The Blog for the Sports Gamer

So, other than a back ache, from some incredibly hard coughs over the last few days, I think I’m almost over this flu.  My temperature has stayed below 100 for an entire day.   I don’t wish this flu on anyone.. it was brutal.

Thankfully the kids are getting over it as well, so they’ll be going to daycare tomorrow and I’ll be starting my new job on time.

Back to the news…

- It’s not the same without Bill being here, but the Badgers basketball team knocked off Ohio State on the road today.  This Badger team is just so different from last year.  Someone new steps up to take over for the scoring almost every single game.  They have four players averaging in double digits in Big Ten play, so they’ve been consistent all year.  Their schedule only has, what I would consider to be, one really tough game remaining… Michigan State, in Madison.  If they win out, at worst, they get a share of the Big Ten crown.  Something that everyone here could live with.

- If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the MLB2K8 press conference, Dan and I will be covering that amongst other news items in the podcast.  It’s an interesting listen, if not frustrating due to the fact that some a-hole wouldn’t put his phone on mute and you can hear static and him typing all throughout.

- NiN pack on Rock Band this week.  First time I’ll probably pick up an entire set since the day I bought the game.

Forgot to mention I got the mlb.tv renewal email, the same price as last year — $119 for the full package. Still a much better deal than Extra Innings, which on my cable system a) doesn’t have HD b) doesn’t keep archives and c) doesn’t have every game on a day. Oh and it’s less expensive. Looking forward to watching it again this year, even if my team sucks.

Thanks for the comments on my Game Informer post.

 I hadn’t read EGM’s column and just heard about the abstract — specifically that EGM had been banned from Ubisoft becuase of their negative reviews — at least that’s the way I understood it. The GI editorial smacked of ‘nyah nyah we haven’t been banned,’ and I just didn’t think it was because of their good reviews, I thought it was because they were owned by GameStop. That may or may not be the reason, but the editoral (both of them including EGM) sounded pretty much like a teenager in a pissing contest. The problem I have with EGM was that why go public with that — do you think that people will stop buying Ubisoft games because they don’t supply EGM with reviews?

If I could get enough paying subscribers, the Consumer Reports model (no advertising, everything bought at retail) would be the best way to go..it would have to be online only because print takes so long but then there would be zero conflict. There would also probably be zero money. I will agree with GI in that the whole ‘who paid you off thing’ is silly. The writer of the article, even Gerstmann at GameSpot, was able to let the world know what words were his….well as much as the confidentiality agreement would allow.

Anyway, that was my gist there. I do like GI the magazine, it is a great deal at Gamestop for the 10% bonus/discount and the mag is better than some other stuff I’ve seen out there.

I have never met or know Andy McNamara, but what he says in the most recent Game Informer is rather irritating. In issue 179, as a direct slap to EGM, he writes “..we have never been banned from a company for a poor review and there is a simple reason why. Companies may not always agree with what we say, but we back up our reviews with research and insight that explains our position…”

If you look a little further on that same page, you’ll see this: “Game Informer is a trademark of GameStop, Inc.”

Does anyone else think this may be a conflict? I mean seriously, is a game company going to ban GameStop from receiving product to sell?  I just don’t think you call out EGM like that when there is an appearance of a conflict…that’s all…then again no one really cares and they just get the magazine because of the 10% Gamestop discount, right?

Here are four screens from the PS3 version, showing off the new ‘Big Head’ mode. You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger version of the screenshot.

I don’t know how excited I am about this feature, but it’s in there, so we’ll pass on the info to you.

Just received official word that Microsoft is withdrawing their HDDVD player. Shocking isn’t it. Warranties will continue to be honored as well as continued support for those of us suckers, er, customers that have the product.

 Can’t wait to list my RARE, can’t buy in stores Microsoft HDDVD player on Ebay! I’ll even throw in King Kong!

Glen and I were invited to sit in on a conference call for MLB 2K8. I have no idea how many people were on this call, but I know that Bill Abner was on there (check out the question about scoring from second about one hour in) and some people from Operation Sports were there too.

You can pretend to be a member of the press sitting in on this conference call as we’ve received special dispensation from 2K Sports to rebroadcast the conference call pretty much as we heard it. Now you can experience the excitement of a press conference call! We have to apologize for the audio quality of the interview…unfortunately that was the way it was when we listened live. Be forewarned, the entire call is about an hour…so Bill Harris, put this on your waterproof MP3 player for your swim.

Enough suspense, download the edited version by clicking here.

For those that prefer to skip the interview here are the highlights:

• The big focus this year seems to be on the trading cards on the Xbox 360 version and the PS3 The developers really wanted to recreate the days of our youth with this. Maybe it will be insanely addictive, but right now I am a little skeptical. I think it’s one of those ’you gotta play it to enjoy it’ things.
• We were told on the interview that many of the issues we had with last year’s game are fixed: specifically, the PS3 version will run smoother and Bill Abner’s pet peeve about a runner not being able to score from 2nd will be fixed. In Ben Brinkman’s words, “you will love this game.” Can’t wait to see if Abner will like it.
•  You will be able to play in the minor leagues, with 18 Minor league stadiums available.
• The Wii version will not be as hardcore an experience as on the PS3 or 360. No online or DLC will be available on the Wii. The latest Nintendo Power has a lot of info on this game. Also the trading cards are not on the Wii version.
• No new Play by Play was recorded this year, but Ben says they had a lot of unused audio from previous recording sessions, so it will be new to us.
• Thanks to Operation Sports we know that players uniforms wont’ be as ‘windy’ as they were last year. Phew. Now I can buy the game. Sorry OpSports guys — that’s why I got tired of the forums and the ’send in a question” stuff….seriously this are the issues that people have?
• Oh and make sure you listen to all the exciting talk about custom soundtracks.
• A lot of work was put into motion capture and getting the animations right.
• Japanese players that are not yet in the major leagues are not allowed to be in the game per MLBPA rules until they’ve actually played an official game, which is why there’s an opening week roster update.
• You’ll be able to human control 4 teams in franchise mode.
• The Wii version will NOT have online play or downloadable content.
• The demo is currently in ‘certification’ so hopefully we’ll see it before the game comes out.
• Don’t judge the game by the trailer. Apparently there’s more than one bat sound (okay OpSports, that was a legit question lol).
• Sorry PS3 fans, DualShock isn’t supported (yet).
• There was some discussion about the right stick pitching and swinging modes. I’m very curious to see how this plays out. I got the feeling from the call that there is a learning curve and it is a skill to get this right. I hope it is a skill and not an exercise in frustration.

So as far as conference calls go, we did get some good information. I’ve been through worse ones. As I said, my biggest concern is that Mr. Brinkman agreed with many of the issues with the prior year’s game and promises to have fixed them. It’s just funny that the issues aren’t acknowledged until after the product life cycle. Even a “yup we know, we tried to get that in but couldn’t” acknowledgement would suffice in some ways to me.  As Glen said to me after the conference, when we are told that there is such a tight schedule on the game and 1/2 of that time is spent on ‘player cards’…you get a little worried. But hey, you can only talk about wall climbs so often I guess.

Am I more hyped about the game than I was before the call? I guess I have to say yes, because before the call I didn’t have any interest at all — I was focused on The Show (PS count the number of times mention of The Show is avoided. LOL).  Between the Nintendo Power preview and this call, I’m definitely in the ‘curious’ category.

I’d love to read and hear your thoughts on the call and what you thought of it — leave comments below or post in our luscious forums!

- So DirecTV is coming out sometime this morning to install our new Dish and HD DVR and receivers… I wish I could say that I feel sorry that they’ll be trudging through a 2 foot snow bank to get to the dish… but… I’m not that bothered by it.

- I’ll be attempting to record the conference call today, so with some luck… Dan and I will get some good nuggets onto the podcast later tonight.

- Nice to see that the God of War demo for the PSP is out on the Playstation Store.  I’ve had the demo for about 3 months now, but it’ll be nice to play again.  It was terrific when I played it last.

- Can’t wait to take a look at those videos for ‘The Show.’

- In the medical update section of the blog, my fever hit 104 last night.  Fun, fun, fun.

Damn Kotaku…now I have that song in my head. Sometimes those Japanese gamers are just plain weird.

Have you had a chance to take a look at all the new videos of MLB 08 The Show? Impressive stuff….tonight is the conference call for MLB 2K8…but we have another SUPERSTORM! Yay! So I’ll try to listen in and hope my questions are answered. Bill Abner is covering it for GameShark and we hope to have some notes between Glen and myself tonight about the call if all goes well. Further, if things go really well we have have something super nice for you….

In the mean time I have to finish my TWID article. Not a great week for downloadable content…..

- So, I was all set to go to my last day of work today.. but when I went to bed, I started running a fever.  Got sick in the shower this morning and ended up having to take a sick day for my last day at work.  Also had to cancel my procedure today due to the fact that I have the flu.  Man… what a day.

- So, the Commodore 64 is only coming to the European VC at this point?  What a bummer.  Put Summer Games on there an I’ll be an incredibly happy gamer.

Time to take another nap.

1. I had tivo’ed Tuesday’s American Idol but frankly all but two guys could go and I could care less. Over on the women side…I think votefortheworst selected the right one. That rendition of “Where the Boys Are” was omg how did this person get to the top 24 bad.

2. Have you heard the latest B-52’s song called “FunPlex”? If you like old school B-52s…you’ll like this song. Hey lady!! What lady?? LOL. I’m a Fred Schnieder fan, what can I say.

3. speaking of what the kids listen to these days, I have to say that new Ashlee Simpson song “Outta My Head” won’t get “outta my head” it sounds very 80s…..has a great beat and you can dance to it, or something.

It’s a day late but check out the latest MLB 08 The Show update over at the PlayStation blog. Seems as though they really care about baseball. Full linky here.

Just got the latest Nintendo Power…first off since it’s become a Future mag, it has really morphed into a piece of crap.

Second, they have the first review of the US version of Super Smash Bros brawl. Can you guess the score they give it? Come on….I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with “Ben”…shocking…either this game is truly incredible…or it’s the hype machine in full effect.

 Meanwhile have you downloaded the XNA games yet? Is this some sort of tease to get you to shell out $100 for a one year subscription? I think I’ll pass…

2K Sports just dropped us a note to let us know that they have released the list of players that will be appearing in Top Spin 3.

• Mario Ancic
• Tomas Berdych
• James Blake
• Roger Federer
• Tommy Haas
• Justine Henin
• Svetlana Kuznetsova
• Amelie Mauresmo
• Gael Monfils
• Andy Murray
• Rafael Nadal*
• David Nalbandian
• Mark Philippoussis
• Andy Roddick
• Maria Sharapova
• Nicole Vaidisova
• Caroline Wozniacki

Classic legends**

• Boris Becker
• Bjorn Borg
• Monica Seles

Interestingly Rafael Nadal will only appear on the PS3 version of the game.

You’ll also be able to play in Roland Garros (for the French Open) and Rod Laver Arena (Australian Open.)

Top Spin 3 will be released in the Spring (no set date yet) for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS.

Today’s Deal of the Day is Rock Band (game only) for $34.99. Or you can scroll down the the ‘better together section” and buy Rock Band (game only) with Rock Band Special Edition for $184.98. Does that make any sense?