Djwlfpack
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Manning completed 20-of-26 passes on the afternoon, but was interecepted twice. The Bengals' Carson Palmer threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns of his own, the final scoring toss tying the game at 28 entering the fourth quarter.
The Giants' Kenny Phillips swung momentum back to the Giants (3-0) with a key interception, setting up a touchdown pass from Manning to Amani Toomer, and the Giants never relinquised the lead from there.
Toomer had 8 catches for 118 yards with the touchdown. Steve Smith chimed in with 5 catches for 63 yards and a score. On the ground, Brandon Jacobs had a big day, rushing for 185 yards on 29 carries and a score.
Phillips led all New York defenders with 8 tackles.
Stats:
Passing: Manning 20-26-262-4-2
Rushing: Jacobs 29-185, TD
Receiving: Toomer 8-118, TD
Defense: Phillips 8 tckl, INT
Team Stats:
Total offense: NYG 464-367
Rushing: NYG 202-69
Passing: Cin 298-262
3rd Down: NYG 11-12 (91%); Cin 9-15 (60%)
T.O.P.: NYG 33:49-26:07
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The load-and-fire hitting is intuitive but I recently switched back to classic hitting as my reflexes aren't what they once were, lol. The pitching mechanics are also solid, although the location is a little too exact for the user. Fielding is smooth (love the hustle button to get to those gappers) and analog throwing is a breeze.
The description above leads me to the title of this blog:
I picked up The Show 09 the day it hit the stores. While the PS2 version may lack the graphical firepower of the PS3, in terms of on-field play, the game more than holds its own. I've logged over 100 games and overall, am really happy with the game.
But, there are a few things about The Show that really drive me nuts. The unresponsiveness of the fielders. I hate it when a ball is hit down the line and my 1B or 3B just stand there and don't even attempt to make a play on the ball. Or, balls hit to the gap the game on default picks the fielder furthest away from the ball, making it tough to catch or keep from reaching the wall. Balls hit to the gap are always caught by the CPU, while their gappers fall more times than not.
I also don't like how seemingly every time I put together a 3-4 run inning, the CPU answers back with a rally. I've thrown pitches out of the zone and the CPU will smash them for extra-base hits, then the next inning, I'll throw the same pitch and get a weak grounder.
I know it sounds like I'm piling on The Show and that's not my intention. I think it's a very good game, but, and this is the PS2 version, there are some annoyances that take away from the fun factor.
After spending time with both games recently, I have had the better overall experience with MVP NCAA. That will be my game of choice when it comes to baseball.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Really, it's that simple.
EA and the powers that be will never make the changes we all desire unless there's a reason for them to actually sit back and analyze their current business model. Right now, the game sells well every year, no matter how many bugs and glitches the game ships with. Why? Because we all buy the game, looking for a college football fix.
Well, I for one am taking a stand and am not going to give EA my money this year. They can put all the coats of paint on the car that they want, but the bottom line is strip away that paint coating and you have a rusted out car with a dying engine.
College football is a sport I love. I've played just about every game since the Bill Walsh days and thought that in 03 and 04, the NCAA game was a step ahead of Madden. Since the move to the 360/PS3, things have gone from bad to worse.
Last year we all complained about the sliders being broken after the game shipped. Natrually, you'd think that would have been fixed for this year's game, right? Nope. Broken again. The guys in charge say a patch will fix them, but honestly, it's hard to trust them at this stage.
Gameplay-wise, there are some improvements. I like that the CPU throws deep and the DB awareness seems improved. But overall, the game feels just like 09 with some minor differences. Not enough to warrant a purchase, in my opinion.
So, until consumers start showing their frustrations by not picking up the latest game, things probably aren't going to get much better. Madden is finally starting to make some much-needed changes after seeing its sales numbers decline the past few years.
If you are a NCAA fan and need a gaming fix, then dust off your PS2 or Xbox and fire up NCAA 03, 04, 06, 07 and 09. All are very good games and will give you hours of gaming enjoyment. Plus, you'll see refs and chain gangs on the field, something you still won't find in the 360/PS3 versions of 10.
Jackson managed just 39 yards against an aggressive Giants defense, as the defending champs ran their record to 2-0 with a domianting 41-10 victory.
Justin Tuck was a monster, shedding blocks left and right and was a constant presence in the St. Louis backfield. Tuck finished with a team-high 8 tackles (2 for loss) and a sack. The defense did a great job on third down, allowing the Rams just one conversion out of 11 chances.
Offensively, the Giants weren't their sharpest, as evidenced by Eli Manning completed only 12-of-24 passes for 166 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns. Brandon Jacobs had 88 yards on 20 carries, but was largely held in check.
Derek Ward proved to be the big offensive weapon on this day, gaining 136 yards on 13 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Third-string back, and kickoff return man, Ahmad Bradshaw, also had a few highlight-reel plays, including a 101-yard kickoff return and 15-yard touchdown run.
Here's some stats:
Passing: Manning 12-24-166-0-2
Rushing: Ward 13-136 3 TD
Receiving: Boss 4-47; Plaxico Burress 3-70
Defense: Tuck 8 tackles (2 loss), sack
Total offense: Giants 403-242
Rushing: Giants 239-39
Passing: Rams 203-164
3rd Down: Giants 9-14 (64%); Rams 1-11 (9%)
T.O.P.: Giants 35:05-24:51
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Giants (1-0) rallied from a 21-17 fourth quarter deficit, scoring a touchdown early in the final quarter and then holding on late as the Redskins moved the ball to the Giants' 30-yard-line, but ran out of time.
Brandon Jacobs carried the ball 31 times for 144 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and scored two touchdowns. Eli Manning was 16-of-22 for 175 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Kevin Boss led all Giants receivers with 5 catches for 58 yards.
On defense, Mathias Kiwanuka, filling in for an injured Osi Umeniyora, who's out for 4-6 weeks with a broken leg, had 7 tackles and a sack.
Here's some general stats:
Total offense: Giants 331-315
Rushing: Giants 172-132
Passing: Redskins 183-159
3rd Down Conversions: Giants 4-13 (30%); Redskins 3-9 (33%)
Time of possession: Giants 37:25-22:32
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Every time I play this game I have fun, and really, that's what gaming is all about. The Adaptive A.I. (not sure if that's the official title they gave the A.I. for this game) is a thing of beauty in NHL 08. Try setting up players in the same positions game after game and the CPU WILL MAKE ADJUSTMENTS and take what used to be sure passes and/or shooting angles away. Play the same way on defense and the CPU will look for new ways to get in scoring position.
The crowd interaction is pretty cool, too. If your opponent holds the puck for a long period of time, the home crowd will boo your poor effort on defense. You'll hear crowds chant "Let's go Hurricanes" during a power-play. Little touches go a long way.
The R-stick controls are well done and I love the feeling of scoring a goal or delivering a big check. Much more rewarding than simply pressing a shot/check button.
With the addition of board play and (hopefully) a more well-tuned Be A Pro mode, I'm looking forward to NHL 10, but first wanted to say how much fun I'm still having toiling around with NHL 08.
Great work, EA!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
When it came time to start anew and pick a team, I decided to run with my favorite, the New York Giants. Since picking up the game a few months ago, I've tried to stay away from the G-Men since they are the defending Super Bowl champs in the game and I didn't want things to be too easy for me.
But, when push came to shove, I figured I'd have probably more fun with the Giants than any other team, so that's who I'm rolling with.
I've gone back to Claystone's original slider set (where running back ability is at 95) and will play 15 min. quarters. I'll call the plays (I created myself as HC) on offense and let Spags handle the defense.
Both games were nearly identical; the Dolphins did some good things offensively, with quarterback Chad Henne continuing to progress and the running game chugging along at a steady pace. But, turnovers in the red zone killed Miami, especially against San Diego as Miami coughed it up 3 times inside the Chargers' 20-yard-line.
Defensively, the Dolphins are a mess. They can't stop the run (as evidenced by LT's 300-yard game) or the run (Brady carved them up for nearly 400 yards and 4 TD's), can't get pressure on the quarterback or generate any turnovers. In the last two games, the Dolphins have allowed 97 points!!!
Head coach Tony Sparano will likely take over the defensive play-calling reigns soon if defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni can't get things straightened out.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Playing on the road for the first time this season, the Dolphins put together a sound gameplan and exectued it well. Controlling the ball for nearly 40 minutes, Miami made sure Kurt Warner and the Cardinals' explosive offense spent most of the game on the sidelines.
Unfortunately, all that ball control resulted in just 13 points as the Dolphins just couldn't finish drives off. Two costly turnovers by Chad Henne led to 14 points for the Cardinals, as they recovered two of his fumbles and returned them for touchdowns.
Just as in Week 1, Henne shows flashes of brillance in Week 2, completing 17-of-26 passes for 272 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. But, he was sacked 6 more times and the 2 lost fumbles really were the difference in the game.
Ronnie Brown picked up 72 yards on 21 carries and Ricky Williams added 20 yards on 7 carries. Ted Ginn Jr. led all receivers with 4 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.
The much-maligned defense played a lot better than their Week 1 performance, holding the Cardinals to 232 yards of total offense and just 16 points when you take away the 14 they scored on the fumble recoveries.
Coach Tony Sparano has seen his approval rating plummet from 82 to 39 and with the Patriots up next on the schedule, it might be another week before he picks up the first win of the season.
Still, the players seem optimistic and if they can cut down on the costy turnovers, there is hope yet for the young squad.
Miami, fresh off a 1-15 season, is a team that needs a lot of help. Not a lot of skill but a lot of young talent, that, if given time to develop, could turn out to be a good squad in 2-3 years. Hopefully, management will give me that time.
After a terrible 1-3 preseason, my first big move as head coach was to bench Chad Pennington in favor of rookie, Chad Henne. Pennington just couldn't get anything going and threw the ball more to the other team than his receivers. Henne is young and will hold on to the ball too long in some instances, but, has a strong arm and will make smart throws with the ball.
The key to any kind of success lies in the running game. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are both capable of breaking long runs. I've got several Wildcat plays so the opposition will be seeing both Brown and Williams on the field together.
Defensively, the secondary is fragile at best. Currently I'm letting Paul Pasqualoni call the plays (I call offense) but I don't know how long that will last as his constant blitzes leave our DB's on islands and opposing teams are shredding us for big gains. The run defense is adequate, but nothing spectacular.
In the regular season opener, Brett Favre and the Jets torched us for over 300 yards on their way to an easy 45-20 victory. Offensively things were OK; Henne had 220 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs but was sacked 6 times.
Clearly, it's going to be a long season. But, if our guys can stay healthy and work hard, we'll build a foundation for the future.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I've been a basketball fan since I was a little kid and played basketball all the way through high school and a year of Junior College.
Anyway, I grew up on Showtime, Bird, Jordan, Isiah etc. and followed the NBA and NCAA intently into the late 90's. Once MJ retired, I kind of distanced myself from the NBA and just followed college. Just this year I really started to get back to watching the NBA and am liking the turn the league has made.
The last NBA game I played was 2k7 on 360, but it was only a rental. I'm really looking for an NBA fix right now, something to carry me over until the new games drop this year -- or something to sustain me past the fall if the new releases struggle out of the gate.
I had been thinking of running with NBA 2k8 since I have College Hoops 2k8 and really like the way that game plays. But, I've heard some good things about NBA Live 09 and would be willing to give that a shot if it truly does represent NBA basketball better than 2k8 or 2k9.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
For the 360 we have:
NFL Head Coach 09
NHL 08
All Pro Football 2k8
Legends of Wrestlemania
UFC Unleashed (demo)
College Hoops 2k8
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
For the PS2:
MLB 09: The Show
NCAA Football 09
Madden 09
I look at that list and it's mind-boggling to me how I've found time between my job and family responsibilities to play this many games. I remember when I used to only play a couple of games a year and play them until I either completed them or became bored with them; whichever came first.
Now, I'm bouncing around from one title to the next and the result is a lot of incomplete games. Heck, I've had Madden since Christmas and I still haven't finished my first season in my Chiefs franchise. I have yet to start an NCAA dynasty and I've only got a handful of games into my NHL and MLB seasons (granted, I have restarted both a few times).
I think I really need to step back and evaluate my gaming habits. I hate feeling like I'm throwing money away by buying games and only playing them for a couple of weeks before moving on to another game.
Ideally I'd like to focus in on 1-2 games per system and leave the other games behind until I've finished the games I've started.
So, with that said, I think I'm narrowing the list down as such:
360
Legends of Wrestlemania (great pick-up-and-play game that doesn't take a lot of time and a game you can leave for 2-3 weeks and not miss anything)
NHL 08 (just started a Buffalo dynasty and have started seeing my stick skills improve so can't give this up just yet)
PS2
MLB 09: The Show (it's baseball season and this game is just a blast to play, especially now that I've got the sliders just right)
Madden 09 (I need to buckle down and at least finish out my last 3 games in my franchise and then perhaps start up NCAA)
Now, I am in an All Pro Football league so I won't be eschewing my commitments there; I'll just play league games and league games only.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The on-field action is actually quite a bit of fun as well. It's really neat to call a play and then see your players execute it to perfection. Sure, there are little annoying bugs like running backs running backwards after going a few yards and receivers dropping wide open passes, but all in all, it's a very solid and ultimately, rewarding experience.
There is, however, one big issue I've had with the game so far. That is the "Defining Moments." Now, in theory, the Defining Moments part of the game makes a lot of sense. Often, coaches are judges by the media, fans, players and management on how they handle certain in-game situations. In Head Coach, there will be times where you are asked to make a call that will affect your approval rating. Sounds harmless, right? Well, it's not, and that's all due to the faulty logic of said moments.
Take, for instance, a game I played last night. I'm coaching the Oakland Raiders and it's our regular season opener against Denver. It's 4th-and-goal from the 7. JaMarcus Russell had just been sacked, and fumbled, on the previous play. Time to kick the field goal, right? Nope, I get a Defining Moment instead where everyone wants to see me go for it, even though it doesn't make much sense. I choose the smart route, take the 3 points and my approval rating plummets 6 points!
Later in the game, in overtime, it's 4th-and-10 from MY OWN 40! Once again, the Defining Moment pops up suggesting I GO FOR THE FIRST DOWN!!! There's no way I can justify it, so I punt and guess what happens? Approval rating goes in the toilet.
I eventually lost the game (I got the ball back after that punt) but I wasn't upset about that. What ticked me off was the Defining Moments popping up at inopportune times and costing me more than 10 points in my approval rating, which as a new coach, was already low to begin with.
Again, let me state, Head Coach is a very good game. If you haven't tried it out yet, I recommend you give it a shot if you can look past not being able to control the players on the field.
So, EA, when you get ready to make the next edition of Head Coach (I really hope there is one in 2010), please look into tweaking the Defining Moments and making the logical more realistic. Thank you.
Friday, March 13, 2009
After watching last night's epic Syracuse-UCONN game, I've got the bug for basketball and really want to try and commit to a game.
The last game I played was College Hoops 2k8. I had fun with it for a while but eventually got tired of the CPU hitting every 3-pointer they threw up and continually blocking shots from my post men on the interior. Another thing that bugged me about the game was that it seemed like to took a long, long time for my players to load up and shoot a shot. Countless times I'd try and shoot a mid-range jumper with my player, only for it to be swatted away by an oncoming defender.
Perhaps I didn't have the sliders adjusted properly and I'll admit, I didn't get into the playcalling feature. I wound up trading it in towards MLB 09: The Show (PS2).
So, I'm throwing these questions out to you in the OS community because I respect your opinions on sports games:
Should I give College Hoops 2k8 another shot? If so, where should I look for sliders and can anyone give me advice on running set plays?
NCAA Basketball 09: honestly, how is it? I played the Demo but didn't really have an opinion one way or another? Is the floor spacing really that good? Are the fast breaks fun but not overdone? How's dynasty mode?
College or pro, which is the best basketball game? Admittedly I prefer college more than the NBA, but if an NBA game is far-and-away the best out there, I'll give it a shot.
Thanks for the help...I hope a lot of you were able to watch that SU-UCONN game last night; if not, I'm sure ESPN Classic will be replaying it very soon.
Go Orange!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
A couple of things have plagued me:
Shaky starting pitching (Santana is 0-2 and only Maine and Redding have a W) and untimely hitting. It seems that I can string a hit or two together, but when I need someone to step up and drive in a run, it doesn't happen.
My power bats have been quiet in the HR dept. as only Beltran and Delgado have an HR; Reyes actually leads the team with 2.
Question for those using the Mets, what does your lineup look like?
I've got:
Reyes
Beltran
Wright
Delgado
Church/Tatis
Murphy
Schneider
Castillo
Pitcher
Thinking I might move Beltran back to 5th and Castillo back to 2nd but Beltran has been hitting real well in the No. 2 spot; it's the 5-8 spots that are really slumping for me right now.
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