It is a hodgepodge day

Greetings, readers. I have a few things to talk about today. First up is the government shutdown. I know I don’t go for political opinions much, but I just have to put my two cents in on this topic. As far as I know, things like banks and the post office are still up and running. Hopefully they are deemed too important to be without. When I stop to think that we actually have a government that thinks it is perfectly okay to come to a screeching halt, leaving millions of people temporarily unemployed, not to mention leaving the Americans they serve high and dry, I wonder how these people slept at night. Do they have any sense of obligation and morals? Rebecca just told me that the FDA is all but shut down and I can only hope that there is some measure in place which will prevent dangerous drugs and unsafe food from being purchased.

On to another topic. I am still completely hung up on Madden25 football. I’m still tinkering with what they call sliders. When my running back gains nearly 3,200 yards in a season, I know it is way too easy. Somehow I will need to made an adjustment. But so far it is without a doubt the best sports simulation I’ve ever played. I know I said that about MLB13 baseball last March, but of course that’s the point, isn’t it? That every year these games and sports simulations just get better and more realistic. After I was done with Madden football last night, I turned on my Netflix streaming and to my happy amazement one of my favorite shows is back. It is Masterpiece Theater Classic’s Upstairs, Downstairs. I think I shall start at the beginning and watch one a night until I’ve seen them all.

On a personal note, the writer who doesn’t read very much actually found an author he loves. His name is Garry Disher, from Australia. I’m currently reading book one in the Hal Challis series, called The Dragon Man. I often found it ironic that I was a non-reader who wanted other people to read his writing. Well, if I can find a few more authors like Mr. Disher, I might become a reader after all.

Lastly, tomorrow is a big ouchy day for me. I’m having dental surgery, which is going to include the cutting of some gum tissue, to expose more of a damaged tooth so it can be worked on by another dentist. I was given a prescription for a rather powerful pain-killer and I’m not too happy about that. As I have told many of my friends, I am, “quite allergic to pain.” That is what is on my agenda tomorrow. I might ask Rebecca to come into the office at least for a little while, and if she wanted to put up a From Rebecca blog post, she will be more than welcome to do so.

So until soonest, hopefully I can speak normally on Friday without pain to dictate to Rebecca, take care, have a good couple of days, and happy reading.

Report on Madden25

Greetings, readers. It’s official. I am addicted to this game. After scrimping and saving for months, I was able to save up just enough to purchase Madden25 (the 25th anniversary of Madden) online via the Playstation store. Here is my report on this game and my rating.

Having not played the last two Madden versions, I did not know that they had switched their announcing team from Cris Collinsworth and Gus Johnson to Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. Sorry Cris and Gus, but Jim and Phil edge you out. That’s not to say that the old team didn’t bring style and class all their own. Now on to game play.

Madden25 has something called connected owner mode. It is simply fascinating. After one season of play, you can move a team, there are seventeen cities to choose from, and change the team name or keep it the same. There are usually three or four team names to choose from. For instance, the Rams could go back to Los Angeles or become the LA Aftershocks. Other cool team names are the Toronto Thunderbirds and the London Black Knights.

As always, you can adjust how many minutes per period you play and the skill levels. Even though I am using what they call custom sliders, I’m still winning rather easily. My made-up team the Portland Lumberjacks (I moved the Rams to Portland) are 8-3. Next season I will probably increase the difficulty level. As you know I am a glutton for punishment. My next season test will be to move a team to Barcelona and choose one of their two or three name choices. I’ve had the game two weeks now and I’m still learning. Such fun.

Now to the very slight negatives of this game. Sorry Mr. Simms but I gotta tell you that even though your commentary is excellent, I have two criticisms. And I don’t know whose fault they are. Number one I suppose is the developer’s fault for making a lot of your commentary way too repetitive. Second, I’m not sure if you do this in real life, but they have made you a very negative and picky broadcaster. When I say out loud to the TV screen, “Oh, shut up, Phil,” I know I’ve heard one of your picky comments, such as, “That’s just a bad play call by the offense,” too many times.

Other than the commentary being a bit too repetitive, this is probably one of the best video games I’ve ever gotten my hands on. As some of you know, I am a MLB TheShow baseball nut and Madden25 made me shelve the baseball game mid-season. As with all addictive personalities, the newness from this game will wear off, and I’m sure I won’t play it quite as much in the weeks and months to come.

Now for the four final grades.

Gameplay: A+

Commentary: B-  (The sideline reporter, Danielle Bellini is a definite highlight.)

Ease of Game Play: B+ (The verdict is still out on this one, for I am still experimenting.)

Other intangibles, such as ambiance and team movement: A+

Final rating: A- (A good solid 9.75)

Ok folks, let the debate begin and please do chime in with comments if you wish. I will respond.

Until next week, have a good weekend, take care, and happy reading.

The Show – MLB13 vs MLB12

Greetings, readers. This is my second, and possibly final, report card on MLB13: The Show. As usual, OMG I love it. However, there are a few things, much to my dismay, that I either don’t like as well or fail to see any significant upgrade from last year’s version.

First off, and to me most important, is the replacement of Dave Campbell with Steve Lyons. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry on this topic, I believe the franchise was going for someone more youthful – just my personal opinion. For someone new, it seems like Steve was not allowed to bring his own personality into the game by receiving new lines to say; when playing the game, I hear Steve saying some of Dave’s lines almost verbatim. I would have preferred that the writers come up with a different way to say the same thing.

The lines of dialog this year seem to be more repetitive than in years past. Especially in beginner’s mode, where there is lots of computer assistance in the defense. The same situations come up with the very same dialog supplied. I briefly tried the next level the other night, with less computer assistance than I was used to, and noticed that the more errors I committed, the more play specific dialog was used. For example, “Oh, the catcher just threw the ball into center field,” an error which would almost never happen in computer mode.

The graphics are as good as they are going to get with current PS3 technology. The faces and stadiums look the same as last year. There were a few changes to details, like fireworks displays after a homerun or a home victory were moved from being shot into the sky to the stadium’s Jumbotron, but graphic-wise it looks the same. When the PS4 comes out in a year or so, I will be very interested to see whether or not the graphics and all the subtle nuances will have substantial improvements. Obviously, there is only so much realism you can put into a game. This is not Star Trek holodeck technology we are talking about. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

MLB13’s biggest gold star, which 12 did not have, is to load up your favorite teams in the appropriate brackets and do the playoffs without having to play a full season. With newer camera angles, more exciting music, and a brief shot of the pre-game team’s line-up announcements, I was more than happily surprised at that part of the game’s realism. I watched a few YouTube videos on this game and learned that the online features and the Diamond Dynasty mode have also been improved. I must admit, I have only tried Diamond Dynasty a few times and I don’t play online, so I really can’t make a fair judgement. If any of my readers are avid online gamers, please chime in with a comment.

MLB13: The Show … I’ll say final report card grade: A-. Though I didn’t blog about it at the time, last year I gave MLB12 a grade of B+. I gave this year’s version the bump up because of the post-season mode, which is actually my favorite part of real baseball.

Until next time, have a great day, take care, and happy reading.

Preliminary report card on MLB13 The Show

Greetings, readers. As all my frequent readers know by now, I am a gamer. Being a tremendous baseball fan, my favorite video game, since its inception six or seven years ago, has been MLB The Show. I, yet again, eagerly anticipated March 5th when the latest version of this game hit the stores. I, like a little boy at Christmas time, with debit card in hand, pre-paid for my copy the day before. I was taking no chances.

After arriving back at my apartment, I cancelled most of my day’s plans and got down to the fun of figuring out the game and all that it has to offer. The first thing I did was to adjust the sliders, as they are called. These control how easy or difficult the game is to play. Once I peaked and tweaked those, I played a one-inning game in each of the brand new, fictitious, minor league and exhibition stadiums. Fantastic! With my eyes blitzed after several hours of playing, I took a short break before finishing the evening with three more short games, checking out the teams alternate uniforms. The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking good. Can we say mid-to-late 70s? Love those old caps.

As a fan of ultra-realism, I always enjoy the commentary or play-by-play, of the game. Steve Lyons replaced long-time original announcer Dave Campbell, who had been with the franchise since 2007. Dave Campbell, 71, was replaced by Steve; for youth, I think. That’s fine. But I miss old Dave Campbell with one of my favorite expressions in the game, “Close, but no cigar.” The other two announcers from last year, Matt Vasgersian (who has been there since the game’s inception) and Eric Karros, are still there. Though I enjoy what Steve Lyons brings to the broadcast, in my opinion, from what I’ve heard so far, Steve and Eric’s voices are too similar.

There are many changes to the game this year, too numerous to mention. Here is a link which will allow you to not only read about that, but all the highlights in this new version.

I’ve titled this entry preliminary report card, because it will take me several weeks to go through everything to my satisfaction to where I can post an update. But at first glance, after having the game literally 24 hours, MLB13’s preliminary grade is … A-.

Until soon, stay warm, stay healthy and happy reading.