Category: Archive

I tought the whole street racing thing had run its course, but it looks like EA disagreed. So says Need for Speed (NFS) Carbon, which is really the third iteration of the Underground series. I see no reason for EA to release a third version in the series other than EA knowing that everything Need for Speed sells (i.e. cash cow).

Seriously, I figured by now everyone would have done the street racing until they were ready to puke, and move on to more interesting aspects of the NFS series. I assumed the car pimping thing was played out by now. Silly me. Never under estimate the EA marketing machine.

I never played the Midnight club series, but I spent plenty of time with NFS Underground, and just enough with Underground to know that I was done pimping.

Traditional NFS with exotic sports cars, and great multi-stage tracks is what NFS is all about. Not illegal street racing, pimp daddy stuff. The only thing that will save this thing has to be the graphics, which look impressive, but I still have to wonder why EA would not go after the broader NFS audience. Pimping has to have limited market potential compared to something like NFS Hot Pursuit 2, which is really one of the high points in the NFS series.

Yet another sign that I must be moving further outside of anyone’s target audience for fun. I hope the gaming companies remember that as games get more expensive, my demographic actually has disposable cash spend on nonessential items, such as video games. No pimping for me, but give me a new NFS with some sort of Hot Pursuit mode – and of course some pretty graphics – then call me happy.

Here are the lessons learned so far from our transition to Out of the Park Baseball 2006 (in no particular order of importance):

(1) Make sure to confirm that every owner has installed the game and your league file correctly. This will take some time, but many owners will probably overestimate how easy it is to install OOTPB 2006.

(2) Upload the full league file through the game AND make it available on your website. Some owners will have no problem loading the league file through the game. Others may be behind firewalls (or whatever) that won’t let OOTPB 2006 connect with an FTP site.

(3) Turn off waivers when importing your OOTP 6.5 league. The OOTPB 2006 AI will make a number of roster moves when importing a league. Turning off waivers stops the AI from putting players on the waiver wire that the human owners probably don’t want to happen. The AI will still make silly moves like releasing players the human owner still wants on his team, but those are easier to fix.

(4) Make quick start games often. I made quick start games for every major change that was made when I imported our league. We did a league contraction, so every time I made a structure change, I created a quick start game.

(5) Get to know the Anderson Utilities. I used the AU65History utility to import the individual player histories that were lost during the league conversion. I haven’t fully explored all of the neat utilities that are available.

(6) Think about when you want to run your draft. OOTPB 2006 executes the draft differently. Players are “revealed” 30 days prior to the draft. We decided to move our draft to March 1st instead of June so that we could do the draft before the season started and not suffer any delays.

(7) Get FaceTool and use it. In the pantheon of OOTP utilities, FaceTool joins BOSI as one of the greatest pieces of text-gaming add-on goodness ever written. I almost spent $375 to buy Facegen to do what FaceTool does much better. It not only creates color coordinated uniforms and player pictures for each team, it will update pictures to refelect trades when players move from team to team.

That’s the list for now. We will do a team import/export test on Friday.

This is probably more for Chris, because I am not sure who else reads my crap, but just in case, I figured I would ask. Where is a decent source of PC gaming reviews? I am looking for a site or two where I can find well written reviews that target RPG and RTS games. I have not been a PC gamer for years, and I doubt I will be again anytime soon. With that said, I have this jones thing going for AoE right now, so I may as well do some reading to see what is out there � popular, cult favorites, or something off the well-worn path.

I found myself in Best Buy today; Joshua had some money burning a hole in his pocket. Ultimately he could not decide between one of three Nintendo DS games � StarFox, Super Mario Bros DS, or the upcoming Pokemon Blue Rescue game. I talked him into waiting for a few days to “decide” what he really wants.

I spent a few minutes with the 360 Madden 07, and I have to say the thing looked damn impressive. Pretty much in the same way NFL2K (Dreamcast) graphics were leaps and bounds better than the PSX, the 360 graphics for Madden are far and away better than the PS2. Not that I am making a next generation purchase anytime soon.

I came close to picking up Age of Empires for the DS, but I decided to stand pat for a while longer. I could see myself picking up a DS Lite, but I did not want to blow $170 or so today. I suppose I could “borrow” Joshua’s DS, but that would be like pulling a bone from my dog. Not going to happen.

So I decided to take a look at the PC aisle. I came this close (picture my fingers about an inch apart) to picking up Age of Empires III, but I decided that I was not going to pay $50 for a PC game. I am not sure why, but I thought gaming on a PC was cheap these days. I know top systems are expensive, but I thought the actual games were cheap, or they were discounted fairly quickly. Anyone know of a good place to get discounted PC games?

So I was almost a PC gamer … but not yet. I have a feeling within a week I will have AoE for the DS (with a DS Lite) or for the PC (with a $90 memory upgrade). Either way, I want to play AoE, and I either have to get a DS or upgrade my system to handle games.

I think the memory upgrade is the better route right now because it would be useful for other things besides a gaming fix. So the real question is how much memory do you actually need to run the game? I think the box said 128mb (or maybe 512mb), but that sounds pretty low. The machine I am going to put it on has 512mb and runs slow; processor is fast, but just not enough memory. Recommendations?

Found this interesting bit at Dawg Sports:

“For what it’s worth, I would note that the Bulldogs’ 48-12 win over Western Kentucky marked the fifth occasion in program history on which the Red and Black scored exactly 48 points in their season opener.

In the four previous seasons in which the ‘Dawgs hung 48 points on the autumn’s inaugural opponent (in 1974, 1991, 2004, and 2005), Georgia averaged almost nine wins per year . . . and the Red and Black were 3-0 against the Gamecocks in those seasons.”

Steve’s boys scare me, not because they have better talent, but because it is such a big deal to the Gamecocks if they beat the Bulldogs. While UGA expects high standards, South Carolina will be “up” for UGA because they hope to achieve lofty standards.

More to come on this one…

How much hype can one stand? I thought there was way too much around the Irish/Tech game, but this FL State/Miami thing is way out of hand. Hope the game lives up to its billing, but I bet we are going to be in for an ugly defensive struggle.

Speaking of hype and Norte Dame, I just heard someone on ESPN Radio say that Norte Dame’s defense was the most impressive thing he saw for opening weekend. WTF is up with that? Georgia Tech’s offense is a far cry from actually being good; of course things would be different if the bumblebees actually had a decent QB.

All in all, not a bad first week for predictions. I went 9-1, with my only miss being Hotty Toddy, and that just barely. Before you ask, I do not go against the spread (I could never condone gambling) and I do not track the non SEC action.

Early favorites for Calvert Games’ SEC Shame of the Week Award were Mississippi and Kentucky, but the award goes to Arkansas. While there is no shame in going down to USC, Hog-nation was certain things would be different this year. I am sure that they are coming up with excuse after excuse, but to have someone drop 120 combined points on you over the last two years is just damn embarrassing. The Wildcats *could* have received the award, but everyone knows they are bottom of the class; Arkansas is *supposed* to be better.

If dad was here, he would certainly be happy about McCoy’s impressive debut for the Horns, but he would be worrying-up for this Saturday’s Ohio State game. And yes, the Arkansas debacle would have brought a smile to his face.

I am not sure if there were any real surprises around the SEC. I called California mud a while back, so I expected Tennessee to win (figured it would be closer). I am not sure why, but I never expect Auburn’s backs to be as good as advertised, but that Irons kid put up 180+ on the ground, which is gosh darn impressive. I did not expect Mississippi to find a ground attack (and actually win), and while I expected Kentucky to stick, I certainly did not think their defense would stop just shy of 60 (ouch).

Hope the Dawgs figure out some things in a hurry before Saturday night. Namely, how to open some holes for our trio of backs, how to hold onto the ball (come on receivers!), and how to get some consistent QB play. It seems like nothing comes easy for Georgia when they travel to Williams-Brice Stadium, so this one could go wrong fast.

Not to be looking ahead because the Dawgs cannot do that this year, but that UAB game has to look a tad scary now after UAB’s performance against Oklahoma. The Colorado game now looks like a cake walk.

Go Dawgs!

How does a team like Colorado go down to a 1-AA opponent? In this case Montana State embarrassed Colorado 19-10. You expect Duke to falter against the 1-AA teams, but Colorado? I think not. Not that I am a fan or anything. For that matter I never understood what was so great about Hawkins. Boise State won a lot of games under Hawkins, but come on, the competition was inferior. What a mess in Boulder.

How about Rocky Top? I called that one the first week in August. I never understood why everyone thought Cal was so special. I am not going to say, “I told you so” � well, we all know the SEC rules.

The reality of the situation is that Dawg fans should thank their lucky stars that we were not playing a real opponent, or it could have been very scary. At this point I still think that Georgia has enough on offense and defensive to win a close one against the ‘cocks, but the 296 total yards gained today against Western Kentucky has to look mighty scary to Bulldog Nation.

Tereshinski was garbage. Nothing personal, he just did not look sharp. Cox did not look like he knew what was going – ‘just for giggles, I think I will throw it up for grabs.’ Good grief! Stafford? He looked fairly sharp, but the game was well in hand by the time he saw playing time. Controversy? Going to be an interesting week.

While I did not expect a lot from the Georgia QBs, I expected a lot more from the HBs. Ware had a nice day (67yds on 6 carries, including a 40+ yard TD run), but after that Lumpkin (5 rushes for 27yds, 1 TD) and Brown (10 rushes for 25yds, 1 TD) did not look like great backs. Maybe some of this can be attributed to suspensions, youth, and depth problems on the o-line. Next week will be telling.

More to come later. Go Dawgs!

Go Dawgs! There, I had to get that out of my system!

And before I get started, Chris better not put up any Aggie crap! Navy I can live with, but not A&M.

Technically I am a few days late, but that could not be helped. As a wizard once said, “I was delayed.”

I would have picked the fighting chickens over Bulldogs of Mississippi, but it would not be fair for me to take such an easy win after the fact. You know the ‘ol ball coach has to be seething about his team’s offensive output, which was pretty pathetic. Not as bad as the ‘dogs, but still awful by Spurrier’s standards.

Washington State – (4) Auburn
The Tigers will struggle early, but will easily pull away. Look for a stingy, undersized defense to quickly take control of the game. Not sure how good Auburn will eventually look on offense, but I think they will sputter along today; defense and special teams will keep setting the Tigers up for score after score.

(6) USC – Arkansas
I love to hate the hogs. My dad instilled some proper values in me, but they are so easy to dislike. Word on the street (at least what my dad showed me and what I have ready) is that Arkansas thinks they have something for Trojans. Nope. Not going to happy. USC reloads, not rebuilds. USC may not put up 70, but this one is not going to be pretty for the hog faithful.

Southern Miss – (7) Florida
Southern Miss is one of those underdogs that you always pull for, but they will not come close to matching Florida’s superb talent. It may be close for a while, but I could see the Gators winning by 17+.

Louisiana-Lafayette – (8) LSU
Why bother? Better competition than what the Dawgs will face, but this one is not going to be close. The Tigers will put up 50 (or more) points; while the Ragin’ Cajuns will struggle to muster 20.

(9) California � (23) Tennessee
One of my early season predictions a few weeks ago was that California is not a Top 10 team; at least not yet. Rocky Top is poised for a comeback, so I can see this one being an upset special. There I said it; I do not think the Volunteers are all that, and I do not want to pull for the Bears, but I am going to go for Tennessee on a last second field goal.

Vanderbilt � (14) Michigan
Ouch. This one is going to be a serious miss match. I think the Commodores may be respectable early, but they will not be able to hold up to the smash-mouth Big 10 style of football.

Hawaii � Alabama
Early bowl game? Alabama has much to prove after the disappointment of not being ranked in the preseason polls. The Tide has a wonderful defense, so even if the offense does not figure out how to Roll, Roll, Roll, ‘Bama should have a fairly easy win.

Memphis – Mississippi
This game could be the SEC Shame of the Week. Memphis will pull off the “upset” – but it really is not because Ole Miss basically stinks; there is still a lot of rebuilding to be done. Flim fam bim bam? Hotty Toddy, I think not!

Kentucky – (13) Louisville
The Wildcats are the other choice for the SEC Shame of the Week. This one will be done after 15-minutes; Louisville in a laugher.

Western Kentucky � (15) Georgia
Another laugher, and probably the worst SEC game on the Week 1 plate. Still, the reason to watch for Dawg fans is how soon we get to see the QB situation play out. 35-3 or something like that; in other words, not even close.

Other games of note:

North Texas – (3) Texas
If this was an NCAA 2007 Football game, North Texas would win, but it is not, so the Mean Green will go down hard and fast. My dad’s Alma Mater (and my usual NCAA Football team) vs. his favorite team. Will be fun to watch for a few minutes before the Georgia game starts, but this is just a tune-up for Texas to get a QB ready for Ohio State.

(2) Norte Dame – GA Tech
I keep reading and hearing that this is going to be a great game, but I have no idea if Norte Dame is really *that* good (too much hype for my liking). If Ball can get the ball to Calvin Johnson several times, and the bumblebees play their typical stingy defense, I smell an upset. I do not like Tech, but I hope they put the Irish on their collective happy ass.

(11) Florida State – (12) Miami (FL)
Does State have a QB? If the answer is yes, they will run the table this year, but if they do not, it is going to be long season for the Seminoles. I can also see Miami having another “down” year; at least by their standards. This one will be close, but no wide left (or right) nonsense this year.

Before I forget,

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Texas Fight, Texas Fight,
For it’s Texas that we love best.
Give ’em hell, Give ’em hell, Go Horns Go!

Finally time for some proper football!

Go Dawgs! and Hook ’em Horns!

So WTH is wrong with US basketball? We have great individual players, but not a great team. Why?

I am not much of a basketball fan these days, but how does the US lose to Greece in basketball? I was not in a position to watch TV the last few days, but I would have assumed we would win out, even if we had a close call or two in the final games. As everyone but me knew by now, we still have no concept of team play, no concept of half-court defense, and we try to make up with it with great individual skills. Oh boy, another 360-windmill-behind the back-reverse-dunk. Yeah, baby! That will bring home another bronze!

Will have to wait to tell more …

Speaking of maiden victories, how about Marco Andretti at Infineon Raceway? Dude is so young he could not have Champaign in Victory Circle. Hats off and all that!

Congratulations to Felipe Massa on his maiden victory at the Turkish GP. I think the Alonso/Schumacher battle may have overshadowed Massa’s victory, but you have to give hats off to Massa for a very tidy victory. Just a couple of years ago Massa was considered an erratic mess who had speed, and now he takes Ferrari to the top of the podium. On to Monza in two weeks to see if Schumacher can cut into Alonso’s 12-point led, and to see if Ferrari will make their countrymen proud at the Italian GP.

The Falcons looked decent last night, but that is not saying too much considering the opposition was the Titians. Still, I was looking forward to a few things – could the Falcons establish a rushing defense, was Norwood up to the task (considering the Duckett trade), is Vick ready for the season, and finally would Shockley lock up the 3rd string QB spot? And of course I wanted to see Young in action.

Atlanta’s rushing defense looked solid, only giving up 50 or so yards on the ground. Norwood looked impressive, especially on his 62-yard TD scamper; he put in a nice tidy 100 yards on the ground. Surprisingly, Vick looked solid in the short passing game. He could have done better if his receivers helped him out; Crumpler dropped a pass in the endzone, and there were a couple of other drops including what would have been a nice gain in McCrary held onto the ball. I feel asleep before while DJ was in the game, but he ended the day a respectable 3-6 with 42 yards passing (and no INTs). Looks like DJ led a nice 14 play 60 yard drive for a FG. All in all, what I saw of the Falcons was encouraging, and what I did not see looks good for DJ fans.

I only saw Young for a couple of series, so not much to say except it is going to be fun to watch the kid develop into an NFL QB. I bet he is starting by game nine, because the Titians are going to suck this year.

Bristol under the lights is always a lot of fun, but I feel asleep with about 150 laps to go, which means I missed out on all the fun. From the looks of things the race lived up to expectations, and I have to admit that I like the new angry Jeff Gordon:

“Scott Riggs scored a season-high fourth-place finish and was followed by Jeff Gordon. The two exchanged heated words after the race, apparently disagreeing over the way they raced each other in the closing laps.”

Not sure what the flap is about, but fisticuffs makes for exciting off the track fun.