The Blog for the Sports Gamer

So Madden 10 will have online co-op play. I’m really looking forward to this and hoping it will be as much fun as it sounds.

If you’re an Orioles fan, you’re very, very excited about tonight because we are seeing the debut of Matt Wieters in an Orioles uniform. Well, if the rain stops that is. Fingers crossed!

EA Sports is now accepting applicants into the closed beta for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. Believe it or not I found out about this in the Wall Street Journal. Click here to sign up.

You can buy 2, get 1 free on ALL used games at Gamestop this weekend. (Through Sunday 5/31). Hurry!

- Fight Night: Round 4 demo is on Xbox Live right now.  Probably on the PS Store later today (along with Resident Evil for the PS One… damn dogs jumping through the window still scares me.)

- Brewers just can’t score runs right now.  Hopefully the loss of Weeks at the top of the order isn’t a problem that will keep them from playing at a high level.

One thing I don’t get is why Macha wouldn’t bunt someone from 1st to 2nd when you get the leadoff runner on in the 9th… and you’re down by a run.  Oh, well.

- Plants vs. Zombies is terrific… well worth breaking my gaming pledge…

- I have to admit that I like it when I get a story up before some of the bigger boys.  The Tecmo stuff was interesting to hear about.  I’m bummed about the death of the DS version, but an online Xbox Live version of Tecmo makes me very happy.

According to Tecmo, the announcment of Family Fun Football has put the Wii version of Tecmo Bowl on hold.

What they did mention to me, which I haven’t seen reported elsewhere, is that they are working on a version of Tecmo Bowl to be released on Xbox Live early in 2010.

Also, they told me that there is no plans for another DS version of Tecmo Bowl at this point.

If we hear more, we’ll be sure to let you know.

- Punchout is awesome.  No doubt about it.  It’s challenging and frustrating… but the gameplay is terrific.  It forces you to get better every time… and I love it.

One thing that does help, if you’re really struggling, is to find a video on Youtube detailing some of the strategies for each boxer.  I was struggling mightily with Super Macho Man, but after seeing a video detailing him a bit more… I was able to dispatch him.

On to Mr. Sandman.

- InFamous shipped today via Gamefly.  Can’t wait to spend the better part of the weekend playing it.  Now I just need to get a pre-order code for the ‘blade’ weapons.

- I thought I could make it a whole year without buying a game… but I just couldn’t do it.  The one that finished me off?  Plants vs. Zombies…

Without a doubt it’s one of the more entertaining and enjoyable games that I’ve played in years.

I’ll be cutting my check to Child’s Play soon.  Wish I could have made it longer… but I’m sure they’ll appreciate the donation all the same.

- Quite the amazing Brewers/Cardinals game yesterday.  1-0 win in the 10th.  I had to laugh when I saw them all sprint off the field after the win.  The Cards have complained for the last season or so about the ‘untucking the shirt’ celebration that the Brewers do… I guess running off the field will be the next thing that they’ll complain about.

Here are a few newly released Grand Slam Tennis shots.

Click on any link for a bigger view.

- I certainly hope that the Brewers figure out how to freakin’ hit before they play the Twins again next month.  Good grief.  Talk about going into a shell.

- Memorial Day weekend = stripping the deck.  Woo.. catch the excitement.

- Super Macho Man is an a-hole.

- So, Tecmo appears to have forsaken Tecmo Bowl for the Wii and has moved on to Family Fun Football.  The interesting thing is that it kind looks like 3D version of the Tecmo style of football.  It’s coming out sometime this fall.  Hopefully I can get some more info on the game from them soon.

- 1 hour walk with the kids, 2 hour bike ride with the kids… I’m wiped out.  Ugh.

- Got Punchout from Gamefly today.  It’s terrific.  I’m on the last fight of the first run through the Major Circuit and I’m getting a ton of enjoyment value out of the game.  One of the highlights is the fact that you can restart any fight as you’re going through it.  It’s a great way to learn the patterns that the other boxers are using.

It does seem a bit odd that the other fighters all speak in other languages in their little cut scenes… but that the languages aren’t translated… it’s a minor quibble, but it’s just an odd decision.

That’s about the only thing I can find that I don’t like about the game thus far… a very good sign.

- Does anyone else think it would be hillarious if the Lakers and Cavs both lost in this round?  Although, after that shot that Lebron made last night… man… I don’t think you can ever count him out.  He’s just plain amazing.

- So, I talk about the Brewers pitching well… and then they get beat up good in their series against the Twinkies.  Oh, well.

Nothing like the excitement of Interleague play when the two worst teams in MLB collide in a free for all of suckiness!

Orioles Wins + Nationals Wins < Dodgers wins.

My team sucks. But I’ll watch.

- Hot damn is the InFamous demo awesome.  I played through all of the missions last night and can’t wait to play it again tonight.

One thing that I’ve really been lamenting of late is the lack of choice in games.  You can be a “good guy” or a “bad guy” but you always end up killing people in the end.  From what I saw in InFamous, if you’re good…. you can actually “Live Capture” the guys that you’re taking on.   What a nice change of pace that is.

- I can’t remember the last season when I heard of a player denying a trade to Chicago… and then people suggesting that he would probably accept a deal to go to Milwaukee….

The funny thing about Peavy is that I don’t really know where he would fit in right now.  All 5 starters are pitching pretty damn well… and you’d hate to see them get messed with at this point.

Peavy will probably end up with the Cubs, so it’s a moot point.

- Spent some time with the Tiger Woods 10 demo on the PS3 last night and came out feeling like I thought I would.  The game has a lot of polish, but it just seems like the same game that I played 2 years ago.  I’ll have to grab my 08 version just to be sure of that, but I just haven’t sensed much in the way of changes that makes the game seem greatly enhanced.

The Wii version on the other hand… I can’t wait for….

Sorry I haven’t posted, I’ve been insanely busy with my work…nothing like doing a random call center inspection at Midnight to keep you on your toes.

Anyway, NCSX has inFAMOUS already so if you order it today with overnight shipping you’ll have it for Saturday and be able to rub it in everyone’s face. NCSX is the official store of the sports gamer blog.

I’m grabbing Tiger right now, but as Glen mentioned, who isn’t dying for this to come out on Wii. I love Punch Out Wii as well but my arms are sore from punching. I think in the meantime I’ll just play the old school version.

I also grabbed EA Active…which is a pretty good version of Wii Fit…however, why can’t you weigh us on the balance board – why do I have to enter my weight? WTF?

PS I am so pissed that Kris won Idol. That new song is a turd, even if Adam sung it, but man, how can you not vote for Adam…here’s a guy that could rock out with Kiss with no problems. As opposed to random generic guy #2455 (Kris). No doubt blandness wins over flair. It is really bothering me. Okay I’ll shut up now.

I know those of you that read my twitter feed have given me a different opinion than me – and your guy did win. I just don’t understand why.

- Ever have one of those days?  Yeah… it’s one of those for me today.  Had to go and sit at a restaurant for about an hour near lunch time just to keep from losing my mind.  Sigh…

- The demo for Tiger Woods 10 is out on the Xbox Live marketplace.  I’ll give it a look tonight, but to be honest… I’m only really looking forward to the Wii version.

- Why can’t Punch Out be here already?  I really want to punch King Hippo for about 3 hours.

- I reloaded my laptop with Windows 7 yesterday afternoon.  Everything is ok… except for the fact that it will randomly put itself to sleep while I’m using it.  Same thing happened when I had Vista on it.  Lovely….

- Here’s a pretty awesome little addon for the Wii.  Hell, I still have all my original controllers.  Might as well pick one of those up when it comes out.  Virtual console games will just feel that much better with the old school controllers.

- There were other things that I was going to mention… but I’ve forgotten them all.  Possible podcast for tomorrow perhaps.

- Punchout shipped today.  I can’t wait to play through that one.  Beating Mike Tyson’s Punchout was one of the greatest gaming achievements that I’ve ever accomplished and I’ve loved the serices ever since.

- The Project Trico trailer looks awesome.  Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were two of my favorite games of the last generation, so I can’t wait to see more from the Ico Team.

- Good grief, the Brewers have won 21 of 26.  Losing Rickie Weeks for the season stinks, but I still have faith that they’ll be a solid team this year.

- I’m finally starting to catch up with the rest of the digital world and am getting my first iPod in the next few weeks.  My telephone company, as part of my internet and phone bundle, is sending me an 8GB iPod Touch.   I’ll be curious to see how much I like it when I get it.

- What a week.  It was my birthday yesterday (35, ugh.)  Didn’t really do all that much, but work has been insane.  Add that to the fact that I got hit in the neck by a puck on Wednesday night, and I’m hurting a bit.

- What do you think of having screenshots on the blog?  I know that a lot of you get the blog sent to you via the RSS feed, so do you like getting the game media when we get it?  I’m interested in your comments on that.

- It looks like I’m going to build another new computer at the house.  My daughter is finally getting to the age where it would make sense for her to have her own, so I’m thinking of giving her my media center PC and then building a new media PC.

I’ve started using PS3 media server for sharing the media around the house and it’s pretty damn impressive.  It does seem to be a power hog though, as the P4 on my media center doesn’t seem to be able to handle the transcoding work for the files I have all that well.

I was thinking about using one of the newer AM3 boards for AMD processors.  Anyone have any thoughts on those?

- The Brewers keep my happy of late, getting a sweep on my birthday is a nice gift from them.  Their pitching has gotten rock solid of late and the hitting has been timely when it needs to be.  Finally the Jake Peavy rumor mill has slowed down again… for a while.

- I’m going out to dinner with my wife tonight, as a late birthday celebration and the podcast will be delayed as a result.  Dan and I are working on the next one and should have it done shortly.

- Here’s my Gamefly queue for the next month or so…. tell me that summer time is a slow time for gaming again…

Punchout
Infamous
Virtua Tennis 2009
RockBand Unplugged
Tiger Woods 10 (Wii)
Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)
Guitar Hero Smash Hits
Ghostbusters
The Conduit (Wii)

That’s just the next month… Good grief.

More from EA today, this time it’s screenshots for Fight Night: Round 4.  Lots of new fighters have been added, including Jake LaMotta.

Enjoy!

Hey Sony, could you please release the firmware update on a day other than PS Store releases? I’d love to get a little over 300 baud on my downloads on there.

So, EA has released a new feature for NHL 10. First person fighting. I like the idea, and I’m going to give them a pass on this one because I so enjoyed their NHL 09 game as far as actual gameplay goes. What do you think of this ‘feature’?

Wow, Big Papi really isn’t looking good. 0-for-7 and 12 left on base? Holy crap, that’s like a whole team stat right there. What has happened to this guy? Does not having Manny really make that much of a difference or is Father Time rapidly approaching. Either way, it’s very sad – and I’m not even a Sox fan!