Author: jcalvert

I cannot claim to be a Guitar Hero fan; I am just not coordinated enough and I really do not have any musical talent. Air guitars are a different story – we can all play an air guitar, right? If you want an air guitar that actually plays music, this device may be for you.

July swoon?  After posting a five game win streak to close out the month of June, the Atlanta Braves have apparently decided to put on the brakes by dropping the first three games in July.  I am not even sure what to say at this point, but Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Marlines could not have made a west coast swing any easier.

The Braves need to right this ship in a hurry, but if there is a silver lining to the current July swoon, it is that once again the Braves struggles coincide with the Mets’ struggles.  The Mets’ have also dropped three games in a row, so Atlanta still remains 4 GB in the NL East, in easy striking distance of the Mets.

After a successful run of 29 posting days in the last 30 days, I had to take a day off. Sorry, but that is the way it goes.

• Copa America – I have not seen any of Team USA’s games, but it sounds like we have not done very well, going down to Argentina 4-1, and Paraguay 3-1. ESPN.com had an interesting story about the MLS, the US National Soccer team, and the absence of Donovan from Copa America. At some point, we will have to make a commitment to these types of tournaments if we ever want to truly turn the corner as a soccer power. The only way you get better is by making commitments to play teams like Argentina. Keepings my fingers crossed to sooner rather than later.
• WoW – I finally made L38, but it was a struggle. I may play some tomorrow, but at this rate it will take me forever and a day to make a serious push towards L70.
• OOTPB 2007 – My team (the Columbus Kudzu) pretty much stinks this year, but I have still managed a 50-50 record, which is only 4 GB of the wild card. I really like this game, but I never seem to have the time to dedicate to getting better. When I first started playing OOPTB (I think v6.0), I enjoyed playing solo, but with 2006 (ouch) and 2007 I only simulated a few historic seasons to see how the engine worked. In a perfect world I would be able to spend enough time playing solo to kick booty in online leagues, but it is not a perfect world.
• Jeff Gordon – As predicted, he did not miss a beat. He is on such a roll that I really do not see anything slowing him down anytime soon. Is it too soon to hand him the Championship? After watching the race Sunday, I kept thinking that maybe I should pick up NASCAR 08, but I am going to try hard to resist temptation. F1CE should be enough to hold my attention, but it is hard to resist the new shiny.
• NCAA Football 2008 – Speaking of the new shiny, I still have not preordered the game, but I assume I will at some point. I need to check again to see if I am going to hate the game if it has 30 frames per second missing (my attempt at sarcasm).

On a personal note, yesterday at my postop appointment, my doctor told me that my biopsy came back clean. Happy days! There is probably some other stuff to write about, but I want to go play a game or watch a moving or have a stiff drink. Or maybe all three.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

I am having some issues with the PS3 folding@home client; when I check for completion of my work units, I always end up with “ERROR: No Network Connection” after the work unit completes. After digging around a little, I found a thread that hints to a PS3 bug, but to be honest, I am not that interested in reading 5 pages of posts to figure out what is wrong.

Using the PS3 for folding@home sounds like a great idea, but I am not really keen to keep my PS3 on 24/7; I do not do that with my other electronics, with the exception of my computers, which are designed to run 24/7 and have a proven track record. Besides, why would I want to take a chance on compromising the longevity of my $600 wonder box?

It is hard for me to tell what the PS3 is actually doing with my work. To date, I have completed 2-3 work units, but my team and user do not have a score. The score is not that important, but I assume I can use that to tell if the PS3 is actually uploading completed work units.

It has been a while since I posted a “now drinking” entry, so I owe the world at large an update. Chris should be pleased that nothing of the cheap variety is included. While I finished off the SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale yesterday, the fridge is stocked well with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Terrapin Rye Pale Ale. All three of these beers are truly wonderful, and worthy of your attention.

In truly classic console war fashion, there is a ton of fodder being aimed squarely at the PS3 by the 360 camp. I stumbled across an article (via N4G.com) that indicates PS3 versions of NCAA Football 2008 and Madden 2008 will run at 30 FPS, while the 360 versions will run at 60 FPS. To be honest, I would not know 30 FPS from 60 FPS. I can see frame rate issues, but I have no idea how to count them, and it is my understanding that most video games, TV broadcasts, and movies run at 30 FPS, so I am not sure why this is a big deal. I can tell 1080p from 480i, so as long as the PS3 games show up in full HD, I am not sure why this is such a big deal.

At this point I have not preordered NCAA Football 2008 or Madden 2008. I will probably wait a while longer; maybe until I see a full PS3 feature list. For the same reasons I said I was holding off on purchasing NASCAR 08 (use the search function to find the post), I may wait another year on the football games. I doubt I can show that much restraint, but $120 for two football games blows.

The Braves have managed to pull off five games in a row, but they almost blew the game last night. I wish the Braves were not so damn dependant on 3-run homeruns, but at least the back of the rotation seems to be picking up the slack.

I hate that FOX is going to have the French GP on tape delay. I could not wait until 1PM, so I already looked at the results. I think we have one more FOX broadcast to go before we are back to live racing.

All for now. Happy Sunday!

Earlier today I decided to fire up five old original PlayStation (PSX) games to see how they would respond on the PS3. I picked a few favorites (or at least ones that I remember as favorites), and I specifically picked some games that I actually wanted to dust off and play again.

Same gamers may laugh, but PSX and PS2 backwards compatibility is important to me for a couple of reasons. First, I have a huge library of old games; I used to be a fairly free spending, even to the extent of not actually playing some of the games I purchased. In short, I always have something for a rainy day. Second, I do not want to have a lot of video game systems in my living room entertainment center. I can go the switch box route, but not only does the clutter not look good, I have no interest in keeping a lot of gaming crap in my main living area. Been there; done that. PS3 backwards compatibility is important, so let’s move on to the test.

• Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2. I picked this one because BurgerTime is one of my all time favorite games. Holy crap; I have been completely spoiled with the PS2 Dual Shock analog controls. The basic d-pad controls suck in the one. I need to see if I can find my old arcade stick, or this one will be hopeless. My kids also had a hard time getting things just right, to move up ladders, change directions, etc. We all fared much better with Joust 2. Moon Patrol and Root Beer Tapper were real favorites, and since these games did not require precise controls, they were much easier to manage. All the games played flawless (from a backwards compatibility perspective), including saving to the memory card slot that I created after copying my old game save to the PS3 HDD.
• Lode Runner. This game was one of my favorites on the C64 (along with Elite and Seven Cities of Gold), and even with the d-pad digital controls, it still plays well. My oldest son really enjoyed this one; nice way to introduce him to the puzzle genera. Backwards compatibility was flawless.
• Destruction Derby. Back in the day, this game was one of the reasons I picked up the PlayStation. I still remember the running demo at Media Play before the PlayStation was released; this game was just too darn cool. This was the first game of the three I played today that really made me appreciate current generation graphics. I expected Lode Runner and Midway Classics to be dated; they are old games. I was surprised how Destruction Derby’s graphics and interface seemed awfully old and stale. The gameplay was still a ton of fun, but lack of analog controls is a huge problem; the standard d-pad sucks for racing games. How did we ever survive without analog controls? Destruction Derby is still a ton of fun; nice pickup and play factor. My oldest kid really enjoyed this one. Once again backwards compatibility was flawless.
• Andretti Racing. I have held on to this game for years because it used to be so much fun. This game had it all – stock cars and Indy cars, plenty of tracks, and an entertaining career mode. Another game that does not support analog mode (it actually support the old PSX analog stick controller), but the controls are actually not that bad. The same cannot be said for the graphics. This game is truly dated. I experimented with the various PS3 game scaling options (none, normal, and full) and smoothing options (off and on), but to no avail. There is just nothing to be done to make this game look pleasing to my eyes. I could not find my original save file for this one, but since the first three games did not have memory card problems, I think this one would be fine as well. No backwards compatibility problems to report.
• Colin McRae Rally 2.0. This one was an all time favorite, and while the graphics are dated compared to today’s racing titles, CMR 2.0’s wonderful gameplay is still intact. Thankfully, this game supports analog (steering), and is still a blast to play. While the game does look dated, it is very playable with full upscaling and smoothing turned on. I could not find my save original save file, but I see no reason why the PS3 cannot handle memory management. No backwards compatible issues to report.

The PS3 went 100% in my backwards compatibility tests. This was a fun experiment, because it has been a while since I played these games. I feel a little deflated about Andritti Racing (did it really look so bad back in the day), but I have a feeling that CMR 2.0 will see some time in my game rotation, Lode Runner is going to be a favorite of my oldest son, and Destruction Derby is still an entertaining pickup and play experience. When I have some more time I am going to try to try out some more games, maybe something fairly obscure, to see how it responds to the PS3. So far so pleased.

Earlier this week Sony released a new PS3 firmware update, version 1.82.  After downloading and updating, I decided to see if anything new floated my boat in the PlayStation store, I noticed that the GT HD Concept Demo was listed as version 1.2.  Since my version was 1.16, I decided to download the new version.

I started the download right before I went to bed, and decided to let the download manager run overnight.  The next morning, the download was finished.  My PS3 sites in a small coffee table height entertainment center, with glass front doors, but it is fairly well ventilated, and I always keep the doors open when I the PS3 is being used.  Long story short, there was a decent amount of heat, but the PS3 was not nearly as hot as my charter HD receiver gets.

Moving back to GT HD …

The download was not listed as a patch, so I was curious if I would end up with two versions of the demo.  After running the install, my GT HD v1.16 was replaced by the newer v1.2 update.

I really did not play the v1.16 demo enough to notice what was different in the new version.  I spent about an hour with the game last night, opening all the cars in the normal time trial mode.  The time goals are really pretty easy.  I would assume that even fans of more arcade type games such as Need For Speed or Burnout will easily achieve all the goals.

The graphics are certainly pretty, but after years of playing Gran Turismo, I am not sure that I will be interested in a new version of the game if more cars are not on the track (15 should be the minimum), and the AI has to be improved (no more predetermined rails logic).  Honestly, I can live without damage.  Sure damage would be appreciated, but I think I have experienced enough damage in F1CE to last me a lifetime.

I am watching qualifying for the French Grand Prix, and this question crossed my mind:

If Lewis Hamilton was American, would we still refer to him as “the first black F1 driver to …” or would we refer to him as an African-American?

I am not trying to be disrespectful, but it is an interesting point because recently I ran across this letter in SI:

You described Ottawa Senators goaltender Ray Emery as “the first African-American goaltender in 19 years to lead his team to the finals.” [source: SI June 25, 2007, p. 18]

The only problem is that Emery is Canadian.

I am not trying to be insensitive, disrespectful, or anything else that may come to mind from someone reading this post that happens to be of African heritage. I just wonder how many generations it takes to become American? I was thinking the same question as the US took on Mexico last weekend in Chicago. I can understand immigrants, regardless of citizenship, calling themselves African or Mexican (or whatever) Americans. To a certain extent, I can understand their children claiming their parent’s heritage, but at what point does it end? When do we all become Americans?

Of course I can never get it, because I am white, I am privileged, born into a hard-working, educated, upper middleclass family. Then again, I still claim to be a Texan, even though I only lived there for a few months before my parents got a divorce. OK, I am a hypocrite, but at least I am honest about it.

I guess that is my political rant for the day.

That used to be the saying in NASCAR garages, and I guess it still holds true in Gordon and Johnson camps. I think Gordon will miss Steve Letarte more than Johnson will miss Chad Knaus. Johnson has already proven that he can get by without Knaus. I am not that he is not needed, but Johnson survived Knaus’ suspension for the first four races last year. Letarte’s pit calls are directly responsible for a couple of Gordon’s wins, but Gordon has so much momentum right now that he may not miss a beat. Should be interesting to watch.

“If (Earnhardt’s) not winning, it’s going to be my fault,” Hendrick says. “If he’s winning, it’s going to be because of his talent.” [source: Sporting News, June 25, 2007]

Those of you in management will understand that last quote. As far as NASCAR goes, I always liked Gordon (he is around my age), Stewart (great open wheel talent), JPM (at least in NASCAR), and I cannot wait to see Earnhardt, Jr. behind the wheel of a Hendrick car.

Of course Earnhardt, Sr. was the best:

“I wasn’t trying to wreck him, I just wanted to rattle his cage.” [August 30, 1999; Bristol – Earnhardt took out Terry Labonte]

Anyway, the next few races should be interesting to watch to see if Gordon can keep things together, or if he starts to slip.

My wife (err, kids) gave me the two Pirates movies and the PlayStation 3 BD Remote for Father’s Day.  Amazon was running a special that gave $10 off the remote with the purchase of both Pirates movies.  Not a bad deal – $23.95/movie and $14.92 for the remote (even includes two AA batteries), and free second day shipping (we use the Prime service).

The remote is a Bluetooth device.  Setup was very simple; it took less than a minute to navigate to the Bluetooth device setup section and setup my remote, which was assigned as device 7.

From a functionality standpoint, the remote works great.  It has everything you would expect from a DVD player (and I guess a BD player).  Scan forward or reverse, go into slow play in forward or reverse, skip chapters in either direction.  The controller also duplicates the standard Sixaxis controller buttons, including the various L/R functions.  Call me ignorant, but I have no idea what the red, green, blue (looks lavender to me), and yellow buttons do (they are color coded, complete with labels for those that do not know their colors).

The remote even has a PS button so you can use it to turn off your PS3.  Great feature for a lazy person or just late night viewing from a comfortable spot in the living room.

Any gripes?  The buttons do not have any sort of glow in the dark, or backlight functions, so you have to memorize button placement to use the remote in a dark room.  While it is nice that pressing any button will turn on your PS3, it is also a pain.  Literally, pressing any button – even if your kids accidentally place something on top of the remote by accident – will turn on the PS3.  It would have been nice if only pressing the PS button for a few seconds turned on the PS3.

Is it worth the money?  I am kind of indifferent, but if you plan to use your PS3 watch some movies, then the Sony PlayStation 3 BD Remote works much better than a Sixaxis controller.  For me, the remote was a great purchase (well, present) at $14.92.

I think I have made it plenty clear that I no longer care for the NBA; it is just not compelling.  With that said, I was interested in this draft because Atlanta had a chance (“had” as in they no longer have because they just f’ed it up) to get better in a hurry.  Instead they drafted Al Horford (F, Florida) with their #3 pick, followed by Acie Law IV (G, Texas A&M) with their #11 pick.

Call me silly, but if Atlanta needed a point guard (and believe me, they did and still do), they should have taken Mike Conley, Jr. (G, Ohio St.) with the #3 pick.  WTF is wrong with the Hawks?  How many f’ing forwards are they going to draft?  This is the fourth or maybe fifth year in a row that they have gone with a forward with their first selection.  I really do not have any idea what the Atlanta brass is trying to do to build this team into a winner.

I was holding out hope that the rumors were wrong – Atlanta would not trade away their picks for a veteran to lead the young guys.  I wanted them to stay young, and add a guard (Conley) in the draft.  Atlanta did the right thing by holding on to the picks, but I cannot believe that they took another forward.  Un-‘f’ing-believable.

I am not knocking Horford or Law, but this just does not seem to be remotely helpful.  Hopefully I am very wrong.  I would actually like a reason to start watching the Hawks again, but not even HD broadcasts can save this sick puppy.

Oh yeah.  The commissioner says that the upcoming 2007-2008 season promises to be the best ever.  On what grounds?  The big market teams (NY, Philly, and LA) are still going to suck, James needs serious help in Cleveland, the East in general is pathetic, and Hawks just had a bloody terrible draft.

I cannot believe I am doing this, but I am going to watch part of the NBA draft.  I am actually kind of excited to see if the Atlanta Hawks can do anything decent with their 3rd and 11th picks.  Hope we do not screw this one up.  A point guard is a must, which means we will probably doing something completely different.

The Blu-ray.com site has a promotion that could be the final straw in the current HD format war. According to the announcement/promotion:

“If you purchase a Blu-ray player (including the PS3) between July 1st and September 30th, you will automatically qualify to receive 5 Blu-ray movies absolutely free. Combine this with existing offers (like the 5 free Blu-ray movies with purchase of a Panasonic DMP-BD10A), and you could receive up to 10 free Blu-ray movies with the purchase of a player.

But wait, there’s more! If you decide you would like to purchase a PS3, Sony is offering a special deal through their retail Sony Style stores. Purchase a PS3, two games, and an extra controller from now until July 8th, and you will receive a $50 gift card.”

I wonder what Sony is going to do to promote this offer? It is a great offer if you are in the market to get a PS3 or if you have been sitting on the fence with Blu-ray.

Not a lot of time to dive into full discussions about the topics in the title.  I would rather be gaming tonight instead of writing, so let’s dive in.

After seeing Chris’ post about getting to L70, I spent time with WoW last night, I had a 20 minute session this morning, a 25 minute session at lunch, and I just finished up a 45 minute session.  I am now about 20K from being a L38 mage.  You have to invest a heck of a lot of time to move forward, but moving forward is fun.  At this pace, I will not smell L70 anytime soon.

NASCAR reminded teams today that the sanctioning body owns the numbers, which are leased to the individual teams.  I am not sure if they are pitching a hissyfit because that is what NASCAR does best, or if they do not want the 8 car going with Junior (and thus to Hendrick’s garage).

NASCAR also punished Gordon and Johnson by docking them 100 points, and their crew chiefs were suspended for six races, which is a bigger impact than the points penalties.  My feeling, in this particular case, is that this is way too excessive.  They were already sent to the back for a road race, which was a big punishment.  I could see something this extensive for using an illegal part or substance, but for bending a fender?  I thought pushing the limits of the rules was one of the charms of the sport.  I guess those days are over.

I read Chipper Jones and John Smoltz made nice.  Apparently it was all a big misunderstanding and Chipper apologized for misinterpreting Smoltz’s comments.  Sure.  Sounds like they have that one all wrapped up.

The Braves finally won last night and are winning tonight.  Amazing what a couple of three-run homeruns will do for you.

Funny how this works. I thought Montoya was balls out brilliant in CART, and I thought his 2000 Indy 500 win was remarkable. I did not care much for Montoya when he was in F1, but I have been pulling for him since he announced that he was going to run in NASCAR. Today Montoya picked up his first Nextel Cup victory at Sonoma. I wonder if NASCAR is going to be able to capitalize on JPM; should be a good marketing opportunity. Of course, listening to his interview in victory lane made me think that some NASCAR old timers are probably none too pleased. That makes his victory even sweeter.

Speaking of cheating, ESPN.com had an interesting article on how to stop cheating in NASCAR. The author thinks that the probable punishments for Gordon and Johnson are not enough of a deterrent to stop cheating once and for all. I have my own opinions on the subject of cheating in NASCAR, but it is bed time for me, so no commentary tonight.