jcalvert

Used Games and Heavy Rain

For years game developers and publishers have been trying to come up with a way to gimp the second-hand gaming market. PlayStation LifeStyle has an interesting article where the Quantic Dream’s CEO (Heavy Rain) asserts that the used game market cost the developer over a million units in missed royalties.

This is all according to Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière, who said that, by judging PS3 trophy stats, they can see that a million people who didn’t pay, played the game.

From a pure black and white perspective, that is true. You could also assert that in general gamers didn’t appreciate the game even with all the critical acclaim Heavy Rain received with the majority of mega sites. Look at the Metacritic score and you will find the user rating is significantly less than the critic rating: 6.7 (1300+ user ratings) to 87 (100+ critic reviews).

I could guess what happened next, but it would be just a guess. While I did buy the game on release day, I may not have without all the pre-hype buzz that showed Heavy Rain as a potentially different experience, which as I have written many times, draws me into a game. I want new and different experiences.

For many gamers, and I put myself in this category, it all comes down to value – if I am on the fence, I will wait until a price drop. If I don’t think a game is worth the full original MSRP (usually $49-60 depending on the publisher, with some Move games starting at $39 and Greatest Hits titles clocking in at $29.99), I wait until the inevitable price drop.

I will disclose that I never by second-hand games for currently support consoles. This is a personal preference, and it also has to do with my software development background. Like I said, personal choice, but I also wait for sales, price drops, etc.

PSN Pass – Embrace The Trend
EA and now Sony (PSN Pass) are now offering one-off use codes for online play. I believe this trend will be adopted by more and more publishers as a way to curb second-hand sales.

One possible side effect may be the return (or at least the demand for) better single player experiences. This console generation has certainly seen the rise of online gameplay focus, which is fine if you have a ton of gaming buddies, join clans (or whatever the cool kids call clubs these days), or do not mind playing against random opponents. Color me different. I am an older gamer and really do not enjoy random gaming jaunts and the vast majority of my friends gave up on gaming long ago to concentrate on family and career aspects of their life. Yes, growing old sucks on a lot of different levels, but I refuse to grow up and I am starting to digress.

At any rate, embrace for more and more one-off included codes for special content, including online play, some of which may be required to complete a game.

Mel B – Hat Trick Time

I haven’t rolled in the hay with Mel B this week, so Sunday morning I wanted to get in a couple of 15 minute quickie workouts.

The exercise is actually good for me; between the previous weeks with Mel B and helping to run soccer practices, I am actually feeling rather sprightly for old dad gamer rapidly closing in on 41. Ouch. As an added bonus, going with two 15 minute workouts continues to push me forward towards the various Bronze 20 minute workout Trophies.

Besides knocking off ~225 calories, I was pleasantly surprised after the Silver ‘Hat Trick’ Trophy popped (Trophy Ding!!!) for reaching Step Level 80. Nice! Too bad after my Fitness workout, I am still stuck with a Fitness Level of 55.

I am now at 56% complete, and I think within the next 4-6 workouts, the Silver ‘25 Levels Up’ (Raised any category’s Fitness Level by 25) and Silver ‘Professional’ (Reach level 90 in any category) are real possibilities for the next unlocks.

I have no idea how far I am from the 1000 rep Trophies for sit-ups and push-ups. I’ll probably get those at some point, but since Mel B does not keep up with individual reps, I am really not sure when these buggers will pop.

Red, Black, and 0-2

Tough loss last night for the Dawgs; South Carolina 45 – 42 Georgia. On many levels I did not expect Georgia to win, but I never expected the Bulldogs to virtually give the game away.

In every game there are always several ‘what ifs’ …

Walsh, one of the best FG kickers in the country missed a 33 yard FG attempt that would have put Georgia up 9-0. What if he did not go wide left?

What if the refs didn’t call UGA off-sides when the Dawgs recovered a surprise on-side kick?
What if true freshman Isaiah Crowell doesn’t fumble the ball away with Georgia up 20-14 and driving?
What if Georgia’s o-line could actually block and doesn’t completely miss an assignment allowing SC to cream Murray, force a fumble, and put SC up by 10 with 3 minutes and change left in the game?

Ultimately, taking nothing away from South Carolina (I could still call ‘em the Fighting Chickens, but why bother), the Dawgs gift wrapped a win for South Carolina.

It sucks to already start looking towards next year.

Random Gaming Nonsense

Saturday brings us face-to-face with some random gaming nonsense. In other words, not predictable, something less than wholesome, and somewhat troublesome.

Ricky Bobby: Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said…”I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.”

It’s actually been a great week gaming; just not a lot of variety.

Altered Beast
Recently received this one as part of the September PS+ update. It may be a classic, but goodness gracious does it not hold up well. Poor controls, dated graphics, and uninspiring (dare I say frustrating) gameplay does not do much to entice me to burn my limited free gaming time with this one.

Besides, I typically migrate to classics, but only those that I actually played and was fond of playing. Altered Beast does not fall into this category. I doubt that I will spend much time attempting to get past the poor controls in this dated game whore-ing the Trophies.

Thank goodness this run of PS+ Sega games is over!

Ferrari Challenge
Ferrari Challenge is a game I keep coming back to; on and off love affair for the last two years. While it is a mediocre racing game, and does have some merits, I’m really just in it for the sex … err … Trophies. I’m currently sitting at 40% following this guide / roadmap. I’m about to start a long ‘Trofeo’ Trophy Mode grind, which should net me 20+ Bronze Trophies. Sadistic when you consider that each one of these will take 30+ minutes.

I received my first Ferrari Challenge Trophy 2+ years ago, so it is fair to say that Trophies due add value to a game. Without the add-on Trophy support, I would have bailed on this one a long time ago.

Mel B
Haven’t fiddled with her all week. Hope I don’t turn into a fat ass for lack of effort. Maybe I’ll get in a quickie with her later today, but that is really going to be hard with the kids having a couple of soccer games today. Plus the Georgia game. Richmond race. No fiddling today …

Kung Fu Rider
Still doing the needful with this one; partly because my nine year-old son rates this one 4 out of 5 stars, but mostly because I am determined to get another couple of Trophies.

Back Catalog Goes Ever Longer
I picked up Pure on the Amazon discount rack for $9.80; can of beans not included. This weekend Pure has hit the sub $9 mark. One of these days I should get around to opening it and seeing what a great game it is and what sort of wonderful shiny Trophies are on offer.

I also picked up Hunted: The Demon’s Forge … no idea why other than it was on the cheap and sometimes I like some mindless hack and slash fun.

Interestingly enough, I picked Demon’s Forge when it hit $18.99 on Amazon (I believe last Sunday or Monday night). Within hours after placing my order, the price was further reduced to $16.99. I went online, chatted with someone halfway across the word, and convinced him to do the needful. Refund of $2; every buck matters.

JRPGs …
Really feeling like I need to open up one of my titles and site in for the long haul. More on this later …

Kung Fu Rider – Falls Flat

I knew what I was getting into when I order Kung Fu Rider from Amazon on the cheap a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to try to the game when it was originally released; seemed like an original and innovative gaming experience. Move support was a bonus.

Unfortunately the game was panned. When you see a Metritic score of 36 (45 Critic Reviews) you know there are some issues with a game. Not only was Kung Fu Rider considered awful, it was considered an extremely poor use of the Move controller, which was sort of the point.

You may be asking yourself, WTF is wrong with me? Why did this poor bloke pick up such a piece of shit for a game? Well, I have never been one to have my opinion formed by the pundits, and I go back to that previously mentioned original and innovative gaming experience. I like different games. Not necessarily different games that suck, but in this case the price point was low enough that I figured I would see if I could get some enjoyment from Kung Fu Riders with the kids.

Let’s get this out of the way – the concept is brilliant; however the execution with the Move controller is extremely poor. The game is repetitive (a real grind if you are after some of the Trophies). The graphics are best described as on par with the Dreamcast. In fact, I would say Kung Fu Rider is akin to Crazy Taxi or even Space Channel 5 (Dreamcast – i.e. Kung Fu Rider is very much off the beaten path).

Some of the motion controls with the Move are a pain in the ass to pull off, mostly because of button placement and unresponsiveness. Collection detection is poor; I would say more than 50% of my crashes are due to WTF experiences, leaving me scratching my head wondering what I did wrong.

Except for the language, this play-through video series (I think there are 11) was similar to my experience playing with two of my three boys. The oldest refuses to play – not sure if he has decided the game is too cartoonish (he likes Crazy Taxi so maybe that is not it) or he looked those Metacritic scores and decided to let the score form his opinion (too bad; need to break him of that).

Trophies
The Trophy list is one of the worst I can remember seeing in a game. Some of the Trophies feel like outright luck, while some of the others are going to require a ton grinding.

I’m currently sitting at 47% complete, with four Trophies left.

CHAIRMASTER (hidden – Gold): Attain S rank on all missions. I’m currently going for this one using the co-op mode with my 9 year old son. My 4.5 year old also ‘plays’ but not really; as long as he is having fun, and he is, that is sort of the point.

I’m flabbergasted there is not a Trophy for completing all the levels. My guess is that we will give up on this one before we manage S ranks in all the levels. Really depends on how long I can refrain from cussing, and how long it takes for my boys to give up on the game, moving along to something else more interesting.

BUSINESS NUISANCE (Silver): Destroy 100 red signs. Major grind. I think I have somewhere between 25-35; have not bothered to check my records.

MEDAL COLLECTOR (Silver): Obtain all collectible medals. To me this one is going to be a major grind, and maybe not worth the effort. On the first bonus level, there is a medal on top of a van. Only problem is that for me, it looks impossible to reach. I have wasted at least 20-30 minutes of my life trying to get that 20th medal. Then there are the other bonus medal levels to tackle. I hear ‘screw that’ in my head as I am writing this article.

CHAIN MASTER (Bronze): Achieve a 30 chain. I may be able to eventually get this one, but the controls are so frustrating and the collision detection is so substandard, that it feels like it will take a minor miracle to earn this one. Due to all the issues with the game, this one could have easily have been a Silver.

Summary
Is the game as poor as the ratings indicate? Yes. Is it a hopeless cause? Nope; if you can get past some of the issues, you may be able to find some enjoyment. As I said, the kids are having fun, which is the real point to me.

Kung Fu Rider should have been a PSN title, not a full retail rump. If you pick it up, expect the worst, hope for the best, and look for it as cheap as possible. I actually ‘completed’ the game (i.e. received Rank D or higher in all the main levels) at the 3 hour and 11 minute mark, and that was probably after spending 30-45 minutes in the medal free play levels.

Mel B – Week 5

Today I completed 5 weeks with Get Fit with Mel B. It’s hard for me to believe that I have accomplished 4-5 pounds of weight loss just for ‘playing’ a game. Would this work for everyone? Probably not. Will I stick to it? Good question – I’m in deep and would like to earn a few more Trophies vs. throwing Mel B to the curb.

Data, Accomplishments, Fitness Level to Date:

27 Workouts
8,592 Reps
193 Fitness Minutes
522 Aerobic Minutes
94% Best Rated Workout
6,375 Stars Earned
5,020 Calories Burned – Thanks Mel B!
53% Trophies Earned
Fitness Level 55
Step Level 75
Dance Level 80
Combat Level 75
Cardio Level 75
Advance Cardio Level 55
Bump ‘n’ Tone Level 85

At this point I don’t plan to write regular Mel B updates. I will sum this up by saying that I do feel a sense of pride that I knocked off 5K calories that otherwise would have turned into fat. I mean, maybe not the full 5K, but a large chunk would have settled around my belly.

Day 35
After ‘date night’ and the upsetting UGA defeat to Boise St., I really needed a strong workout, but really wasn’t in the mood. I pressed forward …

I did a 20 minute Advanced Cardio workout good for 140 calories. More importantly (to the Trophy whore in me) the workout was a solid 92%, which gave my Cardio a small increase to Level 55%.

I started feeling ‘it’ a little bit (not sure what ‘it’ is other than the mood to go after it a few more minutes), so I followed up with a 15 minute Step workout. This was another solid 92% workout, which was good for burning ~130 calories. I also received a small bump to Level 75.

Not too bad; 270 calories on the day and a couple of 5% bumps.

Day 34
Total was ‘Dance’ Challenge day; oh how I hate dancing in Mel B. Sucks for me because I have to get a gold medal, do at least 20 Dance workouts, and continue to improve my Dance Fitness level. Well, at least I have to if I want to eventually earn the Platinum Trophy.

After 155 calories spent dancing like a drunken monkey (not a pretty sight), thankfully I managed a 92% gold medal. I was a little worried because I got a 79%; my other low scores were 86% and 87% … I managed enough scores in the 90s to compensate. Trophy ding as the Silver ‘Full House’ went pop. Thank God!

I followed up with another custom Fitness workout, once again concentrating on crunches and press-ups (to use the British vernacular). I hate not knowing how many reps have been completed. I assume these 1000 rep Trophies will eventually pop.

Now to start grinding (in a good way – I am losing weight and getting fit) to earn some of the 20 workout Bronze Trophies.

Day 33
I went after the ‘Dance’ Challenge, but came up just short at 89%. The only good news is that in the process of just missing the gold medal for this challenge, I did burn ~140 calories for my efforts. I have to get a little better; two really low exercises of 66% and 77% set me back.

Next up, I decided to do the ‘Cardio Test’ Challenge, and totally kicked its ass, earning a gold medal. I had one poorly rated exercise of 73%, but obviously mastered the rest. This Challenge was worth ~45 calories, which seems low, but the Challenge was pretty short. This makes me wonder if the Challenges are based on your current Fitness level. If this is the case, anyone that happens upon this article and is trying to Trophy hunt the game needs to tackle the Challenges first before their Fitness level increases.

Just too really add in an extra calorie boost, I did a 15 minute fitness workout, which was good for 135 calories. I concentrated on sit-ups and push-ups in order to help tackle my belly fat, man boobs, and to keep grinding towards the 1000 sit-up and 1000 push-up Trophies. These should be lifetime achievement awards (i.e. Silver or Gold, not Bronze).

After burning ~320 calories, I was spent. In a good way. I have Sat, Sun, and Labor Day to see if I can finally get the Silver ‘Full House’ Trophy for getting gold medals in all the Challenges. Dancing sucks …

Day 29
After last week’s tracking mishap on the Abs Attack Challenge, I did a quick practice run and then stomped the test, earning 99%, 98%, and 94% on the three exercises, which burned ~35 calories and earned me a gold medal.

Next up, I took the Legs of Steel Challenge, taking this one easily to earn another gold medal, and racking up ~32 calories in the process.

I only need the Cardio Test and Dance Challenges to knock off the remaining test Challenges.

I finished up my workout session by setting up a custom Fitness run of 15 minutes. I did manage to knock off ~129 calories, which means I did close to 200 calories on the morning. Nice.

Speaking of nice, I clipped the 4K calorie mark this morning. I think that is pretty cool, but I still wish the game tracked number of individual exercise reps instead of overall reps. After all, how am I to know how many more push-ups (I guess press-ups in the UK) and crunches are required to earn those 1K rep Bronze Trophies?

Falcons 53 Man Roster. Practice Squad Next.

No huge surprises as the Falcons trimmed their roster down to 53 players on Sat and Sun.

DE Chauncey Davis was cut on Sat; has to be a salary cap causality.

Davis, 6-2, 272 pounds, was originally selected by the Falcons in the fourth round (128th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft. He spent six seasons in Atlanta, totaling 204 tackles (147 solo), 10 sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries and six passes defensed in 95 career games.

This move had been speculated by several sites. Chauncey will be picked up by someone; doubt he will miss a check.

The Sunday cuts included John Parker Wilson, which according to Pat Yasinskas (ESPN NFL South blog) was a surprise.

Wilson could end up back on the practice squad, but this move shows the Falcons aren’t all that high on him. They might be better off looking for a developmental prospect to put on the practice squad. Ryan’s secure as the starter for a long time, but Redman is nothing more than a career backup. It might be time for the Falcons to start developing a new backup.

Not sure why this was a surprise; I wrote about this possibility a couple of weeks ago. Developing QBs normally get three years to push out the backups. JPW may have only received two, but I like the fact that Falcons may be moving on if they don’t see JPW as a viable backup QB. My guess is he ends up on the practice squad unless the Falcons find someone they really like better. Either way, his days in ATL are numbered.

Dawgs Facing 0-2

I am not sure if I am more surprised, disappointed, or dangerously growing towards apathy. Or maybe some combo of all three …

Surprised that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
Disappointed that the Dawgs didn’t compete in a meaningful way.
Apathetic that the Dawgs continue on a downward spiral.

As a lifelong Bulldog fan, this trend makes my stomach churn. Something has to give … but there appears to be a glaring lack of progress during the fall camp. We read article after article about how the Bulldogs were going to be better conditioned. Didn’t see that show up on the field as the defense was often gasping, and at one point had to call a timeout because they were unable to stop the Broncos march towards another TD.

And it’s hard to say how much credit the Broncos will really get for beating Georgia, even if it was essentially a true road game. The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-7 finish in 2010, which ended with an ugly 10-6 loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

Frankly, the Bulldogs didn’t look much different, aside from their Power Ranger-like jerseys and helmets. They committed untimely penalties and couldn’t run the ball effectively. [Source: ESPN]

It’s not that the Dwags lost, it is how they lost; more on that in the second quote from DawgSports, which sums up exactly how I feel.

UGA head coach Mark Richt is the nicest guy; all indications are he is a Christian, family-man, with great intentions. A real leader of young men. Unfortunately, of late, Richt seems to have lost his team. Richt loyalty to his staff, in this case offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, may ultimately be his undoing. The 3-4 experiment led by defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is clearly not working.

Is it time for a change? Things don’t get any easier for the Bulldogs, as they host the Fighting Chickens next week. 0-2? You bet, unless there are significant week-over-week changes, which is highly doubtful.

I am not going to go all brass balls on you and call for the ouster of Richt; it’s just that things have to change. Meaningful change. As in being competitive. There is no shame going down to a better team.

This article from DawgSports really sums up how I feel about the state of the program.

Please do not mistake this for excuse-making on my part; it is not. Boise State was the better team, they fully deserved the win that they got, and they won the game more convincingly on the field than the scoreboard suggested. The Broncos in many ways made the Bulldogs look so bad, which is to BSU’s credit. They are who we thought they were, and, even if Georgia had played well, Boise State still would have earned the win and gotten the win. I take nothing whatsoever away from Boise State.

The problem, from our perspective, is this: Boise State came into the game as a top five team, and the Broncos looked like a top five team, but Georgia came into the game as a top 20 team, and the Bulldogs did not look like a top 20 team. Again, a large part of the credit for that goes to Boise State, but our issue isn’t that the ‘Dawgs lost, it’s how they lost.

Nothing has been fixed, and few things have improved. While the defense probably played a bit better than the Broncos’ 35 points suggest, and the offense certainly played much worse than the Bulldogs’ 21 points indicate, essentially every problem that plagued this team before plagued this team still. This was the Liberty Bowl on a larger stage against a better team, which is why this game likely will mean much less to Boise State three months from now than it means to the Broncos tonight. Though the Broncos are as good as advertised, the Bulldogs remain less than the sum of their parts.

The focus has to turn 100% onto the coaching staff. Put together a solid game plan next week, put the players in a position to successfully execute on the plan, and the Dawgs will be competitive. Will they win? It’s hard to say, but starting the season 0-2 may just be the final straw in Bulldog Nation.

NFL Preseason Blunders

Last’s nights Falcons 21-7 loss to the Ravens was an absolute disgrace. Some of the worst football ever. As the Falcons complete an 0-4 preseason campaign, you have to wonder what was the point?

According to Head Coach Mike Smith, the Falcons were all about not providing season ticket holders with any sort of ROI. In other words, fuck the fans.

OPENING STATEMENT: Tonight, we obviously rested several or our No. 1 players as we get ready to go for the regular season. Our No. 1 goal is to be as healthy as possible for that first game. That’s one of the things we accomplished tonight. We also wanted to get one last look at several players. There are a lot of guys fighting for roster spots. When I say a lot, there is a handful. We obviously saw some guys step up. We saw some guys that didn’t necessarily take care of business. We’ve got a bunch of decisions to make. Over the next 48 hours that’s what we’ll be doing. We have to get our 53 guys together to open this 2011 season.

In fairness, I actually do understand the point of the preseason, trying to keep everyone healthy going into the regular season and getting a chance to see how a handful of guys fighting for roster spots perform. I just think it is a travesty that season ticket holders get charged full price when everyone knows that the games are meaningless.

Maybe I will write a letter to recently promoted Falcons CEO Rich McKay. Not that it will matter or anything, but sometimes bitching and moaning makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Labor Day Spectacular – Red, White, and Blue

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend – baseball, college football, cold blue cans of wonderment, and BBQ. In tribute to the last gasp of summer, I give you eye candy for your summer closeout viewing pleasure.

Glod bless America!

Me? I started the weekend festivities a little early. I was in the ATL last night for the Falcons vs. Ravens game, which absolutely sucked. I’m going to demand a refund; not that it will happen or anything. The entertainment put on by the Falcons last night was disgraceful.

I bet Mel B is going to be sorely disappointed when she realizes that I am going to put back on those five pounds she helped me drop. Heck, after last night’s tailgate, I probably already ate my way to half of that fat. Easy come, easy go …

Speaking of tailgating, I’ll probably grill out every day over the long weekend, drink a truckload of beer, and catch whatever football action happens to come my way. There is that little game Saturday night at the Dome featuring my beloved Bulldogs taking on the blue turf boys from Boise St.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday!

Madden 12 – Not So ‘Easy’ Trophy Bug

When I put Madden 12 in for the first time, and entered Ultimate Team Mode (MUT), I was presented with a message about my super, awesome, ultimate, top-shelf, Hall of Fame edition surprise pack of all 99 rated past Madden cover athletes. Good stuff all around because all this was mine, just for ponying up extra duckets for the Hall of Fame edition of Madden 12.

For my troubles, and by troubles I really mean doing absolutely jack shit, I got an immediate Trophy ding earning ‘This One is Hard’ because my MUT team was over the 80+ rating threshold.

Gold Trophy goodness, but I feel a little dirty. Not to worry because the good folks at EA felt compelled to automatically import my MUT from yesteryear – my Madden 10 GA TX Falcons. Ah how I forgot all about you, but not for long.

It seems that EA has included a nice little bug that prevents prior MUT owners from earning the Bronze ‘This One is Easy’ Trophy for creating a MUT team.

So let’s get this out in the open. I played Madden 10 MUT, but I did not play MUT in Madden 11 because I did not want to be tempted to spend money on ‘virtual’ football cards. I love the concept of MUT, but that is an entirely different article, so before I start digressing, let’s move back to the situation at hand.

After entering MUT for the first time, and getting the before mentioned Trophy ding I noticed that I didn’t get a second Trophy ding for creating a MUT. So I exited out of MUT back to the main menu, and entered MUT again.

This time I was prompted with some info about how grateful EA was that I was returning to MUT. For my loyalty I was awarded some coins, maybe even a card or two, and I was given three free cards for playing the Madden 12 demo. More importantly, I was told that my previous MUT team was being imported, and because EA is so great, they were going to include some BS about when my MUT was established. Thanks, but WTF is my ‘This One is Easy’ Trophy?

I do not see a way to create a new team, delete my old team, start over, or any other nonsense. I’m not about to dick around deleting profiles, trying to establish a new EA ID or create an alternate PSN account just to work out EA’s fucking laziness and lack of accountability when it comes to quality control and customer service.

And why should I at this point just because EA felt compelled to import my previous MUT team without warning me that I was going to be up shit creek when it comes to getting a Platinum Trophy.

Everything I have read indicates that this is a problem with the PS3 and 360 – so it is not as if EA has some random issue that only a few users will encounter. Instead of awarding loyal EA customers, and prior MUT players, EA has decided to bend us over and ram a rod up our collective rears. Of course the good folks at the EA help desk will not acknowledge the issue.

I could go on, but why bother? Just another reason that EA needs some real NFL competition – can’t wait for their exclusive license to expire.

Ten Years of Calvert Games?

Almost. calvertgames.com domain was registered September 24, 2001, with a simple Vision:

“With that said, Calvert Games promises to be an interesting ride, and an engaging endeavor. I cannot promise to provide the timeliest reviews, hard-hitting industry news, sneak-peek previews, and gobs of media. I can promise that Calvert Games will provide a no nonsense stance on the industry as a whole, commentary on the happenings at other gaming sites, and informative, opinionated reviews, features, and content.”

I have to post this every once in a while to remind myself of what I was doing two kids ago. Times have changed.

Everyone once in a while I think about taking another crack at getting the site rolling again, taking on the world, going after hit counts, and building up another gaming community; reality always hits me hard. Between work and family life, gaming time is limited, so this blogging format really is the way to go. At least for now.

Before reality hit (in other words, this was never going to happen), back in late May or early June I was going to post that over the summer, leading up to the Recycle Bin’s Ten Year Anniversary bash, I planned to re-publish a serious of retrospective articles and reviews. These reviews were lost in the annuals of the old site format(s). Anyone remember the original Mickey Mouse look and feel, or Nuke and the subsequent hack attacks that caused me to shut down the site?

Maybe I will get my retrospective hat on during the course of the year leading up to year number eleven. Doubt it; probably not going to happen … but never say never.

Glory days …

The Return of Happy Madden Day?

In the not too distant past, Madden Day was a big deal, but these days, not so much. Seriously, I have not overheard one tidbit about Madden in the office. Maybe I am just out of the loop. Maybe I don’t hang out in the right online spaces. Maybe it is just a sign that I am becoming (or dare I say have become) an old fart and everyone that use to play Madden has moved on to ‘real life’ matters – family being the primarily extracurricular time sinkhole (err … if you are a gaming mom or dad, you know what I mean).

So the Madden 12 Hall of Fame Edition is set to show up on my door today thanks to release day shipping from Amazon. For my extra money ($89 vs. $59 for the ‘standard’ edition) I am not sure that I am actually getting extra value unless I spend a lot of time with Madden Ultimate Team (MUT). Or maybe I will get that super rare, limited edition 18k gold Faulk card. Probably not, but I do get a $20 Amazon promotional credit, so it is almost as if I paid $10 for the super-premium extra special platinum’ish MUT pack, a (not 18k gold) exclusive Faulk card, and whatever else Amazon threw in for my pre-order dollars.

Soccer practice tonight and tomorrow night, so that is that family time thing I was referencing above. Thankfully this is a long weekend (Happy early Labor Day) so I should get in a little Madden 12 love later this week.

If you are a believer, Happy Madden Day!

Videogame Overload – It’s Raining Games

My wife is probably going to look at me a little squirrely – Amazon has just shipped backorders of NIER and the Tomb Raider Trilogy, and has also informed me that Captain America will be arriving by Wednesday. Let’s not forget that Madden Day is tomorrow with the ‘official’ release of Madden 12.

When I explain that two of the games (NIER and TR Trilogy) were heavily discounted, and that the Captain America game was purchased at its first significant price drop, she is going to look at the stack of backlog games I have just waiting for some TLC. Yep, I’m fucked. It doesn’t really matter that Captain America will most likely be tucked away until Christmas for my little guy.

It doesn’t help my cause that Iron Man 2 (sort of, kind of, purchased for the younger guys), and another Cabela game (Cabela’s North American Adventures), along with Kung Fu Rider showed up last week.

It’s great to stock up on hours and hours of future gaming action, but … there is really no justification for the onslaught of games raining on my front porch. I think survival is going to require a couple of these are going to have to team up with Captain America is the ‘Christmas’ box.

Mel B – Week 4

As I move into week four with my Mel B workout routine, things have sort of fallen off the rails. While my weight is still down, which was part of the reason for this adventure in the first place, finding time to commit to daily jaunts with Mel B is proving difficult.

I only worked out two days last week (Sunday and Friday), which means Days 23-26 and Day 28 saw me lazy as Daisy. Thankfully I am managing a couple of non-Mel B workouts by coaching soccer. Yes, I actually run with the nine and ten year old boys.

I committed to making it until the end of August, so expect at least one more update followed by some periodic news; still working out, Trophies earned, calories burned, lbs dropped, etc.

Day 27
Today I decided to go after some medals; have not attempted any of the fitness tests yet and at some point I need to earn the Silver ‘Full House’ Trophy for getting gold medals in all the fitness tests.

Abs of Steel Test – silver medal. First and second reps of 32 were rated over 90%, but the last rep hit in the 50s because of poor camera + Move tracking. I’ll have to practice in order to see what is tracking in correctly. I don’t remember the final calorie count, however my stomach will vouch that it received a decent workout.

Fighting Fit Test – gold medal. I had one really subpar exercise because of tracking issues; however the others were obviously rated high enough to earn a coveted gold medal. This test was actually good enough to burn 230+ calories, so that was a nice bonus.

Day 22
Today I decided to go Trophy whoring. I signed up for a 40 minute Dance Aerobics workout in order to go after ‘Flash Dancer’ (collect over 350 Stars in a Dance Aerobics workout).

Two things of note. First, this was my first 40 minute Mel B workout. Second, I was not sure how much time I would need to hit the 351 mark. In the back of my mind I kept wondering (in a concerned sort of manner) if I would actually make my goal. It would suck in a big way if I came up a few Stars short.

For those keeping score at home, Mel B awards Stars based on your performance during each exercise. Score higher and you are awarded more Stars. While Get Fit tracks total Stars earned, I am not really sure what purpose they serve other than being required for the ‘Flash Dancer’ Trophy. The Stars could play a part in how fitness levels are earned, but I have not done enough research and experimenting to confirm.

For my efforts, I earned 411 Stars (Trophy ding), burned 240 calories, and got a small bump to Dance Aerobics Level 80.

I am now at 50% complete Trophy total. Happy days!