PixlBit

I thought I'd post this picture of my games up on the two bookshelves I bought last week. This is after the several purges I made for games to trade. I managed to add a few more bucks to the XBO purchase I needed to get my long time gaming buddy Mark to join the current generation. I also traded in older stuff Gamestop wouldn't take to my local game store and picked up Tales of Zestiria for PS4. Pics below:

Yep, I preordered one: 2TB hard drive and 40% smaller, I'm in. As a side benefit, I will be handing down my current XBO to my friend Mark. Then we'll both be up to current gen standards; however, only until sometime next year when the next XBO console with upgraded guts comes out (I forget that catchy name they gave it at the moment). I probably won't get that one, though, because I don't have a 4K TV and I am not too interested in VR games. 

I wanted to play some Saints Row Iv today (Monday) but cloud saves were offline, so I played some Miinecraft instead. Then I watched the MS E3 Conference live on Xbox 360 and then back to Minecraft because I got somewhat disinterested in Saints Row IV even though cloud saves came back online. 

I had to work around my neice's dance recital today, but I got some gaming in. 

I finally got a  $14 copy of Pikmin 3 for Wii-U. I've wanted it since it was announced at E3 2012. Miyamoto began the Nintendo presentation with little pikmin crawling all over him. I couldn't believe it. One my my favoirte franchises up front and center. I should've gotten a Wii-U and Pikmin 3 day-one but I was concerned about money then and didn't do it. Since then Nintendo hasn't released enough new games that interested me as much to make me pick up the system.. 

Got myself this remake of the original PS2 Odin Sphere for PS4 today. I love Vanillaware games, especially their art style which is very Japanese, colorful, and zany all at the same time. Plus they usually do game genre's I really dig like strategy, rpg, or some mix of the two. Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I say. Here's a pic:

One last try this Monday to get to summoning The Wither again and then building the beacon but it didn't happen. I got as far as enchantment of two diamond swords, neither of which produced a Loot boost. This last playthrough handed Mark and I some lucky finds, but it still took too long. We found the Stronghold really quickly and we got enough diamond to do what we needed in short order. We even got lucky in that the Nether Portal dropped us right inside the Fortress. But by the time I grinded for levels enough to get the highest enchantment and apply it to the swords, it was time to stop. I am finally exhausted by this game and will be taking a long break from it. 

I don't know if it's the beginning of summer or it's just me being burned out from working, but I played hookie from all my usual projects during the week to cruise over to Mark's place and play Minecraft. I feel like I just want the whole summer off to play games and eat picnic food. Anyhow, here's a recount of what's gone on in Minecraft for me all week and weekend.

On Monday Mark and I finished the last achievement in Minecraft. It's called The Beaconator and is all about getting the beacon to maximum power. The beacon at maximum power throws a beam of light into the sky so you can find your way back home easily and gives you special powers within a certain radius of its placement. I had to go find the beacon piece, which I had left in a chest deep in some cave. I found it, put it on top of the pyramid of iron, activated it, and both of us got the achievement. Phew! What a grind! Well, I thought I'd be done with Minecraft after that, but read on and discover what other stuff kept me going the rest of the day. 

Saturday Mark and I beat The Wither in Minecraft, but it took some failures. We summoned it in the front yard of Mark's house. It was probably a bad idea. The yard became cratered like it was hit by a barrage of WWI artillery. I got The Wither's health down about half way with arrows, but then it killed me. By the time I got my equipment back and attacked it again, it had regenerated its health back to full. So we reset to a save point and built a cage for it out of obsidian (hardest material in the game) and summoned it in there. That worked for all of a minute before it blasted its way out with its exploding skulls. I ran into one of our mines to hide from it and it didn't follow me. That got me thinking. We reset again and summoned it underground surrounded by a cobblestone barrier, then, before it could blast its way out, Mark hit it with his diamond sword, and I shot if full of arrows  That worked and we both got the achievement for defeating it.