Monday notes
- Took the kids to see the Muppets over the weekend and they were pretty bored by the end. Certain scenes just seemed to drag on, especially the one with the chickens covering "Forget You."
Overall it was a decent film and it had some fun 80's throwaway jokes, but it wasn't nearly as good as I was expecting it to be. My hopes for comedy were probably way too high.
- Other than the Broncos/Steelers game yesterday, there wasn't too much in the way of drama for the Wild card weekend.
Oh, and if you love Tebow coverage, stay tuned to ESPN this week as they'll definitely have you covered.
- Anyone interested in the BCS championship game tonight? I can't muster up even the slightest amount of interest at this point.
- I did see that Best Buy is putting up signage indicating that Diablo III is coming out on February 1st. I'm not holding my breath on that, but I will certainly be there for the midnight launch when it happens. Haven't done that for a game in ages, but this game will eat all of my free time when it does release.
- As for gaming recently, I have been trying to play through some older titles along with fighting through the world of Skyrim, Crysis being one of the titles that has been fun to mess with.
I have a hankering for hockey gaming of late as well and will have to find and outlet for that.
- Have a great week.
Tuesday notes
- Didn't get a chance to play any games last night, as I went and played hockey at 10:00 p.m. last night. One of the things about doing something like that... the adrenaline doesn't wear off for quite a while and it ends up being a pretty late night. Thankfully, I played pretty well. That always helps you feel a bit better when you do get to bed.
- A few new Kinect games are coming out this week and two of them are on their way via Gamefly, Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports: Season 2. I haven't seen much about either of the games, but I figured that my Gamefly queue is pretty empty right now and I might as well give them a look.
- Having said that, I can't wait to play Lord of the Rings: War in the North next week. I have really loved the games that Snowblind Studios has created in the past, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance being one of my all time favorite console games.
Just trying to decide whether or not I'd like to play it on a PC or console...
One thing that does stink about that is that Amazon is doing a $20 credit for the console versions, but nothing for the PC. C'mon, man. Give some love to the PC guys.
Monday notes
- Well, let's get this out of the way...
The Badgers clearly deserved to lose the game against the Spartans. When you have a blocked field goal, blocked punt, and give up a safety, it's hard to say that you were the better team that day.
Having said that, a hail mary is a hard way to lose a game. I only saw the video of the play a few times, and while it was hard to know for certain that the guy crossed the plane with the ball, I can't say that I was surprised that they lost.
Probably the biggest play of the game was the Wilson interception when the Badgers were up 14-0 in the first quarter. Wisconsin was driving to go up 21-0, but the interception gave the Spartans new life and they took advantage. If Toon runs the right route, there is no telling what could have happened.
I have to give the team credit for fighting back when down 14 points late though. They showed a lot of heart in the 4th quarter. Oh, well. Gotta regroup and win out to play for the first Big Ten championship. Maybe they'll get another shot at the Spartans... who knows?
- On Friday night, the Mrs. and I got a chance to see the Badger hockey team for the first time this year. Man, that's one really young team. On a roster of 25 skaters, they have 19 underclassmen... and only 1 senior.
They really out hustled the Sioux that night though and deserved the win.
I always enjoy seeing UW/UND games with my wife as she is a long time Sioux fan, so it's one of the only times that we're not cheering for the same team. Stuff like that keeps a marriage lively, am I right?
- So, we're going to get a new NFL Blitz, without late hits? Hmm... not sure I would be interested in that. The old game was just so much more fun when you hammered guys after a big play. It was a nice little bit of payback on your friends after a nice play or a score. Without that... not sure how much fun the game will be.
- Not sure how many of you have tried out the service, but Onlive is running a promotion that allows you to buy your first game on the service for $1. I have an account where I've activated a few of my Humble Bundle games and really debating picking up something like Deus Ex for a buck.
When I've played games on the system in the past, the lag hasn't been bad enough to cause any issues with the gameplay, but it's hard to say how a promotion like this might impact their server performance.
But when you're only paying $1 for a game, it's a risk worth taking.
- Arkham City continues to eat up all of my gaming time. I've enjoyed dropping into the game and getting lost in my pursuit for more of the Riddler trophies as well as crusing around the city looking for thugs to beat up.
I do have to give them credit for the story as well. I'm only 17% into the game, but have already run into Two Face, the Joker, Bane, the Penguin, and Mr. Freeze (Along with several other baddies.) I really wondered how well a story would work when you had that many guys involved, but they make it work really well.
- Lastly, the Packers didn't play their best game, but are 7-0 after beating the Vikings. The player that surprised me the most was Christian Ponder. He really showed some poise in the 4th quarter and kept the Vikings in the game by completing 1 3rd down pass after another.
I thought they reached when they drafted him, but he looked pretty good yesterday.
Worst play? Bryan Robison's kick to TJ Lang's groin. How he wasn't ejected from the game is beyond me.
Friday notes
- This has to be the most nervous I've ever been for a baseball game... especially for one that I'm attending.
The cool thing is that my wife will be at the game with me, which hasn't happened for quite a few years. Hopefully she won't mind the fact that we're standing room only....
No predictions about the game, I just can't do it.
- I started to play Rage last night and found that the screen tearing is just too distracting. Hopefully some new game updates or driver updates will fix the issue, but when you have a line running though the screen constantly, it just bothers your vision.
- I'm really debating picking up NHL Gamecenter this year and using it with my PS3. Has anyone had any experience with the application that would try to talk me out of it? The Islanders start their season on Saturday night, so I haven't missed any of their games yet. Being able to pay $20 a month for the rest of the season is a nice way to be able to watch all of my teams games, when I have the time and opportunity.
If it works well for my Android tablet as well, it'll be an awesome application to have around the house.
- Speaking of hockey, Wisconsin starts their season tonight and no one has any idea as to what to expect for the team. They're starting a freshman goalie tonight... and that could be rough. I'll be at the UND game with my wife in a few weeks, so I guess I'll get a better view of the team at that point and can make up my mind as to how good or bad of a season it could be.
- Other than that.. not too much else to talk about other than the Packers/Falcons game on Sunday night. It would be hard to believe that the Green Bay offense could continue being as incredible as it has been to this point in the season, but they lit up the Falcons last year in the dome... I guess I could easily see them doing it again.
- Have a great weekend! GO BREWERS!
Thursday notes
- Just to sum it up quickly. Nyjer should have walked back to the dugout quicker (but let's be clear... he was walking toward the dugout) and Pujols shouldn't have escalated the event by trying to run at Morgan. Still have no idea why Morgan was tossed, but not Pujols. It was a nothing incident until Albert made it one.
Still, the Brewers have an 8 1/2 game lead and head into a big playoff preview series with the Phillies tonight. I was planning on taking some pictures at the game... but I forgot my camera because of the fact that my daughter overslept and caused the morning to be a good deal more hectic than I wanted it to be. Oh, well.
- I'm really trying hard to like NCAA Football 12 right now. I'm going into the 5th game of my online dynasty with Utah State and I've already had three game lockups and have had numerous issues with the online recruiting page logging me out or not allowing me to add a certain player to my list of players that I am attempting to recruit.
Still, I've had some fun games that are derailed from time to time due to the superhuman linebackers that seem to always know exactly when to jump 4 feet into the air to knock down a pass to a wide open receiver, but that's to be expected.
I really, desperately, want to keep playing the game though, as I'm really starting to like a few of my players. We'll see if I can stick with it despite the game issues though.
- My thoughts go out to all of the family and friends of the hockey players that lost their lives in the plane crash in Russia earlier this week. It's absolutely amazing how few times incidents like this happen with sporting teams traveling as much as they do, but it doesn't make them any less horrible events when they do happen.
- I'm efforting an NHL 12 interview with one of their developers before the game is released next week, but it may not work out scheduling wise. Here's hoping that it can all come together though.
- Lastly, NFL Rivals launches today on the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. What is NFL Rivals? Well, it's Backbreaker with an NFL license on mobile devices.
So, sad that we couldn't get the console version updated with an NFL license...
- Have a great day everyone.
Wednesday notes
- Wish I knew what to say about the Madden interview. You can hear the turn signal for the car that he was either driving in or was riding in and there are more than a few questions where he doesn't know the answer or guesses at what I was asking about.
Typically, my interviews that I have done with EA Sports people have been at least a bit informative, but this one really didn't get us all that much.
Sorry about that.
- With the demo for NHL 12 coming out last night, I gave that game a look as well and I'm constantly impressed by how well the game plays and how much it feels like real hockey.
Scoring was not coming easily for me though with my time in the demo. Maybe it's just my being rusty though. Yeah... that must be it.
I did see a few really cool shots and saves in my games last night though. On one save, Luongo made a sprawling splits save where his left leg just kicked out in the nick of time to prevent a nice one-timer.
I'm working on efforting an interview with the EA guys and hope to have something before the release of the game in the 2nd week of September.
- If anyone has some great diet advice, I'm struggling here. For the first time in my life, I'm eating small meals and exercising and still gaining weight and it's driving me nuts. Maybe I'm not doing enough exercise, but I'm just getting frustrated here as I really want to lose 10 to 15 pounds before my race next month. Grr.
- Lastly, I started watching the Fritz Lang classic, Metropolis last night and I have to say that I'm amazed at the visuals that they were able to pull off on a movie made in 1927.
I've never watched the movie before (and am watching the fully restored version recently released on Blu-Ray,) so I'm really enjoying getting to watch this classic for the first time.
Tuesday notes
- Man, the Brewers just keep finding more and more interesting ways to win.
Last night, they turned a 4-6-3-2 triple play AND turned 4 double plays.
It's just crazy to see how much good luck they're having right now as their magic number is now 35 and they have a 6 game lead in the division.
I'm heading to the game tonight (for a work related presentation type thing,) so I'll be sure to try and take a few pictures. Hopefully, with Craig's instructions, I'll be able to get some good shots.
- Other than that, I'm totally wiped out as I really bust my butt yesterday exercising. I rode 10 miles to work on my bike, ran 3 miles at lunch, then rode the 10 miles back to my car.
Of course, for all of that, I tweaked my hamstring a bit... I guess I should take it a bit easier in getting back into shape... but I just want to start losing some of the weight that I put on in the last 6 months... Grrr.
- We have 9 of the 12 spots filled in the fantasy draft, but invites have been sent out to 12. We have 2 alternates waiting to get in right now, so if you haven't signed up yet... you might get bumped if you don't sign up by the end of the week. Just a little warning there.
- I've got an interview lined up for Madden 12. So, if you have any questions that you would like worked into my interview, let me know. Since we've all had so much time with the demo... there should be some good questions out there.
- Lastly, I'm going to be pulling the trigger on buying tickets to see my first ever NHL game soon. I always wanted to see an Islanders game at Nassau before I saw a game anywhere else, so this year I'll be flying out to take in a game with my sister (who lives out that way.)
I'm also trying to work a few of my connections to see if I can meet a few of the players... that would be pretty damn sweet. I think I'm asking too much to see if I can attend a practice and let them fire off a few shots at me though. That might be a bit much....
Monday Morning Notes
- Ok, so the NFL will be back to business soon.
It's amazing to see how much coverage and fan interest there is in a story where the fans get absolutely nothing out of it. Actually, I take that back. We'll get to pay everyone a lot more money by the time it's all done. Whew. Glad that they were able to make sure that we got some benefit from the deal as well.
- Last night was my first night back at hockey and while my skill level is not where I want it to be, I was incredibly glad to be back out on the ice.
It only took a few shots in warmup before someone hit me in the right shoulder. Nice to get that out of the way quickly so I wouldn't have to worry about it being hurt if someone hit me up there during the game.
No real issues as far as injuries though, so that's a good thing.
- The other thing that I'm really looking into now is a good road bike. The hybrid that I've been riding with has been fine for a while, and is great for going on rides with the Mrs, but I really need something else for races and for longer rides that I would like to go on.
One item that has surprised me is how much my budget for the bike keeps changing. Initially I was thinking 7 or 800, then 1,100.... now I'm hearing that I'm crazy unless I look at a Carbon frame. Ugh.
Hopefully I'll be able to make a decision before the end of the week.
- Brewers ran into some great pitching in San Francisco this weekend. Thankfully they're not the only one that has struggled against that staff this year. The thing was that they gave up 2 runners at 3rd on Saturday night in a game that they lost by two runs. That just kills you.
Now they go into a stretch of 18 games against the NL Central. If they're going to make a move to try and create some space between themselves and the rest of the division, they need to do that now.
- Lastly, I took the time over the weekend to configure the Freespace Open Installer on my new PC and start playing through the original game again.
I'm constantly amazed at the work that modders put into older games like that. The game still plays amazingly well after all this time. Here's hoping that the Sol:Exodus guys can try to recapture some of that greatness.
Thursday notes
- Congrats to Dan and Craig as their Bruins won the Stanley Cup last night. You have to think that with Chicago winning last year and Boston winning this year that there might be some other long suffering teams finally breaking through in the coming years.
As long as the Cubs aren't one of them, I'd be ok with that.
- Speaking of the Cubs, I was glad to see the Brewers finally get a win in Wrigley last night. It was a rather funny game as the tables really turned offensively for the crew as Fielder and Braun scored 6 runs and didn't drive any in. That just doesn't happen all that often for this Brewers team. They're incredibly reliant on Prince and Ryan driving in all the runs and really struggle when they don't. Hopefully a game like this will get some of the guys at the bottom of the lineup going.
- So, I was doing some work on a few of my bills last night and noticed that my phone/internet/satellite bill had gone up a bit. When I looked at the account I saw that Dish Network has been charging me $6 a month for their freaking line maintenance plan. When I called them to complain, they couldn't tell me why it had been put on there or how long they had been doing it.
How companies are still allowed to sneak in new charges like that just annoys the hell out of me.
While I was on the phone with them, they informed me that ANOTHER charge that has been on my bill is no longer needed so I got that taken off the bill as well. Grrr.
I love how she could tell me that I was now SAVING $11 a month off of my bill rather than the fact that I was overpaying $11 until I called. Nice.
- Lastly, I started watching the IT Crowd again. There are very few shows that make me laugh as much as that one does. Easily one of the most quotable shows in my memory.
0118999881999119725....3
Wednesday notes
- Another day, another crappy loss to the Cubs. At some point the starting pitchers have to get irritated at the pen for blowing games like that.
Every team loses games like that from time to time, but it would have been nice to get a game in front of St. Louis yesterday (who also blew a big lead late.)
- After 4 weeks of rehab I've decided that I am really tired of wearing this sling. My rehab is really going well and I'm ahead of the flexibility numbers that my therapist says I should be at, but man.. I just want this damn thing to go away.
Probably the worst thing that I'm dealing with at this point is the fact that I still can't sleep in a bed. I'm still struggling to sleep in a recliner every night and I would estimate that I'm getting about 3 or 4 hours of sleep each night. It's kind of like having a newborn again. So much fun.
- Game 7 is tonight. Every self respecting sports fan should tune in for it as there is nothing quite like the intensity of this game. The only thing that could make it better is if it goes to overtime.
Either way, I've got the DVR set to record it so I can enjoy the whole thing without interruption after the kids get to sleep.
- Thanks for the comments about installing games off of DVD's onto steam when you have them. I had no idea you could do that. Then again with my 15 MB connection at home, I'd just rather throw the key in and download the game and play whenever it's done.
Tuesday notes
- One of the blog readers tracked me down on Twitter last night, which is funny because I've never mentioned my account on here. Seriously, he should win something for that kind of sleuth work.
I'm usually talking about the same sorts of things that I talk about on here, but I use it as a live blog of sorts for other events as well.
If you're interested in following me on there, you can track me down at @sgm_glen.
- Not that it would have taken a genius to do so, but it was pretty easy to predict Boston thumping Vancouver last night and so we get a Stanley Cup Game 7, which is always amazing. Add the fact that the games in Vancouver have been incredibly close in the finals and we should have a great game.
I'm sure you'll all be cheering for Vancouver, just because Dan wants Boston to win.
- I'd love to talk about the Brewer game last night, but ugh. Seriously? Running a suicide squeeze with 1 out in a 0-0 game in the 7th, with the infield in? The pitcher fanned on the bunt and the runner was out after an absurdly long run down. Terrible game at the plate (Wolf pitched well enough to deserve the win) for the Brewers after a great weekend series. Thankfully Yo is on the mound today and can try to get things right again.
- In movies, I picked up the Back to the Future trilogy on Blu-Ray at Target yesterday for $15. I figure that's a pretty good price for some fun 80's movies.
- As for Duke Nukem Forever, I'm going to have to rely on Dan and Craig's opinions for that. I just can't bring myself to pick it up. I know I'll get it eventually, but spending that much on a game that wasn't all that impressive in the demo is just too damn hard to do.
- Lastly, I got an app running on my Android tablet that allows me to connect to my PS3 Media Server application on my PC (which is what I use to stream movies and such to each of our PS3's.)
If only I could stream from my Windows Media Center (where I have a TV tuner card hooked up) then I would be completely set.
At this point, I pick up the tablet as soon as I get the kids to bed and it's pretty much by my side until I go to bed (and it functions as my alarm clock while I'm still sleeping in the recliner because of the surgery.) It's been absolutely perfect for me to this point. Absolutely love it.
Monday notes
- That sure was quite a weekend for the Brewers as they got a sweep over the Cardinals and moved into first place in the NL Central for the first time in 2 years.
They wouldn't have been able to do it without the, NL Player of the Week, Prince Fielder though. In the last 10 games, he has hit 8 homeruns, 7 of which have given Milwaukee a lead and the 8th tied up a game. That's pretty amazing stuff.
Very early in the season, but still, encouraging to see them win a series like that against a rival.
- I know it's a smaller story, but I'm sure you've been following it...
There has been a bit of discussion in the last week or so about how baseball is looking to re-align itself in the near future to get 15 teams in each league. Not really sure how to feel about this except for the fact that baseball really needs to try and do something to balance out interleague play schedules. Here's part of the reason why.
St. Louis gets K.C twice, then the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rays.
Milwaukee gets Boston, Tampa, Minnesota twice, then the Yankees.
I can understand why the natural rivalry games are in there, so that's a wash, but why can't they figure out a way for all of the teams in the division to... oh, I don't know... play the same teams in the other division, like every other sport does?
There's so much to like about baseball, but the unbalanced schedule, and scheduling in general for it, sucks.
- There was no jumping around or yelling in excitement or anything like that, but I was very happy that the Mavericks beat Miami last night in game 6 of the NBA finals.
The reasons why people dislike the Heat are myriad and there is an incredibly good chance that they will be back in this position again if the league plays again next year, but for now everyone can sit back and enjoy the fact that the King's coronation will have to wait for at least another year.
- Now that the basketball playoffs are over, hopefully we'll get a Boston win tonight so that we have all of the sports world focused on a 7th game in the Stanley Cup finals. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think this will happen considering the fact that the Bruins outscored Vancouver 12-1 in the first two games in Boston.
- In the movie world, I took my girls to see Kung Fu Panda 2 over the weekend. I had a pretty good idea of what they were trying to do with the film, but I just felt that it wasn't executed all that well. It was a decent film, but nowhere near as good as the first. The girls enjoyed it though, so at least there was that.
Then last night I sat down and watched the new version of True Grit last night with my wife. Damn. That was an incredibly well done movie. Some of the imagery in that film will be sticking with me for quite some time. I don't know how, but Jeff Daniels keeps getting better and better every time I see him, and his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn was flat out brilliant.
Sadly, I've never seen the original, but after watching this one, I really have to do that soon.
- Lastly, in gaming I started playing inFamous 2 which is just as good as the first.
The only annoyance that I've found thus far relates to the user created levels. Thankfully they show up on your map with a different type of marker because after you play the actual campaign or mini-missions, you'll really want nothing to do with the user-created ones. Even the missions created by Sucker Punch just feel hollow compared to the actual game itself.
Perhaps they'll get better as time goes on, but if that's a reason you were interested in the game, you'll end up disappointed.
Thursday notes
I just looked back and thought that it was Tuesday yesterday. Oh, yeah. I'm on my game lately.
- The Brewer game last night was one of the greatest mixes of emotions that I can recall in recent memory.
Started off with being astounded at the fact that Randy Wolf could pitch a game that well. Then, Prince hit a 2 run bomb and the Brewers went into the 8th inning with a 1-run lead. Shortly after that I had a total rage quit moment after Loe proceeded to blow the lead and give up 5 runs to the Mets. In the bottom of the 8th, Braun hits a double to plate two, cutting the New York lead in half, and Prince comes up afterward and crushed one into the Brewers bullpen to tie it up. Then, in the bottom of the 9th, Nyjer Morgan hits a walk-off double to win the game.
One of the more entertaining parts of the evening came afterward when Morgan did his post game interviews. Between these two interviews and other things he has done this season, the man is becoming the stuff of legend around here.
- It's clear that we have a series between the Bruins and Canucks now. Vancouver looks like a completely different team up in Boston, so they'll need to get things going again in a hurry. An early goal could do wonders to get them going tomorrow night.
Also, I have no idea why they left Luongo out there as long as they did in game 3. Nights like that linger in your head for a while.
- I finished up all of my time in the rehab chair last night. Thank goodness I'm done with that. Now it's just all of the stretching and such every day until I can get to the 6 week point when the resistance bands start. Unless I can talk my therapist to let me start on those earlier.
- As Dan said, the DSi to 3DS transfer process is a pretty painless one. It did take about 20 or 30 minutes to copy over all of my 8 games from the old system to the new one, but it worked and now I can give my DSi to the Mrs.
- Lastly, I got my copy of inFamous 2 from Gamefly yesterday and promptly put it on the shelf next to the TV. There just aren't enough hours in the day to dive into many games right now.
Tuesday notes
- Well, Nintendo sure does make a lot of people say... "Huh?" after their conferences.
I have no idea how good the Wii U controller will be because I haven't really seen how well it can be used for actual games.
I saw a tweet from Patrick Hruby yesterday wondering how good the controller could be for sports games. Honestly, the only thing I could think of was to be able to use the Wii U controller as a 'psuedo-GPS/binoculars' for a golf game where you could point it at the screen and get a view of the green to line up your next shot. Maybe in a football game it could function as your coaching interface, like we had on the VMU back with NFL2K. It's possible that you could handle defensive shifts for your fielders in a baseball game via the touch screen as well. You could use it for all sorts of pitching statistics in a baseball game (Inside Edge type data) as well. Beyond those type of applications though, it seems like it would have very limited options in sports games.
Having said all that, some of the demos did seem interesting. Since we have a year until the release though, I think we'll have more than enough time to hear about how developers are going to push the device and see if it's actually worth our time and money.
- Want to hear the most disturbing thing about E3? NCAA Football 12 isn't being shown at the EA booth. When the game has 1 month before release and almost certainly has to be hitting gold status in the next few days, and you're not showing it to the general public... you're going to have some pretty spooked fans.
I'd love to hear an explanation for this one.
- My daughter's graduation ceremony went off without a hitch, but the thing that was the most disturbing to me was seeing the sign that said 'Class of 2023.' Man, if there is something that makes you feel old.. it's seeing things like that.
- As Dan said, the ability to see videos of the upcoming 3DS games on your system is quite nice. Hopefully they'll push new videos at somewhat regular intervals.
Along with those I tried out Excitebike 3D and I'll give you the IGN review. If you like free games and liked the original Excitebike, I'd grab Excitebike 3D. For some reason, I thought they were adding something other than 3D to the gameplay... but it's just the old Excitebike. Still, it's free, so if you have a 3DS, be sure to grab it.
- Glad to see Capuano pitch well last night for the Mets, but it's too bad that the Brewers pen had to blow the game after Prince hit his 15th in the 6th inning to take the lead.
As I said in the comments section, the Brewers still have the 3rd best record in the NL, so they just need to keep pitching as they have and the hitting should be good enough to get them their fair share of wins.
Also, I didn't wear a Brewers t-shirt last night. So, the loss should be entirely blamed on me.
- Since I was in my rehab chair after the Brewer game, I had a chance to watch the 4th quarter of the NBA finals again.
I know that Lebron is a terrific talent, but I can't recall seeing a situation where a guy like that didn't want the ball in his hands to take a shot when it really mattered in a game. He passed up so many shots in the 4th quarter that it was almost laughable. Dirk looked like death and still managed to take the ball into his hands to control his teams fate but Lebron just faded into the background every time that the Heat needed a big shot, while Dwayne Wade continued to look like the stud for Miami. That was astounding to me.
Even with the win tonight, it seems like the Heat have a pretty advantage in the series. Having the last two games at home, even if you're trailing, is a big deal. I'm still pulling for the Mavs, but things look good for Miami.
- Lastly, Craig sent me a video link of a hit that Tim Thomas put on Henrik Sedin in the last game.
Being a goalie, I really disliked what he did. My main reason for feeling that way is the fact that, as a goalie, you can't be hit by other players without them taking a penalty. To be fair then, you shouldn't be able to hit other players either.
There is something to be said for playing the puck and defending your space, but he was doing neither of those. The player no longer had the puck and he just hit him to hit him. He wasn't playing as a goalie anymore, he was just a hockey player trying to hit a guy coming near the goal.
What he did wasn't a penalty, but it certainly wasn't something that I, as a (incredibly low level) goalie, would every think of doing to another player.
Hopefully Game 4 tonight will be a clean affair, but I really doubt that based on what we've seen in the first 3 games.
Tuesday E3 notes
- Well, Sony's press conference was certainly more interesting than the Microsoft one.
Getting the PS Vita for $249 is a pretty big surprise in my book. I was expecting $299 or $349 based on the hardware alone. Having AT&T as the data provider though is painful. I can't imagine many people heard that and thought that they would spend the extra $50 so that they would have to use AT&T's severely overloaded 3G network. Thankfully you don't make calls with the device. heh.
As for the games that were shown, NBA2K12's segment of the conference was a big UGH. Using the PS Move to "simplify" the gameplay really doesn't make much sense at all to me. If you're a sports guy that wants to play a basketball game, you're not looking for something that takes away almost all of the controls. That might just be me though.
Other than that, we got more HD remakes (one of which we knew was coming - ICO and SoTC,) and a few new franchises for the Move and Vita. (Ruin looks very interesting to me as it looks to follow the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance/Torchlight style of gameplay but integrated with online PvP of a sort.)
I am very curious about that 24" TV though. Having the ability for two people to play 3D games without split screen is pretty damn cool. Plus the $499 price point with a game and glasses is pretty slick as well. I'm going to have a pretty damn hard time avoiding picking one of those up.
Lastly, I like the concept of cloud saves and being able to go back and forth between Vita games and their PS3 counterparts. I've wanted that feature ever since portable gaming systems added WiFi. As long as they don't expect me to pay full price for both games, I'll be happy with that feature.
From other conferences, Battlefield 3 looked pretty damn amazing. Watching the tank battle segment video was pretty damn cool. What was also nice was seeing a demo running at E3 on a PC. I know I'm going to be stuck playing that game on the PS3 because all of my friends have that system and don't have PC gaming rigs that are good enough to handle it.
Anything else that looks interesting to the rest of you?
- I grabbed the 3DS update that went online last night and promptly downloaded Excitebike 3D... and didn't play it.
What can I say, I was sitting in my rehab chair this morning and would have found it pretty awkward to play a game with only one hand. I'll take a look at it later tonight and give some thoughts tomorrow.
- My daughter's last day of Kindergarten is tomorrow and so they're having a graduation ceremony tonight. She's excited about it, so I don't want to tell her how silly it is to have a graduation for each grade that you finish, but that's how I feel about these sorts of things. Oh, well. She gets to wear a dress tonight, so she's excited about it. I'll let her have her moment. heh.
- The Brewers got the 4 game sweep of the Marlins last night and have moved to 8 over .500 for the first time since June of '09. I have to admit that they have played some great ball over the past few weeks... even with the blow ups against the Reds. Their top three pitchers are 8-2, 6-2, and 5-1 as of right now. That's the kind of stuff you like to see for your team.
- And now Dan and Craig are very happy again since the Bruins roughed up the Canucks last night. From what I saw of the game, Boston just wanted that game right from the drop of the puck. Tons and tons of great hustle plays throughout.
Now we have a series...
- Lastly, inFamous 2 comes out today. Glad to see that the game will take your previous save state and bring some of that characters attributes into the new game. With as many sequel games as we get today, that should happen a great deal more often. Sadly, I'm just renting a copy of the game and won't be able to mess with it until Thursday at the earliest. I'll post some of my thoughts about it over the weekend though.
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