Madden Wii

This may look really silly (it does)

But I think it's a good idea.

NDAs Suck but Maybe Quick Hit Football Won't

The one game I really want to talk about I am not allowed to talk about.

I hate that.

I'd LOVE to talk about it. Really. Because it's really, really good.

Really. (It rhymes with Flood Mole)

However, we'll have to settle for this -- Quick Hit Football.

Now before you go all "Dude another online football sim..." here's the kicker:

Quick Hit's CEO, Jeff Anderson, is a 15-year veteran; he's spent time at EA and was CEO of Turbine (Lord of the Rings; Dungeons & Dragons online) before founding Quick Hit. The lead designers on Quick Hit Football worked on Madden '06 and '07, as well as the NFL 2K series and ESPN NFL series.

So. Check out the website and I'll be getting a phone call guided tour of the game on Monday with a full report coming shortly thereafter.

Maybe it'll be the be all end all of online football sims with neat graphics?

Or.....maybe not.

Tuesday Morning Jane's

Nothing like a little lunch time Rock Band 2 Ocean Size to cheer me up.

I'd Rather Listen to Mel Torme

I don't know why teams spend all this money and time with hiring "scouts" and doing "interviews" and watching "game tape" when everyone would be thrilled if they just went down Mel Kiper's Big Board (tm) and picked right off of that.

Remember what Mel said about Mike Williams: "See you in Canton, kid"

I wish these expert football analyst guys would just stick to telling me about a kid, and not whether or not a pick was good or bad -- because they have no flippin' idea.

The Browns had their "WTF?" moment but in the opposite direction as the norm. This time they did a helluva good job. It was weird, and unexpected but I loved the trade down tactic and I loved the players we got in return and I loved the center pick even though my OSU Biased Heart wanted Beanie.

I guarantee you this: if New England does the exact same deal as the Browns these 'experts' would be hailing it as yet another genius move by Belichick.

Lions, Draft Day 1: A Strange Thing

So, the Lions finished 0-16 with the sort of defense that makes one want to crawl into a closet, curl up in the fetal position, stick your thumb in your mouth and whimper, “Please make the bad men go away.”

They have two first round picks (first overall and #20), plus the first pick in the second.

So, defense, defense, defense, right?

Yeah, not so much.

Pick #1: QB Matthew Stafford (and a rookie record $40M contract to boot)

Pick #2: TE Brandon Pettigrew

Pick #3: S Louis Delmas

Stafford was not a surprise even if the money was (didn’t stop idiot Lions fans from booing the pick; don’t go to NY and then boo your team), and Delmas’ name had come up in recent weeks as a recent target. But Pettigrew at #20?

What’s a strange feeling to me is that I’m fine with it all. First of all, I’m very content with the knowledge that, as fans, we don’t know shit. The question on draft day really isn’t who your team picks, it’s whether or not you trust the people making those decisions. Perhaps it’s the battered and beaten fan in me who just has to believe in something –anything- after eight years of Matt Millen in charge, but I’ve liked almost everything Lions GM Martin Mayhew and coach Jim Schwartz have done leading up to the draft.

Granted, there’s not a lot W’s to be found in the dead of winter, but the way they’ve handled free agency and the build up to the draft was a far, far cry from the Millen days. I really knew nothing about Mayhew when old man Ford tapped him for the GM role, but from the standpoint of public perception (which is all any fan can observe), he’s handled himself extremely well up to this point. In the days leading up to the draft he said the roster was much too thin to quibble over what position a guy was or what side of the ball he played on. They needed guys who can play.

So, there’s really nothing that can be done but trust that when these guy looked at Stafford they saw a QB that they can build around for a generation; that when they took Pettigrew that with everything they saw on film, at the combine, in workouts, that passing up the acknowledged most complete tight end in the draft for a player they were less confident in, would’ve been folly. And for Delmas? That dude’s from Western Michigan, so it’s all good. You can trust a Bronco. Trust me.

Ultimately, the cliché is true: Time will tell us if Mayhew and Schwartz know what they’re doing. God, I hope so. Because, god as my witness, sir, I will not abide another toe. (Or something like that)

Blood Bowl PC League -- June

OK so a while ago I mentioned Blood Bowl. A few times. I think.

Well, there is currently a closed PC multiplayer beta going on and I am not supposed to say if I am playing in it or not or that (I hear..) it's absolutely awesome.

But I can start to gather names for the PC league that we're going to start sometime in June when the game is supposed to ship.

The good news is that it's sure to be a great time full of bribed refs, chainsaws, Trolls who are too dumb to move, and lightning fast Wood Elves that my Orcs will summarily crush with an iron fist.

The bad news is that I only have 4 or 5 spots open. The league supports 24 teams and I already have a lot of people ready to go.

So -- if you want in the PC league you need to email me and let me know. Soon.

Draft Day!

Well, it's Draft Day -- and you can rest assured the Browns will do something today, either a trade or a pick, that will make all of Cleveland say, "WTF!?"

It's life as a Browns fan.

If we take Sanchez: WTF?

If we trade Edwards and only get the Giants 29th pick in return, essentially losing 1 WR for another (assuming they draft Crabtree at 5) and dropping 24 spots in the process: WTF?

If we take some linemen from LSU: WTF?

If we take a NT from Boston College when we already have Rogers: WTF?

Look for a real WTF moment today from the Browns.

I'm Done with Sergio!

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today Nothing’s Shocking, the second album from eclectic alternative rock group Jane’s Addiction will be added to the Rock Band^® Music Store of downloadable content next week for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ home videogame console from Nintendo.

This makes me happy.

Really Cool Q&A

One of my staffers, Danielle Riendeau, conducted a great interview with Pit Stop's John Sanderson. Sanderson did the sound for House of the Dead Overkill.

This interview is a fantastic read as it goes into the process behind working on game sound.

Plus he likes to cuss.

Somebody Buy This Guy a Beer Tonight

Here’s a story in the Columbus Dispatch about a Wings fan who managed to lob an octopus onto the Columbus ice on Tuesday night. It’s a good story that includes Gary Bettman sounding like an ass and you just can’t put a price on that.

Goloborodko said he was detained by arena security, threatened by angry Jackets fans and enjoyed a chance encounter with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman before being escorted from the building.

"As I was being held downstairs, Gary Bettman and his security guys walked by," Goloborodko said. "Like any good hockey fan, I recognized my commissioner and yelled out, 'Hey, Commissioner.'

"I heard Bettman say, 'I'm not happy about this one bit.' I don't know if he was responding to me or talking about something else."

If I can be a walking sports fan cliché for just one minute: Hey, Gary! You suck!

Ah. I feel better now.

Anyway.

I know most people don’t get the whole octopus tradition with the Red Wings and I’m quite sure even those who get it, hate it and think all Wings fans that embrace it are obnoxious. …oh well. That’s life, people. It ain’t going away anytime soon, no matter what Bettman (Ass) does to legislate against it. Besides, it makes those of us that do like it feel all warm and fuzzy inside when the slimy beast ends up splattered on another team’s home ice during a crucial playoff game.

Go Wings!

PS – Mr. Bettman, if you could kindly strike some kind of TV deal that doesn’t mean fans miss out on half their teams’ first round playoff games that’d be just super. I pay DirecTV $100 a month as it is, so no, I’m not ponying up extra to them or your stupid online site just so I can see the first round. Nobody should have to pay extra to watch their team in the playoffs.

PPS – DirecTV, I’d pay for your stupid sports packages if you’d let me pay less than the obnoxious amount of money you demand so that I could see just my own damned team’s games. Like I care about getting Thrashers or Ducks games? Besides, last year I sent you bastards $200 to watch the Lions win a total of zero games. How the hell have you not offered me a refund after that? It would be the best PR move in the history of the world… if you’re me.

PPPS – The cake is a lie.

On Blogging, E3, and My Gaming Blackout… Also, M Go Blog Excellence

One of the things that sucks about my style of blogging, in which I just document whatever the hell is stuck in my head at a given time, is that when I’m not at liberty to write about something, then I really have nothing whatsoever to say. So, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the last week has, in fact, been an eventful one. Unfortunately, it’s not all good fodder for this blog. Well, it would be… if I were an anonymous blogger writing under an assumed name of a fake name behind a stolen identity. But I’m not, so I guess those epic tales of heroism and tragedy and stuff will go unwritten. Bummer.

That said, I am jazzed. I finally got my E3 press credentials request approved. You have to fill out a background check in triplicate, submit for retina scanning, endure a proctological exam and sacrifice a goat. It’s frigg’n complex, I tell you. At any rate, I’m approved, which was a huge relief. This morning I booked my flight and I am good to go. I’m truly excited about this, if you can’t tell. The only part I seem to be forgetting about is getting through the month of May. In the immortal words of Paladin in the first Wing Commander game, “Faith lad, that’ll be a challenge.” (I have no idea how that line just popped in there. We’re talking about a game I haven’t played since the days of the elder Bush.)

In terms of actual physical gaming, I have done none. Zilch. Zero. Like I said, it’s been a bit of a week. I also have to pen that Guitar Hero: Metallica review before Bill makes the trip from Columbus for the sole purpose of slapping me up the back of the noggin Jethro Gibbs style. He’s just the type to do it. But that’s okay. It won’t change the fact that in three round one playoff games the Wings have outscored his Blue Jackets 12-2. Outstanding. I’m just bummed I didn’t get to see the game last night (yes, after all my complaining yesterday)… stupid Vs. HD.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out this post at M Go Blog. It’s not about anything in particular, just a commentary on the demise of the Ann Arbor News and the implications of it. Brian’s excellent writing always seems to be at its best when he’s waxing philosophic on stuff like this. I wanted to pull a quote here for a teaser, but the best stuff in it doesn’t work well as a pull quote, so just go check it out. It really is worth the read.

EDIT: Here's another link. This one about the Wings/Blue Jackets from IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman. It's crass as hell, but damn is it funny (and true).  

Friggin Age

A few quick hitters from me today:

• My E3 flight, hotel, and media registration is done and approved. So I am officially LA bound again in June. Only this time with Todd and Mr. Binky. God help me.
  
  
• Tomorrow night I am playing DemiGod with several media folks from Team Crispy Gamer. Troy, Tom Chick, Mr. Keefer, James Fudge and others. I will attempt to be a beacon of hope as I play The Oak God. Chances are you have no idea what I am talking about.
  
  
• I am BACK on the shelf this week. It's Tuesday at 6:45 which normally means I am raining three pointers on fools. But Sunday I managed to fall about 5 feet on my shoulder as I was driving to the hoop -- I was undercut and whoosh. Down I went. My shoulder decided to go "pop" which means I can barely lift my arm over my head today. I should be good to go in a week. But today--not so much. Lesson: STOP DRIVING TO THE BASKET YOU OLD DUMB ASS.
  
  
• So I'm doing the review schedule from now til May 12 and look at this.
  

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Velvet Assassin

Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

Klonoa

Puzzle Kingdoms

Patapon 2

Jagged Alliance DS

Puchi Puchi Virus

Battlestations Pacific

Pirates v. Ninja Dodgeball

Sacred 2

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2

Murderer's row that aint', although I do want to see Sacred 2 on the 360.

Let's hope OOTP X drops within that time frame, though.

Why is it that…

Every frigg’n year the braintrusts of the NBA and NHL refuse to pick up a phone and end up scheduling multiple Pistons and Red Wings playoff games to play at nearly the same time on the same day? True, the Pistons are gonna get swept this year, but still. If they were a #1 or 2 seed I guarantee you they’d still be playing opposite the Wings tonight. There’s just something inherently dumb about that and it irks the hell out of me nearly every single year.

Anyway, go Pistons! Go Wings!

MadWorld Walkthrough

Brandon's Guide to All Things MadWorld is up today.

Brandon and I also chatted about why games like MadWorld sell like refried poo on the Wii. 160K units for a game like MW ain't good.

Anyway, as for me I am knee deep in DemiGod right now. Sweet game, folks.

As for the OOTP league we're finalizing the remaining uniforms on the league page.

You can still sign up for the league but you will be added to the growing wait list. We have about 9 guys on said list but it never hurts to get your name down. In these online leagues people come and go -- it's part of the deal so don't let a 9 man wait list deter you.

Elven Legacy Review

I solved the crash problems I had earlier with the game and was able to play through it without too much trouble.

Review time.

Should have a DemiGod review soon.

We posted more uniforms on the OOTP League blog and things are moving along nicely. We have the most colorful league since MLB circa 1984.

My latest Virtual Groin Pull is about ready to go. I'm talking about the NCAA football series.

Oh, yeah -- keeping in mind that I never, ever watch ESPN unless it is carrying a game I need to see, I read that the Worldwide Leader of Shit Filled Sports Coverage chose not to retain Stephen A. Smith.

That's a good first step.

Wrapping up the Week

As Bill noted, not much posting from us this week. I can only plead that it’s been a bit of a thing getting through the week. I’ll post more about that later, but suffice to say it’s not been a banner week.

I did finish Guitar Hero: Metallica. I really hated the last two tiers of songs; the last tier in particular. The game insulted the hell out of me by forcing me to drop to medium difficulty to finish some shit song from Slayer. Seriously, there has never been a song, going back to Guitar Hero 1, that I couldn’t at least finish on Hard. There’s something that’s just not right there. Either way, I’m relieved to be done with the game. I just don’t enjoy playing thrashy metal, which is what constituted the last 10-20 songs. I guess, not being angry at my dad, I just don’t get it. (To be fair, I don’t hate all those songs, but I sure as hell do hate playing them. It’s just not fun for me.) Anyway, the game is pure Guitar Hero, so if you don’t like that, don’t play the game. If you do, you’re fine. I’ll write a review soon that will give the game something in the C to B range. (Probably closer to a B, but we’ll see how the review comes out.)

The Wings beat up on Columbus last night in the first game of the first round of the playoffs. (Ha, Ha, Bill.) I’m glad the playoffs are here, but with the Wings there’s always a sense of trepidation about the first round. You know they should win. They know they should win. So the only thing you get from seeing them win games in that round is a profound sense of relief. I do have to say that Osgood was the balls last night. Absolutely on top of his game, which is of even greater relief after his lackluster regular season. That guy is always at his best in the playoffs, which explains why he’s the Wing’s franchise leader in playoff wins by a goalie, with something in the neighborhood of 60.

On Saturday I head to a buddy of mine’s barcade party, which basically means booze and lots and lots of Rock Band. How much I’m looking forward to just cutting loose for an evening I cannot put to words.

Finally, I sent in my credentials for E3 this week. I’ve been to the show four times before, but only once in the last ten years. It is a lot of work, but at the same time, it can be a hell of a lot of fun and it’ll be the first time since ‘98 that Bill and I have covered the show as part of the same team (as it were), so I’m really looking forward to that.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

We Are Alive

Sorry for the slow week -- I really have been busy with updating gameshark, editing, hospital visits (I'll spare you the details there) and futzing with both my Deep Route.com football team and our OOTP league.

I will be emailing everyone who signed up and missed the cut because we have a full 30 team owner roster.

But check out our crazy colorful league -- and that's only a few teams.

Todd has Noblesville (and you can't see it there but his team is the Hops, and I love the barley logo)

And I am the Jefferson City Nine -- and yes we wear bowties.

http://newcitybaseball.blogspot.com/

OOTP X League

Only four spots remain. If you want in the league now is the time.

OOTP X is not out until May, but when the league reaches 30 teams, we're done accepting new owners and you'll be wait listed.

On High Fidelity, Good Music, and Digital Music Libraries

The other night, the Cusack classic, High Fidelity, was on HDNet Movies. First of all, just a great, great movie. Love it. Love. It. I can’t even tell you why I love it exactly. I’m not way into music, like the characters in this film. I like music, of course. I’m not made of stone. I’m just not under the delusion that I understand music. I understand film. Whether I like a movie or not, I can usually tell you –empirically- if it’s good or bad at what it does, regardless of my own personal feelings about it. Not so with music. I’m utterly clueless.

Anyway, there’s a scene in the movie (embedded below) that caused me to take up a long abandoned project. (Also, it reminded me how underappreciated the concept of the album is these days.)  The project? The re-ripping of my CD collection, while at the same time re-organizing how it’s all stored. My digital music collection has been something of a mess for a long, long time. 

(There is an f-bomb in this clip, so it's not totally work safe.)

---At this point, this post derails into mindless rambling. I really have no point to all this so read on at your own peril.

When I first started ripping CDs to MP3s, hard drive space was a precious commodity, so I’d only rip a handful of songs; not to mention the fact that I ripped so much of it 128 kbits/s. Times, obviously, have changed.

Last year I got fed up with the notion that roughly a third of the music in our collection wasn’t actually in our media library (not to mention the bit rate quality issues), so I started re-ripping whole CDs (while also going to a much higher bit rate). That process lasted a couple months before I fizzled. During the summer last year I had reached the K’s somewhere and hadn’t touched it since. So, this weekend I decided it was time to finish the job. I spent nearly all day Saturday and Sunday deleting and re-ripping content.

More fun, though, was accepting the fact that my music library structure was completely FUBAR. I used to have everything organized by artist\cd. It was simple. It was elegant. A couple years ago, though, I deluded myself into thinking it would be fine to have all my music just stored in one folder in Windows. No subfolders. Vista has a lot of ways to easily organize a folder’s contents, so I figured having a subfolder for artist and CD was kind of pointless. I could have everything in one place and just sort/search for what I needed. In theory it really wasn’t a bad idea.

Epic. F’ing. Fail.

Windows does not like it when you have like 3,000+ files all stored in one folder. Sorting on any particular column took forever. Eventually, I got sick of it and tried to organize everything by artist. That’s been problematic, though. Compilation CDs become a nightmare. I mean should I throw the song Not Dark Yet on the Wonder Boys soundtrack into the Bob Dylan folder, or should I put everything from that one disc into its own folder? I put it in Dylan. But that’s a lot of laborious sorting work when you get a new compilation CD or if you, say, plan to re-rip your entire collection. Plus you end up with a bunch of artist folders that have one or two tracks in ‘em.

Throw in the emergence of digital downloads (as a viable legal option) and that’s still more problems. I never really got into the Napster craze, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any music on my system that wasn’t legit. (To be fair, most of it is from mix CDs provided by friends, but there’s still stuff I do not own.) Over the years it’s become more important to me that everything I have be legit, so it’s bothered me more and more that I didn’t know exactly how much of my collection is from CD, from a legit download, or other.

This weekend I came to the conclusion that, in terms of organizing the files, themselves, the source mattered as much as anything. iTunes can sort it all six ways from Sunday for when I’m listening to stuff, so the folder structure needs to be about the accessibility of the physical files. So, I spent many, many hours going through and reorganizing everything into a set of source\artist\album folders (compilations go to a various artists\album folder). 

This is the kind of work that makes my day job of reading tech books seem exciting. Fortunately, I’m largely done now. There’s a bunch of Christmas, Celtic and misc. classical stuff of Angie’s that’s not done. I think I’ll go back and add those on a case by case basis. In the meantime, ripping everything from every CD to my digital music library has about tripled the size my music library. A lot of it is stuff I won’t ever listen to, but I’m sure there are some gems in there that just never got a fair shake. I’m looking forward to rediscovering my collection again.

Damn Twitter

Had to remove the Twitter Feed widgets because they kept asking readers for username/pword stuff.

get on that Todd.