Month: January 2007

Sports Interactive all but killed off Eastside Hockey Manager. The knee jerk “we couldn’t sell the game because of piracy” comments in the forum left me scratching my head. I read somewhere that the NHL All Star game had lower ratings than Andy Griffith re-runs aired during the same time (actually I think Jim Rome said this during his radio show). Hmmm.

Could we be staring at Out of the Park Baseball’s future with another lackluster release this year? If OOTPB 2007 turns out to be as bad and bug-ridden at release at OOTPB 2006, then I am closing my league down and that’s the end of my OOTPB playing. Lots of other folks will do the same. For the record, piracy will have little to do with OOTPB’s demise should SI decide to close down its baseball franchise.

To quote an owner in my league and one of OOTPB 2006’s harshest critics “Sounds like they actually listened to all the complaints about the piece of crap that we’re using currently.”  His words, not mine, but I understand where he is coming from.  For complete info visit the new forum.

News from various sources indicates that the beta team seems happy with the progress being made with OOTPB 2007.  I’m getting fewer “Markus is an idiot” (I paraphrase) notes.  Having lived through OOTPB 2006 for a season, I am not sure if it hasn’t sucked the life out of the OOTPB community.

Thanks to the folks at The Blog for the Sports Gamer for this classic clip.  The funny part are the responses to the show.  Jonathan, don’t neglect your son!  What a weak and lame response by the addicted player.  Come on brother, you can do better than that!

One nice thing about taking time off for Joseph, is that I am getting a lot of time to play WoW.  I guess ‘a lot’ is relative, but it is nice being able to play for 30 minutes here and there throughout the day.  I figured I would take a break from doing all the baby stuff and post an update of where I am with the game.

Faltutin is my main character; level 29 gnome mage.  After playing in a group of four mages (myself plus three front mages) last week, I am very tempted to re-spec my mage.  Fire is nice, but these guys knew what they were doing.  They made frost a thing of beauty; devastating mobs from here to Texas in the process.  I am sure a group of fire mages could do the same thing, but I have yet to group with three other fire mages; experiencing frosty goodness first hand made me a believer.

Kaldur is my priest; level 14 dwarf priest.  Probably my least favorite character, but that may have more to do with me not really knowing how to solo a priest.  I may have to spec this guy as a shadow priest just to pick up some fire power.  That or get someone from the guild to game with me.

Tuldar is my hunter; level 12 dwarf hunter, with Snowpaws, my level 11 snow leopard.  I like this guy because it is almost like playing in a group (almost).  It is probably easier to solo with a hunter than my mage, and definitely easier than soloing with my priest.  For this reason alone I am thinking about starting a warlock, but I really want to spend some more time with my mage and hunter before starting something new.

Chris already mentioned that he changed from Bronzebeard to Arathor as part of a free character move to alleviate congestion on Bronzebeard.  I went with him (and the guild), so now I am playing on a server with an extremely low character population.  There have been two immediate differences that I have noticed.  First, there are not as many people around, which is good and bad.  This is good because I do not have to wait for anything.  This is bad because it is helpful to have others take out certain mobs (or just have someone to group with).  The second thing I have noticed is the young economy.  I made a killing on Bronzebeard selling all manner of things, but it is rough going on Arathor.  A good example is that I used to be able to sell a stack of herbs, linen (and other cloth), and copper for a decent amount of coin, but no so much now.  This is not that big a deal for Faltutin (97.5 gp), but it is hurting Kaldur (1.873 gp), and killing Tuldar (0.246 gp).  Tuldar is so cash poor that he cannot buy a couple of skills that are now available.  I think it will be worth the move just to experience a young economy grow.

Overall I am still having a ton of fun with the game, doing all sorts of crazy stuff that I never figured I would care about.  Buying a silver tabby, improving my cooking skills (and looking for recipes), fishing, and learning first aid.  On Bronzebeard I also learn that I could either pay 1-2 gp for stranglekelp to make lesser mana potions, or I could buy a stack of lesser mana potions for .06 gp.  The dynamics of the game keeps me coming back for more.

If I am disappointed in anything, it is the lack of group participation from the guild for lower level characters (i.e. my three characters).  Not pointing a finger at you Chris; just an observation that I have yet to have someone from the guild respond to a request to group.  This could just be a matter of timing or it could be that I do not actually know anyone in the guild.

All for now; my turn to get a crying baby.

What a long 47 hrs since Joseph arrived.  Glad to be home again; in time for the playoffs.  🙂 

A lot to write about, but time wasted writing are minutes away from World of Warcraft.  From the midnight launch event that I attended to the actual game itself, The Burning Crusade is pure gaming goodness.  I’m currently level 63 with my priest, my guild moved to a new server (Arathor) and I’ll write more in the future!

Joseph made it here Friday, January 19, 2007 at 4:34PM.  7lbs 3oz, 20in long … ten fingers, ten toes … all that good stuff.  Nice and healthy.  Mother and baby are doing great; maybe a little tired, but other wise fine.  Me?  Last night I realized that I was too dumb to not realize that I was too old for another round of this baby stuff!

So here we go.  Three minutes and change; 21-21 … Captain Tom at the helm.  Hard for me not to believe that he puts his team in position to steal one away from the Super Chargers.

Not sure who put that lick on Bush, but OMG was that an incredible hit.  Hope the entire game is as good as that hit in the first minute!

I love Indy winning this one.  Fat lady is not singing yet, but it is pretty much in the book.  Very nice.  Vinatieri is money; 5 FGs makes for a MVP kind of day.

The Official Calvert Baby Watch Number Three has started.  Yesterday Tonya’s doctor told us that boy number three would be here within the week.  Will induce on Friday if baby has yet to show his head (so to speak).

I nervously say ‘baby’ because we have yet to settle on a name.  Lots of possibilities, but nothing we agree on … yet.

If I disappear for a few days, then you know why.

BTW, if anyone ever tells you that a network migration is going to be seamless, then run; really fast.*  [*Comment based solely on imaginary reaction to a comment that never happened, not on some real life observation (i.e. I am throwing out something funny, just to be funny, and not repeating anything that has an basis in fact or anything that just may happen to be based on any real life situation that I may have experienced).

This is not so much about who I want to win, but who I think will win.  New Orleans.  I am not a Saints fan; being a Falcons fan, that would not be acceptable.  I think the Eagles got lucky (you do need some degree of luck), but ultimately the Saints are the better team.

QB is an issue, but the Bears will win.  They are just a more complete team.  Of course I never gave the Seahawks credit last year … all the way to the Super Bowl.

San Diego is the better team, but I really think Brady’s ledged will continue to grow with this upset.

I want Indy to win; I like Manning, but this is not about what I want.  The Ravens win this one.

I thought I’d dig this up from the December archives over at The Blog for the Sports Gamer where my favorite Ohio State fan made the following prediction:

“As of now I am thinking 30-16 OSU in the title game, FWIW. I just don’t think there is any offense in the SEC that can match up with Ohio State’s and I think Florida’s defense is in for a rude awakening. We’ll see.”

We saw. To be fair, he didn’t update that prediction after Michigan was destroyed by USC, LSU crushed ND, Texas barely beat Iowa, and Texas A&M was humiliated by California. All of these results gave us clues about Ohio State’s demise. I live in the Big-12 conference now after multiple-years in the SEC. I’m also a graduate of a Big 10 school (Minnesota) so I am forced to live through the agony of watching the Gophers blow leads against their conference (not to mention in bowl games). I can see just how slow and different football is here when compared to the teams I saw come into Gainesville from the SEC.

So in this case I give the ESPN folks at “Around the Horn” and “PTI” a great deal of credit. Many of them saw what all of us saw during the bowl games leading up to the title-game. The Big 10 is slow. Tough, but slow. And speed kills.

I am going to be a contrarian with my prediction; 27-23 Florida, which the go ahead TD coming in the final 5 minutes of the game.  We have see what Tressel can do against top teams (and in big games), but no so much with Meyer.  I just have to believe that this whole “Florida does not belong” thing is going to be a huge motivation for the Gators.  I know I am an SEC homer, but I just do not see the blowout that some pundits are predicting.