The Recycle Bin

Falcons – Must Win Already?

Too early for must win game talk? Not if you are the Falcons, sitting at 5-3, one game back of their bitter rivals, the Saints. Not if you have already lost the tie breaker to the 5-3 Bears. Not if you are already down 0-1 to the Bucs.

If the season ended today, the Falcons would be on the outside looking in. It’s time to roll, and hopefully the Falcons will get a much need emotional spark wearing their throwback Blacks, and remembering picture gate (Saints ‘celebrated’ on the Falcons logo last year).

The boys in Vegas favor ATL by a point, which means everyone recognizes this matchup will be hard fought, and closely contested, home field advantage be damned.

The Saints and their “who da” chanters travel well and always make their presence felt in the Dome. God, how I detest that chant. Hate. Loathe. Seriously. I hope the good guys shut down Brees and company early and often, but somehow I picture this one turning into a 37-34 type of game, instead of a 24-23 slugfest.

Either way, it appears that the Falcons are playing much better defense, and their offense is clicking. If Turner can run, the Falcons will win. Simple, proven, and effective gameplan. And of course the defense has to hammer Brees every other play.

Go Falcons!

Longest Easy Trophy Ever

I find it pretty amazing that it took EA so damn long to patch Madden so that we could finally earn the ‘This one is easy’ trophy.

Fixed issue where previous MUT fans could not earn the “This one is easy” achievement/trophy for creating their MUT team in Madden NFL 12.

Not sure what else to say other than about f’ing time this was corrected. The jaded gamer in me thinks that EA held back the patch for this one in order to wait until the season was at least half over, to less the impact of ‘completed’ games being thrown on the second hand market. I cannot think of any other excuse to wait so damn long to offer a fix.

Belated Congrats To McCann

In my disgust, dare I say dismay, over the epic collapse down the stretch by the Braves, I wrote precious little about ATL. At some point, I suppose I will recover, but right now it will due to just offer the Braves’ McCann congratulations on yet another Silver Slugger award.

McCann became the first player to win five Silver Sluggers as a Brave and only the sixth catcher to win five or more in his career, and he’s only 27. Silver Sluggers are awarded to the top offensive players at each position as voted on by players and managers.

McCann led all National League catchers with 24 home runs and he drove in 71 runs, while hitting .270 with a .351 on-base percentage. He beat out Yadier Molina of the Cardinals who hit .305 with 14 homers and 65 RBIs, and Arizona’s Miguel Montero, who hit .282 with 18 homers and 86 RBIs.

Looks like McCann is in some pretty elite company.

Go Braves!

Dawgs Beat Nasty Gators …

Over the history of this website (10 years and change), I have only been able to relish and bask in the Sunday glory of Saturday afternoon win over the dreaded Gators three times. For that matter, my oldest son (13) has only been around for three wins.

It wasn’t this way when I was growing up; hate writing that this is Georgia’s fourth win over Florida in the last 22 years! Did Head Coach Mark Richt save his job by putting down the demons of Florida? Probably …

… when a team has failed so often in this venue, any break in the pattern is major news. “Now that it’s over,” Richt said, “I can say, ‘Yeah, it was a big deal.’ It was a big deal for me personally.”

Georgia’s (6-2, 5-1 SEC) remaining schedule is very manageable, with three consecutive home dates (New Mexico State, Auburn) before ending the season against the hated bumble bees. If Georgia wins out, a once lost season, may actually end with merit, and (hopefully) a springboard to a 2012 SEC title run.

Go Dawgs!

Huge Road Victory For ATL

This one changes everything. The Falcons pulled out a well played 23-16 victory in Detroit over the Lions. Now 4-3, the Falcons go into their Bye week, with plenty of opportunity to get healthy, and to look forward to the next part of their schedule, which features some winnable games. Colts on the road; followed three consecutive ‘Defend the Dome’ games – huge rivalry game against the Saints, then the Titans, and Vikings on Thanksgiving weekend.

The Detroit game was almost a disaster, as I thought for sure that Ryan had broken his ankle. Luckily, he was able to come back, and despite 2 INTs, lead ATL to victory behind a strong 100+ yards rushing for Turner.

Except for the penalties, the Defense finally played a top flight game, and hopefully the Bye week will give them further time to improve, and continue to recapture some of the lost magic from last year.

Just keeping my fingers crossed that Mughelli did not suffer a career ending knee injury. It looked pretty bad.

4-3 feels so much better than 3-4. Same for a win going into a Bye week. Go Falcons!

The Long Delayed Road To Nowhere

It’s been a while since my last update, which is kind of similar to my free time for gaming. While often limited, my random gaming sessions have been all over the place. The theme of this post has to be ‘backlog’ – as in I could not purchase a game for the next couple of years and still have something new to experience.

With that said, let’s jump into a whirlwind tour of random gaming bliss …

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
I picked this one up a month ago, once the price fell below $20. I just started in the last couple of days. It is pretty much what I expected – LotR, with poorly implemented Move support (i.e. probably a Wii Remote straight port), but very family friendly.

So far I am enjoying it, but probably only because I am a huge LotR geek.

Days of Thunder: NASCAR
This morning I picked up Days of Thunder, along with Star Trek DAC, and Top Gun via a 50% off PS+ sale. While I have not played the other two games in this Paramount bundle, $7.50 looks like a steal of a deal for all three games. If nothing else, Days of Thunder is shaping up to be easily worth ~$2.50. Yes, it is arcade racing, and only loosely based on the movie with the same name, but so far my boys (along with day) are having a blast playing this one.

The game feature rubber band racing to the extreme, but that is OK, when the experience is still fun. I was shocked once I made it to the ‘Sprint’ circuit – Daytona became total hell on wheels, but in a fun way.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest
I cannot exactly put my finger on the reason, but I am very much looking forward to Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest, which is due a few days (November 15 to be exact) shy of Thanksgiving. What’s not to like? Family friendly, Move compatible, and based on lessons learned from Sports Champions.

PixelJunk Shooter
Let’s put this one in the looking forward to category, which will just add further to my backlog, but with a PS+ 20% off discount, who can complain?

Some people reckon PixelJunk games are a little tough, and well… yes, they are a little because I think games should be a challenge. However, what we’ve done this time is scattered loads of checkpoints so even if you do die, you’ll restart really close, and we also give you the option to downgrade your difficulty setting if you get a Game Over too. We’ve created 4 difficulty levels so everyone is catered for (I hope!).

For an old man gamer, I am giddy over frequent checkpoints and multiple difficulty levels for a shoot-em-up. Not to digress too much, but the October PS+ offering has been butt-nut crazy.

Afrika
While Afrika may not be the greatest ‘game’ around, it holds a special place in my heart. First, I love the experience. It is different, and I sometimes blow my wad over games that are a little off the beaten path. Of course it is hard to call Afrika a ‘game’ … at least not a proper game. Second, Afrika was my first Platinum. Your first is always special, and all that jazz. At any rate, this article was a fond remembrance of picture grabbing animals and insects in my romp through Africa.

GT5
When I first read about the GT5 2.0 update, I started longing for the game again, and when the F1 Championship winning Sebastian Vettel Red Bull was on offer a couple of weeks ago, I (briefly) jumped back in for the first time in a while.

Getting the $1 million credits was a nice bonus. I made the Bronze in-game trophy without too much difficulty, but didn’t spend much time trying to place higher. I now have some much needed money to burn, which should help me push forward in the game without having to stop for a short term grind.

I will be picking up the upcoming DLC, but I am far from maximizing the current DLC free version (that backlog thing again).

We are confirming that the Gran Turismo 5 DLC update will be available to download on 10/25. We apologize for the delay in the content however as a gift to our eager fans we are offering free bonus content. For those who purchase the “Complete Pack” by November 7, we will throw in a unique GT Academy dynamic theme as well the Honda NSX GT500 Stealth Model. Just to be clear, both the dynamic theme and the car are free with purchase of the Complete Pack. Again we are sorry for the delay and hope that fans will enjoy all of the fantastic new content to come for GT5.

It is not like I have ants in my pants or anything, so I am happy to wait another week and pick up a couple of free throw-ins by Sony for putting up the DLC one week later than originally planned.

Ico – The No Update, Update
I haven’t started on Ico collection; same song and dance. Never enough hours in the day. I guess my appetite for gaming is bigger than the time I have to appreciate the games.

Falcons – Two And Out.

Tale of two halves; really a tale of two possessions. The Falcons completely dominated Green Bay during their first two possessions, shortening the game by controlling the clock, keeping Aaron Rodgers off the field, and in the process racing out to a 14-0 lead.

Then things started falling apart. Instead of staying with what was working, the Falcons gradually pissed away the game, making a mess of the season, and raising into doubt that this team is actually on par with last year’s team.

What happened? To me (and plenty of others sitting in the peanut gallery), It’s all about the play calling. Falcons Head Coach looks to be taking the heat for Mike Mularkey (and the players poor execuition), but let’s be honest. Mularkey’s play calling is lackluster at best and entirely uncreative. Why move away from the run with 5 minutes and change to go in the second quarter, up by 14? Instead three quick incompletions lead to a punt, and before the Falcons knew what hit them, Rodgers was finally on a role.

It is really a shame because the Falcons flipped what should have been a victory, taking them to a respectable 3-2, into a 24-14 home loss, and a potentially unrecoverable 2-3 start. Ouch. This one was painful.

Where to next? A home date with the Panthers, which should not be considered an automatic victory; followed by what I expect to be a road loss to the Lions, a much needed bye week, and then a winnable visit to Indianapolis. The Falcons will be lucky indeed to be 4-4 at the halfway point; that will not be enough to overtake Tampa Bay and New Orleans.

Unless something truly remarkable happens, I’m afraid we may be looking at a lost season. Shame of it all is that my tickets cost so damn bunch money. Of well, easy come, easy go.

3G Vita Looks Worse By The Day …

Thankfully I have the Wi-Fi and 3G orders on preorder. I say thankfully, because it is looking more and more like the 3G version is going to be an absolute dud.

The recent Japanese pricing plans look weak, and the announced 20mb file size download cap also looks suspect. Then again, maybe the cap is to make sure that everyone does not blow their monthly wad in one sitting.

I’ll keep both on preorder with Amazon until the official US AT&T 3G Vita rates and plans are announced.

Speaking of Amazon, I think I have Fire in my belly. I am strongly considering at least one Kindle Fire for the family in the guise of a Christmas present.

I know the Fire is a limited version of a full android, but that’s OK. I’ve been an Amazon Prime custom since day one, and this would just compliment the service and provide an easy extra household browsing option.

Braves – Historic Collapse

Speechless. Last year the Braves ran out of gas of injuries decimated their lineup. This year, injuries to their starting pitching, and an overtaxed bullpen that was brilliant just 6+ weeks earlier, failed the Braves.

For the Braves, this one might hurt as bad as all those postseason losses in the 1990s and early 2000s.

They were 10½ games ahead of St. Louis before play on Aug. 26. They were still up by 8½ games on the morning of Sept. 6. Instead of popping champagne for a second straight trip to the playoffs, they became the first team in major league history to squander a lead of at least eight games for a playoff spot in September.

They had some company a short time later when Boston did the same in the AL, also blowing a ninth-inning lead. But that was of little consolation in Atlanta.

Even if the Braves somehow managed to win, I think they still would have fallen today in a pre-Wild Card ‘win and you are in’ playoff against red hot St. Louis.

Bosher’s Long Term Impact?

It damn well better be good because so far Bosher has sucked … badly. In fact, he was so bad the other night against the Eagles, that I thought the Falcons would bench him on the spot. Of course they couldn’t (no other options); still, he was awful.

Then, there is Matt Bosher, the sixth-round draft pick who replaced Koenen in Atlanta. Things haven’t started smoothly for Bosher. His gross punting average is 36.8 yards and his net is 35.1 yards. Bosher had an 18-yard punt out of the end zone in Sunday night’s victory against Philadelphia. He’s had only two of his 10 kickoffs go for touchbacks and opponents are averaging 20.8 yards per return.

It will be interesting to see how Bosher improves during the season, or if at some point he gets replaced for a more expensive (but still cheaper than Koenen) out of work veteran replacement, relegating Bosher to the practice squad for some improvement opportunities.

1-1 Falcons Chase Vick From Georgia Dome

What a great game! This is my fourth consecutive year owning season tickets, and this victory was absolutely one of the most gratifying and exciting games to date. There have been some exciting games – last minute victories over ‘da Bears’ and Ravens, and of course really bad loses – Packers in the playoffs last year comes immediately to mind.

This victory was important because maybe at long last, maybe we (or the ATL Vick loving crowd) have finally put the Vick saga behind us. I hope the man has changed his life for the better, but it is high time for the Falcons to move on. It is Ryan’s team. And when it mattered most, Ryan delivered.

Of course I could spend all day writing about all the good and bad stuff, but I am exhausted. 90 minutes to ATL, 4 hour tailgate, 3+ hour game … we made it back to the hotel really late … or early depending on your point of view. I think I was in bad a few minutes before 2AM. Ouch.

After all of that, it would have sucked if we gave the game away in the closing seconds. And the Falcons almost did …

ON THE VICTORY FORMATION: That was probably a coaching error. We need to run the ball. Not probably, it was a coaching error. In terms of the mindset that was not the proper way to do it, but we were able to get through it. We don’t play perfect games, we don’t coach perfect games. [source: AJC.com]

Gee, you think? The Falcons almost below the win by not being able to run out the clock, or more appropriately, taking a knee, on three consecutive plays, not realizing that they would punt the ball back to the Eagles’ DeSean Jackson with 15 seconds on the clock.

Of course a win is a win, and I cannot think of any in recent memory bigger than this one, as ATL maybe (just maybe) finally closed the book on Vick.

F1 2011 – Marginal Improvements over F1 2010?

The early F1 2011 reviews are mostly positive, which is to be expected based on F1 2010 being well received.

It is interesting reading TheSixthAxis reviewer’s take on the game. Before the summary, the reviewer discusses new F1 technical ‘innovations’ that are included in F1 2011 (KERS and DRS), but also mentions that casual gamers are not likely to notice. I would go so far as to say that casual gamers should stay pretty away from this title and go after a more mainstream racer.

Now the tricky part – is F1 2011 worth picking up if you already own 2010? That’s a question that only the individual can really answer – there’s certainly a good, extensive and solid game here but then a good chunk of it is clearly based on last year’s code and visuals, even most of the menu interface remains the same. The improvements are all for the better – that’s for sure – but perhaps we’d have liked to have seen more of them. Anyone that bypassed 2010 and held out for this years can relax easy, though, this is probably the best Formula One game we’ve seen for years.

An improved AI, along with the addition of offline split screen and co-op Championship mode have me pretty excited.

Eurogamer has a remarkably similar take on the marginal year-over-year improvements in Codemasters F1 franchise.

Now comes the tricky third test; can it do enough to establish a yearly franchise, an exercise that’s normally the reserve of publishers with a little more clout?

F1 2011’s answer to that particular question is, sometimes, not too convincing. Some areas remain sparse and many of its improvements can be measured in tenths rather than seconds. Still, it’s a sport where every little detail counts, and the finite changes do undoubtedly make for a better game.

Now I just have to decide if I attempt to whore any of the many remaining Trophies in F1 2010, or if I call it a loss, flip it on eBay while the flipping still has marginal value, and see if I can stay focused on F1 2011. Last year I lost interest – really don’t know the reason why because I gushed about it during the first few weeks after it was released. At least I didn’t play F1 2010 half as much as Sony’s last F1 outing (Formula One: Championship Edition).

September Gaming Closeout

The ridiculousness continues. Next week (Sep 20) sees the release of F1 2011, while the following week (Sep 27) gives us FIFA 12, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, and Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, and Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland.

F1 2011
I’ll be honest; I love F1 games, but I didn’t really get enough out of 2010. No particular reason other than I suck or something. F1 2011 looks to be the perfect F1 gaming experience:

After watching the promo videos all these months I had the feeling that F1 2011 will be strictly for the hardcore, people who are gamers and who also follow F1 races every year. After playing a solid 2 hours with the preview build I believe that this game will only attract fans, resulting in to low accessibility.

Let’s hope that there are enough F1 fans who appreciate racing sims to support F1 2011 and continue to push the series forward.

FIFA 12
One of the top sports franchises; the Madden development team could learn a thing or two from the FIFA guys. I cannot say enough good things about this series – tons of replay value; I played the snot out of FIFA 10 and to some extent FIFA 11. The newest yearly release should not be any different. Platinum be damned; I’ll never get it due to the various online requires.

Thanks to Amazon, this one comes with a nice $20 credit, some sort of MLS Fathead (for the kids) and of course release day delivery.

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
I’ve written about this one a little over the last couple of months, so I am not going to go very deep here. I’ll just say that I have had this one on pre-order since Thanksgiving last year, so I am eagerly anticipating giving both of these classics a go.

Another Amazon release day arrival. I expect this one to go to the top of the play heap; let’s see if that actually happens.

Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny
In a weak moment, I pre-ordered this one site unseen. Mostly for the Move support, partly out of curiosity, and ultimately because I probably had one too many cold ones that night, which resulted in an Amazon clicking frenzy.

Tides of Destiny is coming out later this year in North America for the PlayStation 3 and Wii, which isn’t a combination of release platforms you see very often. I’m not complaining, especially when the PlayStation 3 version ends up looking this pretty. I can’t wait to buy this game, play it for a few hours, get bored, and move on to other things!

Replace bored with distracted and that will be me. Too many other gems in my gaming treasure trove waiting to be caressed and loved, and whored for Trophies.

Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland
Of course I had to get the ‘Premium’ version bundle complete with art book and CD soundtrack. This one has niche written all over it, but I expect Atelier Totori to be fun based on my typical enjoyment of quirky games and deep down love for JRPGs.

Unfortunately I’m usually constrained with limited clock cycles to burn on gaming, which means that I may not get around to this one for a while. I did promise myself (sort of) that I would attempt Atelier Totori’s predecessor first, Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. Will it happen? That’s another article. Seriously, tackling a JRPG is an upcoming article.

The one thing nice about JRPGs, is that historically I have always been able to get my money back from any expensive collector’s edition should I decide to sell them down the road. For that matter, I can usually get my money back from regular editions. That is the beauty of niche gaming; of course you have to pre-order these games or you are the one paying a premium over MSRP.

Happy Saturday!

Dan Wheldon – My New Best Friend?

Dan Wheldon will be my new best friend, but only if I win the Indy Las Vegas $5 Million Challenge and of course Dan Wheldon brings home the checker flag.

Is this a gimmick? You bet, but who gives a rat’s ass if you are the person cheering on Dan to bring you home some serious cash. Even if I am not selected, I will probably make time to watch the race just to see if some other lucky bastard becomes independently wealthy.

iRacing: McLaren MP4-12C GT3

I am not an iRacing subscriber, but just had to post this bit I read at RACER.com:

iRacing.com and McLaren Automotive today announced plans to build a virtual version of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 racecar.

The MP4-12C GT3 marries Formula 1 and innovative road car technology with GT3 specification performance enhancements to create a new generation of racing car. iRacing.com will apply expertise in creating a state-of-the-art digital version of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 that will be available to iRacing members in 2012.

The car project is the second development from iRacing.com and the McLaren Group. Earlier this year, iRacing.com incorporated McLaren Electronics’ ATLAS Express data analysis software into the iRacing service, providing the more than 30,000 iRacers access to data acquisition and telemetry software similar to that used on every cars competing in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

One of these days I am going to get me a decent gaming computer, a force feedback wheel, and of course my own area to set everything up. I could really get into iRacing … one of these days. Until then I will have to keep racing on my PlayStation in the comfy confines of my living room.