Pixel Grande
Friday, July 3, 2009
My reasoning is pretty simple: in addition to being easier on my wallet, buying only a couple games each year would allow me to really delve into the games and get the full experience from them. There's nothing more frustrating to me than buying a game and wanting to play it, but just never having the time because I have a dozen other games competing for my attention (not to mention real commitments like family and work).
And yet every year I seem to end up buying nearly every game under the sun, only to have many of them sit on my shelf almost untouched, save for a few precious hours when I first bought them.
Take this past year for example. Around July of 2008, I told myself I was only going to buy NHL 09 and FIFA 09 (assuming they turned out all right, of course) and really play the crap out of them. This was based on how much I'd enjoyed NHL 08 and Euro 2008. I was determined. That was it. As much as I enjoyed other sports games, those were the two that were going to carry me through the year.
Flash forward to today and somehow, in addition to those two aforementioned games, my shelf also holds copies of Madden 09, NBA 2K9, NBA Live 09, Tiger Woods 09, MLB 09: The Show, UFC 2009: Undisputed and probably one or two more I'm forgetting right now.
And while all those games have their strong points (a couple are arguably among the best sports games available), none of them really got the playtime they deserve. Meanwhile, they all took time away from NHL and FIFA, the two games I went into the year determined to play the most.
One way or another, I can't seem to resist picking up the top games in each sport each year, despite my best intentions. I'm already wondering whether I should bother making a similar pact with myself this fall.
So what kind of gamer are you? Do you take a shotgun-style approach like me, buying many games but mastering none? Or are you the type of gamer who can focus his/her attention on a few key titles each year?
Let me know in the comments below.
(Oh, and if you're the focused type, feel free to leave tips on how you pull that off!)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
However, after reading yesterday's terrific piece by Greg Cote in the Miami Herald, I've become an unabashed Stan Van Gundy supporter. His humility, humor and honesty might be unique to the professional sports world, if not for his younger brother Jeff, who has quickly developed into one of the most entertaining and refreshing color commentators in sports broadcasting.
Both men seem to call it as it is and go out of their way to avoid overstating their own abilities. For proof, look no further than this quote from Stan Van Gundy from the Cote piece:
|
|||||||||
|
After gaining more insight into Stan Van Gundy, the person, I'm eager to root on the Orlando Magic in Game 4 tonight, as I'm sure Bill and Cindy will be. Good on them.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
In almost every single big-name sports sim released over the past 20 years, we as gamers have been able to quantify, often on a 100-point scale, exactly how good each individual player is in a myriad of categories.
This might sound like a good thing, but I believe it actually hurts the realism of these games.
The reason I say that is simple: as a gamer, we not only control the players, but also serve as the coach of our team, choosing who we put into our lineup on any given day. Now in real life, coaches have to make judgment calls every day. "Do I go with Player X today, or does Player Y give us a better chance to win?"
Real-life coaches are forced to make their decisions based on observation, experience, player histories and hunches. Terry Francona has been faced with such a decision with David Ortiz. Is this a slump? Is he ready to break out? Is he washed up? As a manager, all Francona can do is weigh all the evidence and make what he feels is the best decision for the team.
On the other hand, virtual coaches and managers face no such problem. While many games do incorporate things like hot and cold streaks, the fact remains that we simply have too much hard data at our finger tips. For example, I recently started a dynasty with the Chicago Blackhawks in NHL 09. Through 16 games, second-line center Dave Bolland has no points and is a team-worst -9. But Bolland remains in my lineup because I can look at the player ratings and plainly see that even on a cold streak, Bolland is far better player than anyone I have scratched.
I'd like to see more games follow the All-Pro Football 2K8 model, where we can't see any hard numbers. There can, and should, still be ratings behind the scenes, and perhaps those should be viewable in the roster editing function of most sports games, but once we jump into a dynasty or franchise mode, I'd prefer if we, as gamers, were left to make educated guesses just like the real guys.
9 Forum Posts
3 Blog Entries
10 News/Blog Comments
1 Reader Score Votes
5 Friends
0 Chalkboard Messages
0 Screenshots
0 Videos
1,436 Arena Visits
Jimmy_Fairplay's Blog Categories
Jimmy_Fairplay's Xbox 360 Gamercard
Jimmy_Fairplay's Screenshots (0)
Jimmy_Fairplay does not have any albums to display.
Jimmy_Fairplay's Friends
Recent Visitors
The last 10 visitor(s) to this Arena were:
Jimmy_Fairplay's Arena has had 1,436 visits
Jimmy_Fairplay's Arena has had 1,436 visits
Working...