A new DLC pack came out for GripShift today, so I figured I’d spend a bit more time on the 360 again. Unfortunately the GripShift pack is rather disappointing — there aren’t any new puzzles, the races that it adds aren’t the game’s main focus anyway, and the minigames are interesting for a bit but have no long-term appeal or even any real reward.

I also picked up Culdcept Saga today, which is kind of like Monopoly combined with Magic: The Gathering. I mentioned playing the demo before and I kinda-sorta liked it, but discussion on some forums piqued my interest even further. There’s some story surrounding it about my character selling himself into slavery for the good of his village and being confronted by some other people who babble on about cards and fate and such, but it’s really just an excuse to get to the next board and do battle.

Unfortunately, so far, I suck at it. I lost on the very first board, after getting a poor starting hand and first few draws (useless creatures that had no attack score, and useless spells meant for the late game), some bad choices on creature summons, and landing on the enemy’s only ultra-high-‘rent’ square and being unable to beat it, which forced me to sell off almost all of my properties.

Luck still plays a really huge role, especially this early on before I can even assemble my own decent deck, but at least there’s no penalty for losing a match and you even still gain some cards. Hopefully the next attempt will go better…