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

Saturday fun

Well, I was able to return the USB WiFi thingy to Gamestop so I picked up Elebits. I was unable to find a component switch at Wal Mart, Target and Gamestop despite my asking.

I did see something unusual at Target: a 60GB PS3 available for sale. The guy at Target said it's been there since Wednesday. Based on the traffic outside my work, I am guessing it's gone now. You know what? I don't care. I just don't see any value in spending $600 for ported games. And you don't even get a game for $600.

I could see spending $600 on a blu-ray DVD player, but without and cables, I don't see the point. Besides, I think I'd put my money on HD-DVD..just becuase it sounds better. Sorry but blu-ray is a stupid name.

I have to say I don't see kids getting excited for a PS3. I do see them get excited for the Wii though. Very excited.

Now don't get me wrong, I still think the Xbox 360 is the best. I love everything about the 360..but I can see Wii filling a nice niche.

fRICK

All i needed was a firmware update on my router to get the wii working wirelessly. Of course Verizon wouldn't have it right on their support page, instead it's buried deep in the support system. Now my 327W is working great, and supports WPA (wee).

Now I have a $40 USB connector I don't need. Fantastic!

Wii

Okay, I was extremely skeptical of the Wii. I will admit that. However, my 5 year old is in love with this system. I think we played bowling for 22 hours. And baseball. Wow. Even my wife, aka "The person who thinks videogames are satan" had to give it a shot. It is impressive and addictive.

So for those of you who have a Wii and need friends, my Wii code is in the comments section. Feel free to post yours.

Friday Musings

Well, like Glen said in the comments yesterday, I went ahead and gave up and blew $35 on the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector. While I really think it sucks that I have to spend $35 for one appliance to connect wirelessly to my PC now, it worked immediately and I was able to download the update. I bought some Wii points, but I haven't bought any Virtual Console games yet. I need to find me a classic controller today.

I did find me a 2nd nunchuck. Not sure what GameStop was thinking with the PMITA bundle to not include a 2nd nunchuck but including a gift sub to game informer. Since every time I buy a console I get a sub to game informer I think I now have 23 gift subscriptions.

Of course, I sure am putting a lot of dough into this thing, and I haven't even been assigned a VC review yet. That's Virtual Console, not Viet Cong. Just letting you know.

I have played a few games on the Wii; specifically Madden, Ultimate Alliance, Super Swing Golf and Wii Sports. To a sports gamer Wii Sports is pretty damn good. Baseball and Boxing are meh, but bowling is a lot of fun. I know I'm just saying what everybody else says, but now that I say it you can believe it. Heh. Madden is taking some time to get used to. Interestingly enough, I kinda like the graphics and the kicking game. But it's early. I just received my component cables from Mad Catz, which now leaves me with a 2nd problem. I have two component inputs on my HDTV (Samsung 4:3 27" model). Right now Component 1 is my cable box and C2 is my 360. Does anyone know of any component adapters or splitters out there so I don't have to go behind the tv to unplug and replug this stuff in? Mad Catz says they have a component selector but I can't find it.

The 360 has a bunch of new backward compatible titles, including Psychonauts. I just bought it from GameFly becuase it's only $11 and I expect a run. Shenmue 2 is also on the list. Would you like to play a game of Lucky Hit? I never got into S2 on the Xbox mainly becuase I have the UK version for my Dreamcast which is just better by default (Engrish Subtitles with Japanese acting).

This week is another round of the playoffs, I'm up against the #1 seed. For me to win it all depends on Bush and Brees having a great week and Manning falling on his ass. I'm hoping that will happen.

Guitar Hero Injures Tiger

If you watched much post-season baseball this year you might recall that Tigers middle reliever, Joel Zumaya, was suffering from pain in his wrist that pretty much shelved him during the ALCS. Evidently it had little to do with his pitching motion and everything to do with his manlove for Guitar Hero. The team asked him to quit playing the game (which he did), and the pain went away, allowing him to pitch in the series.

I wonder if the other Detroit pitchers were similarly hooked. It would explain why they couldn't make a throw to first base.

You'll find the full story at The Detroit Free Press.

Bill’s 2006 Awards

I'll try to make this short and sweet and hopefully Todd and Dan will follow with their own soon.

• Game of the Year: Company of Heroes
• Runner-Up: Oblivion
• Expansion of the Year: Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Dark Crusade
• Sports Game of the Year: NCAA Football 07 - Xbox only
• Runner Up: MLB 06: The Show - PS2 (with NBA 2K7 360 a really close 3rd)
• Biggest Sports Game Surprise: FIFA 07 PC
• Sports Text Game of the Year: Front Office Football 2007 and OOTP 2006 (after the patches. Patches count because these are my awards and I make up the rules)

(This was actually a pretty good year for text sims with Eastside Hockey, PureSim Baseball 2007, Total Pro Golf, Total College Basketball and the post-patch Bowl Bound all being well worth the cash)

• RPG: Oblivion (PC)
• Runner Up: Neverwinter Nights 2
• Best Strategy: Company of Heroes
• Runner Up: Gal Civ II: Dread Lords
• Best Game to Play with Your Kid: LEGO Star Wars II - 360 (This also wins the 'you must play this with a goofy grin on your face' award)
• The "I Was Really Hoping This Would be a Bit Better" Award: Warhammer Mark of Chaos/Gallop Racer 06
• The "Please Fix This Next Year" Award: College Hoops' simulation engine and polling logic
• Addiction finally slowing down: World of WarCraft
• Boardgame I Played the Most: Railroad Tycoon
• The "I Hope This Makes it to the 360" Award: MVP NCAA Baseball
• The "I guess I should have played this because everyone seems to love it" Award: NHL 07 360
• Worst Big Budget Game: Mage Knight
• Worst Sports Game: Tie: MLB 2K6/NHL 07 PC/ NBA Live 07/ NFL Head Coach

Error Code: 51331

You know, Nintendo can suck my balls. I got my Wii last night with the PMITA package from GameStop. Despite 5 hours of trying and staying up until 2am, the title of this post is all I get.

I Have a Westell 327W wireless modem/gateway combo that I got when I signed up for Verizon DSL. Every piece of equipment I have had works flawlessly with it except for crap from Nintendo -- specifically the DS and the Wii. I did eventually get the DS to work but I think this Wii is a lost cause.

I have posted on the Nintendo forums and Wiichat and nothing. If anyone out there can get the Wii to work with the Westell 327W modem, please let me know how.

I'm getting stock answers from Nintendo and it's not helping!! The Wii gets my SSID fine but that's it. I've turned off WEP changed the channel to what they have said, and still that lovely error code.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

Fatty McFatterson

As I struggled to put on my suit for a business event today, I realized that I'm really tipping the scale and that probably has affected my breathing and my overall health.

I have a club membership, but I never go. I keep thinking I will go, but then "work" takes over and I don't go.

Tonight while I was going visiting gamespot.com, you'll see that they have a lot of video reviews. You'll also notice something else -- most of them are overweight guys my age (mid 30's).

I gotta get exercising. I'm fitting the stereotype way too much.

Heismans and other assorted stuff

Well, I was relieved that Troy won the Heisman. There were rumblings in the media (which I cannot even believe I paid the time to listen to; I should know better) that said Troy might come in second, in some sort of defiance because he took $500 from a booster when he was a Soph. If there was ever a test case for giving a kid a second chance, this is it. Troy Smith went from a selfish, angry kid who took $500 to pay off a cell phone bill ran up by none other than Mo Clarett into the consumate team player and the best QB to ever play at Ohio State, and arguably the best to ever play college ball in the Big 10.

I still hate the Heisman; I think it's a bullshit award, but it's great to see Smith come full circle -- and it helps OSU recruiting.

As of now I am thinking 30-16 OSU in the title game, FWIW. I just don't think there is any offense in the SEC that can match up with Ohio State's and I think Florida's defense is in for a rude awakening. We'll see.

I know it won't happen but I want the Browns to draft Troy Smith. I think people that are dismissing him as a pro QB are absolutely in-friggin-sane. Ask Brees how he's doing as a 6'0 QB. Smith is a winner, a leader, has a rocket-arm, can run, and has played extremely well against top-shelf college competition.

I also want him just so a team like Baltimore doesn't get him. That would be a scenario of nightmarish proportions. It's already hard enough to see Santonio in Pittsburgh.

***

I've been thinking about the whole 2K Football thing again, and Dan's right that until I see it from 2K -- I'm in an official holding pattern. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm really big on sports history; I love the old teams, games, records, etc. from all of the major sports. I've read countless books on the history of baseball, I think I have watched every NFL Films show ever made, and I know the NBA of the 1970s and 80s a LOT better than I know the NBA of today.

This has everything to do with my dad. Growing up, I cut my teeth on sports board games like Statis-Pro Baseball, Football, and Basketball. There were other games like Paydirt!, and Bowl Bound as well. My dad not only bought all of these games but he played with with me constantly.

(tangent time)

I cannot stress to you the impact that these games had on me when I was a kid. I'm almost certain that they played a huge role in the way I critique and look at games today. You have to realize that I was 8-years old when I started playing them with my dad and my uncle. I know I was 8 because we started with the 1980 Baseball set when the Phillies were the champs with guys like Rose, Bake McBride, Steve Carlton, etc. Maybe I was 9 because they would have needed a year to make the cards. So yeah, we'll say 9.

I absorbed these games like a sponge. I don't know, perhaps more than I think, but I don't know too many 9-year olds at the time that could tell you the starting lineup for nearly every NBA team, the closer for the 1980 Royals (Dan Quisenberry), or the third WR for the 1980 Cardiac Kids Browns (Ricky Feature). These games taught me all of this stuff so instead of reading my 4th grade homework assignments, I was matching up Artis Gilmore of the Bulls against Alton Listor of the Milwaukee Bucks in Statis Pro Basketball. We kept stats for all of these games and they probably really helped my basic math skills to tell you the truth.

The games didn't lack walks, strikeouts, offensive pass interference, foul shots, offensive rebounds, and so on. We played leagues, fantasy draft leagues, tournaments, you name it. I think this is why when I really started to pay attention to video games that I was left ice cold by early versions of Madden on the old PS1 and fell head over heels in love with Front Page Sports Football when I was in college. I wanted some semblence of realism because I had been steeped in realistic sports games since the 4th grade. If an old board game could simulate to the letter that Larry Bird drew more fouls than, say, Danny Ainge -- why couldn't a video game do the same?

Anyway, you can blame those games for me being the way I am I guess. It's also the reason why I am intrigued at least of the prospect of an NFL 2K Legends game. This kinda thing is right in my wheelhouse; I just don't want to jump the gun until it's A) actually announced and B) we have an idea of what the design is.

Xbox 360 Wireless Headset

After reading posts by Major Nelson and Gamerscore blog, they make it sound like the Wireless headset is a turd. I've been using it without a problem. Anyone here having issues? I'll be honest, I haven't used it a lot and I haven't used it with R6 Vegas, which I will be this week as I got the review.

One thing I really like about R6 Vegas is the way you can put yourself in the game with the Vision camera. Of course you can also scan in a picture of yourself. Kotaku has a pic of someone playing as Michael Jackson. It's pretty funny.

Sports related, I haven't played CH or MM (college basketball games). IGN has a post about 2K Games and football, however the bullshit alarm is high on that. There's no on the record info from 2K games, and this guy said it last year too and nothing happened. When VC or 2K Games goes on the record and confirms this, then I will comment. Until then, Bullshit is on high.

Is it me or is that Wind It Up song the dumbest thing in a long time. I didn't realize you could plagiarize yourself, but Gwen has done it, nearly copying Hollaback...well at least with the college like drums.

Is it me or when you play OSU in NCAA Football, is cheating on in full effect...unless they really are that good?

Google Says Our Blog is Spam

Every time we make a post here, we now have to enter a word verification the same way you do when you post a comment. I was thinking WTF, and clicked the little question mark next to it.

Google says that they thought our blog was a spam blog and since we're reading this, obviously it isn't but please request that Google will look over the blog for us.

They call a spam blog as one with a lot of nonsense posts and plenty of hyperlinks. Guess that is us. LOL.

Good Monday Morning To You

While I'm recovering from the ass-tastic Patriots loss, there are a few things that I'm musing about.

This weekend is the first one of our fantasy playoffs. As it gets this late in the season, it's almost worse than playing in the beginning of the season as those 10-3 teams start using subs -- nothing sucks more if you have say Mr. Manning as your QB.

For me, I was down by something like 60 points, until my QB and RB started, and I live or die by the Saints, and needless to say I've made up that gap and still got two guys left to play. Should be interesting.

In other news, Barack Obama was in town yesterday and you'd think he already was president with the response he received. While it sure did push anything about our current president way off to the side, we don't know a whole lot about Obama except he is a very good speaker. Let's hope we'll hear more about issues soon.

Didn't really do much game playing over the weekend. GameStop has preauthorized my credit card, so my pound you in the ass Wii bundle could be shipping soon, at least my fingers are crossed. All I can say is that it better be good or else I will be pissed.

2K Legends

Interesting.

Being an NFL history nut, this could be in my wheelhouse.

I have no comment on the Madden stuff.

Fun. Just plain fun.

With all of the talk about the Legacy mode results issue, I wanted to say something about College Hoops 2K7: it's a very, very fun game.

Two nights go I had one of those "I will remember this game forever" moments. Those don't come around very often anymore.

I know I have mentioned some of these games here before, but off the top of my head I can still remember losing to my buddy Dave 38-35 in the championship game on the C64 version of 4th and Inches (the college edition). I remember the final play of that game when I was tackled at the 30 yard line, failing to get out of bounds in order to kick the game tying FG.

I remember the High Heat World Series against Todd's Red Sox (I was the Cubs). He drove to Columbus to visit (and to play the Series games head to head). I lost. I got mad. This was the infamous General Lee series. I also remember the NLCS in the same High Heat year when my buddy Rick's Mets lost in 7 games to the mighty Cubbie machine. (That High Heat league was the best gaming experience...ever)

I remember the NCAA 2004 3-player dynasty with Rick and Dave. I took TCU to the title game and lost to Rick, who took control of the CPU-coached Sooners. I lost 20-17, missing a 45 yard FG with literally :02 seconds left. I got mad. (I have matured since then, I swear.)

Most of my brain-stamped game memories involve two-player, hot seat games. I played in my NC A&T Legacy against Norfolk State. The game was just your run of the mill tight MEAC battle (ha) for most of the game.

I took a 12 point lead in the 2nd half, only to see it vanish to a two point lead with 3:00 left. I lost the lead on another frustrating Norfolk run. My top player, and when you play with these small teams you usually only have one or two consistant scoring threats, fouled out. I'm now down six with :15 to play. I'm cooked. Not only that but they are at the line shooting a 1-1. The FT was missed, my good-for-nothing-but-getting-in-the-way 6'11 center grabs it, and outlets to my PG who races down and throws up a long three -- bingo! 77-74 with :06 to go.

Press is on!

The CPU waits, waits, waits, and finally throws it over the head of the Norfolk PG and into the hands of my slashing SF! -- I admit. I panic. My presses NEVER work. My SF catches the ball in traffic in the paint and instead of kicking out to a guard for a three, I take it to the rim. Good -- and fouled!!! The crowd, all 200 of them, goes berzerk!

"Holy shit!"

Admittedly a bit shocked, I make the free throw and send the game into an improbable overtime, where NC A&T Mo' cannot be denied. I win by 10.

There are times when I feel like perhaps I am getting too old to really enjoy games like I used to. I think that's only natural to some extent. Then I play a game like that, and even at 34 soon to be 35 years old, I am capable of yelling with joy at no one in particular at 10:30 at night when I win a thrilling game of video college basketball. And that feels kinda good.

Some Help

I was hoping any one of you Net Slueths could find this tidbit out for me:

The Cleveland Browns, my ill-fated team, last won back to back games on October 5th and October 12th -- in 2003. Tim Couch was the QB. That huge two-game streak was also the last time they beat Pittsburgh, 33-13 in an ESPN 8PM game. I remember it well.

The Browns has played 55 games without winning two in a row.

What's the record?