2011 NFL Picks: Week 17

A long forgotten feature from over a year ago. While it's been a while, I've been meaning to do these for the last couple of weeks. Since I have a severe case of writer's block today, and have for the past two weeks or so, I thought it'd be interesting to do some picks the final week of this NFL Season!

Detroit at Green Bay
- Green Bay wrapped up everything last week, and Detroit is playing for positioning. While the Packers need to heal their wounds a bit, I expect Aaron Rodgers to play at least a quarter to maintain his composure. The Lions will probably win this one going away to build their confidence against the Packers 2nd team for the 5th seed.

San Francisco at St. Louis
- San Francisco is in the driver's seat for the 2nd seed in the NFC, looking for a 1st round bye. A win here over a team that really doesn't want to win and hasn't wanted to win since the early stages of the season makes this an easy pick.

NY Jets at Miami
- The Dolphins are playing tough, but the Jets need a Playoff spot. I expect the Jets Defense to hold back the Miami Defense just enough so the Jets win and hope for a miracle involving Cincinnati, Oakland and/or Denver.

Chicago at Minnesota
- Minnesota lost Adrian Peterson last week, and he'll probably be gone for next season as well. I expect the Bears Defense to be the difference maker here since both teams will have sub-par Quarterbacks starting for them and neither have a running back worthy of merit playing.

Buffalo at New England
- This one's simple: The Patriots want revenge for their late collapse against the Bills earlier this season when they were the bell of the ball. By winning, they'll get the #1 seed in the AFC again. I think the Patriots want this one just a bit more than the Bills.

Carolina at New Orleans
- This one's a toss-up. The Saints want a #2 seed and a bye in the NFC Playoffs, but the 49ers have the inside track and no opponent. It's possible the Saints will play everyone for a half and rest them at half since they'll be scoreboard watching. I still expect them to win though since the Panthers aren't a second half team, except against third stringers like Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.

Washington at Philadelphia
- The Eagles have had a wild ride. A win will clinch a .500 record and the second seed in the NFC East if it's Dallas. They want to finish strong this season to hope they'll be ready for a run next year, although losing would mean facing Carolina, Chicago and Arizona instead of Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle.

Indianapolis at Jacksonville
- The Colts are playing hard for their Quarterback. Jacksonville isn't playing at all. I expect another close game here, but I think the Colts have stepped their game up while the Jaguars have lost 3 or 4 steps since they last met.

Tennessee at Houston
- The Texans are looking for a 1st round bye right now, but they're a game behind Baltimore and Pittsburgh. While it's possible for both of them to lose, it's not likely. Expect the Texans to play light against the Titans since they're looking for a long shot playoff birth involving Oakland, Cincinnati, the Jets, and Denver losing. Yikes.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta
- Tampa Bay hasn't played a game since early October. Atlanta is going to the Playoffs and wants to face either Dallas or the Giants and not New Orleans again. They'll blow out the Buccaneers here.

Baltimore at Cincinnati
- While the Bengals will have a sold out crowd, the Ravens are looking for a first round bye and home field advantage in the Playoffs. The Bengals, with a win, will get the 6 seed in the Playoffs guaranteed, meaning a likely trip to Houston. I expect the Ravens to win though since they like to prove themselves when they are down on their luck.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland
- The Steelers limped to victory against Cleveland earlier, but now the Steelers are looking for that AFC North crown and a win is necessary. I expect it to be close, but I believe the Pittsburgh defense will lead them to victory here.

Kansas City at Denver
- This is a classic 'you took my job, now I'm back for revenge' game. The only problem is that it's Tim Tebow. The Defense for Denver needs to prove themselves in this game since they've been the reason the Broncos have lost the last two weeks. I think they will, and Tebow will do the rest.

San Diego at Oakland
- Last week San Diego looked like a lost team that had given up. While the Raiders are truly a wild card team, i.e. you never know what you'll get, I expect them to make a statement against the Chargers at home in order to get the AFC's final playoff spot over Cincinnati.

Seattle at Arizona
- This is a meaningless game. It means more to Seattle to finish strong than it does for Arizona who looks to draft a good rookie QB in the upcoming draft.

Dallas at NY Giants
- The Giants barely won the first meeting. The Cowboys lost handily last week. Both teams are very inconsistent. However, I think this is Dallas' time to shine. No one believes in them, and Romo has a habit for doing great things while ill/injured. I expect a tiny route here and another Giants late-season collapse.

That's it for this week, so let's see how things turn out.

My Top 10 Games of 2011

Last year it was the Noble Donkey Kong who climbed to the top of my game of the year list with Donkey Kong Country Returns. Since Donkey Kong decided to go to the Banana Buffet this year, a new Game of the Year Winner be crowned. Remember, for this list, the games must have come out in 2011, so while I thoroughly enjoyed Red Dead Redemption, it won't appear on this list. With that in mind, here are my Top 10 Games of 2011!

#10 - Infamous 2 (Playstation 3)
Infamous 2 is more Infamous, and since I loved Infamous I'm content with that. The reason why this game is here instead of say Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Uncharted 3 is simply that this game doesn't disappoint. It stays true to itself outside of a character model swap for the hero. It's good, clean, fun.

#9 - Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo 3DS)
Mario Kart 7 is a good Mario Kart game. It's not a great or amazing one, but good. It's miles above its' predecessor using an anti-Blue Shell ointment for protection, but overall it feels a tad rushed and lacks a significant amount of content. If it had more content, it could've jumped a couple of spots. But for now, I'm content where it is on my list.

#8 - Sonic Generations (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC)
This one's been a long time coming. I think this game still has some major issues, like the final boss fight and some challenges are outright terrible. But for the most part, this game gives me a Mega Man 9 feeling. It feels like I'm playing an honest to goodness, true to form, Sonic the Hedgehog game from the early 90's. Both Modern and Classic Sonic are in top form here. The level design flows really well and the game really challenges me to get better at it. That's why it's here. If it were longer or if some of the problems were fixed, it'd be higher on the list.

#7 - Pokemon White (Nintendo DS)
Pokemon White felt like the end of my Pokemon career. After playing through Pearl, Platinum, Soul Silver, and finally White, 4 consecutive years of Pokemon games had come and gone. It's a quality title, it truly is, almost quietly so. However, it's the first time I really didn't enjoy playing through it. It felt like an obligation to me, and really safe at the same time. I'm sorry Pokemon, but you and I need some time apart. Maybe we can catch them all again in the future, sometime.

#6 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the first Xbox 360 game I bought. I knew a Game of the Year Edition was coming, so I decided to rent it instead. But after playing it over 20 hours across 4 days I caved and bought it. The cries of game-breaking bugs did wade me off of it, however. It's a shame since it's a great game. However, it still has some of the major problems its' predecessor had: Bad voice acting, unsatisfying combat, and bugs that take me out of the game. It's a shame since the game is so good at wanting me to keep playing it on almost every other count.

#5 - Batman: Arkham City (Playstation 3/Xbox 360/PC)
I love Arkham Asylum. I was excited for Arkham City, and while it's a great game, it's pretty disappointing overall. The combat is much improved over the last game, but almost everything else took a hit, from the bland environment of Arkham City to the weak story to the Predator Challenges which are now borderline insane. The only other improvement were the boss fights which went from terrible to okay. It should've been higher on this list, but it can't.

#4 - Pushmo (Nintendo 3DS)
What's a Pushmo? You push it, you pull it, you climb it. This is not sounding all that safe for work to be honest... Pushmo has a lot of content for what you pay for, and while some of the puzzles are devious, the game builds you up perfectly so you understand everything about your world. In addition, you can create and import new Pushmo via QR codes. It's an addictive little game that is far and above the best game on Nintendo's eShop.

#3 - Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360)
I personally don't think the story of Gears of War 3 was all that great. Also, the ending was a bit of a pain on the higher difficulties. However, it doesn't mean the rest of the game wasn't awesome. While the multiplayer is a bit grind heavy to get certain achievements, medals and ribbons, when you get in there, it is truly a master of its' environment. Cooperative Play has never been better than it is in Gears of War 3, and the reason why it's so high on this list.

#2 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo Wii)
Skyward Sword sets the stage for the rest of the Zelda universe. It opens up quietly and expands from there. While combat took a bit longer than I'd like to full understand it, it was nice to have a 3D Zelda game where I knew I could actually die. While the game felt antiquated in a lot of places, the newness and freshness it exerted were awesome. The level and boss designs were amazing and I really hope some of the kinks are fixed/removed from the next one so it can be my game of the year next time, but for now, it belongs to one.

#1 - Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo 3DS)
In light of all of the gloom and doom surrounding the 3DS, fears of damaging eyes, the system being a lost cause and selling a lot of units during the holidays, Mario once again has proven himself to be King of Video Games with his first entry on Nintendo's Newest Handheld. A game that defines the system, builds itself around the use of 3D into a blend of joy and quality design, Super Mario 3D Land is the best game in 2011 for the fact that it reminds me of what a video game should be.

Raising the Limit Yet Again

Today President Barack Obama has once again asked for the debt limit to be raised, this time by $1.2 trillion. The last time the debt ceiling was raised, it was by $2.1 trillion and supposed to be through 2013. Now excuse me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean the Government has spent more than the originally planned? I, for one am quite shocked about this development as I am sure it has never happened in our country's history before now.

Oh wait...

It has happened before, quite a bit actually. It's just another one of those broken promises politicians always run on to try and get more votes, even the ones that break those promises in the first place. I'm not saying everyone involved in politics does this, but when it comes to important things like spending more money that should be spent or money being allocated for something is spent quicker than anticipated, it happens on a yearly basis.

I can't say I like the practice, but the problem is no one really steps up to the plate and challenges them on this. It's like a get out of jail free card because voters expect Government to spend more than they always say they do. Whenever someone says 'we need to spend less' they're always countered with 'you don't care about our future' or something along those lines. My question to them is this: "If you care about our future, why not care about the now?" Politicians today are on a 1-year cycle; 1 year of spending money in Washington, 1 year of spending money on campaigns, and repeat.

People decry that we need change in Washington. That's what they wanted 3 years ago when they voted Barack Obama as our President. I don't think, however, that this is change. At the very least, it's gotten worse, and not just since Obama became President. At some point, money changing hands, the 1-year cycles, etc. all becomes too much. A course reversal at some point is going to be needed for good change to happen. Hopefully it will be done under-budget.

Scheduling Conflict

The NBA's shortened, but tougher on players regular season began yesterday with five games on Christmas day. While the NBA got three great games out of it, one turned into a massacre while the other was just uninteresting. While I'm sure some teams aren't going to be up for playing all 66 games this season due to the strenuous schedule, you can only hope they'll be more prepared for the games ahead.

Due to the fact that the NBA likes money, and that they don't want to delay the Playoffs, or can't for contractual reasons, some teams will have harsh playing conditions. Some teams will end up playing 9 games in 12 days in an almost cartoon-like situation that reeks somewhat of greed and ill-will towards the players by the owners. I'm not against the NBA trying to make up as many games as possible, but when you do it by decreasing the quality of play in these situations, you're going to cost yourself more money in the future by doing so. An example: A family of four buys tickets to a Miami Heat v. Golden State Warriors game. Because the Heat were playing their fifth game in eight days, their big players, Wade, James and Bosh took the night off to recover from exhaustion. Because that family of four didn't get to see those three play, they'll decide going to sporting events is a waste of time since they're not guaranteed to see the players they wanted to see.

You might say it's a bad argument, but people don't go to sporting events for those reasons. People lose trust in a product for a multitude of reasons, and not being able to see superstars when you pay to see them is one of them. The NBA's schedule is a brutal one for most teams, and it still would've been tough if six more games were cut off of the season's length. However, you'd at least avoid situations where a schedule harms the quality of your product.

Christmas Break

Until Monday, December 26th, the blog will be on hiatus for the Christmas Holiday. I love Christmas, and it's my favorite Holiday every year. Considering tomorrow is chock full of NFL goodness, I can barely contain my excitement for the next day, Christmas itself! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do, even if you celebrate another holiday during this time. They only come once a year and it really brightens up my spirit for many months to come. I hope it does the same for you.

Merry Christmas!

Game Review: Mario Kart 7

I've been a fan of the Mario Kart franchise since the original Super Mario Kart was released on the Super Nintendo back in 1992. Until now, there's never been a numbered Mario Kart, and there's always been a plethora of imitators to try and steal its' thunder. None of those games garnered the success that Mario Kart has, even the few that have been considered better games. Mario Kart Wii, the last game in the series, was a tipping point for me. I found it to be frustrating and more often than not broken since it didn't balance the game for the additional 4 drivers per race the game championed as a feature. So is Mario Kart 7 a better game than Mario Kart Wii? Or for that matter, is it the best Mario Kart game?

Overall, I'd say Mario Kart 7 is a decent, but shallow package. It's something I'd call unoffensive at best, uninspired at worst. Once again, the game features 32 tracks, 16 old and new. There are 8 Grand Prix's with 4 races each across 4 difficulty levels, which again are staples to the franchise. You also have your staple tropes like Red Shells, Green Shells, and of course the bane of any Mario Kart player's existence, the Blue Shell. Mario Kart 7 removes the additional 4 players Mario Kart Wii provided, and while the game is indeed more balanced, fun and playable because of it, it feels like a cheap trick into making me think it's more fun than it really is. The item balance is still the same as it was in Mario Kart Wii, but it's just with less competition.

The game offers two new mechanics this time around to lighten up the mood: Underwater Driving and Gliding. Both of these are interesting mechanics, but I don't feel like they're used to their full potential. Gliding is mainly used for going across gaps and isn't really used for shortcuts like you think it should while underwater driving feels like a means for padding track length. When you look at the full map for some of these tracks, you'll see that they're really pretty short in comparison to something like Maka Wuhu, which is a checkpoint-based track consisting of one lap. This is a type of race that is new to the series that I enjoy thoroughly that I expect more of in the future.

The online of Mario Kart 7 is something of a mixed bag. A bit of it feels revolutionary while some of it feels like a step back. For starters, you can create Communities to play with your friends, but at the same time you have to set up specific item, speed and game type rules. There's no freedom there except to set up a new community with a new set of rules. It feels like a good first step, but poorly thought out for the rest of it. In addition to this, while racing in Mario Kart 7 is excellent, Battle Mode is just terrible, leaving me to wonder if they intended for anyone to actually play it more than once.

Mario Kart 7 is a step up from Mario Kart Wii. However, a step up from the worst game in the series isn't much of a compliment in my personal opinion. It's a fun ride, but once you're done, you'll feel pretty sour on the experience.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Positives

New Mechanics

Communities

Racing Online

Negatives

Feels rushed

Implementation of Communities

Battle Mode

Lights Out

You don't hear the phrase "Power Outage" very often when it comes to sporting events. They've become more prevalent over the years with Major League Baseball, but last night is the first time I remember there being one for Monday Night Football. An aerial view of Candlestick Park showed a flash of blue light and an explosion happening right as the lights went out. Another view from inside the Stadium made it look like a bolt of lightning hit right outside the stadium. While it only resulted in a 20 minute delay for the start of the game, the interesting part is that it happened again in the second quarter.

Another 20 minute delay or so was the last one we'd see of a night that belonged to the 49ers. While the game was not spectacular, it won't be remembered for that. It'll be remembered as a sign that the 49ers are in desperate need of a new stadium, something ESPN brought up during their telecast multiple times. While it will be at least three years until they get one, I think it's a shame ESPN has to lobby for them, even though it was just as embarrassing to them as it was San Francisco.

Imperfection

Two NFL teams dashed hopes for perfection yesterday. One ruined the perfection of glory. The other ruined the perfection of shame. What two teams are these? First, the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that six days prior fired their head coach after an embarrassing loss to the New York Jets. They dashed the hopes of the Green Bay Packers and ruined their perfect season with a 19-14 victory at home to stay in the AFC West chase.

While I find it odd that the Chiefs fired Todd Haley while they were still in the Playoff Hunt I find it more odd that the Chiefs continue to play after being given the proverbial 'your season is done' kiss of death. It's definitely a long shot for the Chiefs to make the Post-Season, which requires them to win out, Denver to lose out, Oakland and San Diego to only win a single game for them to make it via tiebreakers. Kansas City can make sure Oakland and Denver lose once each, but after that it's up to Denver to lose to Buffalo and for San Diego to lose to either Detroit or Oakland. While the AFC isn't the pinnacle of the league, it's definitely turned out to be a tight race. It's a shame that it could end at any moment, just like the winless season of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts have had a terrible season and there's no way to say otherwise. They lost Peyton Manning for the entire season early on and lost their first 13 games going into Sunday like the Packers won their first 13 games. They've been blown out, they've lost close, lost leads late, and more often than not had their effort called into question given the likelihood they'd be drafting Andrew Luck first overall in the next NFL Entry Draft. Enter the Tennessee Titans, a team that just lost out on claiming the Colts' AFC South Crown for the second time in the past half decade, still looking for a Playoff berth. The Titans took a small lead into halftime, but didn't come out of the locker room for the second half as the Colts outscored them 24-7 to take their first victory of the season. For the Titans, it's demoralizing loss that will probably cost them a shot at the post-season. For the Colts, it was their Super Bowl.

The Colts have nothing to play for now. The Chiefs on the other hand do. While both teams ruined "perfection" on Sunday, no one will remember 12 months from now what they did. They say nobody's perfect, but for one Sunday, perfection was needed to deny these teams.

SOPA and You

SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act of 2011 is, without a doubt, the worst bill to come across the US Congress in a very long time. In short, anyone or thing could call the Justice Department and have a website de-listed from the internet at a drop of a hat, regardless of whether not they own an IP that is having its' rights infringed upon.

In reality, it means that the internet is going to become a very scary place for a lot of people very quickly. Some people make their living because of the internet. They make videos for entertainment, write on blogs for news, and share their creations with the rest of the world for easy access. This bill is basically going to stop that going forward, almost immediately.

I'm talking about legitimate pirates here, people that make money off of legitimate IP and/or host pirated material. Those people deserve no remorse or respect for the work they've done. I'm saying this bill basically stops people, good working people, from making a living through their own talents in which they couldn't have done before the internet.

So I urge you call you representative and tell them to vote against this bill. It's a large, sweeping, vague bill that is dangerous to the internet as you know it. While piracy is a dangerous thing, doing something like this isn't the way the handle things. Large bills are, and will always be abused by people who don't have the authority to do so. So please, call your representative and tell them to vote "NO" on this. It's the right thing to do.

The Final Batch of 3DS Ambassador Games

Nintendo finally found the time out of their cold, dark schedules to release the 10 Game Boy Advance games to 3DS Ambassadors over the past two days on unsuspecting gamers. I must say that I haven't played the overwhelming majority of these games, so it's nice to have something new to play on my system, despite those games being pretty old. In the season of giving, I've decided to share my thoughts thus far on 8 of those 10 games. Don't worry, I'll talk about why I haven't played the other two.

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
I'm not a particularly big fan of F-Zero. I've also heard that this incarnation isn't that great, so I've put off playing this one for now. Hopefully I'll get back to it sooner rather than later.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
While I love Mario Kart, this is one I've always missed out on. I've never heard particularly good things about it, and after playing 2 Grand Prix's of it, I can safely say it's the worst Mario Kart on paper. While not as frustrating as Mario Kart Wii, the game is just boring, and the controls are pretty off. Therefore it's not high on my list to continue playing it.

Wario Land 4
I was always a big fan of the first Wario Land game, but I never played sequential releases of it for some reason. While my re-introduction to the series has started a bit slow, I'll continue forward since I know it'll be good later on.

Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
I think the Super Nintendo version of this game is technically the superior product, but since I don't have a functioning SNES, this one is passable. Yoshi's Island is still a very fun romp of a game that no one has really tried to emulate for some reason, but it is a joy to play.

Metroid Fusion
I'm a big Metroid fan, and while Fusion isn't something I love, I decided to see the opening and save. I'll get back to it later since I want to focus on other games I haven't played out of this batch of games.

Wario Ware: Mega Microgames
This game has always been at the top of my list since these games have always intrigued me. While it is a bunch of mini-games, they're very short and enjoyable. I plan on doing all of the mini-games until I beat it, but since each section only takes about 3 minutes, I'm guessing it won't take me more than 2 hours to beat everything.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Kirby games are a mystery to me. I liked the first one on Game Boy, and then I never played another one, like the Wario Land games. I played some of the other ones on Wii, but the only one I liked was Kirby's Adventure. When I started playing Amazing Mirror that question of 'why am I playing this?' creeped into my head until I shut it off. Sorry Kirby, you're just not for me.

Mario vs Donkey Kong
I loved March of the Minis on DS, but I knew going in that this was vastly different from that concept. What I didn't realize though was how close it was to Donkey Kong '94 on the original Game Boy, a game that I really should get back to finishing at some point. It's something I plan on completing, despite only being done with World 1 of.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
I haven't played this one, so I can't comment on it. While I liked what I played of Radiant Dawn, and I liked what I played of Shadow Dragon, it will probably take a lot for me to get into the Fire Emblem series.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
This is my favorite GBA game of all time. I started the game and played through the intro, but I'll get back to it later. I've had my fill of Zelda this year with Ocarina of Time, the original Zelda, Adventure of Link, Link's Awakening DX, Four Swords Anniversary and Skyward Sword. It's time I gave Zelda a break, she's been through a lot this year.

Alright, so those are my thoughts thus far on the 10 Game Boy Advance Ambassador games. Some I enjoy, others not so much. I appreciate what Nintendo did for early 3DS adopters, since they really didn't have to do anything for them. I enjoy my 3DS, and carry it around with me everyday. These games, in addition to the 10 NES games they released in September are great gifts, and motivated me to keep my 3DS at my side almost the entire time.

No Euro To Go?

The Euro is a relatively infant currency, created roughly a decade ago to unite all of Europe under a go-to currency for all European countries in case you were visiting another. While the Euro maintained success for most of its' life, the days of the Euro do not look bright going forward. Why is this?

For one, while the Euro is a united currency, the political powers at be are not united. In essence, they wanted they wanted the shared wealth of the United States of America while maintaining the separation of powers between them. This worked in the past since all countries were, by and large, not in a state of fiscal crisis. The World Economic Crisis continues on, and Europe is at the forefront of it now, like the United States was when it started. Unlike the United States however, Europe wanted to keep control for themselves. So, while everyone wanted to reap the benefits of the Euro, no one wanted to own up to the responsibility for cleaning it up, if that ever occurred.

Germany is currently the only country in the EU that has the money to help out the rest of Europe now, Greece included, the ones who are really bringing the whole thing down. Germany won't be able to maintain it forever, and some point will say "nein" to yet another bailout request. When that happens, no one will be left to bail them out, since everyone left the check at the table.

No Article Today

There won't be a written article for now at least since I ultimately can't think of anything to write about. If I can clear my mind and focus on what to write about later on, I'll do so. But for now, this is just one of those days where I ultimately can't think of anything to write about.

A Penguin's Headache

Truth be told I'm not a big fan of Sidney Crosby or the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, they're one of only two sports franchises that I legitimately hate, the other being the Dallas Cowboys. Crosby got his first concussion on January 1, 2011 against the Washington Capitals on New Year's Day. 48 hours afterwards, he was back on the ice again where he suffered yet another concussion. After that, he was on IR for the last 10 months.

When he came back, he came back in style, looking as if he hadn't lost a step. However, against the Boston Bruins a week ago, we sustained a blow to the head that has once again left him out indefinitely, this time leading many to wonder if the NHL's Golden Boy will ever return. First I'd like to ask a question: Why was Pittsburgh's Head Coach given the coach of the year award last year? Despite making the Playoffs with a shorthanded roster, he's ultimately the one responsible for putting Crosby on the disabled list. It was the by far the worst coaching decision any coach made over the last 12 months. While most people don't blame the Penguins coach for Crosby's headache, they probably should.

Tebowmania

Tim Tebow has done it again. After last week's heroism against the Vikings, Tebow seemingly willed his team to yet another miracle win at home against the Chicago Bears, winning in Overtime 13-10.

The script, while different in circumstances, seemed oddly familiar. Down 10 late to the Bears, Tebow led the Broncos down the field for a late touchdown to put them down three with less than two minutes to play. After an onside kick that they almost recovered, the Broncos forced the Bears to punt after Marion Barber stepped out of bounds, leaving Tebow and crew with 56 seconds left to play. Since neither team had a timeout left at that point, if Barber went down instead of trying to get a couple of extra yards, while they would've had to punt, would've left the Broncos with much less time on the clock.

Tebow put his team in field goal range, allowing Prater, the Broncos kicker to tie the game with :02 remaining on a 59-yard field goal. The crowd had seen Tebow work his magic before, three weeks prior against the Jets, when people started taking Tebow seriously in his 4th quarter magic. In overtime, the Bears got the ball first, and drove down into field goal territory rather quickly. Then on a run up the middle, Marion Barber once again gave Tebow another chance at a miracle, by fumbling the ball, which Denver recovered.

After a few plays, Prater kicked a 51-yard field goal to give Broncos their 6th win in a row, 7 of their previous 8, all with Tebow under Center. With the exception of a 14 point win over Oakland, all of their wins in this stretch have been by 7 points or less, 3 of which happened coming in Overtime. While I'm not a numbers guy, these numbers do get people excited since the games are close and Tebow is a fun Quarterback to watch. When games are close, Tebow and the Broncos step up and make plays, shinning when the game is on the line, something good teams thrive at.

Tim Tebow, whether he deserves all of the credit or not, isn't what's important here. What's important here is that people are flocking to Tebow over these situations. Whether it's to mock his religious nature, to watch him thrive, fail, etc. Tim Tebow has become a media darling in a few weeks time due to the way the Broncos are winning games. Tebow has won games with his arm, his legs and with the help of everyone around him. This is a phenomena. The way the Broncos are winning shouldn't be happening, but they are. Will it end in a Super Bowl? I don't think it will, but it's certainly fun to watch, at least for this season.

Changing Things Up

I've decided that I'll start writing more often here. Because of this, at least early on, the quality of the writing will most likely suffer a bit and be shorter as well. I'll also be talking about sports more, since the NFL, NHL and NBA are going to be in full swing very soon. While I consider to be an expert of the NFL, I feel I am confident enough in my writing in regards to the NHL. For the NBA, while I know some fundamentals, I'm not what anyone would consider to be an expert.

Sports, by and large, are the same for me. While they're inherently different, I can still gauge if games can go certain ways or not and see where it changes. Statistics are superficial at best to me, as a superstar can only do so much to make their team a winner. They're only as good as their weakest link, and by and large, even the strongest teams have a gigantic target on their back that others can exploit to make the game theirs. To me, sports are about flow and momentum instead of hard numbers. While some say numbers don't lie, I say the opposite since statistics can say anything you want them to say in order to make an argument that is, by and large coincidental. So while I may not delve into a lot of stats, I'm hopeful you'll be able to see the game through my eyes when I do write about them.

Pujols Ascending

Albert Pujols, the most dominant baseball player of the past decade has left the St. Louis Cardinals for greener pastures with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for $254 million over 10 years. Pujols helped the Cardinals win 2 World Series in his tenure there, becoming one of the most feared players in recent memory. Pujols now looks to add to his already impressive numbers, 445 Home Runs, .328 batting average and 1300 RBI's; with the possibility of him becoming a designated hitter over the next 2-3 seasons, he can do so with minimal wear and tear on his body.

The impact of Pujols leaving St. Louis will be felt immediately, leaving the Cardinals with the task of filling the hole at 1st base, the position Pujols played, with a competent bat to be able to compete again for the World Series. With a newly incoming manager, the Cardinals will more than likely fill the position with a glove since a bat is not really available at the current time, and hope for a better bat next off-season.

The Angels on the other hand, who finished finished 10 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West last year, took away pitcher C.J. Wilson from them, strengthening a rotation that will undoubtedly make them the odds on favorite to win the division, and go onto the World Series.

The NHL's Radical Realignment

Earlier this week the NHL Governors approved a makeover for the League's Conferences. This was brought about, by and large because the Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg Jets over the off-season. Instead of two conferences housing three divisions each, starting next season there will be four conferences, two housing eight team while two house seven. While the Conferences don't have names yet, one has teams across the western part of North America, one is across Central North America, while the other two consist of Atlantic Teams and Northeast Southeast Teams.

The only surprising change appears to be that Tampa Bay and Florida will be with teams in the Northeast instead of being with Washington, Carolina and perhaps even Nashville who will be in the Atlantic, Atlantic and Central conferences, respectively. They're really the only teams left out in the cold with Atlanta becoming Winnipeg since they're not close to any potential Conference rivals. The only rationale I have for this realignment is a potential expansion for the league soon down the line, potentially trying again with Atlanta and maybe expanding to Oklahoma City.

What's not up for debate is the new Playoffs Format, which will by and large stay the same. Each "Conference" will have four Playoff teams instead of eight since there are twice as many Conferences now, for the normal amount of 16. Once each Conference Champion is crowned the final two rounds will be 1 v. 4 and 2 v. 3 and then the inevitable Stanley Cup Finals. It sounds more complicated than it actually is, but making it look like they're changing the formula when they're not will be a clever marketing tool for them. Not only that, it will probably allow for more Washington v. Pittsburgh Playoff Matchups in the near future.

Making "Me" Happy

Whenever I'm asked 'what makes you happy?' it always seems to involve another person. I'm someone who always seems to put others needs above my own, regardless of my happiness. Even when I ask myself now 'what makes me happy?' I always picture someone else in my head before me. I don't get it. I'm sure someone else out like is like me and can tell me these things and what I should do, but at this point, I'm just lost.

There are no Immortals

Yesterday it was announced that Al Davis had passed away. The long time Raiders owner, while controversial and often eccentric, gave passion to the sport and organization he loved. While many look on in disbelief, mostly due to the perception that Davis looked older than time itself, we have to realize that no one in this world is immortal. Our time will come. We cannot, under any circumstances escape our inevitable fate that binds us together as a world.

Steve Jobs said death was the best part of life, as it was the ultimate destiny of us all. He asked us to stay hungry and foolish as we pursue our life-long goals to make us happy and fulfilled with everyday day life. Al Davis, while he didn't look the part, excelled at life. In football he was a giant, a towering figure that excelled at utilizing talent to its' greatest extent. He used his gifts well, and so should we as we try to reach whatever goal we want.

NFL '11: Surprises Thus Far

The 2011 NFL Season is just about a quarter of the way finished, a fifth of the way if you want to count the Playoffs. With that in mind, it's time to take a look at the surprising starts thus far, both good and bad, in addition to how those teams will fair in the Season ahead.

Buffalo Bills (3-1)
I think this surprise will come as no surprise to anyone so far. While they lost yesterday, they've been impressive thus far. They came back against Oakland and New England while dominating Kansas City in week 1. Looking ahead though, their season looks bleak with 2 games against the Jets as well as a rematch with the Patriots in New England. While a Playoff Spot isn't assured, a .500 record is since they have 2 more games with Miami. It'd be a great season for Buffalo relatively if that happened. But look for them to be great in seasons to come if they don't go to the playoffs this season.

Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2)
Coming into the Season, the Steelers were once again favorites among some to win the Super Bowl. To their surprise in Week 1, Baltimore cleaned their clocks, forcing them to win 2 games in a row against poor teams before getting demolished by Houston yesterday, despite the score being so close. Looking ahead, their schedule is favorable, and as long Roethlisberger stays healthy, the team still looks like a Playoff team. They just may not make it there because of the fierce competition the AFC East is currently giving them. Not to mention the rest of the AFC North is either 3-1 or 2-2.

Philadelphia Eagles (1-3)
Coming into the season 8 out of 10 people thought this team was the heavy favorite. With a lot of weight on their shoulders, along with a poor offensive line the Eagles have started rather slow. While the losses to Atlanta (lost lead in the 4th after Vick went out) and the Giants (revenge for last year's games) weren't entirely out of the realm of possibility, the loss to San Francisco yesterday was. They had a lot of pressure on their shoulders this season, and like the Miami Heat early last season, couldn't handle it. It's unknown at this point if they will pull through, but a 10 win season would require a 9-3 finish at this point, so unless they can win 2 of their next 3 games to get things going, it looks like the Dream Team will falter.

Detroit Lions (4-0)
The Lions ended last season with 4 straight wins. They won all 4 pre-season games, and are now 4-0. That's 12 straight games. The last two they've won have been by large comebacks, caused more by the other teams ineptitude than skill. Right now, they remind me of the 2009 New Orleans Saints, which had a great offense and an opportunistic defense that allowed them to win games they had no business of winning. While the '11 Lions have a better Defense, their schedule going forward is going to be a bit tougher than the Saints had two seasons ago. They face the Packers twice, including at Home on Thanksgiving, the Bears twice, the Chargers and Saints. While they are almost assured a Playoff spot barring injury to Stafford, it'll be interesting to see just how far they take it.

NFL Predictions - 2011-12

It's that time again where Football season is about to start and predictions are flying everywhere. So it is time I take a crack at it again like I do every year. Now these will be short and sweet with no records, but it's just an overview of things to come this season!

NFC East
1 - Dallas
2 - Philadelphia
3 - Washington
4 - NY Giants

NFC North
1 - Green Bay
2 - Detroit
3 - Chicago
4 - Minnesota

NFC South
1 - New Orleans
2 - Tampa Bay
3 - Atlanta
4 - Carolina

NFC West
1 - St. Louis
2 - San Francisco
3 - Arizona
4 - Seattle


AFC East
1 - New England
2 - NY Jets
3 - Miami
4 - Buffalo

AFC North
1 - Pittsburgh
2 - Baltimore
3 - Cleveland
4 - Cincinnati

AFC South
1 - Houston
2 - Indianapolis
3 - Jacksonville
4 - Tennessee

AFC West
1 - San Diego
2 - Oakland
3 - Kansas City
4 - Denver


NFC Playoffs
1 - Green Bay
2 - New Orleans
3 - Dallas - vs. - 6 - Detroit
4 - St. Louis - vs. - 5 - Philadelphia

NFC Champions: Dallas Cowboys


AFC Playoffs
1 - Pittsburgh
2 - New England
3 - San Diego - vs. - 6 - NY Jets
4 - Houston - vs. - 5 - Baltimore

AFC Champions: New England Patriots


Super Bowl Champions: New England Patriots

Nintendo Video Review

Nintendo Video is Nintendo's newest 3DS app that allows you to download videos and trailers to watch in 2D/3D. After managing to download it and watch a couple of trailers on it, I can say that the app is very disappointing.

The Captain America trailer, the first thing that I decided to watch, was in 3D. The problem lies in that the actual video didn't stretch to the borders of the screen in any direction, leaving the entire video bordered. This leaves the video feeling cramped and very hard to tell that an actual 3D effect actually exists. It's possible that Nintendo will improve this in the future, but it's doubtful.

The other videos, while possessing full-screen capabilities, left the quality very poor and nearly unwatchable. In short, there are better ways to watch videos on the go. While Nintendo 3DS may offer 3D videos without glasses on the go, it's hard to recommend it for any other fact that it's free.

Ms. Splosion Man Review

Two years after the critically acclaimed Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel has come out with Ms. Splosion Man, a sequel to the original using an homage to Ms. Pac-Man. The gameplay remains the same: Press a button to "Splode," you can do so 3 times before you can't splode anymore, going up walls, hitting barrels, etc. It's the same game as Splosion Man for the most part with a side of feminine humor. For the asking price, the content is there to make the 800 point asking price valid.

However, Ms. Splosion Man is more complicated than its' predecessor, equating to a much harder, albeit longer game. The difficulty curve for Ms. Splosion Man is also very weird, as it's broken into 3 worlds, each world tends to get harder and harder, and when you beat a world the difficulty kind of backs off before ramping up again instead of a constant upward trend in aggravation.

Like Splosion Man, MSM has 2 campaigns, one single player, one multiplayer. However, getting into a game online is a sadistic chore, as you'll get into games, you'll have to wait 10-15 minutes for levels to finish before you can play, sometimes longer. And you won't be playing from the start, but instead from where the host is at, so it's best to only play with friends if you can help it.

Ms. Splosion Man is a nice package overall, but it comes with a few caveats that make it very hard to recommend over the original.

Score: 3 out of 5

Death of the Big Black Box

2 Days ago at approximately 9:14pm EDT I went to turn on my Playstation 3. It didn't turn on. For the past 4 years, my 60gb Playstation 3 has been good to me, harboring some of my favorite games this generation, like Burnout Paradise and Uncharted 2. But alas, it's time has passed, and will be sent along to Sony for repairs and to get my Just Cause 2 game disc back.

While the 2 weeks will be somewhat painful, I will be sent a PS3 Slim as a replacement because it was the cheaper alternative. While PS2 Backwards Compatability was a key feature for the PS3, it isn't anymore. I still have my PS2, and while I want to play some games, I haven't had the time to do so in a long time. Hopefully Sony will get that working again on PS4, but for now I can wait.

Transformers 3

I decided to go see this film yesterday even though going in I'd know I'd hate it. From the background that I couldn't stand more than 15 minutes of the last Transformers movie, the fact that I was able to stay conscious for all 2 hours and 40 minutes of this has been deemed a miracle by all accounts.

Let me start off with the positive news. The last hour was a constant stream of robot action with very little dialog. Optimus Prime was extremely badass for the three minutes he did anything and it had some really nice CG graphics.

Now for the negatives: The first hour and forty minutes. That's really all that needs to be said, and for that, it's not really worth torturing yourself over for the last hour.

Labor Un-Deals

The NFL and NBA are currently in crunch mode hoping to save their upcoming seasons. While the NFL looks to at least have a grasp on the situation, the NBA does not. It's not to say the NBA isn't full of smart people, but they just haven't made smart decisions.

There are currently a lot of teams not making money due to salary cap rules, notably the New Orleans Hornets (owned by the Association), the Charlotte Bobcats (the worst team in the league and owned by Michael Jordan). New Orleans isn't a bad team, but bad ownership took them from Charlotte to New Orleans under protest about a new arena in Charlotte, which the Bobcats got after the Hornets left. Now, the Bobcats have sold away all of their best talent for draft picks and unnamed players for the sake of saving a few bucks. The fans don't like the Bobcats. Why is that you ask?

A - The City Government approved tax money and land for the building of the Arena against the referendum was voted down by the tax payers.
B - Charlotte likes a winner, and the Bobcats have proven themselves to not be one
C - Charlotte loved the Hornets, and their absence left a hole in the hearts of fans
D - The Bobcats don't advertise at all

These four things have caused a maelstrom of problems for the team. It has caused them to be uninterested due to the Government's involvement, they stink, they're not the Hornets, and most importantly, most people don't even know they exist due to no local marketing campaign in either newspapers, radio, or television. It should be no wonder to anyone why the team doesn't have any support.

In addition, the selling off of the team's best players year in and year out only adds to the mantra that the team isn't a winner and never will be, the Los Angeles Clippers of the Eastern Conference if you will. While Michael Jordan was the best player in basketball history, he's most certainly one of the worst owners. Right now, it'd be better if he got back on the court instead of staying off.

Rise of the Natinals

The Washington Nationals have won 13 of their last 14, and have climbed out of the NL East basement into third, they are above .500 this late in the season for the first time since 2005 (their inaugural season) and are only 3.5 games out of the NL Wild Card. So why is it that Jim Riggleman resigned? Well, if reports are true, it's because of a contract dispute, one Riggleman didn't appreciate given all he's done for the team.

While I can agree that he's done really well for the team so far, quitting while riding a hot streak only hurts himself. If he toughed it out for the rest of the season and got fired, maybe after leading the club close to a .500 record or better, he would've easily landed a job somewhere else. However, quitting in the middle of the season makes him look weak and petty, even though the Nationals probably owed it to themselves to pick up his option. In addition, it will most likely hurt the Nationals in both the short and long term because of the lack of consistency at the managerial position. So in that regard he's really hurt everyone involved in the situation, and it won't help his career either.

While the Nationals look to old-time manager Davey Johnson to carry them through this season, one will always wonder what could have been with Riggleman? With Strasburg coming back next season as well as Bryce Harper likely being called up, it looks as if the Nationals might be on the cusp of a Playoff Run. Only time will tell, but it definitely won't be any thanks to Riggleman if and when it does.

New Toys Distract Me

Yesterday I purchased a new toy, and it just so happens that I am attached at the hip with this new toy. While the word toy may sound a bit childish to you, saying consumer electronic device would probably confuse you more often than not. Yesterday after some saving I finally purchased a Black Nintendo 3DS from my local gaming emporium. All I can say is that after playing stuff like AR Games, Face Raiders, the Mii Plaza (Face Mii and Mii Puzzle), the free Pokedex 3D, and free (as of now) Excitebike I can say that I really enjoy it.

First and foremost are my concerns/complaints. I'm currently afraid to turn it off due to SpotPass, as turning on my system to find my software be lit up with Blue Dots (meaning new software) brings a smile to my face. It's a really interesting feature that's new to systems out there, but I'm sure it's on PC with patch logs and the like. The 3DS wants me to put the game back in to find out what my new prize is, and to be honest, it's working. So far it's kind of a pain in terms of lighting as well as battery life as I never seem to have enough light to use the AR cards, but that's more of a me problem. Finally, I wish the screen was a smidge bigger, but not as big as DSiXL, however this sits in my pocket nicely instead of bulging out.

In terms of the software I've used, even though piece-meal has been quite entertaining. The Mii Maker is entertaining, the AR games seem well put together, and the 3D effect works well enough as to not blind me. I've only played one real game so far and that's Dead or Alive Dimensions, which I really like despite hearing not much is new. As for the aforementioned Spot Pass, while it took me a while to figure it out, it works fine as constantly gives me new things to look forward to. It seems Nintendo finally got Wii Connect 24 to work.

So overall I'm pleased with the Product so far, and I can't wait for new stuff to come out for it. While a price drop may entice others to buy it quicker, I assure you it will be a worthy purchase.

Political Futures

More polls are coming out this week showing resentment towards the Obama administration. This is due to a number of things, but as John Carville once said 'it's the economy, stupid.' And he's right for the most part. If the economy is doing well and there isn't a war going on, the Presidency is always decided by the economy. Right now, the United States is in a tough economic climate with higher prices on goods, a devalued dollar and high unemployment numbers.

If Obama wants to win re-election in 2012, he needs to hope for an economic miracle or that the Republicans put up a terrible candidate, or that candidate has a falling out with the public through some scandal. While Obama did get Bin Laden, most Americans have already forgotten that he did, and while he may remind them of that fact next fall, it will do little to affect the way they vote for President. Why? Because that's old news. If Obama waited until next October to do something like that, it would've been a slam dunk, no contest victory for him. But with a year and a half gap between the two, there's no way it will help him in the foreseen climate.

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

When it was announced that Arcade Edition would be coming as a DLC add-on for Super Street Fighter IV I immediately set aside the $20 to buy a points card for the 1200 point add-on. When I finally sat down to play my favorite fighting game of the generation again I was met with a patch that completely ruined the experience for me.

Arcade Edition adds a lot of new features to the core game: 4 new characters along with Endings for Arcade Mode. In addition, it adds some more Online Features such as more Replay Modes, the ability to follow players, and the ability to play in lobbies specifically made for Arcade Edition, as well as Super. The Arcade Edition Mode changes some of the characters as well, otherwise known as a balancing. Overall, it seems like a worthy pickup for the price. However, it's what those changes do that really send me over the edge on this one.

What Arcade Edition effectively does is break the game in favor of god characters, aka Yun and Yang. While it makes for some great buffs for Makoto, Fei Long and Hakan, it effectively neuters other characters like Guile, Ryu and Chun-Li. Unnecessarily so as well, since Super was already pretty well balanced. Taking Fei Long and Makoto from bottom tier to Upper Tier is a big stretch in my opinion, as it really just makes the game unbalanced and unfun. For offline players hoping for some achievements, they've effectively made Arcade Mode for this Edition a lot tougher, meaning spamming isn't as effective, and trying to get Evil Ryu and Oni on the highest difficulty a chore, even with Zangief, who is now almost useless against Seth, who by the way, you have to finish with a Super and/or Ultra in order to face either of them in addition to prerequisites. So if you're looking for achievements, Arcade Edition is a no go.

For the competitive Street Fighter player you really have no choice but to buy this add-on, and for that this review isn't for you since you already know how severe the changes have been. As for online play, Capcom has seemingly borked their netcode once again, so more inputs are dropped, meaning practice for competitive and casual play has also been hurt as a result. And this change is for everyone, not just the Arcade Edition mode.

In addition to these negatives, there aren't any Trials for these 4 new characters, making it harder to learn them and how to combat them in battle. Finally Capcom has stated that Costume Pack(s) will come later for them, so in essence, you're really not getting a complete package here.

So without an additional patch for balance changes that are desperately needed, Capcom has effectively ruined Street Fighter IV. In the meantime, I'll continue to play Super Mode since it's still extremely fun to play.

Score: 1 out of 5

Computer Woes

It's been a long time, hasn't it? What have we missed? Memorial Day. E3. The NBA and NHL Finals. Oh, and my hard drive dying on me, forcing me to buy a new hard drive and completely re-install my operating system and compatible software. It's been magical, that's for sure.

But I thought I'd start off with sports and a congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Bruins for their Championship Runs. The Mavericks bested the Heat in 6 games, forcing Lebron James to criticize the people who are against him as well as the media for misreporting "the decision" over a year ago. If the media misreports something, I'm sure people will know about it earlier than 365 days. To say such a thing when his camp handled the entire thing is laughable at best. It just goes to show what kind of person James is, someone who wants to blame others for their obvious mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes, the Canucks have fans that live in their city. I've heard of riots before, but not after losing. Apparently Vancouver did this back in 1994 when they lost to the Rangers, but they weren't the home team then. It's sad to see a beautiful city like that get trashed by hockey fans. I'm sorry Vancouver, but you're not allowed to go on picnics anymore. At least not until you learn some table manners. Boston though, you guys are classy. Outscoring the Canucks 30+ to 8 in 7 games is classic. Your fans were obviously used to winning titles so they were too tired to riot. 4 titles in 6 years (Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins) is something special, too.

E3 happened, and Nintendo unveilved their new system. Microsoft announced Halo 4 and a Halo remake (Which looks terrible by the way). Sony announced that NGP would be the PSVita, and be $249/$299. Overall, it was nothing to write home about. My game of show had to be Skyward Sword though, as it sounds really cool.

But finally, onto my computer woes. I should've updated sooner, so I'm sorry for that. In the bustle of things it really puts my priorities elsewhere. I plan to update sooner rather than later. So until then, see ya!

The Cursed Game

With E3 approaching, I thought I'd take a timeout to go back and talk about a game that is really hard to forget, especially for me. Perhaps it's denial or foolish hope, but for the final time I want to talk about Metroid: Other M. Essentially, the game is something that comes squarely at the blame for Nintendo, not Team Ninja for its' release.

The decisions behind Other M's release are questionable at best. Terrible dialog, bad voice acting, a cliched and convoluted plot, etc. Essentially, while not the worst game in Nintendo's history, it's seemingly the most damaging because it has the potential to outright kill one of their long-standing franchises. All of which comes squarely at the blame of Yosihio Sakamoto and Nintendo. Usually, in the squabbles of fans v. developers, the developer usually has the upper hand, but in this case, where seemingly nothing makes sense, is explained or justified, it comes to the desk of those who were in charge, and that was Nintendo. I can't explain why it was released in a seemingly incomplete state, no one can. Anyone who thinks they know really doesn't because they don't work for Nintendo.

It's not the game fell short of expectations. If the game fell slightly short of its' expectations, it wouldn't be brought up repeatedly. It's that the game fell short in every single area, and fell short either slightly or greatly. Counterintuitive and questionable gameplay mechanics, unmemorable music, mediocre controls, and an awful story. Metroid, and the character of Samus Aran deserve better than what Nintendo thought their fans deserved with this.

In essence, Nintendo lied to their consumers whole-heartedly. They said the game was classic Metroid, it wasn't. They said the story was about Samus, it was about Adam. They said it was a great game, it wasn't. It seemed like at every turn where complaints were brought up by the press and fans alike, Nintendo ignored them. Nintendo has a history of ignoring their fans, and usually they're right and the game turns out awesome. However, in this case is one that I can truthfully say that Nintendo was wrong to let out the door. And in all honesty, out of their entire E3 2009 Press Conference, Metroid Other M will probably be remembered as the worst part about it, even worse than the Vitality Sensor.

Gaming Returns

For the 25 days or so that Playstation Network was down, I played a few games. Some on Xbox 360, some on Wii, some on Playstation 3. Online multiplayer isn't really my thing, and therefore the loss of the online service didn't really affect me all that much. However, it's good to have it back and is nice to see my friends list being populated every time I turn my system on. But during that time, here's what I played.

Mass Effect 2, Insanity
I'm not one for difficult games or playing through games on the hardest setting, but Mass Effect 2 compelled me to do so for some reason. I wanted to play through the game with a Female Shepard, and while I didn't play through Mass Effect to get some bonuses, Bioware was nice enough to release the PS3 exclusive comic mere days after completing my run. But alas, it started out extremely hard, but ended quite easily if I do say so myself. I managed to beat it, save everyone, and get my last achievement in the game to finally complete it. It was nice to do, but I don't think I'll do it for Mass Effect 3 unless they dumb it down quite a bit.

Gears of War 3 Beta
I'm not a big multiplayer guy, but I'm surprisingly good at Gears. I managed to get a 1.0 K/D ratio and 1.0 W/L ratio before I felt drained from playing it. I didn't get the Gold Retro Lancer for the retail version, but I got everything else. I could've gotten it, but I just didn't think it was worth my time to do so. Overall, the multiplayer seems very solid, and it makes me excited to play it come September.

Portal 2
I didn't play this quite as heavily as I did everything else, but when PSN finally came back up, I played through the co-op campaign, which was immensely better than the single player one. I also managed to get my 19th Platinum Trophy in the game, which meant a lot considering I haven't gotten one since last August. Portal 2 is a great game, just not as good as Portal. Hopefully the DLC will rekindle my interest in the game.

Red Dead Redemption
This was a new pickup for me, but I'm still playing through it. Right now I'm in Mexico, but the story is really dragging at this point with missions starting on one side of the country and actually taking place at the other side, which really makes it feel unnecessarily padded. Still, I'm enjoying it, but not as much as I was before I hit Mexico. The voice acting and story are similar to GTA4 in the sense that the hero is there for a purpose, but that requires him getting his hands dirty. While the characters fit the times I'm sure, the vast range of characters seems unnecessary. Game of the Year worthy? No, because Mass Effect 2 is better. Plain and simple.

Heart Strings

A man can only take so much before he says enough is enough. I think I have finally reached that point with the Washington Capitals. They were my first sports team. Over the years I've watched them and hoped for a Championship Team, but every year they fail. After the last 2 years you think they would've broken through, but no, it remains no. And for the foreseeable future it seems like it will remain no despite having one of the best players in the league.

I don't know who or what to blame, but I think I may be done. I'm tired of getting my hopes up, and as a life-long fan, that's discouraging. My heart just can't take the disappointment anymore.

Celebrate

Today we celebrate. For the death of a terrorist mastermind? No. We celebrate because some semblance of closure can now be brought to those that were lost over 9 and a half years ago. Most died against their will, while others went out like heroes. Yesterday, the Navy Seals did their job to perfection, with no deaths on their side and no innocent casualties were taken. When it was announced that the President would be speaking in roughly a quarter of an hour last night, no one knew. People speculated that it was about Libya, but then more reports came in about American bases across the globe upping their security. But it was the last rumor that turned out to be true.

Osama Bin Laden...was finally killed.

President Obama gave us closure last night with a speech that just presented the facts, and even though it took him a bit longer to come to the Podium than we thought, it was worth it. We knew he was gone, we knew that we took him out, and we knew that we could ease our minds a bit and remember the ones we lost. Today, we celebrate the lives we lost. We celebrate people. We celebrate freedom.

General Update #5354

Today's blog post will be one of those all-in-one specials that everyone loves to not read. Topics are coming to me nowadays, but narrowing down my topics and focusing on them is tough, so bare with me just a little while longer.

Stanley Cup Playoffs
The NHL Playoffs are underway, and the first round is almost over with. The Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and my Washington Capitals have already advanced to the Conference Semifinals. So far, there have been a lot of overtime games as well as comebacks that always make things very interesting. Right now, everyone is watching the Vancouver-Chicago series, one that started with Vancouver being up 3-0, but is now headed to a decisive Game 7. If Vancouver loses, it'll be the third consecutive year that the Presidents' Trophy Winner loses in the first round of the playoffs, not to mention the third consecutive year Chicago would eliminate Vancouver from the playoffs.

PSN is down
Playstation Network as most Sony fans call it was compromised by hackers, or so Sony says, and has been down since Thursday. There's no end in sight, and it's really bad for Sony since last week 4 top tier games came out for PS3, including one that was download only. Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4 and Arcana Hearts 3 were big names, but because of the outage, multiplayer is inaccessible. For me, it means I can't earn money via remote races in Gran Turismo 5 (which has probably cost me roughly 3-5 million dollars so far) and I can't play through co-op in Portal 2, which I hear is excellent. It's a tough break for Sony, but it really shows that hackers, modders, and the like really do hurt regular consumers, even if they don't want to.

Happy Easter
I'd like to finish off this blog post by wishing everyone a belated Happy Easter!

Sonic Colors: Dim the Lights

I've heard a lot of praise for Sonic Colors. How it was a return to form, the breaking of the cycle, the pinnacle of 3D Sonic games. While I can say it is the last of those three, I cannot say it holds true for the first two. While Sonic Colors starts off strong, it slowly deludes itself into mediocrity in what is otherwise an already short product.

Sonic Colors is a 2D/3D Platformer on the Wii where you play as Sonic and only Sonic through 45 regular stages and 7 boss fights. The premise is that Dr. Robotnik, or Dr. Eggman for those unaware of the series' history has built an intergalactic amusement park and Sonic must free the aliens that are powering it. While most of the early stages are designed great, around the latter half of the third world is where the game gets a little dicey with its' level design and never really recovers. You can go back and play older levels with newer alien powers you unlock, and given the game only lasts 4-5 hours, you probably will do so for the fear of buyers' remorse potentially setting in.

The graphics and music on Sonic Colors are top notch, and once again challenge Nintendo for what looks really good on the Wii, however Sonic Colors only runs at 30 fps unlike Mario, but considering speed is Sonic's thing it's not that big of a deal. What is a big deal is the controls. Sometimes the game is a little spotty with the controls, and you won't jump properly, nor will you move quite enough forward or back to avoid Sonic from dropping into an endless pit. These are things that have held true to 3D Sonic games ever since Sonic Adventure. Why Sega can't avoid this problem is beyond me, and has plagued the series.

Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game to date, but that's not really saying much given the series' past. While it may be a good first step to breaking the dreaded Sonic Cycle, Sonic is still stuck in a continuous loop of mediocrity. Sonic Colors is just a lot less mediocre and approaching the good category.

No Shutdown

The President got on TV just a few minutes ago to announce that there would be no shutdown of the Federal Government, stating that a compromise had been reached that would cut roughly 39 billion dollars from last year's federal budget. The pending shutdown would've happened because a fully controlled Democratic Congress didn't pass this budget last year. The budget is mainly a stop gap to keep spending up for the next few months. The Republicans are looking to the fall to start debating an entirely new budget where they have more say about what may or may not go into it since it will be their first budget.

While some will say this is good for Republicans as something similar allowed Clinton to get re-election in 1996 I whole-heartedly disagree. Bob Dole lost in 1996 because he was a major player in the Republicans caving when they gained control of Congress in 1994. People who voted Republican in 94 felt betrayed by those they voted for, and in turn either didn't show up at the voting booth on Election Day in 96 or showed up to vote against those that betrayed them. This eventually led to an economic boom in the mid 90's and lasted mostly through the Bush Administration. The difference here is that we're still in major military conflicts overseas, which is hurting our economic status in the world.

Cutting 39 billion dollars from a 3 trillion dollar budget isn't going to solve anything. Cutting 390 billion dollars would help, but it'd still be a drop in the bucket to the amount of money Government is spending on a yearly basis.

By George it's been a While

I haven't updated my blog in a while, so it's time to get down to some brass tax and discuss a few things.

The Final 4
The National Semi-Finals were great, which produced two great games with Butler and UConn advancing to the Championship. Kentucky could've won in the final seconds but a poor shot led to a Connecticut win. Virginia Commonwealth fought hard against Butler, but the Bulldogs were too much. My guess experienced paid off there. However, the Championship game was one of the worst, if not the worst College Basketball game I have ever seen in my life. Butler couldn't shoot the ball at all and the game went for minutes on end without the score even changing. I know the NCAA is proud of their parody but have the refs call a few fouls to get some free throws so some mild interest can be maintained throughout. I was watching baseball with 15 minutes to go in the game because of it.

NHL
The Washington Capitals are once against Southeast Division champs, and may be on their way to a second first place rank in the Eastern Conference. They will most likely face the Rangers or the Sabres given the current schedule outlook, but they could face the Canadians or Hurricanes as well. Vancouver, who wrapped up the President's Trophy a couple of weeks ago lost back to back games handily to Edmonton so it appears they might be limping into the playoffs, like the Flyers are. Who, incidentally might lose the Atlantic Division to Pittsburgh if they aren't careful. The Playoffs will surely be exciting but one thing's for certain, my team will never win.

Video Games
I've mainly been simulating B-spec in Gran Turismo 5 lately. I'll most likely stop when I get to level 35 so I can get the best car in the game. After that, it's anyone's guess. I also purchased the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition and playing through the DLC packs. They're fun, but fast travel was definitely needed. Either that or the elimination of travel padding. I beat Playthrough 2 so now all enemies are now equal to my level, which is just great since it'll mean much more experience from here on out.

The Madness is almost over

After three weeks of single elimination basketball, we're closing in on the weekend that counts: The Final Four. Today, Butler and Connecticut both punched their tickets to the final weekend of the College Basketball season. While we won't know the other two teams for a few more hours, it's safe to say that everyone will be on pins and needles waiting for the result, whether it be for pride or pleasure.

Butler going back to the Final Four after last year's near Championship run is a testament to how well that program is run and how good that coach is. If the Coach there bolts for a bigger name after this season it won't come as a surprise to anyone, because he's really earned it. Even if he doesn't go now, he'll go later. Personally, I think he'll end up the next coach at Duke. His style is similar to Duke's, so it'd be like Coach K never left if he came in.

Connecticut winning isn't a big surprise because they're from the Big East. But the fact that they're the only team remaining from the Big East is the surprise. Considering they played 5 games in 5 days to win the Conference Tournament, if they won it all, I don't think anyone would be shocked.

But the question is, who would we be shocked at winning this whole thing? Virginia Commonwealth obviously, but they face Kansas tomorrow. North Carolina and Kentucky look like really good picks right now, but we'll have to wait and see what the refs and players decide is best for us in just 7 days time.

A Blurb about Pokemon

So while I was down in Tampa I bought both versions of the newest Pokemon game (Don't worry, they had a sale). Over the past 3 weeks I've been playing the White version of the game on my DSi XL, and while I haven't beaten the game yet I thought I should talk about it a bit.

First things first, I've seen 86 Pokemon, played 16 hours and have 6 badges. So far I can say that it is definitely a very good Pokemon game. The features it adds are really cool and necessary for the series to grow. While the Pokemon Global Link, which provides for online stats is not active yet, I can say that when it is released, will probably add a new life for the game. The ability to only capture new Pokemon for the main quest seems like a good decision since it forces older players to rely on new strategies than 'get my favorites and dominate.' It adds a lot of strategy to the game, and makes the game quite a bit tougher as well.

The story mode is your basic 'become League Champion and defeat the evil team' quest, but this one seems a bit more involved while still staying very basic. Overall, it keeps me going outside of capturing and raising Pokemon while facing trainers. While this isn't a full review yet, pretty much everything I've seen I've liked with the exception of the C-Gear interface.

C-Gear is basically your multiplayer menu and is with you at all times on the touch screen. It allows you to converse with wi-fi, local and infrared multiplayer at any point. The interface, while simple seems really confusing to me. You can move the buttons around, but there's no real point unless I've missed some unlockable features somewhere. It doesn't detract from the game though, but I just don't mess with it. I recommend this game if you're looking to get back into Pokemon, or are looking for a solid, old school JRPG to help you pass the time.

For me though, if Nintendo releases a Pokemon Gray next year, I'm going to have to pass. I'm really burnt out on Pokemon at the moment given that we've seen a new game released every year for almost the past decade with remakes, 3rd versions of games, etc. Pokemon is a great series, but I think it needs time to breathe a bit.

Spring Training '11 Update 4

This is my final update for MLB Spring Training '11 in Tampa, FL. This one is going to be a bit different as I will rank all the Stadiums in a few categories to show you my favorite overall experience of the entire trip. I won't be including St. Pete Times Forum because it's not a Baseball Stadium and outside the realm of this post. But for now, here's the Stadiums I went to in order:

- New York Yankees (Tampa Bay)
- Philadelphia Phillies (Clearwater)
- Baltimore Orioles (Sarasota)
- Atlanta Braves (Orlando)
- Houston Astros (Osceola)
- Toronto Blue Jays (Dunedin)
- Detroit Tigers (Lakeland)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (Bradenton)
- Boston Red Sox (Ft. Myers)

Stadium Experience (Seats, Field)
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Tampa Bay
#3 - Sarasota
#4 - Lakeland
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Osceola
#8 - Dunedin
#9 - Bradenton

Stadium Food
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Tampa Bay
#4 - Osceola
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Bradenton
#8 - Dunedin (Best Nachos)
#9 - Lakeland

Parking (Getting in, out)
#1 - Ft. Myers
#2 - Orlando
#3 - Osceola
#4 - Tampa Bay
#5 - Bradenton
#6 - Dunedin
#7 - Sarasota
#8 - Lakeland
#9 - Clearwater

Overall Experience
#1 - Tampa Bay
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Clearwater
#4 - Ft. Myers
#5 - Orlando
#6 - Osceola
#7 - Lakeland
#8 - Bradenton
#9 - Dunedin

Best Teams
#1 - New York Yankees
#2 - Philadelphia Phillies
#3 - Baltimore Orioles
#4 - Boston Red Sox
#5 - Detroit Tigers
#6 - Toronto Blue Jays
#7 - Pittsburgh Pirates
#8 - Tampa Bay Rays
#9 - Houston Astros
#10 - Washington Nationals
#11 - Atlanta Braves
#12 - St. Louis Cardinals

Spring Training '11 Update 3

Today is the next to last update from trip to the Tampa area for Baseball's Spring Training 2011. There's only a few games to cover here today, but later this week I'll list my best and worsts of each Stadium and Arena I visited.

Today's Topics
- Boston Red Sox @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Sunday, March 13th)
The game at Bradenton was an interesting one. The Red Sox had Beckett on the mound and while they started early, the Pirates got to Beckett and started a beatdown which allowed for an easy win. The Stadium was okay, but the seating area was terrible. The seats were like those old corrective posturing seats they have for middle school kids and the aisles were narrow, meaning if you got up you were basically stepping on everyone's toes since the seats weren't folding. It was very uncomfortable and the only downside to what was a quality stadium.

- Pittsburgh Pirates @ Baltimore Orioles (Monday, March 14th)
The next day was the final day as we went to Sarasota for a final time. While the Pirates early pitching was good, the relief pitching allowed the Orioles to come back and blow them out. The Orioles can definitely hit the ball and the Pirates finally showed their weakness: Relief pitching.

- New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox (Monday, March 14th)
The final game led us about 90 minutes south to Ft. Myers as the Sox hosted the Yanks. I felt both teams took this game way too seriously. It was really slow and low scoring. The park was nice, but it was hard to get to and from your seats. The parking was great, very easy to get in and out of while the food was adequate. If the game was a bit more high scoring and the pacing was quicker it would've been a great end to the trip.

That's all for now. Until my next post!

Spring Training '11 Update 2

I'm back with another installment of Spring Training 2011 here in Tampa. It's been a while since my last update, but I can assure that it's been a tiring week of games and travel for me.

Today's Topics
- Baltimore Orioles @ Philadelphia Phillies (Tuesday, March 8th)
For most of the game the Orioles were in command until they brought in Rosario. In the 9th he proceeded to do his best Charlie Sheen impression and throw 2 balls about 10 feet over the catcher's head. This allowed the Phillies to win the game by 1 in the bottom of the 9th yet again. The Orioles seem like an average team, but are in the AL East. The Phillies seem like they can overcome small deficits, but not large ones.

- Minnesota Twins @ Baltimore Orioles (Wednesday, March 9th)
The Twins basically played no one, which allowed the Orioles to jump all over them. The Orioles can definitely hit the ball when they need to, but it seems like a fallacy since it was against the equivalent of a AAA team. However, given from what I've seen of the Orioles so far, they might be able to surprise people.

- Chicago Blackhawks @ Tampa Bay Lightning (Wednesday, March 9th)
Another game of hockey that ended in a shootout. I can't believe I saw 2 shootouts in a row. In the early 2nd it looked like Tampa had it in the bag but Chicago fought back to tie it. There were a lot of no calls by the Refs, including a very blatant hand pass. The Lightning ended up winning, but it was an entertaining game to say the least.

- St. Louis Cardinals @ Atlanta Braves (Thursday, March 10th)
We traveled over to Orlando for a day-night doubleheader, first up being a chance at seeing Albert Pujols play...who didn't. The game was pretty boring as well, ending up a 2-1 Braves win. There was very little fanfare. Runners got to third a couple of times, but nothing really exciting happened. Both teams really failed to impress, especially since their starters were played most of the day.

- Washington Nationals @ Houston Astros (Thursday, March 10th)
That night we went over to Osceola County Stadium to see these two teams play. It was a good game that featured some good offensive firepower, but not much in terms of fielding. We got to see #1 pick Bryce Harper catch a fly ball and get a double on a blooper to shallow left field, which was pretty exciting. The Nationals seem to have that fighting spirit like they did last year, but it remains to be seen how long they can keep it up.

- New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays (Friday, March 11th)
We went over to Dunedin for this one, and let me say that this Stadium was pretty terrible outside of the Nachos. The game featured the Yankees short squad, so no one played. This allowed the Jays to win handily on this brisk day.

- Toronto Blue Jays @ Detroit Tigers (Saturday, March 12th)
Lastly we traveled to Lakeland to see the Tigers stadium. It's a nice stadium and the game featured some solid play with both teams using their starters for most of the game. The Jays seem to have a good offense, but their pitching staff needs some work. The Tigers need some work in the fielding department, even though they won late.

That's all for now. The last post will come on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then!

Spring Training '11 Update 1

It's been four days since my Spring Training trip to Tampa started, and while it's not going to be a daily feature like I promised, I can still provide some insight as to what I saw, liked, didn't like and thought about the games I saw.

Today's Topics
- Boston @ NY Yankees (Friday, March 4th)
My first game started in Tampa between these two bitter rivals. While the Yankees played most of their starters, the Red Sox didn't. Both teams look really good, but one area of concern I see from the Red Sox is the ability to close out their games. Going into the bottom of the 9th they were up 5-1, and allowed 2 runs. If it weren't for a close out called I'm pretty sure the Yankees would've won this game.

- Boston @ Baltimore (Saturday, March 5th)
The next day I traveled down to Sarasota to see Baltimore's refurbished stadium, which I must say is nice. However, this is a stadium where you could literally hear a pin drop at even though the place was sold out. Again, the inability for the Red Sox to close out the game worries me. While the game ended in a tie, and they weren't using their star players, it is a concern that Boston fans will have to learn to cope with this season. I haven't quite figured out the Orioles yet, but I'll see them a couple of more times to help me see who they really are.

- Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia (Sunday, March 6th)
The following day the trip was to Clearwater to see the Phillies facility. Of all the places I've been too so far, this definitely seems like the loudest crowd, even more than the Yankees facility. The Phillies led for most of the day, but in the bottom of the 9th they played small ball to perfection, allowing them to win. However, if Tampa's first basemen didn't bobble the ball on Philly's first bunt, the situation for the game would've completely changed. Cliff Lee looks to be at the top of his game once again.

- Philadelphia @ NY Yankees (Monday, March 7th)
While the previous day the Phillies put on what I'd call a hitting display, the Yankees bullpen for the most part made them seem like a double A team. The Yankees got out to a 5-0 lead eventually winning 7-1. Roy Oswalt didn't look good at all, giving up 5 ER. To me the Yankees look like a Playoff team while the Phillies look to be feeding off the mistakes of poorer teams.

- Washington Capitals @ Tampa Bay Lightning (Monday, March 7th)
The day concluded with a trip to St. Pete Times Forum to see a battle for the Southeast Division title. The first period was very intense and the Capitals looked like they were out for blood. The Bolts led 1-0 after 1 which led the Caps to switch from Neuvirth to Holtby in net. Neuvirth apparently got some metal in his eye after the first shot which took his mask off. The second period was dominated by the Tampa but no goals were scored. The third period was completely dominated by the Caps, resulting in the game going to overtime and eventually the shootout. When Washington tied it up it seemed like Tampa had no clue as to what to do, allowing the Caps to almost win it in overtime. But luckily it was the stick of Alexander Ovechkin that was the lone goal in the shootout that allowed the Caps to retain their Southeast division lead.

That's it for now. Over the next 3 days I'm going to 5 games including another Hockey game, so expect another update then.

Gran Turismo 5

Gran Turismo 5 is a racing simulator that was finally released in late 2010 after nearly 4 years since the Playstation 3 launched in 2006. For PS3 owners it was a long-time coming, and after playing it months after its' release with a few new patches and features, as someone who is not a fan of the series I can say that it is an enjoyable experience that looks like it'll be improved over the following months to come.

Gran Turismo 5 offers a wide assortment of cars, tracks and modes from various forms of driving including Stock Car, Formula 1 and Go Karts. While some are restricted to specific modes that are limited in size and scope, it makes you wonder what they could draw from those in the future, if anything. The controls are tight, the graphics are great aside from a few moments of screen tearing and it is very well made. It's very fun to race, enjoyable to buy and tweak cars and mess around with various features the game has. However, there are some quirks that go along with it.

Firstly, the menu is terrible. I'll just leave it at that. Second is the loading. While after installing it's not as big a problem, but it's still a problem. I've installed nearly 7gb of data to my HDD already and I've only put a handful of hours into the game. I just wish they'd give me a full HDD install, or at least a bigger one. Third is that some of the challenges weren't designed with a controller in mind, meaning they're nearly impossible to complete/get a Gold on with one. It comes off as a bit of lazy game design, one they should have thought more about.

Overall though, GT5 is a great game. Considering the great amount of patches they've put out so for it, I can't imagine what they won't put out for it next.

Nothing Much to Talk About

There hasn't been much for me to talk about lately, so I apologize for the lack of updates over the past couple of months. Politics have been boring and dull, bills are doing what the smart people knew they'd do (screw people over), food and energy prices are skyrocketing due to turmoil in the middle east, and everyone's blaming everyone else for their problems. So in essence, nothing new is happening. The video games I've been playing have been disappointing to infuriating, which led me back to Dragon Quest IX, a game that, by all accounts I should have stuck with due to its' awesomeness. I can't play Marvel vs Capcom 3 since the matchmaking is completely busted. Dead Space 2 and Need for Speed have angered me to the point of quitting as well. All in all, it seems like games just keep disappointing me nowadays more than ever. I played the Mass Effect 2 Overlord DLC, which was really good, but it was short-lived.

In the world of sports, the Capitals are struggling like they have all season, the Hurricanes are fighting for a playoff spot as well. The Wizards and Bobcats are mediocre as well while Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Dallas are all major players just like everyone thought they'd be. However, starting next week expect some news on a daily basis. Why exactly? Because I'm heading down to Florida for MLB Spring Training. I went a couple of years ago and it was a fun time even though I got to see the Astros and Braves every other game. This time I'm seeing a much more diverse group of teams including the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and Cardinals.

So next week I'll be posting daily updates of Spring Training games I saw, discussing what I liked and didn't like from the games. Until then I hope to have at least a couple of more news posts. See ya!

Spending Money and Politicians

We as a society vote for politicians because they say "Yes." Have we ever thought to ourselves that we need a politician to say "No" for once? I'm not saying all politicians who say Yes are bad, but let's keep things in perspective: The country is going broke, and we need have Government bite the bullet for once and cut expenditures. I know many seniors out there were promised money they put into social security, and that the process will continue for quite some time. But let me remind you that Government took your money and spent it foolishly, and now they are only making matters worse.

We need Government to stop spending money, or at least at the amounts they have for the last decade or so. If Government did a 10% cut across the board in every area of spending, including medicare, medicaid and social security it would have an alarming amount of money. By doing this for at least one year we would, at least in some small way right the proverbial ship that is our current economic crisis. It doesn't take rocket science to come up with solutions to our problems, nor does it take such complexity to sell it to the American. It should simply be put like this, and should be done so without sugar coating it so they'd get the message: "Take less money over a longer period of time or no money at all."

It sort of ties into our job climate as well in terms of unemployment benefits and education. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life." We simply cannot expect better results through the same course of action we have been repeating over the past half century. There's a word for this method, and it's called "insanity." However, in our current political climate, no one appears sane, nor do we as a society look towards sane people for answers. Instead we look to the people who caused these problems in the first place, but we call them saviors when they are no more than evil pawns.

Marvel vs Capcom 3

Solid, but barebones.

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is the latest and greatest name in a long line of fighting game series that have returned to the scene this generation. With all of the additions of online play, game modes and emphasis on competition you'd think Capcom would've prepared a much deeper online experience, especially when Super Street Fighter IV, a game they released last year in the same genre, had a much more expansive online service.

Sadly enough, that expansive online service did not carry over from Super Street Fighter IV. Instead gamers are treated to a barebones and barely functioning online service that has become the meat of multiplayer games today. Ranked matchmaking is almost broken at this point, with ranked matches taking forever to get into, and if you do get into a match, they are laggy to the point of being unplayable. Player matches are fine, since you can search for lobbies unlike in ranked, but you can't spectate other peoples' matches. Instead, non-fighters are treated to a menu where you can see the health bars of combatants slowly drain until a winner is declared. In fighting games, people either want to play or see other people play. While it can be understandable that a lot of that stuff would slow down the game, perhaps showing it on a delay of a couple of seconds would help soften the load in terms of connectivity.

The game also features a player license where you can look at stats, setup reserve teams, titles and icons. The most disappointing feature about this is your friends stats. You can look at them, but every time you start up your game the information isn't there, meaning you have to manually update each individual friend's information you play the game if you want to. In addition to this, the friends list doesn't sort depending on whether they've played the game or not. In conjunction with the online functionality of the game, this comes off as very cheap and unfinished at Capcom's expense. With the plethora of DLC announcements we've had so far, players are left to wonder if they're going to be asked to pay for the honor of a patch, or in the form of a 2012 update which I'll dub "Super Marvel vs Capcom 3."

With all the negativity about the online features behind us, the offline features are where the game has a lot of functionality behind it. You have Arcade Mode, which is 7 fights long, a Training Mode and a Mission Mode in addition to local versus play. In the Arcade and Training modes you can choose to have online fight requests on like in Super/Street Fighter IV. Training Mode can also act like facing bots in Arcade Mode, but you have complete choice over them. While some may say this is better than how it's done in Street Fighter, I have to question that since there's no real competition behind it. Training Mode is basically a sandbox where you can fool around with life and hyper bars, AI movesets assists. It's not for competition and hurts the game's replay value because of it.

The gameplay of Marvel vs Capcom 3 is very fun, and you can do a lot with the combos and chains. However, given the amount of problems the game has, and given Capcom's questionable record in the past about functionality updates to their games, you have to wonder if the game will have long legs or not. Because unless you're a serious fighting game fan, it's really not worth a full purchase price with the problems it has right now.

A couple of mediocre games

Over the past two days I've finished a couple of games so I thought I'd share my thoughts about them. While both are mediocre, I enjoyed them for what they were. However, some questions need to be raised.

Splinter Cell Conviction
I bought this right before Thanksgiving last year and I plowed through it in roughly two days spanning six hours. I think some of the ideas in the game are pretty good, along with how cover is implemented and moving from cover to cover. But the problem lies in the level design, which almost always small and linear. This rarely allows you the freedom to get somebody's attention, draw them over to you and sneak up from behind them or around them. In addition, the person voicing Sam Fisher sounds really drunk. I don't regret paying what I did for it, but it's just not that good.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn
Truth be told, I loved the first two Golden Sun games. However, over the course of this game I've come to learn that I've grown out of them. In the previous games I found myself enjoying the story as well as the combat, but in this game I couldn't enjoy either because the story was so intrusive and childishly written and the game was so ridiculously easy until the very end where it had a nice challenge that it was just baffling. Over the course of the first 12 hours of the game I came across 4 boss fights. In the next hour alone I faced 5 boss fights. That's pretty ridiculous pacing I have to say. Overall, it was a very disappointing game that doesn't make me want another one.