The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Anyone know what to do if your UPS package says “delivered to front door” and the package isn’t there and your front door is impossible to get to because of the 2 feet of snow on the ground that leads up to your front door? I’m missing two packages from Amazon that say “delivered” but have no idea who/what to yell at…

- I’m 2 for 2 in the bracket and I’m moving up the standings.  Quite a few people had Xavier beating Duke, surprising.  I’m feeling pretty good about my brackets still, I had all 1’s and 2’s in the elite 8, with the exception of Wisconsin and Xavier.  What can I say… I just felt top heavy for my bracket.

- Looks like NFL Head Coach is a $60 title for the 360 and PS3, but it will be included “free” in the collector’s edition of Madden.  Thanks for pointing that out Jonah.  They have a long way to go if they’re going to make up for the mess that was the PS2 and Xbox versions of that game.

- Want to know what I really hate about college football?  Scheduling.   I’ve never really heard a good explanation of why football schedules up to 10 years in advance, but basketball teams can coordinate 10 to 12 non conference games every year without any problem.

-  Hmm… start getting the house ready for a showing on Saturday, or play some games… hmm… tough call.

1. I assume everyone has seen the Madden information by now. Notice how the PC version isn’t mentioned anywhere? I’d like to take credit for noticing that, but it was Howard Stern fan Jonah Falcon that caught that one. So much for the PC has a viable gaming platform.

2. Speaking of EA, Peter Moore is posting to his blog a lot. Hey, he’s familar with the New England area, but why not talk about MLS Kickoff this weekend and the defending Eastern Conference Revolution? They used to wear Reebok and everything!! Today’s post is all about FIFA and Madden. Hey Peter, you’ve played Pro Evolution Soccer before right? Note the linesmen? Maybe EA could bring linesmen back in the game, hmm? That would be great. Grrrrrrrr…..at least EA did a nice job with NHL. If I’m reading this press release correctly, the only way you can buy Head Coach 09 for the PS3/360 is to buy the Collector’s Edition of Madden at $89.99. Usually “collector’s editions” run about $69.99 so for $20 you get Head Coach. Not a bad deal. I wonder if that counts as two games on NPD. It shouldn’t. It’s one SKU.

3. Thanks to Clay who wrote in to let us know that while Baseball Mogul 2007 is available for free on GameTap, Baseball Mogul 2009 was just released and you can purchase it for $24.95 at www.sportsmogul.com. I should also point out that not only is Clay a reader, but also the President of Sports Mogul. Thanks for reading!

4. In other news, I know you may find this hard to believe, but we aren’t the only sports blog out there. There’s one run by C|Net at sportsgamer.com (not really a blog but a shitty “let’s re-run GameSpot stories as dedicated to sports gaming even though we wouldn’t know a baseball game if it hit us in the ass). I see that GameSpot has refreshed their sportsbeat blog, which ironically is not on the SportsGamer website, because that would make sense. Anyway, they now have multiple posters and talk with industry insiders. I sure hope a podcast is next. :). How’s that for talking trash? Check it out here. Welcome to the conversation. Or something.

1. Baseball Mogul 2007 is now available on GameTap, if you’re interested.

2. There’s a demo out for UEFA EURO 2008 on the 360.

3. I played TiQal  for 2+  hours last night. Suffice it to say I’m addicted to a mundane puzzle game. Go figure.

4. I tried installing Vista SP 1 last night but my computer rejected it and uninstalled it.

5. The Consumerist and Kotaku are reporting that you can now re-download your games you paid for even if you’re not connected to Xbox live, but can’t independently verify this. Let’s see, how much journalistic knowledge would it take to go to xbox360.com, click support and click the first link entitled “Important Information About Your Downloaded Content After Console Repair/Refurbishment.” Very difficult I guess. Anyway, at the bottom it says “License restoration will only work on the console as returned to you by Microsoft’s service center.”  So if your Elite died and you use the PRP at GameStop to get a new one, apparently you are still SOL. I will call MS Support and see if we can do something about this, but i’m guessing outlook points to “fat chance”.

5. American Idol: Hey we knew Chikezie wasn’t going to win, but how he was voted off before Kristy Lee Gifford and Ramiele is beyond me. Well it’s not really beyond me because they are all pretty bland singing the blandest songs ever made, but apparently no one wanted to be for the terrorists so everyone voted for Kristy Lee. This should be a new strategy for the singers. I wonder if she’ll do Ballad of the Green Berets next week. Dolly Parton is the mentor so either it’s Country Music or songs by women with big hooters, so Syesha might be doing well. Heh.

- Draft Day Sports: Pro Football sounds intriguing, but similar to other text based football efforts.  Hopefully we’ll have some more info soon to hear what makes this title different than previous games.

- Alexander Ovechkin scored his 61st goal last night.  There is an amazing amount of young talent in the NHL right now.  It’s a terrific game right now.  I know that I’ll never convince people to watch the NHL game.  It’s just a game you have to see in person before you can really enjoy it on TV.  Also, hockey in HD is a wonderful thing.

- I played about an hour of The Show’s Road to the Show mode last night and took my player from .154 up to .211.  I’m just happy to have him above the Mendoza line.  I don’t know how the big league club is going to feel about letting a 33 year old Right Fielder without any power on the club.  Say ‘Hello’ to Nashville, Mr. Haag.

- According to Vegas, the Badgers are only being picked by 23% of gamblers to make it to the final four.  Just keep doubting them people.  I really like their chances this weekend.  Can’t wait for the game on Friday night.

Wolverine Studios has announced Draft Day Sports: Pro Football today.  Here’s the press release.

Michigan, March 26, 2008. Wolverine Studios, a developer of sports simulation games, is proud to announce a brand new title, Draft Day Sports: Pro Football is now in development. Gary Gorski, developer of Draft Day Sports: College Basketball, Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball and Total Pro Golf 2 will serve as lead developer with Tim Plum taking on the role of Associate Developer for this exciting new title.

Draft Day Sports: Pro Football will give you the opportunity to play one or multiple roles within a professional football organization as you scout and draft players, make roster decisions and coach your way to championship glory. Draft Day Sports: Pro Football will feature a 2D game display, play editor, interactive and entertaining draft experience, robust almanac for rich historical stat tracking, dynamic player and team personalities and interactions, customization options such as multiple league sizes, multiplayer league capabilities and much more.

More details and discussion about the game will be available from Wolverine Studios’ company website at www.wolverinestudios.com. 

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About Wolverine Studios

Wolverine Studios is a developer of sports simulation video games for the computer. Wolverine Studios was founded by Gary Gorski, President & Lead Game Developer. Wolverine Studios has produced four titles since its inception in 2006 : Total Pro Golf, Total Pro Golf 2, Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball and Draft Day Sports: College Basketball.

1. So is anyone here watching Idol? They keep telling us it’s the ‘best ever,’ but it’s only the best ever if you mean by “best,” boring and bland. None of these singers have any character. Frankly I could care less about all of them, with the exception of Brooke. She’s fun to watch and just so happy about everything, it’s contagious.

2. Why didn’t the 12 year old sing Ice Ice Baby? That was from 1990. That would have showed range.

3. Brilliant move by Kristy singing that God Bless the USA song. Personally I hate it, even though I think under Republican law that makes me anti-American. I mean seriously, I see people voting for her because they’ll feel if they don’t they will be supporting terrorism. Oh and in other news, Kristy is horrible.

4. I love how everything that Grunge boy does is awesome. He made it his own, obviously they’ve never heard Chris “Soundgarden” Cornell doing that song. But hey, it’s all about stealing stuff from other people on this show, so whatever.

5. Getting back to gaming, nice to see my 360 working again. I’m so scared to turn it on though. Yes, it has that wonderful warranty but still you could be Xbox less for a few weeks. Yikes.

6. New Hampshire is the most livable state in the USA. Live Free or Die, bitches.

7. I need more coffee.

- Thanks to reader, Jason Divock, we now hear that Peter Moore’s influence is really kicking in over at EA Sports.  They’re going to fix Madden.  Well, the announcing is getting fixed.  Well, actually, it’s just getting a new announcing team.  Let me tell you, that’s the reason I haven’t bought a copy of Madden in the last 10 years… the announcing.   Whew.  Glad that they are working on that.

- The PS3 2.2 Firmware update is live.  I’m installing it as I type this message.  I have to give it to Sony, I like that they keep adding features in their updates, rather than just patching for some mystery reasons.  Although, I do have to say that resume play for Blu-Ray’s would have been nice to see long before now.  I guess I’ll just be happy that we are getting it.

- 2K Sports sent an email today to announce that they are having an Xbox Live contest from April 4th through the 6th to celebrate the opening of the baseball season.  If you register your Xbox Live Gamertag on the contest page and then play an online game of MLB2K8, on the 360, you’re entered into the contest.  All of the prizes and contest info are available on the contest page.

- The actual baseball season started last night?  Seriously, I had no idea.  I thought it was an exhibition game in Japan.  I guess I haven’t had much reason to care because the Brewers season doesn’t start until the 31st.  I did get an email letting me know I have a chance for opening day tickets.  I’ve never been to opening day, so it is pretty tempting to me.

- The NCAA hockey tournament kicks off in a few days, so I thought I would post a few of my favorite highlights.

- Oh, and on another hockey note… here is a terrific hockey video featuring Chris Chelios and Samuel L. Jackson

Exchanging my old 360 at GameStop with my receipt from last April was pain free. A friend of mine from another GameStop reminded me to pick up a 360 with a lower wattage…so I picked up the 170w vs the 208w unit. Not sure if it will do anything better, but it seemed as though the 360 Elite headset is a better one than the one I originally got. They let me keep my old HD and took the new one and put it with the old one.So I was able to play the Boston Rock Band songs without it blowing up. Yay! It’s been such a long time…. lol. In other news, you know it’s great to see Glen chime in on not having a problem…of course, a quick re-read of my ICQ logs shows comments from Glen like this: “I haven’t turned my 360 on in months.” …hmmm.. no wonder why it’s problem free! 

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Xbox number 5…One, two, three, four, five
All my Xboxes died and this is number five
Let’s ride to the Gamestop store around the corner
The boys say they’re sold out
but i really wanna
‘nother one like i had last week
because my 360 was an Elite
I like Vegas, Rock Band, Halo 3 and ‘Creed
and as I continue you know
they are getting sweeter
so what can I do I really beg and you my Lord
please let this xbox 360 survive
it’s all good let me dump it
please set in the trumpetYup, my 5th 360 gave me the red ring of death as I was trying to download the Boston Rock Band track pack this morning. Thankfully I bought an Elite when the GameStop PRP was still working, so it’s back to the store today. Un-f’n-believable.

I just received an email today that let me know that 2K Sports is working on a patch for some of the issues that people have found with MLB2K8.

According to the message, the update addresses the frame rate for the Xbox 360 version and a franchise mode issue for the 360 and PS3 versions that impacts roster moves for the San Diego Padres organization.

The patches are undergoing review right now and should be available for download soon.

Nice to see the patches so shortly after release.  If I hear more about the patches, I’ll post it.

- The Bracket Challenge is going quite well and is still very much wide open to quite a few people.  I’m happy to say that I picked 12 of the sweet 16, and don’t have any of my Elite 8 teams out at this point.  We currently have a 3 way tie for first right now, but there are 7 people within 2 points (myself included.)  Should be a fun run to the end.

- So, Dan likes pay TV?  I can see the joy of being able to sit back and watch 7 year old movies like Galaxy Quest that I’ve already seen a few times, can’t you?  Exactly how is that better than having complete and total choice over the films you’d like to watch at that particular moment?  Hmmm… I think I’ll stick with buying Blu-Ray’s.

- As for my plans for the evening.  I have one kid with Pink Eye (She turned 1 today… Happy Birthday Alexandra) and another with a 101 temp.  I guess that sums up how much fun I’ll be having this evening.

- I had a chance to play a bit more of Call of Duty 4 last night.  The game is fun, but it’s basically the same as CoD2… but with new weapons.  The same respawning enemies are there to irritate me to no end.  There are some sections where it seems that the best strategy is to rush ahead until you see Checkpoint reached, then hunker down for your health… and run to the next checkpoint.   Rinse, repeat.   Hopefully there are some new sections to look forward to soon… because if it’s just running from checkpoint to checkpoint, I’ll get bored in a hurry.

Monday night is quickly becoming my TV Viewing night of choice. All the comedies on CBS are new, including the geek-friendly Big Bang Theory (Halo 2 night, X10 remote appliances, wireless webcams on RC vehicles…this is great), and the always funny How I Met Your Mother with a special guest star tonight — the one, the only Britney Spears. Should be a fun night of TV viewing.

Last night as everyone at my house was sleeping, I was flipping channels on the free preview of HBO — which also included Skinemax, which I wish I knew about on Friday night, but I digress. Anyway, the free preview didn’t want to make me resubscribe — ironically enough, I settled on watching Devil Wears Prada and Galaxy Quest while at the in-laws for Easter Dinner and then watched the Departed last night despite the fact I have the movie on HDDVD. The one thing about pay tv is that you don’t have to get up, find the DVD and play it.

We have a new game coming for the 360 on Wednesday — it’s a puzzle game, plus an update for Switchball, which was an ok game…

1. Today’s Wii VC releases are meh — I am curious about “Powerball” however — anyone ever play it?

2. I went back last night and played some Pro Baseball Spirits 4…I forgot how good the game is. It’s easy to do!

3. The other game that’s taking up most of my life right now is Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams edition on the PSP. Hey, Comrade, Taxi!

Hey, congrats to the University of New Hampshire Men’s Hockey Team, the #1 seed…in the West! Everyone knows how New Hampshire is right above Oregon on the west part of the USA. At least they got #1…and they won more games than they lost… ahem… In other news, aren’t you glad I deliberately tanked my bracket so someone else could win the tournament? LOL. Hey I have to figure out some way to save face!