Beginning this Thursday, March 11th, we’ll be offering up additional quests for free every week through the end of June! You read right, free. Just log into the PlayStation Network, start up your copy of White Knight Chronicles and you’ll see new quests pop up on the World Map. Each week we’ll be releasing a new permanent quest, as well as limited quests that will only be available for two weeks at a time.

I am nowhere near enough (currently GR2) to be able to enjoy any of these quests. Not sure if this is poking me in the eye, incentive for me to drop what I am doing and get on with the game, or a little of both. I really appreciate Sony’s support of WKC:I with the addition of free DLC quests.

WKC:I has not received critical acclaim, and it is sure to be lost in the shadow of several other soon to be major hits (cough … FFXIII, cough GOW:III … cough). WKC:I has fan favorite, cult classic written all over it. I hope Sony continues to support the game for a long time to come, because I know I will be lagging behind everyone else in terms of gameplay time and guild rankings.

Cornerback Chris Houston was traded to the Detroit Lions for a sixth round pick on Monday, the team confirmed.

Also, as part of the deal, the Falcons will move up to the second pick overall in the fifth round and Detroit will pick 18th in fifth round

Houston may have had some decent speed and athletic ability, but he was never a decent option; a nickel back at best.

Perhaps better news is that the Falcons should give a few compensatory picks.

The Falcons are also expected to receive at least two compensatory picks during the league’s meeting later this month in Orlando. Teams are awarded compensatory picks for the players they lose during free agency in the previous year. The Falcons lost linebacker Keith Brooking, linebacker Michael Boley, cornerback Domonique Foxworth and defensive tackle Grady Jackson last season.

Hopefully Brooking is worth something; he did have a decent year. Boley and Foxworth are sure to be worth two picks, but I doubt the Falcons will receive squat for big ol’ Grady.

If my laptop was a decent gaming rig, with a video game worthy graphics card, I would give Star Trek a whirl, but as it is, things were WoW was a frame rate mess, so I think I am going to have to pass.

Really need to upgrade my PC one of these days, so I can pick up these types of deals, and of course to give iRacing a go.

Amazon is also giving me a $10 credit towards a future game with my order. I am becoming so far backlogged that I am not sure when I will actually look at this game, much less when to consider my next purchase at a $10 discount. For those keeping score at home, I have not finished a Final Fantasy game since FFVII, so this does not look very promising.

BTW, the PS3 version is current tracking at 82% (36 reviews) to 84% (17 reviews) on the 360. Go figure.

Tom Bowles of SI’s Inside NASCAR, sums things up as “just racing” …

Which brings me to my third and final point: what Edwards did was no different than what any other driver has done through the years in retaliating for a wreck that took him out of contention. There was no intent to injure, and both drivers understand what happened and why. When the smoke clears, people need to realize this incident was “just one of those racin’ deals” and move on.

I agree with Bowles on his previous point; NASCAR has a tough call here. They said the boys could take care of things on the track. Edwards serves up the first test for this new hands-off stance.

My first reaction was to suspend Edwards. I really think payback should have come at a future race, not later in the day when Edwards was obviously hot headed, and ultimately reckless. I am still thinking things over because at some point someone else will be killed, which would be a damn shame, especially if my kids are watching with me.

I did get to activate my code of the six classic stadiums. I guess this was a nice enough extra from the folks at Amazon, but it was not as if I grew up watching baseball at the Polo Grounds. Of course these stadiums are better than the cement circles that were popular when I was growing up – Fulton County, I call you out. Still; gift horse, so I will not complain.

My first thoughts are that MLB10 has an overwhelming assortment of options. With my thirty minute gaming sessions, it will take me a while to figure which options best suit my style of play.

MLB10 looks like it has superb presentation; the game looks real, the announcers seem to do a good job, and the game appears to have all the other intangibles that go into making an immersive baseball experience. One of the things I noticed right off was the ability to speed up the time it takes in-between pitches. When I actually spent a lot of time playing console baseball games, my favorite experiences where those that I could actually wrap up in 30 minutes; 45 minutes tops. I am not sure if a quick game is possible with MLB10, but any options to speed up the game are always appreciated. I almost feel guilty for attempting to bypass some of the wiz-bang side effects that the development team put into the game to make it appear as a realistic baseball experience.

I played a couple of three inning games; both times as the Braves. I lost 1-0 to Seattle and 2-0 to the Dodgers. I managed a single hit. I suck.

Thankfully there is a practice mode, so I can get some much needed practice in the batting catch. I am not sure if I should keep at it on the default batting Veteran level, move down to Rookie, or maybe change from the Catcher view. I will have to experiment and see if I improve; cannot stand seeing a .105 average. Ouch.

I am sure more impressions will be forthcoming throughout the week. I am cautiously optimistic because I actually have a console baseball that I want to play. It has been a while.

US F1 principal owner Ken Anderson is either a fool or delusional; maybe both. Does Mr. Anderson really think that he will just pick up the pieces, and start racing in 2011? At this point why would anyone give any money to this rag-tag startup? It looks like Mr. Anderson singlehandedly destroyed any hopes of an F1 future in the US.

What really happened? I honestly have no idea. Clearly the team was not ready regardless of how the new 2010 rules were going to play out, and more importantly Mr. Anderson and company must not have secured the necessary financial backing for this sort of undertaking.

Disappointing at best, and maybe best described as really downright disheartening to this F1 fan that really wanted to see a F1 racing future in America.

There And Back Again
I spent last week in Calgary, which explains why the site experienced a severe slowdown. Thursday and Friday marked the first time in over 150+ days (8 months) that I did not post something. That was a hell of a run; I suppose it had to end sooner or later.

Flying sucks. Everything stinks about flying from the airport parking experience, to get a boarding-pass, to security, to sitting next to overweight folks that have no business buying a single seat. It all makes for a crap experience. For this trip I had to go from Atlanta to Salt Lake City to Calgary, and returned via Minneapolis/St. Paul to Atlanta. Four different airplanes; 2000 sky miles. Glad to be home.

Now Drinking
I am sort of a homebody; I am not much for traveling unless it is with my wife. With three kids, that is just not something that occurs frequently these days. When I do travel, it is almost exclusively for work. If I had to pick a favorite part about traveling, it would have to be having the opportunity to sample different local beers. While I was in Calgary, I was able to enjoy 4-5 different beers, my favorite of which of Big Rock Honey Brown Lager. The Big Rock Black Amber Ale was a very close second.

New on Blu
While I was out of town, two new Blu-rays arrived – Never Ending Story and Clash of the Titans. Unfortunately it looks like both movies received absolutely nothing in the way of extras, which is extremely disappointing. We watched Never Ending Story for family night tonight. My youngest son was really into it, although he did not know what was going on except there was a really bad wolf. My oldest was pretty much soured on the whole “making him watch another stupid movie” routine. Thankfully my middle boy decided the movie was pretty good, even if he tried to play it off as a ho-hum experience.

Gaming Backlog
MLB 10: The Show arrived earlier in the week, but I have not had a chance to crack it open yet. I have not even come close to finishing Heavy Rain, and of course WKC:I is also uncompleted. FFXIII arrives next week, so I better get going. Or get eBay’ing.

I should have plenty of comments on these games over the next few days. Something video gaming related to make you stand up and clap your hands. Sorry; I think you get the point.

While I was in Canada, all hell broke loose in PS3 land. I guess I should be thankful for small favors. Non event for me, but from the best I can tell, there are some seriously pissed folks out there. Time heals all wounds? This too will pass.

Chrony In Action
Today was truly a blessed day; 60 or so degrees. Sunny, blue skies. I was finally able to get my Chrony setup for a few rounds from the Beeman R1 .22 Long and my Beeman R7. The good news is that I was able to get the shots to register. This was a huge improvement over my first experience, which was a non starter. I still do not know what I am doing, but it looks like my R1 is blazing at around 713.85 FPS while the R7 was cracking at 574.75 FPS. As the weather turns nicer, there will be a whole lot more of this for your airgun reading pleasure. I just hope the weather holds so I can break out the Chrony again and see how the Marauder fares.

Bring on Sunday!

We’ve known this was coming most of the day and it comes soon after the Falcons prevented Brian Williams from becoming a free agent by giving him a contract extension. Suddenly, the Atlanta secondary looks a lot better than it did at the end of last season.

I do not know much about Robinson; everything I have read indicates that he is a number one coverage DB, which is a great need for the Falcons.

The Falcons are hoping the return of defensive tackle Peria Jerry will help improve their pass rush. The signing of Robinson clearly is designed to improve the coverage.

Last season, he covered the opponent’s best receiver and played on both the right and left sides of the field.

Solidifying the corners, along with the return of Jerry should provide the Falcons with an instant improvement on the defensive side of the ball. Getting Robinson now gives the Falcons a lot of different directions to go with their first two picks (first and third rounds). They can continue to work the defense with additions to the d-line or LB corps. I would love to see the Falcons go defense with the first two picks, and look for value pickups along the o-line (specifically concentrating on the C spot) and WR and RB depth with their later picks.