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

Friday Afternoon Thoughts

Well, I received medical clearance to return to work on Monday. I've been bored out of my mind; unfortuantely I still have yet to taste or smell since the surgery. I think this has made me very sad. It sucks, but on the other hand, it was the easiest way to lose 10 pounds in one week. Wii Fit commends me for meeting my fitness goals.

Friday notes

Just about to head out for the evening but I thought I would post a few things before I do.

- Picked up this Sirius FM Wired Relay unit from Amazon a week or so ago because I got tired of the weak FM signal that my Stilleto 100 put out.  Today I went to install it and found that I didn't have a wrench to get the four bolts out that were holding in my radio in my Focus.  So, I drove down to an O'Reilly Auto Parts store that was a few blocks from my office.  The guy asked what I was looking for, grabbed a toolbox from behind the counter, and came out and helped me install the whole thing.  I love when you get service like that from a shop.  I offered to give him some cash for the time, but he wouldn't take it.  Definitely a good moment for me today.  I'll be going back there anytime I need something for my car now.

- I went into Gamestop to trade in a few cheap games that I had picked up on a whim... but never opened.  So, as I'm sitting at the counter, the guy is using my ID to allow me to trade in my games and these two little bastards come up behind me and say, 'You're carding HIM!?!  He's way older than 18.'   Little assholes.  Of course, they're right... but the tone was unnecessary.  I should have beaten them with my walker.

- Early word on the Guitar Hero drum set is that it's very nice... and wireless.  Crap.  Now I'll have to debate owning 3 guitars, 2 drum kits, and 2 microphones.  Heck, if you're going to get the drums and the game, you might as well buy the bundle.  Grrr.  Now, I just need to hear if it works well with Rock Band.  It'll be a while before we hear that though.

- Gametap added Descent 2 this week.  Now get off your butt and put Freespace and Freespace 2 back on there.  I need some space shooter action.

For those of you that still PC game, have you found any other PC Space shooters of any quality recently?

- Dan is right, PAIN on the PS3 is pretty entertaining.

MLB 2K8 (PS3) – $15.99 at Amazon

Here's the link

Not the greatest baseball game this year, but still 15 bucks before the all-star break is a great deal.

Wii Ware

Even though I don't do the TWID column anymore, many people ask me about games worth downloading. I can tell you the Wii has been pretty empty for some time but this week, I highly recommend Block Breaker. If you like those types of games, this is a very good game in the genre. It's worth checking out -- here's the page link (click here)

We Ski

I bought this on the cheap from GameStop used. Figured it doubled my library of balance board games. Heh.

Anyway it's better than I thought and a pretty good workout. It seems to me though that making turns is counter intuitive -- if i want to turn left, you put your weight on your right foot...it seems counter-intuitive..but I'm not a skiier by any means...is that the way you do it for real? I would assume you would 'lean' into the turn....you can change the controls though so that's good.

PS3 vs Xbox 360 NCAA

No doubt in my mind the 360 was still the better version. Although the game on the PS3 seems to have a higher frame rate, it still isn't as smooth as the 360 version. I noticed quite a few stutterings on the PS3...to the point where I really hope the demo isn't indicative of the issues in the final retail game.

On the plus side, I did win my PS3 game and I got to celebrate with the mascot, so that was exciting .

Thursday notes

- The Brewers certainly can keep my attention while I'm at work.  No hitter through 7.  8-1 lead going into the 9th.  Need to bring out the closer with 2 outs after they give up 6 in the inning.  Thankfully he got the final out and preserved the win.  That was much closer than it needed to be.

- Got my MGS 80 GB PS3 last night.  Only thing I did with it was to install MGS4 and get the code for PAIN that came with the bundle.  I do have to say this though, PAIN is pretty damn entertaining.  I found myself laughing quite a bit as I flung that guy into more and more painful situations.

- I signed up for Gamefly again today... because I'm a sucker... and I felt bad because I quit them because they kept losing my games when they shipped them.  Of course, it turned out that someone that worked for the mail was stealing them... so I figure I owe them another shot.

- Dan and I should be recording another podcast on Saturday night, so I'm sure you're all very excited about that as well.

Yankees sign Ponson, everyone laughs

What the hell are the Yankees thinking? Ponson has been with what, 23 teams recently? The Orioles cut him for his drinking and bad behavior. The Rangers cut him for his bad behavior...and then the Yankees have no problem with that? Are you kidding me? The guy is bad news. It's too bad, because he could have been a great player. 

His grievance against the Orioles still hasn't been mediated yet, and I'm sure he'll win because that's the way it works -- but man, he shouldn't win.

NCAA 09 Thoughts

In the demo you have two teams: LSU and OSU. OSU is the home team. The player models look much better than last years -- very impressive. The game itself doesn't seem to have changed much in terms of mechanics. In my one game, there were 3 INTs and 1 fumble. The game is 2 minute quarters and you get to play 4 quarters. 

The game was challenging and fun, I could see why there were interceptions. A new feature this year is that after the turnover you look at a blimp cam view and have to guess/determine the play that was used by the defense to get the pick. If you choose the right play, your composure increases. 

On my first 20 yd TD pass, the booth had to review it because he dove for the catch. The review seemed silly but then again, most NCAA reviews are silly so it's not that big of a deal. 

I ended up losing the game on a TD with 1:00 left in the 4th. I couldn't convert the first down. The LSU defense knew I liked the draw play. 

So after one game, I can say I'm intrigued.

NCAA Football 09 Demo on 360 NOW

Just FYI the NCAA 09 Football demo is up for the 360. I would assume we'll see it on the PS3 later today. Grabbing now and I'll let you know my thoughts.

Tuesday notes

- Back home again.  A six day vacation is nice, but it is not the same when you're sick for just about half of it.  Oh, well.  Still fun to spend some time with the family.

- When I got back home I found my copy of Don King Presents: Prizefighter waiting, so I played that for a bit tonight.  I don't think that the game is as bad as Dan indicated in his post earlier, but it's not the greatest fighting game ever either.

In my first three fights, I've noticed some collision detection issues, and fighters react to some punches like they think they hit their faces, when it hit them in the chest.  Also, the controls don't react as quickly as I would like them to when I'm trying to move my fighter around, but despite a few "Oh, Come on!" moments, I'm still having some fun with the game.  I'll put a bit more time in on it tomorrow and see if I'm still enjoying myself.

- Even though the Brewers aren't playing their best baseball, it was fun to see Prince, Braun (X2,) Branyan, and even Counsell go deep for the Crew tonight.  Branyan, is such an all or nothing guy for the most part, but when he connects, it's something to see.   His homerun tonight was a monster shot, but he had one foul ball that was one of the hardest hit balls I've ever seen.   Nice to be back home so that I can watch games again.

- Dan is right, you don't want to see his post operation pictures.  They're definitely not good for any of you.  Thanks again for sending them to me though Dan.

- The Celtics win the NBA title... and Bill Simmons will be more annoying than ever, if that's possible.

Anyone pick up Deadliest Catch?

Love the Discovery Channel HD TV show...was thinking about picking up the game. Of course, no reviews of games I care about. LOL. I'll have to get it and make up my own mind! LOL

Blech

I tried out the DS version of Arkanoid. Paddle or no paddle, it is horrible! It takes sooo much time to go between screens. It's crazy!

Bump in the road

I went back to my ENT doctor today to have the splints removed from my nose. I would upload the before, but Glen can attest, they were nasty.

Anyway while removing the splints, I had what they call is a vasovagel episode where basically the body reacts to what is being done to it by giving you a blue screen of death and auto-rebooting. I vomited, passed out, got very sweaty, felt tingling in my toes and hands, and overall had a wonderful time. That's something I never want to do again.

I am fine, but just required to take it easy for the rest of the week. I'm not allowed back at work until next Monday now. I still can't taste or smell and I'm really just plain bummed out about everything.  I didn't expect stuff to go like that, that's for sure!

So I'm here and trying to get back to some sort of normalcy. The only saving grace is Euro 2008 has been very enjoyable to watch.

New Wii System Update

Just got the light on my console letting me know to grab Wii Firmware v3.3. No idea what it does, but downloading now....