NFL 2012 - Week 4 Predictions

Here are my Weekly NFL Predictions for the 2012 Season for Week #4.

8:00pm EDT Thursday Game
Cleveland @ Baltimore

1:00pm EDT Sunday Games
Carolina @ Atlanta
New England @ Buffalo
Minnesota @ Detroit
San Diego @ Kansas City
Seattle @ St. Louis
San Francisco @ New York Jets
Tennesse @ Houston

4:00pm EDT Sunday Games
Oakland @ Denver
Miami @ Arizona
Cincinnati @ Jacksonville
New Orleans @ Green Bay
Washington @ Tampa Bay

8:00pm EDT Sunday Game
New York Giants @ Philadelphia

9:00pm EDT Monday Game
Chicago @ Dallas


Record Thus Far: 25-23

Week 1: 11-5

Week 2: 6-10

Week 3: 8-8

Borderlands 2 Review

Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed and brave Borderlands, which was one of only a few games which stood its’ ground to Modern Warfare 2. By focusing on cooperative play with a loot system and RPG mechanics, the cel-shaded shooter found a place among many gamers to garner downloadable content and a highly desired sequel. While Borderlands 2 has brought a welcome number of changes, it’s also brought something undesired, which is something most gamers won’t really know how to describe.

Borderlands 2 takes place five years after the original, wherein Handsome Jack wants to enter the Vault for mysterious reasons, and you, whom he tried to kill, wants revenge. In order to do that, you’ll need better guns than what you start out with. The game’s major hook is the loot system, where you kill enemies to get more and better guns. While the game progresses you’ll want to go from White to Green to Blue to Purple and finally to Orange to get the best weapons. However, you’ll constantly be checking your guns to see if a White gun outclasses your Orange one. It feels somewhat archaic and not all that thought out in the end. Borderlands 2 also expands on its’ level design, with the number of areas being easily quadrupled.

Every area in Borderlands 2 is enormous, but there’s very little density. Most areas are dead, forcing you to struggle with the terrible driving mechanics a lot of the time. Like the first game you’re going from place to place to achieve your goals. These areas would be better served by either being shrunk or not existing at all. It feels like Gearbox tried to pad the game’s length in ways that really weren’t necessary since the game already has enough content. In the end this hurts replay value since an average playthrough will be 40-50 hours instead of 25-30. Since Gearbox wants to promote people playing through the game multiple times with different classes, stretching out the game’s length is a misstep because it’s harder to replay it at that length. There’s more padding here, which comes down to how the game handles difficulty and its’ general gameplay.

Enemies in Borderlands 2 scale to your difficulty, averaging between two levels below to one level above your current level. People refer to this as “treadmill difficulty” which is something you see in Skyrim, as well as the original Borderlands, but it was contained to Mad Moxxi’s Underdome. This is done instead of creating a proper difficulty curve and scenario for every instance. It feels lazy and cheap to do so, and offers no better rewards. While the game promotes you being a badass, nothing is badass about wasting time on the same fight for a few hours.

Borderlands 2 introduces a Badass Rating system, wherein you earn tokens that you can spend on stat bonuses, such as increased weapon damage, reduced recoil, and more health. It does a good job getting you to play the game in different ways, but the rewards feel like a drop in the bucket some of the time. Even though you get bonuses to help, the game still feels uneven in terms of gameplay. Sometimes you’ll consistently miss shots at point blank range against a frozen enemy and fumble with the controls when enemies are in close proximity. If you manage to get through it all though, the game does have some great writing.

Borderlands 2 has a somewhat dark humor to its’ story, with characters that have a lot of personality and life to them. Gearbox has done an exceptional job at bringing the characters and world of Pandora to life. You’ll also be able to enjoy this world with other people easier due to the improved network options. Instead of having to start a game online and hope others join, you can just switch your current game to be open to everyone or no one. It’s nice to see such vast improvements in these two areas of the game, disheartening to see other areas get glossed over or take a step back.

In the end, Borderlands 2 is a step back from Borderlands in a lot of ways while taking a major leap forward with the universe that was created. If you want more Borderlands, it’s recommended to buy the downloadable content for the original or simply start a new character. Borderlands 2 will leave you feeling empty and disheartened, which is sad considering the game seems to have so much heart.

Overall Score: 6 out of 10

+ Good Writing
+ Good Art Style
+ Lots of Areas to Explore

- Treadmill Difficulty
- Music is Unmemorable
- Has Unnecessary Padding

Scabs R' Us

The NFL Replacement Referee Act of 2012 has been a resounding failure, getting worse as the season progresses. While there were some opening week jitters, the replacement refs were mostly competent. People thought these guys were okay and the regular referees looked bad as a result. The second week had more problems, but could still be defended from time to time. The peoples' view of the regular referees started to turn. This past weekend however, having culminated with the last two games, have been an unmitigated disaster. While the New England Patriots may call foul with a questionable field goal, no one can cry more foul than the Green Bay Packers, who last night had a game stolen from them by the replacement referees.

The final play of the game is and will forever be under the microscope. Was the ball a simultaneous reception by both Jennings of the Packers and Tate of the Seahawks? While the referees determined that yes it was, which means it's a touchdown since the ball in those situations reverts to the Offense, anyone with a clear view of it, either from afar or close could see that Tate didn't even have an arm on the ball. When you see the replay, Jennings caught the ball, got both arms around it, went to the ground and had the ball in his chest. Tate had one arm above the ball, maybe near Jennings' neck area, but nowhere near it to say he had at least partial control. What resulted was baffling, what can only be described as a black eye for the NFL, as the league forced them to kick the required extra points minutes after everyone left.

Throughout this whole ordeal, the NFL has tried to maintain order over the Referee strike, claiming that everything was fine, and the replacements weren't costing teams games. After Monday, the league can no longer claim that. While the game from both teams was particularly ugly, the referees ended up deciding the result of the game. That is not what referees are there to do, and after this game, it is perfectly clear that this experiment is a failure. The league needs the people who know the rules and procedures back on the field. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now.

NFL 2012 - Week 1 Predictions

Welcome one and all to the 2012 NFL Season! It's been 7 months since the New York Giants won their fourth Super Bowl, once again over the New England Patriots, but now a new season begins tonight. So what better way to commemorate a new NFL season than to begin a new year of NFL Weekly Predictions? I can't think of anything better.


Dallas @ NY Giants
- The Giants host the Cowboys tonight with the Champions Season Opener, which is a rematch from Week 17 last year when the Giants manhandled the Cowboys to win the NFC East. While both teams are not looked at highly, I expect the Giants to hold serve against the Cowboys.

Indianapolis @ Chicago
- Andrew Luck is the new QB in Indy, but the Bears Defense has always been tough under coach Lovie Smith. I expect them to give Luck a warm welcome with many sacks due to their poor offensive line, allowing the Bears to cruise.


Philadelphia @ Cleveland
- When these two teams played in the pre-season a couple of weeks ago, the first string of Philly outclassed Cleveland. I expect the same to happen here, but for real, not practice.

St. Louis @ Detroit
- The Rams were the second worst team in the League last year while the Lions had a highly touted offense. While the Rams have a new head coach, I expect the Lions to show the Rams why they're the Rams.

New England @ Tennessee
- While the Titans finished the year strong, they have looked less than impressive in the off-season and have a new QB at the helm. Considering they're facing the New England Patriots, I expect nothing less than a mild blowout.

Atlanta @ Kansas City
- The Chiefs are enigma. They won the AFC West two years ago. They started poorly last year, fired their head coach, and got to 8-8 under Romeo Cronell, who isn't a good coach. I don't expect a stomping like the Bills put on the Chiefs last year on opening day, but this won't be close.

Jacksonville @ Minnesota
- While Maurice Jones Drew will play for the Jaguars on Sunday, he'll more than likely be a bit out of synch after holding out all off-season. I expect the Vikings to start strong, but eventually end up holding off the Jaguars for a close victory.

Washington @ New Orleans
- This is probably the most interesting game of year for the Saints. After all of the suspensions and controversy, they start out at home against the Redskins, who've been mildly quiet this off-season. While the Redskins winning would be a surprise, I can't see how they can stop Drew Brees short of injuring him or the replacement refs being so bad that the Redskins win.

Buffalo @ New York Jets
- The Jets only scored one Touchdown all pre-season. The Bills have a great defense. But so do the Jets. I expect this one to be low scoring, but the Jets have a tendency to win close, low-scoring games, so I'm going with them.

Miami @ Houston
- The Dolphins haven't looked pleasant all pre-season. They have a new QB that looks lost, and have a defense that looks inept. Going against the Texans, and a top tier QB in Matt Schaub, I expect a blowout here.

San Francisco @ Green Bay
- Last year's NFC Championship Game that didn't happen finally happens. I feel that the Packers will be angry for the opening part of the season, meaning an easy win here. While Alex Smith is adequate, the Green Bay Defense is just a little bit better to provide the difference here.

Carolina @ Tampa Bay
- Last year, the Panthers demolished the Buccaneers in both games. While the Bucs got better in the off-season and the Panthers got worse, the difference between them is still definite for me to say the Panthers will win this one.

Pittsburgh @ Denver
- Out is Tim Tebow, in is Peyton Manning. While the Steelers lost here last year in the Playoffs, I expect them to come out for revenge early and often, hoping to end Peyton Manning's career. Especially when he has a history of not playing well against them.

Cincinnati @ Baltimore
- The Bengals are an up and down team season by season. Last year they were up, this year they will most certainly be down. Given that this is the Ravens' last shot at a Super Bowl title before their defense enters retirement, I expect them to come out guns blazing once again.

San Diego @ Oakland
- San Diego doesn't have a good record in the opening month of the season under Norv Turner. While they've constantly struggled, given that Oakland is once again in a year where people expect them to break out, I don't. I see San Diego winning this game, albeit close because it's on Monday Night Football.


That's it for Week 1. We'll see how I do.