Not So PC
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Pitching
This was simply awful last year. Almost every starter had career worst years. From Bonderman’s injury to Verlander’s inconsistency to the stench from Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson, the starting pitching was bad. They added Edwin Jackson in a trade but all of the candidates will simply have to be better than last year. Too many question marks right now and not enough answers or aces.
As bad as the starting pitching was, the bullpen was worse! The team blew tons of leads last year and the bullpen ranked third worst in the AL. Todd Jones retired and Fernando Rodney is currently the closer. He’s got good stuff but can’t find the strike zone at the worst times. He blew 6 of 19 save opportunities last year. Joel Zumaya would be the best option but he’s been injury prone and can’t be counted on but will be. There are young, quality relievers in the farm system but they probably won’t be ready until 2010. This is a major concern going into this season.
Hitting
This team should be able to score runs. Between Magglio, Cabrera, Guillen, Granderson, Polanco and a healthy Sheffield, runs should be fine. But they won’t be the offensive juggernaut they envisioned before last year. Sheffield has to prove his shoulder is healthy and at his age, we should not bank on it. Good defensive but terrible offensive players will man the SS, 3B and catcher positions. The lineup in some ways will look like an NL lineup at the bottom of the order.
Defense
Defensively the team should be better with Inge at third and Renterria gone from shortstop. But Carlos Guillen in left field? That’s an injury and error waiting to happen. The team still lacks speed and will fail to steal many bases again.
Managing
Jim Leyland lost his magic touch the last 1.5 seasons. He got overly close to his players and rewarded playing time based on past success and his relationship with them. He needs to be tougher and play the players that are playing well regardless of salary or reputation. Managing this bullpen will be a challenge.
Overall
I’m not expecting great things this year. I think this team can compete for the division title but so many things have to go right. There are just too many question marks in both the starting rotation and bullpen to be answered to suggest this is a playoff team. I think they will be roughly 5 games over .500.
Monday, January 19, 2009
I'd like to see an "Official OS Early Impressions Thread" be released on the site. Let people post early and often uninformed opinions that clutter up everything. While initial impressions are exciting and fun to read, they are often subject to massive changes later on since people have only had limited time with the game. Early thoughts are often overly positive or negative.
One week after release, post an "Official OS Post Initial Buzz Impressions" Thread. People can talk about the game in better detail after having played the game more and have a better understanding of it. Impressions would be more detailed and accurate. This would be better for everyone and particularly newcomers or casual gamers who want to learn more about the game. It would be far less cluttered and easier to search through.
Lastly, I think there should be an “Official What Bugs Me About the Game" Thread. This should be released one week after release (with the Post Buzz Impressions) so the complaints are based on more significant playing time. You will always have people that love a game and people that hate a game. When someone doesn’t like a game and posts about, it often incites some bickering or flame wars. Starting an official thread where you can bitch about something without being attacked for it would be good. Plus, you know what you are getting into when you enter the “Bugs/Bitch” thread.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Furthermore, it’s never going to happen! If the BCS can’t agree on a four-team playoff, why the hell do you think they would jump to a 16-team playoff? Baby steps people! If you want a playoff, you push for four teams. Once you get that, then you can push for eight. Then 16 if you really think it is necessary. But this desire for a 16-team playoff where every conference champion is special is just a waste of Internet space.
Monday, January 12, 2009
My knowledge of the NBA along with my stick skills in Live are both weak at the moment. I doubt they are going to improve much over the next two months as Live 09 might take a backseat when the Show arrives. When I read a thread asking people what difficulty level they played on I simply didn’t answer. How embarrassed should I be to say “Starter”? Gasp! The default difficulty level? Everyone else is playing on Superstar or at least All-Star.
Most of my posting on OS over the years has been regarding football and particularly NCAA football. There are plenty of people better than me but I feel I have some pretty good knowledge of the game and how it works. I can only hope I didn’t respond with some negative comments to people who are casual gamers just popping in for a short time. I often get annoyed when I see people asking a question that’s already been answered a million times. I know what it feels like to be on other side of that fence, afraid to ask a dumb question.
Nobody is an expert in every sport or every video game. Hopefully people can remain cordial to those rookies popping in to get a smart or dumb question answered once in awhile. If I like shooting percentages to be a little higher and the game a little more arcade in a sport I’m unfamiliar with, don’t shoot me.
Friday, January 9, 2009
So I decided to calculate the NFL ratings of college quarterbacks and see how they compare. The overall rankings are fairly similar (I screwed up earlier) and the numbers are high but not nearly as high as the college ratings.
Here are the Top 25 College Quarterbacks with their NFL rating and College Rank.
NFL Rank Name NFL Rating College Rank
1 Sam Bradford 131.6 (1)
2 Tim Tebow 127.0 (4)
3 Colt McCoy 125.6 (3)
4 David Johnson 117.3 (2)
5 Chase Clement 116.5 (8)
6 Mark Sanchez 113.0 (6)
7 Graham Harrell 112.9 (9)
8 Nate Davis 111.9 (7)
9 Case Keenum 110.9 (10)
10 Zac Robinson 110.2 (5)
11 Chase Daniel 107.5 (11)
12 Max Hall 106.5 (13)
13 Kellen Moore 106.2 (12)
14 Brian Johnson 103.5 (16)
15 Joe Ganz 103.0 (14)
16 Matthew Stafford 101.7 (15)
17 Trevor Vittatoe 101.1 (20)
18 Tim Hiller 100.9 (24)
19 Todd Reesing 100.7 (17)
20 Dan LeFevour 100.5 (23)
21 Adam DiMichele 100.0 (19)
22 Pat White 99.7 (26)
23 Willie Tuitama 99.3 (22)
24 Robert Griffin 98.7 (27)
25 Omar Clayton 98.6 (29)
Monday, January 5, 2009
There are two things a developer can do when the latest video game console is released. They can port the game over and just boost the graphics a little. Or they can re-write everything and provide great graphics hoping the holes in the AI aren’t too big. EA has usually chosen the latter path with typically bad results. I’m not just talking on the PS3 or 360 either. They have a history of doing this.
This is the first year I bought NBA Live in a long time. I loved the Live series when it first came out. NBA Live 95 was a blast. The game evolved over the years and the last version on the PS1 was an excellent game. But the first couple of editions on the PS2 were horrible and I stopped buying the game. The initial NHL games on the PS1 and PS2 were both filled with problems. Now we look at the football games on the 360 and PS3 and see how long it is taking EA to bring the games back up to the quality of the PS2/XBox versions. While I do enjoy NCAA ’09 there are still major issues with the game that I don’t think should exist at this point. This has already been the third iteration of Madden on the new consoles and yet many people still aren’t happy. It’s better but why is this process taking so long?
There are examples of smooth transitions. Sony’s first PS3 version of The Show was great. It was incredibly similar to the PS2 version with tons of features and upgraded graphics. Granted the graphics on the original PS3 version weren’t truly next gen but the gameplay was solid. Nobody who bought the PS3 version felt they were playing the inferior product. Sony upgraded the graphics the following year and gamers didn’t have to suffer through inferior gameplay in the process. I was critical of APF 2K8 for being too much of a port when released but it was still evidence that a development team could bring over the same gameplay without suffering inexplicable problems in the process. In fact, fans of APF will praise the improvements in gameplay from 2K5.
I’m tired of seeing the same patterns materialize in the EA Sports library. You get a new console with a new pretty game full of problems. It takes a few years to fix it and then they start developing the next generations’ mistake filled game. Enough already. It’s clear that EA has made some major strides over the last couple years and we are finally at or near the point where their sports games are great again. I’m happy about that but can we keep it that way please? Don’t expect me to line up for the next over-priced system and flawed game when it gets released in a few years. I will stick with the older, cheaper versions longer than I have in the past. I’ve learned my lesson and I hope EA has too.
Friday, January 2, 2009
EA clearly caters to the casual gamer in this regard and apparently many on OS as well since most don't find it a problem or see it as a minor annoyance. Nobody likes to have the ball stuffed down their throat in real life or a video game. So EA designed it so it would never happen. I remember playing with Ole Miss in a PS2 version a couple years ago where I had a lousy front seven. I ended up with the worst run defense in the SEC which was realistic and great! In NCAA '09, you would have to be a blind man fumbling around the controller to ever end up with the worst run defense in any conference using any team.
I really hope EA makes the sliders more effective, makes the plays and play calling more effective and above all, creates a game that is more balanced and ready to play out of the box. The run game is still extremely important in college football. Either out of traditional sets or the spread and option offenses. It's time to get it right.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Uncharted has been described as one part Gears of War, one part Tomb Raider, one part Indiana Jones, etc. All of it may be true for this third person shooter/adventure game. One of the criticisms was that the game was too short as people were saying they could beat it in 8 hours. My first time through took me around 17 hours on normal difficulty! I guess you could say I sucked but I’m glad it didn’t last too short. (For those with more experience, maybe you should start on hard difficulty). There is a lot of shooting as well as some puzzle and platforming. You can’t simply run into the open blazing your guns and expect to succeed. Taking cover and conserving ammo are crucial. Hand-to-hand combat is in the game but a very small part. I did snap one guy’s neck once so that was cool but rare. While the shooting can get slightly repetitive they do break it up with some different areas where you are on a ski-doo, puzzle solving and platforming. Plus, the sheer variety of guns as you go through the game is great. I loved the Wes 44 handgun and the shotgun.
It was with some regret when I traded it in as the new sports games were coming out in the spring of 2008. But as my brother recently bought a PS3, he asked for Uncharted as a Christmas gift. I decided to pop it into my system to make sure the disc wasn’t scratched (I bought it used) and fell in love with the game all over again. Thank goodness I completed it again on Christmas Eve! Wouldn’t want Santa to be late! Took me 13 hours and I got 40 treasures. I was probably a little disappointed in both totals but I’m guessing I’ll play through this game again before Uncharted 2 comes out this fall. And I'll have fun all over again.
Monday, December 22, 2008
I've decided I would probably get NBA Live 09 over NBA 2K9. The review scores do favour NBA 2K9 and the last basketball game I got was College Hoops 2K6 which I liked. I've also read that NBA 2K9 is probably the better overall game although Live might be more suited to the casual gamer like me. I read that Live's free throws are too easy, the injuries are screwed up in season mode and that the fast breaks aren't done too well. 2K9 is more polished in many areas but the court spacing isn't as good. I did try both demos and I definitely see the cpu fast breaking more on 2K9. But I love the court spacing so much more on Live so I'm going with Live 09. I'm not going to bother with NCAA 09 (I did try that demo) since I like the Pistons and don't like Vitale.
Feel free to change my mind as I'm still not sure if I will pick up a game. But I've got a few months before the Show comes out and depending on how long Star Wars takes to finish, I think I'll try to find a cheap copy in January to give me a couple months of fun before it collects dust.
Friday, December 19, 2008
1) The Characters were Boring.
In the original movie, we all grew to love Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Darth Vader (love to hate anyways). Even the droids were great. Humour was mixed in well and the relationship between Han and Leia was light years better than the relationship between Annikan and Padme.
The new trilogy really lacked in this area. The story largely centers on Annakin and Obi-Wan but I felt that Ewan McGregor was lousy as Kanobi and Hayden Christenson was horrible as Annikan. Ewan plays more of a smart-*** version of Obi-Wan and I never liked it. Hayden’s performance in Episode II makes it very difficult for me to watch that movie and might be the worst acting performance in the history of film. Lucas’ scripts deserve some blame for this though.
The only real characters I liked in the new trilogy were from the Phantom Menace. Liam Neeson was really good as Qui Gon Jin and I did like little Annikan a lot in the movie. Darth Maul was one of the coolest bad guys out there. Too bad he didn’t live longer.
2) Simple story: Good vs. Evil.
The original trilogy had a simple goal. Defeat the evil empire. Darth Vader was one of the best villains ever created and it was fun to root for the little guy. The new trilogy was an overly complicated political affair that lacked the black and white, good vs. evil story line. The ending in episode one wasn’t an exhilarating destruction of the Death Star like the original Star Wars had. It was the defeat of a trade agreement gone bad. Wow! Doesn’t that sound exciting! I preferred the real battles in space vs. the political bickering in the Galactic Senate. There was a reason Lucas started making the movies with episode four – it’s because they were more interesting.
3) Too Much CGI.
The new movies have tremendous battles scenes and a ton of different ships. But there is too much of this at times. And the texture and quality of the model ships used in the original actually outshine some of the new CGI. Of course seeing a model X-Wing Fighter get blown up by a tiny piece of dynamite was fairly obvious but the detail of these ships was great. The original scene in Episode IV had a fly over by a destroyer. That ship still looks great today and better than any ship in the original battle scene in Episode III. Lucas spent too much time on the CGI and not enough time on the story. Having a million ships on the screen at the same time wasn’t necessary to make the original movies great and they did nothing to make the new ones great either.
4) Predicted vs. Unpredicted Outcome.
The original trilogy was actually original! We didn’t know where the story was going and the revelation that Vader was Luke’s father was arguably the highlight of the Series. The new trilogy was writing to and end that we already knew. In fact, the entire interest most Star Wars fans had in the prequels was to see how Annikan turned into Darth Vader. We all wondered as kids why Annakin turned bad. How did it happen? Our imaginations ran wild. Unfortunately, the turn of Annakin to the dark side was done poorly and didn’t come close to our own imaginations as to what really happened. It was like opening a Christmas gift to find socks inside. Sure I could use some new socks but it was certainly disappointing when unwrapped.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The New York Yankees are being blasted as the bad guys for spending a lot of money to “buy” a championship. But what happens when you get a St. Louis – Detroit or Philly – Tampa World Series? Nobody watches. Ratings go in the toilet and set record lows. All of you BCS Busters that wanted Hawaii to get a shot at the title last year didn’t do a great job of watching the game. Hawaii got blown out and it was the least watched of all the BCS bowls last year. But a game like Michigan – Florida, which featured two popular teams, did very well in the TV ratings. It was the third most watched bowl game last year despite not having its own time slot.
The real truth is that we love to watch popular teams. We love and need the flagship franchises in sports. We tune in to cheer them or boo them. That #11 seed that made it to the final four gets a sentimental spot in our heart but not on our TV set. The low payroll squad that upsets the Red Sox to get to the World Series gets praised but we choose sleep instead of watching them. Deep down our desires are not as utopian as we think. We don’t want a truly level playing field and our actions speak louder than words.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Baseball is next highest after pro football with regards to sales although basketball sales are still going strong and could over take it. I’m not sure. The Show outsold MLB 2K8 even though it was sold only on Sony software.
Hockey sales had the fewest sales but EA dominated 2K9 this year so far. The numbers are still low but certainly skewed towards the 360 more than any other sport. NBA Live showed the most balanced 360 to PS3 sales.
Madden Football 09 – 4.1 million sales. There were 1.46 million games sold on the 360 compared to 960,000 on the PS3. Still had 710,000 sales on the PS2 and 430,000 on the Wii. The PSP had 380,000 sales.
NCAA Football 09 – 1.42 million. The 360 had 570,000 sales to 360,000 on the PS3. The PS2 had 290,000 sales.
The Show MLB 08 – 1.13 million. The PS3 had 560,000, PS2 had 310,000 and the PSP had 260,000.
MLB 2K8 – 1.05 million. The 360 had 670,000 compared to only 230,000 suckers on the PS3 (should have bought the Show!).
NBA 2K9 – 740,000 units. The 360 had 400,000 versus 210,000 on the PS3.
NBA Live 09 – 430,000 units. The 360 had 150,000 versus 120,000 on the PS3. The PS2 still sold 100,000 units.
NHL 09 – 300,000 units. The 360 had 200,000 versus 90,000 on the PS3.
NHL 2K9 – 110,000 units. The 360 had 60,000 versus only 20,000 on the PS3.
NCAA Basketball 09 - Only 60,000 units but a relatively new release. 360 at 30,000, PS3 has 20,000 and the PS2 roughly 10,000.
College Hoops 2K8 - Over it's life span this has sold 390,000 copies. The 360 has 150,000, the PS3 has 80,000 while the PS2 has the most at 160,000!
Nascar 09 - This has sold 340,000 units to date. The 360 leads the way with 150,000 but the PS2 is in second with 100,000. The PS3 finishes last with a still strong 90,000 sales.
I've ignored some smaller sports that have more impact when looking at the world sales figures.
Tiger Woods 09 - 1.42 million world wide! The only game where the Wii is the leader in sales with 490,000. The 360 is next with 400,000, the PS3 has 330,000 and the PS2 has 170,000 still.
Fifa 09 - 3.95 million world wide! The PS3 actually leads the way with 1.36 million, 1.15 million for the 360, 1.04 million for the PS2 and 400,000 on the PSP. Of the nearly 3.95 million sold, 550,000 were from North America.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
There have been times over the last few years where watching a favorite TV show has disappointed me. I’ve gone to see the blockbuster movie that everyone loves and been let down almost solely because the bounds of realism were stretched to the point of making me insane. So when that happens and I find myself disappointed and posting about it, don’t preach to me that it’s just a TV show or just a movie. There is no fictional switch to just shut your brain off and accept these things.
I used to love watching 24. It was fun and entertaining. Jack Bauer often did things that were crazy or unrealistic but it hadn’t reached the point where I started to hate the show. But the sixth season of that show finally got to me. So many things from the president handing Jack over to terrorists to be killed to Jack breaking into an embassy (again!) just killed my love for the show and I quit watching. I posted my displeasure (probably a bit too often) over what the show was doing and posters jumped all over me. “It’s a TV show. Just accept it.” Sorry. That’s just an excuse and it isn’t possible for everyone to accept it.
The Dark Knight is the 4th highest grossing movie of all time. And yet the second half of that movie irritated me to the point I don’t want to see it again. The Joker’s in jail? Nope – he detonates a bomb and all of the keystone cops around him fall down and just let him walk out. Try to kill the district attorney and threaten to blow up a hospital? No problem. Just walk into the hospital and talk to the district attorney in his room. Don’t worry about security. Batman likes his gadgets. But did they really expect me to accept a device that could interpret the cell phone signals across an entire city and not only listen in on every conversation but also use it as radar to indicate the position of every wall and human in every building? That’s a huge stretch that millions of people had no problem with but I did. I can let some things go but when they pile up as much as they did in the latest Batman movie I get annoyed. We can agree to disagree about how great or bad The Dark Knight was. But stop making excuses for bad or ludicrous writing. Some people can’t accept that.
In the end everyone has an opinion. The so-called “popcorn” movie can be very enjoyable. But there is a line of realism that everyone has. Some TV shows or movies may cross my line but not yours. In some ways I’m envious of the person who can just accept obvious flaws in every movie. But I’m still entitled to my opinion and please don’t bother telling me to just accept things. It won’t work and I don’t have to.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The game started poorly for Colorado. With USC up 3-0, Colorado’s quarterback Earl Herron threw a curl route that was jumped and returned for a score. It was a good read but a better play by the DB, who jumped the route, spun off the tackle of the QB and then broke one more tackle to score. (See my arena for a video). Herron was benched after his second pick.
Colorado was down 10-0, which was not a good sign. They did get a safety after pinning USC on their two-yard line and were able to score a TD to pull to 10-9. However, the USC impact running back broke a 45 yard TD run in the third quarter and after more interceptions from CU, tacked on another three points to lead 20-9 going into the fourth quarter.
CU’s offense came to life and a great run by their young RB Chad Reid (who won the Maxwell award) brought the game to a 20-15 deficit. But the two point conversion failed after the ball was thrown behind the open TE. Then the defense allowed a deep out to turn into a TD as the USC receiver raced up field for another touchdown.
Final score 30-15 for USC.
Rudy’s bowl record through six years: 1-5.
Key Stats from the game for Colorado:
4 INTs (one returned for TD)
2 for 15 on third down
4 drops by receivers
6 punts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
“The BCS sucks! We need a playoff!”
“I can’t wait for 2K to get the NFL license again.”
“2K5 was the greatest football game ever created.”
“Madden sucks.”
"We need a new engine."
“Rudy’s awesome.”
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