ModestGeniusXL

Things to Be Grateful For

NBA 2K11

G had been wanting this game as a Christmas present ever since he first found out that Michael Jordan was going to be in the game.  That alone was enough reason for me to make sure that would be his gift.   I wasn't a fan of the 2K games at all, but them putting MJ in the game made it appeal to my son which also meant he would get a chance to watch him play virtually.  That was yet another way for him to witness the same legend my generation enjoyed.

It had been a while since I had personally played a basketball game on the PS3.  The last one I had was back when NBA2K9 came out.  That was a stretch for me because I had always been an NBA Live supporter.  But their game that year was very sluggish and a rather huge disappointment.  So I went the 2K route instead.  Only to find out that I didn't like the controls as much.  It was entirely too difficult to make shots which took all the fun out of the game for me.  G didn't seem to mind it though.  He played that joint on a regular basis so I guess it wasn't all bad.

I decided to pick up the stick and give this one a shot.  Afterall, it had Jordan in it so there was no way I could pass up playing.  I don't know if it had been a while or what but the controls seemed to be a lot more fluent than their last games.  I was able to get back into the groove almost immediately.  There was some slight rust but I had that shaken off after just a couple of games.  So much so that G and I switched the quarters to 10-minutes as opposed to the 5-minutes they have set at the default.

All of the basketball games have been evolving to the point where the players look more and more like the real thing.  Where they always get it right is during the still shots.  It's during the action where some of them have lacked.  They will most likely give the all-stars all of their moves but not all of the players.  2K11 made sure that EVERY player looks authentic during ALL the action of the game.  It's easily the most authentic looking basketball game I've seen to date. 

The Jordan factor is easily the high point of the game.  They've got MJ in there at every significant part of his career.  All of the classic Bull teams of yesteryear are on there.  Including his rookie year when he stil had hair.  They also made sure that his moves are indicative of that particular Jordan era.  The older MJ still has the fluidity that you remember in later years without the same lift he had earlier in his career.  But when you play with and/or against the younger MJ he has some of the NASTIEST dunks in that game.

Something nearly equally as good as the Jordan component of the game is the squads from back in the day that they put on there.  They made sure to include all of those teams that were Jordan's biggest rivals.  Ewing and Starks' Knicks.  'Nique with the Hawks (and a younger Doc Rivers).  Bird and the Celtics.  Magic and the Lakers.  It's too bad that Barkley and the Suns are missing though thanks to him not wanting sign off on it.  Or that they don't have the benches from those classic teams.  Still, it's so great to have even the classic starters from that era so I can teach G about the greats of the past while virtually showing him how they played.

It's been a while since I've played 2K11.  And by a while I mean  a few weeks or so.  I've just been too busy with work, studying for those licensning exams and getting the XL-Images gig going (which I should probably still do a separate post about) that I haven't been on lately.  But the last time I did play I made sure to have one of the players break Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game performance.  Ray Allen was able to do it with just 10-minute quarters.  Just thinking about that and how fun that game is has me wanting to bust it out again.  That means the 2K folks did their job with this latest joint. 

Bravo, 2K.

 

 

 

 

O the Randomness

I know what you're thinking..."What?  Did he really rip off another one so soon already when he just hit us off with a random entry a few days back?"  Yep...sure did...

First things first, I need to send a huge shout out to my grandmother.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA TURNER!  Once again, I am blessed to have another year where I have three of my grandparents still with us.

I just don't get how this Mark Becker kid had the nerve to plead not guilty to shooting that Aplington-Parkersburg football coach when there were over a dozen students who witnessed him do it. 

Oh wait...I guess he actually pled not guilty by reason of insanity.  Still, there's no need to waste taxpayers' money on a trial for that.  Just have him tested to see if he is truly insane then proceed with putting him away for life.

"The Princess and the Frog" is one of the movies that has now made it to our dollar show.  I may have to finally check that out now. 

It figures that right after I get done singing Words With Friends praises in its own separate post, it starts having all types of problems.  It's been crashing and/or not working more frequently than it does work lately.  I know you can't expect too much for $2.99, but you would at least expect it to be operational.

Just as I suspected, my Cyclones fell to the Kansas Jayhawks earlier today 73-59.  That now extends their streak to 20 consecutive losses against ranked opponents.  It just feels so great to be a Cyclone!

Speaking of sarcasm, it is snowing yet again and I am SO excited!  I thought maybe that if tried using a little reverse psychology on the elements it would work with keeping the snow away.  Yeah...so far that theory hasn't been panning out so well.

At least one Iowa team is having a very good year.  With the UNI Panthers win over the Drake Bulldogs this week, they have officially become the Drake story of this year.  Let's just hope they can get further into the Tourney than Drake did.

I may return to watching "American Idol" this season since the talent is TONS better than they have had in previous years.  Plus, I'm digging the whole Ellen Degeneres dynamic.  We'll just see.

I was watching "Splash" again and was thinking about something...do you think Allen later on regretted his decision about going to Madison's underwater home and forsaking his life forever?  I'm thinking he did.

The rappin' Charles Barkley Taco Bell commercial is going to be the death of me.

Then there is the Sprite commercial with Drake.  Are we really supposed to believe that someone gets inspired off just one swing of Sprite?  Not even a whole bottle, mind you.  Just a swallow.  That's some potent pop if it can pull that off.

Dear Mediacom reminder feature:  I am NOT a Harry Potter fan so stop suggesting those movies to me every time they are scheduled to be broadcast.

Today I broke the cardinal rule of grocery shopping:  I went to get groceries while I was hungry. 

It's so good to have Presidents' Day off.  No other company that I have ever been with has ever considered that to be paid holiday.  More kudos to my current employer for that.

I saw a commercial that stated 1 out of 4 women can misread a home pregnancy test.  I sure hope that's not accurate.  I would sure like to believe that the percentage of women with enough basic intelligence to read a home pregnancy test is higher that 25%.

I'm not completely sold on the "We Are the World" remake they recently did.  I could actually do an entire post on just that song.  As a matter of fact, I think I will.  Stay tuned...

It's amazing that no one has ever been killed on that luge thing in the Winter Olympics until just recently (R.I.P., German dude).  I love me some thrill rides, but NO way would I ever do something like that.  Not even in my daredevil prime.

Facebook should have one of their relationship status options be "Okay...see...it's like this..."

'Nuff said.

Spore

 I suppose I better go ahead and get this entry out there before E pops a blood vessel.  It's the latest game by Electronic Arts to hit the scene that came with much hype behind it.  I was intrigued by it due to the fact the game gives you a chance to create a single cell organism and watch that grow from an amoeba to a flourishing society.  So I picked up Spore thinking it would be a little like World of Warcraft meets the Sims.  That was both a good thing and a bad thing.

One of the best things about WoW was it allowed you the capability to interact with different people from all over the world by playing online.  You got a chance to see what creatures they created, what weapons and powers they have mastered and travel with them on adventures.  Spore does not have that capability.  At least not yet.  According to E, it comes later on in the game.  Therein lies part of the problem which we'll address later.

The one thing that was rather irritating about WoW was in order to get your character to get to higher levels, it often required a big amount of grinding.  For the uninitiated, "grinding" as it refers to WoW means having to do the same type of tasks repetitively (such as hunting, fishing, etc.).  It gets boring after a while and down right annoying.

Spore has a similar concept.  When your character is still rather young, you have to continually go hunt for food to get it stronger.  It is rather interesting to see the new items you are able to pick up along the way, but it is still a monotonous chore of having to deal with that aspect of the game.

Then there are the controls of Spore.  It could just be but they are not user friendly at all.  It could also be that I was spoiled by the controls that WoW offered where it was much easier to manipulate your character.  Spore doesn't give the option to alter how the mouse moves the character around (at least not that I have found yet anyway) and is laborious trying to get it to do what you want.  Down right frustrating at times.

I am particularly fond of the ability to create your character from scratch.  And the best part is it seriously is from scratch.  The thing starts out as a one bone, spot on the screen.  You can expand the spine, enlarge it, add appendages and several other things to make it any creature that your mind can come up with.  The image you see here is my creation, Prophytus.  That part of the game alone almost makes it worth getting.

The reason why it reminds me of Sims is because you do get the chance to not only create your character but also their surroundings.  You can create land vehicles, sea vehicles, buildings and even space ships for your character to use.  I have seen the options but haven't played with those much just yet.  Just the fact that they are there for your disposal is a huge feather in the cap for the game.

I still have only scraped the tip of the iceberg for the game so my experience may get better as I get further.  So far, as I have advanced to the tribal stage, I'm rather lukewarm on it.  I can't stress enough that not being able to play with and against others online from the very beginning is a drawback.  For someone like me who has very short patience with video games, I like having someone in the same game I can just hit up for assistance on how to do certain things.  Hopefully, they change that option fairly soon.  Oh...and when they do...they better not charge extra for it.

It wouldn't be fair to rate Spore yet as I haven't played it near enough and haven't done everything it has to offer.  However, if I had to grade it solely on what I have seen and interacted with so far...

My rating:  B-

Guitar Hero

Just when I thought I was done with obsessive gaming, along comes another one that gets me caught up.  The good thing is since I don't have a gaming system that currently works, I don't have the accessibility to play all the time.  That meant having to borrow the infamous Guitar Hero II to see what all the fuss was about.

I have to admit right of the bat, this game is down right fun.  I came up during the era of the hair metal bands of the 80s; therefore, as much as I may hate to admit it (and I'm really not ashamed of it at all), there was a lot of that music that stuck with me.  Nothing like a good old-fashioned guitar solo to get a child of the 80s a little pumped.

There are five difficulty levels on Guitar Hero that range from 'easy' to 'expert'.  Even though I have played it quite a few times now, I haven't moved off 'easy'.  I tried the next level (medium) a couple of times and got too frustrated.  What can I say?  My hand-to-eye coordination isn't what it used to be.

This past weekend I had the shorties and was able to borrow the game then.  I was hoping that they would like it as much as I did.  Mariah tried it once and just thought it was okay.  As I anticipated, Elijah was all into it.  I was able to get a pretty good video of him rocking out to "Carry on My Wayward Son" by Kansas.  At 5+ minutes, I know most people won't stick around to watch the entire thing, so this pic will have to do for now.

If and when we ever do get another gaming system, Guitar Hero III is going to top the list of games to get.  You can almost justify it being a workout if you get into it like you really are playing the guiar.  At least that's what I do.  That can help towards my goal of getting more fit this year.  I'll drop some LBs by rocking some Guitar Hero.  Yeah...that's the ticket...

Board Silly

What would a holiday weekend (or any kind of weekend) at the folks be without some serious gaming? It's gotten to the point now where that's just as necessary as having some of Mom's sweet rice for breakfast.

Yet again, we commenced with a game of Scrabble. This time it was Mom, D, Diah and I. Mom was a little heated because she had seen the comments I had written earlier about Diah winning and just knew she was going to take it to me this time.  As a matter of fact, Dad even got in on it telling Mom to beat me at all costs, even if she had to cheat to do it.

Unfortunately for Mom, it was not meant to be yet again.  The first game we played I nearly ran away with it while she came in second.  That was an epic board considering some of the words that were played.  I wanted to take a picture of it to memorialize it but Diah wiped it clean too soon.  Instead, I had to settle for this photo of the second game we played.  Big surprise, but I also won that game.  Mom made that one a better contest with just a few points separating us.  It's no easy feat taking down the Scrabble King.

Mom had gotten that Mad Gab game after seeing a commercial for it on television and figured we could try that.  I had also seen the commercials for it too and it looked intriguing.  I wasn't sure if it was something that I would be able to sustain fun for hours like a Scrabble or Taboo although it was worth a shot.  The rules say it should be played in groups of around 10 or so and now I see why.  The four of us just couldn't get into it.  Maybe it would be better with much more people; however, with just four, it was a little boring and almost pretty frustrating.

We never did get around to playing Taboo like we normally do.  I absolutely LOVE that game.  It's a little hard to get to all the games you want when it's a weekend with so much good food so you're spending a lot of time either eating or recovering from it (otherwise known as napping).  D and I also forgot to bring up our Scattegories game which I know Mom would have enjoyed.  That just gives us more things to look forward to for the next visit.

Not Quite So Live

A while ago, I broke down and bought the latest ps2 basketball game, NBA Live 2007.  Well I shouldn't say "I broke down" and bought it as that implies that I was struggling with whether or not to get it.  I actually get the latest edition every year so it really comes down to it's just a matter of time as to when I get it. 

I've had the game for a while but haven't played it.  You might remember me saying how I was into NCAA 2007 so the NBA game took the sideline for a while.  Then the real NBA season started up and I got a hankering to break it out and play it.  I can't even express how disappointed I was.

Every year they make changes to the game that are supposed to make   it better.  Most of the time it's things like the graphics so it looks more realistic.  This year, one of the things they decided to change was the actual gameplay and it got much worse.  It used to move fluently and was easy to play.  Now the gameplay is extremely sluggish.  It makes it frustrating to even play.

They changed a couple of other things that I'm not feeling at all.  The free throw shooting is much more difficult and really makes no sense at all with the way it's now supposed to be executed.  And when passing the ball, every downcourt pass looks like a hailmary bomb rather than a bullet pass as it looks in a real game.

What makes matters worse is I was in the store the other day and saw the other NBA video game on the market, NBA 2K7.  It played AND looked much better than its competitor.  Here am I calling myself a loyal supporter of EA Sports and they're letting me down.  Guess it was too much to ask for them to hold the throne forever.

If It's in the Game

I finally broke down and picked up the games NCAA 2007 and Madden 2007 for PS2.  You may remember me briefly discussing the college game in a previous post.  Even then, it had been a while since I gotten the latest Madden version so I'm pretty stoked about getting back in that saddle again.  You must excuse me while I slip into nerd-dom for a moment.

Madden's always had the feature where you can create your own player.  Recently, they've made it so you can create one and attempt to guide his career to the point where he gets into the Hall of Fame.  Or you can import a created player from a draft class on the NCAA 2007 game.  That's what I elected to do.

Q-Daddy is now in his third year at Iowa State.  He's already broken every single quarterback school record.  He's now well on his way to breaking every NCAA record for quarterbacks and his third year is not even halfway over.  You can bet he'll be declaring for the draft at the end of the season.  Then it's time to wreck shop in the "real world".  And therein lies the problem.

Once Q-Daddy is drafted, I don't have any control over what team takes him.  That means for the first time in my Madden-playing history, there's a good chance I won't get to play with the Chiefs while conquering the game.  What's more, if drafted high enough, he could end up on a buster squad like the Texans.  I guess that's the price I have to pay for playing a game that goes out of the way to infuse realism into its gameplay.

You're Never Too Old for Video Games

First let me start with my apologies for not clearly indicating in an earlier post that talked about my flying.  I realized that I didn't fully explain that I had to go to Columbus, OH once again for my job. I forgot that the only person I really told was D and even she forgot where I told her I was going. That's what leads me to this particular entry about a night out on the town.

Last night, there was a group function at this place called Gameworks in the Easton Plaza. I had never heard of the place except for the last time I was there and walked thru it.  I never stopped to play and/or eat anything that particular time.  Everyone kept trying to explain it to me by comparing it to this place called Dave and Buster's.  For those folks in larger cities, it may have made sense.  It was still foreign to me.

The food wasn't that bad.  Your typical sports bar food.  Regular pizza, buffalo wings they try to pass off as being spicy.  Nothing to write home to mother about.

I did like their motion sensor games.  Especially the racing one.   Nevermind the fact that I lost twice in a row.  I used to be so good at those type of games and now I'm slipping.  I came in second place the first time after having a lead for 3 laps then I came in dead last the second time after making a terrible decision to make a pit stop. 

Their best game was this balloon attack game.  You're strapped into a seat with a shoulder seatbelt a joystick in front of you.  You control how high up your seat you can go with the highest height being pretty close to the equivalent of a 2 story home.  LOVED that game!  Plus, I actually won in that after just playing my first game.  Gotta' love that beginner's luck.

We were given these gamecards that gave us unlimited game play for two hours.  Even with me being a gaming fan, I couldn't use it all up.  I was probably there for a little over an hour.  After a while, those games start to tire an old person's eyes out and I had had enough.  So maybe you can be too old for video games.  At least for certain kinds of them anyway.

Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pulled Me Back In

Yes, I thought I finally kicked the habit, but it turns out it was only temporary.  I have fallen off the wagon and once again fallen victim to the addiction that is known as Warcrack.

World of Warcraft is a multi-player video game that is played online allowing one to interact with people from anywhere in the world at any given time.  It's been around for quite a while and I used to play it religiously.  Due in part to my new infatuation of my journalling and also the fact I just got bored with the game, I had stopped playing several months ago.

Then I get hit with that dream that reminded me of the things I did like about the phenomenon.  Like this forum, it also served as a release.  True, it's yet another excuse to avoid exercise which is exactly what I don't need.  However, there's no denying the fact that it's a pretty fun game.

I'm guessing it will be just a matter of time before I get bored with it again.  For now though, I'm back in the saddle fighting off demons and the like under the guise of an orc named "Blessedfella".

Oh, Warcrack...how I do loathe thee and your beguiling ways...

It Was Just a Dream, Wasn't It?

I have a tendency to sometimes have some pretty vivid, memorable dreams worth sharing.  I told myself that if  I ever came across one, I would take the time to share it on this forum.  I just woke up from one that was fresh on my mind [ed. note: this post was originally written a couple of days ago] and was fairly interesting so I thought I'd share it.  This may be unbearably long, almost like a short story, so bear with me.  Personally, I think it's worth it to stick it out.

E and I are pretty avid video gamers.  Well at least I used to be until this thing started taking up most of my time. Anyway, some of the games we play are role-playing games where you create characters and build those characters up thru time to get strength and powers to fight evil elements.  You could almost consider it a Dungeons and Dragons for video games.  In this dream, for some reason, he and I had been playing on the Iowa State campus when something went wrong.

I was walking down a hallway of one of the dorms when E came running past me yelling that he had somehow released some actual demons.  Naturally, I followed him and went flying up a flight of stairs.  He outran me and I lost him.  As I neared the top, I thought it would be better to fake out the demons and jump down the stairwell to the bottom and past them as they were going up the stairs.  It actually worked.

I jetted back outside where I knew it was a crowded campus and I could blend in with everyone.  Unfortunately, the demons did the same thing as they transformed to take on the bodies of humans.  I didn't see them do this so I didn't know who to look out for.  That's when I stumbled upon the first one.  He was a short, stout older guy who was balding and had a Costanza-type hairstyle.  He was wearing an all black leather outfit...almost looked like Run-DMC's gear from back in the day.

Something dawned on me that if the demons had become real, maybe  I had manifested real powers from the game too.  Sure enough, I had.  I started doing battle with Baldie and was holding my own for a while until the second demon showed up.  This cat was a tall, Black guy.  I can't remember what he had on, but he looked like Alonzo Bodden, the cat that won last season's "Last Comic Standing".  I knew I couldn't take on two of them so I took off running again.

This time, I'm headed towards the middle of campus, almost down by Hamilton Hall, the building that is the home of the journalism department.  As I'm running, I notice ahead, there's a huge blue glowing dome with the word "God" just above it.  Common sense told me that would be my salvation from the demons if I could get there.  It turned out to be a small cement slab on the ground and the small dome was over it.

It was a haven and while there, not only did their powers work, but mine didn't either.  The Black demon yelled to a third that she had to seduce me.  Apparently, there was some bylaw that if someone had sex on the cement slab, it would be so blasphemous that it would unleash all their brother and sister demons from hell to earth to join them.  That's when I saw the third demon and she was looking like every bit of J-Lo, scantily-clad and everything.

She tried to work her mojo; however, just as she started, a huge hail storm came about.  It was affecting only those outside my protective dome.  I pushed her out so she could feel the wrath also.  At this time, three lightning bolts struck down all three of the demons.  As quick as the storm arrived, it dissipated.  Along with it went the dome.

As I started to make my way back to campus, I ran into this gal that I work with in real life.  Apparently, she had noticed the glowing dome before it left, but didn't believe what she saw.  She asked what it was and I told her she wouldn't believe me if I told her.

I got back to the dorm where I guess I was living in the dream.  D was there getting ready to have a Tupperware sale at some exhibit in the commons and asked where I was.  That's when I commenced to relay the entire story of what just happened.  She was laughing so hard that I never got to get all the way thru the story.

That's when I woke up and jumped right on here to share this epiphany with all of you. If you stuck with it thru to the end, then thanks for your patience.  I know if D reads this, she'll give me the "I told you so", saying that's what I get for playing "demonic" games and watching "demonic" movies.  However, I'm thinking it was just that flamethrower burger from DQ the previous night that was talking.  Well, that and God's way of telling me that no matter how deep I may get, He'll always be there for me.