Final Week NFL Picks

Buffalo at NY Jets
Tampa Bay at New Orleans
NY Giants at Washington
Minnesota at Detroit
Dallas at Philadelphia
Chicago at Green Bay
Carolina at Atlanta
Tennessee at Indianapolis
Pittsburgh at Cleveland
Oakland at Kansas City
Miami at New England
Jacksonville at Houston
Cincinnati at Baltimore

San Diego at Denver
Arizona at San Francisco
St. Louis at Seattle

Week 16 NFL Picks

CAR @ PIT
DAL @ ARI

NE @ BUF
NYJ @ CHI
BAL @ CLE
WAS @ JAC
TEN @ KC
DET @ MIA
SF @ STL

SD @ CIN
HOU @ DEN
IND @ OAK
NYG @ GB
SEA @ TB

MIN @ PHI
NO @ ATL

I was 9-7 last week, which wasn't impressive.

Late NFL Action

I'm sitting here watching the Packers and Patriots on Sunday Night Football. I'm surprised the Packers are playing as well as they are right now. Or perhaps the Patriots were surprised by the accuracy of Matt Flynn? My guess is the Packers came to play because they have to win and the Patriots were caught off-guard. I expect them to win the game, though.

I went to the Cardinals-Panthers game today. After sleeping in, we ended up getting there at the start of the second quarter. Even though the tickets were extremely cheap, and the Panthers won, I still felt a bit ripped off. The kickers were terrible, and despite no wind their kicks were wobbly and short almost the entire day. The Cardinals also tried an onside kick at the start of half and completely botched it.

Near the end of the game the Cardinals had ten men in the box and the Panthers still managed to take it down to the two-minute warning. It was honestly just pathetic football up and down the board. It was slow and unexciting, and I saw both touchdown plays. Oh well, at least the Bengals won, so that means the Panthers are still in line for the top pick in the draft.

Week 15 NFL Picks

SF @ SD
NO @ BAL
ARI @ CAR
CLE @ CIN
WAS @ DAL
JAC @ IND
BUF @ MIA
PHI @ NYG
KC @ STL
DET @ TB
HOU @ TEN

ATL @ SEA
DEN @ OAK
NYJ @ PIT

GB @ NE
CHI @ MIN

Last week I went 10-6 so I'm 33-15 in the last 3 weeks.

X-Men Arcade

The X-Men Arcade game is a 6-player beat-em up. It's been heralded as one of, if not the best arcade beat-em up all of time. It's been a dream of many fans and gamers alike that this game would be brought to home consoles, and over past few hours, that has become a reality on PSN and XBLA.

You can play with up to 6 players, with either the US or Japanese version, in four player or six player cabinet setup, and choose your own difficulty and level. In addition to that, there's online co-op. While the online experience can get pretty choppy sometimes, it's smooth for the most part.

The game's only about a half hour long, but considering getting all of the achievements will take you about 5 hours maximum to get, for ten bucks, it's a really sweet deal in my opinion considering what you get. It's a heck of a lot better than Turtles in Time Re-Shelled for the same price and that's a remake, not a traditional port, and lacks the original music. The voice tracks in this game have changed from the original, but the lines are still cheesy and awesome.

Overall, if you've been curious about it, it's worth the money. I doubt you'll be disappointed. Oh, and my favorite is Colossus. You'll see why when you play as him.

Favre's Streak Finally Over

After over two decades of consecutive starts, Brett Favre's consecutive games started streak has finally come to end, just shy of three-hundred, which he would've hit in the next to last week of the season. I'm overjoyed that such a streak ended, but at the same time it's sort of sad that it ended before a momentous and iconic mark.

Also, it should lighten the moods of everyone in Buffalo, NY and Bills fans around the globe to know that their team, a team that has suffered through the worst of times has seemingly ended the career of Brett Favre. I don't know how much better you can feel than that. But they should relish in that fact, even if their team moves to Toronto by the time the next NFL season starts.

It only could've been sweeter if the Packers did it to Favre because it would've been delicious irony that everyone could've laughed about, even Favre himself.

Reason for a Lack of Updates

I haven't posted in a couple of days, so I thought I'd tell everyone why. I'm sort of under the weather at the moment. I'm also writing something very large and very important to my work and studies. I'll try to get back to a regular posting schedule soon though.

My Game of the Decade: Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime is the culmination of four years of love between Nintendo and Retro Studios to give the Metroid franchise its' proper transition from 2D to 3D and the first game back after the series' long absence of eight years from Super Metroid, one of the best games of all time.

At its' core, Metroid Prime is just a copy of Super Metroid, but in a new dimension and with a new story. It keeps a very similar level progression, but at the same time gives us something a little bit more in terms of variety. It has excellent pacing, is amazing from start to finish, has a perfect difficulty curve, has a lot of ways to sequence break and speed run the game, and is a delight to play over and over again.

That is why Metroid Prime is my Game of the Decade.

Week 14 NFL Picks

IND @ TEN
CLE @ BUF
ATL @ CAR
GB @ DET
OAK @ JAC
NYG @ MIN
CIN @ PIT
TB @ WAS

STL @ NO
SEA @ SF
DEN @ ARI
NE @ CHI
MIA @ NYJ
KC @ SD

PHI @ DAL

BAL @ HOU

Last week I went 12-4, so that's 23-9 over the past two weeks, which is really good. This week had a few tougher games to pick though.

The Main Event

Tonight's game between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots will more than likely decide who will get the Top Seed in the AFC Playoffs and who will be relegated to facing Jacksonville or Kansas City. While New England has the upper hand with home field advantage and the way they're playing, combined with the few extra days of rest to give them more prep time, I think the Jets play hard and are kind of lucky. I just wonder when and if their luck will run out.

Oh and the Broncos just fired their head coach.

Early Morning Bloggin'

I can't sleep, so I decided I'd make another entry. Please don't expect it to be the greatest piece of writing ever.

First things first, Auburn vs. Oregon for the National Title. While the NCAA gets their wish by keeping TCU out of the Championship game, I can't help but feel that if Auburn wins, they'll be forced to vacate their wins from this season down the line at some point. I think if Cameron was not playing, Auburn would still win but it'd end up closer. Oregon had control of their game most of the way, but no one expected otherwise.

In political news, Obama's proposed tax hike on the upper class tax bracket failed the Senate. I can only hope some spending cuts are in the cards for the future as well. But I'm personally not holding my breath, even with the Republicans gaining control of the House of Representatives.

Finally on the gaming front, I got all of the achievements in the original Pac-Man Championship Edition. I'm not a good Pac-Man player, but I'm really proud of myself for doing so. However, DX is a more entertaining game and I recommend it highly.

Qatar to get the World Cup

I know I'm a couple of days late on this one, but Qatar is getting the World Cup in 2022. Now I don't mean to be rude or anything, but REALLY? A few years ago, I was bigger than that country. While getting the World Cup in the middle east might be a big move and all, but why Qatar? They've NEVER qualified for the World Cup, and outside of this one, they won't for a long time either.

Now you might say I'm upset because I'm an American and we didn't get the World Cup for that year or 2018 either, but I never expected them to give us the World Cup, even though the sport has become much more popular since having the 1994 World Cup, mainly due to the play of the US team in international play and MLS staying steady at least. While it's not the biggest sport here like it is in the rest of the world, it is becoming more popular over time.

I think another World Cup for the United States would help propel the sport here even further. Hopefully the FIFA committee will come to realize that someday.

Games of the Year for the Past Decade

It's been a pretty good decade for gaming. It seems like it's becoming more and more mainstream, but at the same time, quality franchises are dying out left and right because those new gamers aren't migrating to them. But I digress, since I thought it'd be appropriate to look back on the previous decade in gaming and declare my games of the year for the past decade (2001 to 2010).

2001 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- By far the darkest and hardest 3D Zelda, this game turned the Zelda franchise on its' head, if only for a while. While it turned off many fans for it's 3-day cycle, it gave more in-depth analysis to the universe as a whole, adopting stories for NPC's that we have come to know since then.

2002 - Metroid Prime
- What do we get as a follow-up to the greatest game of all time? How about the second greatest? Not bad if I do say so myself. Metroid Prime took Super Metroid and translated it to 3D perfectly, and changed how stories in games were told forever with its' scanning system. Oh, and the game is very popular with the speedrunning community.

2003 - The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
- Turning the franchise on its' head once again, we went from the dark world of Termina to the bright and colorful world of the ocean that now covers the remains of old Hyrule. Not only that, it added some good animation to the universe, as well as some awesome characters, and let's not forget the best final boss fight in the series.

2004 - Metroid Zero Mission
- A re-telling of the original Metroid game with some minor cinematics, re-done graphics and an added ending which changed the series forever, giving us what is now known as Zero Suit Samus. Zero Mission stayed true to the Metroid formula, but at the same time added a couple of new quirks that made it very memorable, and stands out as one of the best remakes of all time.

2005 - Resident Evil 4
- By taking Resident Evil from fixed-camera to over-the-shoulder view was the best move for the series, as it made the series extremely mainstream and accessible. It was the first Resident Evil game I bought, and it's still the best in my opinion as it has some great atmosphere, set pieces and game mechanics in a game to this day.

2006 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Taking Zelda back to formula was something a lot of fans wanted, and they got big time. Midna is definitely the most interesting and complex character developed by Nintendo, and is still one of the most recognizable characters in the series to this day because of it. While nothing special, it still remains as a great entry to the series.

2007 - Super Mario Galaxy
- Gaming bliss at its' finest. The gameplay, the level design, the music, everything. Perfect.

2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- A fitting end to the main MGS series, that wraps up with some of the most emotional scenes I've seen in a game recently. While the story gets a lot of hate, it's still very compelling and interesting to see play out.

2009 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- A well-paced, action-packed tour de force from start to finish. Combined with a superb online mode, Uncharted 2 rides high all the way through, and will make you gasp at some of its' wonder.

2010 - Donkey Kong Country Returns
- I can't think of a more well put together game than this one this year. While challenging, it's still extremely fun. The design of each level flows really well and just makes the game give off this aura of childhood fun.


So those are my games of the year for the past decade. I plan on releasing an article for my Game of the Decade next week, but I'll say that my Game of the Decade is on this list.

Week 13 NFL Picks

HOU @ PHI

NO @ CIN
CHI @ DET
SF @ GB
JAC @ TEN
DEN @ KC
CLE @ MIA
BUF @ MIN
WSH @ NYG

OAK @ SD
DAL @ IND
STL @ ARZ
CAR @ SEA
ATL @ TB

PIT @ BAL

NYJ @ NE

Last week my record was 11-5, so a pretty good record I must say.

Haymakers and Bad Plays

Sorry for not updating yesterday. I was traveling to and from an NHL game yesterday, which takes a long time to get to from where I live. The game wasn't really that good as the Hurricanes turned the puck over a lot, especially in key situations that gave the Stars a couple of easy goals, which by themselves would be enough to win the game. Thank goodness for Dallas to show that their goals weren't flukes by adding a couple of more goals on their own. I made the joke to my family at one point in the third period that I didn't realize Jake Delhomme was playing for the Hurricanes in last night's game. They were both amused and heart broken at the same time since the Hurricanes turned it over just moments before. Shortly thereafter, a fight broke out resulting in a Hurricanes player and three Stars players being sent to the penalty box. How one of the Stars players didn't get ejected is beyond me, since he was choking the Hurricanes player via sleeper hold. Then again, the Hurricanes player looked like he was trying to bite the ref's arm.

In other news, Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnigan were both fined the same amount of money as Richard Seymour for their fisticuffs from the previous week. However, this fight was a bit more vicious and continued on after the play. Neither of them were suspended, which is surprising given how Commissioner Goodell usually handles disciplinary action. We know he can be harsh on players, but their actions go beyond what Seymour did, as it was drawn out and got both sidelines to clear to a certain extent. Having them both suspended for a game or two would've sent a message that fighting isn't tolerated or appreciated like it is in the NHL.

Donkey Kong Country Returns Review

While I can’t say it’s on like the protagonist’s name, I can say that the mighty Donkey Kong has returned for yet another foray into collect-a-thon madness on the Wii. This time Retro Studios has been asked to revive yet another franchise like they did eight years ago with the Metroid Prime series, which are regarded as some of the best games of all time. Has Retro Studios once again struck gold? Or will the loss of key figures after Metroid Prime prove to be their downfall?

Donkey Kong Country Returns isn’t much in terms of story, the Tiki tribe, a group of creatures that can hypnotize animals takes all of Donkey Kong’s bananas for some reason, and the big ape takes offense to this, so he goes and tries to get them back. Along his journey, he can pickup Diddy for some co-op action for hovering and elongated rolling. Cranky Kong offers a shop so you can buy lives and some inventory items to make levels and hunting for collectibles in them a bit easier. This game starts out mildly on difficulty, and gradually gets tougher. By the final world, expect to die a few dozen times per level in order to beat them. Don’t worry though, if you die ten times in a single level, you can use the Super Guide from the nearest checkpoint.

You may die a few times due to the motion controls in the game. You can stand and shake to pound the ground, run and shake to roll, and crouch and shake to have DK breathe. The second one will cause most of these motion control deaths since it leads to a loss of some control when jumping immediately after a roll. You can play with the Wii Remote sideways or with the Nunchuck, and while I played with the latter people are split on which way is the preferred method to play. The Classic Controller is not supported, so that is a mark against the game. However, you don’t have to shake all that often in order to progress through levels, although at points it is preferred if the level is moving or pushing you forward so you can’t take your time.

The game is your standard side-scrolling platformer where you jump on enemies, collect bananas, letters, puzzle pieces and do various mini-games through each level. Each level also has a Time Attack mode when you beat each one which definitely adds some replay value if you’re going for a perfect file. Even the first level has a very strict time limit in order to achieve the top score. There are various gimmicks throughout the game including barrel blasting, and while not a core mechanic of many levels, they are featured prominently as side attractions. Mine cart levels return, and are as devious as previous entries, as well as levels that focus on you grabbing walls and ledges in order to progress, just like any good ape should.

The graphics on levels are very stylized and clean, and not only that the levels are designed very cleverly as well, even though they do come across as a bit simple at times. The music, while classic, is a bit muted and MIDI, so it isn’t quite as memorable as those older games. However, that doesn’t really take away from the enjoyment of the game, especially when you’ll be too focused on beating a level than enjoying the soundtrack.

Donkey Kong Country Returns offers a lot of content in its’ package, with a lot of replay value for both you and your friends if you so wish. Retro Studios has proven that they are masters of their craft once again, even in the wake of losing some key figures. While it may not be quite as revolutionary as Metroid Prime was, this game is truly remarkable, and stands out as one of the best games on the system, and one of the best games released this year.

Score: 9 out of 10

Week 12 NFL Picks

NE @ DET
NO @ DAL
CIN @ NYJ
GB @ ATL
PIT @ BUF
CAR @ CLE
TEN @ HOU
JAC @ NYG
MIN @ WSH
MIA @ OAK
KC @ SEA
TB @ BAL
PHI @ CHI
STL @ DEN
SD @ IND
SF @ ARI

Taking the Week Off

I'll be taking the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. My weekly NFL picks will still be posted tomorrow. I also plan on having a short review of Donkey Kong Country Returns once I've beaten it.

If you have a Wii I HIGHLY recommended this fine, fine game.

Midway Week 11 Update

Week 11's more than halfway done, and the New England-Indianapolis game is turning out to be yet another great game. However I'd like to discuss a couple of other games if I may.

Houston @ NY Jets
- Once again the Texans prove how bad they are down the stretch, allowing the game winning TD with 10 seconds remaining. I can only imagine how depressed their defensive backs must be after the last two weeks of blowing it late.

Baltimore @ Carolina
- I have the unfortunate pleasure of being forced to watch every Panthers home game due to my residency. I can truthfully say that this is the worst team I have ever seen grace a football field, whether it be high school, college or pro. While the defense kept them in the game for the most part, the offense is atrocious and once again proves that starting yet another QB is not the answer to the Panthers' woes. Also, the Ravens should feel bad for not putting it away earlier than they did.

Buffalo @ Cincinnati
- I don't know what happened at halftime in this game, but somehow the Bills went from 7 points to 45 points to win 45-31 over the Bengals. Not only does it cement the Bengals permanent place in mediocrity, but probably Marvin Lewis' place in the unemployment line this off-season.

Washington @ Tennessee
- Apparently the Redskins had an absurd amount of injuries in this game, but somehow won it in overtime. Now while I'm happy they won I have to wonder what exactly happened to cause such a plethora of injuries. I hope none of them are particularly long-term so they can come back and beat the Packers next week. But I somehow doubt that will happen.

One Endzone

Today's game between Northwestern and Illinois will be played at Wrigley Field. This is the first time in a long time that this will take place. However, that's not really what's exciting about this game. For offense, all plays will only go one way. While both ways will be used for kickoffs and defensive touchdown PAT's, the rest of the game will go one way.

What hasn't already been said about how stupid this situation is? It took them this long to realize this wasn't going to work? I know they're in it for the money and all that, but you would've thought someone would realized the folly of this situation much earlier than the day before the game. It just goes to show you that money can blind you from the truth.

Week 11 NFL Picks

CHI @ MIA
BUF @ CIN
DET @ DAL
WSH @ TEN
ARI @ KC
GB @ MIN
HOU @ NYJ
OAK @ PIT
BAL @ CAR
CLE @ JAC
ATL @ STL
SEA @ NO
TB @ SF
IND @ NE
NYG @ PHI
DEN @ SD

Will they ever learn?

The Democrats have re-elected Nancy Pelosi as the Party leader for the House of Representatives. Why? She's the most unpopular politician in the country. While she's the reason they won the House four years ago, she's also the reason they lost the House a little over two weeks ago. While I'm not one to really care about who's the leader of who when, I have to question this move for the Democrats, especially that they threw a party last week celebrating the accomplishments of their time in power.

What accomplishments? The country hasn't gotten better since they took control. I see no reason to celebrate, and they neither should they.

Woe is Washington

So the Redskins got destroyed last night. It's tough to watch when your team gets 45 points scored upon them in the FIRST HALF. It's ridiculously painful, but that's how Washington Redskins football works. Our defense was horrible and Michael Vick accounted for 6 touchdowns. SIX! How does that happen, honestly?

It doesn't matter however since this year is a "Rebuilding year" since it's the first year with a new head coach. I'm reminded of when Baltimore signed their manager to an extension and then the Orioles proceeded to get 33 runs or something like that scored on them the next day. It's stuff like that which happens in Baltimore-Washington area sports. Oh karma, how I hate thee.

Holiday Gaming

The holidays are almost here, which means a lot of people will get a lot more gaming time in due to time off. Although I'm not sure if much will be changing from last year given the current economic state. Right now though, I'm currently playing through Halo Reach's campaign and Dragon Quest IX. While I've already beaten Dragon Quest IX, I can say it's one of the best games released this year. It's very addictive, and I can only imagine I'd be into it a lot more if I had a friend to play it with, either locally or through online play. But alas, it's still a solid game through and through.

Halo Reach however is a game that I feel like I'm going through the motions with. I'm running, shooting, throwing grenades, etc. There are vehicle sections sure, but they're not really compelling. I don't even know why I got it. Halo ODST's campaign was much more interesting, and there were a lot less moments of complete and utter bad design. I haven't played much of the multiplayer because I'm not a big multiplayer kind of guy, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I beat the campaign so I can join in. With the time the holidays will give me, I'm sure I'll be playing a lot of it.

Donkey Kong Country Returns comes out Sunday, and I'm really excited to play it. It looks as if Retro Studios can do no wrong, just like they did with the Metroid Prime Trilogy. But I digress, the holidays are here, and the time for gaming is back.

I didn't see that coming

So Dallas destroyed the Giants today when Garrett took over as coach. I can't say that I saw that one coming. I sort of want to think that Garrett orchestrated this whole thing to take over as coach. He saw that the team was really good but decided secretly in his brain that the offense would suck so he could get Phillips fired and take over as coach.

Now that's me being conspiratorial but it just seems odd to go from what happened last week in Green Bay to what happened today in New York for me to not raise an eyebrow.

GT5 and Football

First things first, Gran Turismo 5 has a real release day again, now being pegged for the day before Thanksgiving. I'm not a Gran Turismo fan, but my brother is, and I'm sure he, as well as a lot of others are going to be excited over this news. It seems like it'll have a lot of really cool features with a lot of replay value because of the sheer amount of content in the game. The game has been a long time coming, and it'll be awesome to see my PSN friends list populated to the brim with people playing it. It might even convince me to play it as well.

Second, football. The Ravens-Falcons game last night was entertaining to watch at least. It's one of a few games that have been entertaining this year. I don't understand why football has been so down this year, but hopefully it gets better.

Veteran's Day

I'd like to take this late timeout to say Happy Veteran's Day to all the men and women who serve and who have served in the armed forces. Without you, we, the people of the world would not be where we are today. Thank you.

Week 10 NFL Picks

I'm making my picks early this week because Thursday games start tomorrow.

BAL @ ATL
DET @ BUF
MIN @ CHI
NYJ @ CLE
CIN @ IND
HOU @ JAC
TEN @ MIA
CAR @ TB
KC @ DEN
SEA @ ARZ
DAL @ NYG
STL @ SF
NE @ PIT*
PHI @ WAS

* - I think whoever wins this game is the favorite in the AFC to go to the Super Bowl.

It's very quiet today

There isn't much going on in the world today. President Obama is still visiting India, there was a missile scare off the pacific coast somewhere that has the Pentagon baffled, there's no significant sporting events today outside of a few hockey and basketball games, and Call of Duty Black Ops was released to the masses who like to pay $60 for the same game every year. It's one of those days that you can't really say anything important has happened.

That's why it's sort of hard to write something on a day like this. I could try and force something just for content purposes, which is ironically what I'm doing with this write-up. Well, I guess something did happen. Conan O'Brien returned to TV last night on CBS. I'm not one to watch Conan's guest interviews, but last night was different I guess. Overall, it was pretty good to see Conan back on TV. I hope he succeeds, at least for a while.

Destruction in Dallas

Whenever the Dallas Cowboys and their fans lament, I find great joy as a Redskins fan watching them suffer given all the times my team has suffered. The team has completely self-destructed this season when it looked like they could actually play in the Super Bowl their team was hosting. But it was not meant to be since they're now 1-7 and are facing another loss this Sunday when they play at the Giants.

It pains me to see that the Cowboys get such attention even when they're bad while teams that are good, the Chiefs and Raiders for example, who played an excellent game yesterday get no coverage at all. If people honestly thought the Cowboys could play in a hosted Super Bowl this year, I don't know what they were thinking, and I say this because of one reason: It's never happened before. The best chance we have at this happening is when New York holds it because it'll be a 1 in 16 chance instead of a 1 in 32 chance. The odds are always stacked against the home team.

Can we say this will always happen? Of course not. But we can say that the way Dallas buckled under the pressure this year, of all years, was truly awe-inspiring.

Week 9 NFL Picks

TB @ ATL
MIA @ BAL
CHI @ BUF
NO @ CAR
NE @ CLE
NYJ @ DET
SD @ HOU
ARI @ MIN
NYG @ SEA
KC @ OAK
IND @ PHI
DAL @ GB
PIT @ CIN

Hard Games and Delays

It should be known that I hate hard games. I don't think a game that provides multiple difficulty levels should be painfully hard on Easy or Normal, like Borderlands which starts out hard and gets impossible with the more players you add and the higher the difficulty the game goes. It's not to say that I hate games with a challenge, but sometimes developers think "challenging" means "masochistic" which is not something besides the hardcore of gamers enjoy.

Gran Turismo Five looks to be coming out in mid December, just in time for Christmas. All I can say is it's about time. While delays can and should be used to make games better, sometimes it does get a bit excessive like it has with Gran Turismo, and a few games released this generation, namely Final Fantasy XIII and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which was only delayed so it could be a launch game for Wii. I don't like delays, but I can tolerate them to a point.

Zenyatta

I don't feel particularly good talking about horse racing. Not because I feel uncomfortable about it, but because I don't know much about the sport, nor do I care about it until the Triple Crown runs around.

This horse is undefeated after nineteen races, and is racing in her last race tomorrow at the Breeder's Cup. If she wins she'll retire undefeated and be in the discussion for one of the best horses of all time. While being undefeated is an accomplishment, I think not having a Triple Crown title will inevitably taint that record if it happens. It's like going undefeated in the regular season without winning the Super Bowl, everyone eventually forgets about the great season you had because it didn't amount to anything.

Moss Picked Up by Titans

Randy Moss was claimed off waivers by the Tennessee Titans yesterday. They were the only team to put a claim on Moss, and were a late claim at that, which was very surprising to me since I saw at least three to five teams that could've used his services. When I found out the Titans claimed him I almost immediately accepted this as a good idea, and that's for one reason:

Jeff Fisher. Fisher's the longest tenured coach in Football right now, and the only head coach in Titans history. While he's had a few rough seasons, he's managed to keep his job through it all since he manages his players very well. The Titans are a game behind the Colts for first in the division, but have four games left to play in-division, the Colts and Texans twice each. There's definitely room for gaining ground and we can only assume Fisher can control Moss due to his long-standing position. He may not be the best coach, but has definitely is one of the most respected.

Post Election Day Recap

The Republicans retook control of the House of Representatives last night by gaining more than sixty seats. While the Republicans also gained at least six seats in the Senate, Sharron Angle failed to take out Harry Reid. I know people on both sides of the aisle that are disappointed by that because he doesn't seem very well liked by many pundits. But at the end of the day I believe two things occurred:

- Reid put up a great firewall of turnout on their side
- Angle burned too many bridges on the Republican side

Some people may call voter fraud, but that's almost never the case. It's hard to take someone seriously when they claim it.

While the Republicans were definitely celebratory, Boehner and Rubio seemingly joined Manchin, a Democrat in saying they need to work together to solve the major economic problems facing this country, not health care. This includes the deficit and in turn Government spending, the lowering value of the dollar, and getting people jobs. If they don't at least solve the spending problems, we're in for a rough two years.

Election Day and the End of the World Series

This morning I completed my Patriotic right by voting on Election Day. I know many Americans like to participate in early voting, but I feel something special about performing this act on the day it was originally intended for. Although I can't say I felt that same aura that was in the air of previous years, even though this year looks to feature a major turnaround in Congress. It didn't feel special for some reason, and I can't really explain why. There wasn't a big line, and I even had an issue that I took care of, but it just didn't feel good to vote this year.

In unrelated news, the World Series ended with the San Francisco Giants beating the Texas Rangers in five games to win their first world series since 1954. I'd like to thank the Giants for putting this year's baseball season out of its' misery. There was never a truly competitive game as when one team took the lead, they never vanquished it past the score being tied. Overall, it was a very disappointing series and I'm glad we can move on.

Moss Waived, Another Xbox Dashboard

Randy Moss was waived from the Vikings after his comments to the media yesterday. It was a lot of rambling, but the main gist of it was 'I hate talking to the media, so I won't for the rest of the year.' I don't mean to be rude to Mr. Moss, but that's very childish, and even moreso since it just cost him his job. I doubt any other team out there is going to want to pick him up now because of his apparent lack of commitment. However, I think some team out there might pick him up, Washington or St. Louis perhaps. They're in need of a top wide receiver and they both have a good shot of making the Playoffs.

In video game news, The Xbox released its' newest dashboard update and I personally think it's a major step back. The blades are basically useless now since they'll blind you with their white color now. They also made the guide be flat for its' latest "innovation" against its' competitors, Kinect. I've got to say that this pretty annoying since the depth of the old dashboard was really good. Since you can only view three panels at a time now you can't really see a lot. Also, while some new features like 'your game add-ons' are a nice idea, why are they sorted by what's popular and not what I've played recently?

I know you'd like to sell me Modern Warfare Two DLC Microsoft, but I traded in my copy last December. In addition to that, they took away the content pages for games in your Game Library, which sorts stuff by what you've RECENTLY PLAYED. While it might be a much cleaner experience, it's not a better one. It proves once again that Microsoft doesn't know what a good interface is anymore.

Characterizing Samus in Other M

In the lead-up to Metroid Other M, Yoshio Sakamoto had various interviews with publications discussing how he was going to characterize Samus in Other M. Now on paper, these sound exactly like what Samus should be in my opinion at least, although a couple of them do need clarifications as to their meaning for some people. However, the end results led people to become mixed over her characterization. This could be attributed to a few reasons: The bad story, the complex nature of the writing/dialog which does not turn out strong, bad localization, bad voice acting, etc. Some things that were explained here did not come out in Other M, or at the very least, come out very well.

The intent of this article is to show you how Sakamoto, during cutscenes would show specific traits of Samus. Sakamoto definitely has thrown a lot of it out there, mainly leading to a lot of vagueness about what he was trying to achieve both in her character as well as the story. While Sakamoto may view this as a success, the audience is left wondering what he was doing, and in some cases, wondering if he hates the character that he has so passionately talked about in the past. In doing so, the results have given us impressions about Samus we never thought of, those being whiny, submissive, shallow and over-analytical to some. However, when you take a look at the scenes individually, you can hopefully understand the meaning behind each scene, not in terms of the story, but in terms of character traits and development. From the interviews presented, the various key terms and traits were presented to us:

- Cool
- Kindness
- Sympathetic
- A little immature in her passion/earnestness/professionalism
- Introducing her past/characters that influenced her
- Inner Fortitude
- Compassion
- Woman who has been fighting the whole time
- Heart of Steel/Purity
- Strong Woman
- Eager to Face Challenges/Overcome them
- Unburdened by Doubt, which allows her to grow
- Flexible Strength to allow her to learn from mistakes
- More than the sum of her vulnerabilities
- Power Suit is like an armor, but also shields her vulnerabilities from the world
- Charming and Attractive

The depth that he comes up with those traits is a bit more than I anticipated, and maybe slightly more young in his description than I originally thought, but that’s still okay. Here are a couple of points I’d like to clarify first:

- A little immature in her passion/earnestness/professionalism
This is basically her ‘I can’t take this anymore’ or ‘good intentions’ side. A trope for this is the hero who goes against orders for the right cause. We saw this in Metroid II/Super Metroid where she keeps the Baby Metroid alive for scientific research, but was still done with compassion.

- Unburdened by doubt, which allows her to grow as a person
When playing Other M, you get the feeling that Samus does have a lot of doubts. While she never explicitly uses the word, it comes across that way, either intentionally or not. But looking at the way he says it, I would guess he mans ‘she has doubts, but they don’t affect her job or her outlook on life.’

With that being said, it’s time to look at those traits, shall we? Now keep in mind that this is JUST from the cutscenes, not gameplay. I will discuss each trait, mention a couple of scenes for each trait, try to give examples of these traits seen in previous Metroid games, and explain how successful or not Sakamoto was in pulling off each of these traits.

Cool
The opening cutscene is a good start, showing off an awesome recreation of the ending of Super Metroid. Afterwards, her transforming into her Power Suit is the epitome of awesome, no matter of how stupid you think a “Magic Suit” is. A couple of other scenes throughout the game show her combat skills, namely the scene after the Avalanche chase, when she is protecting the mysterious woman in Sector 2 where she activates bullet time, and near the end of the game where she takes matters into her own hands to defeat the final boss. As for her being cool in other titles, I’ll simply look to any of the Leviathan bosses in Corruption or the end of Echoes and say that’s where she is “cool” or as we would say “badass.”

While I think they got this across, it seems to have been drowned out by all the negativity the game has gotten.

Kindness
This tries to come out a few times in the game, namely during a flashback where she is shown rescuing the Baby Metroid. Other implementations are when she is tracking the mysterious woman in Sector 2 and asking her to calm down. Another example is where instead of pounding on the window, she taps on the glass to try and not startle Madeline Bergman in the Research Lab, even though it petrified her all the same. Other games that show Samus’ kindness are really down to Echoes and Corruption. In Echoes, she closed the eye of a dead soldier and in Corruption she saved troopers from being sucked out into space.

So yes, I would say they got this across, even though they didn’t really need to.

Sympathetic
In Other M, they try to relate Samus to various characters. Samus sees Adam as her father figure, her closest friend, the person who knew her best, etc. Anthony is shown as a close friend, maybe even a brother given how they interact with one another. The game also tries to correlate MB to Samus in terms of experiences with Metroids and gaining emotions. The final one is the Baby Metroid, but the relationship, while seemingly an open mother-child relationship, seems to have some more depth behind it. The only other character interaction Samus has had so far is in Corruption and in Fusion. In Corruption you can see her anger and regret at the loss of certain characters and in Fusion you get the sense of joy with her being reunited with Adam post-mortem.

I definitely think they got this one across the best, with Anthony’s relationship being the best. While Adam’s relationship was the most prominent, it didn’t feel natural, which is the same way I can describe the Baby Metroid. As for MB’s relationship, it’s very distant, but it’s there.

A little Immature in her passion/earnestness/professionalism
Again I’ll start with the end of Metroid II since motherhood is a theme of this game. It shows Samus being compassionate for the baby Metroid, even though it went against what she went there to do. Other examples of this trait are “Any Objections, Adam?” as well scenes involving her wanting to save people that seem important her. This also happens when she uses Power Bombs against the final boss despite knowing that a survivor is in the next room when she knows the dangers of them. The closest guess I could make about this in relation to the other games is the final ending of Corruption where she gives an angry face.

I think they got this one across since it shows a side of Samus that we like. The rulebreaker, her wild side; it’s her throwing the rules out the window and saying it’s a my time to shine sort of thing.

Inner Fortitude
This comes down to the Sector Zero scene. While agonizing in pain and barely able to stand, Samus still tries to prevent Adam from marching to his death in Sector Zero. This trait is also portrayed in Corruption where on Norion after get blasted by Dark Samus, Samus somehow finds the strength to get up and fire the laser before going into a coma, saving the day.

I don’t think this comes across all that well given the context of the scene. It makes Samus look sort of helpless and at the same time people call attention to her being “whiny” during this scene even though it should be a very touching scene. Also given that it’s a major fuck you to the player it gives them more the reason to be critical.

Compassion
This is once again done through her keeping the Baby Metroid alive, as well as her friendliness towards Ridley’s first form with her smiling and admiring its’ creepy cuteness.

This kind of ties into kindness, so I’ll say they got this across. Something like this isn’t that hard to get across, mind you.

A woman that has been fighting her whole life
This is shown once in a cutscene where she first mentions she was in the Galactic Federation army. It’s also implied that she’s led a rough life because Samus says her parents were lost when she was young. In Zero Mission, you’re given flashes of her as a child on Zebes, but that’s about it.

This one definitely needed more emphasis. By showing her growing up on Zebes and showing Ridley killing her parents, even if done vaguely would’ve been sufficient to get us to understand she’s had a hard life. At the same time, it would answer if she was strong at her core.

Heart of Steel/Purity
The idea here is that Samus has a strong will as well as someone who can’t be corrupted by evil, maybe even to a point of her being naïve given the situation. I would guess this is shown in the Sector Zero scene where Adam shoots her, but at the end of the day is thankful for his sacrifice because it seems like he has good intentions. In terms of her being “uncorruptable” I’d say Corruption fits this quite well since on Phaaze she fought through the power of Phazon to stop Dark Samus.

I want to say this didn’t come across, but I’m scratching my head as to what he meant about it at the same time as well.

A Strong Woman
Samus is shown to have some determination and eagerness to save others throughout the game. Whether it is from the Incident, or Adam or Madeline or MB, she seems to want to put herself in front of others to take a bullet so to speak. It seems like he was trying to show you she had a lot of will and determination and that equates to strength.

In terms of getting this across, I’d say this is mixed at best. You get the idea she’s physically strong in her Power Suit, but the game has a hard time showing you her inner strength. A common complaint is that she is not shown as strong/implied to be strong in her Zero Suit in any fashion, or at least very clearly.

Eagerness to Face and Overcome Challenges
This is mainly her rushing into situations where she may or may not be readily prepared. Enter the approach to Sector Zero and the possibility of her facing Unfreezable Metroids, an enemy she can’t beat. But she’s unaware of them being that way when she goes there. In relation to other games, you can say this fits in with the opening of Echoes pretty well. At the start of Echoes, Samus heads down to Aether unaware of atmospheric danger of the planet, causing her ship to become damaged. Not only that, she follows Dark Samus into Dark Aether recklessly, causing her power-ups to be stolen.

In terms of getting this across, I’d say yes, but very lightly.

Unburdened by doubt, which allows her to grow as a person
As presented in elevator monologues we get to hear Samus’ doubts about the current situation of things. I can’t point out specific events since they’re basically all the same, but I can say we never get the sense that she’s unburdened by them, but instead quite the opposite. I can’t help but think this is one of those lost in translation things where it actually means ‘it won’t stop her from trying to do the right thing’ which would result in the end of the Ridley scene where she starts to fight and get revenge for Anthony’s death and the Sector Zero scene where she doesn’t believe Adam has to die. We never get the sense that she has doubts in previous games, so this one is sort of new.

Overall, I’d say this is the thing that this is the biggest thing he failed to get across.

Flexible strength that allows her to learn from her mistakes
This really comes back to keeping the Baby Metroid alive again. We learn throughout the game that she realizes the mistake of her keeping the Baby Metroid alive. In Super Metroid, we see the grim results of that first-hand: Scientists are killed at the hands of Ridley, and eventually her home of Zebes is destroyed. When she encounters a Baby Metroid in Sector Zero in Other M, she struggles with what she’s done in the past, but comes to the conclusion that blasting it is the best course of action.

I think they got this one across pretty well as I’ve seen numerous people say how they like the idea of her admitting her mistakes.

More than the sum of her vulnerabilities
This is something that’s not really shown or done outright, but implied. If not actually mentioned in an interview, I never would’ve guessed that’s what he was going for. In Other M, a lot about how she acts, feels and thinks are shown. Most of these are negative and give players a bad impression about her. However, in gameplay she portrays her fighting spirit as well as a few cutscenes. If Sakamoto was really going for this, he needed to be a bit more explicit about it. In the other games, we don’t see any of her vulnerable side outside of Zero Mission where she infiltrates the Space Pirate ship with nothing more than an emergency pistol. But we saw there that she’s still willing to fight to the death.

My guess was that he was trying to say ‘despite all of her vulnerabilities, she still is awesome’ which is a noble idea, but it kind of needs help in coming across. So I would say a big fat NO to this one coming across.

Power Suit is not only a physical armor, but it hides her vulnerabilities/self from the outside world
Essentially, her Power Suit is two-way toll bridge. It stops her from being damaged from outside elements, and at the same time stops her real feelings and emotions from coming out. It doesn’t say that she’s a weak person underneath, nor does it say she is not powerful underneath. Instead it’s supposed to show that you wouldn’t know this person has frailties underneath, even though they’re there. Because she’s a loner, it allows her to keep to herself for the most part without giving the impression of her weaknesses/vulnerabilities. The only other game which Samus talks during gameplay is in Fusion. There she reflects on Adam and the situation at hand, but instead of talking about her reactions to events in Other M, it’s more of a recap of what just happened.

I guess I can say they got this across, but I’m sure it came off as more negatively in the eyes of most than they would’ve wanted. Instead of her talking about how much she’s going to enjoy blowing up the place, she talks about the current state of the mission and how she may or may not react to them.

Charming and Attractive
Throughout Other M you’re treated to some “visual delights” of Samus, both in and out of her Zero Suit. She does look really good overall, but there’s nothing really more I need to say about that. Her charming side is her personality, or it’s supposed to be. You hear her thoughts mostly, and while she does talk to people, there’s not a lot of it. It mainly comes down to the dialog writing here. I can guess that Japanese people like what they hear, due to the poor localization of the game, English speakers aren’t really too happy to hear lines like “confession time” and “it pierced my heart”, especially when those lines only appear in the English version of the game.

So let me put this as mixed. Good looks, but the personality needs some better writing/localization, at least on the thoughts category. When she talks, it is simple speech, and not a lot of it, and sometimes a little forceful.

Recap
So what can you say about Samus’ characterization now? Were any of the ideas behind this characterization wrong at their core? Or maybe they were just executed poorly? Or perhaps no video game character should be anything more than a space marine with a gun? I can respect the ideas behind her characterization and I think they are correct, but at the same time I think Sakamoto spread himself a bit too thin on this one. There were clearly parts of her characterization that didn’t need to be reinforced like kindness and compassion since they were done in other games. I can understand clarifying the ending of Metroid II, but beyond that it seemed a bit redundant.

On the flipside, there are parts of her characterization that REALLY needed to backed up better, namely her being unburdened by doubt, her being stronger than her vulnerabilities, and her being strong at the core of her being. There’s a saying that I heard somewhere or I just made up that goes like this: “On the side of caution, do something awesome.” Other M takes that caution and remains cautious. If Other M had presented these traits in a more video game style manner where lots of stuff is happening around you and Samus did it in her old, natural way of doing things, I’m sure it’d be received a lot better.

Looking back, here’s what I think Sakamoto got across from best to worst:
Hit
- Sympathetic
- Compassion/Kindness
- Immaturity in her professionalism
- Eagerness to face and overcome challenges
- Flexible Strength
- Power Suit is a two-way vessel

Mixed
- Attractive and Charming
- A woman who’s been fighting her whole life

Weakly
- Cool
- A Strong Woman
- Inner Fortitude

Missed
- Heart of Steel and Purity
- More than the sum of her vulnerabilities
- Unburdened by Doubt

I would say that everything below flexible strength needs to be worked on in some way because those are probably supposed to be the strongest parts of Samus’ characterization. Without focusing on those, a lot of people have been given the impression that Samus is a weak person at heart. Some of these could’ve easily been overcome by adding a little bit of Samus’ Chozo upbringing, which would fill in a gap between her being a child and joining the Galactic Federation, but it would show that she was strong at her core, a person willing to fight. With that, the other strong pieces of her would fall into place. But because the story is paper thin, most of the stronger aspects of her character fell by the waist side in favor of her gentler side, something that really didn’t need to be focused on given previous entries in the series.

Conclusions
Metroid Other M’s characterization of Samus Aran was an interesting one. By deciding to bring everything to the table at once, it took the core ideas behind Samus’ character from previous games and defined them. Some were defined well, some were not, and some resulted in mixed success. It doesn’t mean however that the traits that came out the weakest to the audience are not there. It simply means that they need to be brought out stronger in future installments. Only taking Other M into account for Samus’ characterization would be a bad idea since Other M is not the entire body of work, but instead it is more like her table of contents.

2010 NFL Weekly Picks: Week 8

MIA @ CIN
JAC @ DAL
WAS @ DET
BUF @ KC
CAR @ STL
GB @ NYJ
DEN @ SF (London)
TEN @ SD
TB @ ARZ
MIN @ NE
SEA @ OAK
PIT @ NO
HOU @ IND

World Series of Woes

For the past two seasons baseball fans have been treated to outstanding post-season baseball, each culminating in two great World Series match-ups, one involving the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies, while last year we had those same Phillies defending their Championship against the Yankees. While seeing Philadelphia win against an upstart team was satisfying, the way it was done couldn't have been better.

Because of a rain delay, the final few innings of the eventual final game were delayed for two days. The result was roughly 90 minutes of the most exciting baseball you could ever lay your eyes on. While we still scold Bug Selig for questionable decision to not put the game in a rain delay sooner, he actually gave us something that was something you don't see in baseball: Non-stop excitement. For those final four innings, we were at the edge of our seats and we couldn't turn away.

Last year's series didn't feature much in the way of excitement, but it did feature the Yankees, the team everyone loves to hate. Watching them, whether you want them to win or lose in the World Series is somehow always a treat. It went six games, and ended with the Yankees winning of course, but overall you couldn't help but feel satisfied, and we couldn't wait to see a rematch of this one a year later.

We didn't get our rematch, but it was close. Instead we got the San Francisco Giants, a team using a 3-man rotation for the playoffs as well as a crazy closer against the Texas Rangers, a team that before entering this post-season hadn't won a single playoff series, let alone a Championship. Needless to say ratings for the series so far have been lackluster at best, being way down from last year since it doesn't feature a "marquee" team despite having a very strong pitching lineup, for one team at least.

What we've been treated to so far has been extremely disappointing. In Game 1, the Giants tore apart the formerly invincible Cliff Lee with the addition of a few errors were able to manhandle Texas in Game 1, 8-2. In Game 2, it was the Texas bullpen that folded, issuing at one point 11 straight balls, which allowed at least two runs to be walked in. I stopped watching at that point because it became ugly, but needless to say in ended up being a 9-0 win for the Giants.

Going into the series I didn't have high expectations for it being decent, and so far I can say I'm vindicated. I believe Texas' stage fright may have finally gotten the better of them here, as it looks like they'll be swept unless something is done immediately. It took Texas 50 years to finally reach the World Series since moving there from Washington, but it hopefully won't take them another 50 to get back. I'm sure next time however that they'll put on more of a game than a circus act.

Blog Mission Statement

The purpose of this blog will be to write down my own thoughts on various matters including politics, sports, video games and other daily activities that I participate in.