Holiday Break

I'm not sure what Todd is up to but I'm going to be offline a lot this week and will be back with regularly scheduled cynicism on Monday.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Not Really Revenge But...

While it's a blip of a consolation, I gotta admit, it feels good to beat Florida I don't care if it's in Conasta. A convincing 62-49 win makes it even better.

OSU is starting to come together on the floor -- just in time for Big10 play.

In other news..you have to love the rules of the NCAA.

When Plans Go Awry

So my casual week off of work has pretty much been a bust. My kids (Kyle, 2 and Anastasia, 4) both got hit with ear infections last Friday. No problem. Got 'em some antibiotics and all was well. My plan was to leave the kids in daycare Mon, Wed, and Fri and have one each home on Tues and Thurs to help me with some leisurely Christmas shopping. (Seemed like fun that way. Plus, I'm keeping 'em home all next week.)

All went according to plan at first. I got a lot of quality Rock Band time in, got some College Hoops 2k8 in, watched Superbad (McLuvin!!!), which was some good fare if you liked 40-year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. And then came Tuesday night as my daughter spiked a 102 degree fever. Thanks to that I ended up keeping the kids home both Wednesday and Thursday and not doing any Christmas shopping at all, plus very little gaming (a cornerstone goal of the week).

Today, of course, the fever was still in full force (despite this, Ana's been acting mostly normal) so I broke down and scheduled a dr. appointment. I had a plan. Drop Kyle off at daycare, finish Christmas shopping and get Ana checked out. Have a lazy afternoon. It started out okay (Kyle got dropped off), but then I got yanked into tech supporting an acquaintance's computer. Apparently her husband got sucked into downloading all manner of those fake virus/spyware programs that actually install all that crap onto the computer rather than remove it. This is what happens when you follow security warnings that come up while looking for free Internet porn. There goes an hour and a half, but I press on with the shopping. It's only about 10:30 and I have until 1:15 for the dr. appt. It seemed like plenty of time... until I hit mall traffic.

Long story slightly shorter, I get to cut short the shopping trip for the dr. appt. then go back to the mall (30 mins. from the mall to the dr. and 30 back to the mall, thanks to traffic). Ana's ear infections are in full-on assault mode, so I've gotta get a new antibiotic, which means adding another stop. Plus, I've completely forgotten about Christmas stocking stuffers, something I forgot about last year too and caught a lot of grief for. The stores are all, of course, nightmarish. Ana's sick of being dragged around everywhere (and I don't blame her). She only threw one fit, but naturally, that was in the middle of a women's lingerie department. By the time all is said and done it's 5:00 and I've got to get right back up to daycare to pick up Kyle. So much for leisurely shopping and a lazy afternoon.

As for the aforementioned gaming, Rock Band remains a AAA++ title. I got to play some World Tour mode finally and that's just gravy. Your mileage will vary with College Hoops. I'm really tired of this game. And despite claims to the contrary in the pre-release conference call, if you just want to pick it up and play a fun game of hoops it's a complete and utter nightmare. This game is for those that want a basketball sim that forces you to do pretty much *everything* both on and off the court. I'll elaborate on this in another post.

Anyway, my posting will probably continue to be sporadic through the holidays, but I promise to get back on track come January.

Friday Airing of Grievances

I have a lot of stuff going on today, getting ready for Christmas, so I need to keep this short. But explain to me how Joe Thomas does not get a Pro Bowl spot in the AFC? The Browns, since the first game when Charlie Frye took FIVE sacks -- the team has only given up 12 since then and Joe Thomas has been responsible for...NONE of them. The Browns are 9-5 for many reasons, and a big one is the play of the O-line. I thought Winslow got snubbed but keeping Thomas off that team is just crazy.

ESPN and the rest of the sports media was quick (GASP!) in reporting that starting OSU CB Donald Washington was suspended for the title game. Turns out, that isn't the case (it's a freshman backup for a team rule violation). Hey it's ESPN. Why worry about getting it right?
The WVU late push to keep DickRod was real but it didn't work. From what my WVU buddy tells me the reason he left was because of the AD -- he broke promises to Rod and he had finally had enough.

Michigan may have their man..I really have no idea and as much as I love The Vest we didn't think he'd be THIS good. DickRod just FEELS more Cooper than Tress, and any Big10 fan will know what I mean by that.

But here is something to chew on: Before the meat of the Big East left the conference (Vtech, Miami, BC) West Virginia was a .500 team wallowing in mediocrity. After they left and WVU started playing what was left in that conference, all of a sudden they're like 30-5.

Coincidence?

I think this guy is going to quickly realize that the Big10, despite what the national media says about it, is not the Big East.

"Big one, huh?" Rodriguez said Monday, when asked about Ohio State. "The hecklers (at the West Virginia airport) let me know that as well. They were doing that OH (-IO!) thing, whatever that was. I understand it's one of the greatest rivalries in college football. Michigan is unique. I didn't know it, but you got three rivalries -- Ohio State, Michigan State and Notre Dame." (He seriously didn't know that? Seriously?)

That's one immediate difference with Tressel -- he knew what this rivalry was all about from day one. From birth. John Cooper didn't. Never did get it. Rod appears to be just as clueless. "It's a big game." Heh, yeah. Ya think?

Next year, when he takes Michigan into Ohio Stadium he will be very, very familiar with the OH-IO "thing." Bring earplugs, Rich. The 'Shoe isn't like playing at Rutgers.

NCAA 08 Patch Impressions

No, not from me. Jared at DSP has some thoughts posted, so check 'em out. Jared ranks as one of the very few people whose opinion on sports games matters to me (the rest of you people -- I gotta lotta problems with!) , so give it a read.

Age of Empires III Boardgame Review

I've played this one several times -- I even showed it to Todd on my trip to Indy (Todd is terrible at games, board games in particular). Anyway, here's some thoughts.

Being a veteran PC gamer and working in the gaming industry as an editor and freelancer for going on 12 years, I was eager to get my hands on Age of Empires III. Being a huge fan of the entire AoE series, going back to the original Bruce Shelley design, the idea of pitting nation against nation in a struggle to colonize the New World in boardgame form was one that I simply couldn’t pass up.

What I found was something completely different than what was expected – not necessarily in a bad way, but it took me a few games to wrap my head around what the game was trying to do. This was not in any way a translation of the PC game into plastic form. It’s really Age of Empires by name only. I’ve read where Mr. Drover was influenced by games like Puerto Rico as well as classic computer games like Gold of the Americas (a personal favorite of mine back in the early 90s); this is a much better comparison than to anything related to Age of Empires.

The first thing that struck me was that while the rulebook mentions the various nations, there is no difference at all between them other than the color of the plastic figures. This is very un-AoE like, and while looking at it from a design perspective, I can understand the reasoning behind it, it does take away some of the AoE luster. Again, this is only a flaw if you look at it from the perspective of what the PC game is all about. There’s no special units, no special nation-based techs, nothing like that. In game terms: England is red and Spain is yellow. Or maybe they’re green? It doesn’t really matter.

Once I was able to get past the fact that this has nothing at all to do with the PC game I started to enjoy myself a lot more; yes, as many other reviews have stated, this is in a lot of ways a blending of various European designs sprinkled with some surprising luck factors that may turn off some gamers who like their games to avoid wild swings based on chance – I’m not one of them and I appreciated the combination of rigid planning while at the same time being forced to adopt a new tactic if the winds of change blow my way—if an opponent starts to build up troops while another opponent starts to load up the Discovery box; these things can change your plans and I like being forced to alter my strategy based on what others are doing. I think it’s one of the game’s strengths.

There are a lot of plastic figures in the game along with several very nice hard plastic merchant ships, but they seem out of place. Part of the way in which you earn money is by collecting “sets” of trade goods be they rice, sugar, fish, gold, whatever, and the ships are used as “wild cards” for making these trade good sets (as well as a turn marker?); it just seems like a waste of good plastic when a smaller (cheaper) merchant counter would have sufficed. The plastic figures are also hit and miss. Some look fine but our entire group gets the merchant and the colonist figures confused at least once per game – they look a bit too alike.

The board is of high quality with nice artwork but I wish there was a bit more room inside each area to place the figures; for some areas this isn’t a problem but around the Florida area things can get a shade cramped if there’s a lot of players vying for control. There is a lot of wasted space on the board which could have been used to make the various areas bigger.

Another small board gripe is the scoring track which like many games circles the entire board – why isn’t every scoring block numbered? Why have artwork actually blocking some of the spaces? In a game like this every point counts so why not make the score track as clear and as unobstructed as possible?

Finally there’s the money – the game uses gold and silver coins for currency and they are fantastic. They clink. I love the sound they make when dropped together on the table. Again, a small complaint – gold coins are considered “10” while silver are standard “1” but why can’t we get a “5” coin? It seems like there should be some bronze coins here somewhere…

AoE III isn’t a rules heavy game. It can be explained in full in about 15 minutes. Learning how best to play the game is another matter entirely, but knowing what to do and how to do it is fairly simple.

This is basically a placement game. You start with a small set of five colonists and choose which “action”: you’d like them each to perform each game round. This can range from things like changing the turn initiative (going first can be crucial at times), gathering available trade goods, buying a Capital Building (more on these later), creating advanced units like soldiers or priests, just to name a few.

Play starts with one player placing one colonist where he/she wants it. This is the meat of the entire game. You need to decide what you want to do – the placing of your colonists in many ways *is* the game. If you decide to go for trade goods, someone else is likely to get first crack at buying a Capital Building. If that happens, player 3 will likely get first crack at getting the advanced unit he wants – a priest, soldier, merchant, or captain, each possessing special abilities. (Priests help population growth; soldiers help loot expeditions and kill other player’s colonists, etc.) Player 4 might then start to fill up the colony ship, which has a limited number of slots available in order to start colonizing available areas of the board.

The best part of this game, in my mind, is that it forces players to decide what is the most important action for them to take. You have several choices to make, and much can depend on the actions of various players. What if player 2 is hell-bent on attacking you? Do you stick with your current plan of discovering new territory or do you start to send additional colonists to your colonized region in order to maintain control of it?

There are various ways in which to win the game; the end game goal being to obtain the most victory points. I have seen players win via many different methods: discovering new lands (which earns you points as well as cash), colonizing like crazy, winning due to being the money man (you need certain buildings in play to make this work), or even playing the role of war chief and massacring colonized regions and cherry picking at the end. (Combat in the game is extremely simple.)

The Capital Buildings, well, you’ll either love them or hate them. They cost gold to purchase and some are monstrously powerful. They are randomly chosen at the start of each game turn and as the game progresses through various ages (one of the very few real links to an AoE game) the buildings become more and more powerful. So powerful that they can swing a game in one fell swoop. The Third Age buildings are extremely potent, and I can only assume that this is the reason that the Third Age only lasts two game turns while the other ages last three. Three full turns with the benefits from an Age Three building would simply be unfair. Some are that good.

You can look at this in one of two ways. It’s either something that throws the balance of the game out the window, or it means no one is ever truly out of the running even after a bad start. Personally, I tend to not like games that practically eliminate one player after a third of the game is over and this allows people to get back in the mix to a certain extent. On the other hand I can see the point about bad play being rewarded by the luck of a great Capital Building (of course you still need the cash and the opportunity to actually buy it...good players won’t allow these great buildings to sit idle)

We usually play with 4-players and now that everyone is very familiar with the rules (which aren’t that complicated at all) games last about two hours. Downtime is fairly minimal unless you are playing with one of those players who simply take a long time to make a basic decision. With our group, turns are taken quickly and the game moves at a good pace because of it.

It took me a couple of games to warm to Age of Empires III mainly because it wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t follow much of the design history of the game even though I am familiar with Glenn’s previous games. The Age of Empires name is still somewhat misleading, but once you get past that, there’s a pretty darn good game here. Yes, I wish England had a few differences compared to Portugal but it is what it is.

Our gaming group will play pretty much anything. Games like Railroad Tycoon, RA, Arkham Horror, Citadels, Catan and Fury of Dracula are games that hit the table with regularity.

Age of Empires III is another. I don’t think it’s the best game of 2007, but I’m certainly glad in it’s my collection.

Smoke and Fire and WVU?

Rumors are flying around like mad tonight that Rodriguez is considering coming back to WVU. Seeing as how I'm not an insider, but that I am a perfect rumor monger, I thought I'd post it. This info is based off WVU Insiders who are connected to the program. There is a movement inside the athletic dept to get him back from UoM, so the rumors goes.

Does this have legs? I have no idea. I do know that these WVU insiders are indeed connected, but to what extent this is all true, I dunno.

Now, if this DOES happen...well I'll sit back and let Todd respond if it does. ;)

OSU over Cleveland State tonight in hoops. We're back baby!

DickRod and WVU Tussle Continues

This is getting sorta...interesting. I'm starting to think this move had a lot more to do with his relationship with WVU officials than it had to do with Michigan. Michigan, being the elite job that it is (I say that begrudgingly but it is true) was the perfect parachute.

"They baited and switched him. Rich was boxed in by a university and athletic department that was arrogant, mean-spirited and intellectually bankrupt."

Yeow.

Wait...Saban?

I'll post my DickRod thoughts soon, but check this out.

That can't happen...can it?

My Thoughts on Rodriguez

I've had a few days now to read up on Rodriguez, watch the full press conference at Michigan yesterday, and digest it all. Bill's foreboading warm fuzzies for Rodriguez and Michigan aside, I've gotta say I find this a more intriguing hire with each passing day. It seems the rest of the Michigan nation would agree. I have yet to see anyone in the media, from the program or from the blogosphere slam the hire. Other individuals with past ties to him have been equally full of praise.

My gut feeling is that Rodriguez will be good for the school. Michigan has struggled mightily the last few years to keep up with other programs from the perspective of on-field innovation and off-field facilities. That's finally starting to change. The team will soon, finally, have its own practice facility. Michigan stadium itself is getting an upgrade. And under Rodriguez they'll soon -finally- have stuff like strength and conditioning coach whose program doesn't consist entirely of heavy lifting. Make no mistake, Michigan has fallen radically behind in recent years at developing players and that will start to change under Rodriguez.

It also helps that every account I've read from people who don't have a vested interest in a strong WVU athletic program, is that Rodriguez is a good man. He's certainly personable and fast enough on his feet. When asked about being Michigan's third choice (which presumes Miles was a choice and that Ferentz was not) he said something to the effect of also being his wife's third choice. More importantly, he was honest and direct in answering questions. When asked about being the job needing to go to a "Michigan Man" he replied, "Gosh, I hope not. They hired me."

While honest, I actually think that's the wrong answer. I know it's cliche, and the Wolverine haters are free to roll their eyes at any point, but being a Michigan Man isn't about where you came from. It's about who you are and what you do once you're there. Bo wasn't a Michigan Man when he rolled into town. For Rodriguez, sure, he's got to have success on the field, but he's also got to run a clean football program that's above reproach. Passion for the institution itself will come in time. Of that I have no doubt.

Though, it would've been nice if he'd had a stronger answer ready for the inevitable Ohio State question. He was being sarcastic when he answered, "Big rivalry, huh." But still. He moved so quickly past the question, into an easily remembered recitation of the axis of evil (Notre Dame, Michigan State, Ohio State) and onto the next question that you have to wonder if he gets just how seriously he needs to take that rivalry. One thing Tressel made clear at Ohio State when he was hired was that he got just how big the big game is. He got it and I'm not sure Rodriguez does... yet. One thing is for sure, if he doesn't, Tressel will education him both quickly and painfully.

As for the games played on the field. I'm not concerned about the spread option stuff as it pertains to Michigan's offense. They'll get that stuff nailed down and adapt where they need to. Michigan's real problems with the spread are on defense. They've got to get that figured out, without losing the ability to slug it out in the trenches with teams like Penn State and Wisconsin.

It will, without question, be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few years. I think it's going to work out well. Of course, my idea of working out well won't match those of others. I'm not looking for the farcical notion of national championship contention every single year. Maybe every other year. For me, he's got to be able to win the Big 10 with regularity and post at least *AT LEAST* a .500 record against Ohio State and in bowl games, while consistently winning at least nine games per season. (The occasional eight-win season is permissible, but not condoned.) If he can do that, and do it while running a clean program that doesn't embarrass itself, he'll have done okay in my book.

NCAA 08 360 Patch

I haven't been online today to see, but I guess EA released an NCAA 08 patch to fix the INTs and lob passes.

Anyone try it?

The Monday YouTube Post

I have an Age of Empires III boardgame review that I have been sitting on for a while that I'll post tomorrow. Today, here is a string of videos relating to the dexterity game Crokinole. This game has been around for ages, and is still a lot of fun to play. I would not want to play against this guy, though. This is just insane. They get progressively more ridiculous.

Rodriguez's Spread v. Michigan's Personnel

So one of the obvious gaping concern with Michigan hiring Rich Rodriguez is how his spread offense will work out with a Michigan team that may not be well suited for it. Mlive.com's The Diag blog has a look at the potential that's there, and it is intriguing. He addresses the one thing I've not understood from those in the media bringing up Michigan's roster as being at odds with the Rodriguez way: Why do none of these "expert" pundits seem to consider the possibility that Rodriguez can adapt his offense to better fit his new personnel? That is what good coaches do, right?

Browns 8 Bills 0

Now THAT was fun to watch.

Pic courtesy of The OBR. Make sure to click on the pic.

Wow.

Rodriguez to Michigan

It's not official, but now it looks like Rodriguez may just be Michigan's next coach. The Sunday Gazette-Mail has it that Rodriguez just told his team that he's taking the Michigan job. (This is further confirmed by local TV station WBOY.)

M Go Blog is excited. I remain indifferent. I just don't know the guy's rep well enough to be excited or disappointed. Certainly, I will have an open mind about it and I'm definitely glad that this saga appears to be coming to a close. A buddy of mine at work insisted Michigan was too cheap to pay a coach more than $2M per. I argued they would, if it meant getting an established guy. You have to believe Rodriguez will be well-compensated for leaving WVU. (Plus he's got that $4M buyout.)

Anyway, if you're not watching the Browns game, you're missing a great one. Most of the first half has *looked* to be at or near blizzard conditions. That's what I call football!

Game of the Week. Um..

Well, in the plugged in world, I guess still College Hoops, but that was also last week's GOTW and I can't bring myself to say Hellgate because I think it's monumentally mediocre even though I'm technically playing it. So we'll stick with College Hoops. Things are just dying down now that the holiday rush is over. I still cannot wrap my head around how they screwed up Hellgate.

It's...boring.

I still think that even with all my bickering it was a very good year for games as a whole. Any year with BioShock, The Witcher, Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4 can't be bad. We hashed out our end of the year awards for GameShark, and The Darkness made the Top 5 list. I didn't play it. If you did, and feel that the choice is totally insane, blame Brandon. He's one of my freelancers. He posts here. He'll read this. He is Champion for The Darkness!

Personally, any shooter on a console sucks. There, I said it.

Last night we got drilled with snow, rain, sleet, and 50 MPH winds.

Oh..wait, NO WE DIDN'T.

I have no idea how it is where you live, but in central Ohio, winter storms make the front page of the paper and lead the 6 PM news. This "huge" storm was THE story in Columbus for like 3 days.

We were expected to get 3-5 inches of snow, layered with rain, then more snow today. We got maybe 2 inches of snow max, a lot of rain and today all winter storm warnings have been canceled. It's windy; I'll give them that. They were telling us to stock up on supplies as if we were in a time machine and back in 1978 when we actually had a blizzard.

This happens a lot here. People drive 20 MPH when we get a dusting and snow plows sell out when they predict 3 inches of snow. No wonder people in Minnesota think we're wimps. It's December. There's a ground covering of snow on the ground. Why that is the top story in the state for 3 nights running I'll never know.

Anyway, last night Ashley went next door to a slumber party (next door in the country required a drive) and Mary and I played Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and watched the first episode of season 1 of Dexter, the Showtime series about a serial killer cop. Groovy.

Big game for the Browns today. A win over Buffalo and a Titans loss = PLAYOFFS! For the BROWNS!

And That's That

M Go Blog, via a WVU source, has it that Rodriguez is probably staying put. Bill will be so disappointed.

Rodriguez? I Dunno.

To paraphrase, Silent Bob in Chasing Amy, you can just about squeeze what I don't know about West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez into the grand (f'n) canyon. Bill seems happy about it, which is troubling. Brian at M Go Blog, whose post on the matter I only discovered after reading Bill's post, also seems happy about the prospect. So, like the title says, I dunno. I'll be cautiously optimistic until I find out more.

Update: This from the Detroit Free Press:

His career record is 60-26. The Mountaineers have won at least 10 games in each of the past three seasons and are headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face Oklahoma this year after just missing out on a trip to the Bowl Championship Series national title game when they lost the season finale to Pittsburgh.

Can't really argue with the record, but losing to a team coached by Dave Wannstedt with the national championship on the line?

Update II: Just to give credit where it's due, this story *may* have been first reported at The Sporting News.

Rich Rodriguez to Michigan?

He interviewed today. Interesting.

Um...Todd?

I have some thoughts on this, but I'll save them for after Todd's take.

The short version: I'd be fine with it. :)

More Friday Airing of Grievances: Rock Band/GH3 Guitars

Activision, I Have a Big Problem With You!

If you're in that sad group of folks who not only love Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but also want to play them on a PS3 (that's what? five people?) you no doubt know by now that your Guitar Hero 3 guitar doesn't work in Rock Band, despite the fact that GH3 guitars do work with Rock Band on the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, the Rock Band guitar doesn't work in any of the Guitar Hero games, regardless of platform.

Let's be clear on one thing, this compatibility issue lies squarely at the feet of GH publisher, Activision. The saga really started heating up earlier this week when Harmonix (the makers of Rock Band and GH1 and 2) announced that they'd come up with a patch for Rock Band that would allow PS3 GH3 guitars to work with their game, but Sony, at the behest of Activision, would not release it to the public.

That speaks badly enough of Activision as it is. The only thing that could make PR matters worse for them is if they decided to shoot back. This is the quote that Opposable Thumbs (see previous link) is running with:

"In fact, Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band," the statement continues. "We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band. Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision."

Okay. Seriously. That quote's got holes in it so big you could fly the space shuttle through it. "Activision's offer to reach an agreement"? It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure that Activision's "offer" included copious amounts of cash, a couple of Harmonix employee's first borns, a signed first edition of The Catcher in the Rye and probably a lifetime subscription to Tiger Beat magazine.

Who does Activision think they're kidding with this? One developer (Harmonix) is on record as wanting an open hardware platform for music peripherals in these games and backs it up by allowing GH controllers to work with Rock Band. (Yes, they do have a vested interest in going this route. Rock Band may be superior, but GH is the franchise with name recognition.) One publisher (Activision/Red Octane) says they won't support the other's peripherals in their game because the quality sucks. As if it matters how good the guitar is if the game itself blows (the GH3 Les Paul, does indeed rock). And GH3 does blow. It's the Hurricane Andrew of the Guitar Hero series. (And the Rock Band fender is having problems, but reports are that the EA replacement policy has been triple-A good in terms of fast turnaround time for a fixed axe.)

Here's a peso's worth of free advice to Activision: just shut up. Anything you say in this debate other than, "we're opening things up so all current guitar peripherals will work in our GH games," is to scream from the top of a building, "Hi there! We're a bunch of flaming assholes!" If you don't want Rock Band fans to be able to use their peripherals in your game, that's your call. But don't pretend it has anything to do with guitar quality or Harmonix not being willing to bend over for you. It has to do with you wanting to have a closed platform such that only your hardware works with your software. Congrats, you're the iPod/iTunes of the guitar game community you bunch of gluttonous wankers.