The Playstation Challenge: the final tally

And so it has ended, 365 days of battling it out with the joypads over a PS3 and a VITA, in order to decide which family contained the biggest geek of them all, and giving ultimate bragging rights.

It all started the 31st of december 2012 at 0.01 and at that same date and hour, but exactly one year later, the books can be put down.

But first, let's have a look at the final month, december, and what a month it was, the past 5 days seeing no less then 4 platinums pop divided under both contestants.

And here it is, the one and only Playstation Challenge 2013...  A fight between me and Andy, who will gain the most PSN points during the course of 365 days...

Deciding the winner:

Less then a gap of 8400 is a victory for me, more then 9000 points gap is a victory for Andy, and in between those two extremes it becomes a draw


The oversight of gained spoils, updated after every monthly update post.

FINAL update: 31st of December 2013

Yokai_Tomsche

Points: 69.195 + 4965 pts
Level: 18 - 64% + 62%

Platinum Trophies: 25 + 4
Gold Trophies: 181 + 10
Silver Trophies: 517 + 40
Bronze Trophies: 2193 + 143

Games played: 369 + 17
Games Beaten: 52 + 5

AnRoDr

Points: 66.975 + 5295
Level: 18 - 37% + 1 level, + 66%

Platinum Trophies: 22 + 4
Gold Trophies: 193 + 24
Silver Trophies: 486 + 33
Bronze Trophies: 2071 + 95

Games played: 247 + 6
Games Beaten: 41 + 5

This means Andy starts the year with a lead of 8670 points, currently the gap is - 2220 (WIN TOMSCHE)

So this month went to Andy again, clocking monthly wins off at 7 for me and 5 for him, but he only outscored me by 330 points... not enough by a long shot.

When he started the month with two immediate platinums, I could only react with my own Saint Seiya platinum.  Halfway I brought it in balance with the Lego Marvel platinum on the VITA, then to overtake by platiing both Shrek and Lego Lord of the Rings the last week.  Which he reacted to with also 2 platinums, balancing it out at 4 each this month... and at 8 platinums, the highest month score of the whole contest.

But it wasn't enough, and in the end my immense game month of June proved to be the ultimate undoing as I made up no less then 8000 points that month, about 4/5ths of my final margin!

 Looking back over the 12 months...

In a years time, I scored 46500 points, compared to 35610 for Andy, meaning a respective average of 127,39 points a day against only 97,56 and that is of course the whole reason I won.  The result in the end was that i made good 10890 points in the course of 12 months.

We both gained more then 5 levels each in the PSN network, and scored a respectable 22 vs 15 platinums, beating 30 vs 26 games.  The goal of working away backlogs hadn't missed it's mark... where it not we both gained a lot of extra titles as well.

Even though in the final total Andy has more gold trophies then me, mainly due him having in his platinum cabinet both Trine 2 and Resistance: Burning Skies which are both as good as gold and plat only games, I did outscore him in every field this year.

The result on that was 136 gold, 319 silver and 1382 bronze trophies for me versus 114 gold, 240 silver and 1030 bronze for Andy.

Not a bad count for either over a twelve month period!

Of course, neither of us could have pulled this off without the support of our 'teams' being partner and kids, as well as those that helped out for online trophies in our own 'networks'.  And in case of the partners, especially in the patience area, boys and their toys you know...

Could I have scored more? 

Yes definitly, bar June I've been playing mostly my 'defensive' game, countering his platinums with one of my own, not pushing through to try and create a false sense of calmness.  I could have scored at least 7 or 8 paltinums more from the list of The Green Lantern, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Terminator Salvation and GI Joe Rise of Cobra, but I got bored of those and traded them away with 3 or 4 open trophies only remaining.
I could have pushed harder on some kids games that are easy platinums like Monsters vs Aliens, Toy Story 3, Madagascar 3, Bakugan... but as there was no need to platinum those, I didn't spend the time in them and enjoyed my LEGO games.
And I could have motivated the GF more to play her Rango and her Smurfs 2 to platinum, as they both are rather easy ones as well, jsut if needed cleaning up in the end.

Will I ever do this again?

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!  The bookkeeping was one part, and I'm really glad, honestly, that I'm rounding this of and no longer need to focus on numbers.  That was by far the hardest part to keep track of it all, including having to switch halfway between 'providers' as YGC went poof.

Apart from that, I'm also tired of having to play crap games or games I didn't like at all for just that extra trophy that could be gained.  No, now I can sit back again and play what I like, which will be for me mostly my LEGO games.  Yes, I love them, even though platting them is a LONG grind or I would have nailed them all this year!

And Game of Thrones... 


But for now, all that remains is 

to thank all my fans and other people that followed our contest this year

my gallant opponent, who realised that defeat was imminent and spend his last hours to gain the Three-Bit Gangster trophy in GTA5 for the sake of the trophies name, a fitting salute to the competition

to bask in my glory and bragging rights which the winner would earn and think about what Andy is going to find in his cookbook

and get my ass down to the bedroom before my GF has completely forgotten who I am...

So this is it, the very last post of the contest.  I'll be removing the Playstation Challenge page at the top one of these days, so Andy, if you link this to the forum, put it directly to the post and not to the page this time round, the link will get broken otherwise around the end of the week. 

*Turning off the PS3 power*

The Gathering Dark - Jeff Grubb

Yes, I should be gaming for those final points of the challenge as the clock is ticking down, with less then 3 hours to go.

No I ain't, Chu was supposed to be doing this in my stead and finish the first episode of the second season of The Walking Dead...it'll be close to finish it before the end though...

On the other hand, I have been reading a lot today as I spend most of the day on either the bus or in the waiting chamber of a union office.  And managed just now to finish The Gathering Dark, a Magic: the Gathering novel by Jeff Grubb.

The story tells about the mage Jodah and his first steps on his road to becoming one of the greatest wizards, mostly encountered in the Mirrodin block, as he was the one that broke the barrier to Phyrexia.

The tale is at the end of the period called The Dark, when mages really started to make differences to the world after the devastation of the Brother's War between Urza and Mishra.  Losing his teacher Voska to the Church of Tal, and meeting with the elven mage Sima, Jodah ends up in the Conclave, a school of wizards founded a long time ago by Ith.

Now it turns out that his former pupil Maersil has usurped the position of Ith, but has kept the old mage locked away and slowly tuning him insane.  But as Jodah finds out he is the link to breaking open the void towards Phyrexia, he frees Ith, and events he had started by his encounters with the church start a snowball rolling that destroys the Conclave, and in the annals seems to be the start of the end.

And all the while, the weather changes and an Ice Age seems to be comming up...

Of Wizardry and Magic

Tonight at midnight the Playstation Challenge ends and it seems Andy is throwing in a last ditch effort on the platinum front, but I guess I'm pretty sure I'm in a safe haven.  It has been fun, but as I will be typing and calculating the final results after midnight, I'll be glad it is all over.  

So it is time to take on the opposing wizards again, something that has been since the 23rd of august 2013 with a FNM Standard.  Now that life has 'settled down' a little, the GF being much better then past summer and autumn (thank whatever deity your worship) and me being adapted to 'school life' as well as the financial complications that brought along, I can start to attend Magic events again, albeit a bit more low key then the previous stint at first.

My first 'goal' is to make it to the FNM on the 10th...

Looking up my current state of affairs on the PWPs, I realised I still need 101 points to be eligible to attend the Belgian qualifiers for the World Cup.  Now with my at best average skills, whom now are quite rusty, and the fact I'm only going to be playing Limited in the future (see earlier posts for the reasons) that will mean a hard pressed effort to go in order to score those kind of points before the 9th of march.

Why then, it runs up until the 31st of may to score?

Well yes, but I prefer to have some leverage to see what I must do to get there, and mentally 'up' my game to stick each and every game and event out to the last tap just to maybe get those extra 3 points.  With a career 'average' of only 5 to 8 points on an FNM, it'll be hard enough to get there, and if needed I can then decide wether or not it pays of to attend both the wednesday AND the friday drafts in the local watering hole.

Wish me luck!

And if I don't make it because my skills are lacking, I can still go play Pokemon...

My Canterbury Tale

After a one year hiatus, last friday me and the now extended family crossed the (stormy) channel for a shopping pilgrimage to the old english town.  It's a returning ritual, though next time it'll probably be a two dayer so I can actually visit some historic buildings and museums as well instead of the shop rush frenzy a day trip brings along.  After all, you spend over 12 hours bussing and sailing for a 6 hour shopping free...

And as always, this resulted of course in a lot of loot for the geeky mind to be brought back.  And an idea for a LEGO moc, as this particular house has the right 'feel' and is chumbling in my mind at the moment to act as a base idea for a future build.

The top of the line loot was a pair of new All Stars from Treds, which had serious discounts especially compared to what they ask for them here in old Belgium, the high edged burgundy ones (Tennant anyone?).

But comming close second, was this great find in a book liquidation store on the main street, the Lego book featuring the history and current lines of the famous brick.

I also found a heap of reading material, from said shop 3 volumes of Doctor Who books for 5 pounds, and I supported charity for getting the two Viking books for a bargain price of 2 pounds a piece.  That should keep me occupied in the bed, the bath and the loo for a while. 

HMV yielded me the Pacific Rim 'complete edition' which I have already been enjoying yesterday, BluRay on a HD tele gives a 'cleaner' and 'brighter' picture then a movie theatre one, and it added even more to the movie.  I adored it as it was for me already the best movie of 2013, Gipsy Danger remains one sexy girl.  And with any purchase you could get the Battleship dvd on the cheap, not the best scifi movie but the Missouri recommisioning sequence with the AC/DC music remains cheer epicness.

Kind of like Alice, she has that 'special thing' going for her when she chases white rabbits in no matter what version...

But of course, no UK trip is complete without 'Fish and Chips' and by finding a good pub by accident, the Cedar Tree in one of the side streets, the internal person was filled as well.  Heck, it was also dirt cheap, knocking down 48 pounds for 6 meals and 8 drinks...

Regrets?  Yes one in the end, that I didn't buy the TARDIS messenger bag at Whatever comics.  I loved the look of the bag, and didn't get back to the store before we had to leave.

In the end I also got some sweet small presents, from my mum this awesome and funny calendar (Darth Vader and Son, even though the munchkin isn't of "ye olde bloode", it feels the same none the less.  Let's say I'm like a Plus Dad)...

and from the girlfriend (who must be credited with the 'touristic pictures' in this post, I errrm, borrowed them unknowingly to add to this post *innocent whistle*) this awesome facts of life T-shirt (okay, that or she is trying to get a message across to not always go for the best).

So now it's off to various travelling and booking sites, and see if I can puzzle together an acceptable rate two day stay in this cosy village somewhere in the spring, and visit at last the actual Canterbury Tales!

Lego Lord of the Rings - The 25th Platinum

A lovely number to end the Playstation Challenge with, isn't it, 25 platinums, meaning I scored 22 this year or about average one for each 16 days.

The most recent aquisition is Lord of the Rings, the PS3 Lego version.  I loved this game, and it ranks second in my Lego all time favorite lists after Pirates of the Carribean.

The game follows the trilogy, but is specked with all the typical Lego game humor like the fetch quests, cameos and the likes, and it was a good game to play.

It had a couple of hard to score trophies, like the complete the storyline Moria under 15 minutes, but I pulled through after starting to play it this week.

And the game at least includes the one SCANDALOUSLY overseen character ommited from the movies:

On a side note, this game has been the reason why I got back into Lego in the first place, due to the fact you got this minifig as a limited edition collectible when I bought the game as a pre-order edition, and it was the very first model of my collection that 'ended the Dark Ages'.

Now the munchkin can play this game all he likes as it goes to his closet, while I can start counting down the days for the follow up game of The Hobbit...

Shrek Forever Ever After - The 24th Platinum

It seems we`re right on schedule for the aimed 25 platinums to end the contest with, as they are starting to pop swiftly now in the final sprint to utter massacring victory of team AnRoDr.

Just now, I finished Shrek, a game I played for platinum months ago, but then fell silent as it was in my home and I was mostly at my GF`s, but this afternoon I had a few free hours and I went for the remaining three silvers and as such the platinum.

It is a rather simple game, but unfortunatly I bought the dutch edition by accident, and the voice acting really got on my nerves, I prefer Myers, Banderas and Murphy any day. 

Is the game any good?  Bwaah, it is a kid`s game in the end, and I think even those could clean it up after finishing it the first time to unlock all upgrades, it doesn`t have to many really far sought or difficult puzzles.

But it is another platinum to the tally, and tomorrow I`ll be off to Canterbury for the annual pilgrimage, BUT for number 25 I`m at 95.3 completion percentage, so if I`m not to tired, I`ll be collecting the final 7 lego minikits during the night... and if not, an hour or two on saturday should nail the deal and score a nice 25th platinum (and I started in january with only a measly 3, so it has been a good year in working away backlogs...)

Age of Mitgardia: Store and Tower phase ones

Another set of free builds efforts have been created and put on the pictureplate today, starting out the Store and Tower lines.

I went for a completely different approach with the Store.  Normally, phase one consists of a Market Cart, but I thought to go in a different route and instead of building a cart pulled along a road, to build a small trade boat going down a waterway.

This gives me the option for the later stages to build off from a waterside for the market, if it works out as planned with a pier and such.

Ambitious and a lot to think off how to do it...

"Can`t a wizard get some peace and quiet to sort out his plans for world domination?"  Mechandro thought as he build a small outpost ontop the cliff. 

"Bit cramped though, I guess I`ll have to start expanding soon, especcially if this beastie starts to grow hmmm."

The tower line is also a bit of a different `idea` on how I want to build to progress.  Step 1 has to be an outpost, then a wooden tower and finally a stone tower.

I`m thinking of going the route of a Wizards Tower I`ve always wanted to build since I have that small wizard set from the Castle range, and will be using this particular rock as the base, expanding upwards by changing the `build up` at first to the type of towers, and adding action around the base as that one gets expanded as well.

Looking forward to 2014: resolutions!

Grinta, my code word for the comming year.  It was a term used to describe Sergio Conceiçao, and when he came to Standard Liege, we had the greatest of teams.

And the term sticked...

For 2014 I'm going to plan and try to sort out some serious issues from my past, details aren't that relevant as this is after all a hobby blog, but I'm going to 'bite' myself in some things and (hopefully) finally get it all cleared out.

Another thing I'm really going to have to make work from, is of a physical nature.  Yes, I need to have my knees looked after and operated, yes I have to get back to sports, yes I have to go in for an additional treatment for my slight psoriasis on my handpalms, and yes, I need to lose 20 kilo's.  I should also actually quit smoking, but that will be for another year, or I'll go totally insane ;-)

Of course, every drawback has it's benefits, so IF I can lose those kilos and get back to the not so lean, but definitly mean sporting machine (LOL) I can finally make work of making a cosplay set for FACTS.  And it will be a saint.  And it will be Nachi, bronze saint of Wolf, as his cloth isn't to complex to start out with...

Now, for the collecting budget, I'm going to aim this year to complete my Crusade cards of Saint Seiya (for now until the new set that is 5 cards remaining), and complete the God Warriors section of my Myth cloths (in addition to cool new saints)

Pity both are the rarest of the series, and around 150 - 200 euros going rate at current


Finally, I'm going to save up my small change to grab some Lord of the Rings LEGO.

Now the hardest for now will be these two, as they are from the 2012 range and starting to rotate out (especcially Weathertop).

As well as this big boy, the Tower of Orthanc exclusive (luckily I have a LEGO store near by to get it easier).

For the rest, it will be these sets if it are promotions, VIP points bonusses etc that I have my eye on...

As you can see, mostly sets for display, not actual play sets like Barrel Escape or the likes.

Of course, there are some other 'minor' goals to achieve in my geeky world, like Planeswalker Points.  And Playstation games.

For the Playstation it is simple, the Challenge is soonish over (and bagged and tagged woopwoop) so my goal for 2014 is to Platinum all the remaining... LEGO games (minus Rockband, which is a sing a long game, not the traditional adventure games of LEGO).  Of course, this is including any new releases in 2014, and on a purchase level I haven't got any plans to buy a lot.  The new LEGO games (with The Movie and The Hobbit, there are two scheduled in the first half of the comming year already), if there will be a new Saint Seiya, that of course as well, but for the rest I don't have any plans bar Telltale's volumes of still missing Walking Dead 2 and Fables games, and their upcomming Game of Thrones.

For the rest, I'm finally going to grind whatever I still have lying around for platinums and completions, but as the stress is now off the bucket in 2014, I'm not worrying to much wether or not I'll succeed.  My goal as such will be to achieve level 25 on the PSN network.

Planeswalker Points wise I'll be playing again, Sealed and Draft only and trade off all cards grabbed that way through TCO hopefully to complete my own series as well as the munchkin's Harry Potter ccg.  When the GF, now slowly recovered from her sickness, is back to work, it should be doable between february and june to at least get one draft in each month, depending her hours.  Not being to ambitious as such, I'm going to set my goal at level 32 to achieve.

And then there is painting of course.  No I haven't quit my paint pots, but for 2014 I'm going to try and mostly paint up my Saint Seiya models, gashapons and model kits, so a very moderate goal of 20 models will be set for this.

There we go then for 2014 and all it's achievements to get in the world of geekiness, have great days and I'll look forward to reading all those other backlooks and previews of the year exchange in the blog-o-sphere.