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.