Monday notes
- One of the bad things about playing goalie, at least when you're me, is that you can get hit in a spot that just isn't protected all that well. In this case, it was my neck. The shot hit my collarbone and deflected up into my throat. My collarbone is unbelievably sore this morning, but the thing that I know is that there isn't much of anything that can be done to it even if it is more than just a really bad bruise.
Love the game, hate the injuries.
- I don't get why people keep ragging on inFAMOUS. I really enjoy the game and have had a great deal of fun with the gameplay. Prototype sounds like an interesting game as well, but it sounds so violent that it doesn't really sound like I'd like to play at the moment.
- Konami posted a quick video for the WBC mode for PYS6 on their site the other day. Now that I'm buying games again... I'm really anxious to put a bunch of time into this. The funny thing is that it will be coming out about the same time as NCAA and Madden are really ramping up. Guess I know which sport I enjoy most.
- Did the NBA finals end last night? Anyone care?
Saturday notes
- What a game 7 last night. A very well played game, and Pittsburgh managed to pull it off without Crosby on the ice for half of the game. A great save at the very end to prevent it from going to overtime allowed the Penguins to be the first visiting team to win a game 7 since 1972. Now that's amazing... It's going to be a long wait until the next season.
- After hearing what Dan had to say about Grand Slam Tennis, I decided to try out Virtua Tennis 2009 for the Wii instead. I put in an hour last night and I'm just not sure how much it actually seems to be using the Motion Plus at this point. I'm going to spend some more time with the tutorials, but it seems to be very similar to Wii Tennis, but with a career mode... I'm hoping that I'll be surprised as I see more with it.
- I know that Dan and I have mentioned this title a ton, but it's well worth your time... Blitz: The League 2 is $9.98 with free shipping for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. The game is well worth $10. I really enjoyed it.
- Due to a bundle deal that my phone company was running, I received an iPod Touch yesterday from them. I picked up Peggle, due to the fact that it was 99 cents. Any other iPod games that people would recommend? Any decent sports related titles?
- Time for the weekend to start....
Wednesday note
- Wow. Tiger is terrific. My first round with my created player ended up +5 after a ton of par saves, including a chip in to save par from the fringe. The Wii version is so much more challenging than the demo version that I played for the 360 and PS3. I'm constantly yanking the ball to one side of the course or another.
Another thing that caught me off guard when I was practicing was the fact that you actually need to do a real follow through. I was thinking, ok, this isn't going to be like a real swing, so I'll just half ass it. Big mistake there.
I wouldn't be shocked if there is a brand new bout of Wii sports injuries due to the Wii Motion Plus though. This was the first time that I actually used the controller strap in a while.... I was actually worried when I was doing a real swing that I might let go and that would be a very, very bad thing.
The Disc Golf game looks like it could be fun as well... but I only spent a few minutes with it.
This is easily the most enjoyable golf game that I've played in quite a while. Probably the most enjoyable sports game as well.
- I spent about an hour playing Hakuna Matata (Afrika) for the PS3 with my daughter the other day. The game is amazing graphically and the detail for the animals is amazing.
The basic premise for the game is that you're a photographer on safari and you get missions to take pictures of certain animals in their natural environments. The one thing that surprised me was the fact that the game really makes you be patient in order to get the shots that you want. It's not as long as you would have to wait in real life, but the fact that you can't just drive to a pond, take a picture and be done with it, is kind of refreshing.
Oh, and hippos don't like you getting too close to take a picture. I got charged by one... my daughter is still talking about why the hippos got so angry with us.
- I'm going for my first goalie lesson tomorrow morning (at 5:30...ugh.) One of the former goalies for the Badgers does lessons in the area and, as I desperately need to start figuring out how to get better at the game, I'm going to take my first shot at it.
Being a goalie is not really like any other position in a sport that I've ever played. You can rely on your reactions for a little while... but as you play more and more... people really expose your flaws in a hurry.
Hopefully the lessons can make me a bit less of a sieve.... I've been incredibly weak, low to the right and left of late. Just not reacting quickly enough... Hoping I can get a bit of good coaching on that.
That'll about do it for now... lots of work and such to keep me busy.
Tiger Wii: Whoa
Easily one of the best golf games I’ve played, and man disc golf is addictive.
Stick with the Wii version though 
Grand Slam Tennis
Well this could have been good. It’s not. It doesn’t feel like tennis at all. I’m very disappointed. By swinging early you hit the ball left, by hitting late, you hit the ball right. Only problem is you can’t get the timing right to save your life.
My opponent sent me a lob and I was ready to smash it, so I did what I would do in real life, started my wiimote at 12’ o clock above my head and slammed it downward like I would with my racquet.
What happened? Nothing. Point, CPU.
I’m @#$%^ing frustrated with this game, it could have been a lot of fun but it is just an exercise in frustration.
Uncharted 2 code given away
Oops, forgot to mention that the Uncharted 2 code has been given away. I’ll see if I can hunt down more.
Sports
Picked up Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger 10 for the Wii today, both use the Motion Plus.
Tiger is great for Motion plus. I love how the club face changes if you rotate the wiimote.
OTOH, we have Grand Slam. I’m not a fan so far. I thought this would work a lot better than it does….the animations are very clunky from what I’m seeing.
However Tiger is a must buy with the MotionPlus for $59.
Extra Uncharted 2 MP Beta Code
I have an extra Uncharted 2 Multiplayer Beta code for the PS3. Email me and it’s yours.
Sunday Thoughts
Always great to see the Orioles sucking ass. Did they get any runs this weekend? I think all three games were lost in the 1st inning, against Oakland. And mind you, Oakland and the Orioles are battling it out for suckiest team in the AL.
Actually had some free time between snorting Afrin, doing my real job and doing my grad school homework to play Codemasters’ latest, FUEL. This one got reamed over at IGN. I don’t think it’s that bad myself.
If you’re reading this on Sunday, Amazon’s deal of the day is Sega Tennis for the 360 for $7.00. It’s worth $7 just for the achievement points.
As Glen mentioned, big week for Wii Sports fans as Tiger 10 and Grand Slam Tennis come out for the console. I’m buying Tiger as a bundle with the Motion Plus, as it saves you some cash. Then, I’m pulling the Motion Plus out of the Wii condom. God those things are stupid. I prefer playing my Wii bareback.
Sunday notes
- Ok, seriously... Ken Macha needs to try and manufacture a run in the 9th sometime when they're down by 1. For the 3rd time this year, that I can recall, leadoff hitter gets on... next guy gets sent up swinging... and grounds into a double play and kills any chance of a rally that the team has. As a baseball fan, it's enough to drive you to drink.
- inFAMOUS is still taking up the majority of my gaming time, but I have a feeling that will change once I get my hands on Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis, and Grand Slam Tennis this week. I can't believe how interested I am to see the 1-to-1 controls of those games. I just hope than I'm not let down by the controls.
- Went to see Up today with my 4 year old. What a terrific movie. It is a bit more mature of a topic than she could handle, as most of the drive home dealt with why a certain character was doing what he was. It was a very confusing topic for her to handle, but she did pretty well.
One thing I would say that I was disappointed about was the fact that the 3D glasses were just plain huge and that they didn't even offer us any sort of child size. So, they kept falling off her face during the movie. She didn't complain once though... she's a good kid that way.
- My wife is still recovering from her tonsilectomy the other day. I can only go by her feelings, but it looks like it's one of the most painful things that she's ever dealt with. 3 days later and she's still very, very uncomfortable. It's no wonder they tell her that she'll be out of work for the next week.
- Ok. Back to the kids...
Wednesday notes
- Does every console need a motion controller now? Guess so. I don't envy EA having to develop for 3 different control schemes for sports games now though.
- Sensational hockey last night. If you watched game 3 of the Stanley cup finals last night, you saw 6 solid minutes without interuption in the third period from 8 minutes left down to 2. It's one of the things that hockey offers that the NBA, NFL, and MLB just can't match. It was incredible.
- I might have a chance to post more tomorrow. My wife is getting her tonsils removed, so I'll be at the hospital with some time to pass while she's having that done.
Rock Band: Beatles Question
So just to recap, we can get downloadable albums in Rock Band to play, but we can’t get downloadable albums on iTunes or Napster? That makes zero sense.
The E3 Press Conferences RoundUp
It was funny, I was having a chat via email with Dubious Quality’s Bill Harris about the E3 conferences.
He was very moist about the Microsoft one, and I was like BFD, because Rock Band is a multiplatform game and there was nothing that made it stand out from the other 2 versions.
He said he bet me I would think MS is the best after all of them showed their stuff.
Sony’s was interesting with the PSP GO! but $249? Definitely not consumer friendly…why would I buy this when I have a $169 PSP already? I can put 16GB of memory in my current PSP with no problem….and I lose screen space? Wow, where do I sign up.
The games were pretty cool…God of War 3 and the Rockstar Exclusive game would have easily beat out everything…but they aren’t coming anytime soon.
So the Sony one was meh in my book.
Nintendo took a play out of the Microsoft conference, announcing sequel after sequel. Of course these are games that are always interesting to play..although they went sequel happy, they did put in new features that intrigued me, like the 4 player co-op Mario game.
Wii Fit Plus wasn’t a surprise, but the Motion stuff was interesting – and we get it next week.
Overall I’d say it was a push between Nintendo and Microsoft. Sony failed to impress because everything was so far out. The PSP Go would have impressed but not at that price point.
Quick Nintendo E3 thoughts
- Nice to see Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the new Metroid made by Team Ninja.
- Other than that... meh. Facebook off of DSi. Women's Murder Club - DS? It's things like this that make me realize that the demo for gaming is shifting more rapidly than you can prepare yourself for.
- Wii Sports Resort looks interesting (Archery could be fun.)
Metroid was the big "Wow" in my opinion. It looked absolutely terrific in my estimation. Too bad it won't be around 'til sometime late next year. Same with Mario Galaxy 2.
Quick Tuesday notes
- It's nice to see that people that have had their hands on experience with Natal are now measuring their compliments. Everything about it looks to be interesting, but to me it's something more for GDC rather than E3, as it's no where near release and hasn't even been seen by most developers. Oh, well.
- G4 has been entertaining this morning as they've been running the Wiebe Watch... nothing like the excitement of watching someone play Donkey Kong... on TV... for hours.
- Nintendo's press conference is just starting... We'll see what comes from them next.
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