"Play as your favorite celebrity such as Keith Urban, Fergie and Avril Lavigne, and athletes like Paul Pierce and Mia Hamm in the ultimate party game for the holidays."
A few random thoughts on a Tuesday morning...
Bulldog root beer is the best root beer out there. It doesn't have the "bite" that some people enjoy, but I'm a fan of smooth tasting root beer and Bulldog is as smooth as it gets. It's pretty tough to find (the only place I've ever found it is World Market), but if you enjoy root beer or cream soda and you're in a position to pick up a case, I suggest you do so.
Crash Bandicoot is back. Do you care? It's hard to believe that Crash was once the face of the PlayStation brand. Remember that commercial where Crash was outside Nintendo headquarters talking trash about Mario? That was pretty cool. This most recent game may or may not be good (I have no clue), but I do know that a Crash Bandicoot game no longer matters to me.
Eddie Vedder got hosed. How his Into the Wild soundtrackdidn't win an Oscar is beyond me. As someone who once went to Alaska to escape the "real world" themselves, I can speak as to how well Vedder's music captures its subject. But just because it didn't win an award, doesn't mean it's not worth your time. Give it a listen, will ya?
The office sure is quiet today. Most of the crew is off at TGS so the office is much less hectic than normal. While I certainly miss tormenting Tom McShazzbot with Shaun's help, I now have an entire week to mess with the stuff on people's desks...
Punch-Out!! is back. The only thing that's keeping me from peeing my pants with excitement is my worry that the game will force you to use motion controls. If Nintendo reveals a traditional control scheme...well, let's just say I had better bring a change of clothes.
WARNING: The following article contains NO adult content and is approved for all ages.
I was thrilled when Harmonix announced that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' album Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik would be released in its entirety as downloadable content for Rock Band 2. I spent two hours trying to download it the first day it became available, but due to issues with Xbox Live (Harmonix said the problems were on Microsoft's end), I was unable to complete the download. No biggie, I just got up early the next morning, finished downloading the album, and played a few songs. "Under the Bridge" was an absolute joy and well worth the wait. "Sir Psycho Sexy," on the other hand, is censored to the point that the vocals are incoherent.
"Sir Psycho Sexy" is a dirty song, to be sure--nobody's going to argue that it isn't. Mr. Sir Psycho is a big fan of the ladies, and the song documents his sexual prowess. At least it did before Harmonix got its hands on it. In one case, 58% of the vocals for an entire verse have been completely removed. Does this affect gameplay? You bet it does. Imagine singing the verse below (each set of dashes is a word that's no longer there). Not only do you have no clue what's going on in the song, but you just sit there while the deleted lines go by, hoping that there's a line that isn't filthy coming up so you might actually get to sing something.
I got stopped by a lady cop
In my automobile
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That cop she was all dressed in blue
Was she pretty? Boy I'm tellin' you
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Like a ram getting ready to jam
She whimpered just a little when she felt my hand
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Proppin' her up on the black and white
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Do I think it's appropriate that children play an uncensored version of this song? No. Do I have a problem with the occasional swear word being removed? Not at all. But I do have a problem when I haven't been warned that the song has been excessively censored before I purchase it, and I believe Harmonix went way too far when it comes to the material removed from this particular song. You can't tell me phrases like "I said what's up?" or "Turned a cherry pie right into jam" are too salacious for the sensitive ears of our youth, especially when they're used with no context, as they would be here.
Rock Band 2's box displays a Teen rating, but it also warns users that online interactions aren't rated by the ESRB. On top of that, there are plenty of age checks in place on the Xbox 360, so why can't adults enjoy adult music with adult language? Everyone throws the statistic about the average gamer being older than 30, so why are we being treated like children?
Maybe I'm overreacting and this censorship isn't a big deal to most people. If you believe this is a nonissue, I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions. If you agree that this is a problem, I'd love to hear from you as well.
After watching Brian Ekberg and Jon Miller play a few online club games in NHL 09 and reading our glowing review, I was convinced that I need to play the game. I'm glad I did--it's fantastic. I've created my own player in Be-A-Pro mode. He's a right wing sniper for the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. My first game was a success from a team standpoint (we won), but I didn't do much to distinguish myself individually. By the second game I had become a bit more accustomed to the controls and played much better. In fact, I scored the first goal of my young career. The goal was nothing fancy, but because you do get attached to your player it was actually really exciting for me. I was happy that the game lets you take screenshots (and video) so I could save the moment for posterity. Here's me celebrating my first goal:
Later that game I decided to prove that I could play a little defense. Here's the young phenom Aaron Thomas bringing the pain:
I'm now about 6 or 7 games into my career and I'm starting to get more comfortable shooting the puck with the right analog stick. I still tend to go to my backhand too often because of poor positioning, but sometimes it works out as it did with this sweet backhand goal. I totally beat the guy to the puck, headed straight for the goal and lit the lamp. This one was so cool (at least for me) I had to save a video:
While I was fiddling with the camera for the replay of my backhander I found a neat angle where you could see ice shavings from a defender flying across the screen. It was too awesome of a shot not to share:
I'm still a long way from making the NHL, but I think my career is off to a good start. Fear not, I'll keep you posted as to how things turn out.
So I was stealing stuff off of Shanker's desk the other day and I ended up with an unopened copy of Facebreaker for the Xbox 360. As you may know from my review, the game really isn't very good, but the last thing I want to do is give Shanker his property back. That's why I'm giving this copy away to one "lucky" reader and it could be you!
If you're interested in winning this fabulous prize tell me why in exactly 11 words (no more, no less) in the comment section below. I'll pick a winner on Monday and you'll have the game in your dirty little hands by the end of next week. YOU ARE WINNER!
AND THE WINNER IS...
Slang200 won me over with his positive attitude towards games. I believe he will give Facebreaker a good home. Slang, message me with your address and I'll get it out to you ASAP. Thanks to everyone who posted a comment, there was some great stuff that really made me chuckle. If you didn't win, fret not, for I will be doing this again sometime soon.
Unlike the first Rock Band, which initially shipped bundled with a microphone, guitar, and drum kit, Rock Band 2 is currently only sold as a standalone product. The bundle won't ship until mid-October and individual instruments aren't yet available (though they're slated to hit stores this week). For that reason we aren't evaluating the instruments in our review of the game, but given the numerous problems (broken drum pedals, faulty strum bars, and dead microphones) with the original Rock Band equipment, as well as the new features of RB 2's instruments, we wanted to share our impressions of the hardware after five days of intense use.
We'll start with the guitar, which carries a suggested retail price of $69.99 USD. It's still a Fender Stratocaster, but it now has a new, cool-looking faux wood grain finish. It's also wireless (AA batteries are included). So far we haven't had to replace the batteries and we have had no issues with the game not recognizing notes--it performs just like a wired guitar. One of the neatest features is the guitar's ability to auto-calibrate your television's audio/video lag with the game. All you have to do is hold the guitar up to your speakers for a few seconds to determine audio lag and then hold the guitar in front of your television while the screen flashes to compensate for video delay. Unless you're dragging your instruments all over town you won't have to use this feature much, but it'll be useful at least once and works great. The strum bar is a little more firm, but that's really it as far as how the guitar feels when compared to the original guitar.
Rock Band 2's drums carry a hefty MSRP of $89.99. Like the guitar, they're wireless and include batteries. Unlike the guitar they can't be used to automatically calibrate lag--a bummer if you only buy the drums and have trouble adjusting the game's lag settings on your own. The drums don't look much different than before, but they've actually received quite a bit of attention. The pedal is now covered with a metal plate, which hopefully will make it more durable than the original pedal. It also stays attached to the kit when you lift it--a huge plus for anyone who has watched the pedal crash to the floor when carrying their drums from place to place. The base has also been altered a bit and feels sturdier. But the big improvements to the kit are with the drum heads. They're quieter and also extremely accurate. I'm not the world's best drummer and I'd typically average about 94% on medium when playing Rock Band with the original drums. Playing with the new drums on the same difficulty my percentage went up to 99% and I had a streak of over 500 notes during the first song I played. That never happened with the old drums.
Are the new instruments worth the money? If you own a Rock Band guitar and it's in good shape, there's little reason to drop $70 on a new guitar, even though it works great. The drums are a little more enticing. The $90 price tag is difficult to swallow for casual drummers, but if you consider yourself an expert (or even if you just play a lot of drums in Rock Band) the improved sensitivity and quieter pads are worth the cash. It's anyone's guess as to how well they'll hold up from a reliability standpoint, but so far we haven't had any issues to report.
Note: The text and video review for Rock Band 2 will be posted on Sept. 16.
Madden 09 is a great game, but with 22 players on the field at once, you're going to see some bizarre things The most interesting one (and most frustrating, since I was the victim of the quirk) that I experienced during my time reviewing the game came courtesy of Vernon Davis (controlled by Tom Mc Shea).
As you can see in the video below (It's not the ideal angle, but you're only able to choose from a few preset options when saving a highlight), Davis caught a pass on the eight-yard line. As soon as he catches the ball, and as he's heading out of bounds he leaps into the air, putting his hand behind his helmet like Deion Sanders. But Davis doesn't go out of bounds. No sir, he has bigger plans. In mid-air, he turns back towards the field as if he's being pulled inbounds by some sort of magnet. After landing in stride, he scampers to the endzone where he's tackled by three no doubt bewildered Chicago Bears.
The booth actually reviewed the play to see if Davis stepped out of bounds, but since he was floating on air, technically he never went out of play. Regardless of how much I yelled at Tom and the 360, nobody seemed to care that he was tackled just shy of the endzone, either. I know people say Vernon Davis is an amazing athlete, but I didn't believe it until I saw him, not only fly, but celebrate a touchdown he hadn't yet scored midflight.
The Brett Favre saga is officially over. Late last night, the Green Bay Packers traded the best player in team history to the New York Jets. The exact terms of the deal aren't yet available, but it's believed that the Jets are giving up anywhere from a fourth- to a first-round pick depending on how the Jets finish next season. (click the screenshot for a larger version)
(click the screenshot for a larger version)
Favre won't be taking any snaps in the Jets' first preseason game this week, but that doesn't mean you can't see him in uniform now. Using Madden 09 we traded #4 to the Jets, plugged him into the starting QB position and snapped a few screens of his first drive, which ended in a touchdown. J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!
In most sports, the trade deadline passes with a lot of rumors and speculation, but not a whole lot of action. That's not the case with Major League Baseball this year--there were two huge trades--both Manny Ramirez and Ken Griffey Jr. are on the move. Manny's heading west to the Dodgers and Griffey's bringing his sweet swing to the Chicago White Sox. Both players will make their debuts with their new teams later this week, but thanks to MLB 08: The Show it wasn't more than a few minutes before we made the trades ourselves and put these two stars on the field in their new duds. Yeah, the uniform numbers are wrong (darn you auto-renumbering!), but you can use your imagination and pretend Manny's wearing #24 and Griffey's sporting #3.Check out the screens below to see "Manny being Manny" in Dodger blue and "The Kid" enjoying the homer-friendly atmosphere on the South Side.
We've been waiting for Madden 09 to arrive in the office and now it's here! Well, sort of. The first version of the game to show up is for the original Xbox. Yes, it seems they still make games for the Xbox. This sounds crazy, but when you consider that Madden 08 on the Xbox sold 272,889 copies, which was more than the DS(210,866), GameCube(95,105), and PC(82,542)--it's not so outlandish. The worst part about this? It's not backwards compatible on the 360 (I checked) so I've got to go dig through the old systems, find an Xbox, and then make room on my desk for it.
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