I thought I might as well continue the tradition of reporting on my efforts of going up against this series on it's most difficult setting. I was initially thinking COD 4 would be a bit..... actually a lot easier than COD 3 when I did the first mission on the ship. It just didn't seem too difficult to get through. Now I'm up to the first American mission, and the challenge has definately stepped up. It's Veteran alright, complete with numerous die-restart-die sections, and enemy AI that changes tactics as soon as you do. I'm enjoying it though. COD 2 was tough, but if you really stuck with it, you came out on top, and that's what this seems to be like so far. COD 3 was just ridiculously difficult. I hear Treyarch will be back to make COD 5, let's hope they aren't so over zealous with the difficulty next time, and strike up a decent balance as Infinity Ward have managed.

This really gets to me. Subtle advertising in games I can live with - billboards you drive past, stadium advertising in FIFA, yeah okay. But the Axe thing in GH3 is just a pain. The "Bom Chika Wow Wow" ad campaign is annoying. I change the channel when it comes on to the TV I hate it that much. So to get hit over the head with it once again in GH3 was disappointing to say the least. While I'm on the subject Skate had some pretty sad moments of throwing brands at you too. I don't like it guys, because left unchecked, games WILL become as cheap a breeding ground for constant shameless advertising as TV.... and er.... everything else. So I figure the best thing I can do is go on the internet and b1tch about it.

The Veteran achievement in COD 2 was a fair slog, but I must say I felt pretty good about toughing it out and getting the points added to my gamerscore, so upon buying Call Of Duty 3 I dived right in on Veteran difficulty with a similar goal in my sights.

But what a nightmare!

After sticking it out through some extremely tough sections I finally had to give up about two thirds of the way through. I'm talking about the section where you have to blow up the 88 guns and keep the German troops at bay long enough to do it. I had to give up. The teammate AI is frustratingly woeful, and no help at all. I stuck with this section for over a month, but finally threw in the towel last week. A little forum research has revealed the last level on Veteran difficulty to be so evilly frustrating to even the most hardened gamer and made me feel a little less guilty about giving up. Only one person on my friends list (of 70) actually has the Hardened Veteran achievement, and although it is possible I've decided to just play through on Normal difficulty to beat the game, and I'm glad I did, because I've picked up a couple of the other achievements along the way.

Maybe I'll have another go at Veteran some other time.

For a number of reasons I've decided to splash out and get a PSP, the main one being product familiarity - I sell this stuff and I'm often asked about the PSP but I know little about it.  I've already picked up Lumines II (after being pretty immersed in Lumines Live on 360), and the GTA, Prince Of Persia and Burnout games look decent so I'll likely pick those up next.  Already looking forward to Metal Gear and Silent Hill for it too.

Looking forward to taking my first steps into the world of portable gaming.

Having just grabbed a clean sweep of all 1000 points worth of Oblivion's achievements, I'm more resolute to finish what I began a couple of weeks ago - beating Call Of Duty 2 on veteran difficulty.  It's been a hard slog as far as gaming goes, and many others, from some comments I've read here, have given up trying.  Still, I'll be proud of my accomplishment once it's done.

Strangely, I seem to have only beaten the Stalingrad level on normal difficulty, but I've decided I'll go back to this after the game's beaten.  By then that level should feel like a Sunday stroll.

Finally our household can get in on some serious multiplayer madness.  Gears Of War and Burnout Revenge have been spun almost constantly in the last 36 hours, and I've downloaded a fair amount of goodies too.

For those interested, my name on Live is Busta Chopz.  I can't seem to get my gamercard up here (any help would be appreciated), but feel free to add me.  No headset yet, so I can't speak to anyone, but I plan on picking up some more accessories in the new year.