Amazon DOTD: MS Wheel for $75
Today’s Amazon Videogame Deal of the Day is the Microsoft Wireless Wheel for the 360 for $75.
I wish the console was as good and reliable as the wheel. I highly recommend you pick this up if you haven’t already. It’s one of the best wheels I’ve used.
Wow
The Ravens are just hungry for it today. The Patriots look like crap and are downright embarrassing. At least Junior Seau had a nice hit.
I’m glad the year is over for the Pats. Since the 4th down vs Indy, its been nothing but awful. Between the retirements, the trades to the Raiders, it’s obvious that a certain coach feels he is smarter than everyone else – and this year sure didn’t look like that at all. Every daring attempt failed.
In other news, the thought of a Colts-Ravens game excites me to no end. If the Ravens look like they did today, they could destroy Manning. And those of you that are from Baltimore and know the love for the Irsays….nothing would be better than the Ravens destroying the Colts..kinda like the Browns beating the Ravens…
So I guess we’ll see. I doubt I’ll be that lucky!
Sunday notes
- Dan has to be losing his mind at this moment as Baltimore's first play goes 83 yards for a TD and then Suggs forces, and recovers, a fumble on the Patriots first possession, then force 2 more turnovers...and the Ravens go up by 24 in the first quarter! Crazy.
- If you would have talked to me during the first half of the Badger basketball game yesterday, I would have told you that it didn't look like the Badgers had learned much from their Michigan State game on Wednesday night, but in the second half they decided to make a much more concerted effort to push the ball into the post and it really began to open things up for them. The defense played very physical and gave Purdue their first loss of the year. Now they just need to keep things up against Northwestern this week... who is far from an easy team to beat at home.
For a team that was predicted to finish 6th or 7th in the league, they're really proving that they belong at the top of the conference.
- I spent a bit more time with NCAA Basketball and the more that I play it, the more I dislike it. Here are a few of the big things that I've found wrong in my recent playthroughs.
* The announcing is frequently wrong. I hit a half courter at the buzzer at the end of the first half and the announcer yells out, "It's good... the three pointer at the buzzer .. and we're going to overtime."
Ok two things wrong there... I went up by 13 when I hit the shot. Second... it was the end of the first half.
* Strategy at the end of the game is almost completely broken. I've watched this in game, as well as via Gamecast, but when a team is up by less than 5 or 6 points, you won't see the other team foul them in an attempt to stop the clock and get back into the game via missed freethrows. In fact, I've only seen the other team foul me when I have been up late in a game... and that was when I was up by over ten with less than a minute to go.
* More on the announcing. I've almost shut off the CBS Sports presentation already... because I'm tired of Gus Johnson yelling out, "THE SOPHMORE!" or "THE JUNIOR!" or "THE SENIOR!" Just driving me mad.
Ok... back to football watching. Packer game talk later...
Saturday notes
- Here's my 'Glen's an idiot' . of the week.
I've been playing PSOne games on my PSP for the longest time, but was always annoyed that I couldn't move the saves from the PSP to the PS3 to play them on a bigger screen. It took me until this week to find out that you could hook up your PSP to the PS3 and it would see the content via the Game Data utility. I thought this was an oversight on their part for the past few years, but as it turns out... it was just me not knowing what in the hell to do.
- Big basketball game about to tip off in a few minutes between the Badgers and Boilermakers. Unless your a fan of defense, you might want to stay away though. Bucky needs to hit some shots today to win this game. If they play solid D and make their shots, I think they can pull off the upset against Purdue.
- Enjoy all of the basketball and football this weekend.
Early Friday morning notes
-Didn't mention it the other day, but Michigan State really outplayed the Badgers on Wednesday night. The Badgers were completely taken out of their gameplan by the Spartans and were forced into taking very bad shots on a consistent basis. I counted 6 airballs that were put up at or near the buzzer, and that tells you that the other team owned you defensively.
The Badgers seem to be a team that settles for the 3 very easily and when they are hitting it, they are dangerous, when they're not... they are average at best.
Still, they have a chance to redeem themselves with a key game against Purdue on Saturday. That game will say a lot about the season for Wisconsin this year.
- Gotta love the Big Ten network. I missed the Champs bowl against Miami last week and they're running the whole thing again. Thank you DVR. Nice to be able to watch the game while I'm catching up on work.
- The feature list for MLB 10 looks pretty impressive. They just keep making the right tweaks to a nearly perfect baseball game.
- Ah... snow in Wisconsin... today we got about 6 or 7 inches... and then the temp dropped about 20 degrees and everything froze. Add that to the winds and we have a festive night. Our driveway is so drifted over that I had to park the car on the road and walk a 1/4 mile to the house up the hill. Always fun. I have to constantly be reminded why I live through this every year.
- Here is a link to the newest Backbreaker trailer. It shows shows some of the actual 'on-field' gameplay.... and it looks remarkably fluid. One of the things that they're pitching is that there are no canned animations and from what you see here... that really looks to be the case. My primary curiosity at this point is seeing how they will be handling season modes in the game and what other features will be available. We are currently efforting interviews with the people at 505 Games and will let you know when we can do that.
- The site move should be happening over the next few days. I finally got my server stuff set up... now I just need to see the best way to move everything without an extended outage. We'll see how that goes.
MLB 10 PS3 to have daytime transitional lighting
Sony’s PS Blog announced that MLB 10 will be released March 2 for the PS3.
New features include:
MLB 10 The Show NEW Features:
- HR Derby – The Home Run Derby and MLB All-Star Futures Game are now available during the All-Star break in our season modes and as a stand-alone experience.
- Catcher Calling the Game – Call pitches and play as the field general, just like Joe Mauer.
- Online Gameplay Improved – This year the online gameplay experience has been vastly improved and will detect and respond better to adverse network conditions along with reduced bandwidth to help the speed and flow of online gameplay.
- User Controlled Pick-Offs – Surprise a base runner with a quick move or lull him to sleep with our new pick-off mechanism.
- Custom Music, Fan Yells, and Chants – Assign music or a recording to an entire team, edit tracks to assign batter walk-up music, or record your own voice and assign it to play for the team or player during the situation of your choice.
- Movie Maker – Select up to ten replays to add to a single movie and do all the editing for your own highlight reel.
- New Stadiums – Five new Minor League stadiums as well as classic parks including Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Sportsman Park, and Griffith Stadium.
- New Fielding/Pitching Training Modes and Practice Drills – New pitching and fielding training sessions will be part of our Road to The Show training suite.
- Road to The Show Version 4.0 – New option settings (Game Watch and Game Completion) allow users to set how much of the game they wish to view, our mistake tracking system and new Green Light system reward and penalize good play, and our new stat tracking system keeps stats for your player’s career versus every pitcher or batter faced during the current season that can be accessed at any time.
- Full Online Season Leagues – Fully functional online season leagues, save and display MLB Player stats, track player energy, allow for trades/injuries, and offer 40-man roster functionality.
- Weekly Live Roster – An updated live roster will be available every week throughout the entire season.
- Online Game History – View every game you’ve ever played online, complete with opponents, box scores, and game logs.
- 1-30 Player Season Modes – Control one or all 30 teams right from the start of your franchise or season.
- New Camera System – The most realistic camera system available will make you double take and make sure you’re not watching a live MLB telecast.
- Real-Time Presentations – More than 1,250 new gameplay animations, more than 1,000 new presentation animations, and more than 400 personalized pitcher and batter animations.
- Stadium Realism and Experience – Details, details, details! MLB 10 The Show offers daytime transitional lighting, shows all players on field in
real-time (including players in the dugout and bullpen), and offers improved stadium ambiance with HR/splash counters, fireworks, steam,
noisemakers, towels, thunder sticks, working digital and analog clocks, crowd reaching over the rails, and crowd detail, such as interaction
with vendors and placing K signs.
Thursday morning notes
- Just got a press release from EA notifying us that the Madden Ultimate Team feature is now available for download for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Madden 10. It's a card game type addon for the game and it is free, so it's got to be worth a bit of time to look into it. Here's the official release for those of you interested in it.
- I was just reading about the Microsoft Game Room feature that they're going to be adding to the 360 and the PC later this year and I just don't get it. So, we can have our own virtual arcade on our 360 for $3 a title, when most of the games that I hear them talking about have already been released in other compilations or are available via web browser type games for quite some time now.
I guess I can understand the nostalgia type thing, but playing an arcade game with a control pad never feels right to me. If I want the feeling of playing an actual arcade game... there are much better options out there than this. Just my opinion.
- I received another email this morning in regards to 2K Sports signing 7 other players to help promote the newest version of MLB2K. This seems to fly in the face of what people have been saying, in so far as 2K trying to rid itself of the MLB licensing costs. It is an additional marketing effort for the title, so take it for what it is.
Here are the players involved with the title.
- Andrew Bailey, relief pitcher of the Oakland Athletics®
- 2009 American League Rookie of the Year and American League All-Star
- Felix Hernandez, starting pitcher of the Seattle Mariners®
- 2009 American League All-Star
- Jose Reyes, shortstop of the New York Mets®
- 2-time National League All-Star selection
- Justin Morneau, first baseman of the Minnesota Twins®
- 2006 American League Most Valuable Player
- Justin Verlander, starting pitcher of the Detroit Tigers®
- 2-time American League All-Star selection
- Kendry Morales, first baseman of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim®
- August 2009 American League Player of the Month
- Nelson Cruz, outfielder of the Texas Rangers®
- 2009 American League All-Star
Wednesday Notes
- A big congratulations is in order for the US Junior Hockey team. They took down the 5-time defending champ, Canada, in Saskatoon last night via overtime. It was an incredibly exciting back and forth game and I'm in no way biased by the fact that a current Badger player scored one of the key goals last night.
If you ever get a chance to watch that tournament in the future (and that seems very likely, considering the NHL network was broadcasting it last night,) you should watch it. Great hockey from some of the players that will be stars in the NHL very soon.
- I've been playing a bit of Assassin's Creed recently and someone is going to have to convince me that the game is going to get much better. I just don't seem to understand why if I walk at a very slow pace... guards won't be alarmed by me, but if I run by them... they'll chase me and try to kill me. Oh, and jumping into a pile of hay is a universal way to hide. It was, apparently, the medieval version of the Grand Theft Auto paint booths. I really want to like the game, but it just seems a bit ridiculous. Plus, I can get $20 in trade for it at Gamestop this week, when I just picked it up for $9 a few weeks ago. That makes it a bit difficult to want to hang onto.
- Well, considering the fact that large scale adoption of HD is just taking place... it doesn't surprise me that networks will begin launching a series of 3-D networks beginning later this year. ESPN being one of them.
I am always in favor of new technology, but man... this is going to take a long ass time for most people to want to get. For one, who the hell wants to wear special glasses to watch a product in your home? For another, if you just bought a brand new TV (with a few exceptions,) it won't work for you.
I have yet to see a sporting event broadcast in 3-D, but I just can't imagine that this is going to be a quantum leap forward that is going to make me want to spend multiple thousands of dollars to have the technology. Personally, I'd rather go to the real thing and tailgate occasionally and then just watch the game on TV as I always have. I guess I'm an old codger that way.
- Sony and Panasonic are increasing Blu-Ray Disc capacity. The nice thing? The PS3 will be able to handle the new disks with a firmware upgrade. Hopefully most standalone players will be able to as well.
It's nice when technology improves and you don't have to pay more for it.
New Year Thoughts
Well, I’ve been around but not posting. For those interested, I do have a wonderful Twitter account, which you can check out here – those URL challenged can see it on www.twitter.com/icedcorn.
For those interested, I will say that Xbox Twitter support is very responsive. They aren’t speeding up my console delivery but they do tweet back quickly. Right now turnaround time is 3 weeks from ship date. Guess I won’t be playing Bayonetta anytime soon!
Couple more Monday notes (Glen is in a ranting mood)
- Brit Hume is a prick. Not saying something that most people don't already know, but really? This guy is a monumental ass.
- How long can you imagine that the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet commercials are going to last? "I wanted to lose weight, but I didn't want to stop eating fast food." Seriously people. This crap has to stop.
- The TCU and Boise State bands are flat awful. I know that the Wisconsin Band (and several other Big Ten bands) take it to a much more professional level,) but Jebus... this stuff is terrible.
Monday night notes
- Let's start the post out with the best deals of the week (that I've seen thus far...)
New Play Control: Pikmin is $4.99 after a $10 reward zone coupon from Best Buy. Picked it up without any issues today. Also, Chronicles of Riddick for the PS3 and 360 is $9.99 after a $20 coupon.
Pikmin has me excited though, as I loved the game on the Gamecube and would like a chance to play it again with this new control style.
- In the bigger sports gaming news of the day ESPN, of all places, breaks the news that EA Sports is looking to re-introduce NBA Jam on the Nintendo Wii in the very near future.
Can't say I will complain about that game coming back onto consoles.
- As for more EA Sports news, they will be closing down a ton of servers for their older sports titles on February 2nd.
Surprised to see Madden 09's online component shut down that soon...
- Oh, and it had to be something...... it was the turf that hurt Wes Welker.
- Lastly in EA Sports news, according to Peter Moore's blog, they will be continuing their relationship with Tiger Woods, in so far as their online PC game.
I've had a chance to play around with the game in the past few months and have found it to be a very solid title, especially for a beta. I really don't know what to say about the Tiger Woods side of the story. I just don't have much to add to all of the goings on there.
- Time to sit back and watch the rest of the TCU/Boise State game. Have a great night all!
Sunday afternoon notes
- Wow. Quite the New Years weekend.
- The Badgers absolutely routed Ohio State on New Years Eve. It was just flat out ugly. It's easy to see that the Buckeyes are missing Turner though. That would have been a completely different game with him on the floor. Bucky has a tough game against Penn State today, on the road... it would be very
- Finished up Borderlands (as much as you can finish the title,) and got my first PS3 Platinum trophy... which is nice, I guess. Now I'm just waiting on the new DLC for the PS3
- The Steam Holiday sales ended with a whimper, but you can get Torchlight for $5 again. I won't stop telling people how great that game is, but $5 is a steal and every one should pick it up.
- Badger hockey tonight as well. Quite the fast weekend.
Hope you all had a great one as well.
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