The Recycle Bin

About Calvert Games, as the seasons change.

I should probably put this on the About Us page of the site. One of these days I will get around to it, but since there is only me in us, I have not gotten around to putting up an About page. Sue me.

It looks like the site is becoming rather seasonal. Videogames in the hot summer months and the cold of winter. Football, some video games, and airguns in the fair weather months.

Hobbies come and go, and while this site was originally dedicated to videogames, and most sports videogames, it has morphed over the years. While the last two months have seen a heavy return to videogames, I figured I would give everyone fair warning that Georgia and Falcons coverage is about to pick up, and a return to some adult airgun coverage (minus the graphic kill shots).

Current interests …

PS3 coverage. Very interested in Madden 10, some of the newer PSN games, and of course what is going to happen with the whole price drop and slim stuff.
PSP Go. Still sitting on the fence.
Atlanta Falcons coverage. Season ticket holder; ’nuff said.
Researching tailgating grills. See above. Weber Q220 is currently at the top of my list.
Working on a 60 feet airgun shooting setup from my driveway into the garage. Self contained and should not be too offensive to any of the neighbors.
Looking at purchasing a HW30S in .20 so I can give my .177 R7 to my oldest son for Christmas.
Also considering another purchase – HW50S .22, HW97 .20, and HW77.
Looking at 4E Dungeons and Dragons. Long time enthusiast; new category for this site. Let’s see how long this last.
Running. Too damn hot right now to really enjoy.
Now Drinking: Sweetwater 420

So you will continue to see a little of this and that, but the roots of the site are still founded in videogames. When I started this blog I did not have Falcons season tickets and I had not taken the plunge into adult airguns.

Stick around. It will be a fun ride.

Sports Monday.

If you work for a living, Monday’s basically suck. Those of you lucky enough to be at home because you want to be out of work get to watch the circle boys take on Watkins Glen today at noon. This is one of my favorite courses on the Sprint Car circuit, but alas, I will be at work.

The Braves have been on a mini tear of late, winning three in a row over the Dodgers, and five of six to pull within 3.5 of the Wild Card lead. Of course every time I write about Atlanta, I more or less jinx them and they fall to pieces again.

The Falcons resume camp today, this time with a full compliment on the offensive side of the ball. I hope to goodness that the Detroit game this Saturday is televised. Nothing like watching the rookies, seeing the depth charts fill out, taking a quick look at Gonzalez, and of course seeing what former Georgia Bulldogs QB Stafford can do for the Lions.

Football officially kicked off last night with the annual Hall of Fame game. Tennessee beating Buffalo 21-18. It was preseason football, but the Statue of Liberty like trick play by Tennessee was good fun.

Happy Monday. Deal with it.

Zen Pinball?

I will probably pick up Zen Pinball (PS3) from the PSN sooner or later because you can never have too much pinball. This avault review (3 stars out of 5) does a pretty good job of capturing the flavor of the game and providing a high level overviews of its strengths and weaknesses.

Even though Zen Pinball is obviously a labor of love, it does have some faults that hold it back from greatness. The game is a visual treat, but each table has its own corny voice-over audio tracks that made me cringe every time I heard them. Thankfully, you can crank your personal music playlist to drown out the dialogue. Though the mechanics of the game are sound and functional, ball physics are suspect. For the most part, the physics are adequate, but sometimes the balls seem to move too fast. As a result, I couldn’t react quickly enough when I unlocked the secret segment of a table. Also, the ball finds the gutter more often than it should. Maybe a slow-motion transitioning segment could have fixed this.

I doubt I will pick this one up until I see what sort of DLC will be available. If Zen Pinball is supported in the same manner as HVB, it will probably be a steady staple on the PSN download charts for a while.

2009 College Football Predictions

Two items from this column (via The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer) caught my attention. First up is the prediction that the SEC will not capture the BCS title this year.

The SEC’s run of three consecutive BCS titles will end.

Rationale: Said another way, Florida won’t repeat. Not because the Gators aren’t very good. But even very good teams need good fortune to win it all. It’s a hunch the Gators won’t get those breaks. And if Florida doesn’t win it all, who from the SEC will? Not Mississippi (good but overrated), not LSU (not that good and overrated), not Georgia (underrated but not good enough) and not Alabama (a couple of recruiting classes away).

I think this is very valid. This may be the year that the Big 12 (Texas or Oklahoma), USC, or God forbid Ohio St. jumps back into the top spot.

Next was this bit about the Bumble Bees of Georgia Tech …

Georgia Tech, ranked 15th in the preseason Associated Press poll, will not finish in the Top 25.

Rationale: The Yellow Jackets slipped to 22nd in the final AP poll last year after that thorough butt-whipping by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Five of their nine wins last year came by four or fewer points. Simply put, they overachieved last year and still almost fell from the rankings. Vanderbilt replaces Gardner-Webb on the non-conference schedule. (What, was LaGrange College booked up?) Tech’s winning streak against Georgia will end at one

Let’s hope that the Ramblin’ Wreck falls from grace. No matter what happens to the Dawgs this year, they have to end Tech’s winning streak at one.

Roddy White ends holdout. Gets Top 3 WR cash payout.

Good for White. He got his Top 3 contract, received a bucketload of guaranteed money, and now he gets to back it up on the field. According the ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas (of NFC South Blog fame)

A source said White’s deal is for six years and $50 million ($18 million guaranteed). It makes him the third-highest paid receiver in the NFL behind Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, who averages $10 million a year, and Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers.

This little bit from the ajc shows why it was key to get the contract situation resolved as soon as possible.

The signing of White was extremely important to the continued growth of second-year quarterback Matt Ryan and the offense. Last season, Ryan threw 34 percent of his pass attempts in White’s direction as he guided the team to an 11-5 record and playoff appearance.

White turned in a spectacular season in 2008, setting a franchise record with 1,382 yards and earning his first Pro Bowl trip. It was White’s second consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season.

Hopefully no harm, no foul, and things return to normal when the Falcons resume training camp on Monday.

BEMCI Homebrew Source Material

I ran across A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons over the weekend, and thought it was worth a mention here. If you are still into “the box set” version of D&D or the later Rules Cyclopedia version, you will probably enjoy the various trinkets that this blog has to offer. I like how the author starts off the blog …

The BEMCI [JJC: Basic, Expert, Masters, Champion, Immortals] edition of D&D makes me happy. So does 2e AD&D, but right now my creative notions are in D&D mode so that’s what I’ll be posting. I might start adding AD&D bits if something catches my attention, though.

I’m sticking with low-level things, in the main. The Red Box was what I was craving, so high-level widgets probably won’t do it for me *grins* In an ideal world I’ll be posting every day or every two days — but knowing myself all too well, I’m not making any hard and fast promises.

I am not vouching for the gameplay balance of the various offerings, but the blog does offer a fun trip through the world of BEMCI.

Strikers 1945 (PSP)

I am a big fan of the Strikers series (or 1940 series … or whatever type of shooter), so at some point I assume I will get Strikers 1945 for the PSP, but probably not for $10. Fun game, but I think $7.99 is a little more reasonable for this type of game. Gamer Dad (or Gaming with Children) has one of their quick no nonsense reviews.

For a little more than ten bucks, Strikers 1945 is a pretty decent download, but the game could’ve used a few more options and tweaks. There are several screen viewing size options, but none that let you tile the PSP on its side to view the action from an arcade screen ratio. Even though you get unlimited continues, maybe some selectable difficulty modes would’ve been nice so you’re not dying quite AS often. And it’s a bit short. Fans of arcade classics may still enjoy it, though. And heck, any game that lets you pilot a plane called the “Flying Pancake” can’t be ALL bad!

Of course I would not even consider this one if my copy of 1942: Joint Strike that cost me $9.99 from the PSN supported the PSP or Remote Play.

Strange Wii-ness: Sexy Poker

I started to save this for T&A Thursday, but why not tackle this one now? Sexy Poker has to be one of the strangest games on the Wii. Everything about this one does not fit with Nintendo wholesomeness. GamePro Arcade has a brief write-up of the game.

It’s strip poker with a bunch of still pictures of cartoon girls who strip down (they don’t actually strip, the clothing just vanishes) to their underwear. That’s right, no nudity here. This is PG-13 porn, in an M-rated game.

Hmmmmm. Apparently you play some poker, and if you win you get to see some hentai style rewards. Go figure.

SuperCar Challenge releases August 28?

I read on PlayStation LifeStyle that SuperCar Callenge is going to be released August 28, but I am not sure if this is for the US or UK. According to System3 this sequel to Ferrari Challenge will feature full 1080p graphics, improved AI, and host of other new additions.

Your opponents’ artificial intelligence has also been completely rewritten with a brand new Dynamic AI setting allowing the game to change the challenge you receive based on how well or badly your career is going. Of course, if you fancy a real challenge you can always set the AI to Legendary… strap yourselves in tightly though because it won’t be an easy ride!

I cannot find the game listed on the usual suspects such as Amazon and EBGames. This is one that I want – Ferrari Challenge is superb, but it is also one I can wait for because I have plenty of gameplay left before I am ready to discard Ferrari Challenge. If you are looking for a much better than decent semi-simulation racing game, Amazon currently has Ferrari Challenge for a tad under $16. Give it a go; it is well worth the price.

Madden 10: Countdown continues

IGN just reviewed Madden 10 and awarded the game an 8.9 (out of 10). Happy days?

There are issues with some of the new aspects that have worked their way into Madden (and things that have been taken out), but there’s no denying that this is the best pure football experience in videogame history.

Back in the day it seems like everyone would say that the latest game was the greatest ever, but these days this sort of praise is pretty rare.

Thankfully the gameplay in Madden NFL 10 is, in a word, fantastic. I can’t tell you how many people walked by my desk as I was playing and wondered if the NFL season started early this year. The speed of the game has been ratcheted down only slightly so hitting holes while running and making jukes is just a bit easier than it has been. That’s not to say that the game isn’t difficult – ramp up the difficulty to find out for yourself – but everything has an excellent ebb and flow this time around.

I think I just got a halfsie. God willing and if the creeks don’t rise, I will be playing Madden 10 this time next week. The countdown rolls on.

Happy Saturday!

SEC lands five teams in pre-season USA TODAY Coaches poll.

Welcome to the 2009 season. Florida (1), Alabama (5), LSU (9), Mississippi (10), and Georgia (13) all SEC teams at the top of the first poll of the year. Landing five teams in the Top 13 spots affords me the opportunity to offer up five questions:

Can Florida repeat?
Is the SEC West really that good?
Can Houston Nutt manage the pressure of a Top 10 team?
Can Georgia successfully replace Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford?
Is the SEC really that much better than the rest of the country?

When it is all said and done I think Georgia will have a hard time cracking the Top 10 this year. I think they will lose once game against Oklahoma State, South Carolina, or Arkansas. The Dawgs will beat Arizona State. The will lose to LSU or Tennessee, and then beat Vanderbilt, which will take them into the Florida game with a 5-2 record. The Gators will win yet again, but the Dawgs will recover handily against Tennessee Tech bringing them into the home stretch with a 6-3 record. I can see the Bulldogs stumbling twice in the final three games, but I am going to say they win two out of three against Auburn, Kentucky, and Georgia Tech. 8-4 or ouch.

Normally you would say an 8-4 record is not terrible, but by Georgia standards it would be horrible. The Dawgs are going to have to find a way to flip one or two of those defeats into victories. 9-3 or 10-2 look so much better than 8-4, and would be a far better indication of the talent on this squad. I hope I am piss poor at predictions.

Go Dawgs!

UK retailers not sold on the PSP Go.

According the MCV, UK retailers are lukewarm on the PSP Go. Understandably their concern is over the price, and of course, what is in it for them?

CHIPS joint-MD Don McCabe added: “Customer reaction to PSPgo is currently a no-go. I can’t see anybody going for it if Sony confirm a high price tag. If we get customers through the door we will sell it, but that remains to be seen.”

If there is any retailer money to be made with the PSP Go it is clearly in accessories and PSN prepaid cards, although I am sure Sony receives a chunk of revenue from the cards.

The article also indicates that UK retailers do not expect many PSP owners to upgrade to the Go format, and they expect to do a strong PSP and UMD holiday sales cycle.

My opinion? If the PSP Go were priced at $199 I would have already pre-ordered one.

Altidore goes big time. Can Team U.S. stop Mexico?

Jozy Altidore went from the MLS to the Spanish league for a good $10 million, and now he is going to Hull City of the English Premier League.

The 19-year-old forward has agreed to join Hull on loan this season. He has limited experience at top-level European soccer, but was impressive in helping the United States reach the Confederations Cup final in South Africa in June.

In some ways I want to say “good for Altidore” then again I also wish our best talent would stay at home and make the MLS great. The reality is that it is probably good for our young and upcoming stars to get experience against the top competition. I wish Altidore the best, and now have a new favorite Premier League club.

In other U.S. soccer news, the National team for the August 12 face off against Mexico has been set.

With a lifetime record of 0-22-1 in Mexico and currently in second place of final-round qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. looks to pick up points on the road to start the second half of the hexagonal after posting a 3-1-1 record through five games. Mexico sits in fourth place in the group with a 2-3-0 record. The top three teams automatically advance to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, while the fourth-place team will participate in a two-leg playoff against the fifth-place team from South America.

I had no idea we sucked so bad on Mexican soil. We need to at least bring home a draw.

Now Drinking

It has been a while since we played this game, so let’s end Friday with an extra special episode of Now Drinking only with half the usual specialness.

Dos Equis XX Lager Especial
Lately I have been trying different Mexican beers. XX is pretty decent; goes well with my wife’s homemade salsa. I am not going to go out on a limb and say it is my favorite Mexican beer; it’s OK.

Michelob Amber Bock
This is an old staple of mine. Switch to it after the salsa and XX. I am not going to say it is great, and while I usually reach for the Ultra Amber instead of the Amber Bock, I do not think it is bad as many of the reviews indicate. I normally go for more hops and ales, but for a lager, I do not think this one is all that bad. At under a $1 a beer for a 12-pack from the local big box, I can live with the price.

Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale
Bringing us home is one of my all time favorites. What I like to call the nectar of the gods; Sweetwater 420. This one is so good I am offering up multiple links to celebrate its extra deliciousness.

Happy weekend to you!

Madden 10 Countdown: August 14 is almost here.

We are officially one week out from the arrival of Madden 10. A week and a day away from the Falcon’s first preseason game in Detroit. Maybe more importantly we are two weeks away from my oldest son turning eleven-teen. Let the countdowns begin!

I have been enjoying Bill Abner’s Madden 10 posts at The Nut and the Feisty Weasel. I have picked up a few interesting points from Mr. Abner’s posts:

-sliders work; adjustments are noticeable
-sliders need to be adjusted on All-Pro to enable AI rushing to be effective
-offensive linemen do not always block correctly
-WRs pickup a lot of extra YAC because receivers may be too hard to tackle
-unpredictably in a good way; the game has some randomness to gameplay elements
-some teams HB actually split carries, but backup HBs average very few yards per rush attempt
-draft AI looks to be much improved; rookie ratings are not over the top

I am really looking forward to Madden 10. Why? I have not played in videogame football in months. I passed on NCAA Football 10. Perhaps most important, this new version of Madden actually looks improved and fun to play.