli
18. Dreamcatcher
17. White Chicks
16. Plan 9 From Outer Space
15. Catwoman
14. Disaster Movie
13. The Avengers
12. Norbit
11. Meet The Spartans
10. The Room
09. Highlander 2: The Quickening
08. The Happening
07. Sex Lives of The Potato Men
06. Heavan's Gate
05. Epic Movie
04. Raise The Titanic
03. The Love Guru
02. Battlefield Earth
01. Batman and Robin

Achievement Stats for January 2010

Here are my achievement stats for January 2010.

Total Number of Achievement Games: 91 (86)

• Toki Tori
• Bob Came in Pieces
• Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy
• Zero Gear
• Wings of Prey

Total Number of Achievements: 3643 (3243)

Total Number of Achievement Points: 4808,76 (3768,83)

Average Points Per Achievement: 1,32 (1,16)

Achievement Games Owned: 69 (63)

•  Toki Tori
•  Bob Came in Pieces
•  Zero Gear
• Aquaria
• And Yet It Moves

Achievements Earned: 1747 (1480)

Achievement Points: 1784,35 (1287,28)

Average Points Per Achievement: 1,02 (0,87)

Complete list of new achievements earned:

• (Jan 31) Champions Online: Vanquished Rakshasa, Raiders on the Storm, Ceiling Cat.
• (Jan 31) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 8 - All Parts, Chapter 9 - All Parts, Chapter 10 - All Parts, Chapter 12 - All Parts, Chapter 13 - All Parts, The Rare Syndrome. 
• (Jan 30) Champions Online: Avalanche, Lemuria History: Rastrinfhar's Abyss, Vanquished Captain Claw , Swabbie, Bottom Feeder, Parole Officer.
• (Jan 30) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 4 - All Parts, Chapter 5 - All Parts, Chapter 6 - All Parts, Chapter 7 - All Parts, Chapter 1 - Silver Time, Chapter 1 - Gold Time.
• (Jan 30) Champions Online: Murky Waters, Jolt, Vanquished Roman Stepanov, Cherenkov's Radiation, Half Full, Bleak Minion Assault.
• (Jan 29) Champions Online: Robots, Radiation, and Rampage, Crisis Beneath the Sea, Lemuria: Explorer, Fully Submersible, Murky Waters.
• (Jan 29) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 10 - Rusty Cage, Chapter 11 - All Parts, Partpourri, Chapter 11 - Purple Rain, Chapter 12 - You Spin Me Round, Chapter 14 - Gold Time, Chapter 13 - Drop It Like It's Hot, Back To Work!, Chapter 14 - Silver Time.
• (Jan 27) Champions Online: The Flame of Krim.
• (Jan 27) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 7 - Push It!, Chapter 8 - Search and Destroy, Chapter 9 - Let Me Blow Your Mind.
• (Jan 26) Bob Came in Pieces: Chapter 1 - We Didn't Start the Fire, Chapter 2 - Part Shaped Box, Chapter 3 - Build Me Up Buttercup, Chapter 3 - All Parts, Chapter 4 - Rocketman, Chapter 5 - Underground, Chapter 6 - Run to the Hills.
• (Jan 26) Champions Online: Monster Island: Cartographer, Monster Island: Spawn Camper, Banzai Pipeline, Hole In The Wall, The Qularr De-Fleeted, Flyswatter, Grease Monkey, Bait & Switch.
• (Jan 26) Champions Online: The Wild Life, Corporate Malfeasance, Baywatch, Stop and smell the..., Drill Bits, Head for the Hills.
• (Jan 25) Left 4 Dead 2: GAS GUZZLER.
• (Jan 25) Champions Online: Flame-kissed, Vanquished Hyrg Coruscator, The Unnatural Imbalance, The Wild Life.
• (Jan 25) Champions Online: Banisher.
• (Jan 22) Champions Online: Vanquished Escaped Qularr Swarmlord, Conviction, Novicius.
• (Jan 21) Torchlight: Line of Kings, Trolling for Punishment.
• (Jan 19) Torchlight: The Need for Greed, Bum Luck, Hardcore Hero, Deep Delver, True Delver.
• (Jan 19) Champions Online: Necrullitic Research, Blazing, Ghost Hunter, Slightly Queasy, Vanquished Necrull, Vanquished Zarn, Monster Island History: Andrithal, Necrull Intentions, When a Curse is a Blessing, Steam Bath.
• (Jan 18) Champions Online: Canada History: Lynx Fold, Canada History: Hoarfrost Hills, Historian: Canada.
• (Jan 18) Champions Online: Communication Breakdown, A Taste for the Toxic, Home on the Range, Tower Assault, Tower Defense, Respect for the Dead, Canada History: Lynx Fold.
• (Jan 18) Champions Online: BASE Jumper, Three Coins, Get to the Choppa, Adaware, Top of the World.
• (Jan 17) Zuma's Revenge: Foie Gras.
• (Jan 17) Left 4 Dead 2: SHOCK JOCK, THE REAL DEAL.
• (Jan 17) Zero Gear: Gentleman's Wager, Frozen Finish, Comeback, All You Need is Love, Paratrooper.
• (Jan 17) Zero Gear: Pacifist, Pirate Party, War Games, Termination, Easy Rider, Inspector Kemp, Gentleman's Wager, Frozen Finish, Comeback.
• (Jan 16) Champions Online: Vanquished Nest Leader Tadataka, Vanquished Ripper, Hatchling Assault , Vanquished Dr. Dino Demogaard, Monster Island History: Echinocos Shores, I Am the Egg-Man, Monster Island History: Slither Beach, Egg-Static, The Cast Away, Worshipped, Islander, Vanquished Slug, Alternative Energies, Gekko, Nest of Serpents.
• (Jan 15) Champions Online: Apocalypse Survivor, Surrounded By Evil, Be Prepared.
• (Jan 15) Champions Online: Vanquished Tilingkoot, Vanquished Mind Slayer, The Demon of the Lost, Monster Island: Explorer, Apocalypse Survivor.
• (Jan 15) Zero Gear: Overachiever, Screwed.
• (Jan 15) Nation Red: Ladies First, Right-Hand Man.
• (Jan 15) Champions Online: Blue Collar, Monster Island History: Argent Corporate Wildlife Preserve, Taking a Peak, Vanquished Steel Commando, Corporate Predators, Tall Tale, War of the 'Foots, Canada: Cartographer, Canada: Spawn Camper.
• (Jan 14) Champions Online: Get to the Point, Blue Collar.
• (Jan 14) Zero Gear: Triple Flip, Ultimate Indie Gamer, Nail Biter, Float Like a Butterfly, Draft Master, Climate Change, Deep 6, Rocket Sauce, Good Sport, K.O., Use the Force, Deep Space.
• (Jan 14) Zero Gear: Sting Like a Bee, Flippin Awesome, Barrel Roll, BFF, Double Flip, PWNT.
• (Jan 13) Champions Online: Beachcomber, A Tree Grows in Westside, Vanquished Giant Destroid, Destruction of Mass Production.
• (Jan 13) Champions Online: Vanquished White Rhino, Manimal Victory, Master of Manimals, Vanquished Mega-Terak, Monster Island History: Wayfarer Coast, No Probes Allowed, Beachcomber.
• (Jan 13) Torchlight: Hat Trick, Passing the Torch, Hardcore Champion, Questor, The Long Haul, Noble Lineage.
• (Jan 13) Zuma's Revenge: Justified and Ancient, My Cup Runneth Over.
• (Jan 13) Champions Online: Vanquished Neanderthal, Guest Star.
• (Jan 13) Champions Online: Machine Revolution, Lemuria History: Undying Reef, Guppy, Riders in the Sky, Flak Attack, Vanquished Windfist, Desert Bounty Hunter, Vanquished Neanderthal.
• (Jan 12) Zuma's Revenge: We've Got Clearance, Clarence.
• (Jan 11) Zuma's Revenge: You Want Fries With That?.
• (Jan 11) Champions Online: March of the Manimals.
• (Jan 10) Champions Online: Jar Collector, Maggot.
• (Jan 09) Left 4 Dead 2: HEARTWARMER.
• (Jan 08) Champions Online: Vanquished Dr. Destroyer.
• (Jan 08) Zuma's Revenge: I Will Survive, Iron Will.
• (Jan 08) Torchlight: Pension Plan, Superstar, Universally Understood.
• (Jan 08) Zombie Driver: Sunken Hope.
• (Jan 08) Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter: Game Master, Co-op Hippy, Serious Co-op.
• (Jan 07) Champions Online: Lifeguard, Little Nook, Desert History: Area 51, Historian: Desert, Desert History: Project Stein, Pit VIPER, Offensive Line, Citizen Grond, Unsafe, Jailbird, Made in China, Dragon's Roost.
• (Jan 07) Champions Online: Island Hopping, Monster Island History: Wells' Pass, Lifeguard, Little Nook.
• (Jan 06) Champions Online: Mad Bling, Manimal Resources, Accident Prone, Twisted, Vanquished Ultimate Mind, Teleios' Journals, Imitation of Life, Walk with the Manimals, Hot Stuff, Private Practice.
• (Jan 06) Torchlight: Price of Loyalty, Sir Mixes-a-lot.
• (Jan 06) Champions Online: Manimal Assault, Vanquished Hyena Swine, Manimal Crossing.
• (Jan 05) Torchlight: Modpocalypse, Rich, Beast Slayer II, Beast Slayer III, Hardcore God, Swift Execution, Speed King, Enchantment Overload, Transmogrifier, Gambling Enthusiast, Gambling Addict, Gambling Fiend, Epic Strike, The Horse Whisperer.
• (Jan 05) Galactic Bowling: Flawless Finish.
• (Jan 05) Champions Online: Purifier, Searching In Shadows, Johnston's Private Reserve, Ghost Camp, Secure the Perimeter, The Beast Within.
• (Jan 04) Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood: War Hero, What a plot twist!.
• (Jan 04) Galactic Bowling: Noob, Nemesis, Champion Among Friends, Partial Credit, 710.
• (Jan 04) Champions Online: Canuck, Canada History: Burial Butte, Good for the Spirit, Vanquished Paul Johnston, Maple Leaf, Great Demon Assault.
• (Jan 03) Zuma's Revenge: Multiplicity.
• (Jan 03) Zuma's Revenge: Zhaka MuMu, Chains of Love.
• (Jan 02) Galactic Bowling: The Chosen One, Ladies Man, Triple Sacked.

5th place

Finally I made it to the 5th place on SteamStats after getting a few more achievements in Champions Online.

One of the main reasons for me being able to climb this high is due to the game Champions Online. As of writing, this game has 712 achievement, and just this one game can more or less get you in the Top10. Naturally, a lot of the other players in the top have played in game, so it's not just me getting free points.

The problem with Champions Online is that it is an MMO, and I don't like those kind of games for two main reasons:

1. You need to pay each month.
2. You need to rely a lot on others and be social in the game.

Since the game have so many achievements I did a bit of studying, and I noticed that Champions Online is an irregular MMO in regards to point 2. In fact, Champions Online advertise itself as a solo-MMO. So most of the game can be completed alone without ever talking to anyone in the game. There are a few missions labeled as "recommending a team of 5", but these are very few, and normally you can find a few people to do them with, and then split afterwards.

When the game came on sale on Steam at 50% I thought I would try it out, since you get the first 30 days for free. But I actually found the game quite fun and ended up playing for a few month more. Also, I managed to recrute a friend (Recoon) to play the game too and help with some of the harder missions. He too really likes the game.

We both managed to get our characters to level 40 and do most of the missions (well, one of the islands has been unplayable for a few weeks, so there's still a lot of missions for us there), so the only thing that's really left to do is grinding, grinding, and some more grinding. A lot of the achievements are "kill 500 of that", then "kill 1000 of it", and finally "kill 5000 more of it". And then there's the "kill it with fire" or some other thing, and "take 10,000,000 fire damage", and so on. Other than these there are a few PvP achievements, but my character is really not a PvP type, so I don't know if I'll create a new for this, or just ignore them.

Achievements Stats for 2009

Here are my achievement stats for 2009. I will try to do these stats every month this year.

Total Number of Achievement Games: 86

Total Number of Achievements: 3243

Total Number of Achievement Points: 3768,83

Average Points Per Achievement: 1,16

Achievement Games Owned: 63

Achievements Earned: 1480

Achievement Points: 1287,28

Average Points Per Achievement: 0,87