The Blog for the Sports Gamer

1. Not blowing $700+ for a racing game and trying to convince my friends that ‘really, Call of Duty 2 is fun on this’ even though the game works much better with a mouse and keyboard.
1a. Having friends convince me that really, Kameo is no Fantavision (thanks Bill Harris for reminding me about Fantavision. I mean seriously, yes! a game where you watch fireworks! It’s gold!)
1b. Boy, I’m even more thankful I don’t have to worry about my Xbox 360 crashing or overheating, especially when I would have dropped a mortgage payment on it!
(Side note: Quote from article “O’Donnell added that Microsoft is prepared for the calls they’ve gotten and have plenty of stock to replace any units that need replacing. ” I see. So this explains why they are sold out. They have stored them all up for people who’s original Xbox 360s need to be replaced!)
Your Xbox 360 has encountered 0xC0000218 Error. Send to Microsoft?
2. My iRiver T10 with Yahoo Music Unlimited
3. My HD DVR from my cable company (when it works).
4. Woot and Midnight Box.com
5. TotalFark
6. XM Satellite Radio. Although the new all francais (well French Canadian, which is different). channels are kinda odd.
7. GameShark for posting my reviews and giving me some income. (All hail Prophet. Hey, kissing the editor’s butt never does you harm).
8. All of the commenters/posters/emailers that actually read what Bill, Todd and I have to say. Even if I disagree with the thoughts/comments/posters, I’m thankful that you care to read what we have to say. Thank you!

Things I’m not thankful for:
1. Having to get up way too early on Friday to work. But there is a radio interview, so that’s fun. And you never know who you’ll see at 6am.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A weird stat bug popped up during game #2. 4 mins into the first half a stat overlay popped up saying I was 2-17 from the field. No way had I taken 17 shots in 4 mins so I check the player stats and sure enough — it said my SG was 0-14 from the floor. Boy I hope this doesn’t happen too often or it could really make a mess of a player’s numbers for a season.

Another busy day for me so I wasn’t able to get a game of CH in until this evening. First impression is a good one. Here’s a few thoughts based on a game with East Carolina (me) and Utah State on All Conference level w/o any slider changes.

• I won 63-56! This game rules!
• Not one funky reverse layup animation! Thank god.
• The control feels a lot like NBA 2K6 although not quite as refined.
• Same FT system as NBA 2K6
• Gameplay has the same feel as CH 2K5. (A good thing)
• Much better animation from top to bottom. Still a tad on the stiff side but several new animations which look a lot better than last year.
• The play by play is very quiet on default sesttings. I had to lower the crowd and other sound settings just to hear the PbP.
• I don’t miss the ESPN license at all (thus far).
• My biggie: 3 pointers. On default settings and 10 min halves, Utah State took 10 3’s, which is a lot better than last year. That said, there is something that I need to keep an eye on: the Aggie SG (an 85 rated 3 shooter) took several shots where his feet were barely on the 3 point line. The set play seems to not take the SG out far enough. If the 18 footers were counted as 3’s Utah State would have fited about 15 3’s for the game.
• Of the 10 3 pointers, the 3 point stud took 6, and a 77 rated SF took 2 and the backup SG took 2. If the CPU will shoot 10-20 per game that will be much better than a team shootiong 1 or 2, which happened a lot last year. I’m gonna try a game with a team w/o a 3 point ace to see if anyone fires off a 3 next.

Well, the power is back on. That was the epitome of suck, let me tell you. Anyway, with said power I can now sit down and play some College Hoops this morning. Impressions posted later; I will particularly look to see if the CPU shoots more 3’s. This was my #1 issue with 2K5.Well, that and the bugs.

Tech Depot has them. Sign up for Simple Rebates and get a little cash back. Good news? It’s not bundled. Bad news? It’s $599.99, $200 over list price. Even Office Depot “Takes Care of Business” by f-ing you hard.

And no, I’m not going to be purchasing one from there. Damn it sure sucks to be one of those people that actually has to pay for their console. I feel your pain! lol

That’s the thing about reviewers…all those IGNers, for example: they get the console free. That’s why Madden gets an 8.0. If you just dropped say, $460 for an Xbox and Madden, you are going to be some pissed when you find out there’s no madden cards or replay challenge..and you dropped $460. If you work at IGN, well, yeah the game still sucks, but you didn’t visibly feel that burning hole in your wallet for getting scrweed.

This is the first time since 1999, I’ve come up empty on launch day. I thought I’d be pretty depressed about it, and yes I did try the shitty K-mart near my home at 9 AM , and all 3 (!) of their systems were long gone, and the Sam Goody near my house got a whopping zero (Best Buy owns Sam Goody but they didn’t send them any and instead kept it for BB, the official distribution store or some shit).

However, I’m not that depressed. I’m actually rich. Well not really, I’m just not $700+ in debt. I’ve been reading Bill (Harris not Abner)’s Xbox 360 game-by-game blog and I was a bit envious. PGR 3 was probably the title I wanted the most and he made me feel bad. Then I kept telling myself, $700 for a racing game….ugh.

So I know I’ll get a 360 when everything dies down and I dont’ have to be bundled or PRP’d (Product Replacement Plan) to death and if I don’t it’s not the end of the world. I guess I have officially matured into adulthood this time.

Then again, if there was an *OMG YOU”VE GOT TO GET THIS GAME* type of buzz, you know I would have already pre-ordered. Bill also wrote about NBA2K6. If I liked basketball, I would probably have been all over this.

Hey speaking of PS3, notice how no one is taking preorders yet? Yeah, Spring 2006 my ass.

I haven’t had time to look at it yet but here ya go.

I’m not going to say much about this except to point to Bob Wojonowski’s column at The Detroit News website. Jiri’s a fantastic young talent for the Wings whose already overcome a lot in terms of injuries since coming to Detroit. (He blew out his knee a couple years ago, missed almost all of the season and it took him awhile to find his game again). Hopefully he’ll be able to resume playing at some point in the future, but right now I think all sports fans will agree that the best news is that he’s still alive. It’s scary how our bodies can just turn on us clear out of the blue like that.

So I am driving home from the store about 20 mins ago…I needed to grab some Crispix for Ashley’s school party tomorrow. They are making trail mix and I had to bring the Crispix. Such is life.

Anyway, there is Toys R Us right next to the grocery so I decided to swing by…just to see if in fact people were standing in line to buy a game console. Sure enough, I see 3 cars parked right in front of the store. I pull up, and it was like I invaded their space. I had barely gotten the window down when –

“They only have four consoles, dude,” said a guy in an eskimo jacket (it’s cold).
“How long have you guys…the four of you, been here?” I’m still in the car, btw. I literally just pulled up to investigate.
“Since about noon.”
“Wow. So you’re good to go here in about 15 minutes.”
“Oh, no, they open at 9AM.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, we don’t play around, man.”
“I see that. Well, good night and good luck.”

I really have no problem with people doing the camp out thing. I’ve done some crazy shit in my day , too. These guys were obviously college kids. Well, college AGE kids and they were eating pizza in 30 degree weather in a dark parking lot outside of a Toys R Us with about 9 hours to go. Dedication, baby. Dedication.We’re the kids of America.

As for me, I had my Crispix. I was good to go. As for my 360 dreams, I’m either getting one from GameSpy, or I’m getting one from a store in a couple of weeks. Right now I’m just not feeling it, though. Everyone that I talk to that has one (other press monkeys) is fairly “meh” about the games. People want to get all jazzed about hardware doo dads but if the games don’t knock my socks off, I really don’t care what else it’s supposed to be able to do. Now I don’t mean to say that I won’t get a 360 or that I think the console is going to fail. I think it’s going to kick all levels of booty, actually. But these launch games…put it this way — I’m more excited about getitng College Hoops 2K6 tomorrow.

Expect notes posted here about it tomorrow.

This just in: The Red Sox and Marlins have come to a tentative agreement on a trade that would send Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston for shortstop Hanley Ramirez, right-handed prospect Anibal Sanchez and a minor leaguer pitcher.

Way to give up a great player like Ramirez. The original deal had them also giving up Jon Lester, but now they are saying it’s not that pitcher, so it’s not as ‘great’ for Orioles fans as I hoped. I was in Portland for a few games and saw Ramirez and Lester and I was thinking that they are giving up two players with awesome potential for a ‘good’ pitcher and a tepid 3B. Beckett’s an MVP from a World Series but he’s got a near .500 record, which is great if you’re in Florida but you might get shot if you’re in Boston. Still 15-8 isn’t bad, but it is the NL….

Yeah! Just kidding. I wouldn’t be a loser and spend $400 on that turd. I did get my first game for review today. However I can’t review it, since i don’t have the console and all. Oops.

At 4:30 PM I left work early to pick up drugs for the Mrs (sudafed) at Wal-Mart. Just for kicks I went into the electronics department. There they were, the people already lined up, 20 or so deep waiting for midnight. OMG that is teh funny! Why do you have to buy this new console? Is it for the crippled versions of your favorite sports games? Is it becuase you want to see how Perfect Dark looks from an N64 to an X360? Or do you just like blowing money?

Me? Bitter? Yes! I’m not getting one if you can’t tell. I refuse to buy a bundle. The CC bundle was reasonable, at least they didn’t throw profit crap in there like “1 year replacement plan”. Yeah, new electronics always fail in the first year. My original Xbox had a DDE (dirty disc error) and I called Microsoft 3 years after I got the console — they still sent me a new one.

So, all of you enjoy waiting out in the cold (the Best Buy near me has 57 consoles, but they aren’t opening at midnight — so enjoy that 14+ hour wait in the rain and cold), I will be sleeping soundly, not really caring that I’m missing Madden 360.

This was one weird weekend.

First off, the Michigan/OSU game was a classic. Troy Smith has that team’s number and Jim Tressel is, to use the cliche, totally in Carr’s head. Did you notice the brush off Carr gave Tressel after the game? All class, Lloyd. All class. Maybe that’s how you react when you’re 1-4 against your rival? I dunno.

I have no pity whatsoever for Michigan fans, though. For those old enough (Todd) to remember the Cooper era when OSU was 2-10-1 against Michigan, this is how it feels. Sucks, doesn’t it? It was even worse when I was in school during such a run. In the 90s Michigan caused me to drink a lot of rum and coke. Rivalries go in cycles like this, though.

As for the game itself, wow. So many storylines. Michigan with 32 yards rushing on 24 carries; Ginn muffing 2 punts but growing up bigtime as a receiver with 9 grabs; Carpenter going down on the first play; OSU screwing up on special teams all game long, which never happens to this team; Troy Smith playing the like Smith OSU fans wanted to see all year long (we have crazy expectations); Pittman running for a tough 85 yards and running over Prescott Burgess for the game winner; Gonzo coming up huge against UM AGAIN; and Lloyd Carr playing not to lose with 7 minutes to go in the game.

For those that want to relive the game, it’s on ESPN Classic Wed at 9 PM. Todd you are excused from this screening. I felt sick for Bobby Carpenter. One play in your last game against UM and you fracture your leg? He’s also out for the Bowl game and most likely lost millions of dollars because of that play.

Anyway, OSU fans need to root like hell for USC and Texas from here on out. If USC and Texas win, OSU is in the BCS. Sorry, Oregon.

The Game was derailed a bit for me, though. Halfway through the 1st quarter, Mary calls me. She was coming home and was in an accident. Some dumb ass came out of an apartment complex parking lot and just nailed her. Even worse, he took off, fleeing the scene. Worse still — no license plates. (Or so we thought.) The next night Mary goes back to the scene and sees the car! She sees tags in the window. She sees red paint on the bumper. I mean this IS the car.

The cops, shockingly, do not want to investigate because Mary never saw the guy, just the car. She cannot prove who it was, so they don’t want to proceed. Our insurance company needs an ID of the guy in order to proceed for our coverage to kick in. It’s a catch-22. We’re waiting on the word from Nationwide.

Then the Browns shut out the Dolphins and Rueben Droughns runs for a 75 yd TD on the first play. It was like I was on Candid Camera. The Browns are 4-6, which is about 4 wins more than most people expected.

Oh, and in game news, I may be getting a 360 debug from GameSpy. If not, I’m not buying one at launch. I just cannot justify it. There are very few “I gotta play” games that are available for it right now. I guess if the buzz for Madden or NBA 2K6 is of fthe charts I’ll reconsider. If not, I’m waiting at least a week or two as I get some reviews finished.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I had to make the ’sacrifice’ of going to Foxboro to see the Pats and the Saints. The Pats sure don’t look like defending champs, even if they did get the win. It’s going to be tough with Indianapolis. I thought last week would be the one that they blow it, but no such luck. (Sorry Indy fans, I was a Colts/orioles fans until they moved. Now I hate them the way Browns fans hate the Ravens).

In other news, I just read yet another article about the Xbox 360 and how it’s crazy tonight/tomorrow will be. Whatever. I see that there are some bundles available, but based on the reviews of the games, I just can’t recommend, nor will I go buy a console. I realize I’m losing reviewing revenue (not having a console hurts me), but still, in order to make back my investment I’d have to review more Tony Hawk crap and a subpar football game. I think I will pass for now.

So those of you going out tonight, let me know how it goes. Feel free to change my mind, and my change my mind, sell me on the console, not just because you got schlepped for $400 or $700 after bundles, but because it’s really good.

Here are the winners of the Spike Video Game Awards. See, this is why this industry is treated like shit.

Last I checked, the Grammys don’t give out awards to CDs that haven’t been released yet. Congrats to King Kong. Too bad that game isn’t out yet. And giving best individual sports game to Tony Hawk? Over Tiger Woods. Seriously, give me golf any day over Super Ollie + kick back + 4 on the floor + ollie + reverse twist = 3060 points!

Not much to say about the game today. Obviously, I was pretty well crushed with the way it ended and the fact that Michigan kept giving the Buckeye receivers a mile and a half cushion off the line of scrimmage didn’t help. Not sure who it was for Michigan on that last play who wouldn’t get the heck out of bounds. I assume it was backup TE Tyler Ecker, but I was too busy stomping around and yelling to really notice. Credit where credit is due, though. Troy Smith was amazing today, with his legs and his arm. The thing is, his legs didn’t get much in the way of big gains, but he avoided numerous tackles that kept drives alive and OSU in the game. They deserved this one.

…now I’m going to go drive into oncomming traffic.