The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Glen and I wanted to try MLB 07 The Show for PS3 online. I had played a game earlier in the week and the other gamer quit because the lag was so bad. Well Glen and I couldn’t even start a game. The “network traffic” alarm kept going off. Obviously there was some sort of problem because other games played fine online but not MLB 07.

Needing a baseball fix, we decided to play Professional Baseball Spirits 4. We had a pretty lag free game that was exciting and impressive. The final score was 1-0. I shit you not. Eleven hits between us. Glen’s bunts were a thing of beauty but in the bottom of the 8th I got out of the only real jam I had thanks to a game of pickle. In the top of the 9th I was able to get a double and an RBI single getting me the win.

While I do enjoy MLB 07 offline, an English version of PYS 4 would probably be the holy grail of baseball game. It’s that damn good. I didn’t get that feeling of an online game since High Heat 99 or 00…damn it was good. Did I mention how good it was? It was a great game.

- EB/Gamestop is having a “sale” this weekend. Most of the deals aren’t that good, but they will have Real World golf for the PS2 and Xbox for $19.99. I’ve heard that the controller is quite impressive and if you’re a 100+ golfer, that’s what you’ll shoot in the game. My swing is so bad… maybe this will be a helper for me. I’m thinking I’ll grab the PS2 version, if only for the fact that I could play that on my PS3. I’d have to play the Xbox version on some other TV in the house… as that version will not work on the 360.

They’re also selling a ton of UMD titles for the PSP for $5 bucks, but I just can’t justify buying them…even at that price.

- I was reading Nintendo Power the other day and saw that the ‘08 version of Madden will have online play included. If they let you play the mini-games online, that would be a coup. The ones that were in last years version were great, so hopefully they’ll add them to the online mode.

- I’ve found out that the beta that shall not be named is under a NDA, so I’m glad I didn’t drop the name. I’d hate to get a ban hammer thrown down on me.

- I’ve been trying to convert some MPEG2 files to MP4 to play on my PS3 now that they have the media sharing working for it, but I’m not having any luck. I’m using Red Kawa’s PS3 Video 9 but I’m not having any luck. Anyone have any suggestions?

- Finally, the Brewers called up Ryan Braun today, one of the best prospects in all of baseball. It’s nice to see that the infield of the future is finally here. Now they just have to start thinking about signing them to deals to keep them all there for the next 4 or 5 years. That and figure out a way to get Tony Gwynn Jr. in the lineup every day. That kid can flat out rake the ball. He’ll never hit for power, but he’ll get on base for the guys who can drive him in.

The powers that be at GameShark (Bill, James) have decided to move my weekly column to Fridays so that I’ll write about that week’s downloads. Just trying to make it more timely, which makes sense, so check out This Week In Downloads and help me eat by clicking here.

Gameshark also has a preview of the beta that Glen may or may not be a part of which you can view by clicking here.

Just in time for Tuesday’s release of Forza Motorsport 2, Microsoft has dropped the price on the wireless wheel to $129.99. I picked up the wheel from overstock.com for that price a few months ago, so it should be really cheap now :).

Anyway for those that love racing games it’s a great wheel, especially when FF is implemented in games like NFS Carbon, PGR 3 and Test Drive…and of course Forza 2.

Wireless is a misnomer though — it’s wireless from the 360, but you still connect the pedals to the wheel and the unit to a wall power outlet for true force feedback….wireless is a bit of a strech. Nice wheel though…

Also, there’s a nice perk about the wheel — you can use it on the PC if you have the $20 wireless USB adapter which allows you to use any 360 wireless accessory on the PC (controller, wheel or headset)…

1. The answer to yesterday’s trivia is Real Sports Baseball for the Atari 5200. The umpire called everything :).

2. The next trivia question is a matter of opinion, but I’d love to hear your answers. Microsoft, way back in 1998 released a bunch of sports games. They were all pretty bad, but which one was the worst and why? My answer tomorrow. :).

3. When I went to bed last night the one beta was still downloading as well as the demo for DIRT on the 360. I woke up and Dirt was still downloading. WTF? I rebooted the modem and it went fast thankfully. I tried out the game. Wow. Codemasters knows how to make rally games. If you liked Rallisport, you know you’ll want this game. The photorealistic graphics are incredible and if it has wheel support (FF) I will be extremely moist.

Here’s a link to see Blake’s performance with Doug E Fresh last night. They were right, it is off the hook.

I know it must be awful for your child to pass away, and it’s something that I worry about now that I have two kids, but I cannot believe what Josh Hancock’s parents are doing.

Let’s see, your son had a BAC of twice the legal limit, was talking on a cell phone, didn’t have a seat belt on, and had some weed in the car. He was lucky that he didn’t kill someone else with everything that he was doing wrong at that time. So, I guess the best thing to do when you’re dealing with a loss like this is to sue everyone that he came in contact with. Are they going after the person he was talking to on the phone for distracting him while drunk driving?

Oh, and they’re not ruling out suing Major League Baseball or the Cardinals organization. Sweet Zombie Jebus.

I got into a beta for something, but I’m not sure if there is an NDA on it though. I’ll just say that I played something tonight and I really enjoyed the hour or so that I put into it. I wasn’t really thinking about picking it up before I played it tonight, but I can say now that I’ll more than likely grab it without a second thought.

1. The new PS3 firmware is out. It includes DVD upscaling (HDMI required) and upscaling for all PSOne and PS2 games. Some of the comparison screenshots that I’ve seen look pretty damn impressive. The PS3 appears to be the little console that could right now. Each month the firmware adds another neat feature, but due to the price of the system, not many people get to check it out.

One of the other features that I saw that was enabled in the 1.8 firmware was 1080P/24 output for Blu-Ray. The guys at AVS-Forum seem to be extremely happy about that. Apparently this makes the PS3 one of the best, if not the the best Blu-Ray player on the market. You’d have to take their word for it though… I probably wouldn’t be able to see the difference.

2. I still haven’t seen Blake’s performance with Doug E Fresh from Idol last night, but from the stories I read it was either “of the hook” or “off the chain.” From my knowledge of street lingo that means it was good… I think.

3. I had a kickass save in hockey last night. It was one of those saves that I’ve been wanting to make ever since I started playing goalie. When you’re able to do something that you’ve seen the pros do on TV, it’s a pretty damn cool feeling. Of course, I still let in 4 for the night, but I’m pretty damn happy with that one great save.

4. There is no number 4

What was the first baseball game to have basic speech (ie the umpire, not Play by Play)…name the game and the console.

The correct answer is Sean Landetta.

Morten Anderson was on a Tecmo Super Bowl roster, but was not on the original game.

Landetta was on the Giants roster for a single game last year, inactive, but on the roster for one game.

I’ll leave the trivia for today in Dan’s capable hands.

As a loyal blog reader, you probably already know about the ups and downs of my internet connection. I tried an online game of MLB 07 The Show last night and the lag was worse than Pro Baseball Spirits. I couldn’t get the timing down at all.

I’m wondering yet again if it’s my internet connection.

Ironically, when I went to login to MLB online, it said I had to get the 1.80 firmware update. I thought it was released today, but it was actually released last night so that download was lightning fast. I just don’t get it.

anyway, the game could be great but the online was not. I will try again today and see what happens….

Quick Idol recap: No surprise there, but still a bummer. Blake with Doug E. Fresh was impressive, young woman crying over a stupid sappy song was not. At least we got to see the universe of Sanjaya again. That ruled.

I thought the songwriting contest was supposed to make a better song. It sounded like Inside Your Heaven Part II.

So, I’ve been looking at Dan’s trivia questions in a Jeopardy sense.

The way I figure it, yesterday’s question was Handheld sports gaming for $1000.

Here’s an easier one.

Tecmo Bowl was published in 1988. Name the last player from that game to have played (on an NFL roster) in the NFL.

Glen will be doing today’s question..stay tuned!

1. Yes, I know I made a few typos in the last post. Let’s leave it up for posterity, no?

2. Dammit! Someone got the trivia answer. It is in fact Entex Baseball. I had the first (black) version. Good times!!

Here’s a lovely pic above….

1. What’s the NBA Draft Lottery?
2. What’s American Idol

First, the NBA Draft lottery just is plain stupid. But then again, the NBA is less relevant than Major League Soccer these days, so no one really cares.

Second, the thing people do care about is American Idol. I’m voting for Blake just because the show was totally stacked against him. I thought the songwriting contest was supposed to help, but This Is My Now? Come on! Not once during the season did I say, boy I can’t wait to see what Jordin/Melinda are going to do next, but you never knew with Blake. He’s earned it.

Nothing against Jordin, she’ll do well too. I don’t dislike here (like I did with Kat, whom I couldn’t stand, although the ‘going home to LA for a picnic with no one’ was a little sad)…

Nice of Daughtry to show up..btw…