Brrrr
Okay, I woke up this morning and my in house weather center (sounds better than a sensor outside my window) reports the temperature as -17F. That is officially f'n cold.
It's a good thing that the oil prices are lower than they were in September, although I feel for those that pre-bought. Yikes.
I bought a new monitor, a Samsung T240HD. Folks, although this is in the 'monitors' section, it's one of the best TVs you can buy for the money. I replaced an Olevia 323V TV. What did I get? 2 HDMI inputs, a QAM tuner, a Touch of Color and 1080p. Yup, I said 1080p, which you can't normally find at this small of a unit.
While some would say, you don't really need 1080p on a TV this small, I would say, those are jealous. 
Worst loss of the Bo Ryan era
Wow. What a horrible game for the Badger basketball team tonight.
Missed layups, idiotic fouls (thanks Trévon....seriously? Going for a steal, up by 6 with 40 some seconds to go... what in the hell were you thinking?) Tons of turnovers(Thanks again Trévon,) and blowing a 14 point lead, at home, in the second half.
There are not many times in the last 8 years that the Badgers have played that poorly... especially in two games in a row.... but that was horrible.
Thursday notes
- Damn is it cold here right now. -18 when I was driving in this morning and currently it's -4. Reports of a low in the -20's tonight. Yay winter!
- Bad thing number 2... Playing hockey last night. Skater comes down the right side of the ice, fires a shot, and hits me square in the boys. I was down on the ice for almost a minute. Man, did that suck. Still sore today, so you know it was a good shot. I'd pay good money for a quality goaltending cup at this point, because all of the ones I've used thus far have not been doing a good job.
- Again, pretty slow sports gaming week. I did hear that NHL09 has dropped to $39.99 in store at Best Buy, so if you can find it... that's a pretty solid price for the title. I'll probably be renting it again soon... just because I'm jonesing for some hockey.
- I have NBA 09: The Life coming via Gamefly this week. I haven't played the series in a few years, so I'm curious to see how it matches up to Sony's baseball efforts.
MLB09: The Show Franchise Mode
Damn if this doesn't look like a great bit of work on the Franchise side of things on MLB09.
- 40 man roster? Check
- Options? Check
- Arbitration? Check
- Rule 5 draft? Check
Looks like I picked the wrong year to quit buying games... Oh,well. There is always renting.
Quick Monday notes
I have to post this clip that I found today.
It's not very often that you really applaud the work of a Sportscenter anchor, but this is just terrific.
Josh Elliott, way to take a stand!
Since when did NHL 09 become so difficult to purchase?
You probably haven't noticed but the Boston Bruins are kicking ass...so much ass in fact, we are now making family hockey nights a tradition again -- we're all very excited for the Canadiens-Bruins game tomorrow.
I had purchased the PS3 version of NHL 09, but my son would rather play on his 360. No problem, I'll trade it in for the 360 version. One problem..you can't find this game anywhere in New England. I've been to three GameStops, one Best Buy, two Wal-Marts and one Target and none of them have the game. You'd think it's Wii fit or something.
Speaking with one of my regular GameStop contacts, they say the game is flying out the door, which is very unusual for an NHL game. You can find NHL 2K9, however, but NHL 09 is tough to find.
It is available on Amazon, so I will probably get that. It's even tough to get on Gamefly. Damn...so if the Bruins play well they could single handedly revitalize videogame sales, I guess...
Sunday notes
- If Dan thinks that Little League World Series for the Wii and a baseball game that I've already played are going to cause me to start buying games this year... I think he'll need to work harder.
I'm really going to rely very heavily on Gamefly this year and hope that I can always have my games returned in time to get new releases within a few days. I think if I can make it through the first few months, I'll be set. I have such a backlog of PC and Console games, that I won't be wanting a ton of new games for a while. That's my hope at least.
- My hope is that you didn't watch the Baltimore/Tennessee game yesterday. Oh, my goodness was that painful football. Not as painful as watching the second QB of the post season throw 4+ interceptions (Delhomme,) but when Baltimore punts 8 times... and wins... that doesn't make for an exciting game. Not in my opinion at least.
- If you're looking for a reason to stop buying PC games when they go on clearance... look at Gametap. At least 3 or 4 games that I've picked up from Target in the last 2 months have all been added to their service. Oh, well. Live and learn.
Video Game Clearance
Ah yes, nothing like the couple weeks after Christmas for all the stores to dump product. Best Buy has MLB 2K8 for the 360 for $9.99, while Circuit City has Little League World Series for $19.99 on Wii. I'd probably get LLWS before MLB myself...
Feel free to post any deals you find in the comments section. We want to break Glen's willpower.
Dreaming of a 1983 Rematch?
Well hey, although I'm a Patriots fan, I am intrigued by what the Ravens have done. Perhaps we'll see a Baltimore-Philly Super Bowl? That might be interesting...
Thursday notes
- Sorry for not posting more this week. I've been pretty busy at work and I'm just kind of out of it at the moment. No real reason, just can't get all my thoughts together.
- Sony announced the cover athlete for MLB09: The Show today and it's Dustin Pedroia. Your thoughts?
- Ok. After spending like $20 or $30 on content for Rock Band before our New Years party... what do I see this week? A Pantera pack.... awesome... but for Rock Revolution.
Oh, man... that game is a steaming turd and it's incredibly disappointing that that's where Pantera's songs have landed. Please Harmonix or Activision... please... please get those songs over to your games. Cemetery Gates is one of my all time favorite songs and to be actually play some Vinnie Paul on the drums would be sensational.
- I'm grabbing the Windows 7 beta off of MSDN at the moment. I actually like Vista, so I'm sure I'll be digging this as well. Oh, well, it's my 'day' job to talk about and deal with this stuff, so it's worth my time.
- Hancock was my Blu-Ray movie of the week off of Netflix. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the story. It's not at all where I expected the movie to go based off the advertisements. Can't say that I loved the climax of the film, but the rest was a good action film.
- In "sports gaming" news, I tried out Super Mario Sluggers for the Wii. Ugh. That game could have been so much better. After 30 minutes, I had enough of it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right state of mind... who knows?
- Back to the Oklahoma/Florida game...
MLB 2K9 Dated for 3/3
Well at least according to this GameStop page. MLB 09 The Show is also dated for the same date.
EGM, Who Cares
Um, hey, remember when Hecht's closed in Maryland? What a watershed moment. I mean not really, department stores have gone the way of the typewriter.
Now we're seeing everyone crying and moaning about the demise of 1up/EGM. While I would concur that the sale to UGO pretty much kills what redeeming value 1UP had (none), the fact that the print magazine is going out isn't shocking.
I love all the stories about this magazine as it was some sort of holy grail. The magazine sucked. It was tough to even call it journalism.
The epitome of print writing has to be 1982's Electronic Games Magazine -- not the retread of the 90s -- that was written/edited by Arnie Katz, Bill Kunkel and Joyce Worley. They never wrote down to their audience and wrote about games in a time when it was truly a niche industry.
I still remember the review of Defender for the 2600 -- something to the effect of Sound the Alarm -- Atari has released it's best game since Missile Command! That was all I needed to buy that game (remember when games were $30 each)...and boy I couldn't wait to go to Almacs grocery store to pick up that magazine.
In the late 80s GamePro came about, but that was just something to pass the time in the bathroom. Then another magazine came along -- maybe it was EGM -- I can't remember, but it was horribly written. Ugh.
I was more disappointed about the demise of Computer Gaming World than EGM. I was more disappointed about Next Generation. Of course, seeing print gaming pubs go away is sad, but putting this magazine up as the Holy Grail of gaming is blasphemy, especially when compared to Electronic Games.
Happy New Year
Well it's only been what 5 or 6 days since I posted last. Sorry. I've been busy. Glen was kind enough to post the Amazon DOTD. Blitz 2 is a very fun game and absolutely a steal at $18.
In other news, if you go to www.2kgames.com/coupon you can get a $10 coupon on most 2K games including Carnival Games, Carnival Mini Golf, NBA 2k9 and NHL 2K9 on any console.
I've really started to play the PS3 version of NHL 09 (the EA game) and I'm really liking it. I've also resumed my NCAA 09 dynasty. I really prefer NCAA 09 to Madden -- Madden just feels like a very slow, very plodding game -- NCAA seems to me to be a faster game. Maybe it's just the excitement of running the option at the college level -- I'm not sure.
Glen and I tried an online game of Buzz, and even though I kicked his ass, I will have to agree -- the online version of the game sucks when compared to the multiplayer same console version Maybe the next iteration will allow for the online game to be more like the multiplayer game.
Alrighty, I'm going to tune it for the season premier of scrubs...ttyl
Amazon DOTD – Blitz: The League 2 (PS3) – $17.98
Here's the link.
If you read my review of the game, you'll know that I really enjoyed my time with it. Dan had some pretty favorable impressions of the game as well.
Just because I'm not buying any games this year, doesn't mean you shouldn't though.
More later today.
Friday morning notes
- Hope everyone had a great New Years. We had a terrific party here at the ol' Haag house... filled with lots of gaming and drinking. On New Years Eve, Rock Band 2 pretty much ruled the night.
The only disappointment was my Rock Pedal. On the first song of the evening, the sensor broke off of the base of the pedal... rendering it completely useless. Thankfully, I still had my pedal that came with my ION kit that worked for the rest of the evening. Now I have to see how the support process for the Rock Pedal works. Can't say that I'm happy that the pedal didn't even make it one month before breaking though.
On New Years day, we played through a ton of rounds of Buzz on the PS3. Gotta tell you, I really like that game. As far as trivia games go, it really is fair about how it gives out the points. It's not just who hits the button first that gets you the best score. Well worth a look if you have a PS3. Oh, and the other great point was the fact that you can play up to 8 people locally. A friend brought over his copy as well, so we had 6 people all playing at the same time. Great stuff.
- Well, I've made it through 1 day without buying a game in 2009. I've decided that I'm not going to run a contest for this little adventure, but I'll leave it up to you to participate if you would like.
If I make it through the whole year, I'm going to donate $100 per month that I'm able to avoid gaming purchases to Childs Play. If I make it the whole year, $1,500. I figure that's a low end estimate of how much I would spend gaming this year, so if I can get those gaming dollars to some kids that really need the entertainment... that's a good cause in my books.
If anyone else would like to join in on the cause.. let me know and we'll try to set up a Childs Play donation link here.
- One last thing from New Years... Don't go to sleep while your friends are still playing on your 360. Especially if your gamertag is still signed in.... Sorry about whatever was written to anyone on my list... I'm still hearing about what they may, or may not have written, today.
I'm trying to figure out a couple of bonus options.
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