Interesting
I do want the Patriots to win...but..if it doesn't go our way...the thought of the Baltimore Ravens playing the Super Bowl in Indianapolis is one of the ultimate F-yous to the Irsays...that would be a pretty great "so glad you took the team out in the middle of the night to have such a crappy record and by the way wanna give us our rings you a-hole" moment.
And yes I know, the Baltimore team was actually the Cleveland team, but hey, at least they didn't take Mayflower trucks in the middle of the night. 
Thursday night notes
- Funny that Dan mentioned the Zombies in NFL Blitz. I was pretty sure that we spoke of them in the interview. To me it didn't seem like any connection to Mutant League Football. It just seemed as if they were throwing in random strange teams, such as the mascot teams that they've done with NCAA and other games. I guess when Owen Good reports it, it's a story, but when I report it... hehe. Just kidding.
- Getting a chance to go ice fishing this weekend. I only get to do it a few times every year, but love it each and every time. Getting to yell, "Tip Up!!!!" and run across the ice to try and bring in a Northern is always a great time. Plus, I get to do it with a few great friends. Definitely one of my favorite weekends of the year.
I'd say that it takes the sting out of the fact that the Packers are not in the NFC championship, but the funny thing is that the loss really didn't bother me all that much. To be honest, I'm much happier that they lost last week than to lose in the NFC title game or the Super Bowl.
Two of the three worst defenses in the league lost last week... will New England go down this week?
- Hope everyone caught the season 3 premier for Archer tonight. Tape 'em up.
- Ryan Braun's appeal began today at the league office. I have absolutely no doubt that he'll get suspended for 50 games. It'd be nice to hear what their explanation for the test is though. Certain it will be bunk though.
- Grabbed the Resident Evil Revelations demo off of the 3DS store today. Absolutely no idea why I did so....
- After a bit of a lull, a few more sports games are starting to come out next month. Grand Slam Tennis 2 for the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360. UFC Undisputed 3 for the PS3 and 360. And SSX for the PS3 and 360. Nice to see that we'll have some new sports games to talk about very soon. I'm efforting interviews on each of them.
- Lastly... I tried out the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo last night on the PC. It seems like the combat could be fun, but two things bothered me. Really long loading times for a demo, and Quick Time Events that give you experience bonus on certain kills. QTE's are just about the most annoying thing that I can recall in games.
For $60, I'll be passing on the game for now. Maybe when it hits the $20 price point in a few months.
If this is true, it would be awesome
The Kotaku resident Sports Guy, Owen Good, has found zombies in NFL Blitz and wonders if this is a precursor to a new Mutant League Football game.
Please, please please do that. Mutant League Hockey and Mutant League Football are two reasons why I still bring out the Sega Nomad to this day. Those are cool games, and you can bribe the ref. Or beat the crap out of him. Or accidentally fall into a hole on the playing field.
That would be cool, huh huh huh.
Tuesday night notes
- Got a chance to use Google Wallet with my new Galaxy Nexus phone today. Google had a deal where you got $10 free when you signed up for the service, so it couldn't hurt to try it out.
Couldn't believe how smooth and slick the process was. Swiped my phone on the pad to activate the wallet, typed in my pin on my phone, swiped the phone again and it was paid. Pretty damn slick. Don't know how often I'll use it in the future, but I was impressed with how easy it was to pay that way. Nice to know that if I ever forget my wallet that I can use my cellphone that way.
- According to the game timer on my Steam account, I have 38 hours into Skyrim. Actual time is a bit less as I left it paused on the start menu from time to time, but it's clear that I'm still really enjoying the game. I do have a drive to start off the actual story portion of the game though as some of the other side missions have gotten a bit more boring as time has gone on. Maybe I should look into joining the Dark Brotherhood... that could be a refreshing change of pace.
- Speaking of RPG's, the Kingdoms of Amalor demo is out tomorrow on the PC and PS3 (today on the 360.) I'm anxious to see how well the game will play, as the early reviews of the demo have been very positive.
- Oh, and about the Packers. Here is part of the fan base. Every team has a group of drunk chicks that take the team too seriously... but man... she's a special kind of drunk and crazy.
- Have a good rest of the week.
Sometimes your team just has an absolutely horrible day.
So many drops. So many fumbles.
Just not their day.
Still lots of good memories of the year. Just a terrible ending.
Skylanders
I bought my son the Skylanders Mega Pack from Best Buy for $79.99 on Black Friday...got it for Xmas for him. He enjoys it and the novelty is pretty cool. The only problem is that he wants more characters and you can't find them anywhere. Apparently they are the Cabbage Patch Kids of 2012. I've been to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Toys R Us...and all the shelves are empty. The toys that sell normally for $7.99 are going for $50+ on eBay.
Wow. Did anyone else know they were this popular?
Friday Thoughts
Yes, Glen it is possible to be civil in politics. I just wish that Congress and the President would act civil as well.
In other news, iPad 2, rest in peace. I had an issue -- during the superstorm here in New England, last night, I tried to leave my car and picked up my iPad 2 out of my car. I guess I picked it up by the smart cover and it went flying out of my hand and slammed onto the cement floor of the garage. Can you say broken screen?
So I filed a claim on my SquareTrade ADH warranty..I've never had to file a claim before...guess we'll see.
I did have to decide if I could life without an iPad for weeks. I couldn't, so I went to Best Buy and picked up a new one -- this one is white, 64GB. There was only one problem -- they were open box units. And they were having an open box sale...so I got the $829 iPad for $700. Not bad . And of course 4x RewardZone points. I swapped the SIM cards from one to the other and there's my unlimited data plan!
Has anyone had experience with SquareTrade and filing a claim?
Friday notes
- Let it be said that Dan can have a civil conversation with people about politics. The guy amazes me sometimes.
- Very busy week at work and when I wasn't there, I was dealing with typical crazy family issues. Nothing really exciting, just keeping busy.
- Rumors continue to grow about the release of Diablo III. My problem with this is that I'm getting more and more interested in Kingdoms of Amalur. Seeing as how I'm still spending a considerable amount of time with Skyrim, I just don't know how many more games I could spend time on. I guess that's a good problem.
- Sunday's game between the Packers and the Giants should be a great one. People seem to think that this Giants team is the one that can give the Packers the most trouble due to the fact that they can generate a pass-rush with their front four. What's funny is that the same defense everyone loves now, is the one that gave up 31 points on December 4th.
The Packers will win or lose based on their capability to force turnovers. It's what worked for them all year long and I'd be shocked if that wasn't the key in Sunday's game.
- Have a great weekend.
Tuesday Thoughts Long
1. Romney won here, although I'm not sure why. I kept my streak of voting going, although as a registered Dem, there really wasn't a lot to vote for. LOL. Kudos to Ron Paul for getting second, I'd have voted for him if I was on the GOP side (on the Dem side it would have counted under "write in" so I'll pass).
2. I traded in a 4 year old MacBook (not Pro) to Best Buy for $535. That's insane, considering it was like $1,000 in 2008. Who needs that buyback program. Thanks for the free Tivo Premiere Elite! And of course I bought the Mrs. a MacBook air for Xmas so everyone is happy. 4 tuners in one Tivo. 2TB HD Yes!
3. Tebow, not Tivo. LOL. Amazing game on Sunday. Will be very interesting on Saturday. Denver is always tough for NE so who knows what will/can happen?!
4. Only a month or so for the PS Vita. Meh. Mine's already bought thanks to a Wii console and game trade in. Like I'd play that anymore.
5. NHL - the BOS/VAN game over the weekend was awesome. The NHL's Shanahan doing a description of the reasons for the suspension of Marchand was dead on. The NHL has done a fantastic job explaining the suspensions and why they were given. Marchand can say he didn't mean it but it was rough. And I'm a Bruins fan. Of course I've never seen anything like tonight's WPG game -- each team had a penalty shot -- for dumb ass reasons. Penalty shots are not like soccer PKs -- they don't always go in. I'm not sure it's a good thing to have a penalty shot over a power play, but it sure is exciting. And of course the Bruins won.
6. I'd talk about sports games, If I was playing one. I finished the Gauntlet on Blitz. One man blitz seems to be the gimme play.
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.
Thursday notes
Hopefully the DNS issues are all resolved. All part of the fun of moving domains due to Godaddy's SOPA support.
- Yesterday I didn't get much time in on NFL Blitz, instead I code to focus my time on Skyrim.
It's absolutely amazing how much time you can spend on a game and never really mess with the primary storyline.
Yesterday, for example, I spent at least an hour making potions and traveling from city to city to sell all of them off for healing potions, which I need more and more of as time goes on. Still, I keep going back to my level 24 Redguard and slaughtering the contents of any cave or mine that I see.
The only thing that I could see ending that is the release of Diablo III. That game will certainly be the end of Craig's and my life.
- That gets me to thinking. What was the last sports game that you felt that way about? According to my Steam stats, I have over 25 hours put into Skyrim in the last month or so. Are there any sports games that still grab you that way?
- Lastly, I am glad that I am starting to temper my sports fandom of late because if I was really being fanatical about the Rose Bowl or the last Badger basketball game, I would probably have lost my mind about the way that both teams lost.
I guess the true test will be to see how I react if the Packers fail to win in the playoffs.
Site DNS issues
With the transfer of the new site, there have been some DNS issues.
If you're seeing this page, obviously things are back up and working.
Hopefully the downtime was a short one.
Thanks.
Best Football Play of the Day
No, I'm not talking about lame-o Clemson. (Hi, Craig).
Instead, check out this awesome goal by Tim Howard for Everton. The funny thing is that the big news on this game was that Landon Donovan was starting for Everton and yet the only goal scorer for Everton was the goal keeper.
Wednesday Thoughts
1. 6 days to go until the NH Primary. Unlike 4 years ago, things aren't nearly as busy here as they were then. I still have a few phone calls here and there, but not nearly as many as there were back then.
2. The general feeling is that Mitt Romney will win here, because apparently NH Republicans are so stupid, they will vote for the guy closest to NH. Just like Democrats in 2004 LOL. I am not a fan of Mitt, or pretty much anyone on the ballot. I know you are shocked.
3. Moving along to gaming, I had to buy NFL Blitz for the PS3 so I could get it a day early. My feelings: 1) the graphics suck. 2) the game clock stops after every play no matter what happens - stupid. 3) same plays as before on offense and defense. 4) the lateral to forward pass is still fun. 5) Not a fan of the one button controls this time around. I don't seem to do well with a turbo pass, for example. 6) I hate not having late hits. 7). Of course, I keep playing it.
NFL Blitz first impressions
- You have to give EA credit for going out and grabbing the old Midway licenses and trying to revive the old NBA Jam and NFL Blitz franchises. With Madden and Backbreaker being the only two football titles released in the last 2 years, we're really in need of a bit more variety in the football gaming genre.
Does NFL Blitz provide enough of a change of pace? I guess that remains to be seen.
Be ready when you purchase the game, it is a rather large download, coming in at 1.8 GB. That definitely makes it one of the larger arcade games that I've seen in recent memory.
First off, the online component was completely empty last night. I'm sure that's due to the fact that the game does not release until 10:00 a.m. today, so that's not something that I can hold against them. What I do wonder, based on the configuration of the online, is how easy it will be to actually play online games.
The first thing that it asks you when you connect to the servers is to choose a state that you are in. Once, I did that, I never had the option to connect to any sort of lobby to match up against any other players. All of the online games seem to be done through automatic matchmaking.
Again, with no one available for the matchmaking, I'm not sure if that's the case or the fact that all of the online features are not configured yet.
If there are no lobbies and the only options that you have are to play against friends or against a random opponent that the server finds for you, that would be disappointing. Not being able to see an opponents record or gameplay status (whether their a late game quitter etc.) would be a real drag on the online component.
- Online aside, I spent a few hours last night with the Gauntlet mode, the single player mode for the game. The Gauntlet consists of a series of matchups against CPU teams, then a matchup against a "boss" team, then 3 more CPU's, another boss, another 3 CPU, then a "final" boss battle.
After playing through the first boss battle (a matchup against a team of Cowboy players, not the Dallas teams... 1800's Western guys,) I can see why they didn't implement any sort of season mode. The game, while fun (in spurts) against the CPU, just doesn't have any long term appeal. As you beat the bosses, you unlock new codes for the game that unlock the teams that you play against, but the experience just isn't as much fun as playing against a real person.
Within a few games, I was able to find formations that were very difficult for the CPU to stop on offense, and on the defensive side of the ball, putting quick pressure on the QB prevented the computer from gaining more than 5 to 10 yards on any given play on most occasions.
As the developers mentioned in our interview, the fact that you can no longer make late hits in the game is certainly noticeable, but it doesn't really detract from the game. It's just.... not there. You really want to be able to move your guys after they've knocked a guy to a ground... and you can't. I know that eventually that feeling will go away, but it won't stop me from continuing to hit a button after the whistle to try and give that offensive player another hit.
- Graphically, the game is very nice to look at. One of the cheat codes that I stumbled on (a single press of X, Y, and B at the code entry screen) unlocked the NFL Blitz team ball. On the ball it consisted of the signatures of all of the members of the team that took part in the making of the game. In an instant replay, I was able to zoom in and clearly see Mark Turmell's signature on the ball. That to me was a sign of the quality of the graphic fidelity on the field.
Player models are, seemingly, bulkier versions of the Madden gameplay models and they look as good as you would want them to for an arcade style of game like this.
- As far as the audio is concerned, Tim Kitzrow seems to have taken his typical enthusiasm down a notch. Maybe it's due to the fact that, comedian, Brian Haley is taking part in some of the commentary with him, but he just doesn't seem to have that "BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA" type punch to him this time around.
Again, not a bad thing... just different than you would have expected.
- Well, that was certainly a long winded first impression, but hopefully in the coming days, I'll be able to play the game against people on my Xbox friends list (Dan? Any other takers?) and we'll be able to see how well the co-op and other online modes will work.
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