Just a quick post today,
It was pointed out to me yesterday that the Rocky and Bullwinkle DLC for Pinball FX2 on Xbox 360 was missing from the marketplace. I started looking into in and an anonymous source confirmed that it appeared to have been delisted. Shortly after, the nice people at Zen Studios got back to me very quickly, and responded to my tweet confirming that it has been permanently delisted due to an expired license that they chose not to renew.
-Randy2727
Thursday 23 October 2014
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Delisted Games 2 / Discontinued Achievements 8 - Dark Souls, Ascend, and More.
Hello readers,
I have been quite behind on my blogging lately due to my overwhelming school schedule along with other commitments. I still want to do all the work on the site that I have been talking about and I do hope to get to it eventually.
I will start off this time with the delisted games that I am aware of since my last post. All of these were taken down without notice or reason. Krissx, Frogger (WP), Castlevania Puzzle (WP), Rocky and Bullwinkle, NBA Baller Beats, and Trivial Pursuit. Trivial Pursuit and NBA Baller Beats are still available as retail versions, while the rest are gone forever.
There have been a few discontinued achievements since the last post. Something happened to Team Crossword that prevents the last few achievements to not unlock. Whenever an achievement would unlock the game freezes, causing the entire game to now be discontinued. Redbox for Xbox One has shut down leaving 3 unobtainable and 24 discontinued achievements.
These games are not discontinued yet but may become discontinued in the future. It was announced on Steam that Dark Souls (PC) will be transitioning to Steamworks some time in November, so for those of you who are planning on finishing that one I recommend doing it sooner than later. The post makes it sound like both versions will still be functional and you will not be forced to update so the achievements may still be okay. Fortunately there is a retail version of this game and all the achievements are obtainable offline so in the worst case scenario it should still be possible to earn these achievements.
Doritos Crash Course 2 was scheduled to close on October 15, rendering all achievements discontinued, however, as of a couple of days ago, it is still up and running. There may still be a chance to finish these achievements up for those of you that still don't have them.
Ascend Hand of Kul is set to close on November 18. It is an online only game so the server closure will discontinue all achievements.
I had a look into Toy Soldiers Cold War (Win 8), but unfortunately my VM software does not support enough video memory to run the game. However I did confirm with a couple of people still running Windows 8.0 that even a fresh install of the game still has the functional DLC so it appears this is just a Windows 8.1 compatibility issue and not an issue with a server or download of some sort.
Unfortunately I did not have time to make up a video post to go along with this blog and I apologize for being behind on this info.
Until next time,
Randy2727
I have been quite behind on my blogging lately due to my overwhelming school schedule along with other commitments. I still want to do all the work on the site that I have been talking about and I do hope to get to it eventually.
I will start off this time with the delisted games that I am aware of since my last post. All of these were taken down without notice or reason. Krissx, Frogger (WP), Castlevania Puzzle (WP), Rocky and Bullwinkle, NBA Baller Beats, and Trivial Pursuit. Trivial Pursuit and NBA Baller Beats are still available as retail versions, while the rest are gone forever.
There have been a few discontinued achievements since the last post. Something happened to Team Crossword that prevents the last few achievements to not unlock. Whenever an achievement would unlock the game freezes, causing the entire game to now be discontinued. Redbox for Xbox One has shut down leaving 3 unobtainable and 24 discontinued achievements.
These games are not discontinued yet but may become discontinued in the future. It was announced on Steam that Dark Souls (PC) will be transitioning to Steamworks some time in November, so for those of you who are planning on finishing that one I recommend doing it sooner than later. The post makes it sound like both versions will still be functional and you will not be forced to update so the achievements may still be okay. Fortunately there is a retail version of this game and all the achievements are obtainable offline so in the worst case scenario it should still be possible to earn these achievements.
Doritos Crash Course 2 was scheduled to close on October 15, rendering all achievements discontinued, however, as of a couple of days ago, it is still up and running. There may still be a chance to finish these achievements up for those of you that still don't have them.
Ascend Hand of Kul is set to close on November 18. It is an online only game so the server closure will discontinue all achievements.
I had a look into Toy Soldiers Cold War (Win 8), but unfortunately my VM software does not support enough video memory to run the game. However I did confirm with a couple of people still running Windows 8.0 that even a fresh install of the game still has the functional DLC so it appears this is just a Windows 8.1 compatibility issue and not an issue with a server or download of some sort.
Unfortunately I did not have time to make up a video post to go along with this blog and I apologize for being behind on this info.
Until next time,
Randy2727
Thursday 4 September 2014
Discontinued Achievements Issue 7 - Glacier Blast, Dawn of War 2
Hello readers,
Another Windows 8 game had its servers closed recently. Glacier Blast’s servers were closed on the 28th of August 2014. As far as I know no notice was given prior to the shutdown. This unfortunately seems to be a trend with Windows 8 games lately. The game was online for less than a year before shutting down. This renders 15 of the game's 20 achievements discontinued.
As far as I know Dawn of War 2 is still online and for those of you that still have not completed the game I would like to offer some help. I have completed game saves in both the original Dawn of War as well as Chaos Rising on primarch difficulty. This means I can let anybody join me in coop and unlock all of the primarch difficulty achievements for you in less than five minutes. Just send me a message any time you see me online on Xbox LIVE and I will most likely be able to hop on DoW and pass you the achievements. I am currently idling games in G.R.A.W. part of the time so if I am online in a team game I am likely not actually there.
-Crandy
Another Windows 8 game had its servers closed recently. Glacier Blast’s servers were closed on the 28th of August 2014. As far as I know no notice was given prior to the shutdown. This unfortunately seems to be a trend with Windows 8 games lately. The game was online for less than a year before shutting down. This renders 15 of the game's 20 achievements discontinued.
As far as I know Dawn of War 2 is still online and for those of you that still have not completed the game I would like to offer some help. I have completed game saves in both the original Dawn of War as well as Chaos Rising on primarch difficulty. This means I can let anybody join me in coop and unlock all of the primarch difficulty achievements for you in less than five minutes. Just send me a message any time you see me online on Xbox LIVE and I will most likely be able to hop on DoW and pass you the achievements. I am currently idling games in G.R.A.W. part of the time so if I am online in a team game I am likely not actually there.
-Crandy
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Discontinued Achievements Issue 6 - Ascend, Karaoke, Gunpowder, Toy Soldiers.
Hello readers,
I have been a little behind on my updates lately. I was away and busy so I didn't get a chance to keep up so I will put everything into this post. I am going to start updating delisted games as well. I will write the first delisted games post in the next couple of days.
It was announced a few days ago that Ascend Hand of Kul will be closing its servers on November 18 2014. This will render every achievement in the game discontinued as the game requires you to be connected to the servers at all times while playing.
Karaoke which was announced to close on August 15 is still online in some countries. I have heard, but not tested, that the game is no longer playable in Canada and Belgium and is still playable in the United States, and some European countries. Along with the servers still being online the free songs are still changing about once every week so all of the achievements are still obtainable if you live in a country that still has functioning servers. The ability to purchase new Karaoke passes is still disabled, however.
Gunpowder unexpectedly gained some discontinued achievements recently. The game was removed from the Windows 8 marketplace in the beginning of July but up until what appears to be only a few weeks ago the Lost Levels DLC was still available for purchase. The DLC, which is now unavailable for purchase, has been disabled in game, even for those that had previously purchased it. Since there is now no legitimate way to access the DLC pack all of the achievements related to it are now discontinued.
Something similar has happened to Toy Soldiers Cold War (Win 8). The Windows 8 version, unlike the Xbox 360 version, included the content that was released as DLC on the Xbox 360 in the base game. Or so it appeared. The content has now gone missing from a number of people's games causing four achievements to become partly discontinued. Those achievements are "The Might of the Red Army", "Counting Stacks", "The End Of An Odyssey", and "In Memoriam". A couple of people on the Game Info Team at TrueAchievements.com have been testing the game and it appears that the levels only disappear on devices running Windows 8.1 and it has nothing to do with the game's servers or version. I am currently installing Windows 8.0 on my computer to check for myself and see if I am able to play the DLC. However, for right now I recommend those of you that have the Napalm and Eliv Empire DLC still available should get the related achievements as soon as possible.
-Randy2727
I have been a little behind on my updates lately. I was away and busy so I didn't get a chance to keep up so I will put everything into this post. I am going to start updating delisted games as well. I will write the first delisted games post in the next couple of days.
It was announced a few days ago that Ascend Hand of Kul will be closing its servers on November 18 2014. This will render every achievement in the game discontinued as the game requires you to be connected to the servers at all times while playing.
Karaoke which was announced to close on August 15 is still online in some countries. I have heard, but not tested, that the game is no longer playable in Canada and Belgium and is still playable in the United States, and some European countries. Along with the servers still being online the free songs are still changing about once every week so all of the achievements are still obtainable if you live in a country that still has functioning servers. The ability to purchase new Karaoke passes is still disabled, however.
Gunpowder unexpectedly gained some discontinued achievements recently. The game was removed from the Windows 8 marketplace in the beginning of July but up until what appears to be only a few weeks ago the Lost Levels DLC was still available for purchase. The DLC, which is now unavailable for purchase, has been disabled in game, even for those that had previously purchased it. Since there is now no legitimate way to access the DLC pack all of the achievements related to it are now discontinued.
Something similar has happened to Toy Soldiers Cold War (Win 8). The Windows 8 version, unlike the Xbox 360 version, included the content that was released as DLC on the Xbox 360 in the base game. Or so it appeared. The content has now gone missing from a number of people's games causing four achievements to become partly discontinued. Those achievements are "The Might of the Red Army", "Counting Stacks", "The End Of An Odyssey", and "In Memoriam". A couple of people on the Game Info Team at TrueAchievements.com have been testing the game and it appears that the levels only disappear on devices running Windows 8.1 and it has nothing to do with the game's servers or version. I am currently installing Windows 8.0 on my computer to check for myself and see if I am able to play the DLC. However, for right now I recommend those of you that have the Napalm and Eliv Empire DLC still available should get the related achievements as soon as possible.
-Randy2727
Sunday 3 August 2014
Discontinued Achievements Issue 5 - Rock Band 3, Monsters Love Candy, Ubisoft Server Closures
Unfortunately there have been more discontinued achievements brought to my attention in the last few days.
Recently Harmonix transitioned Rockband.com to Harmonixmusic.com and a few things were lonst along the way including the ability to link your Rock Band 3 band with Rockband.com. This renders the "Well Connected" achievement discontinued. This now leaves Rock Band 3 with one discontinued achievement and one partially discontinued achievement.
All items from the Monsters Love Candy store have now been pulled causing the "Rainbow Eyes" achievement to now become discontinued. There has been no announcement from the developer regarding the items being pulled from the store, so there is a possibility that they could come back, however, I wouldn't hold my breath. This now leaves Monsters Love Candy with two discontinued achievements.
Ubisoft announced today that servers will be closing for a number of their games on August 8, 2014, however, this will not discontinue achievements in all of the games. Below is the complete list of games with some kind of online functionality going down. Following the title is the number of discontinued achievements prior to the shutdown in parentheses and the number of achievements affected by the shutdown in brackets. An asterisk indicates that it was possible to earn the achievement online but is also possible to earn the achievement in either offline game modes such as single player or system link. These numbers are based on flags from Trueachievements.com and my knowledge of these games. The post from Ubisoft is available here.
- America's Army True Soldiers - (1), [30]
- Avatar, James Cameron's - (0), [8]
- EndWar, Tom Clancy's - (20 + 1 unobtainable), [25*]
- Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Tom Clancy's - (0), [39*]
- Motionsports Adrenaline - (0), [11]
- PowerUp Heroes - (0), [8*, 1]
- Shaun White Snowboarding - (0), [?] I don't know enough about this game to get an accurate number. It appears that some will be affected.
- Splinter Cell Double Agent, Tom Clancy's - (0), [17*]
I am not going to go into detail on each individual game except for Motionsports. Unless you have challenges in progress it will not be possible to earn the online required, challenge related achievements because they take a week to finish.
Thursday 17 July 2014
Discontinued achievements issue 4 - Gears of War 2
Today I noticed that the "Photojournalist" achievement in Gears of War 2 has become discontinued. Based on the recent unlocks, it appears that the sever went down around the beginning of July and has been down since. The server has gone down once before, some time ago. The server was taken down for a period of time and then brought back online. I will post any updates in a new blog post when or if I find anything else out about the server.
Sunday 13 July 2014
Discontinued achievements issue 3 - Dawn of War 2
Just a quick update. It has been confirmed by a post by Relic on the Steam forums that Dawn of War 2 will be losing GFWL when the transition to Steamworks goes live. You can read the post by relic here.
Thursday 10 July 2014
Discontinued achievements issue 2 - Lips, Dawn of War 2
It was brought to my attention today that the Lips servers closed on July 8 2014. It was confirmed by a forum post on the Xbox forums. No warning or reason was given for the server closure. I was ver disappointed these servers went down. I actually had planned on doing all of the online achievements for the game tomorrow. I think it is pretty bad to see a game published by Microsoft Studios go down without any warning at all. I started a thread on the forums asking to bring the servers back. It's probably pretty unlikely that anything will happen, but I though I would give it a shot. I would appreciate that if any of you that want the servers back would make a brief post in the forum voicing your support. The Link is below.
http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/xbox_360_games/l_o/lips_games/f/1846/t/1790538.aspx
After yesterday's blog post, TBreit pointed out to me that Steam currently has an opt in beta for the Steamworks version of Dawn of War 2. I checked and confirmed this morning that it is still there. It looks like the Steamworks patch is closer than I thought so I would finish off the game as soon as possible if you intend on grabbing all of the achievements.
http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/xbox_360_games/l_o/lips_games/f/1846/t/1790538.aspx
After yesterday's blog post, TBreit pointed out to me that Steam currently has an opt in beta for the Steamworks version of Dawn of War 2. I checked and confirmed this morning that it is still there. It looks like the Steamworks patch is closer than I thought so I would finish off the game as soon as possible if you intend on grabbing all of the achievements.
Wednesday 9 July 2014
Discontinued achievements update issue 1 - WSoP Full House Pro, Monsters Love Candy, Dawn of War 2, Dance Central 3
It was confirmed by Microsoft that there will be no more events taking place in WSoP Full House Pro which renders the "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" and the "Big Game Hunter" achievements discontinued on both Xbox 360 and Windows 8.
Monsters Love Candy new has one discontinued achievement. The "Sweet Tooth" achievement. The store no longer has boost purchases available so it is no longer possible to get this achievement. If you have not unlocked the "Rainbow Eyes" achievement, I recommend getting it as soon as possible because if more of the store is taken down this achievement will also become discontinued.
Nothing official has been announced yet, however, Steam achievements have been sort of released for Dawn of War 2. I can't find any information on anything official so I don't know when it is going to move to Steamworks but when it does it will likely render all of the online achievements for the game discontinued.
In addition to the bad news there is some good news. The Dance Central 3 achievements related to sharing photos on Facebook have been fixed. The "Worth a Thousand Words" and "We're Friends Right?" achievements are once again obtainable.
Monday 7 July 2014
Keys are up and working and posting my content backlog.
I have been working on this post and a large number of updates and uploads over the last couple of week or so, so I hope I haven't missed anything.
I finally got around to posting the keys stuff. I posted a big chunk of songs that cover all of the pro keys achievements other than the trainers, listed below. They are located in the directory found here. Keys work exactly the same as drums so just switch your pro adapter over to the "K" position and play away.
25 or 6 to 4, Antibodies, Cross Town Traffic, Foolin, Get Up Stand Up, Heart of Glass, I Love Rock N Roll, Imagine, In a Big Country, Just Like Heaven, Killing Loneliness, Last Dance, Llama, Midlife Crisis, Oye Mi Amor, Rainbow in the Dark, Rehab, Rock Lobster, Smoke on the Lobster, Space Oddity, Werewolves of London, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
I have a file for the pro keys trainers that works but still needs to be tidied up. I haven't posted it yet but that is on the top of my PBaE to do list so I hope to get it up pretty soon.
I am not going to list them all because there are too many, however if you requested it, it is probably there. All of the drum specific achievements that ripped MIDI files are available for should now be uploaded to the directory. Most of the files were submitted by anonymous contributors, but those that wished to be credited have been credited in the directory. Thank you all for your submissions. This would not have been possible without the community. I am going to have a community announcement in the next couple of weeks also.
There is also a project by PedroMontano that has been submitted to me that I put up. Pedro has come up with a method for playing guitar and bass on Rock Band 3 with the MIDI pro adapter. He has submitted instructions and a number of files that I have added to the Guitar and Bass directory. This method only works with Rock Band 3.
Now there are so many directories available that I have made a directory directory. I replaced the link to the drums directory in the sidebar with the directory directory.
I am going to try and have my first post for my new fun project up soon. It is almost finished I am just putting it all together so I hope you will all like that. I also plan on integrating some Google+ stuff into the site to make following posts and notification type things a bit easier. I would prefer to keep it Blogger only but it seems like that has been taken away and replaced with G+. If it still exists it is unfortunately too complicated for me to do, unless I am missing something.
I finally got around to posting the keys stuff. I posted a big chunk of songs that cover all of the pro keys achievements other than the trainers, listed below. They are located in the directory found here. Keys work exactly the same as drums so just switch your pro adapter over to the "K" position and play away.
25 or 6 to 4, Antibodies, Cross Town Traffic, Foolin, Get Up Stand Up, Heart of Glass, I Love Rock N Roll, Imagine, In a Big Country, Just Like Heaven, Killing Loneliness, Last Dance, Llama, Midlife Crisis, Oye Mi Amor, Rainbow in the Dark, Rehab, Rock Lobster, Smoke on the Lobster, Space Oddity, Werewolves of London, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
I have a file for the pro keys trainers that works but still needs to be tidied up. I haven't posted it yet but that is on the top of my PBaE to do list so I hope to get it up pretty soon.
I am not going to list them all because there are too many, however if you requested it, it is probably there. All of the drum specific achievements that ripped MIDI files are available for should now be uploaded to the directory. Most of the files were submitted by anonymous contributors, but those that wished to be credited have been credited in the directory. Thank you all for your submissions. This would not have been possible without the community. I am going to have a community announcement in the next couple of weeks also.
There is also a project by PedroMontano that has been submitted to me that I put up. Pedro has come up with a method for playing guitar and bass on Rock Band 3 with the MIDI pro adapter. He has submitted instructions and a number of files that I have added to the Guitar and Bass directory. This method only works with Rock Band 3.
Now there are so many directories available that I have made a directory directory. I replaced the link to the drums directory in the sidebar with the directory directory.
I am going to try and have my first post for my new fun project up soon. It is almost finished I am just putting it all together so I hope you will all like that. I also plan on integrating some Google+ stuff into the site to make following posts and notification type things a bit easier. I would prefer to keep it Blogger only but it seems like that has been taken away and replaced with G+. If it still exists it is unfortunately too complicated for me to do, unless I am missing something.
Project Bombs and Eternity Guitar Hero MIDI Directory
AC/DC Live Rock Band Track Pack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
T.N.T.
Green Day Rock Band
American Idiot
Guitar Hero Van Halen
Hot for Teacher
I'm the One
Loss of Control
Mean Street
Painkiller
The Takedown
Guitar Hero World Tour
Assassin (Hard) - *Please see additional instructions*
Rock Band
29 Fingers
Are you Gonna be my Girl
Ballroom Blitz
Run to the Hills
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
T.N.T.
Green Day Rock Band
American Idiot
Guitar Hero Van Halen
Hot for Teacher
I'm the One
Loss of Control
Mean Street
Painkiller
The Takedown
Guitar Hero World Tour
Assassin (Hard) - *Please see additional instructions*
Rock Band
29 Fingers
Are you Gonna be my Girl
Ballroom Blitz
Run to the Hills
Rock Band 3 Guitar/Bass Directory
These files and this method work only with Rock Band 3.
Follow the same method used for drums but make sure your adapter is set to the "K" position. When you go to play the song select guitar or bass and play as if it were a drum song.
-All credit for this method and these files goes to PedroMontano.
BYOB
Bang Your Head
Bark at the Moon
Blackened
Bodhisattva
Caught in a Mosh
Child in Time
Chop Suey
Crazy Train
Cry Thunder
Cult of Personality
Bang Your Head
Bark at the Moon
Blackened
Bodhisattva
Caught in a Mosh
Child in Time
Chop Suey
Crazy Train
Cry Thunder
Cult of Personality
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
East Jesus Nowhere
Flag in the Ground
Flight of Icarus
Flying High Again
East Jesus Nowhere
Flag in the Ground
Flight of Icarus
Flying High Again
High Voltage
Highway to Hell
Hold On
I Don't Know
I Don't Wanna Stop
Let Me Hear You Scream
Llama
Monster
Mr. Crowley
The Number of the Beast
Once Bitten Twice Shy
Over the Mountains
Painkiller
Panic Attack
Peace Sells
Phantom of the Opera
Powerslave
The Prisoner
Rainbow in the Dark
Ride the Lightning
Rio
Run to the Hills (Original)
Scream
Seize the Day
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Shackler's Revenge
Short and Sweet
Shoulder to the Plow
Show Me the Way
Snow
Soul Sucker
Souls of Black
Spanish Castle Magic
Spoonman
This Calling
Tornado of Souls
Train Kept a Rollin'
The Trooper
Undone
Visions
Waking the Demon
Warriors of Time
Welcome to the Family
Highway to Hell
Hold On
I Don't Know
I Don't Wanna Stop
Let Me Hear You Scream
Llama
Monster
Mr. Crowley
The Number of the Beast
Once Bitten Twice Shy
Over the Mountains
Painkiller
Panic Attack
Peace Sells
Phantom of the Opera
Powerslave
The Prisoner
Rainbow in the Dark
Ride the Lightning
Rio
Run to the Hills (Original)
Scream
Seize the Day
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Shackler's Revenge
Short and Sweet
Shoulder to the Plow
Show Me the Way
Snow
Soul Sucker
Souls of Black
Spanish Castle Magic
Spoonman
This Calling
Tornado of Souls
Train Kept a Rollin'
The Trooper
Undone
Visions
Waking the Demon
Warriors of Time
Welcome to the Family
Bass
PBaE Keys Directory
Setting up keys is exactly the same as setting up drums. Just follow the same steps outlined in the drum video and switch your MIDI pro adapter to the "K" position.
Keys
Antibodies - Credit to PedroMontano
Child In Time - Credit to PedroMontano
China Grove - Credit to PedroMontano
Higher Ground - Credit to PedroMontano
Modern Love - Credit to PedroMontano
Roundabout - Credit to PedroMontano
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting - Credit to PedroMontano
Pro Keys
25 or 6 to 4
Antibodies
Cross Town Traffic
Foolin
Get Up Stand Up
Heart of Glass
I Love Rock N Roll
Imagine
In a Big Country
Just Like Heaven
Killing Loneliness
Last Dance
Llama
Midlife Crisis
Oye Mi Amor
Rainbow in the Dark
Rehab
Rock Lobster
Smoke on the Lobster
Space Oddity
Werewolves of London
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Keys
Antibodies - Credit to PedroMontano
Child In Time - Credit to PedroMontano
China Grove - Credit to PedroMontano
Higher Ground - Credit to PedroMontano
Modern Love - Credit to PedroMontano
Roundabout - Credit to PedroMontano
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting - Credit to PedroMontano
Pro Keys
25 or 6 to 4
Antibodies
Cross Town Traffic
Foolin
Get Up Stand Up
Heart of Glass
I Love Rock N Roll
Imagine
In a Big Country
Just Like Heaven
Killing Loneliness
Last Dance
Llama
Midlife Crisis
Oye Mi Amor
Rainbow in the Dark
Rehab
Rock Lobster
Smoke on the Lobster
Space Oddity
Werewolves of London
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Friday 20 June 2014
Games for Windows LIVE will not be closing July 1 2014
There have been a number of rumors going around regarding Games for Windows LIVE since a statement (shown below) was found on Xbox.com, in August 2013, stating that Age of Empires Online would be closing on July 1, 2014 due to the closure of GFWL. This caused a lot of panic in the achievement community because the closure of GFWl would result in every achievement on the platform to become discontinued. This statement was pulled shortly after it was discovered, if I remember correctly only a few hours, and nothing much had been heard since.
In the months after the statement, a number of publishers patched their games to use Steamworks and remove GFWL completely from them. This combined with no official statement from Microsoft lead most to believe that there was a good chance that GFWL would be closing in July. As time passed and July 1 grew nearer and nearer it seemed more and more suspicious that there had been no official statement about the future of the service. That statement, however, surfaced today.
According to an article on gameinformer.com that can be viewed here, Microsoft released a statement (quoted below) stating that GFWL will not be shut down on July 1 2014.
"We are continuing to support the Games for Windows Live service. As previously announced, as part of the retirement of Microsoft Points the Xbox.com PC marketplace was closed. Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual. We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future."
In addition to this statement from Microsoft Namco Bandi and 343 Industries also released statements about their games that use the service. A 343 team member posted a statement, that can be viewed here, on the Halo forums stating they will continue to support the GFWL service. Namco Bandai released a statement on their Tumblr page, that can be viewed here, stating that Dark Souls will continue to be supported with GFWL for the foreseeable future. These statements along with the above statement from Microsoft make the future of GFWL look pretty good.
Just a reminder to achievement hunters. Although GFWL will not be closing on July 1, Age of Empires Online will be closing its servers. Make sure you finish up everything you want to do before then, because when the server close the game will no longer be playable.
Other Blog News
I have not forgotten about all the other stuff I have been talking about, I have been dealing with school my extremely incompetent school administration, travelling, and scrambling to finish some of my GFWL games. I will be back home next week and I am going to try and get everything done then and update the site with some new stuff to make things more easy and more tidy. I also plan on posting about all future server closures, rumored or confirmed, in all games with LIVE achievements.
In the months after the statement, a number of publishers patched their games to use Steamworks and remove GFWL completely from them. This combined with no official statement from Microsoft lead most to believe that there was a good chance that GFWL would be closing in July. As time passed and July 1 grew nearer and nearer it seemed more and more suspicious that there had been no official statement about the future of the service. That statement, however, surfaced today.
According to an article on gameinformer.com that can be viewed here, Microsoft released a statement (quoted below) stating that GFWL will not be shut down on July 1 2014.
"We are continuing to support the Games for Windows Live service. As previously announced, as part of the retirement of Microsoft Points the Xbox.com PC marketplace was closed. Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual. We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future."
In addition to this statement from Microsoft Namco Bandi and 343 Industries also released statements about their games that use the service. A 343 team member posted a statement, that can be viewed here, on the Halo forums stating they will continue to support the GFWL service. Namco Bandai released a statement on their Tumblr page, that can be viewed here, stating that Dark Souls will continue to be supported with GFWL for the foreseeable future. These statements along with the above statement from Microsoft make the future of GFWL look pretty good.
Just a reminder to achievement hunters. Although GFWL will not be closing on July 1, Age of Empires Online will be closing its servers. Make sure you finish up everything you want to do before then, because when the server close the game will no longer be playable.
Other Blog News
I have not forgotten about all the other stuff I have been talking about, I have been dealing with school my extremely incompetent school administration, travelling, and scrambling to finish some of my GFWL games. I will be back home next week and I am going to try and get everything done then and update the site with some new stuff to make things more easy and more tidy. I also plan on posting about all future server closures, rumored or confirmed, in all games with LIVE achievements.
Friday 23 May 2014
School is over, new projects, and possible site move.
Hey readers,
School is finally over and I have time to do stuff again. Yay! Now that I have more time I am going to be able to start working on a few new projects that I have been wanting to get into for quite awhile now. A good friend and I have been discussing collaborating on a new project, completely unrelated to PBaE, but very related to achievements. We are going to need a blog name and since "playingforachievements" is a very suitable name we are likely going to use that, which brings me to my next point.
I have been wanting to dedicate a blog to PBaE for quite some time now, but like everything else, that has also been put on hold. I think this would be a good opportunity for me to move it to its own site. None of this is final yet however. If and when I do move it, everything will remain where it is currently, in addition, vital posts will be duplicated in the new location. I may or may not move update notes depending on the amount of work involved. All of the new posts would only be posted in the new location. In either case I plan on doing some upgrades and tidying of the blog in the near future as well.
Finally, I want to start working on my other blogs again. I really want to start updating my cooking blog again. I really enjoy cooking and have a number of great recipes to share for anyone interested. The last thing I want to start working on is my new project that may or may not be involved with the first new project I mentioned. Since details with that are still uncertain, I will be posting those pots here for now. I have been collecting games since I was very young and have come across amazing and horrible things in my searches so I thought I should start writing about some of these things for fun. I want to try and have the first post out in a couple of weeks. I have already decided what I am going to write my first post about and I will leave you all with this video for now.
Until next time,
Randy2727
School is finally over and I have time to do stuff again. Yay! Now that I have more time I am going to be able to start working on a few new projects that I have been wanting to get into for quite awhile now. A good friend and I have been discussing collaborating on a new project, completely unrelated to PBaE, but very related to achievements. We are going to need a blog name and since "playingforachievements" is a very suitable name we are likely going to use that, which brings me to my next point.
I have been wanting to dedicate a blog to PBaE for quite some time now, but like everything else, that has also been put on hold. I think this would be a good opportunity for me to move it to its own site. None of this is final yet however. If and when I do move it, everything will remain where it is currently, in addition, vital posts will be duplicated in the new location. I may or may not move update notes depending on the amount of work involved. All of the new posts would only be posted in the new location. In either case I plan on doing some upgrades and tidying of the blog in the near future as well.
Finally, I want to start working on my other blogs again. I really want to start updating my cooking blog again. I really enjoy cooking and have a number of great recipes to share for anyone interested. The last thing I want to start working on is my new project that may or may not be involved with the first new project I mentioned. Since details with that are still uncertain, I will be posting those pots here for now. I have been collecting games since I was very young and have come across amazing and horrible things in my searches so I thought I should start writing about some of these things for fun. I want to try and have the first post out in a couple of weeks. I have already decided what I am going to write my first post about and I will leave you all with this video for now.
Until next time,
Randy2727
Monday 28 April 2014
New Songs 4/27/2014
Hello readers,
I went through the submissions I received this week and upload everything. Thank you to all of you for your submissions. There were a few double submissions so I gave credit to the first person to submit the file. I listed all of the contributions below. There is now a complete set of files for Track Pack 2, Country Track Pack 1, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero Van Halen.
Anonymous Contributors
-3 Dimes Down
-Afterlife
-Any Man of Mine
-Beatle Beat 12
-Black Hole Sun
-Brainpower
-Call Me
-Can't Let Go
-Can't Let Go (Country Pack)
-Cry Lonely
-Day Late Dollar Short
-El Scorcho
-Free and Easy
-The Gambler
-Girl U Want
Girls Who Play Guitars
-Gone
-Good Times
-Gunpowder & Lead
-Hillbilly Deluxe
-I'm So Sick
-I Get By
-I Told You So
-Indestructible
-It Hurts
-Just What I Needed
-Me and My Gang
-Message in a Bottle
-Monkey Gone to Heaven
-Mud on the Tires
-Nightmare
-On the Road Again
-Outside
-The Perfect Drug
-Pleasure Pleasure
-Rio
-Saints of Los Angeles
-Satellite Radio
-Seven
-She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
-She's Country
-Simple Man
-Sin Wagon
-Snow (Hey Oh)
-Suds in the Bucket
-Swing
-This Ain't a Scene It's an Arms Race
-This One's for the Girls
-Time is Running Out
-Time We Had
-Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld
-Why Do You Love Me
-You've Got Another Thing Comin
-Zero
lll Gambler lll
-Little Guitars
Patrick F
-Come to Life
-Double Vision
-The End of Heartache
I went through the submissions I received this week and upload everything. Thank you to all of you for your submissions. There were a few double submissions so I gave credit to the first person to submit the file. I listed all of the contributions below. There is now a complete set of files for Track Pack 2, Country Track Pack 1, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero Van Halen.
Anonymous Contributors
-3 Dimes Down
-Afterlife
-Any Man of Mine
-Beatle Beat 12
-Black Hole Sun
-Brainpower
-Call Me
-Can't Let Go
-Can't Let Go (Country Pack)
-Cry Lonely
-Day Late Dollar Short
-El Scorcho
-Free and Easy
-The Gambler
-Girl U Want
Girls Who Play Guitars
-Gone
-Good Times
-Gunpowder & Lead
-Hillbilly Deluxe
-I'm So Sick
-I Get By
-I Told You So
-Indestructible
-It Hurts
-Just What I Needed
-Me and My Gang
-Message in a Bottle
-Monkey Gone to Heaven
-Mud on the Tires
-Nightmare
-On the Road Again
-Outside
-The Perfect Drug
-Pleasure Pleasure
-Rio
-Saints of Los Angeles
-Satellite Radio
-Seven
-She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
-She's Country
-Simple Man
-Sin Wagon
-Snow (Hey Oh)
-Suds in the Bucket
-Swing
-This Ain't a Scene It's an Arms Race
-This One's for the Girls
-Time is Running Out
-Time We Had
-Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld
-Why Do You Love Me
-You've Got Another Thing Comin
-Zero
lll Gambler lll
-Little Guitars
Patrick F
-Come to Life
-Double Vision
-The End of Heartache
Saturday 19 April 2014
Tons of new songs. Guitar Hero Van Halen and Rock Band now complete (almost).
Hello readers,
Thanks to a very hard working contributor that wishes to remain anonymous, there is now a complete set of files for Guitar Hero Van Halen as well as Rock Band 1, almost. There is a problem with the Little Guitars file in Guitar Hero Van Halen. I have taken a look at it and I can't find the problem, but it appears to be something with the unedited file. It will probably take some time so I doubt I will get to it until the summer when I finish school. If any of you can pinpoint the problem you are welcome to submit it. The new Van Halen songs posted are Jamie's Cryin', Jump, Panama, Romeo Delight, Runnin' With the Devil, Unchained, and You Really Got Me.
Rock Band has a complete career set so all of the drum related achievements should now be easily obtainable for all.
When I was going through my files I found that I had created some of the requested The Beatles Rock Band songs that hadn't yet been uploaded to the site. The songs I added were And Your Bird Can Sing, Birthday, and Hello Goodbye.
I also realized that I forgot to post the links to the Frets On Fire forums with the download links for the MIDI files in the tutorial video. I have now updated the video with the links.
I will continue to do updates when or if new songs are submitted.
Until next time,
Crandy
Thanks to a very hard working contributor that wishes to remain anonymous, there is now a complete set of files for Guitar Hero Van Halen as well as Rock Band 1, almost. There is a problem with the Little Guitars file in Guitar Hero Van Halen. I have taken a look at it and I can't find the problem, but it appears to be something with the unedited file. It will probably take some time so I doubt I will get to it until the summer when I finish school. If any of you can pinpoint the problem you are welcome to submit it. The new Van Halen songs posted are Jamie's Cryin', Jump, Panama, Romeo Delight, Runnin' With the Devil, Unchained, and You Really Got Me.
Rock Band has a complete career set so all of the drum related achievements should now be easily obtainable for all.
When I was going through my files I found that I had created some of the requested The Beatles Rock Band songs that hadn't yet been uploaded to the site. The songs I added were And Your Bird Can Sing, Birthday, and Hello Goodbye.
I also realized that I forgot to post the links to the Frets On Fire forums with the download links for the MIDI files in the tutorial video. I have now updated the video with the links.
I will continue to do updates when or if new songs are submitted.
Until next time,
Crandy
Thursday 17 April 2014
PBaE charting tutorials are finally here! And there are a few new songs.
Hello readers,
It is spring break and I finally have had enough time to do a long needed update and make the drum charting tutorial videos. There are a lot of things I would like to do to improve the blog but unfortunately that will have to wait until the summer. In the mean time I posted the tutorial videos here in a separate post. I didn't post them in this update because I want to use the tutorial as a reference post similar to the file directories. I have also made an email, PBaE.Crandy@gmail.com, where you can submit created songs to be posted on the blog if you wish.
I charted a few new songs as well, they are: Blood Doll, Burnin' for You, Creep, Intruder/Oh Pretty Woman, Painkiller (GHVH), and Somebody Get Me a Doctor in Rock Band format. I also charted American Idiot in Guitar Hero format. All of those songs can be found in the directory as usual.
Until the summer,
Crandy
It is spring break and I finally have had enough time to do a long needed update and make the drum charting tutorial videos. There are a lot of things I would like to do to improve the blog but unfortunately that will have to wait until the summer. In the mean time I posted the tutorial videos here in a separate post. I didn't post them in this update because I want to use the tutorial as a reference post similar to the file directories. I have also made an email, PBaE.Crandy@gmail.com, where you can submit created songs to be posted on the blog if you wish.
I charted a few new songs as well, they are: Blood Doll, Burnin' for You, Creep, Intruder/Oh Pretty Woman, Painkiller (GHVH), and Somebody Get Me a Doctor in Rock Band format. I also charted American Idiot in Guitar Hero format. All of those songs can be found in the directory as usual.
Until the summer,
Crandy
MIDI charting tutorials.
The videos below explain how to obtain unedited Guitar Hero and Rock Band MIDI files and how to convert them for playback through either a MIDI Pro Adapter or a Guitar Hero drum set. I hope to eventually add tutorials in the future for keys, pro keys, vocals, and vocal harmonies.
Note Numbers
Unedited Guitar Hero Note Numbers
101 - Green
100 - Orange
99 - Blue
98 - Yellow
97 - Red
96 - Kick 1
95 - Kick 2 (Expert + only)
Unedited Rock Band Note Numbers
100 - Green
99 - Blue
98 - Yellow
97 - Red
96 - Kick
Edited MIDI Pro Note Numbers
48 - Yellow
45 - Blue
41 - Green
38 - Red
33 - Kick
Edited Guitar Hero Drum Note Numbers
49 - Orange
48 - Blue
46 - Yellow
45 - Green
38 - Red
36 - Kick
Note Numbers
Unedited Guitar Hero Note Numbers
101 - Green
100 - Orange
99 - Blue
98 - Yellow
97 - Red
96 - Kick 1
95 - Kick 2 (Expert + only)
Unedited Rock Band Note Numbers
100 - Green
99 - Blue
98 - Yellow
97 - Red
96 - Kick
Edited MIDI Pro Note Numbers
48 - Yellow
45 - Blue
41 - Green
38 - Red
33 - Kick
Edited Guitar Hero Drum Note Numbers
49 - Orange
48 - Blue
46 - Yellow
45 - Green
38 - Red
36 - Kick
Download Unedited MIDI Files
MIDI Pro Adapter Charting
Guitar Hero Drum Set Charting
Saturday 22 March 2014
Puzzle by Nikoli X Sudoku achievement guide (Windows 8)
Puzzle by Nikoli X Sudoku for Windows 8 has five achievements for 200 gamerscore. All of the achievements can be unlocked in the demo or the full version of the game. This guide will walk you through unlocking all five of the achievements as easily as possible.
The first achievement can be unlocked by quickly scrolling all the way through the help menu. The next achievement is unlocked by clearing five puzzles in shuffle mode. These puzzles will count toward the next two achievements for clearing ten and twenty of the game's twenty unchanging puzzles. After clearing shuffle mode move on to clearing the other fifteen puzzles in the game. Each cleared puzzle will have a crown under the puzzle number. The achievements for clearing ten and twenty puzzles are misleading. They actually require you to clear ten and twenty different puzzles. The twenty puzzles in the game do not change and the solutions are all listed below. The achievement you will likely unlock last is the achievement that requires you to have a total play time of one hour. This achievement is buggy and usually does not unlock at one hour. It usually unlocks closer to two hours. If it has not unlocked by the time you have finished all of the other achievements you can simply let your device idle until it unlocks.
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 3
Puzzle 4
Puzzle 5
Puzzle 6
Puzzle 7
Puzzle 8
Puzzle 9
Puzzle 10
Puzzle 11
Puzzle 12
Puzzle 13
Puzzle 14
Puzzle 15
Puzzle 16
Puzzle 17
Puzzle 18
Puzzle 19
Puzzle 20
Congratulations on completing all five achievements in Puzzle by Nikoli X Sudoku.
Monday 27 January 2014
PBaE Rock Revolution and Keys/Pro Keys update.
It has been too long since my last update. School has started again so I have been busy. Those of you that downloaded and tried the file I posted in the last update probably know already that I have had some success in getting the Rock Revolution files to work thanks to zzUrbanSpaceman. Without the information he pulled form the game for me I would not have been able to figure out how to convert the charts. That being said, they are still not perfect. The only current semi working chart that I have is Pull Me Under and the first two or three minutes are not perfect but after that it managed to get more than a 1000 note streak. With some more tinkering I should be able to get it to work. The files, currently, are much more complicated and time consuming than the ones from Rock Band or Guitar Hero I don't think I will find an easier way to map the files but I am hoping to find a way to put the notes into a single track opposed to the seven tracks I am currently using.
I have also discovered that pro keys (and I assume standard keys) are in a very usable format without a lot of conversion. Those of you that follow me on TA might have noticed that I unlocked the Pro Keys Graduate achievement awhile ago. I have a messy, working set of the final pro keys trainers. When I get some time I will get those cleaned up and posted.
Because a lot of you want songs that are not posted and I often do not have time to keep up with requests, I am going to make a set of videos explaining how to convert the game MIDI file into an usable Reaper file. Videos will include tutorials for Rock Band drums, Guitar Hero drums, Rock Revolution drums, lead vocals, and pro keys. I also hope to make a new and improved version of the PBaE tutorial video that clarifies a few things that I feel I missed in the original video.
Sunday 19 January 2014
PBaE - Rock Revolution update - I'll just leave this here.
Just about to go to bed so I don't have time for a full post but I will just leave this here for those of you that are awake and write a full post tomorrow.
Download
Download
Thursday 16 January 2014
PBaE Rock Revolution update.
There is some hope for the Rock Revolution files. zzUrbanSpaceman was able to extract a set of Rock Revolution MIDI files for me. A huge thank you to him for making these files and many other aspects of this project possible. Unfortunately the Rock Revolution files are very different from the Rock Band and Guitar Hero files and I have not been able to figure out how they are mapped after spending the last few hours looking at them. I included a couple of screenshots just to give you guys an idea of how different they are. The first one is Pull Me Under on expert drums from Rock Revolution and the other one is Pull Me Under on drums from Guitar Hero World Tour on all four difficulties. I will post an update if I have any success getting the Rock Revolution files to work.
Something else I wanted to get some feedback on. There are a lot of songs that I still need to make and have been having a hard time keeping up with all of them. It would take me a bit of time but I could make a tutorial on how to convert the MIDI files to Rock Band and Guitar Hero format for those of you that would like to make your own songs rather than wait for me to finally get around to making them. Like I said it will take a bit of time to make a tutorial but if there's some interest I don't mind doing it. I am also thinking about remaking the instructional video on how to use PBaE some time soonish to include instructions for Guitar Hero format files and the new server so if there is anything anybody thinks I should include in that video let me know in the comments.
I am going to move the last of the files to the new server today and going to try and make 10 or 15 new songs later this week and I will post a quick update for those when I make them.
Monday 13 January 2014
Some bad news on the manual recordings.
As the title says the manual recording I was hoping to make did not go as planned. Even the most basic beats turned out to be incredibly difficult to record because my drum set only has a single MIDI output and it had to go to my computer in order to record the charts. As a result of that I received no feedback from the game while attempting to record the beats. This made it very difficult to tell whether or not I was hitting it perfectly on my recording and also makes it impossible to record the Rock Revolution files because I would fail very quickly. The only way that this might be possible is with a MIDI splitter with one input and two outputs, however they are fairly pricy, so unless I am able to find ripped files for the trainers it looks like they will not be possible.
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