2013 NFL Week 11 Predictions

Here are my Week 11 picks for the 2013 NFL Regular Season.

Winners are indicated in BOLD lettering

Thursday Game
Indianapolis @ Tennessee

Sunday Early Games
NY Jets @ Buffalo
Baltimore @ Chicago
Cleveland @ Cincinnati
Oakland @ Houston
Arizona @ Jacksonville
Washington @ Philadelphia
Detroit @ Pittsburgh
Atlanta @ Tampa Bay

Sunday Afternoon Games
San Diego @ Miami
San Francisco @ New Orleans
Green Bay @ NY Giants
Minnesota @ Seattle

Sunday Night Game
Kansas City @ Denver

Monday Night Game
New England @ Carolina

2013 NFL Week 10 Predictions

After a solid week of picks in Week 9, I'm back at it for my Week 10 Predictions of the 2013 NFL season. This past week had some drama, which is nice after what has been a lackluster season thus far. Hopefully the quality of play picks up even moreso than it did last week, so here's my picks for this week.

Winners are indicated in BOLD lettering

Thursday Night Game
Washington @ Minnesota

Sunday Early Games
Cincinnati @ Baltimore
Seattle @ Atlanta
Detroit @ Chicago
Philadelphia @ Green Bay
Jacksonville @ Tennessee
St. Louis @ Indianapolis
Oakland @ NY Giants
Buffalo @ Pittsburgh

Sunday Afternoon Games
Carolina @ San Francisco
Houston @ Arizona
Denver @ San Diego

Sunday Night Game
Dallas @ New Orleans

Monday Night Game
Miami @ Tampa Bay

Sonic Lost World (Wii U) Review

Sonic the Hedgehog used to be a gaming icon. During the Genesis days, the Blue Hedgehog once competed with Mario as gaming’s #1 icon. Over the course of his history, his allure faded, due to the quality of his games, and his rough transition into the third dimension. Unlike Mario, Sonic didn’t have great success right off the bat in the 3D space. Going on adventures, getting clones and many horrible friends, Sonic’s had it rough until recently. On the momentum of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, Sonic Lost World hopes to return Sonic to that high point after a long fall. But the question is, if Sonic falls again, how far will he fall this time?

Lost World begins with Sonic and Tails chasing Dr. Eggman, who has captured some critters whom he hopes to turn into Badniks. While trying to save some critters, Sonic and Tails are sent crash-landing on Lost Hex for a brand new adventure. The game has a lot of flash, running at 60 frames per second, a great art style and a good soundtrack; ultimately, this is where the universal praise for Sonic Lost World stops. Lost World starts innocently enough, but gives players a plethora of new mechanics if you’re a veteran, including a run button, a new lock-on attack system and parkour system. The run button allows Sonic to have more precise platforming moments which have been sorely missing from more recent Sonic games. As a consequence of this, Sonic, even while running, is significantly slowed down. This isn’t a bad thing, as it allows players to control Sonic more precisely, even during those high octane moments. Sonic’s lock-on system is by far the difference from past games, and worse for it. In certain moments, you can lock onto and attack multiple enemies at once by holding the attack button. The problem here is that the system is entirely dependent on how far Sonic is away from enemies, and given how the level design lays out these enemies, you will frequently not target all enemies that you wish to target, resulting in your momentum stopping, forcing you to re-attack remaining enemies or scramble to get back on level footing. It’s frustrating considering that a few bosses require this mechanic to work properly, and can too often lead to the in-game time running out, resulting in a death.

Speaking of death, the parkour system featured is half dead. Its’ implementation in the 3D space is a joke, offering nothing more than climbing up a wall or two per level in order to progress. While there are some sections of levels that allow you to move forward by running on walls, these are few and far between, and seem like afterthoughts and in some cases realizations from the developers that the section they designed for them were too hard to finish. It represents an overall problem with the game, that the levels aren’t designed around the game’s mechanics, but vice versa instead. Another issue is that some of the levels aren’t designed with the game’s mechanics in mind at all, but instead shamelessly ripping off better Nintendo platformers Super Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country Returns. These homages are poor substitutes, taking ideas from them and implementing them in rushed, overly long, poorly paced levels that will cause you many deaths and baffling moments about how they design their physics engine. The pacing of these levels, in other words, how levels are presented, in a Level-Boss-Level-Boss format, two of each occurring per world. This formula gets old quick and doesn’t deviate from it until the game is done, when afterwards you get access to the Hidden World, which feels like nothing more than a few levels that never even left the beta stage.

The more I played Lost World, the more I ended up hating it. It devolves into a formula is repetitious, frustrating and plain un-fun, which haunted many of the past 3D Sonic games. The inconsistencies in its controls, mechanics and level design are not something to be admired, but abhorred. While Sonic the Hedgehog from 2006/07 was a horrible game from beginning to end, Lost World started bright and hopeful, and ended up a terrible mess. The cycle from its’ unveiling to its release mirrors the game, and in that sense, a new Sonic Cycle is born.

Score: 2.5 out of 10
+ Excellent Soundtrack
+ CG graphical magic
+The game runs extremely smooth
- Inconsistent Homing Ability
- Level Design not built around the mechanics
- The epitome of what a rushed game is

2013 NFL Week 9 Predictions

Another week, another set of predictions.

Predictions are indicated in BOLD

Thursday Game
Cincinnati at Miami

Sunday Early Games
Atlanta at Carolina
Kansas City at Buffalo
Minnesota at Dallas
Tennessee at St. Louis
New Orleans at NY Jets
San Diego at Washington

Sunday Afternoon Games
Philadelphia at Oakland
Tampa Bay at Seattle
Baltimore at Cleveland
Pittsburgh at New England

Sunday Night Game
Indianapolis at Houston

Monday Night Game
Chicago at Green Bay

2013 NFL Week 8 Predictions

Another week has come and gone, and yet the NFL keeps on ticking. So do I, apparently. Here are my picks for this week in the NFL.

Thursday Night Game
Carolina @ Tampa Bay

Sunday Early Games
Dallas @ Detroit
Cleveland @ Kansas City
Miami @ New England
Buffalo @ New Orleans
NY Giants @ Philadelphia
San Francisco @ Jacksonville

Sunday Afternoon Games
Washington @ Denver
NY Jets @ Cincinnati
Pittsburgh @ Oakland
Atlanta @ Arizona

Sunday Night Game
Green Bay @ Minnesota

Monday Night Football
Seattle @ St. Louis

2013 NFL Week 7 Predictions

Another week, another set of predictions made early. This week has 1 great game, a few okay games, but the rest are games I wouldn't want to watch if I were blind, and since I'm obviously typing this, I'm not. It's not a pretty week for the NFL, and it's not a good season in general so far.

Thursday Night Game
Seattle @ Arizona

Sunday Early Games
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Chicago @ Washington
Dallas @ Philadelphia
New England @ NY Jets
Buffalo @ Miami
San Diego @ Jacksonville
St. Louis @ Carolina
Cincinnati @ Detroit

Sunday Afternoon Games
San Francisco @ Tennessee
Houston @ Kansas City
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Cleveland @ Green Bay

Sunday Night Game
Denver @ Indianapolis

Monday Night Game
Minnesota @ NY Giants

2013 NFL Week 6 Predictions

Hello again. Due to me being busy, I've decided to make my predictions earlier in the week so I can provide a more consistent schedule. While I may dislike making predictions on Tuesday and Wednesday, I feel it must be done going forward to maintain updates. With that in mind, here we go.

Thursday Game
NY Giants @ Chicago

Sunday Early Games
Carolina @ Minnesota
Green Bay @ Baltimore
Cincinnati @ Buffalo
Detroit @ Cleveland
Oakland @ Kansas City
Pittsburgh @ NY Jets
Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay
St. Louis @ Houston

Sunday Late Games
Jacksonville @ Denver
Tennessee @ Seattle
Arizona @ San Francisco
New Orleans @ New England

Sunday Night Game
Washington @ Dallas

Monday Night Game
Indianapolis @ San Diego

2013 NFL Week 4 Predictions

After a 2 week hiatus, I'm back with my weekly NFL picks. I'm sorry about missing the last two weeks, but I've been fighting medical issues as well as some personal issues. But nothing is stopping me this week, so here are my picks. I hope that I can return to my regular prediction schedule this time. And don't worry about last night's game, I'm writing this a couple of hours beforehand.

Thursday Game
San Francisco at St. Louis

Sunday Early Games
Baltimore at Buffalo
Arizona at Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh at Minnesota
NY Giants at Kansas City
Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Seattle at Houston
Cincinnati at Cleveland
Chicago at Detroit

Sunday Late Games
NY Jets at Tennessee
Washington at Oakland
Philadelphia at Denver
Dallas at San Diego

Sunday Night Game
New England at Atlanta

Monday Night Football
Miami at New Orleans

2013 NFL Season Week 1 Predictions

Welcome back everyone! I know it's been a while, but it was a bad summer for me. Some people, while I didn't know them, that have had an effect on my life, passed away this summer. It's hard to forget someone you remember so fondly. I hope we all try to interact with many people as we can before all of us pass on, so no one will ever truly be forgotten, and live on in peoples' hearts. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here for one reason, FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS!

The NFL returns tomorrow (okay, it technically returned Thursday, but no one counts that as the true opening of the season now, do they?), so it'd be a good time for me to make my NFL predictions this week for every game on the calendar. While I did miss Thursday's game, I will take it as a loss for sportsmanship purposes. Now, let's get to it.

*- Winners Denoted in BOLD
*- From Week 2 onward, I will only refer to teams by their City name with the exception of the Jets and Giants

Thursday, September 5
Baltimore Ravens @ Denver Broncos - No Pick

Sunday, September 8 - Early Games
New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills
Seattle Seahawks @ Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals @ Chicago Bears
Miami Dolphins @ Cleveland Browns
Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions
Oakland Raiders @ Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Jets
Tennessee Titans @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday, September 8 - Afternoon Games
Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals @ St. Louis Rams

Sunday, September 8 - Sunday Night Football
New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

Monday, September 9 - Monday Night Football
Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington Redskins
Houston Texans @ San Diego Chargers

Enjoy the return of Football everyone!

Animal Crossing New Leaf Review

The newest title in Nintendo’s daily village simulation series is here in the form of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS. The game, while similar to its predecessors introduces a lot of new features to give the series a much needed shot in the arm, even though its’ not quite as strong a dose as it needs to be to completely modernize the franchise. But through and through, New Leaf offers something old and new players alike to enjoy.

The main difference between this and previous entries is that the first player to start a game in a town is the new mayor for your town. This allows you to customize your town with various projects such as where bridges are built, what to build/upgrade, and giving Mr. Resetti his job back. You’re also allowed to change how you play the game, like if your town is up late at night, wealthy or beautiful. It’s a much welcome change of pace, especially to those of us who would like to play Animal Crossing after a long day of work, but can’t do anything because shops are closed and neighbors are asleep. Giving the player control of what to build livens up the pace of the game to make it feel more alive. While it can get frustrating sometimes to wait for new projects to arise, when they do, it’s exciting to have something new to look forward to in the game, and makes you want to earn bells faster to accommodate those new arrivals.

Speaking of bells, you’ll need a lot of them to complete these projects in a timely manner, but the game accommodates this by providing you even more ways to earn bells. The famous money rock now produces an extra bag for you to earn, a second shop allows you to sell various items to your neighbors more easily, you can earn 5,000 bells a day by updating your town through the dream suite, and last but not least, is the return of the island, which can earn you upwards of 100,000 bells per visit. Keep in mind that you will have to unlock this privilege however. In addition to spending bells on projects for your town, in tradition you can upgrade your house beyond what is necessary. You can build up to a total of six rooms and expand each room three times. This will be very time consuming since you can only do a single house upgrade per day and the maximum upgrades will cost nearly 600,000 bells a piece. Another new feature here is being able to upgrade the outside of your house, including your fence, mailbox, door, roof, siding, etc. These also count as house upgrades so they do get in the way of your standard upgrades on a day to day basis, but cost significantly less to do.

Another significant change here is special visitors, whereas in games prior you could have up to two special visitors per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. This has changed to a meager one per day, but in addition to that, they no longer appear in a set order with the exception of Joan, who still appears only on Sunday mornings. This gives players more time to talk to a special visitor, but it does slow the game down a bit, which is a theme for this game. A problem that arises from this is that while a visitor may only appear once per week as always, they are less likely to appear since only one of them can appear per day. In order to remedy most of these situations is the ability to visit other players’ towns, either locally or via the internet. This can help you get a fortune read from Katrina or a piece of artwork from Redd’s Gallery, or help you sell turnips at Re-Tail, a new shop, for ridiculous profit. While you don’t have an in-game friend code like previous iterations, you can register a few best friends via your in-game menu to see when they come online, which helps you coordinate playing with friends.

You can also play with random players online on the Island, which features several island tours for you to play. They take no more than 10 minutes each, in which you earn medals, which you can trade in for various goods at the island shop. This is a good way to play with people on the island so your personal island isn’t messed with by people you don’t know. Unfortunately, that’s where the changes to online end. The process is still painstakingly slow, taking up to a minute to enter and leave a town once it tells you that you’re connected. It’s frustrating that Nintendo can’t speed up this process after three iterations having online connectivity.

There is a more passive way to visit peoples’ towns this time in the form of the Dream Suite, an unlockable shop that allows players to enter the dream versions of towns. Unfortunately you can’t bring back any items with you, nor does anything you do affect the town you visit. It’s ultimately a nice way to get ideas about your own town and potentially get new designs, if the town owner allows it. By uploading your own town, you get bells daily as well. Along your every day chores is your inventory system, which, while being slightly revamped, is still the weakest part of the game and the most damaging. While you can now stack fruit, it doesn’t do so automatically. This goes the same for money, which isn’t automatically put into your Bells pocket. In addition to this, the game has more equipment items in the form of a megaphone, which allows you to call out for villagers walking around, and a wetsuit, which allows you to swim in the ocean and dive for sea creatures. While these are nice features, they complicate the problem with item management. Each piece of equipment takes up an inventory slot, and you will constantly have to juggle your inventory to make space for the items you want or need to carry. It’s tedious and honestly shocking that this hasn’t been remedied in some way over the course of the series’ history.

Animal Crossing New Leaf feels like the first true sequel in the series’ history. While previous entries have added new elements, they never really felt engaging enough to say ‘this is brand new’ to anyone. It’s definitely a lot more enjoyable than previous games, and at the time of this review being written, there’s still a handful of things I haven’t gotten to try out, including the game’s Street Pass functionality, as well a couple of the game’s stores, which will surely add more time to any players’ 3DS. While it may not be the end all be all the series needed, it’s definitely a much needed shot in the arm to get people excited about it again.

Score: 9/10
+ Lots of new things to do this time around
+ There are a lot more ways to earn money
+ A lot of nice, notable little touches that give this a bit of extra charm
- Inventory Management is an even bigger problem this time around
- Getting Project Recommendations is random and a chore
- Visiting/Inviting people is still a tedious process

New Super Luigi U Review

New Super Luigi U is a downloadable content expansion for New Super Mario Bros. U, where all of the original levels have been remixed into harder versions of themselves. While New Super Luigi U retains most of the original’s charms, like the story and 4-player cooperative play, it deviates itself by having less control over your player, which is what Luigi is notable for, to provide a more challenging experience. While difficulty has always been called lackluster in Mario, it mostly makes up for it in terms of its charm and level design. The challenge presented here, while greater, does not necessarily mean its’ for the better overall.

All levels in New Super Luigi sport 100 second time limit, in addition to the changed mechanics do provide a higher level of difficulty than in previous New Super Mario Bros. games. It makes most of the levels feel like they’re designed around a certain flow premise, where you’re focused to constantly move forward. They feel like levels from Donkey Kong Country Returns if you tried to speed run them and get all of the Star Coins in a single run. It’s very rewarding to accomplish everything in one go, especially when you master them. There are unfortunately a handful of levels that go against this premise, and are uniformly terrible. These levels generally feel mashed together in four or five different ways that cause frustration and anxiety beyond the point that they should. In one level, a simple Star Coin can become the bane of your existence while in another level it’s simply not designed for you to be doing what you’re doing, making it seemingly impossible to reach a stage’s end without being hit. It makes all of the good the rest of the game does feel worthless as some of the game’s toughest levels are in reality poorly executed death traps that reek of laziness.

Laziness is another thing that rears its’ ugly head in New Super Luigi U in multiple ways. The introduction is the exact same as the original, except Mario is missing from the scene and Nabbit follows you as your adventure begins. While it’s a minor complaint, the fact that none of the bosses are changed from the original is. For a game that remixes every level, the fact that the bosses are not changed at all is a deathblow to any hope that the experience within could be any better than the original.

Overall, New Super Luigi U, while worthy of the $20 price tag, is a disappointment. While some levels shine brilliantly, others are broken just as badly. Combined with some laziness, Luigi is once again relegated to a sideshow rather than the center stage.

Score: 7/10
+ Nice sense of flow in most stages
+ Good sense of challenge in most levels
- Some stages are abhorrent in quality
- Finding some secret levels is complete trial and error without a guide
- Re-used Boss Fights

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon Review

The original Luigi’s Mansion is one of those games that ended up being just an interesting concept. While the gameplay still remains fine, it’s ultimately simple and relatively short. It may have some replay value, but it’s not really rewarding to play again. The sequel, developed by Next Level Games looks to build on that original concept and make a better experience.

The story here is simple; the dark moon has been destroyed, causing all of the ghosts in the world to go crazy. It’s now up to the mighty Luigi to restore the power of the dark moon to turn the ghosts back to normal. Your main goal is to receive a piece of the dark moon from each of the game’s five mansions, which have varying themes. The first mansion being your standard haunted house and it sets up a good tone and atmosphere for the game. The lighting is great, along with the game’s animations, which help sell that the game has some polish to it. The game does have a few framerate problems, sometimes hitting 60 and other times getting in the single digits. It’s fine for the most part, but it is a noticeable issue at parts.

Another notable issue is that the game does get frustrating in some places, leaving you wandering around levels aimlessly with no clue at what you need to do. The same goes for a couple of bosses later on that might take you hours, but fortunately for this review, were handled with ease. Beyond the game not giving you many clues and a few unforgiving boss fights, the game gives you a few upgrades to make the game proceed smoother, including upgrades to your Dark Light and Poltergust’s power. It’s a nice progression path that exemplifies the game’s good pacing. While the controls might feel better if there was an option to use the Circle Pad Pro, they do what they need to do well enough and aren’t frustrating or hand-cramping.

A new addition to this installment is multiplayer, both local and online in the form of the Scarescraper, which allows you to play with up to three other players as you traverse up to 25 floors in ghost hunting fun. Levels are randomized, and the money you earn also carries over with you to single player, which is a welcome feature. It’s something that if you want to continue playing is the mode you’ll want to go back to, since going for missing collectibles, Boos and 3-star ranks in single player is an ordeal not many will find the urge to do.

Overall, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon is a fun, lengthy but ultimately forgettable experience. There’s not much in the way of memorable music or enemies, but the animations and multiplayer are worth experiencing. It’s a nice entry into the series and hopefully Nintendo will build on it in the future, hopefully with a bit more personality.

Overall Score: 8 out of 10
+ Animations
+ Multiplayer
+ Good Pacing
- Some frustrating puzzles
- Enemies are forgettable
- Framerate problems

The Embarrassment that is the Canadians

Last night the Montreal Canadians were handily defeated in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at the hands of the Ottawa Senators by a score of 6 to 1. While that is in and of itself a complete joke of a score, the true embarrassment from this game comes from the fact that the game featured 236 penalty minutes, 129 for Montreal and 107 for Ottawa. By the end of the game, both teams had around 5 players left on their benches, so 10-11 players total. All in all, this was a complete embarrassment for the stories Montreal Canadians franchise and its' fans.

After the game, Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said 'they did that to themselves' in response to a question of whether or not the timeout he called with 17 seconds left was to embarrass the Canadians or not. At 7:04 of the third period, 5 fights broke out at once, resulting in 20 penalties, 8 of which were game misconducts and 10 were 5-minute majors for fighting. What's so embarrassing about this? The fact that Montreal did not win one of these fights. You'd think by the law of averages that they'd win at least one, but no, they didn't. A smaller, more agile team taking on a tougher team is never a good formula for winning fights in the NHL, and Montreal reiterated that with their pathetic attempt at machismo last night.

The Canadians players embarrassed themselves last night, as well as their fans, who probably aren't waking up to put on their traditional colors this morning. The Ottawa Senators proved a point last night, and that's that the Canadians can't beat the Senators at their own game, and if they try it, they'll get embarrassed yet again, and probably worse next time as well.

2013 NHL Playoffs: A Primer

The 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin tonight, and as always, I thought I'd do a pre-show discussion of what the first round matchups entail, and maybe some predictions as well. I haven't been completely vested in this year's playoffs due to the strike as well as concentrating on other things, but the Playoffs is really what Hockey season is all about. It's the shining city on the hill for any hockey fan, regardless if you're team is in it or not...unless you're a Panthers fan.

Eastern Conference
#1 - Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #8 - New York Islanders
While the Penguins handily won the season series, these two haven't played each other in a month, which includes the time when the Islanders didn't lose in regulation for 11 straight games. The Islanders are playing good hockey at the right time, and I think given the heated nature between these two teams, surprisingly, I think this will go deep. It may not go 7 games, but I expect the Islanders to give the Penguins trouble before bowing out.
Pittsburgh wins 4-2

#2 - Montreal Canadians vs. #7 - Ottawa Senators
This is a match-up that I'm not too familiar with, so when I say that Montreal will have home ice in all games played in this series, don't take it to heart. Anderson for the Senators has played great all season, including the last week of the regular season. Montreal has struggled of late, but they might have turned it around during their final two regular season games against Winnipeg and Toronto. Time will tell, but Montreal does have the advantage here.
Montreal wins 4-1

#3 - Washington Capitals vs. #6 - New York Rangers
While this match-up seems to happen every year, it doesn't. It's only happened four of the past five years, with the Rangers taking last year's contest in 7 games. Both teams, particularly the Rangers were better last year. The difference here is that the Capitals are playing much better this year than last year, and instead of playing overwhelmingly defense, the Capitals are playing a more aggressive style of hockey of late, losing only twice in April, both to the Ottawa Senators. That's what I think is the key difference in this series from last year.
Washington wins 4-2

#4 - Boston Bruins vs. #5 - Toronto Maple Leafs
Both Boston and Toronto are entering the Playoffs at a tough stretch, struggling to gain footing. A week ago, the Bruins were poised to take the 2 seed, but couldn't get enough points down the stretch by blowing lead after lead. The Maple Leafs haven't looked good since clinching a playoff birth, and even before looked to be a bit jittery with their current position. If the Bruins were playing good hockey, I'd say they'd win this one in a walk, but since both are struggling, both will probably try to use this series to rebound, but I think Boston's experience prevails here.
Boston wins 4-3


Western Conference
#1 - Chicago Blackhawks vs. #8 - Minnesota Wild
This is the only series that I look at and say 'chalk.' The Blackhawks are playing well, and the Wild barely got in, and probably only in part because they played the Colorado Avalanche in their final game.
Chicago wins 4-0

#2 - Anaheim Ducks vs. #7 - Detroit Red Wings
The Ducks have flown under the radar all season. While they have a great offense, none of their players have more than 15 goals, showing the depth and teamwork they have. However, they now face a team that's bested them all year long, the Red Wings, who are playing at the heights that are expected of them. With that in mind, I expect this one to go their way, in a not-so-surprising upset.
Detroit wins 4-2

#3 - Vancouver Canucks vs. #6 - San Jose Sharks
This is another series that I'm not really inclined to against the season series on. Both have loads of playoff experience, and both have profound disappointment in their playoff results. It seems like the perfect time that both of these teams face one another.
San Jose wins 4-2

#4 - St. Louis Blues vs. #5 - Los Angeles Kings
These two faced each other during last year's playoffs, but the difference here is that Los Angeles isn't on a massive spree of wins as the lowly 8 seed. Both of these teams are built to win in the Playoffs, but only one will win, and I like the reigning Champions here.
Los Angeles wins 4-3

Tomb Raider Review

Tomb Raider is a reboot wherein Lara Croft and her friends are marooned from a shipwreck and must make it out alive. Tomb Raider is not your traditional Tomb Raider game, wherein the game is mostly akin to Uncharted in terms of combat, platforming and puzzle solving. In addition, the game is an origin story of the character wherein she’s not a sarcastic, wise-cracking superstar, but a girl fresh out of college looking to make her mark on the world. While many fans were worried about this new endeavor, ultimately, fortunately, it’s a solid title with many strong elements, albeit not new or in the heart of what makes the series what it was known for.

Tomb Raider doesn’t exactly start off on the right foot, both in terms of the story being depicted and how it was executed. The first 10 minutes of the game are hilariously awful, wherein Lara Croft goes from daring acrobat, jumping across 20 foot gaps with the greatest of ease to having fears of crossing a log over a towering waterfall and back again. This sort of early inconsistency is a problem in terms of the story’s foundation, making it look rocky and therefore hard to get into the story for later, more pivotal moments. While these things do happen later on, it’s not as jarring or as it is early on.

A strong point that the game does set early on though is its’ atmosphere, which is really in line with a deserted island might look like. The game’s graphics are no slouch either, displaying some very impressive cinematic set-pieces and vistas along the way. The game also has very good weather effects, ranging from wind to snow to rain. Lara also has various animations for these, like holding her arms in front of her to push herself against the wind and grabbing both of her arms in the snow. They’re nice little touches that show that Lara isn’t immune to the elements. A problem graphically, however, is Lara’s face, which is terrible, especially compared to what is on the box art, the opening cutscene and various pieces of pre-release media. It doesn’t well, and it’s something that doesn’t look right no matter how many times you see it.

Another problem with Lara is her voice actress, which is sub-par. Her performance brings down the rest of the cast, since her tone is inconsistent and in some places loses her accent, making you wonder if Lara is actually British or not. It’s disappointing when this happens, especially when voice is heavily relied upon for the story and collectibles you pick up through the game. Diaries and notes give you insight into the island’s history as well as Lara and her friends. They’re nice touches, but they do interrupt the flow of the gameplay since they bring the back to a screeching halt. Most of these are voiced well, but a few lack the energy and passion that most have, and takes you out of the experience as a result.

One of the bigger gripes with the game is its’ narrative, which is sloppy and lazy. The biggest complaint is Lara Croft’s handling, wherein she goes from defenseless and uncertain to a psychopath. It’s not a good character arc to have a character go from having issues with killing animals and wondering how it was so easy to kill someone to eventually wishing death upon every enemy she comes across. As someone who was never really a fan of Lara Croft, I can’t say what was depicted is any better than before. Lara, as a character is the only one to have a defining arc, while everyone else is a stereotype. Lara may impress some people, but it’s only because there’s nothing near comparable. Lara does everything, and that’s consistent throughout. She is the star, a black star at that, and everything takes a back seat to it, including the game’s poor story and villain, which are forgettable. The message the narrative sends is misguided, and is based entirely on the game’s combat.

What Lara did to become a survivor, is what is depicted in the game’s combat. Lara is given a bow, and along the way picks up some guns and a pickaxe. The highlights are definitely the bow, which gets several upgrades as well as the tomahawk for close-quarters combat. The combat scenarios are tiring overall since the game focuses too much on it. This makes the combat feel less rewarding, since firefights can go on for 10 minutes at a time. The game does have an excellent passive cover system, which puts Lara into cover without the need for a button, which frees up the controller for dodging/rolling. The game could’ve solved its’ combat woes by balancing it with more puzzle solving, Platforming and tomb raiding, of which there is little of. These are extremely simple, and considering they’re a core foundation of the series, it’s disheartening to see them put in the background as something that’s viewed as a throwaway part of the game.

Instead the game places emphasis on the narrative and other modern game tropes like quick time events, slow-walking and passive interaction sections; all of these are terrible and the game would be better without them. The game would also be better if it didn’t have multiplayer tacked-on, although while it doesn’t “change the way you’ll play Tomb Raider forever” it doesn’t take away from the single player experience. Tomb Raider has a lot of polish. It’s a decent reboot the series and while some things are not great, by subtracting some things and putting more emphasis on others, the series might be able to flourish again.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

+ Good Visual Design
+ Good Combat Mechanics
+ The multiplayer doesn’t detract from the game
+ More than the sum of its parts
- A lack of soul (Platforming, Puzzles, Tombs are throwaway)
- Narrative is misguided, forgettable
- Bad Character Arc for Lara Croft
- Bad Combat Scenarios

The Accessibility of Fighters

Growing up during the age of the Super Nintendo brought me into the fighting game genre. The popularity of games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat attracted a lot of attention, especially when those games were brought to home consoles. People may remember the controversy surrounding Mortal Kombat for fatalities and the lack of blood on the SNES version, but for me being a kid who didn't know any better, I just sat there and played the CPU on ever-increasing difficulties to improve my skills. Over time I drifted apart from fighting games and the scene. I played Super Smash Bros., but that really wasn't the same. What brought me back was Street Fighter IV and the hype surrounding it. A few years later and here we are, at the end of another generation where it seems history is repeating itself.

Throughout the PS1/PS2 era, fighting games became a lot harder, becoming more technique-based and frame precise. They required a lot more skill and thus, the genre fell out of favor until the return of Street Fighter IV. When it revived the genre, fight sticks, tournaments and online video streams became popular ways to engage ones' self in the culture that is the fighting game. But what made these games popular again? A lot of hype and dumbing down the difficulty that made them inaccessible in the first place, which is the point of this article. Today I'll be looking at the accessibility of certain fighting games based on five criteria:

- How good the training/trials mode is
- How punishing is the AI on the lowest difficulty
- How clear the directions in the game are
- How easy is it to make inputs for combo strings?
- How easy is it for new players to get better?

For clarity's sake, I will be using the most recent release of a mainline series, so that means I will not be looking at Street Fighter X Tekken. Let's get started, shall we?

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2013
#1 - Training Mode: 2.5/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 4/5
#3 - Directions: 1.5/5
#4 - Combos Strings: 3/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 4/5

The AI in Street Fighter IV series has by and large been consistent. It offers varying degrees of challenge that do improve your play, but the game can get a bit overbearing on some of the harder difficulty levels, as well as being a bit too forgiving on easier ones. Combo strings are somewhat forgiving except for the more trickier combos, but the game does a good job at balancing efforts so you don't necessarily need to use them. A major problem this game has is its' training mode and the directions it gives the player. There's very little of it. While it may tell you a button prompt string, it never tells you to get in stances needed to perform certain moves, nor does it make it easy to find out. While Street Fighter IV does a lot right, and is the preferable pick-up fighting game for anyone, it does a lot wrong to try and get new players good.

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
#1 - Training Mode: 4/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 3/5
#3 - Directions: 3/5
#4 - Combo Strings: 2/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 3.5/5

Virtua Fighter 5 excels at its' training mode, which not only asks you to perform certain moves, but allows you to see them in action and understand where certain inputs are needed. While it may be hard to execute these moves, it is a major step above every other fighter out there in terms of trying to get the player to understand frame data. A problem the game has comes from its' AI, which is somewhat punishing, and makes it harder for new players to feel like they're getting any better. Street Fighter IV has the same problem, where AI on the same difficulty can range from a joke to murderous. It's discouraging that there isn't a solid balance between characters and makes it harder for players to know if they're getting better at it or not.

Dead or Alive 5
#1 - Training Mode: 4/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 2/5
#3 - Directions: 3/5
#4 - Combo Strings: 4.5/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 3.5/5

A lot of DOA5's increase in skill comes from the AI, or the luck of the draw. The AI here has 2 distinct movesets: Almost nothing at all or Magic. By magic I mean the AI reads your button inputs from time to time and counters every single move you have. The game does this on every single difficulty, and only gets worse the tougher you make the AI. Other than that, the game is extremely accessible with it being a 4 button game, or 2 if you just want to attack. The game's training mode is very basic, but it is very encouraging since you only need to perform moves to do them, not hit your opponent. Although the game could be a bit more clear on directions as it is confusing at times to know what inputs are which for combos, but once you get combos, they're easy to pull off. More importantly, the more you play, you do seem to get better, even though the AI does get in your way randomly at times, which makes it rather frustrating. If you're looking to get into 3D fighting games, this is probably your best bet.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2
#1 - Training Mode: 1.5/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 1.5/5
#3 - Directions: 1/5
#4 - Combo Strings: 1.5/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 1.5/5

TTT2 is not for the weak at heart. While it tries to ease people into it through it's Combot Training mode, it's poorly implemented. Directions are given out while you're active, meaning it's very easy to miss directions that you can't read over again, until you lose at least. You read correctly, you can lose in the tutorial of this, which is roughly 3 hours in length assuming you don't lose. The AI is also another one of those 'MAGIC' systems where the AI will read your inputs from time to time, but it's worse here since the game will prevent you from recovering more. The fact that TTT2's combat is extremely stiff, meaning it's hard to pull off combos and enjoy it, it's a hard sell to anyone who's looking to get into a 3D fighting game. It's for experts only, and it doesn't really seem to understand that it does a poor job of getting people into it.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
#1 - Training Mode: 2.5/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 3.5/5
#3 - Directions: 3.5/5
#4 - Combo Strings: 4.5/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 3/5

UMVC3 has the same problem SSF4 has, in that the game gives you very little direction on how to get better or perform some of the most basic moves. While you can succeed without them, you'll quickly come to realize that these mechanics are things you learned by random chance instead of careful understanding of the mechanics. The AI is mostly fair, and is heavily dependent on your skill, but since the game is very lenient with combo strings, it's a nice time to be had by all, especially given its' flashy nature. I can't recommend this higher than SSF4, but if you understand that game well enough, this is a fair enough compliment to it to help you understand both better.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
#1 - Training Mode: 1/5
#2 - AI Challenge: 5/5
#3 - Directions: 2.5/5
#4 - Combo Strings: 4/5
#5 - Increase of Skill: 5/5

I know people will instantly discredit me by bringing this up, but hear me out. The key that makes Brawl stand out here, even if you don't like it or don't consider Smash Bros. to be a fighting game series, is that the game clearly defines AI difficulty, and because of it you can feel yourself getting better at the game, allowing you to increase the challenge at your leisure through basic play. It also never feels like the AI is performing moves you yourself can't, which is something a lot of other fighters do. While there is a sandbox type training mode, it's mostly throwaway. The same goes for directions, while simple, the game simply doesn't make it easy for you to find out where these directions are in-game. At least with other fighting games, you at least understand how to perform a punch, a kick, a fireball, etc. Brawl, and the series as a whole doesn't do that, so it is something they could improve upon. If you're looking to get into fighting games, this is a good starting point, but perhaps not the starting point one would technically look for since it's not as skill dependent as most.

While there are a lot of fighting game fans out there, there are a lot of ways for that group of people to increase. Fighting games have done a lot to try and cater to new players, but there is still a ways to go before it can be something a lot bigger than it currently is right now. Hopefully series like Tekken take note and follow before there is no one else to play it. As it stands, fighting games are popular, and will only get popular if they become more accessible to those interested in playing, but may not know how to play.

If you would like me to look at another fighting game that I may have missed, please post a comment below and I'll see if I can check it out.

PS4: Fourward

After months of speculation, Sony has unveiled the Playstation 4...sort of. While Sony unveiled a few games, partners, system features and tech, they never showed the box. While unimportant at this stage of the game, it was one of a few questions raised going through the show and afterwards. Some have been answered, others not so much. So let's run down the list of important features and announcements, shall we?


The Name: Playstation 4
While may proclaim that "Four" in Japanese is close to the meaning of "death" Sony threw caution to the wind of this fake myth by calling it the Playstation 4 or PS4 for short. I applaud Sony for keeping it simple and avoiding naming confusion like the Xbox 360 and Wii U.

The Dualshock 4
The leaks provided by Destructoid and later Kotaku were true, the Dualshock 4 will have a Move light on top of it, concave triggers, a larger d-pad, a touch-pad, wider handles, a headphone jack, a speaker and share/options buttons (replacing the Start/Select buttons). Overall I prefer the look of the prototype as it was more basic and had a Vita-like d-pad. The Move light looks like something out of Tron, so it sticks out in an unnatural way. The sticks look fine and the pad keeps its' traditional face buttons. It looks like it'd make a great replacement for 360 controllers on PC as well.

The Hardware
The PS4 will surprisingly have 8gb of GDDR5 ram, up from the rumored 4gb. This is a huge change since it not only matches Microsoft in terms of ram amount, but destroys them at the same time in terms of speed; Microsoft is rumored to have 8gb of GDDR3 ram, which is much slower. The CPU will be x86 based and the GPU will support 1.84 TFLOPS, up from the rumored 1.8. However the CPU will only have 8 cores from the rumored 12, showing a significant change in focus from the PS3, which is in-line with PC specs today in terms of design philosophy. It's a nice step up in power from PS3 and should be a lot easier to develop for, but this does come with a price.

No Backwards Compatibility
While not unexpected, it was announced that PS4 won't support PS3/PS2/PS1 games natively, but instead will be rolled in phases through Gaikai. With that, you will be able to stream older digital titles you buy instead of having native compatibility/support for these titles. It's a bad idea all around as streaming technology is nowhere near where it needs to be to work, especially for graphically intensive games. For older titles, it makes no sense to not have local support and is a slap in the face to long-time Playstation fans, especially when the system is more than capable of emulation PS1 and PS2 games locally.

Share
One of the buttons on the Dualshock 4 is "Share," which is a new PS4 feature to the hardware. The system will constantly record the last 10 minutes of gameplay for you, so you can upload screenshots and videos to various sites directly from your console. It's also possible for your friends to jump in from across PSN and help you out in spots that you get stuck in. These all sound like good ideas, but the implementation of it seems perplexing and very pie in the sky. They sound like ideas of local play but implemented through the internet, something that's novel for some things. But ultimately it seems like it could cause privacy issues as well as alienate many single-player gamers, especially since PS4 comes with its' own camera.

Not Kinect
During the Presentation, a new look Eyetoy was seen in Presentations and looks to be part of the final package. It features 2 cameras on a long bar that will keep track of your controller. It remains to be seen if you can be the controller or not, but it shows that Sony is up to its' old tricks again when it comes to "innovation" by using what others have and claim it as their own. For what purposes will it be used remains to be seen but it is disheartening to see.

Used Games
After the conference, it was confirmed to Eurogamer that PS4 will play used games. A truly positive note for once.

The Games
For the most part, the games were steps up from current generation consoles. I don't believe they were jumps people were expecting, but things like Killzone Shadow Fall, Infamous Second Son and Square Enix's laughable retread of the Luminous Engine were disappointing. The only bright spot was Capcom's internal engine tech demo of a game called "Deep Down" which seemed similar to Monster Hunter and Dark Souls. It's questionable if it was a target render or real time, but it was still the only thing worth watching as Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's initial gateway drug into Next Gen floundered with screen tearing and framerate drops. At least Sony teamed up with Blizzard for Diablo 3 on PS3 and PS4, right? Right? For the most important part of the show, nothing showed me why this platform is worth buying on Day 1, especially since my older games will have to be rebought if I want to play them.


Overall - 6 out of 10
Sony's conference was a lot of fluff. While it all sounded nice in theory, there wasn't much real world execution seen. I remain skeptical of next gen even more so than before. While developers have been given more power and tools to work with, it seems once again, before last gen, that not many are going to use these tools for anything other than pretty graphics. The cost of entry to PS4 remains a question, as well as the cost of the services they are proposing. If they are high, Sony may fail once again and be forced to bow out from a race that they were formally called "King."

Console Gaming's Troubles are about to get Worse

Console gaming has a lot of problems associated with it nowadays. "Cinematic experiences." "Mainstream gaming." "DLC," "Online Passes," "appeal to newcomers," and more. A lot of problems exist because of the DS and Wii, and the notion that there was a large portion of people out there that want to play games, but didn't because nothing appealed to them. Their success led Microsoft and Sony to adopt their own method of motion control gaming, Kinect and Move respectively. While Move is now nowhere to be seen, Kinect seems like it's about to get a new pair of glasses with Microsoft's next generation console. But don't worry, Sony might be coming along for the ride too.

A lot of the dangers that I described can really be bundled into one core problem with game design. Games nowadays are designed for one playthrough. You buy it, you enjoy it, you sell it back to Gamestop for the next game. Essentially, it's a beverage. You get one, open it, take a few minutes to enjoy and then you're done. A few hours later you get another one. There's very little staying power with games nowadays and publishers see that as a problem. So they like to add things like downloadable content to games so you'll keep it a little while longer in the hopes that you won't sell it until the price of it becomes negligible or you buy the DLC and keep it. Another thing is online passes, which is something EA created and others adopted in 2009 or so to prevent people who bought games used from playing games online without paying a $10 fee. If you bought the game new you got a code. This was done to entice people who look at used game prices compared to new ones and go with the latter. Until then, used games were sold at $5 cheaper than normal, but with a $10 online pass that'd make it more expensive. But used game retailers just lowered the price of these games an additional $10-$15 so the fight over $5 came back to square one. While retailers were offering less money to people for used games after that, margins stayed consistent for these retailers.

But why am I describing to you a basic business scenario that occurs multiple times a day? Because it appears that this business practice is being threatened with the upcoming generation of consoles, outside of the Wii U mind you. While games today have no staying power, publishers have constantly wanted gamers to keep their games forever, even though the problem is simple: Their games may not be worth keeping. I'm not saying all developers are bad, but some developers have problems understanding what's wrong with their games and thus blame others for poor sales results. Right now, sales of the Wii U hardware and software are poor. Why? There's no key software driving Nintendo fans and hardcore gamers to buy the system and the third party software that is there are mostly late ports that run on par or worse than what other versions offer, in addition to being more expense on Wii U. That's not really a recipe for success. But why customers for these results? Why punish them by discontinuing support when the effort put forth was not good enough to begin with? This isn't just a Wii U problem, but an industry-wide epidemic that has gone on for too long.

Unfortunately, it looks like this will lead to the industry's downfall. Rumors are circulating that next generation consoles will prevent used games from being played on them. Additionally, games on them may always require an online connection to play games on them. And finally, these systems will not be backwards compatible with current generation hardware and games. These changes to the landscape of gaming look only to limit an already shrinking marketplace. This generation has seen a tremendous growth in the number of people who play games. But at the same time it has seen a growth in anti-consumer behavior by both developers and publishers that have driven these consumers away. If any or all of what is listed above come true, the hardcore gamers of today will leave and thus the industry will fail once again.

Used games are big part of the economy in the games industry. They drive people to trade in games they no longer desire to play towards the purchase of newer games. Publishers are not too keen on used games sales. By implementing policies like Day 1/on-disc DLC and online passes, it inconveniences the consumer, as well angers them that content was potentially cut from the game's initial release. Gamestop was recently quoted as saying as many as 60% of consumers would refuse to buy a game console that didn't allow for used games to be played on them. It may not happen, and while I don't like used games, a game preventing used games to be played on it means that console will not come into my place of residence. Even though used games is a huge discussion openly, it's not the most pressing issue, always online connectivity most certainly is.

While we live in an ever-connected society, the internet is ever fickle. It's not consistent or commonplace as water or electricity. It will be over time, but now is not the time. What's being proposed with an always-online connection is simple, in order to keep playing the game you want to play, your internet must always be up. If it wobbles, lags or falters, your game becomes instantly unplayable. This is a policy that Ubisoft adopted for PC games for roughly 18 months before dropping it due to complaints and the fact that hackers got around it very easily. This is a huge problem and it's ultimately not something that will be discussed when someone goes to buy one of these machines in the future. The idea that a game can instantly become worthless because your internet doesn't work or because their servers are taken down is insulting. EA takes down their sports games' servers every 3-4 years, depending on popularity. This basically makes every EA game going forward potentially worthless and its' worrysome. Another example: What if Original Xbox games required you to be online in order to play them? Right now, if that were true, those games would be 100% unplayable in any capacity since Microsoft pulled the plug on the original Xbox Live service. Who's to say it won't happen again?

Considering that these systems won't be compatible with current generation games, it makes it even more likely that this will happen. Considering that Nintendo offers backwards compatibility with Wii games, their Virtual Console games, their DS and DSiWare games, a company that isn't quite up to par in terms of online standards believes in such a practice when Sony and Microsoft don't is maddening. Why? Because iOS allows for backwards compatibility. So does Android. If you bought a game or App on an earlier version of that software, it works on newer devices. How can Microsoft and Sony take such a step back when it's becoming commonplace and not a rarity? Digital Goods are being tied to the consumer, not the hardware. If Microsoft and Sony try to take away these goods from consumers going forward it will only put them in more of a hole. And it will leave everyone in the industry wondering 'how did this happen?'

The answer is simple: You bit the hand that fed you. They don't feed you anymore. They saw your petulant attitude and let you starve. "It was for their own good" they said, and they were right. The console market is shrinking, and the games industry is in danger of collapsing. Big budget games are dying and for the past 3 years software sales have plummeted. So why do industry big wigs think this is going to continue? It's not. And ultimately, that's when gaming dies once again. Because like most dinosaurs, the answer is simple: Adapt or Die. No one is truly adapting to the marketplace. They're only dying.

Super Bowl XLVII Analysis

Hello for the final time during this NFL season. Today I will be looking at Super Bowl XLVII (47), featuring a matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. It's been a long year, and I'm sort of sad to see it end; but at the same time, thank goodness it's finally ending. Let's cut to the chase, shall we?

AFC Champions: Baltimore Ravens
- AFC North Champions
- 10-6 record (13-6 including the Playoffs)

vs.

NFC Champions: San Francisco 49ers
- NFC West Champions
- 11-4-1 record (13-4-1 including the Playoffs)


Scheduled Kickoff: 6:15pm Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, February 3rd


Baltimore Offense vs. San Francisco Defense
Baltimore's strength during the regular season predominantly lied on their running back, Ray Rice. Rice ran for over 1,100 yards and 9 touchdowns, and had over 475 receiving yards and 1 touchdown this season as well. In the postseason however, it has been Joe Flacco, a quarterback of seemingly questionable talent, that has led the Ravens to victory over the past couple of games, notably in Denver where his late game touchdown pass saved their season. They will match themselves up against a San Francisco defense that hasn't played great over the past month of the season, but stepped up big against Atlanta in the NFC Championship game, allowing 0 points in the second half, allowing them to make a comeback. Over the last few years, a hot defense with solid offensive play has determined who would win the Super Bowl. Last year, it was the Giants, the year before it was the Packers. Considering Baltimore has the hot hand this year, I give the advantage to the Ravens here. Joe Flacco has been a big game quarterback for a long time, having played well in almost every playoff game he's been in. It should be no surprise to anyone that he's played well this off-season and yet, his play has been surprising to most. In reality, he's the most clutch quarterback remaining in the playoffs and has been since it started. He's won a playoff game every year he's been in the league, he's won on the road, against Pittsburgh, Denver and now New England. So why is his play when it counts the most surprising when he's always done it? It's not.


San Francisco Offense vs. Baltimore Defense
The battle here is a tale of age. A young, hot offense with an athletic quarterback versus an aging defense with its' leader riding off into the sunset afterwards. This, if you find it hard to understand, is the same battle that the Baltimore Ravens faced 4 weeks ago against the Indianapolis Colts, although the challenge here is a bit harder. San Francisco is primarily a run first offense that can throw well. Stopping the run for the Ravens has been a problem for the last few seasons due to an aging front seven. This should play into San Francisco's hands if the game is close for most of the first half. However, if the game gets into a battle of offense fisticuffs like I think it will, San Francisco has to deal with Baltimore's corners which are some of the best in the league, including Ed Reed, who is notorious for interceptions in big situations. While he may not make his presence known, he's there. While the Ravens were lit up by Peyton Manning's arm, needless to say, Colin Kapernick is no Peyton Manning. This is where I give the Ravens the advantage. While the 49ers are a great running team and can dominate the Ravens defensive front, if it gets into a battle where they need to play from behind they won't be able to throw on Baltimore's defense.


Conclusion and Prediction
Given my analysis, along with how the two have played in the playoffs, I believe this year's Super Bowl Champions will be the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens have the hot hand right now, as well as having the experience of playing in the big game, along with the leadership to guide the young players to a Championship. While San Francisco is a young team, they have very little Championship experience to lead them through the hype and glitter that comes with it. The Ravens have wanted another Super Bowl for the last few years, and now that they have another chance, I can't see them leaving New Orleans without the Vince Lombardi Trophy.


Final Score: Baltimore - 24, San Francisco - 13

Enjoy the Super Bowl everyone!

DmC Devil May Cry Review

When DmC Devil May Cry was announced at GamesCom in 2010, many fans believed it would be the death of their beloved franchise. While they viewed Devil May Cry 4 in somewhat of a mixed light, it provided the combat and difficulty necessities they desired in a DMC game. Given that Ninja Theory’s expertise was in storytelling and not combat, this left a lot to wonder if the development team could provide a deep combat system to entice players to coming back to a party where they were told they were unwelcome.

The good news is that DmC’s strongest feature is in its’ core combat mechanics. While it’s not as deep as previous Devil May Cry games, it’s fun and engaging. Switching from Rebellion to your Angel or Demon weapon on the fly makes it thrilling to beat enemies up to get your style meter up. While the Style Meter has been adjusted to make it easier for newer players to rank better than they’re actually doing, it doesn’t really take away from the game’s enjoyment unless you miss the older scoring system. You’ll also miss a lock-on button. While some Capcom testers have said that lock-on is neither needed nor missed, that is factually false. Instead, the gameplay relies on having two buttons dedicated to dodge, with no differences between them. The lack of lock-on is baffling, and in later fights leads to severe issues with camera and targeting enemies you don’t want to hit or can’t hit due to having the wrong weapon out.

However, what hurts the combat is that there are certain enemies in the game that require you to use an Angel or Demon weapon against them to kill them. This hurts the game’s pacing, and it shows an uneven design. Whereas you can kill most Demon enemies quickly, Angel enemies are tedious and a chore to fight, sometimes taking minutes to down one of them. Outside of these quirks, the game’s challenge is minimal, even on Nephilim, the game’s default Hard Mode. Enemies are slow, dumb and dealt with mostly by force. The game’s checkpoints upon death are also user friendly, having you start back at the beginning of the fight you last died on with full health. It’s nice that it caters to the casual player so much, and gets you back into the action quickly.

The game has several pacing issues outside of combat as well. Some levels, while beautifully designed and aesthetically interesting, can range anywhere from five to 25 minutes. It’s uneven, and bizarre that a level can last two minutes while the next one is over 30. The game’s first mission has you going through a Demon Carnival and a Mansion, which are excellent designed and paced. One of the better looking levels has Dante going through rounds of fights in a demon world version of a nightclub. It’s a brilliant level, with excellent visuals and music along with some interesting fights. But, like the rest of the game, what comes after is astonishingly bad. Boss fights in DmC are truly a low point for the series. While some are visually interesting, ultimately the fights are dull, simple and feel out of place. Some regular enemies in the game pose a more significant threat to you than any of the game’s boss fights, including the game’s anti-climactic boss fight, which comes out of nowhere from a narrative perspective.

Speaking of, the game’s story is genuinely dreadful. While the game starts out with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek nature, it quickly turns to being super serious and never lets up. The problem is it’s not cute, it’s not clever, it’s not edgy and it’s not good. Some of the moments in the story are absolutely repulsive and should not be applauded by anyone. It just gets in the way of what you’re trying to do, play the game. The characters and scenarios in the game are also poorly written. There’s very little motivation to hate certain characters and while you’re supposed to applaud the heroes, more often than not the game gives you moments where you will shake your head at their actions. It’s juvenile and gives the sense that it’s better than it actually is.

The fundamental gameplay of DmC is strong; it has a good user interface as excites you when you expand your arsenal. It will anger and depress you through its’ poor focus on characters and story interaction all while getting in the way of you enjoying the game. It may be worth your time, but for how long and how much is entirely up to you. It’s got a lot of negativity surrounding it, and not from fan backlash.


Score: 7 out of 10
+ Good Combat
+ Nice Visuals
- Poor Story and Characters
- No Challenge
- 30fps on Consoles

NFL 2012 Championship Predictions

The Conference Championships are here, and with that, comes predictions.


San Francisco 49ers @ Atlanta Falcons
3:00pm EST - Fox
I expect this game to a be low scoring affair that is in line with last year's NFC Championship Game. But unlike last year, San Francisco will come out on top in this one due to their defense. While Atlanta is known for winning close games, eventually, they will have to lose one, and today is that game.

San Francisco - 17, Atlanta - 10


Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots
6:30pm EST - CBS
While this one is a rematch from last year's Championship Game, expect no less drama and excitement. These two teams know how to play each other and it's almost always great. While Baltimore is a considerable underdog, Ray Lewis is a great motivator, and I think he's saved his greatest motivation for this final drive. While the Patriots have a great offense and good defense, the Ravens are this year's magic team, like the Giants and Packers before them.

Baltimore - 24, New England - 20

NFL 2012 Divisional Round Predictions

I have been busy/sick again this week and I forgot to put this up. Here's a quick version of it:

Baltimore over Denver

San Francisco over Green Bay

Atlanta over Seattle

New England over Houston


I'll do a more in-depth analysis next week, I promise.

NFL 2012 NFC Wild Card Round Analysis

With one half of my analysis already complete, it's time to look at the NFC side of the playoff tree. One matchup is a divisional rivalry while the other is a playoff matchup that seems to show up pretty often as of late.

#6 - Minnesota Vikings @ #3 - Green Bay Packers
Saturday, January 5th, 8:00pm EST
While the Packers are two years removed from their last Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers has become the quiet talk of the league for best quarterback. He's led the team to a 9-2 record down the stretch, and is one of the best players in football. The only problem is that he hasn't won a home playoff game, despite winning 3 on the road. He's ultimately the one that has to play well if the Packers have any hope of winning. The Green Bay defense has not been kind over the past two seasons, especially last year when they got humiliated by the Giants at home in the divisional round of the Playoffs. It also doesn't help that the Packers have allowed 400+ rushing yards to Adrian Peterson this year, who is facing them again on Saturday. But the Packers have the home field advantage here and the Vikings quarterback is ultimately a suit, someone who really shouldn't be in the League anyway. Despite the Packers not taking him seriously on Sunday, rest assured they will see him as a threat this Saturday.

The Vikings are led by Adrian Peterson, who 12 months ago broke the two major bones in his leg, and was expected to miss this entire season due to that injury. But he's come back in stride to lead the NFL in rushing yards, and got his team to the playoffs almost all by himself. Why you ask? Like I mentioned before, Christian Ponder, the Vikings QB, is pretty bad. He's unreliable, mistake prone and plays poorly under pressure. The Vikings defense is good, but they ultimately flounder on the road, particularly in cold weather. It's not impossible for the Vikings to win this Saturday, as they've played the Packers well for the past 4-5 seasons. But in order to win this time around, they'll have to get a perfect game out of their defense, an average game out of Ponder and a great game out of Peterson in order to do it.

Prediction: Green Bay - 20, Minnesota - 10


#5 - Seattle Seahawks @ #4 - Washington Redskins
Sunday, January 6th, 4:30pm EST
The Washington Redskins are the team everyone loves to pile on when the chips are down. In no large part thanks to their owner, his offseason moves, and the way the team has found ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Washington Redskins for the last decade have embodied Washington sports teams like no other. They couldn't catch a break, even if they tried. But this year, they got two. Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris. While RG3 was drafted #2 in the NFL draft after the Redskins traded two draft picks for him, the Redskins drafted Morris out of Florida Atlantic in the sixth round. The results for Washington, while starting out slow and Redskins-esque, has flourished over the the past seven weeks, where the team hasn't lost. The Redskins have closed games out when they should have. They made plays on both sides of the ball when it was necessary and they caught breaks. But in the back of everyone's minds is 'can they keep this up?' Even in my mind, where the worst is always at the top, I can't help but think good things right now.

The Seattle Seahawks are the talk of the NFL, at least if you listen to the news. Russel Wilson is a media darling, and their defense is stout. Having scored 40+ points in 3 consecutive weeks, including a game over division rival San Francisco, the Seahawks are a buzz like no other. It partially started due to the replacement referees' help during Week 3 against the Packers, but since then they have some legitimate wins. But those wins, particularly over New England and San Francisco were at home, where they were undefeated. On the road, Seattle is 3-5, a place where they have struggled for a long time. Considering their jekyl and hyde type play for home and away games, I question whether or not Seattle will play well going from Seattle to Washington, with a rookie QB, against a team that many are overlooking, despite having the longest winning streak in the league. While Seattle and Washington have played in the playoffs the last two times the Redskins have made it, those games were in Seattle, and they were close. Even though there's different personnel now, certain teams know how to play each other for years, and I think this one is no different.

Prediction: Washington - 23, Seattle - 13


That's it for my predictions this week. Have a good wild card weekend!

NFL 2012 AFC Wild-Card Round Analysis

Happy New Year! While it may be a new year, it is not a new season for the NFL. The 2012 Playoffs are set to begin. Today, I'll be looking at and breaking down the AFC Wild Card matchups. On Thursday I'll be looking at the NFC Wild Card matchups. It's been an interesting year in the NFL this year, and week 17 proved that on both the AFC and NFC side of things, shifting many playoff positions, changing many fates of teams that continue on this season. For now, let's take a look at the first matchup of the AFC playoffs:


#6 - Cincinnati Bengals @ #3 - Houston Texans
Saturday, January 5th, 4:30pm EST
A few weeks ago, the Houston Texans were the best team in football. They looked unstoppable and were only a single win from clinching not only the AFC south, but homefield advantage throughout the AFC Playoffs. And then New England happened. After a 42-14 drubbing at the hands of the Patriots, the Texans clinched the AFC south with a victory over Indianapolis at home. After that, their offense failed to show up against Minnesota and Indianapolis, which allowed Denver and New England to leapfrog them in the standings. Instead of resting up for a Divisional Playoff game at home in two weeks, they're in a rematch of last year's wild card home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals are back in the playoffs to many surprised people. After a rough patch in the middle of the season, the Bengals stabilized themselves and finished with a 10-6 record, beating the likes of Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and San Diego, the Bengals look to go through the playoffs with a tough defense and serviceable offense. While the Bengals don't look fragile right now, their schedule reveals a weak schedule, along with mediocre wins at poor times. 6 of their 10 wins came against sub .500 teams, while only two came against playoff teams. Their resume is just not impressive, and while Houston is playing sloppy right now, they should be able to pull it together for another first round playoff win, and earn a rematch with New England.

Prediction: Houston - 24, Cincinnati - 13


#5 - Indianapolis Colts @ #4 - Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, January 6th, 1:00pm EST
Until the last month of the season, the Baltimore Ravens were among the short list of Super Bowl favorites. After losing four times in December, and firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, the Ravens look shaky, confused and old. Their defense is thin because of injuries, their offense is weak because of lackluster quarterback play. Yet still, they're the Ravens. They have Playoff experience, and have been to two of the last three AFC Championship games. They're also desperate for one more Super Bowl run, because for their leaders Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, this is most likely it. If the Ravens don't win one here, they may not have another chance for a long time.

The Indianapolis Colts on the other hand will have many chances in the future. This year has been tough for them, as coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia around Week 3, forcing him off the field until Week 17. The Colts season has surprisingly been stable. They've had streaks of 3 and 4 wins along with a couple of wins early on and are currently on a two-game streak. They're led by rookie quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck has thrown a lot of interceptions this year, but his defense has picked up the slack surprisingly when his team has needed it. Since Pagano has recently returned the questions are when the emotions will get the better of them and if the coaching change from interim to regular head coach will have an impact or not? If it doesn't happen this, it most certainly will in the second round, in what may be a showdown between the Colts and Broncos.

Prediction: Indianapolis - 31, Baltimore - 13


That's it for my AFC wild card predictions. On Thursday I'll look at the NFC wild card games as well as make my predictions for them.