The Blog for the Sports Gamer

- Still settling in to life… trying to make it as normal as it can be.  It was actually refreshing to get back to work.  You kind of start over again, a nice thing.

- I saw that Warner Brothers has a site that allows you to send in the covers for most of your HD-DVD titles and upgrade them to Bluray for $5 a title.  That’s quite a good deal.  I know that I’ll be upgrading at least a few (Ultimate Matrix Collection and Ocean’s Trilogy come to mind.)

- Started playing Fallout 3 on the 360 when I got back.  All I have to say is this for my gameplay thus far.  Stupid Fire Ants.

- While I was on my trip, I read through the first 3 books of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.  Why I waited so long to read these books is beyond me.  The sense of humor in these books is terrific.  Well worth the $8 that I spent on them at the used book store.  (Just picked up the 4th last night, as well as one of Adams other books, Dirk Gently.)

- There is a rumor out there that Dan and I will be trying to do a new podcast tomorrow evening…. I’ll let you know as things develop there.

- Dan could not be more right about Fairway solitare.  That game was the bee’s knees.  Absolutely terrific and incredibly addicting.

- In other gaming news, I see that my City of Heroes/Villians account has been re-activated until Sunday.  Can’t hurt to see if any of the new content is worth a look.

That Best Buy $9.99 game sale is a killer to me.   I still haven’t bought a game this year, but seeing the $10 price point for Soul Calibur 4 is a tough one.   Everyone with a DS should pick up a copy of Tecmo Bowl for $10 though.  Well worth it.

- Lastly for today, I’m downloading the Release Candidate for Windows 7 to load onto my new PC at home.  My boss keeps raving about all of performance that he’s gotten out of the beta version on his PC, so I guess it’s worth taking a look.

One of my favorite games – heck we even did a podcast with the designer a while back in Podcast Episode 11 is now available free!

That’s right – go to http://www.bigfishgames.com/fairway and use coupon code FREEFAIRWAY. You have to login or create a new account but it’s so worth it!

I just replayed this podcast. Man, those guys are funny and you learn a lot about the guy behind Fairway and the TV Sports series. They should do another one.

If you buy a PS3 at GameStop and are trading in your PS2, you can get full retail ($99) value for your PS2…this is an incredible deal. Well not incredible but pretty impressive. You have to buy a PS3 though…but still…it’s a good time to upgrade…

1. If you’re playing the Orioles, don’t worry about the score, just knock out the pitcher and you’ll win. They blew a 4-0 yesterday, fresh off the Red Sox 7-0 which they also lost. I’m very frustrated with this team and it’s only April. I just don’t understand some of these decisions. Sign Pedro…at least pretend you’re interested in winning. Thanks.

2. Hmm, the NBA Season is in the playoffs so this week you can buy the Live Season add on for NBA Live on the cheap? WTF? Why would you do this, exactly?

3. NFS Shift : Looks like ‘generic racing game’ to me. After last year’s NFS turd, I don’t have high hopes for this one.

4. There’s an MLB 09 Patch now out.

5. Good news, Madden 10 has Pro-Tak technology. Isn’t this what  you were looking for in a football game. PS — You know what might have been a better idea? Put Madden on the cover, since it is his game, and he’s retiring and all.

6. Tiger 10 does look pretty good. And I am looking forward to the EA Tennis game with Motion Plus.

7. Think I’ll check out what’s left at the Best Buy $10 game sale. I’m guessing crap, but what the heck. You never know. Blitz 2 for $10 is a great deal if you don’t have it yet– this game is a lot of fun.

- Jet lag isn’t nearly as bad coming back from Europe.  We left Paris around 1 in the afteroon and arrived in Chicago (via Detroit) around 10 due to a rain delay.  Got home around 12:30 and was exhausted, but after a good 8 or so hours of sleep, I feel like I’m back on my normal schedule.

- Didn’t play many games on the plane… and watched movies instead.  The Air France flights had quite the library of films to watch so I took advantage of that.

On the way there, I watched ‘The Wrestler.’  I’ll say this about Darren Aronofsky, you’re never going to get an uplifting story out of that man…  Wow, quite the film though.  Well worth watching.

On the way back, I watched Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais (not bad, decent comedy) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Quite an odd performance from Johnny Depp.)

The only game that I really played on the trip was Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS.  I don’t know why I keep trying out all of these bizzare rhythm games, but it has it’s moments.  I am glad to have the game as a rental though.  While some of the songs are quite catchy, there just doesn’t seem to be any way that I could play the game for extended periods of time.

- Today is kind of an amazing sports day to come back to.  NFL Draft, NHL playoff hockey, Brewers baseball, Nascar race… damn… just too much to watch.

- More about Paris later today or tomorrow.

Very tired.

Will post more later.

Ho Hum. Wow, two people with long hair….I didn’t realize that was a prerequisite for being on the cover.

Forgot to mention today’s DOTD is MLB 2K9 for all platforms.

My wife and I are just finishing up our trip to France and I should be back and online again tomorrow.

We had an amazing time and aren’t too anxious to get back to normal life, but we do miss our kids a great deal.  (They spent the week with their grandparents.)

I’ll try to post again with some thoughts on my trip in the next day or so.

Oh, and how in the hell do I miss a near no-hitter for the Brewers.  Just my luck, I suppose.

Talk to you all soon.

I went to check out the EA Sports place on Sony’s Home (PS3) platform. None of the games were working, the 2nd floor actually crashed my PS3 multiple times, but other than that it’s great.

Hey, if they charged $60 for it and slapped a “Madden” tag on it it would be a top seller!

Against my better judgement (I give Glen credit for not purchasing anything), I bought Excitebots: Trick Racing.

I’m really enjoying the game and haven’t played it online yet…it’s odd not having actual vehicles and instead mechs, but it’s still fun.

One thing that is odd though: Nintendo always tries the if you like this, try that in their paperwork with the game. So this one says, if you like Excitebots Trick Racing, check out Super Mario Sluggers. WTF? Talk about random.

In other news; in regards to the comments earlier about stopping my gamefly membership because I don’t play many games, but then going on about MLB2K9; it’s true; I am a man of contradictions. In the words of Gilly, “Sorry.”

Save 10% on the PC version of MLB2K9 – a whopping $2.00! Still, I doubt a game is going to get any cheaper than this!!!

Well, I finally gave in and dropped my Gamefly subscription from 4 out to 3 out. I just don’t have time to play as many games as I once did, nor do I actually play them as much as I want to.

There is some good gaming news, I’ve been playing MLB2K9 for the PC. It’s a real shame they couldn’t bring over online play or leagues, but again for only $19, it’s easy to get. The beauty of this game is that it allows modders to work on the game, and based on the feedback I received on email, MVP Mods is the best place to go to get new rosters and stadiums.

Using the USB Wireless Receiver and a 360 controller, it’s a pretty good gaming experience. It’s not perfect – stats could be better accounted for and I’m not sure they are right in the first place, but as an action baseball game I’ve seen worse. Did I mention it’s for the PC and only $20?

Beggars can’t be choosers and it’s really not that horrendous. (Looking for that quote to hit the web any minute now…)

Well it took a while but I finally got the download for MLB 2K9. A nice, slow 7GB download from Best Buy’s digital river store. A helpful tip: you can’t use your Reward Zone coupon at the digital store, which I wish I knew before I bought it.

Anyway, the game looks pretty good on the PC, although there’s dirt flying anytime someone walks on the field.

The folks at 2K didn’t do you any favors in setting this game up – while it does support the Wireless 360 controller with the PC wireless receiver – it’s not automatic….although it says it’s supported in the controls you have to use the bracket keys to get to ‘action buttons” and then set up the controls…it took forever to figure out how i could swing – the game said use RS (right stick) but he wouldn’t swing. Then I figured out the action buttons, and voila..it’s like playing a console game.

Very low load times, and good play by play. What’s not to like? No online. That sucks. And if anyone can tell me where I can go to get roster updates for this game, I’d be very interested.

It has potential – not perfect, but I may play it some more. I wish it didn’t take me two months to figure out I can download it – I mean $20….not a bad investment.

I didn’t realize MLB 2K9 is on the PC until I saw the ad during the Yankees game. I’m downloading the 7GB file right now…hey for $20, why not….