Hi all!

Im very sorry to announce I have some bad news!

For anyone that cares I am temporarily abandoning my blog!

To be quite honest, I know its not been going for that long, but when I started it up last November and did the Gears of War 2 review I nearly closed it off straight away as I didnt think anyone would care!

I am really glad I didnt as since then I have been overjoyed to have gained over 3,000 hits!

Unfortunatley however because I  have been playing games a lot less recently I  have had less material to review, and I have become less interested in writing my reviews.

So due to this I feel it best to stop writing for now.

I would like to ask a little something from anyone who may enjoy my reviews.

If you do infact enjoy my reviews and would like me to come back soon to continue reviewing games then could you please send an email to… |

pigeons_nest@hotmail.com

| …saying that you would like to see me back!

I have really enjoyed my time here and im sure in time I would love to start again fresh!

So if I receive a fair amount of emails then I shall return, otherwise I will accept that I am not needed

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Thankyou for your time, Goodbye and I am sorry!

Peace & Love

-Pigeon

Hi all,

I will be reviewing one or two games on a monthly basis from now,

Unfortunately due to time restraints ive been playing less!…..

So just to let you know.

The Next Lot of Upcoming Content Will Be…

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CANCELLED - Review – Midnightclub LA

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CANCELLED - Review – Lord of The Rings: Conquest

———————————————————————————–

See You Then!

Peace & Love

-Pigeon

A kick flippin’ review for Skate 2.

Skate 2 begins with the character customisation screen, all the usual features apply with the ability to edit your characters facial features, body shape, clothing and accessories.

You can come back to the Character Edit screen via the Start menu to change your characters’ appearance, apparel, accessories and deck wheels and trucks. You must purchase everything before you can use it and some things need to be unlocked by completing certain single player and online challenges.

The story then begins with a video describing how your character has recently come out of jail and how the city of San Vanelona has changed since you were last here (Skate 1)

A brief tutorial section introduces you to the fundamentals of skating and introduces the new ability to get off your board and walk/run around and the ability to move some objects in the city to create your own skating spots.

After meeting with Slappy in his park and doing the first few challenges you are free to explore the city.

(Welcome to New San Vanelona)

There are a range of challenges and activities for you to complete within your single player game. Some of these are photo and video footage challenges, Death races and Thrasher Hall of Meat challenges. Completing challenges earns you money which you can spend in the Skate shop or on various betting opportunities during the game.

The photo an video challenges simply require you to perform a certain trick or line in a set area e.g. kick flip over the gap.

Death races require you to race against other skaters down hill to a designated finish line, you must follow a set path passing through checkpoints to add to your time limit.

The Thrasher Hall of Meat challenges were my personal favourite. At any time during game play you can press (LS)+(RS)+[LT]+[RT] and your character will force a bail (fall off his/her board) you can then hold your (RS) in different directions to make your skater perform different poses. Cannon ball, Judo Kick, Spread Eagle, Pencil Dive. Your (LS) then controls the spin of your skater during the bail. The higher you fall, or the longer you are in the air the harder you will slam. The object of the challenges is to fulfill certain damages to your skater e.g. break 10 bones in one bail.

(Hall of Meat description from the game developers)

Within your game you will meet a large list of professional skaters who will offer you Pro challenges which are similar to the footage challenges in which you must complete a certain trick within a certain area, some simply require you to follow the pro to a location staying within a certain distance in metres.

Owning the Spot is another returning challenge to the game in which you must perform a trick or a line of tricks to earn a set amount of points in a certain area aka spot. Once you have owned the spot you can kill it by performing tricks to earn a higher set amount of points on the same spot.

At any time during your game you can bring up the menu and enter into an Xbox live match. You can choose to join a quick match in which you join a random game either all ready in progress or about to begin. Or you can choose to join a custom match in which you can select a specific game type to play. To be honest I’m not sure what exactly all of the online activities are, as I didn’t play much online myself. I do know however you can do Death Races online. You can also do Best trick competitions in which players much battle to earn the most points in one trick or a line of tricks within a time limit.

New San Vanelona has changed and policing of the streets has become a big threat to all Skaters in forms of extra security and many areas have been “capped” (metal caps over stairs, ledges and rails rendering them un skate-able) Due to this you can use your phone, by pressing [LB] to call/hire some people to provide certain services for you.

You can hire Big Black and he will provide you with some personal security, allowing you to skate high risk areas without interruption from security guards.

Mikey will un-cap areas for you, so you can skate them freely, but if security are in the area and they “see” him do it then it may immediately become capped again.

Sammy will drain swimming pools for you, which turns them into skate-able bowls.

(Sammy’s Pool Draining Service, High Quality version available on Youtube site!)

You can also use your phone to offer throwdown challenges to pro skaters that you have met during your game. After deciding on an amount to bet you take part in a game of S.K.A.T.E. The object of the game is to set a trick for the other skater to copy, the pro always goes first, if you or the pro bail, or repeat a previously set trick then its becomes the other skaters’ turn. Failure to copy the set trick earns a letter. The loser is the first person to spell out S.K.A.T.E.

Upon completion of the main story challenges you get your congratulatory F.M.V, you are then free to continue your game, completing any un-finished challenges and earning any achievements you need.

So all in all I give Skate 2 -  9 out of 10.

Another graphically sound feature packed game with plenty of gameplay to enjoy. In my opinion the Skate games are alot better than the “Tony Hawk” Range, So if you want a real fun Skating experience I can highly recommend Skate 2!!

Thanks for reading

Peace & Love To All

- Pigeon

*IN GAME HINT*
Within the in-game Skate shop you can purchase a range of clothing for your Skater but there is no option to change the colour of your chosen items… Or is there…
This works for T-Shirts, Button Shirts, Hoodies, Jackets, and Sweaters. This will not work if you already purchased the Custom Tee. All I can say is when your doing this NEVER purchase the Custom Tee!

Please follow the steps they are very simple.

Step 1. Choose your T-Shirt, Button Shirt, Hoodie, Jacket, or Sweater. If you already have it purchased that is fine!

Step 2. Once you have your Top selected go back to Merchandise/Store. Now select T-Shirts, and click on Custom Tee. From there just hit Start, and it will take you into the purchasing menu.

Step 3. WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T PURCHASE THE CUSTOM TEE

Step 4. Hit edit receipt, check off remove item (Top: Custom Tee should be highlighted). Now just hit back to store and it should have your chosen top selected with the color palette. Choose the color you want and just hit start and your good to go.

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There are 56 achievements with a total of 1250 points.

	On Top Of The World	20
	Perform an invert on one of the highest points in the city in career mode
	Skater Evolved	5
	Get off your board in career mode
	I Like To Move It	5
	Move your first object in career mode
	That’s the Way	20
	Beat all of Danny Way’s film challenges
	GVR Champ	20
	Win the GVR Contest
	Big Air Champ	50
	Win the San Van-a-Slamma
	Still Alive?	5
	Win a Deathrace in career mode
	Race Hero	20
	Win all races in career mode
	Where’s my TV show?	20
	Beat all Rob Dyrdek challenges
	SBM Cover	30
	Get the cover of The Skateboard Mag
	Thrasher Cover	30
	Get the cover of Thrasher
	Meet Slappy	5
	Meet Slappy
	How you like them apples?	20
	Acquire all phone numbers for the pros
	Anyone Else?	20
	Beat all the pros at Throwdown challenges
	New San Van Hero	20
	Call Mikey 10 times
	Perfectionist	50
	Complete all paths in career mode
	Pull the Plug	15
	Drain every pool and fountain in career mode
	Real Estate Mogul	50
	Purchase all property in career mode
	Spare Parts	50
	All Hall Of Meat paths complete
	Fully Sponsored	50
	Obtain all sponsorships
	Urban Legend Too	40
	Own all spots in career mode
	The Architect	5
	Upload a created spot
	The Critic	10
	Rate 10 community videos and photos
	Pwn some n00bs	15
	Win an online ranked match
	Active Skater	20
	Successfully complete all online freeskate activities with your created skater
	Online Legend	50
	Achieve Legend Rank Online
	Online Pro	25
	Achieve Pro Rank Online
	Amateur Skater	15
	Achieve Amateur Rank Online
	Graphically Extreme	5
	Add a custom graphic to your skater
	Dethrowned	20
	Download and own a community-created spot
	Skater’s Choice	20
	Win the Skater’s choice award in an online ranked match
	Juggling Chainsaws	20
	Wipeout at high speed in career mode
	Skitched Up	5
	Skitch for 1000 meters or 3000 feet in career mode
	Make it Big!	15
	Use Big Black’s service 10 times in Career Mode
	Running Man	5
	Escape a chase off board in career mode
	DIY	35
	Spend 30 minutes moving objects in career mode
	Good Samaritan	20
	Knock down a security guard chasing another skater in career mode
	Need for Speed	50
	Maintain maximum speed for 5 seconds in career mode
	Sandbag	20
	Break at least 15 bones in a single wipeout in career mode
	Gender Bender	5
	Change your skater’s gender
	Grasshopper	20
	Perform one grass gap of at least 10 meters or 30 feet in career mode
	Stairmaster	20
	Perform one stair gap of at least 12 meters or 36 feet in career mode
	Uninsurable	20
	Break 100 bones in career mode
	Playing Nice Together	5
	Complete your first online freeskate activity with your created skater
	Cooperation is key	10
	Complete 50 online freeskate activities with your created skater
	Film School Dropout	25
	Complete all film and photo challenges at Oliver Elementary
	Parking Lot Attendant	25
	Complete all film and photo challenges at the Parkade
	Center of Attention	25
	Complete all film challenges at the Community Center
	Best in Class	25
	Win the Best Trick Contest at Oliver Elementary
	Best Trick Valet	25
	Win the Best Trick Contest at the Parkade
	Community Jammer	25
	Win the Jam Contest at the Community Center
	A Budding Star	25
	Complete all film challenges at Rob’s Fantasy Factory
	Jam Fantasy	25
	Win the Jam Contest at Rob’s Fantasy Factory
Secret Achievements
	Taste The Mongo	20
	Mongo Push 5000 times in career mode
	Skylight Superstar	25
	Drop into Rob’s plaza through the skylight
	No Hard Hat Required	25
	Touch the top of the contstruction full-pipe

(Achievement information from xbox360achievements.org)

Hi All!

For anyone expecting to see my review of Skate 2 I must apologize. I have not had time to write it!

Due to this I have put it back 1 day and it will be released 9:00 am Sunday 1st March!

Thankyou

-Pigeon

Heres a lights, camera, action review for You’re In The Movies.

In order to play this game you will need the Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera. You can buy the game and camera together in a pack, and you can buy them separate if you already have the game or the camera!

To enjoy playing this game you will need good room lighting, so you should either open window blinds and curtains or if you are playing at night I suggest you close all curtains and have some bright lights on in the room!

A large clear space is best to play in with a plain backdrop, some clothing that contrasts with the backdrop is also good to help the camera to pick you up.

One thing I will say about the camera set up (In my game experience as it may differ between users!) the camera tends to miss parts of you off on the screen if you dont set it up correctly, im not exactly sure why it does this, but in all honesty I played in my room which wasnt a large environment and there was too much in the background for the camera to cope with. So I highly recommend playing in dark coloured clothing against a white wall! Here are the rules on this anyway.

There are 30 movies you can choose from in 5 genres…

Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Disaster and Classic.

… Once you have chosen your  movie you must then choose how many players there are up to a maximum of 4. Each player must then take the sreenshot of themselves which acts as their in game avatar. Every session is made up of different sections in which players take it in turns to act out a certain emotion or action, and take part in mini games which all make up the final product.

(Here is an actress acting scared)

The more actors there are determines how many rounds of acting will take place, An average 4 player movie can take 20 – 30 mins to complete. This can get a bit tiresome and repetative as you tend to be doing the same things over and over again. If you are going for the 1000 gamer points you will need to complete all 30 movies in 4 player mode, so i suggest you do this from the begining save repeating all of the movies! If you do not have 4 people to play with you can act all parts in the movies yourself (Which I did for some movies) but this gets very boring after a short time!

Some mini games will require two actors to take part at a time, like the one below in which players must splash each other with mud.

(It’s A Bit Messy)

Once all of the actors have finished acting their parts, you are then shown the final product in which the game puts together your recorded parts into the movie you have chosen. Here is an example of a finished movie…

Another game mode is Director mode, this game lets you become the director and create your own movies from start to finish. You choose how many and which scenes will be used, you can even add your own vocals and sound effects.

Some of the achievements require you to complete certain mini games, If like me you complete all of the movies and havent attained all of these achievments you can play any of the mini games  via the  menu, to save you going through movies again trying to find certain mini games!

So all together I give You’re In The Movies -  8 out of 10.

A great party game with lots of hilarious movies to take part in, unfortunately due to some potential graphical issues, and lack of continuous enjoyable single playability I have to mark it down slightly!

Thanks for reading

Peace & Love To All

- Pigeon

There are 43 achievements with a total of 1000 points.
	First Audition	5
	Complete an audition and begin making a movie
	Make a Movie	10
	Complete 1 game session
	Make a Trilogy	20
	Complete 3 game sessions
	Make a Series	25
	Complete 5 game sessions
	Going Solo	10
	Make a movie with only 1 player
	Horror Hero	30
	Complete all movies in the Horror genre
	Sci-Fi Star	30
	Complete all movies in the Sci-Fi genre
	Action Ace	30
	Complete all movies in the Action genre
	Disaster Don	30
	Complete all movies in the Disaster genre
	Classic Cat	30
	Complete all movies in the Classic genre
	Cater for Most	30
	Make a movie in each of the 5 genres
	Obsessed	70
	Complete all 30 original movies
	Totally Obsessed	100
	Complete all 30 original movies in 4 player mode
	Budding Director	10
	Create a script using director mode
	Epic	15
	Make a movie with 4 players
	Carny	20
	Complete all fairground games
	Key Grip	20
	Complete all studio games
	Beach Bum	20
	Complete all desert island games
	Zen Master	20
	Complete all dojo games
	Country Kid	20
	Complete all countryside games
	City Slicker	20
	Complete all city games
	Team Player	35
	Complete all 2 player games in 2 player mode
	First Class	10
	Play Flight of Fancy and ride in the plane
	Run For Your Life	15
	Don’t get caught in both Monkey Run and Tornado Run
	Movie Editor	20
	Score maximum points in Film Buff and The Reel Thing
	Demolition Dynamo	20
	Knock the wall down in Swing King and dig to the bottom of the screen in Demolition Day
	Generator	20
	Score maximum points in Backstage Bother and Dynamo!
	Sound Engineer	20
	Score maximum points in Sound Off and Ding Dong
	Slippery Eel	15
	Don’t get hit in both Knock Knock and Rodeo Rampage
	Puzzle Master	20
	Score maximum points in Cup and the Pea and Costume Crisis
	Frantic Fun	20
	Score maximum points in Shut the Valve and Treasure Trove
	Spiritual Bliss	20
	Score maximum points in Stone Master and Free Your Mind
	Athlete	20
	Score maximum points in Log Toss, Bungee Run, and Hula Hula
	Triathlon	20
	Score maximum points in Marathon Man, Stuntman and Piranha Panic
	Bruiser	20
	Beat all the bad guys in Runaway Train and Hitman
	Strength Challenge	20
	Knock the bell off in Strongman
	Punch Bag	20
	Hit the maximum punch 3 times in a row in Punch Out
	Skuse Me	20
	Get 3 balls in a row on Skuseball
	Rocketeer	20
	Destroy 20 ships in Rocket Launcher
	Float Like a Butterfly	20
	Complete Play Fight and Fistful of Fun without getting hit
	Sting Like a Bee	20
	Hit all the pads in Contender
	Beat Master	20
	Score maximum points in Dragon Boat and Funky Monkey
	Funky Mover	20
	Score maximum points in Let’s Dance and Freestyle Fever

(Achievement information from xbox360achievements.org)

Hi all, Sorry for the lack of updates this month but…..

Just to let you know.

The Next Lot of Upcoming Content Will Be…

———————————————————————————–

Post Date – Mon, 23/02/09 - Review – You’re In The Movies

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Post Date – Sun, 01/03/09 – Review – Skate 2 | *SORRY GUYS DATE CHANGED*|

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See You Then!

Peace & Love

-Pigeon

A Heroic review for a brilliant Action RPG…

Wow Is the first and main thing I have to say… WOW. Fable 2 has had me hooked and is very different from most games for me. Usually I will play a game until I haved attained the 1000 points or until I have completed it and cannot possibly earn anymore points, then I will trade it in.  Fable 2 however has kept me coming back for more. Since buying the game on 27th December 08 and completing it a week later I have completed it multiple times with a few different characters.

I didnt play Fable 1 so I dont really have anything to compare it too, but I will still offer my opinion.

After selecting a male or female character the begining of the game plays like a tutorial as you are a child living on the streets with your sister, it teaches you about movement, combat and character interaction etc. After the events of the introduction pass you find yourself now older as you have become a strong young man/woman and you can then begin your journey.

(A young male character begining his journey)

Fable 2 offers players a huge free roam environment called Albion in which to explore. (Which is 10 times bigger than Fable 1 for anyone that played it.) This environment is filled with many different regions each with its own city for you to explore. The graphics in Fable 2 are stunning, the differing environments from town to town give you a detailed impression of how life in Albion would be, from the bustling streets of Bowerstone Market Town Center to the lush greenery of Oakfield are very detailed and believable. Similar to the system featured in “Oblivion” and “Fallout 3″ you can fast travel. So if you dont want to make your journeys on foot, you can select what region you want to travel to within the game menu!

(Oakfield’s Beauty in all its glory!)

The concept of the game consists of working your way from region to region completeting quests that you recieve along the way. The main quest line will take you through the story of the game whereas you can accept side quests from villagers and other characters all of which you can complete in any way you want. A large part of the game makes you choose whether to complete it by being good or evil, You characters visual appearance will change dependant on your charcter’s lieniency towards good/evil, and pure/corrupt. If you are good a halo will appear above you head, whereas if you are evil, devil like horns wil appear on your character’s forehead. Also if you are pure glowing light blue streaks will appear all over your charcters body, whereas if you are corrupt, darker dull red streaks will appear.

(A completely evil character, with full Devil horns and glowing red eyes!)

Along your travels you will encounter a variety of creatures and humans that will attack you these range from the dwarf like Hobbes (It is said Hobbes kidnap children and turn them into Hobbes themselves) to  werewolf like Balverines to huge towering Trolls. Human enemies include bandits and assasins.

(Being surrounded by bandits doesnt worry our brave hero.)

To combat these foes, you can use Hand to Hand Combat, using weapons like Longswords, Katanas, Axes and Maces. Long Ranged weapons include, Crossbows, Rifles and Pistols. You can also use Magic Attacks such as the electric Shock, the fire Inferno, and Raise Dead which raises the souls of fallen enemies around you which come back to fight for you. The combat system is pretty basic and its really down to button bashing but the attacks are set to X (Hand to Hand),Y (Long Ranged) and B (Magic) buttons. If you die in combat, your character will recieve battle scars on their body.

(A very “shocking” performance for those hollowmen!)

During combat you can earn experience points, you earn different points dependant on your attack, Blue strength for hand to hand attacks, Yellow skill for ranged attacks, Red will for magic attacks also Green for general experience points. These experience points appear as little orbs that drop from your enemies as you attack. When the battle is over or even during if your daring you can hold your “RT” trigger and the experience will be drawn into your character. If you die in combat you simply revive in the same spot you died you just lose any battle experience you hadn’t collected during the combat up to that point.

(Sorry about the quality, Here you can see the experience orbs on the ground!)

Aside from all of the quests and fighting there is a lot to do in Albion. You can try to live a normal life in that you can make people fall in live with you by impressing them enough, to a point that you can get married by offering a ring to someone that loves you, Upon marrying and selecting a marital home you can have protected or unprotected sex with your wife/husband, unprotected sex can however lead to your character contracting STD’s and you could also have a little child of your own.

(“Do not worry ladies I have time for all of you”)

Within the many towns and regions of Albion there are many properties to buy like shops, pubs, houses etc. You can earn money by renting out the houses, and from the profit your shops bring in, but dependant on your pure/corrupt lieniency you can choose to alter rent to any where between 100% above or below the oringinal prices. Obviously charging no rent is going to make you pure, whereas being greedy will make people dislike you and become corrupt.

Aside from your statistic building experience points, you can earn Renown points which basically add up to how famous/well known you are within Albion. You can earn renown by completing quests for people and earning trophies which you can show off to people via the expression wheel.

(My Hero displaying one of his many Trophies.)

During your time spent in Albion you will undoubtedly encounter an endless amount of villagers, settlers and other people to converse with. To interact with people you must use the expression wheel. There are various expressions to use from Social, Fun and Flirtatious ones to Scary and even Rude ones. All of which have different effects on how people react to you e.g. Fun and Social expressions will make people like and even love you, whereas Scary or Rude expressions will make people fear or even hate you.

(Trying to impress “Sue the Housewife” with some flirty expressions)

If no one else within your Fable experience, you will always find one friend wherever you go. Man’s best friend itself, your dog. Always at your side your dog follows you on quests and wherever you go throughout Albion. Although it is nice to have the company while your travelling, your dog does have its uses. You can train your dog to be a stronger fighter, you can also teach him to hunt for treasure in which case he will find treasure chests and items buried in dig spots that are near you and will lead you to them.

(Giving your faithfull friend some loving praise!)

There are two versions of the online multiplayer. First of all there is the co-operative mode in which someone can join your gameas a physical character and help you with quests and fighting etc. The other version is chosen from the in game menu. You must select to display player orbs and whether to display friends only or everyone. Then little orbs will appear which represent other players online. You can then approach the orbs and interact with them by chatting or giving them gifts etc.

(Here I am interacting with another player’s orb online via Xbox Live.)

Downloadable Content: Knothole Island = 800 microsoft points.

Knothole Island gives players an extra quest line in which you must solve Knothole’s weather problems, you can help the “Box of Secrets” shop restock by finding certain items around Albion, and their are 10 informative books detialing Knothole Island’s history for you to find within the region. By completing these tasks throughout you can earn another 3 achievements worth 100 gamerpoints.

So finally all in all I give Fable 2 – 10 out of 10.

Another highly addictive RPG game that has had me hooked! With a brilliant story and great re-playabilitly and massive explorative capability this game keeps you coming back for more! I have given it top marks because, in my opinion, this game cannot be faulted!

Thanks for reading

Peace & Love To All

- Pigeon

There are 53 achievements with a total of 1100 points.
	The Pooch Pamperer	5
	Play fetch with your dog, or see another Hero’s dog play.
	The Archaeologist	5
	Dig up something the dog has discovered, or see another Hero do so.
	The Dog Trainer	5
	Teach your dog a trick, or see another Hero’s dog learn one.
	The Persuader	5
	Convince a villager to give you a present, or see another Hero do so.
	The Show-off	5
	Impress a villager with a perfect expression, or see another Hero do so.
	The Romantic	10
	Take a villager on a perfect date, or tag along to one. Location and expressions are all-important.
	The Spouse	10
	Marry a villager, or attend the wedding of another Hero.
	The Parent	10
	Have a child, or be there for the birth of another Hero’s child.
	The Hunter	5
	Kill a sweet, innocent, fluffy bunny rabbit (remember, safety’s off!)
	The Gargoyle	25
	Find the gargoyles’ legendary treasure.
	The Chicken Kicker	5
	Kick a chicken a good distance, or see one getting kicked.
	The Cliff Diver	5
	Cliff dive 500 feet, or see another Hero do so.
	The Workhorse	10
	A Hero must achieve a high-enough chain while performing a job.
	The Hero of Many Names	5
	Change your Hero’s title, or see another Hero change theirs.
	The Teaser	5
	Make bandits respond to expressions with fear, anger, mirth, and confusion… during combat!
	The Property Magnate	10
	A property must be sold for twice the price it was bought for.
	The Rogue	5
	Steal something undetected from a building while there are people nearby, or see another Hero do so.
	The Illustrated Hero	5
	Tattoo every part of your Hero’s body, or see another Hero do so.
	The Executioner	10
	Sacrifice ten people in the Temple of Shadows, or see another Hero do so.
	The Gambler	10
	A Hero must win 500 gold at a pub game in one sitting, having tried each game type at least once.
	The Bigamist	10
	Get married a second time, whilst already married, or attend the second wedding of another Hero.
	The Swinger	5
	Take part in a debauched bedroom party with several participants.
	The Pied Piper	10
	Start a party where at least five villagers are dancing, or see another Hero do so.
	The Party Animal	10
	Get five villagers drunk in under three minutes, or see another Hero do so.
	The Menace To Society	5
	Commit an act of public indecency, or see another Hero commit one.
	The Black Knight	10
	Shoot the weapons from a hollow man’s hands, blow off his head and then kill him for good!
	The Duellist	10
	String together a full-speed chain attack, or see another Hero do so.
	The Sharpshooter	10
	Hit three enemies with one shot, or see another Hero do so.
	The Archmage	10
	A Hero must kill five human enemies with one spell.
	The Ruler of Albion	100
	Amass a 2.5 million gold real estate empire, or be there when another Hero does.
	The Hoarder	25
	Collect every silver key, or see another Hero do so.
	The Goth	5
	A Hero must dye their hair black, and wear a black outfit and black makeup.
	The Completionist	50
	Get all expressions, pet tricks and abilities, or see another Hero do so.
	The Paragon	15
	Reach 100% good or evil, or see another Hero do so.
	The Extremist	15
	Reach 100% purity or corruption, or see another Hero do so.
	The Celebrity	50
	Reach 50,000 renown, or see another Hero do so.
	The Artisan	10
	Succeed at one job to Level 5, or see another Hero do so.
	The Dollcatcher	10
	Collect all the Hero dolls, or see another Hero collect them.
	The Muse	5
	Inspire the Bard to compose songs celebrating your great deeds.
	The Companions	10
	Perform a perfect co-op expression.
	The Double Threat	10
	Get a co-op combat bonus.
	The Philanthropist	10
	Send a gift to an Xbox LIVE friend, or watch another Hero send one.
	The Whippersnapper	25
	A child Hero must collect five gold pieces.
	The New Hero	50
	The terror of Bower Lake must be defeated.
	The Hero of Strength	100
	Complete The Hero of Strength.
	The Hero of Will	100
	Complete The Hero of Will.
	The Hero of Skill	100
	Complete The Hero of Skill.
	The Sacrifice	25
	A Hero must choose ‘The Needs of the Many’.
	The Family	25
	A Hero must choose ‘The Needs of The Few’.
	The Egomaniac	25
	A Hero must choose ‘The Needs of the One’.
	The Collector	25
	Acquire all the mystery items in The Box of Secrets shop, or see another Hero do so.
	The Meteorologist	50
	Bring all of Knothole Island’s weather problems under control, or help another Hero to do so.
	The Bibliophile	25
	Find all the books detailing the history of Knothole Island, or help another Hero to do so.

(Achievement information from xbox360achievements.org)

Hi All, Today I am 21 years old WOOP!

As of 7:48 am this morning I have become a “Man” lol

Ive had a great day so far! Ive really enjoyed opening my prezzies and things

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I have set up a Twitter account so if anyone has one and wants to follow mine then id be more than grateful! I will obviously follow yours in return ;-D

My excessive “0″ followers is getting a bit lonely!

so….. http://twitter.com/gamingpigeon …. Lets get Twitter-ing people!

Anyways speak soon!

-Pigeon

p.s. Dont Forget Fable 2 Review coming this Friday 23rd 9:00 am!

PEACE

A high note of a review for…

Before I start the review I will have to say if you dont like karaoke or singing then you probably wont want this game, but then I will highly advise you to get it anyway!!

The main excuse I hear from/about people not playing this game is because they “Cant Sing?!”. The point is it doesnt matter, thats the best part of it. I cant sing to save my own life but I still rack in the high scores! The game would be boring if we were all beyonces (because of the vocal chords not the booty!)

Lips is a very simple yet very effective Karaoke game it has a simple layout with easy to navigate menus…

Sing mode. This is the bread and butter of the game the basis of this mode is simple you choose a song from the alphabetised list and you sing it Lips comes with 40 songs standard. After choosing a song you are taken to the video select screen. You can choose to sing along to the normal music video or you can choose from a list of “Party Games” to play while you sing wich are better played cooperatively….

- Virtual Music Video. The character within the video reacts to your gameplay, the more you perform and the better you do the character will dance and lip-sync along with you.
- Time Bomb. In this game players work together to perform well to build their star power meter and when full players can perform a gesture which then puts out the bombs fuse for a short period of time. The object of the game is to complete the song before the fuse runs out thereby exploding the bomb.
- Kiss presents two lovers trying to reach each other to kiss. Players must perform well to build their star power meter as the characters run towards each other, when the meter is full the gestures for both players will appear, at which time players must activate their gesture at the exact same time making the on screen characters kiss. However if players dont match their gestures then there are some nasty consequences!
- Vocal Fighters. This is the game for the competitor in all of us as it is a one-on-one competition to win the most fans. The object of the game is to perform better than your opponent to boot one another off the stage to earn points. At the end of the song who ever has the most points wins.

(Choosing which music video / party game to play.)

Once you have chosen you music video you can then choose to sing the full song or a shortened version of it.

The object of the game is to not only sing songs but perform them. You are awarded points for doing certain things within songs also dependant on how well you perform.

- Star Power – As you sing you earn star power which is indicated by a bar than runs above the on screen lyrics. Once the bar is full a character will appear displaying a specific gesture you are required to perform in order to activate your star power.

- Gestures – There are a variety of gestures for you to perform in order to activate your star power, all of which have you shaking and waving the microphone around in different positions, e.g. up in the air, around your head, up and down, under your leg.

- Stars – Once you have activated your star power using a gesture the coloured bar that runs with the lyrics changes to gold and the bars fill with sequential gold dots, these are stars, while you sing in star power activated you collect these stars which then add towards your total at the end. There is an achievement for earning 100,000 stars so you will be kept busy!

- Medals – Aside from earning stars you can earn medals. There are six medals that can be earned for each and every song you perform, these are…

- Pitch – Get accurate pitch.
- Rhythm – Match your vocal rhythm to that of the song.
- Performace – Successful use of mic gesturing during breaks in singing.
- Party – Successful use of the ‘Noise Makers’ on the Xbox 360 controller.
- Technique – Use of vical expertise i.e. vibrato
- Stability – Stay on pitch for the duration of the notes.

(You can see on the left, this player has just earned the Technique medal)

- Noise Makers – Although the game relies heavily on the use of the microphones, it does not make the Xbox 360 controller obselete. You can use the buttons on the controller to add your own sound effects in game to boost your score and earn medals. The noise makers are usually just symbals or clapping sounds to accompany your singing. As you use noise makers, and stay on beat with the song, a light begins to glow at the top of the screen when it is at its brightest you can shake your microphone during breaks in singing to earn star power alot quicker!

Jukebox Mode - This mode provides the music to your party, you can select from your favourite songs or select a play list and the game will play through your choices displaying the music video for that song. A brilliant feature of Jukebox mode and that of the Lips Microphones is that at any time during Jukebox mode you can simply shake your microphone to activate it and join in the song, at which time the game displays the lyrics for the current song and you can continue to sing as you do in normal Sing mode.

Get Music - This mode gives players the endless singing freedom they want and have always desired from karaoke games. Get music allows players to add their own music from external devices such as the Xbox 360 Hard Drive or from their iPod or other  MP3 player. Once a device is chosen all available tracks appear then players simply choose which songs they want and add them to Lips. A word of warning however to sing songs from an external device the said device must be plugged into the Xbox 360 Console, otherwise they become unavailable!

(The Get Music menu option, the icons floating above are all of the songs I have added)

.After adding music to Lips you are going to want to sing them. These songs however are not the same as the pre-loaded ones and are sung in Freestyle Mode. This mode displays random visualisations during singing and there are no lyrics displayed. Although singing songs you know and have added yourself is fun it does have a few downsides, since there are no registered lyrics you can find yourself struggling (Unlessof course you really know the song) Also since there are no defined lyrics there is very little to score from. Im not entirely sure how the scoring works in freestyle mode, but you do not earn medals and you earn very few stars.

My Lips – This mode is the home base for all of your Lips statistics. It is split into three columns…

- My Profile, this column displays your current star count, your total medals, your average song rank, your total songs sung and total unique songs sung, it also displays your current challenges wins.

- My Friends, this column displays all of your friends list, form which you can issue challenges to whomever you wish. Obviously only people with the Lips game themselves will be able to accept and take part in those challenges.

- Top Ten, this column shows you the top ten songs you have performed, it shows how many times you have performed each song and how many times it has been performed worldwide.

Options – This screen gives you the opportunity to edit you Lips experience to suit you. It offers you the choice to change your main menu theme, the colour of your sing bars whilst playing a song, you can turn your Microphone LED lights on or off, and you can choose whether you want sounds effects and noise makers on or off.

The only negative I would have to say is that Lips is a game that should be enjoyed in company, meaning if you play it often by yourself it can become very boring, also constantly singing the same songs gets annoying.

So finally all in all I give Lips – 9.5 out of 10.

This game is very fun indeed, With a brilliant achievement list and many singing opportunities it is fun for all the family!

Enjoy and Thanks

Peace & Love To All

- Pigeon

There are 40 achievements with a total of 1000 points.
	Been to Get Music	5
	Entered Get Music for the first time
	Welcome to My Lips	5
	Entered My Lips for the first time
	Try Freestyle Mode Out	5
	Played Freestyle mode for the first time
	Fight for the first time	5
	Sent a song challenge to a friend for the first time
	One Hit Wonder	5
	Sang 1 song in short or full
	Platinum Artist	25
	Sang 10 different songs
	Lips Anthology	30
	Sang 40 different songs
	I’m Kind Of A Big Deal	40
	Achieved the rank of “Infinity”
	Wishing on a Star	30
	Gained 5,000 total stars
	I’m full of stars	40
	Gained 50,000 total stars
	Superstar!	40
	Gained 100,000 total stars
	100x Medalist	30
	Awarded 100 total medals
	500x Medalist	40
	Awarded 500 total medals
	Perfect Pitch	30
	Awarded 30 Pitch medals
	Time Machine	30
	Awarded 30 Rhythm medals
	Like A Rock	30
	Awarded 30 Stability medals
	Technician	30
	Awarded 30 Technique medals
	Ham Star	30
	Awarded 30 Performance medals
	Life of the Party	30
	Awarded 30 Party medals
	Rebirth of Cool	30
	Got “Cool” 10 times in a row
	What’s Cooler Than Being Cool?	30
	Got “Cool” in every page
	I Got You Babe	5
	Participated in Co-op mode for the first time
	In Synch	25
	Scored 1,000,000 pts in Co-op mode (Awarded to all signed in players)
	Battle Tested	10
	Played VS mode 10 times in different songs
	Figure 8	25
	Got 8 medals total in one song (Awarded to all signed in players)
	Full Medal Panic!	40
	Got 12 medals total in one song (Awarded to all signed in players)
	Clap Your Hands Everybody	25
	Noisemakers were perfectly in sync (Awarded to all signed in players)
	Gotta Have More Cowbell	30
	Used the cowbell 50 times (Awarded to all signed in players)
	One Small Step For Man	5
	Added a song to Lips from external sources
	One Giant Leap for Mankind	10
	Added 20 songs to Lips from external sources
	This is madness!	20
	Added 300 songs to Lips from external sources
	Throw Your Hands Up	5
	Triggered a gesture in the Virtual Music Video
	Rising Star	40
	Achieved a Grand Ranking of “Lounge Act”
	Big Name in Lips	40
	Achieved a Grand Ranking of “Hit Maker”
	Call Me Superstar	40
	Achieved a Grand Ranking of “Superstar”
	Defending Champion	25
	Got 20 challenge wins
	Let’s Get This Party Started	10
	Activated Jukebox mode. Will be awarded to all players who are signed in
	First Kiss	35
	Participated in 2P Kiss game ranked as “Match Made in Heaven” (Except in Freestyle mode)
	Nice Duds	35
	Successfully stopped the bomb from exploding in Time Bomb (Except in Freestyle or Short mode)
	Fan Service	35
	Participated in a Vocal Fighters game with a 4 point difference (Except in Freestyle mode)

(Achievement Information from xbox360achievements.org)

Hi all, Just to let you know.

The Next Lot of Upcoming Content Will Be…

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Post Date – Wed, 14/01/09 - Review – Lips
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Post Date – Fri, 23/01/09 – Review – Fable 2
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See You Then!

Peace & Love

-Pigeon