The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Here’s the link to the PS3 page.

18 new screenshots.   I’m totally out of practice on trying to translate Kanji, so I’ll leave the translation up to the experts again.

2 long months until it comes out….

Ok, the movies weren’t watched on Thursday… but still.

I had a chance to watch Jet Li’s Fearless last night via a Netflix rental and have to say that I came away very impressed by it.  The martial arts sequences were top notch and the (based on a true) story was surprisingly emotional.  Well worth a rental.

I also saw a documentary earlier in the week called Two Days in April.  It details the story of 4 players as they begin their preparations for the 2006 NFL draft.  It follows the entire process from the speed training that the players receive to get ready for their 40 yard timing at the combine, up to the family gatherings as each player waited to be drafted.  If you have Netflix, it’s available on their Watch now service.  If you’re an NFL fan, I highly recommend it.  It’s only an hour and a half, so it’s not a huge time commitment.  Plus, with the new unlimited time limits that you’re allowed with a standard Netflix account, you don’t have much of an excuse not to check it out.

Hey don’t forget to join our Folding@home team and maybe help cure a disease or two. As you can see from this webpage, we’re among the top 2,000 groups, so just 3-4 more PS3 owners that join can help us bump way up into the top 1,000. Click here to check out our page – and don’t worry, even if you have a PC, you can help out (the PS3 does process more information as you can see from our rankings).

- Well, EA seems happy to ‘arcadify’ (to coin a new term) their boxing genre. Witness the birth of Facebreaker. I was speaking with Dan about this earlier today… and neither of us can seem to understand why they wouldn’t want to use the Fight Night engine for… oh… I don’t know… Fight Night? Crazy.

- I’ve been hearing a lot about this game called Patapon for the PSP. Seems like a war game crossed with Elite Beat Agents. Sounds fun to me. Plus the $19.99 price point is calling to me. I’ll have to do a pre-order at Gamestop to get the demo and let you all know what I think… if you’re interested.

- Pro Baseball Spirits 5 for the PS3 (oh, and PS2 too)… Confirmed! Here’s the translation over at Japanesebaseball.com.

I’ll be working on another guide for the game this year. I’ll make sure that I let my wife know that I’ll be saying good-bye to the month of April.

Between PYS 5 and MLB 08… it’s going to be a great March and April.

I’ve been so busy, I forgot to blog! Can you believe it.

1. Make sure you check out the MLB The Show weekly update. This is very, very good stuff and I’m drooling. I mean sure it’s no “move the right stick to pitch” marketing shit, but instead we have actual gameplay stuff. I can’t wait for this game on PS3. The pitch interface looks very good.

2. Don’t forget about Rez HD on Xbox Live. That reminds me I have to start writing my TWID column. 1080 Snowboarding is about what I expected. I see why it was popular 10 years ago, and the actual gameplay itself is better than some recent attempts at teh genre (hey, it almost looks as good as SSX lol), but still it really doesn’t do a lot for me.

3. Do you have skype on your PSP yet? It’s out…

4. Don’t forget to register for the Sensible World of Soccer Cup

5. Will Bedard be going to the Mariners? Who knows.

- New Pitcher/Batter Analysis screens and information.  This really reminds me of some of the things that Pro Baseball Spirits has been doing… that’s a VERY good thing to see.

They look like they’ve added some sensational statistics this year.  Can’t wait for March to get here.

- I stopped in at Best Buy at lunch today to pick up Zack and Wiki for the Wii (Terrific game thus far) and noticed that they had Wii consoles in stock.  There was another customer standing next to me holding the console.  He looked at me and his face seemed to say, “Can you actually believe they have these here for sale?”  I tried to recommend Zack and Wiki to him, but he seemed ready to run to the register to make sure that no one else got his console.

- Holy crap, can it be any more windy here tonight?  Winds from 20 to 30, with gusts over 40 right now.  I have no idea how I’m going to sleep with the wind blowing as hard as it is.  Oh, and it’s -2 before the wind… so it’s probably 25 to 30 below with the Wind Chill.  It was 45 yesterday.  Grrrrr.  Damn weather.

- I picked up two Xbox Live Vision kits at Toys R Us.  So, I’m all set on Xbox Live until 2011.  Anyone want to buy a camera?  I’m selling the extra one for $20 shipped (or best offer.)

- The Twins traded Santana to the Mets for a ton of prospects.  Sadly, that’s how the Twins have to run things.  They couldn’t afford a 20+ million dollar a year pitcher.  Hopefully the trade works out for them.

1. I just caught up with the episodes of Chuck from last Thursday. That 10pm episode wins “best incorporation of Call of Duty 5″ in a tv show. Good stuff.

2. Sorry I’ve been afk. Work sucks at month end.

3. So, the Cobalt Blue DS is confirmed. Weee. I do have to say I prefer my son’s red one to my black..uhh Onyx one.

4. Rez tomorrow! Wee!

5. I sleep now.

6 The PS3 rumor mill continues. It would make sense that they’d clear out the old PS3s for a new one with DualShock 3 included. Of course that’s the way I usually buy things. Oh no, my controller broke. Guess I’ll buy a new system! I do this with cars all the time! .

7. Speaking of PS3s, my BD player PS3 arrived today. I haven’t opened it or set it up, it will be fun to compare/contrast the 40GB unit with the 60 Unit I have. At least I think it’s 60. honestly I forgot. It was the deluxe SKU that released at launch. Is that 60? Whatever.

- Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has now been dated for an April release in the U.S.  Both a Blu-Ray disk and downloadable version priced at $39.99.  I’m not sure about how I feel about the pricing, but if it’s going for the same price… I’d rather have a disc based version, I guess.

- Nintendo has stated that Animal Crossing is due out for the Wii this year.  I guess that’ll be as good a time as any to cancel my WoW subscription again.

- Speaking of WoW, my hunter hit level 19 last night.  That character class is a ton of fun.  Quite a bit easier to solo with than any other class that I have messed with.

- The ‘Hot Coffee’ class action suit has been settled.  $35 bucks if you have been scarred for life by this incident.  I have the original PS2 version of this game that has this code in it.  I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be asking for the 35 bucks.  My mind is just as messed up as it was before I bought the game.

Sickness of an odd sort has struck me over the past few days.  So, I spent almost the entire day sleeping.  Which is most of what I did yesterday as well.  Very odd.  Oh, well.  Time for the news.

- Nintendo is starting to make me wonder… putting out fewer and fewer Virtual Console releases each week.  This week the solo title is 1080 Snowboarding.  I’ve heard very good things about the title… or I should say that I did hear good things about it when it came out.  Whether or not it holds up is another matter.

- As far as Microsoft is concerned, they’re going to be releasing Rez HD and Chessmaster HD onto the Xbox Live Arcade.   According to Kotaku… the best way to play Rez is with three (or four) controllers  … so get spending.

- Apparently Toys R Us has clearanced the Xbox Live Vision kit.  So, if you have a store nearby.  The bundle which includes a game, 200 points, a camera, and a year of Live is $39.98.  Pretty good deal there.

Dan and I didn’t have a ton of topics to cover this week, but with the upcoming MLB games and the Superbowl… we had plenty to talk about.

Feel free to talk about the show in the forums or in the comments here.

Enjoy!

I’m trying to finish up the review for the Nintendo game Endless Ocean, but in true annoying Nintendo form, you have to have friend codes to play with someone, and of course the friend code for Endless Ocean isn’t the same as your regular friend code.

So if anyone else has the game and would like to go diving, please enter your EO friend code in this thread. My Endless Ocean code is 0950-6346-6150.

Thanks!

- Rumors are swirling that Circuit City is getting rid of HD DVD players.  Let’s hope that they start clearing out the movies for sale prices.

- Now that it’s tax return time, and I’m due a bonus at work in the next two weeks, I’m looking to add a 32 or 37″ LCD TV for the bedroom.  Any thoughts or suggestions as to brand?  It’s been a while since I’ve looked at a TV… so any advice is helpful.

- As far as the MLB article at IGN.  I’m taking a wait and see approach.  Redesigning the throwing and pitching interfaces is always an interesting thing to try… but we’ll see how well it works.

- NHL All Star game at 6 EST tonight on Versus.  Of course, if you’re a hockey fan.. you probably knew that.  If you’re not… well, I’m not going to be able to convince you to watch it… or am I?

Lots of deals this week on sports games!! First Best Buy is giving a $20 gift card if you buy a PS3 and any EA Sports game. The Circuit City is giving 25% off all EA Sports games. Target is giving a $100 Gift Card on a Sony Blu-Ray player (BDS 300)…not really a game deal but worth noting.

Get out there and shop, or something.

Loyal reader Jonah Falcon let us know that IGN has an update on 2K’s MLB game. I’m a lot more underwhelmed with the features than the writer of the article, suffice it to say. Click here.