The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Tonight is the night I really give ESPN Football a serious look. I just got back from dinner (we ate out because I’m too tired to cook tonight). Mary took Ashley to the Knox County Fair, which is about as thrilling as it sounds. After a weeklong trip to Dutch Country I used my veto power to get out this jaunt to Knox County, Ohio to pet some goats.  So after I blog this, I’m off to the couch for some ESPN Football and a cup of Prince of Wales.

That’s the new habit. I have no idea how this happened, but I’m hooked on hot tea. Hooked as in I went out and bought a tea kettle last week. I’m inclined to the Twinings sampler pack which has Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, Prince of Wales and Lady and Earl Grey sample packs of 5 bags each.  

 

So here’s the scenario: I cook the meals at our house, I do the dishes and take care of our three-year old daughter, I drink hot tea (and use a kettle to boil the water), and just spent a week in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and to be honest didn’t have all that bad of a time. I’m also happy to shop at the Yankee Candle store at the mall. Oh God…

I have no idea how or when this happened to me, this losing of my testicles of which I am referring, but something is definitely going on. I need football season to get here like…NOW…before I buy a Kenny G album and slit my freaking throat in shame.  

Oh, and I am totally ripping this info off of Bill Harris’ new blog, but Target is selling ESPN Football for like 15 bucks. Even if it sucks…15 bucks..wow.

Miami Carol City High School graduate Willie Williams has been admitted to the University of Miami.  In a statement to the University community, President Donna E. Shalala said, “We chose to support the recommendation of the members of our faculty and staff who constituted our admissions group. They brought broad experience in reading complicated admissions applications, which in this case revealed a more accurate picture of a young man than what you have read to date.”

CaneSport will have comments from Williams as well as athletic director Paul Dee and coach Larry Coker later this afternoon.Williams was the nation’s top-rated linebacker out of high school, choosing UM over FSU. He had a lengthy arrest record as a juvenile and was charged for two incidents during an official visit to Gainesville at the end of the recruiting season. He received a year of probation in Gainesville and was given three years of probation with other terms for violating probation in Broward County. Now Williams hopes to put all that behind him.

**

As much as I dislike Miami, I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, the kid is just that, a kid that deserves a chance at a better life. On the OTHER hand, his rap sheet is rather impressive. I mean, would Williams be admitted if he ran a 4.9 40 and couldn’t tackle?

To me, this is what gaming is all about. Now yeah, I’m not the world’s biggest online gamer, mainly because of time issues and the fact that I hate playing against people I don’t know. I need to get online with my Xbox, though. I know that. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this blog. I browsed over to an NCAA 2004/2005 online league site called The CSFL.  This is what it’s all about folks. I dunno if this league is organized well or not or if it’s even any fun, but when people put THIS much effort into a league, it makes me smile. Check it out, it’s pretty darn impressive.

Rivals has posted its pre season All American team.   No Mike Nugent? Boo.  Although AJ Hawk got the nod at OLB. Agree? Disagree? One of your boys get hosed?

Good news, everyone is back on CSI. Phew. I haven’t watched the show in a long time, but I thought I’d let everyone know.

Sunday I finally played my first online game of NFL2k5. I just want to point out (becuase I have a blog and he doesn’t) that Craig Tompkins is my NFL2k5 bitch. Yeah, I said it. His old school Patriots couldn’t beat my new school Patriots. It was fun — there were actually reasons for tipped passes, I really enjoyed jumping to block a pass and then having another guy do a shoestring catch for the pick. Game is fun, once you can sign on. The only issue I’m having is the 70+ yard kickoffs that Vinateri does. I mean, yes, he’s awesome on field goals, but he doesn’t have that sort of leg to kick to the end zone. That needs to be fixed.

I’m still jonesing for college football as well. The ads during the ESPN yankees-red sox game last night makes me think I’ll give NCAA a second look on PS2. Or maybe even Xbox, I’m not sure. People have told me the game is still shit, but I just can’t help it — besides, how else will I get college guys into Madden? Damn you EA!

So, the last Star Wars movie title has been announced.  Well, the name is better than Attack of the Clones, which sounded like a 1950’s B-movie (and was as about as entertaining).  Still, I place the odds of Revenge of the Sith being more like Revenge of the Shit, at about 4-1.

My respect for Ricky Williams went up tenfold today when I heard about his retirement at the age of 26 (I think he’s 26). When you no longer have the desire to do your job and you have the means to leave–you should.  Williams did what every working man and woman would love to do: retire with millions and tell the world to kiss their ass. Now…this message is not intended for Miami fans, who I am sure are sick to their stomach today. I would be, too, but then again I’m not a Miami fan.  I just think it’s really cool what he did.

Still no ESPN time for me yet. Although I hear the late game AI is still dogshit just like it was last year, which is more than a bit disconcerting.  Bill Harris, if you’re reading this, I need some verification.  (Wow my first ever blog post call out!)

I was reading NCAA Utopia today (not a bad forum, actually) and found this satiric post about the discipline system in NCAA 2005:

O-Line Coach: “Kablui Humpa’whale’a was caught in bed with a live boy and a dead girl, Boss. While this is the reality of the Hurricanes program, that’s not a reality we want the world to get wind of. We should can his ass for the season.”

Head Coach: “Sorry, Vern. I used up almost all my last discipline points on Bo Inbreeder when he skipped study hall. Kablui will have to sit for the first quarter of next game.”

O-Line Coach: “But this means certain sanctions, which we could avoid if we could simply crack down. It’s not the program’s fault if some crazy young jock freaks out; it’s how we react that ought to matter.”

Head Coach: “Tough. My hands are tied. And we’d better hope no one else screws up, because we have six games left. If anyone wants to cornhole the President of the Board of Regents’ daughter, and get by with it, now’s the chance.”

O-Line Coach: “That’s bad news, because every time she walks past him, MaLarki Jackson makes train-pulling motions.”

Now that’s funny.

Sega’s official post in their forum:

“Some of you are experiencing an issue which prevents you from accepting and receiving challenges on Xbox Live. While we are working with Microsoft to get this issue properly resolved as quickly as possible there are a couple of short term solutions you can try. Rebooting your Xbox may correct this behavior temporarily. You may also have greater success playing with friends after you both have rebooted. We will keep posted as progress is made. “

 

Tonight, I’m getting the error yet again. Yay!

Well I’m finally putting NCAA 2005 to bed for a while; I may come back to it once the college football season actually starts and I need a fix, but for now, it’s shelved so I can give ESPN a whirl.

Thanks for the feedback on the NCAA 2005 bullet review. I appreciate it. Lots of emails about that, as I kinda expected. I fully realize that a lot of people still very much love NCAA and think I’m off my rocker for knocking the new version like I have, but hey, I gotta call it like I see it. It pains me not to like the new edition because NCAA football is my game! I look forward to it more than any sports game every year, so trust me when I say that it hurts to say that I think this version isn’t too hot.

Anyway, I’ll be putting in some time with ESPN tonight and while I know most of you have already played it and my thoughts won’t mean diddly-poo, well, I’m gonna post them anwyay.

My blog, remember…what else am I gonna talk about? Ohh yeah…my vacation to Amish country. Exicting reading!

First, let’s get off sports for a second for this bulletin:

“The FBI said Friday that it had “unconfirmed information” that a domestic group plans to attack media vehicles, possibly with “explosives or incendiary devices,” according to a statement issued by the FBI’s Boston field office.”

Yes, so all media, please, whatever you do, get out of Boston. Of course, there will be plenty of security at the New York Republican convention, so please, don’t cover Boston and come to New York now. I feel for the FBI. If they didn’t say anything and something happened, it would have been “why didn’t you say anything” but on the other hand, they say stuff like this and boy, it sure does sound designed to move people away from the Democratic convention, doesn’t it?

Okay, I’m done. Hey, the Red Sox are now just about ‘out’ of the race, so we can end that rivalry. Terry Francona showed that sucking in Philadelphia wasn’t a fluke. How can you f up a team like this? He’ll show you apparently.

In other news, I’m now beginning to understand the depth that is NFL2K5. It keeps track of everything you do. It also as the ‘celebrity football game’ but I’m willing to overlook that in light of the stats it provides. Those of you trying to get online, change your VIP name from VIP1 — that seems to do it.

I love the weekly sportscenters and the playbooks. The ‘favorite’ plays is also very nice. I hope to play some more today and I’ll be back with more thoughts of course.

Hey, I got online tonight after changing my VIP profile. I have created a private tournament. It’s name is blog and the password is blog. I set it for 16 teams. Join up!

I’m not going to pimp this critique around on the web, but feel free to lead people over to the blog. I like having more than 10 people read this stuff.  

First off, the ankle test went very well. I shot around for about 30 minutes, did a few lay-up drills, landing on my bad ankle, and everything seems fine. I can only run at half speed, but progress is progress.

Anyway, onto my NCAA analysis. As I said earlier this will not be a formal “review” but more of a breakdown of what I see as the major issues with the game as well as the stuff that is either better or new. I found my Bob Evans placemat notes so we’re good to go!

The Stuff That Sucks:

 

*The CPU passing game is all over the map. Everyone, me included, keeps harping on the fact that the completion % for the CPU is too low. This is not new to NCAA 2005, but it seems a bit more pronounced in this version. If a CPU QB ends up over 50% then my team had a very bad game–it shouldn’t be this way. I think there are several reasons why this is so screwed up.

1) The CPU attempts far too many passes that are over 20 yards in the air. I mean this is way, way, way off-kilter. There are teams that are exceptions to this rule but if you watch as many Big10 games as I do, this screw-up will be very noticeable. There’s a reason that most QBs in college complete at least 55% of their passes and that’s because they will use short dump offs, screens, curls, and quick outs more than they will use the 20 yard post. These passes boost a QBs completion rate, and if a real QB only tried to throw deep passes, his completion rate would be atrocious.

2) The deep passes are one problem, but just as big is the fact that the CPU receivers won’t run their routes. Now this has nothing to do with player ratings, either. Go into practice mode and let the AI play offense. Call a curl route for a WR and play any defense you wish. See what happens? Instead of a 6-yard curl the QB throws a 25 yard streak. Why? I have no clue, but it takes a lot of passing routes out of the CPU playbook.  Think about it: of the passes that the CPU completes per game, how many are “fly” patterns about 25 yards downfield? For me, it’s a huge %. I’d bet my last penny that the play call was not a streak, but the WR either just ran a fly or the QB threw the ball too soon before the real route could be ran.

3) Drops. Anyone that tells you that they can fix the drops with sliders is lying to your face. Now, you can “fix” the drops by calling the right plays, but you can’t fix it with sliders.  Certain plays, for whatever reason, are much more likely to be dropped than others. Posts are ok, streaks are ok, and outs work, too. Call a TE drag and you’re at about 50/50.  The OSU TE is very good and he has like 9 drops after 2 games. I have simply stopped calling any crossing route or underneath route because too many of these passes are dropped.  And it has nothing at all to do with setting your feet, praying for rain or doing a jig. It’s just the way the game works.

So, I think these above reasons are partly why the completion rate for the CPU (and at times the human QB) is low and until the CPU stops looking deep every play and accepts the 4 yard pass as a weapon, we’ll never see this simulated correctly.

There are other issues I have with the passing game, especially how insanely effective the DBs are at leaving their man and magically appearing 15 yards away to help defend a WR he wasn’t guarding. That’s been an issue with every EA football game since…well…EA football games. But it’s time it was put to bed and retired.

There HAS to be a risk/reward system put in place by the folks at EA. It’s an absolute must. Throwing deep, when the WR is guarded by a DB, should be an extremely high risk pass. With a safety covering over the top it should be downright suicidal unless you are throwing to Mike Williams. See, here’s the problem. I don’t get excited when I complete a 30 yard pass to a WR that is heavily covered. It happens regularly in NCAA.  Throwing deep should work when the RECEIVER IS OPEN. And when the WR is not open and he makes the catch, it should be highlight reel and a SportsCenter worthy play.

I don’t mean to pick on NCAA specifically for this because most games screw this up, but what separates a good WR from a bad one? Generally speaking it’s 2 things:  catching the ball in traffic and the ability to get open.   The same can be said for a cornerback. If you can stay with your man…you can cover. Period. Do you really see a huge difference in the ability of the corners in NCAA? I don’t.

So in theory we should see a top level WR getting open more often when covered by a run of the mill CB–THAT should make the deep pass an option because the top level WR will BEAT the DB. In NCAA, he doesn’t–there is no risk/reward system at all. You may as well throw deep every other play.

And this series has toi abandon the DB logic that allows them to leave their man and help cover another WR. Those plays should be reserved for All-Americans. I simply cannot stand to see 4 DBs and a linebacker playing volleyball with a pass that I tossed 25 yards downfield to a WR that has Man to man coverage. This is utterly ludicrous.

*Tipped passes. This is just plain silly. Really, really, goofball city. Tipped passes are cool but when they are tipped by three guys for more than 3 seconds it becomes comical.

* Late game/halftime AI is still very poorly done. If you have a 2 point lead (let’s say it’s 23-21) late in the game (let’s say under 1:00) and you are on the opponent’s 39 yard line and it’s 4th and 7. You punt. You punt EVERY SINGLE TIME. If you DON’T punt, you get fired by the A.D. on Sunday. This is not that hard to code, guys. Come on.

*Can we please get Herbie and Corso back in the recording studio at EA, please? Herbie has a local radio show that airs every weekday here in Columbus and he talked about how he had to fly out to do a new recording session but that his sessions have been shorter and shorter every year. It shows. Big time.

* Let me ask you this: If you couldn’t call the Counter running play, would you ever gain more than 10 yards on a run? I dunno if I would. I get a few nice runs up the middle every now and then and the off-tackle can work, but the counter is the only run that is truly effective on a regular basis. This has been in NCAA given for years and I think it needs fixed. And it’s a counter that I end up taking wide, which really isn’t where the play is designed to go. Why the AI has so much trouble with this play, I’m not sure.  Speaking of running, has anyone broken a long run over, say, 40 yards? I know a few people say they have but I can’t do it. My halfback can’t get past the final line of defense. I think my longest run is 25 yards or so.

*Has anyone EVER seen an onside kick work. Ever?

*The Xbox slowdown is there. It’s not imagined. It’s there.

*Graphics are getting long in the tooth to say the least. Personally, I think it’s OK because there are more important things that need fixing, but hey, some people get all worked up over the visuals, and I agree, they aren’t the best.

* Dynasty mode. EA made a huge mistake by allowing us to see the box scores after each simulated game.  The scores are insanely high, first off.  Seven games into my OSU Dynasty and we’re averaging 35 points per game and we are ranked 49th in the country. 49th!? 48 teams score more than 35 a game? I’m OK with Oklahoma beating Baylor 77-3. That happens…but every game lights up the scoreboard.  Why did they change this? Last year it was just fine.

Anyway, the box scores.  I knew there was a serious problem when the Michigan TB carried the ball 59 times in one game. 59. One game. Yeow. Teams run the ball 50+ times per game (only when simming) as a norm and just pound out the yards on the ground. Most starting backs get at least 35 carries per game, which just ain’t right.

Before I end this section, I want to add that I’m actually Ok with the CPU run game. I don’t stuff the CPU like a lot of people seem to do. With the sliders altered I can get run on by the CPU once it commits to the running game.

The Stuff That’s Better or New:

* Home Filed Advantage is cool. I think it’s overdone and the crowd noise can be funny when the crowd goes nuts at dumb times during a game, but I love the idea of fluctuating ratings and the idea behind player composure.  (The shaking camera is kinda stupid, though)

*QBs are off target more often with their throws. I think it needs to be done more, because too many DBs get their hands on passes (most incompletions should hit the ground rather than swatted by a DB). But it is a step in the right direction.

* Best.Crowd.Noise.Ever.

* As much as I hate the passing game in NCAA I love how the CPU will finally look to throw to its #1 receiver more often. Very cool and long overdue.

*Fewer carries by the FB and more by the HB. Yay!

*Play action passes seem to work better this year than before.

*Squib kicks work.

*Rotating schedules are nice (finally!)

*There are some neat new animations

*Sweeps finally work!

*The TE post is no longer a money play.

That’s about all that I can come up with that’s new and improved in NCAA 2005. Now, that is NOT to say that that’s all the good stuff. You must understand that I rank NCAA 2003/2004 as A-List sports video games. No need to go over all the good stuff that remains in there from previous versions. I’d be here all damn day. But as far as NEW stuff, that’s about all I can come up with.

I don’t do online, so I have no clue if it’s good, bad or ugly.

In the end, NCAA 2005 is one of those down years that every single video game series in the history of mankind suffers through. They all have done it from Madden to High Heat Baseball. It’s tough to keep pumping out “new” games every 10 months and expect them to be revolutionary each season. There are things for which EA Sports has no excuse. Things that are newly broken are high oh my list of “ARGH’s!” All I can hope for is that NCAA 2006 is the advancment of the series that we all wished 2005 would be–and one that is truly worth another yearly $50 donation to the EA Sports coffers.

Just when you thought the EA fanboys were bad, here come the Sega fanboys. “Everyone just relax” we hear when you complain about not being able to login. “I’d rather have single player early and no multiplayer.”

Call me a grumpy old gamer, but god dammit, Sega has done this over and over and over again. Anyone still remember when the first NFL2K online game came out on the Dreamcast? You could never login or play either because they didn’t expect so many people online. Yeah, whatever, you project a million in sales, and don’t have the back end support for 1% of the total.

Do I have any doubts that it will be fixed? No — of course it will be. Well either that, or it’ll be a new feature for NFL2K6. Anyone remember PS2 leagues last year? Yeah, I thought so.

In the meantime, I will enjoy playing a game against Funk Master Flex. It’s funny, of my 20+ people on my friends list, 8 of them were playing or ‘trying’ to play NFL2K5. To be fair to Sega, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a majority of friends all playing the same game. Maybe they didn’t expect it. It’s too bad though — you have everyone dying to play your game and it’s “uh, wait for a week”.  NCAA had similar issues — which makes me believe this whole ’server authentication’ is crap and exactly the reason why Microsoft wanted control over everything — and why Xbox Live has been so successful.

Since my skillfull oratory rant on NCAA, I have heard people say that the PS2 doesn’t have frame rate issues, but still has pinball tips a plenty. Believe it or not, I’m thinking maybe I’ll try it…then part of me knows I’ll throw that bleeping controller into the ground again.

That’s the thing with NFL2k5 vs NCAA — when I’m getting my ass kicked, I can understand why. The picks make sense. When my receivers drop balls, I can see why. That’s what has really frustrated me with NCAA.

Drop by later today and I’ll have the NCAA pseudo review posted.  Although I have to find my notes…We went to breakfast at Bob Evans and I spilled my brains on the back of a piece of paper at the restaurant and I need to find the thing. I had some good stuff on that thing.   I’m also going to do my civic duty and tell EA Sports what needs to be done to make NCAA 2006 fun to play. Just doing my part. Free of charge without my usual consulting fee.

I’m off to get my ankle brace, buy some orange juice, and snag my copy of ESPN 2K5. More later. Promise.

Well, it’s early but it’s always time for a blog! This morning at the crack, I met with the driveway contractor about adding some tar here to my existing tar driveway. What was originally an $875 quote magically became $500 when I said I wasn’t going to pay more than that. Maybe I should have said $100. LOL. Is it me or is getting quotes for a driveway harder than buying a car? It’s the only time you could get 3 quotes and have them vary by say , $3,000. Maybe Dateline should do something on that but instead we get Michael Jackson interviews.

In other news, Bill Abner can skip this post. I know there are going to be people that are going to kill me on this one — but let me say my online experience with NFL2K5 was Meh. Well not meh actually, but non-existent. It’s nice that you can play single player and talk with people online (well not talk, but fake-type), but I couldn’t sign in to the @#$@#$ damn server. ESPN Videogames server are temporarily unavailable. Unable to validate online rosters. Etc. At least with NCAA, I could sign in by the 3rd time!

In other NFL news, make sure you click on every option in the game to earn extra $$. Also, about freaking time a game manufacturer put the entire manual on the game disc (ie go to options->game manual and voila!).

I no longer have last year’s NFL game for Xbox, but as I remember (which at my age, isn’t very well), I just don’t recall the game looking that graphically better than last years.  Other people have spoken about how much better the graphics are, but it doesn’t seem that incredible to me. I may have to rent last years to compare and contrast. NFL2k5 seems to have unparallelled depth — options are just insane. As a commenter posted, a trade was voided because a player failed his physical! This game seems to have all of those ‘extra touches’ covered.

In my short time with the game, two ‘celebrities’ have called me in my ‘crib’ (boy doesn’t this make me sound a like wanksta). David Arquette and Funkmaster Flex. It’s a neat idea, it’s implemented well, but with two phone calls in an hour, it’s already annoying.

There are a lot of options in game, and there’s definitely depth. The coach profile is a great thing. Gameplay doesn’t feel a lot different than previous years, but there is noticable AI improvement. Unlike NCAA, you can really read the defense. ( I had to get that line in here). Ball tippings aren’t ping pong like a la NCAA. Hey, you know what if I didn’t pay $30 more for NCAA, I might have enjoyed it more.

NFL’s rosters from what I’ve seen on the Patriots aren’t bad at all considering how early the game is. Dillion is the main RB on the Pats team.  Of course, at $20, it really doesn’t matter what I think (you can easily buy & make your own opinions), but NFL is a solid purchase–just don’t expect to play online yet. At this point in time, I’m not sold on the 9.8’s the game gets, but I will say, over 3 games, I don’t think I’ve heard obvious repetition on play by play which is big. I prefer the ‘tapping’ idea on burst rather than doing the usual ‘hold the button down.’ Like I said the game has a lot of the ‘oh shit, this is cool’ touch, which really is nice. I’ll be honest, I’m not sold 100% on the ‘much improved gameplay and graphics, but it is good. I think it looks better than NCAA ;).

Of course, I’ll play more over the weekend. And I’m sure Bill, no longer whipped, can post more.