The Blog for the Sports Gamer Three guys who love Sports Gaming rant and rave about various stuff.

The Return of the Manning face

Damn, that was awesome. See, this is the problem with Indy..they always peak too early . The Curse of the Colts continues!

For the discerning PSP owner, that also needs to learn English

Might I recommend this new Japanese UMD (which works on USA PSPs because it's a game, not a movie)....Click here for all the information about the new "movie," English Cram School! Only $45! Hot Sexy Get!

OMG

Funniest skit I've seen in a while on SNL was tonight. Wait for the "Lazy Sunday" SNL Digital Short. Those of you on the west coast, stay up for this one. OMG...hysterical.

Media Play Blowout

Just an FYI that Media Play is closing its doors; the store near me has everything at 20% to 40% off, including PC and console games. I grabbed Season 1 of DVD o fFraggle Rock for Ashley for $25.

...work your cares away....

Watch out Peyton, the Pats are on your ass.

Yeah Denver and Indianapolis, I'm talking to you..did you see that ass kicking show that the Patriots put on today? See we can play too when our guys aren't injured. What an ass kicking. For the first time this year, I'm like, oh yeah, here come da Champs. Well that PIT game wasn't bad either, but this one was a straight out ass kicking. Did I mention how much ass they kicked? ok. Just checking.

R.I.P. John Spencer (1946 – 2005)

I was just rocking Kyle to sleep when I ran across this update at Ain't It Cool News. John Spencer, currently the actor who has done such a wonderful job of bringing The West Wing character Leo McGary to life, had a heart attack Friday morning and has died. I don't normally pay any more attention to celebrity deaths than anyone else who would otherwise be a stranger to me, but as someone who can't let go of just how good The West Wing was in its first four seasons I'm really sad to read of his passing (he was only 59). He really was a tremendous actor and I've never heard or read anyone who had a negative word to say about him. I think this week I'll sit down and watch a bunch of West Wing DVDs. Rest in peace, John.

Satruday Morning Musings

- Okay, first Insight.com gets the name "Citrus" taken completely out of the Citrus Bowl and now Chik-Fil-A (or as I constantly read it for some reason: "Chick-A-Fil") has gotten "Peach" taken out of the Peach Bowl. And the bowl committee or whatever calls it progress. At some point this trend has to stop. I understand the bowls need to have the sponsorship name in the title, but taking the traditional names out of the title is just beyond the pale. There's a great write up on this at the Hey, Jenny Slater blog. (You get bonus points if you know what movie that title comes from... it's one of my favorites and takes place mostly in Michigan.)

- The Pistons rolled the Bulls last night and are now 17-3, which matches the starts of some of the great Bulls teams of the championship era. Now, ain't none of the Pistons Michael Jordan, but I think Detroit's starting five versus the Jordan-era starting five would've been a sight to see. Ben or Rasheed against Dennis Rodman? The very notion makes me all a-flutter... you know, in a manly sort of way. I also came across some links recently that Pistons fans should have book marked: DetroitBadBoys.com (a top shelf blog), Need4Sheed (a fun blog for Pistons fans), and this series of Interplanetary Pistons animated shorts. Just too cool for words. And if you didn't see the goggles Ben Wallace was sporting a couple nights ago it's worth a laugh. Evidently they "bring him energy." (Actually he only wore them for about five mintues.)

- The Tigers are getting a healthy dose of criticism for picking up Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers, but Kool Aid drinker that I am, I think the they could work out in the short term. I mean it's not like the Tigers were rife with options. Jones is a former Tiger and had 40 saves last year and Rogers, well, I think with a 20 year career his idiocy with the camera man last year can be forgiven. He had a good first half last year (good enough for an All Start bid; one that he should have passed up on given the controversy that followed him) so hopefully he's got a two more good years left in that arm.

- Jiri Fischer addressed the media this week. It's just a travesty that this kid is probably going to have to call it a career. They still don't know what caused the heart problem that almost killed him on the bench a few weeks ago. He had another problem a week ago and they still can't figure it out. It's gotta be scary for the kid. He's 25, entering the prime of his career and he may be walking around with a ticking bomb in his chest. For all anyone knows not playing hockey may not do squat to keep his heart from self destructing on him. Not cool at all.

- Lloyd Carr indicated his preference for a 16 game playoff instead of the Bowl system in college football. Welcome aboard the playoff bandwagon Mr. Carr, but really, 16 teams? Yeah, even I think that's a bit much.

- The NBA Shootaround wonks on ESPN last night continued to show why the network is the armpit of sports journalism. Before the Heat vs. 76ers game they went on and on about how Pat Riley has improved the way the team is playing with a 2-0 start (now 3-0) since his return. Yeah, because in less than a week a coach can completely change the way a team plays basketball. Riley may indeed take that team to another level but this 4-0 run has much more to do with the return of Shaq and the fact that the schedule included the Bulls (11-11), Wizards (9-12), and the 76ers (12-12). The Bucks (13-8) were the other team but they're not in Miami's weight class when O'Neal is on the floor.

Time for An Off Topic Rant

No complaining, I haven't done one of these in a long while...

Did anyone watch the post-humous Peter Jennings report on the state of the health care industry in America (aired on ABC) on Thursday? Somebody should tell NBC that this kind of thing is what qualifies as must-see TV. It was the best piece of new investigative journalism I've seen in a long, long time. It was also depressing as hell.

A lot of it was stuff that most of us already know, like the cost of premiums and care killing the profitability of the American auto industry. (And it's absolutely true.) Other stuff caught me by surprise. For example, we're evidently building hospitals now without emergency rooms so they don't have to accept patients without medical insurance. Lovely. They also reported that a government study found that 85 cents of every dollar paid on premiums actually does go to pay medical expenses. I'm skeptical of that because it was a governmental study and there were no specifics about who actually conducted it, but if true it's hard to paint insurers as a pure moneymaking industry.

One question not asked that I wish had been addressed is -given that increased medical costs are the primary problem in the industry- why the hell does it cost so much? I mean does the machine or whatever that does a CAT scan or MRI need to cost a hospital so much that each test costs the patient like $10k or whatever? You have to wonder if the people that make the crap that hospitals and doctors buy are just gouging the hell out of them.

Reading between the lines you also had to point a skeptical look at the pharmacutical companies. Sure they do valuable work, but they're marketing money machines too, as their incessant TV ads constantly remind us. Take this narcolepsy study I'm doing.

Narcolepsy is a funky condition where you don't go through all the sleep stages the way you're supposed to when you sleep and you sort of get gipped out of the phase that actually lets you feel rested upon waking up so you're constantly in a state of sleep deprivation. As far as "disabilities" go (and it is categorized as such by the Americans with Disabilities Act) narco is certainly not as bad as it gets, but it's impact on a person's day-to-day life is significant and frustrating. Anyway, a couple years ago I was taking this drug called Provigil (Modafinil) that helps me stay awake and alert. It doesn't kill my fatigue, it just makes it so I can ignore it. Now it's a name brand drug so it's a name brand co-pay that I eventually got tired of and just did without.

Well, Provigil is about to go generic (or maybe it already has) and surprise, surprise the company that makes it has a new version on the way that's supposedly twice as effective with fewer side effects. I should've known better. Having taken this new drug for free for a year now as part of the study, let me tell you, it's not appreciably better than the old one. It exists so that the company that makes it can still have an exclusive "wake promoting" drug to sell people and keep the green flowing to them because, after all, we wouldn't want people saving on medical costs by getting less expensive generics. And don't even get me started on the fact that these guys seem to devote far more time and energy into producing something that only addresses symptoms (that must be taken every damn day for the rest of your life) rather than the underlying cause.

I get that addressing symptoms is easier than causes, but does anyone really think these guys aren't looking at the bottom line and saying, "Yeah it would be great if we could cure xxx, but if we cure these poor saps who's going to pay our salaries each month?" I'm not saying that's the biggest reason our health care system sucks, but certainly it's not helping.

Anyway, I'm digressing a bit. It's probably unlikely if the Jennings report will re-air, but if it does or if you can find it as a download it's well worth an hour of your time as it's the most informative and balanced look at our health care system I've seen.

One other thing

I feel bad for the people who pre-ordered at GameStop (even Jonah), way back when and are still waiting for their console, when I went to Gamestop.com and bought one last Thursday. Sorry!

More Madden 360

Okay, using the service menu on my Samsung, I've fixed the 1080i HD. Whoa that is friggin awesome. I've spent most of my time tonight playing Madden 06 for the 360. There are only 149 players online right now.

Anyway, initial gameplay isn't that bad. Keep in mind I'm giving the game the benefit of the doubt as a first generation new console game. If this were Madden for the Xbox, it would not be good. Why?
1. The lack of a replay challenge really hurts. Brady had a tucked ball but it was ruled a fumble. Not so in real life (heh).
2. The hurry up offense is the fastest offense alive. On a 30 yard pass play, it took Manning exactly 6 seconds between the end of the 30 yd pass play and snapping the ball. This does not happen, period. I can live without replay. This is a gamebreaker for me. It is way too easy to get plays in via no huddle in a 2 minute drill.

It's really too bad about that no huddle thing. I could like this game. I give them credit for trying new stuff. Even the kick meter (although it's stupid).

One thing I mentioned last night about the jaw dropping graphics. Sorry, I was on drugs. Brady and Manning don't look anything like their real counterparts. Manning looks like he's trying to push out a dump nine out of ten plays. He does audible up the ass though just like the real game. Calling audibles is much better..you get a menu of coverages -- you can even fake a blitz with an audible. I believe you can do this in regular Xbox version, but this time you see it as a menu option, which is very much appreciated.

On another note, because of Bill Harris, I bought PGR3 rather than wait for it. Definitely a must-buy for the 360. Just whoa. Okay are you happy Bill, can I send you the $50 receipt? LOL. He also said to get NBA2K6, but he obviously thinks I'm made of money, wtf.. lol

Giving EA Credit

Last night after the clusterfrick with Need For Speed: Most Wanted, I emailed EA and GameStop. While I'm still waiting for a replay from GameStop, EA replied within an hour. They told me to send the game back to them (entire case, instructions, etc) and they will send me a replacement.

I have to say, even though I rag on them, that was pretty impressive service. Jury is still out about when I'll actually get the replacement, so I went ahead and bought another copy and will probably ebay the new one...unless someone wants to buy it here, let me know. lol

Toontown Online

Have a kid that loves games and cartoons? Get Toontown online. Seriously, this is one fun kid's game. (The website and game only supports IE, btw.) Ashley is having a total blast with this.

Another thing

While playing NFS for the 10 seconds before it crashed and Perfect Dark Zero, I noticed that the screen wasn't showing the entire display..the left and right sides were being cut off even in widescreen mode.

I had selected 1080i as my display but apparently that screws everything up. By downgrading to 480p, everything seems ok -- but it's 480p, not 1080i.

So far, I'm thinking I got screwed.

Next Game

I put in Need For Speed: most wanted.

It crashed. The disc is horrid looking. I don't know what happened but there's a ring all the way around in the center of the disc and it locks up something awful.

Yay!

Xbox 360 Impressions

Well, after my dropping of one g...I now have the Xbox 360. Impressions...

1. My god, the cables on this thing feel like 32 gauge..they are insanely thick.
2. I know everyone mentioned it already, but the power supply is a massive brick. It's huge.
3. The HD cable isn't long enough...I prefer the original Xbox one with the interface to connect you component cable from the TV to the xbox satellite adapter.
4. Took some time to set up my Xbox Live account and convert it to Xbox gold. One time PITA.
5. First game was, you know it...Madden.

Now let me say this is my very first impression of the very first game I have ever seen or played on Xbox 360. I have played it for one whole ball posession series.

Here's my thoughts.
1. The graphics are jaw dropping. Like OMG this is amazing jaw dropping.
2. The players and coaches aren't as bad as I was led to believe. Tom Brady was very recognizable to me, and the coach of the Colts (Dungy) was also very lifelike.
3. The running gameplay is too slow for me. It seems like I'm playing this game on a high end PC with a low end graphics card. It feels like the frame rate is slow. It doesn't skip or chug, it just seems to always run slow. It does not feel smooth.
4. To me, this does NOT seem like a port of the Xbox game at all. It feels like a totally different game. Yes, vision passing is there, but that's about it. The kicking model is completely different (think Sega with the arrow power meter that goes high and low)..the audibles, play calling, etc are different as well.
5. Again, I've only played one series (resulting in a punt) and then I picked off Manning (yeah, that's right, first pass play, INT). I need more time. I'm not dismissing it outright and I have to say, I'm pleased that it doesn't play like a port -- if it was a port that was crippled as I was led to believe I would have been nasty out of the gate...we'll see.

I have six other games to check out...so that keeps me busy. lol More later.