Of Mice and Achievements

Achievement Whore: n.

1. The act of accomplishing or finishing an Xbox 360 game solely for the purpose of gaining achievement points.
2. A person who plays Xbox 360 games, regardless of the quality of game, for the bragging rights to a higher gamer score.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up what I've been doing lately. Achievement whoring. Why you might ask? I can't really explain to you. It seems to keep me playing games thought, however, I seem to really be hitting the old crappy games first. But at least this give me the satisfaction of actually playing through some of my old games so I can trade them in and save some valuable shelf space. I'm officially finished all the 06 Sports games I have in my collection! I've been toying with the idea of playing PC games while sitting on my couch. HTPC's are quite popular, especially for the den/basement entertainment centers. My set up is in the bonus room of the house (which is usually code for the extra room they build over you garage). This isn't the best place for late night gaming, which is when I have time to game these days. My wife sleeps about 2-3 hours earlier than I do, she needs her beauty sleep, while I'm more of a night owl. I personally have always resisted getting multiple computers. I just find it wasteful to have more than one device that does the same thing when you hardly ever use it at the same time. That's part of the reason why I love Vista and won't be going back to XP unless I have to. Vista's user setup is so much more refined than that of XP. With both my wife and I using the same computer, it's PARAMOUNT that she and I have our own setup for fonts, screen resolutions, desktops, etc. My wife's a CGA so she's used to using a computer and is quite adept at it (as compared to most women that I personally know - that's not meant to be sexist but it's simply the truth). But she does still have her own preferences and complaints. One of them being "why does it take so long?". She gives me a somewhat hard time about the constant upgrades I do to my PC. But the thing she doesn't realize is that 30% of the upgrade decision is based on her complaints about the PC being slow at multi-tasking. Granted, the other 70% is games and bragging rights but that's another story! So, I'm toying with the idea of joining the dark side of Mac. I'm fairly certain that I will be getting the new Macbook Pro once it's been announced but for now, I'll just keep thinking about it. Boot Camp certainly is a HUGE reason for the jump since I can't live without Windows. It's like trying to walk with one leg in a two-legged world. Sure, the Segway is faster, more efficient, and flashier than your regular legs, but just wait until you have to go up stairs and you are screwed! But with boot camp, it's like getting a nice pair of crutches that you can stow away in your fancy segway for the times when you need to get up the stairs and need a little help. Ok, that analogy needs work but you get the point. PC will always be my gaming platform of choice, even over consoles, but these days, it looks like I will have to start to change with the times.