GameShark 2009 Year End Awards

I posted these on Monday but with friends and family at the house this week, I forgot to mention it here. Enjoy.

I actually have some features in the oven that should be posted after New Year. Our 2010 Most Wanted, The 50 Games That Shaped the Decade, and the Best Games You Didn't Play in 2009.

And of course Ashley's Top 10, always a crowd favorite.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

First order of business. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and all that associated stuff to all of you.

I'm heading out of dodge for much of the next week and won't be posting much (if at all). This doesn't make things around here much different than they already have been for the last month (and year, really). I know. I suck. I've not been a great blogger this year. Too many distractions, too much procrastination, etc. etc. So, primary (only?) New Year's resolution is to get back on the stick with the whole blogging thing. Time will tell, of course.

In the meantime I hope you all have (had) a wonderful (and safe) holiday season!

Saturday Basketball -- 3rd grade Girl Style

Today is game #2 in Ashley's league. They play at 3:45 today and I will get a post game report up, likely tomorrow.

I smell a 10 point 5 assist 5 steal day today!

No pressure Ash!

Madden Ultimate Team Preview

I didn't preview this one for GameShark, but Jason did a good write up on it.

Madden Patch #2

Bill Harris is doing his due diligence over at DB.

King's Bounty and Basketball

First off my take on the King's Bounty sequel was posted Friday. Fun game.

Ashley's first basketball game was Saturday and her team lost 22-7.

At this age all it takes is one girl who is taller than everyone else, can actually get the ball TO the rim, and get all of the rebounds to turn a game into a route. Basically the other team had a 10 year old version of Kareem. And when half the girls still don't know what defense really means...that's a recipe for...well for 22-7.

Ashley is the point guard and she had a blast. She did get an assist and she played really good defense and I have never seen her so INTO a game before. Soccer is different for her. I get the feeling she actually enjoys basketball whereas soccer is just something to do with her friends.

Mary and I are doing a good job, we think, of not being "those parents." You know the parents who tell the coach what to do, yell at the kids from the bleachers and generally act like a 3rd grade girl's basketball game is Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

If you do not have kids let me assure you: these people exist and they must be weeded out of the gene pool for the sake of our survival.

But Mary and I both have basketball backgrounds so when we are watching practice and the coach is telling the kids to set a screen by basically acting like they are boxing out with their arms extended, which in every form of basketball is highly illegal, it's hard to bite my tongue. But I do. When I coached soccer I KNOW I was likely messing stuff up and I would have felt like crap if Mr. Soccer Star came up to me and told me I was doing stuff horribly wrong. But damn...teaching illegal screens?

So we both just sit there and clap and encourage the kids as best we can because regardless -- Ashley is loving it and Mary already informed me after the first practice that we were both coaching next year.

Knowing Mary, I bet she'll have them running suicides.

Madden Ultimate Team

Well, I really do have a lot of things to talk about as I haven't blogged anything substantial for a while.

But for now, I'll say that EA sent me a build of Madden Ultimate Team for the 360 -- and the embargo is in place until Dec. 14th and the press sheet even says "no first hand impressions."

So, there you go.

Last weekend we made the yearly trek to Indy to see Todd. Baroo showed up as well and we basically spent 48 hours playing boardgames -- Small World, Chaos in the Old World, Rails of Europe and a brilliant 6 player game of Battlestar Galactica.

You think you're a middle aged hobby nerd? Try spending an hour pleading with your wife that you are not, in fact, a Cylon. That hits home let me tell ya.

I continue to hang my hat on the fact that my jump shot is as smooth as spun silk. When that leaves..I'm in trouble.

Ashley is playing on her 3rd/4th grade youth league basketball team -- they have her at point guard, which she is totally loving - she gets to call the plays and bring the ball up the court. She's very much like her mom.

Mary played HS basketball on a very, very good Division IV team. Mary was going to be a walk on at Marietta college in Ohio until she blew out her knee. She could play.

Check that -- she could play DEFENSE. Mary was that annoying defender who stuck to you like glue, and got her points on steals and transition baskets.

Me? I have the speed of a chain smoking turtle and the defensive ability of an anvil.

But I can come off a screen and shoot three pointers. With my ankles being what they are today, the days of penetrating are all but over -- but leave me open and I'll show you that while this white man cannot jump (at all) he can shoot.

Ashley resembles Mary. Quick, plays defense, steals a lot of balls and can't shoot a lick. Sort of the ideal 3rd grade point guard! She's having a blast and I can't wait for her first game -- this Saturday!

Picard Will Put On Zeppelin and Eat Cheddar Cheese

This Star Trek TNG – uh – video thing, has been making the rounds today, so chances are you’ve seen it already, but if not it’s worth taking three minutes to watch. It may just be up there with The Vader Sessions. (Not Work Safe – Language)

Left 4 Dead 2 Impressions (360 version)

Note: I’ve read that the PC version of this game plays much differently than the 360 version in terms of difficulty and balance, so keep that in mind as you read.

I picked up L4D2 during release week, but because I’ve been out of town for a week I’ve only had a couple of chances to play. Bill, crew, and I have done a couple of Campaign runs, one on the carnival scenario and one on Dead Center as well as a handful of Versus runs. My overall impression?

This game is frigg’n hard.

I can’t decide, though, if I think it’s *too* hard. My gut is that it is. Our primary four-man crew has been playing the first game since around January. We are not particularly skilled, but we’ve at least finished all the L4D1 scenarios on Advanced difficulty so we’re hardly rookies. In L4D2, however, we’ve had real trouble just reaching the the finale on Normal, let alone surviving it. Mobs everywhere. Specials, bunches of them, coming out of the woodwork at almost any moment. I’ve found that by the time the clock passes midnight the game has started to feel more monotonous than fun. I am enjoying it, but in that same way that Taco Bell tastes really good until you hit your fifth or sixth taco and then you want to curse the chain’s very existence.

It seems like the difficulty levels now only affect how much damage you do and take and not the number of zombies in need of a good shooting. It makes for a much more demanding game that changes how you need to play it and I haven’t learned how to be effective playing with the “new shit” as it were. It’s definitely set up so that it’s nigh impossible to find cover when the horde arrives. You can try, but the new specials like the Spitter and Charger pretty much guarantee that if you don’t get your feet moving you’re going to get torn up. Players that can shoot and move well at the same time are likely to do okay. My problem is that I’m a player who likes to catch his breath. Left 4 Dead kept you moving, sure, but if you wanted to hole up in a modestly secure area for a couple of minutes you could get away with it. L4D2 not so much and I’m not sure I like that.

This is just as true, IMO, in Versus mode in which you’ve got equal number of players playing as infected and survivors. I’m okay with the infected having an advantage in this game. That is as it should be. At the same time, I’ve been a part of four Versus mode matches and have yet to see the survivors make it to a safe room; and you can just forget about anyone coming even remotely close to surviving the finale. Somewhere there’s a line between challenging and punitive and I’m not sure L4D2 is on the right side of it.

As I noted above, it does not mean I don’t like the game. There’s still a lot to love about it. I love the new weapons. I like all the settings I’ve played through so far. The carnival scenario was just a wild, wild ride. And as much as they’re a pain in the ass, the new special infected do make the game more interesting. Seriously, the first time you Jockey a survivor into a horde of undead or bowl over a tight group of survivors as the the Charger… well, it’s pretty awesome. And who knows? Maybe as I get used to/better at playing the way the game demands I’ll change my tune on the difficulty.

I’m less sure I’ll change my tune on the new survivors, however. There’s nothing eminently wrong with them, but I like the original crew better. Ellis, in particular, needs to be shot in the head. He’s funny the first few times he goes on and on about some dumb thing, while in a safe room, but unlike the Bill character from L4D1, Ellis’s shtick gets old. Bill’s “I hate xxx” (trains, farms, stairs, etc.) every 30 minutes is beautiful in its simplicity. Ellis’s constant, long-winded rambling? Pass.

Turkey Day in Rhode Island

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was happy to get out of dodge for a week by spending it with my mom’s side of the family in Middletown, Rhode Island (very near Newport), which is quite possibly my favorite place on planet Earth and also the first time I’ve been out there in over six years. I also got to bring Kyle with me, which as an added bonus. (Who knew a four year old could be so incredibly well behaved while being stuck in a car for 16 hours over two days?)

Despite the fact that the sun didn’t come out once during the week that I was there and on most days it was constantly raining it was a hella good time getting to see my grandparents and the aunts, uncles, and cousins that I’ve not seen for so long. I’m actually the oldest of my grandparents’ eight grandchildren and of those living in the continental US (six of us), I’m the oldest by a good 20 years. Given that the last time I saw most of them, they were toddlers and early elementary aged kids, it was quite a shock to the eye to see how much they’ve grown up and there’s definitely a sense that in being away for so long that I’ve missed out on a lot of memorable times. It made coming home last weekend, not knowing when I’ll next get the chance to go back, a difficult thing to do.

It’s also weird to be the only grandchild at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table throwing back glasses of wine like like I’m Paul Giamatti in the movie Sideways. Fortunately, such behavior didn’t separate me much from any of the other parents at the table. I really don’t want to know how many bottles of wine and champagne were consumed on that day, but I’m sure it was not a small number.

In the evening we all sat down to watch the movie Christmas Vacation, which is the first time any of the kids had seen this wonderful flick. Watching them all gathered round and just dying of laughter in some of the scenes was as perfect a moment as one can have. Makes me wish I could just move out there, but reality is reality, and such a move isn’t really an option anymore. Ah well.

Anyway, over the course of the next week or two I plan to write a bit more about Dragon Age. I’m starting a second playthrough this week, this time running with the mage origin, so that should be interesting. I don’t recall the last time I finished a game this long and restarted immediately after it was over. (I did attempt that with Fallout 3, but the attempt may have lasted about six hours.) I’ve also been able to put some time into Left 4 Dead 2 (360 version), so I’ll need to write up some thoughts on that as well.

NCAA 10 Review

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I ate like a starved viking.

I also posted my NCAA Basketball 10 review.

Ashley started her 3th/4th grade basketball league practices Saturday. The only thing crazier than watching 9 year olds play soccer is watching 9 year olds play basketball on a 10 foot rim.

It's going to be a long year.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great holiday and if you live outside of the US -- goooo Thursday!

In the meantime, the folks at GameShark are running a Black Friday sale for the store. I'm not going to pimp stuff I don't own/use so --

25% off the Fender Stratocaster replica is a nice deal. I own the Fender -- it's normally a $300 piece of fake guitar equipment but it's truly a replica guitar. It's heavy, real wood, it's gorgeous and would make a sweet Christmas gift if you have money to burn and a Rock Band fan in the house. It's the only guitar I use now. I guess for $300...it better be!

We also posted our 2009 Holiday Gift/Buyer's Guide with some obvious choices as well as a few sleeper picks.

Anyway -- have a good holiday.

Todd Does Dragon Age

Todd's on vacation right now so I'll post the link to his well thought out DA review -- this is the PC review and we'll post some console thoughts later. (Boo console version)

As for me, I'm slogging though King's Bounty Armored Princess and it's basically a lot like King's Bounty. A few tweaks here and there but it's still addictive, but also pretty much the same game sans the dragon pet. At least so far.

Thanks again for all of the emails re: Mary. She's fine now and back to being her lovely self. We STILL don't know what caused the reaction, but hopefully will after her trip in January to the allergy doctor.

GO BUCKS

8-1 vs Michigan just astounds me. Yes, Michigan is down -- way down -- but rivalry games are just different. I was at Ohio State during MANY a loss to the Wolverines. I was in school during part of the "Cooper" years. Young Michigan fans think it's bad now?

Funny thing about that -- John Cooper was 2-10-1 against Michigan. JT is 8-1.

In other words -- we still owe you and next year it won't get any easier.

Some people talk about feeling bad for UM or how this is no longer a rivalry. Screw that nonsense.

After a shocking loss to Purdue OSU has outscored its opponents 155-48, beat two ranked teams and have had 5 straight games with at least 230 yards rushing. Pretty, ugly, conservative, whatever. The fact that OSU turned its season around the way it did is pretty amazing.

But they REALLY need that Rose Bowl win.

Bioshock 2 Special Edition

Let's open the curtain and see what they won, Bob!

The BioShock 2 Special Edition carries a suggested retail price of $99.99 for Xbox 360 and PS3 and $89.99 for Games for Windows LIVE and is limited to a single-production run.

The edition contains the following:

· Vinyl 180g LP with BioShock orchestral score

· Audio CD with BioShock 2 orchestral score

· Three vintage Rapture advertisement posters (rolled)

· BioShock 2 Art Book, 164 pages and hardcover

· BioShock 2 game

NCAA 10 -- Some Evaluation

Today the embargo lifts so I can talk a bit more about NCAA Basketball 10.

My overall feeling thus far is that the series continues to make some steps with this release but it's still not a prime time ready franchise. There are a few things that I think a basketball game needs to model reasonably well in order for it to have staying power.

• You need fouls. Fouls need to matter, and you need to see a reasonable amount of free throws, particularly if the penetration/low post game is a big part of a team's game plan. If all you do is shoot 3's you won't see the line very much.
  
  
• AI substitution patterns need to make sense. Subbing when players get tired or into foul trouble. (Assume the above is working properly)
  
  
• When playing the AI, it needs to run a competent offense, taking advantage of opportunities given to it by the human player. When games get predictable, players get bored. I have said this before and I truly believe it to be true -- gameplay predictability is the absolute bane of a sports game.
  
  
• The same play cannot work everytime down the floor. This is otherwise known as the Kevin Garnett NBA 2K9 syndrome.
  
  
• And the AI better damn well know the game situation
  
  
• Finally, things need to look "right". By that I don't mean the Buckeyes need to have the proper shoes or the Schott needs to be modeled to the letter. That's all window dressing. I'm also not the type of player who needs a basketball game to provide 15 different post moves. I'm too damn old to worry about button combos and stick combos anyway. A few basic moves is all I need. I just want the games to look -- believable. Not perfect, and not an exact simulation, but silly things absolutely cannot be the norm, otherwise it blows up the gameplay.

How does all of this relate to NCAA 10? There's some give and take here.

Fouls: Yep, you'll see them, but not nearly enough of them. What strikes me as odd is that in nearly every game I have played -- with foul settings bumped to around 75 or 80 I see a fair share of fouls in the 1st half, then almost zero in the 2nd unless a team is hacking late. But I have seen some GREAT foul calls. Off the ball fouls, over the back fouls, obvious blocking fouls, etc. But then it just sort of...stops.

Still tinkering with fatigue levels as on default your starters will play damn near every minute. The AI does sub for players in early foul trouble, though.

I have yet to find a money play, and I have tried. :)

The AI offense. Before I get too critical with this I need to play at a higher level because on the mid level game the AI is frustrating. I started a Dynasty with Indiana State, trying the small school to the bigs approach and started off on the road against Louisville (who is not rated very highly in the game for some reason..the starters for ISU and UL are pretty even - mid 70s rated players) playing on 16 minute halves. I shot around 21 3's in that game -- Louisville shot ...four, making zero. The college game is almost synonymous with the 3 -- and the AI doesn't shoot them nearly enough. This wasn't a one time thing. It's a pattern. Unless a guy is GREAT at shooting them the AI almost refuses to take the open 3 pointer. I was daring the Louisville SG to shoot. Backing off 5 feet. No dice. And I cannot find a shooting tendency slider anywhere. Is this an issue with the game level or the general AI? I don't know yet. But how many 3's did Louisville shoot in its real opener against Arkansas? 38.

Despite this, I had a very fun game against the Cardinals, battling back and forth with my scrappy Sycamores. With :25 seconds left my SG nailed a deep 3 to give me the lead 59-56. Louisville called time out. Your options here if you are Louisville are to shoot a 3 (the likely choice) OR try for a quick two and foul. Of course with the weird lack of fouls called in the 2nd half they'd need to foul me 6 times before I went to the line.

Louisville does neither. They simply...run their offense. Tick, tick, tick. The ball moves around the perimeter, then down low, then back out, tick, tick tick, and finally the PF shoots a running 5-footer which misses, I grab the rebound. Game Over. Ouch. This was a battle back and forth despite some of the inherent gameplay issues in NCAA, I had a good time. But that final :25 seconds was a fun killer.

Do the games look believable? Sort of. At times it looks great as teams run their offense -- that new motion control stuff is pretty cool. But when the AI shoots a layup from underneath the basket and it smacks into the backside of the backboard causing a turnover, which is something I thought died in basketball games a long time ago, it's understandably annoying. I guess if I did that it wouldn't be so bad, but damn shouldn't the AI know better? Or when I catch an in bound pass and the player's weird momentum carries them out of bounds even though no defender was near them. (Seriously watch out for the sideline monster in this game)

I don't think the game is a total loss, despite my complaints listed here, but stuff like this keeps it from being the sort of game I think college hoop fans want. At least long term.

We'll see how it plays on the higher difficulty levels.

Game Notes on a Tuesday

Dragon Age will simply have to wait. I want to finish it but I am still *so* far from doing so that it needs to take a backseat because I have a gabillion articles to crank out.

First -- Sony sent us an early review copy for LittleBigPlanet on the PSP which is apparently rather awesome.

I fired up Left 4 Dead 2 yesterday and it will remind you a lot of Left 4 Dead. I love the new guns, though. But the solo AI is just as nutty as before, and just like L4D this game will make its bones online. I do miss the old gang.

King's Bounty Armored Princess is another ridiculously addictive strategy game that will remind fans a LOT of...King's Bounty The Legend. Like L4D2, this game follows the "hey if it ain't broke...let's just add more stuff" philosophy. Nothing really wrong with that, but the formula is basically the same sans the fact that you get a pet dragon which aids you in combat. Still, it eats up hours. The writing remains hilariously cheesy. I guess that's part of its charm.

NCAA Basketball 10 -- still under embargo. Not sure WHY as the game is out today. Lots to talk about with this one tomorrow.

Add these gems to the fact that I have tio write our entiore Holiday Gift Guidefeature AND finalize our huge end of the year feature -- I have a lot to do.

Oh, yeah, it's also MICHIGAN WEEK.

Todd is officially the enemy until Sunday.

Modern Warfare 2 Video Walkthrough

Our Call of Duty MW2 Video Walkthrough is up today.

Joy.

That's the face of joy -- right there on walk-on placekicker Devin Barclay's face while the ball is still in flight as he put a dagger in Iowa's heart Saturday night in overtime, securing another Big Ten title for the Bucks.

Sports can suck sometimes. Steroids, scandals, ego, boorish fans, incompetent loud mouthed media, and on and on.

But THAT is what it's all about. That face -- absolute unfiltered joy.

Check out the amazing pics from Josh Winslow.

NCAA Basketball 10

Review embargo until the 18th so no real deep thoughts from me til then.

Just a few quick points:

• As you can tell from the demo, animations and player models are nowhere near NBA Live level and a lot of the commentary recycles. Dickie V is already getting repetitive. Honestly I understand this -- I am assuming this is a budget/manpower issue as NCAA Basketball games typically are low sellers compared to the other games. BUT -- I am loving me some Gus Johnson. The CBS presentation portion is great.
  
• However, the motion offense stuff is pretty neat but will take practice to play it effectively. Just running a play and hoping for the best isn't enough.
• Sliders are a must -- especially in regards to stamina/subbing/fouling/on ball steals.
• Played a game with OSU and beat Portland State 73-47 on 15 min halves and then lost to Michigan 81-76. I am staying away from the evaluation stuff due to the embargo. Suffice to say I like a lot of what I see and there are some things I wish were different. How's that for committal?
  
• NCAA selection AI is better but still not where I'd like it. Illinois gets in after a 15-15 season with no real signature win and Marshall rolls to a 27-3 record, beating #11 Ohio State and gets passed over? I see a lot of 15-15; 16-14 teams from power conferences getting in over a team like Xavier who goes 20-10 and gets snubbed. If X wins 20 games...they should be damn near a lock, no?
  
• The games in the tourney are much better outcome wise -- maybe even too predictable. I ran 2 seasons and the final four in year 1 had all 4 1-seeds and in year 2 had 3 1-seeds and a 2-seed (2 seed won the whole thing). I saw a couple of upsets but I'd say the better seed is winning 75% to 80% of the games.
  
• As you can see the HUGE upset isn't nearly as prevalent although you will see them -- Ohio State lost a 3 game stretch to Wichita State, Rhode Island and Murray State in year two after losing Evan Turner early to the NBA, but I have yet to see the Fordham over Duke type of outcome that we'd see last year.
  
• Speaking of Evan, the game still doesn't know how to handle teams like OSU with no true PF or players who tend to play multiple positions. The game has Evan Turner listed as the team's Power Forward when he's playing Point Guard this year. It has Diebler running the point, which ...just ain't happening. Diebs is 100% pure Shooting Guard. So make sure to look over your team -- you can edit all this stuff of course.
  

That's it from me til the 18th.