Month: October 2007

SW Renegade Squadron has been out for a little over a week, and while I have only put in a couple of hours, I thought I would share a few comments.

I read about the game when I was looking at picking up a PSP Slim Star Wars bundle, and while SW Renegade Squadron is not the type of game I typically pick up, I decided to give it a go because of the Star Wars license.  There I said it.  I know that sounds bad, but lately, with the exception of Pinball HoF and Tiger Woods 07, my PSP has not seen much action.  I figured that a Star Wars titled would spice things up and serve as a good change of pace title.

I have never played a SW Battlefront game, so I did not really know what to expect.  I have only played a couple of hours; all time spent in the Single Player Instant Action mode.  As I said, I do not normally play these types of games, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Most of the reviews I have read rip the game for the controls, especially the auto-locking system.  I stink at the game, so I actually do not mind the auto-lock on fire system.  As an older gamer, these days I appreciate all the help I can get, but it sounds like most gamers think the auto-locking system allows you to breeze through the game in a few hours.  My experience thus far is that the controls basically suck.  I am not sure if that is an indictment of the developers, my lack of gaming skills, or just a limitation of the PSP (where is the redesign with a better analog nub or better yet, dual analog controls).  The controls are not responsive (I can never seem to roll on demand), but as I said, I do not really have any complaints with the auto-locking system.  Unless master the controls, I doubt I will fool around with the alternate control setup that does not include an auto-locking option.

Everyone is also complaining about the graphics.  To me I just do not see the reason for the complaints.  SW Renegade Squadron certainly does not feature striking visuals, but they do not seem like they suck.  The environments are large, the players are detailed, and things just look like Star Wars.  I wonder if gamers expect too much because of the age of HD gaming, or if I just settle for less?  I have never been a graphics whore, so no worries about the graphics.

At this point I guess my overall reaction with the game is probably more line with an average gamer.  I get to play Star Wars and see all my favorite characters (Darth Vader), and control cool ships (Millenium Falcon).  So far SW Renegade Squadron is fun, and works well as a pick up and play title.  As I master the controls and learn the ins and outs of the game, it will be interesting to see if this one can hold up.

For those of you that dropped by earlier today, you were greeted with the following note from our web host

Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible

The bills had already been paid; the lights are still on. Minor mix up that was quickly corrected.

BTW, we are now six! Calvert Games was launched September 27, 2001, but “officially” launched October 1, 2001. Earlier tonight, for grins and giggles, I looked at some of the content from the original site. Not that I no longer sound like a pompous ass, but some of that stuff is hilarious. I may have to post some of it again just for entertainment value.

Happy birthday to us. Go have a cold one in our honor!

Apparently Bobby Petrino has seen enough of Joey Harrington, who will be replaced by Leftwich as the Falcons starting QB this weekend against the New Orleans Saints.  I figured this move would take two weeks; it took four.  Not that the timing matters; ATL is still going to suck because QB play is not all that ails the Falcons.

I downloaded the newest OOTPB 2007 patch earlier this morning, but the darn thing did not work. Instead, the patch installer told me that it could not move forward because I had a newer version of OOTPB 2007 installed. Ouch. It looks like the OOTP gang have temporarily removed the patch from their site until the issue is resolved:

PC, Patch 3 only (Mirror 1) : Temporarily unavailable
PC, Patch 3 only (Mirror 2) : Temporarily unavailable

Probably not the sort of black eye that The OOTP Developments Team needs right now.

Interesting article about the state of fan affairs in the SEC. First you have Ole Miss fans throwing all sorts of crap on the field after a seemingly bad call, and then you get Kentucky fans going all out crazy after shocking LSU, which to me is one of the more appealing aspects of college football. The craziness really is a mixed bag, but the ESPN.com writer is correct in pointing out that the SEC needs to get rid of poor fan behavior.

A suggestion for the SEC to consider: The next time play is delayed for removal from the field of even a single object from the stands, penalize the home team 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Second time it happens, penalize it 30 yards. If it happens a third time, eject the head coach.

And if it happens at the end of the game, as was the case at Alabama, assess the penalty on the first play from scrimmage in the next home game.

Oh, and a fine would be OK with The Dash as well. Whatever it takes to reinforce the quaint notion that it’s not permissible to act like spoiled 3-year-olds when your team loses.

As a Dawg fan, I also enjoyed reading the kind words about Mark Richt, but the picture of Yesica Toscanini probably makes the article worth a mention here. Wow!

I just read that the Falcons are 9-19 (.321) all-time on Monday nights.  Make that 9-20 after tonight.  I am not sure how this one is sitting at 3.5 points.  I see something like 27-17 Giants.  Alge better ask Joey to throw him the damn ball … and when he does, he better catch everything thrown his way or he will come across looking like a big fat idiot.

Joey Harrington has not played that bad, but he is really in a no win situation now.  No matter how well he plays, he has to be looking over his shoulder at Byron “the number three QB” Leftwich.  After the last minute sub against the Titians, it is the worst kept secret in ATL that Bobby Petrino has to put in Leftwich or Petrino risks looking like a bumbling fool.

The season continues to deteriorates.

An abysmal season for the Atlanta Falcons continues to unfold (or maybe I should say unravel).

The good news is that ESPN.com is reporting that the Falcons may get some of Vick’s signing bonus back, which will help with salary cap issues. Chalk round one up to ATL.

Any money the Falcons recover from Vick would be credited to its future salary cap, a huge step in recovering from the loss of the team’s franchise player. Atlanta (1-4) is off to a dismal start with Joey Harrington at quarterback.

…

In a highly technical, nine-page ruling, Burbank said the Falcons were entitled to $3.75 million of the $7.5 million bonus that Vick was paid after signing the deal in 2004, $13.5 million of the $22.5 million in roster, reporting and playing bonuses he was paid in 2005 and 2006, and $2.72 million of the $7 million roster, reporting and playing bonus that he received this year.

The bad news could take all night. Instead, I thought this AJC article was fairly interesting. Actually the comments are more interesting, but bottom line is that this is going to be a completely lost year. I just hope that enough folks bail on ATL in order to bump me up on the season ticket priority list.

I decided not to pick up a new PSP Slim. The Star Wars limited edition one sounded cool, but at my age, value wins out over cool and collectable. Honestly, it is not like I am going to keep the system on a shelf to collect and eventually sell. At some point maybe I will go slim PSP 2000, but I am going to stand pat for now.

I did pre-order Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron from ebgames; the game arrived today. I also could not hold off on Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. I decided to pre-order this one from Amazon for a couple of reasons. First, we use the Prime service, so shipping is cheap, and I did not like that ebgames wanted to charge me $9.99 per game for next day shipping. $20 to ship SW Renegade Squadron and FF Tactics? No thanks. Second, I wanted to see if Amazon could deliver games on the ship date. Nope. I will not get this one until after my beach trip.

I came close to getting Dungeons & Dragons Tactics and Madden NFL 08, but decided to hold off on both. For now. Jeanne D’arc also looks great, but not sure if I really need this one and FF Tactics.

I swear if I do not play the Star Wars game then I may as well throw all my PSP crap up on eBay.

So I spent some time playing my PSP tonight and finally decided to see if there was a new firmware update.  There was, so I did the usual download.  Then I went to apply it, and could not because my batty was not charged up, which was to be expected since the darn things only last a handful of hours.

I pulled out my power adaptor, but still no dice.  The update requires my battery to be fully charged.  WTF?  Not sure what the battery has to do with it if I am using the adaptor.

I also played WipeOut Pure for the first time in months.  I went to the download section, but for some reason the game would not let me use my network connection.  A few months ago I upgraded my router and changed from WEP security to WAP.  Not sure if the game did not recognize my network profile due to the game not supporting WAP or if at some point one of the firmware upgrades disabled the option.  It is strange because I can browse the internet, download firmware updates, etc with the WAP enabled profile.  Strange stuff.

For my Falcons preview, I predicted a 5-11 season, but after today’s mess at Tennessee, things look to be much worse.

Does anyone really think the Joey Harrington led Falcons are going to do anything this year? Even the most ardent Homer has to expect Atlanta to stink up the Georgia Dome.

* Wins by week: Minnesota (1), Houston (4), Tennessee (5), Tampa Bay (11), Tampa Bay (15)
* Loses by week: Jacksonville (2), Carolina (3), NY Giants (6), New Orleans (7), San Francisco (9), Carolina (10), Indianapolis (12), St. Louis (13), New Orleans (14), Arizona (16), Seattle (17)

5-11 is actually pretty generous. I am assuming that Tampa Bay will suck, Minnesota will have QB issues, Houston will not be significantly improved, and even the magic of Vince will not be enough for Tennessee to win. Trouble is definitely ahead.

At this point I thought ATL would be 3-2, instead we get an abysmal 1-4 record. How do you lose when the other team has five turnovers? These guys are pitiful. Looking for wins down the road? Take the two Tampa Bay games off the board. Are we really looking at a 1-15 record? Maybe there is hope against New Orleans (what happened to them this year), and St. Louis, but that is not really much in the way of hope. Don’t hold your breath for much improvement; it is going to be a long, long season.

I have been debating picking up a new PSP Slim; the Star Wars PSP Slim limited edition bundle looks pretty cool, but at $200 can I afford something just because it looks cool? I have not checked on eBay to see how much my original PSP can fetch, but I figure it should be good for at least $75, which means I could get the Star Wars PSP Slim bundle or maybe the Daxter PSP Slim bundle for about $125. The real question is can I get my money’s worth from an upgrade?

I am planning on getting the new Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron games, which at $40 is a good reason to pick up the Star Wars PSP Slim limited edition bundle, making it about $85 (sell original PSP for $75 and Renegade Squadron by itself is $40). I am also fairly committed to Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, which despite poor mega site reviews, has received fairly positive user praise on metacritic.

I am also strongly considering Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which was a great game on the PSX and pretty good on the GBA. Maybe I could sell my long forgotten GBA version for a few bucks? I am sure I can throw out “rare” or “collectors item” to pick up a few more bones.

I still think I need a football game, so Madden NFL 08 looms (should have gotten it for $12 off at Circuit City last week), but I am going to try to hold off on this one as long as possible. I think it may be better as a b-day or Christmas present. Madden 07 was not that bad, but I think I like to have quick pick up and play experiences, which probably contradicts the whole D&D Tactics and FF Tactics debate.

I finally played Tiger Woods 2007 (purchased it several months ago), and it looks like a solid game. Once upon a time I was a big video game golf fan, but I have not checked out a Tiger Woods game in years. I am not sure if it is an indication of my PSP or the actual game, but it locked up twice during my profile creation and a third time while loading the tutorial. Previous versions of Madden locked up, so maybe it is an EA Sports game issue?

I did not really play enough Tiger Woods to comment on the game, but I guess it does not matter much since Tiger Woods 2008 is out. The charter generation system is deep, the graphics look pretty, and the controls are fairly straight forward. This may actually be the type of game I need for traveling.

From a sports standpoint, the only titles I still own are WipeOut Pure (great futuristic racing title – but fringe at best as a sports game), Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution 2007, and of course Tiger Woods 2007. At some point I will probably pick up TOCA Race Driver 2, but I have not been in a rush to add a new racing title; just not so sure they play well on the go.

So if I go with a Slim, it is going to cost me money up front until I clear some items on eBay, but the major disadvantages are that I already have an extra battery, a Logictech case, and a screen protector (LCD stick-on cover) for my current PSP. I am not sure I can justify a new system plus three news games over four news games for less than the Slim bundles.

I need to make a decision tonight because I want the games in time for my FL trip Wednesday night. Will post an update later.

With apologies to Bowling for Soup, I almost picked up several games at Circuit City last night.

Madden 2008 for the Wii would be a great Christmas present for the kids, plus it was $12 off.  I decided not to pick it up yet, because we need to plan a little better – Santa, two sets of grandparents, etc.

Madden 2008 for the PSP, which should be new and improved over last year; also on sale for $12 off.  I decided not to get it because I did not play the 2007 version enough (sold it a while back), and I have just not been in much of a PSP mood.

DiRT for the PS3; because every console needs a good rally game.  In the end, I decided to wait to see if I could find it a little cheaper – $60 is a lot for an impulse purchase.

Heavenly Sword was also in hand, but how could I start something new when I have not finished Oblivion or Resistance.  Besides, there was that $60 impulse purchase thing again.

I thought about one of the new NBA titles, but I have read mixed reviews on all.  Which one is really the best?  Since when did I actually like the NBA again?  Probably a horrible purchase without waiting for a sale.

In the end I did not pick up anything.  I almost spent a couple of hundred dollars, but figured I was better off standing pat and enjoying what I already had in my library.  Of course all this almost buying prompted me to throw up a few older games on eBay to build a spending cache to help justify my next trip to Circuit City.

If I say that enough, it may make me feel better about Georgia’s loss to Tennessee and Texas’ defeat at the hands of Oklahoma. Well, probably not, but I can at least justify a young and inconsistent Bulldog team going down at Rocky Top, and everyone knew Texas was seriously over rated this year. USC was a 41 point favorite over Stanford, so no matter how I spin my teams’ defeats there is no way Trojan fans can do the same.

So I have missed a good two weeks between posts.  Stuff happens.

What a crappy day for my football teams.  Georgia gets taken behind the woodshed and has the living tar spanked out of them, and Texas goes down to Oklahoma.  Crap.

The last three weeks have been filled with very little gaming.  Instead, any free time has gone to watching football (took in the Falcons-Carolina game a couple of weeks ago), catching up on reading, and I have started a running program.  I did manage to get in a little time on my PSP earlier this week on a “day trip” to Canada.  The usual staple – Pinball Hall of Fame – and I spent a little time with Taito Legends Power-Up (Qix and Elevator Action).  I think there are some things worth commenting on, such as the horrible analog nub controls on these classic compilations, and my general lack of enthusiasm for the PSP.  Maybe I am outgrowing gaming on the game, which would be a pretty sad state of affairs.  I do have a couple of trips coming up, so maybe things will change.

I have not fired up my PS3 for gaming in weeks (dare I say months).  Looks like a lot of changed.  Today I had to upgrade my firmware, download the new folding at home update, and check out some of the free content from the Playstation store.  The biggest thing I ran across in the forums that I have not frequented in a while are the rumors surrounding PS3 backwards capability issues.  Not sure where this will take us, but I think backwards capability is a major selling point for the PS3.  Most longtime Playstation owners have a catalog of PSX and PS2 games that they will want to play for the foreseeable future.  I know there are still several PS2 games that I want to play; too little time for all the great games.

I spent some time with Formula One Championship Edition running hot laps in the time trail mode.  The burr hit me right since I happened to be up early in the morning to watch qualifying for the Chinese GP.  Not at all intentional, but I could not sleep.  Formula One CE is still an outstanding title that for the most part did not receive its due in the US market.

I also spent some time with Super Stardust HD, which is easily one of my all time favorite shooters.  Decided to download the free version of Go! Sudoku; it is Sudoku, not sure what else to add.  I will probably splurge three bucks on Go! Sports Ski; it is cheap and looks different.

How about Jacques Villeneuve qualifying up front at Talladega.  Give ’em hell Jacques.