NCAA Wii Canned
In a move that shocked no one, EA announced today that NCAA 10 will not be released on the Nintendo Wii as they are ‘re-evaluating’ (read: they knew last year’s sucked hard so they aren’t bothering this year) the game on the Wii platform.
No shock here. The game was atrocious.
Just one of those days….
I found this funny... on the day when I decide to buy a new hockey helmet... our refridgerator breaks. 3 days after going grocery shopping...
And they can't come out to fix it until next Tuesday.
Thankfully it's still under warranty and since I bought the service plan, we get $200 of food spoilage, but still... it sucks.
I guess my daughters are getting a lot of sandwiches and cereal for the next few days.
Friday morning thoughts
- You now have some insight into why Dan and I have had a hard time getting a podcast done lately. I can only imagine how hard it is to go back and get a degree when you have kids. My 4 and 1 (2 next week) wear me out, but that's mainly because I watch them by myself 3 or 4 days a week with my wife working nights.
- Steve Davey is leading the blog bracket at the moment getting 15 out of 16 correct.
I took my first hit of the tourney last night when VCU lost to UCLA. That was my first Sweet 16 team out of the tourney. Today should be a lot of fun, and getting to watch the Badgers at 9:00 tonight should be good fun.
- It's going to be a Wisconsin sports day for me... Badger men's hockey at the Final Five at 2:00, Badger women's hockey at the Final Four at 4:00, Badger men's basketball at 9:00. Thank goodness for DVR's. I'm still bummed that the women's game isn't on TV, but I can only imagine what kind of ratings draw women's college hockey is... still, I'd like to see it.
- The only games I've been working on of late have been Killzone 2 and The Show.
Killzone continues to impress me. The Arc towers have to be one of the coolest weapons that I've seen represented in video game form. The game is just amazingly good looking and is still a lots of fun to play as well.
The Show... I'm starting to lose interest in my RTTS career. I'm in my 4th year with my reliever and the commentary for the game just drives me bat poop insane. You'll see a player come to the plate, you'll hear the stadium announcer say that name... then you'll hear the play by play man call him something else.
I swear that Campbell only recorded for about 15 minutes, because his dialogue is repeated over and over again.
Gameplay-wise... I've seen far too many situational things that annoy me. You'll be pitching with a 1 run lead in the 8th or 9th, have a batter on first, and see a ball hit toward the gap in the outfield. Rather than making the smart play on it and cutting it off to prevent the runner from scoring, you'll see your outfielder dive... miss.. and the run will come into score. Never once have I seen an outfielder do anything but to make a straight path to the ball. I've never seen them drop back and let the ball fall in, but prevent the runner from scoring. It's just frustrating.
I know it's AAA ball, but those guys know how to play late in games with the lead as well.
Lastly, one of the three things that I would like to see added into next years game (the first being an offseason program mode... we can't get any better in between seasons) is something like the positive results, but having it apply to your advancement goals. Last night, I had 4 series to get a hold in a game. The problem was that I was never put in a game in a situation where I could get one. Then I hear that I'm not doing enough to get better in the email from the manager. That's frustrating. If hold opportunities=0, then.... blah, blah, blah. A minor tweak, but still annoying.
Ok, I lied about the lastly.... I'm seeing big league players playing whole seasons in AAA in my RTTS career as well. I know there are some guys that have a solid career and get some AAA time to hang on, but I'm seeing quite a few guys that are big leaguers now, playing AAA in my career. Seeing David Eckstein just hanging on in AAA at the age of 37 just seems wrong.
- Speaking of web browsers... I've been using Google Chrome a lot. Fast as hell for the pages I'm using (Google Reader, CNN, CNNSI, etc.) Haven't tried IE8 though... I usually avoid that browser except for when I can't use anything else.
Deep Thoughts
I’ve actually been playing the $15 March Madness game for the 360 by EA…and enjoying it. Call me weird.
I’m sorry was this the 3rd week in November? I’ve been inundated with games : MadWorld, GTA Chinatown, Ready 2 Rumble, RE5…damn. Of course I haven’t played many.
I bought Ready 2 Rumble and based on the horrid reviews, I’m glad I didn’t open it, and will return it for Peggle DS. Blech.
My posts have kind of crawled down because of my starting coursework in a Master’s Degree. Let me tell you Quantitative Analysis is not my strong suit…I mean multivariate regression? At least now I know what all those buttons on my financial calculator (HP-30) are…
You know it’s funny what I do have time to play and what I don’t – for example, I play Wheel of Fortune on the PS3, but haven’t really engrossed myself in Killzone 2. Go figure.
Anyone pick up IE 8 yet? I was playing with an RC and then the final came out yesterday. Firefox just feels peppier to me. Safari 4 isn’t bad but it seems to bork OWA where as Firefox renders it better, but not as good as IE 8. IE 8 crashes on me quite a bit. I think I’m really tired of seeing that DEP error. It’s rather annoying.
While on that topic, I have switched over my email from Live Mail to Thunderbird now that Hotmail supports POP (about f’n time). Thunderbird is also faster but for whatever reason I can’t seem to get my junk mail folder from hotmail into Thunderbird. Any ideas?
If you’ve emailed me and haven’t heard from me, please resend. William R, I hope you received the Bowling token, let me know if that’s okay.
Alright, I have to get ready for work now.
One last bracket reminder
If you're looking to get into the contest... drop me an email and we'll get you set up in the morning. You have until 11 eastern, I believe, to get your brackets in.
Wednesday night notes
- A bit more time to fill out your brackets.
I just completed mine and it's always fun to be a homer. I have the Badgers making it to the Sweet 16. I guess that gives me more reason to sit at home on Friday night and enjoy the game a bit more. Go Bucky.
- If you're having some issues filling out your bracket, I found a bracket randomizer. Pretty entertaining to play around with.
- Played a bit more MLB 09: The Show last night. I'll tell you one thing. The commentary gets pretty f'n old as a reliever. If I ever hear Soup Campbell say that if my team wins it'll make it's way back to .500 again... Which is funny... considering my team was 10 games over. Grrrrrrr.
I'm into year 4 with my reliever, without a big league call up yet. Not even another Spring Training gig... Still waiting....
- More tomorrow during the 'Madness.'
Bracket contest
For those of you that haven't been in the bracket challenge in the past, there was a password setup to keep it semi-private.
I've decided to open it up a bit this year, so here is the password.
sgblog
Again, here is the link to the bracket contest. Good luck!
Monday evening thoughts
- I'm pretty surprised at the Badgers seeding in the NCAA tournament, but 12 seeds historically do pretty well in the tournament, so I guess it isn't the worst thing.
What is interesting about is the fact that their seeding might have been adjusted in order to put them in the same location as Marquette. It seems odd to seed teams that way, but I guess that way things work in these times.
- Speaking of the tournament..... We're going to have our bracket challenge again this year. No word on prizes yet, but I'm sure we can work out something for those of you the winner though. Here's the link. Bring your A game.
- I gave the Resistance Retribution demo a whirl tonight and was astounded that the game got positive reviews. In my opinion, one of the greatest issues that the PSP has had with FPS games is the fact that when you're playing, it's far too easy hit the power button when the action really gets going. This game has that problem and a few others. Honestly, other than the graphics, the game is just plain frustrating.
It's too bad too... I like the story of the Resistance series thus far, but it's a shame that the PS3 controls can't port to the PSP better. I'll defintely give the game a look if it makes it's way to the PS2 eventually (like most Sony titles do.)
- Ok... time for bed.
William Raggio wins!
Congrats to William Raggio who won the free code for High Velocity Bowling. I guess a lot of you read our RSS feed, as I was impressed with the number of entries that came in for the contest.
Congrats, William and enjoy!
Guitar Hero World Tour at Amazon for $119
Today’s deal of the day proves that if you can just wait, things go on sale. They have the PS3/Wii/Xbox360 versions of Guitar Hero World Tour – the full band kit – for $119 – that’s $70 off!
Superb deal here, making me feel like a schmuck for paying $190 for it in October. Oh well…I’m debating whether or not to pick it up for the Wii…but I need to hold it for a DSi….
Lock in GameTap by 7:00 EDT Tonight
GameTap is switching to a web app – so no more GameTap player and no more OS X support for Macs (WTF-Why would they do this)…anyway, this is also the end of the best deal going on GameTap: one year for $59…it will now be $79 a year after 7PM tonight.
The great thing about GameTap is that the annual fee you pay is locked until you cancel…so I’m at a little less, but I’m okay with that 
.
Want High Velocity Bowling FREE
I already have High Velocity Bowling for the PS3. As a Qore subscriber they have given me 3 free games: Syphon Filter (PS1), Calling All Cars (PS3) and now Bowling (PS3). I guess I should stop buying these games because eventually they’ll give them to me for free!
Anyway, if you’re interested, let me know via email and I’ll do a random draw this weekend – winner gets a download code for High Velocity Bowling.
Enjoy!
Friday notes
- Badgers lose a late lead.... again...
The only team I've seen play that badly with a lead is... this year's Badger hockey team. Go figure that they both play in the same building.
- Hometown Sweethearts show tonight! Woo!
NCAA March Madness Edition out
Well I know you’re shocked but I just dropped 1200 MS Points on it. I figure it’s worth it for $15…1.54GB download though.
It’s starting, we’ll see how it is tomorrow as I’m not staying up for the download.
I picked up Mario Power Tennis today as well. Game isn’t bad considering it’s a GameCube game with Wii controls. Controls are better than Wii Sports Tennis, it just depends on if you like returning shots with hammers.
Very early Tuesday morning notes
- I'm up terribly late, so I figure I should post...
- Thanks to those of you that sent me recommendations for Blackberry applications. I'm really enjoying the phone thus far. More so than any other I've had in the past.
- I played a bit more of the show tonight and I'm in the 3rd season with my closer. One mistake that I made with him was to add a third pitch to his arsenal. It's a pain in the ass to try and get a closer to work on three pitches while working on the goals that they are setting for you.
My major annoyance with the game at this point has to do with the offseason... and by that, I mean there is none. Once your season is done... you're done. No more training to be done.
For a game that is adding things like the 40-man roster, arbitration, and the like... it sucks that you can't work on your game in the off season. I don't think that is asking for too much...
- Anyone here watching Dollhouse? I'm a big Whedon fan and I'm just curious as to what other people think of the show. From what I've read, Joss's first storyline really kicks in at Episode 6... which is where his last show got cancelled on Fox. Hopefully this one can survive a bit longer.
- The other show I watched tonight was the The Haney Experiment. The premise of the show is that Tiger Woods' swing coach is trying to fix Charles Barkley's swing. After two episodes the results are pretty impressive. Barkley certainly makes the show entertaining as well.
- Ok, time for bed....
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