[NFL] Just like the "good old days"

We won! The Jets beat Tampa!!!

It may have been by two points but we won!

Mike Nugent may have missed two field goals but we won!

Vinnie Testevarde may have thrown an interception and no touch downs but we won!

Derrick Blaylock may have rushed three times for a total of one yard but we won!

Cadillac Williams may have been on the sideline but we won!

That fact that there are so many exclamation points in this blog goes a long way to describe the Jets current season.

Tags: NFL Jets Football

[Review] Madden 06

Here’s the new game same as the old game.

I’ve had little bit of time now to fully soak up the new ambience and new experiences of Madden 06. As such my review is from someone who has a little more “experience” with the game; I’ve given it time to sit and breathe like a fine wine (when it is fact a cheap Chardon’). My review is also of the Xbox variation which may differ somewhat from the PS2 and PSP versions.

This is EA Sports first Madden since they signed the exclusive deal with the NFL. They do not let you forget it. Every title page has “exclusive” written somewhere. Speaking of titles; one of my favourite parts of recent Madden games has been the player, cheerleader and fan cameos at the start-up (with the exception of those no-namers from Europe). This year is no disappointment and there is more in-game footage of the players doing their thing.

All the commentary, all of the animations and nearly all of the game play is exactly the same as 05. The controls are different though; which was a pain, but you get used to it (though my QB is still throwing the ball out of bounds every now and again). Also the defence is shittier than it was in 05. The most exciting changes (from my perspective) are the Superstar mode and a very subtle change to franchise mode. The worst change is the QB Vision.

You may have already read some of the reviews put out about this game; they all hated the QB vision cone. They were all right. It sucks. In fact, the vision cone is the only thing I haven’t tried in depth. Basically when you drop back to pass a bright yellow cone appears on the field. This is the area that your QB can see. For guys like Peyton Manning the cone covers most of the field, for others like, for example, Jets third stringer Brooks Bollinger, the cone barely covers your primary receiver.

The idea behind it is to add more realism to the game. You now have to look off your receivers. If your primary receiver (which is the default for the cone to follow) is covered you can change to another receiver by holding the right trigger and pressing the new receivers’ button (Y,X,B,Bl,Wh). For the defence this means you pretty much know where the ball is going to be thrown, however, it is still hard as fuck to get your guys there for the interception. The best tactic for QBs with smaller cones (hee hee hee) is to select your primary receiver before the play and just run if he ain’t open (hold down the A to run as a QB), you can also throw on the run in this new version.

Let’s talk about franchise mode now. The subtlest change is that when you simulate games you can choose to semi-simulate them. This means you are given the game situation and have to choose a play based on your teams strengths etc. It makes the game take no time at all. And at any time during the simulation you can choose to step into the game. So you can simulate the first half and play the second. This makes people like me – who sometimes like to play coach/manager more than player – very happy.

The other new big feature is Superstar which is basically a text adventure with chances to play football. A lot reviews didn’t like this feature either; I kinda do though. But it could be better. First you select your parents, or rather two parents are randomly selected for you and you have to choose which pairing you like; if your parents are athletes then it is better for your prospects. Then you fill out your University details; if you select a more famous football factory university then it apparently makes you better. After figuring out what you’ll look like you get interviewed and drafted. It is damn near impossible to get taken in the first round. You, of course, have no choice in where you go (there is no “Eli Manning button”). The only aspect of the team that you can control is the depth chart; this means that you can actually see some game time. Each game plays like a normal game of Madden. Your player is indicated on the field by a red circle, so you always know where you are in relation to the action.

There are practices, game plan sessions and a performance institute. When you use these your abilities increase for the next game you play. But they go away after that. However, if you play well in the season your abilities increase every 4 weeks. Play badly and they go down.

The actual game-playing part of Superstar mode is annoying. It’s fine if you’re a running back, quarterback or wide receiver (even a tight end) but if you are a defensive player it gets real hard. My amazing DB that I imported from NFL Street 2 (a very handy feature) had average skills in Madden 06, he was made into a CB when he was more of a Safety and his performance naturally depended on where the opposition threw the ball. Your on-field performance changes various things about your persona (marketability, visibility, popularity etc) which lead to movie roles and promotional deals. But if I’m not doing anything on the field then it just get frustrating. Simulating the games doesn’t help because it usually means you don’t make the play-offs (which also helps your persona). My tip is to play as a RB or QB and win all the yearly awards, go to the ProBowl and watch those promo deals roll in.

My real gripe with Superstar is the realism levels. There is a score on your persona for Appearance which you alter by using the “mirror” in your apartment. This is where you pick your helmet type, pads, gloves, eye-black, mouth guard etc. But it doesn’t have any bearing on which position you play. For example the QB I made was given a higher score when he was wearing gloves. QBs don’t wear gloves! Also the games would be better replaced with something similar to the in-game situations of the mini games. This would make it easier to have a star player, especially if your guy is a 330lb offensive lineman.

Finally, the movie, promos and interviews could do with some animations or video. At the moment they are just text and memory games, which pretty dull. Even if you are a super star there is no option to go out and buy an expensive car or date super models. What’s the point of being the rich brat if you can’t buy the bling, or being a community minded team player if you can’t donate to charity?

On the disk there is the usual advertising, sorry, I mean “previews” of the new season games. However, this year there is also a preview of Madden 06 for the nextgen Xbox 360. Being a fan of computer games I am no longer impressed when I see “preview” movies showing “groundbreaking” graphics of amazing quality. Why? Because the actual in-game graphics are, more often than not, nothing like the preview. And so it seemed with Madden 06. Turns out I was wrong.

Here is a shot from the promo video (click for larger view):

Here are some shots from inside the game:

Yes, that is Anquan Boldin

<>Go Eagles!

Cardinals Coach Dennis Green

Here are more photos for you to peruse during your workday.

From the review above it seems that there will be some changes made to the gameplay as well in the new version. The biggest change coming in the audio. Not only have 18 NFL QBs (like the Colts’ Peyton Manning) and numerous other players (like Ravens LB Ray Lewis) given their voices to their digital likenesses, but apparently there is no commentary from John Madden and Al Michaels!

Will this be the first Madden game that doesn’t have Madden in it? Probably not. I imagine that they are still recording tracks for the game. Let’s hope they get rid of all the shit music. An even harder question is: will I have to fork out for an Xbox 360?

PS.

Off Licence: Sounds like the new American football game by Midway might be fun even without the big names.

Tags: Madden NFL football Xbox

[Movie] On my command unleash Hell...Hamsters

Got this email at 00.30am this morning:

Dear all

This is your friendly neighbourhood producer with an update on HELL
HAMSTERS.

Our current shooting dates are Saturday 19th November to Monday 21st
November, with the Giant Rabbit sequence (I've always wanted to say that) to
be shot on Sunday 30th October.

Cheers

Elisabeth

Look out academy awards, here we come!

[General] Random John Campbell Photo #1

[General] O Mother where art thou?

“Mother of the Nation” Judy Bailey (right) has been ‘let go’ by State Broadcaster TVNZ. Earning $800,000 a year (including a large sum of taxpayer’s money) Bailey sailing into controversy and has been dumped unceremoniously by the station.

Simon Dallow is tipped to replace her at the 6pm spot. But is he enough to stop the nation from switching to (the suddenly right-leaning) TV3? Especially with TV3 fronting their Bailey clone, Hillary Barry.

Technoratti Tags: television, news, New Zealand

[NFL] Finally...was it worth waiting for?

Look at this. Four (4) weeks into the NFL season and I have yet to blog about it!

Actually there is a good reason for this. Other than being worked to near exhaustion at my “real job” (by ‘real’ I mean ‘paying’) my New York Jets are suffering their worst season since…well, the season before last. But I must, like the Jets, battle my way out of depression and review the NFL as I see it, for you my attentive readers.

I will do this in the style of Grabthar’s Hammer’s resident baseball writer Dom, and go by division.

NFC

Like last season the NFC seems to be trailing the AFC in talent. There are four unbeaten teams in the NFL and two of these are in the NFC: Tampa Bay (4-0) and Washington (3-0). The NFC has five teams with three or more wins in four weeks; the AFC only has three teams. At this stage numbers can be misleading, but we’ll use them anyway.

NFC East

The NFC’s eastern division has been dominated in the past few years by the Philadelphia Eagles (3-1). This season they are only ahead of the Dallas Cowboys (2-2). The NFC East may become like its AFC version this season. The Washington Redskins, who have sucked for many recent seasons, are unbeaten on (3-0).

BUT,

and I cannot emphasise this ‘but’ enough, the New York Giants are on 3-1 and so is Philly (and let’s not forget Philly went to the Superbowl last year). And of the Redskins wins one was against Chicago (1-2), the other two were as close as they could be (a one point win over Dallas and an overtime win against Seattle).

For me the surprise of this division is the Giants. They have sucked since making it to the Superbowl back in ’01, (when the Baltimore Ravens defeated them, 34-7). But with Evil Eli playing better (‘cept in San Diego when he rightly sucked, ho ho ho. “Drew’s your Daddy?”) and Plax catching the important ones they are looking like a threat again.

NFC North

Last season there was some discussion about which division was the suckiest. Without a doubt it is the NFC North this year. The Chicago Bears are leading the division with a 1-2 record! F’r goodness sake!

The NFC North is mainly a division of old teams: the Bears, the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. The Packers are sitting at the bottom of the division with NO wins from three games (Note: the Pack had yet to play their Monday Night game against the Panthers when this was written, which they lost and are now 0-4). This includes losses to Detroit (1-2), Cleveland (1-2), and Tampa Bay (4-0)! These are all teams who had high draft picks last season. Will this be the season that Brett Favre is replaced? I mean their back-up QB Alex Rogers was considered a possible first pick this year.

Note: Green Bay's Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila has the NFL's coolest nickname: KGB.

And what is up with the Minnesota Vikings? Randy Moss can’t have been that much of an influence could he? At least they are doing the right thing by their fans and sucking at the beginning of the season instead of pretending to be contenders.

NFC South

This is the NFC’s hardest division of late. For the past few seasons the NFC south has produced a Superbowl winner, a Superbowl runner-up, and an NFC championship runner-up. This season looks no different. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are undefeated (including 3-0 against other NFC teams). The Atlanta Falcons beat the Eagles in the opener. Even the Saints are 2-2 (which is the same record as the Patriots). This division will heat up down the stretch and will probably get one of the NFC wildcards.

This is the division of the New Orleans Saints who will be playing all of their home games at another stadium because of woman troubles. One dirty big woman named Katrina who ruined the city of New Orleans and the Saint’s Superdome. They’ve already lost one “home” game which they had to play in New York. New York, New Orleans, its close enough said the league.

NFC West

If the NFC North is the dullest division, then the west is a close second. The Seattle Seahawks have the “best” record at 2-2. The St Louis Rams are also 2-2 but they lost to the San Francisco 49ers!! Who last season were 2-14 and this season are 1-3, the “1” is, of course, the Rams.

What about those Arizona Cardinals? Constantly one of the worst teams in the NFL, one of the few teams to make a loss and they still managed to beat the 49ers. A lot of people were picking the Cardinals to go the play-offs this season (including me) but they won’t. What they did do is play a game of football in Mexico! Arrrriba!!! An exciting game too, which the Cardinals won (which is good because it counted as a home game). I imagine that the Cards made a decent amount of money on the game too, which they don’t at their real home which is only a college football stadium. Maybe the Cardinals, which is actually the oldest franchise in the NFL, will move to Mexico.

AFC

The Colts and the Bengals are the AFC’s two undefeated teams.

Colts: sure why not.

Bengals: Whaaaaa?

So who else is leading?

AFC East

This is usually the NFL’s hardest division. The New England Patriots (2-2) have won three of the last four Superbowls. The New York Jets (1-3) got to the play-offs last season and defeated the Pats that year they didn’t win the Superbowl. The Buffalo Bills (1-3) are unstoppable when they get it together. The Miami Dolphins stank worse than everyone except the 49ers last season, this season they are leading the division with a 2-1 record. The way things are going this could be the worst division in the AFC.

The Jets are my team, so I just quickly wax on about their problems. Their O-Line sucks so badly this season. Curtis Martin only got 30 yards against Baltimore (Blaylock got negative yardage). If your O-line can’t help Curtis Martin get more than 30 yards then it’s time to get some replacements.

Speaking of replacements: two injured QBs in one game? That really has to suck. Brooks Bollinger is now the #1 QB the Jets have. Still no one can throw with a shit O-Line! Watch how good the Kansas O-line makes Trent Green look.

But I’ll tell you what; there is nothing wrong with the Jets defence. No major injuries in fact their all doing ok. So why are they giving up so many points?!? Baltimore with a second string QB scored 16 points against them! (Excluded from my fury are Jonathan Vilma and Kerry Rhodes who are awesome).

Actually that was uncalled for the Jets’ D is as it always has been. Here is a good quote from Bassett on Jets Blog:

When the Jets' defense spots the ball for you on the ONE YARD LINE and you can't get more than 3 points, that is all you need to know about this team...

AFC North

Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last season’s Superbowl hopefuls who got beaten by the Pats. And the Pats are the only team to have beaten the Steelers this season, so they must lead their division, right? Nope. That team would be…

The Cincinnati Bengals.

Yeah, I know it’s weird for me too. But this season I am becoming a Bengals fan!
Note 1: I am not ditching the Jets, just also supporting the Bengals

Note 2: In Australia’s NRL the Wests Tigers just won the Premiership (Rugby League equivalent of the Superbowl), they were also 100:1 long shots at the beginning of the season. Perhaps this is an omen for Bengals.

This division also contains the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. The Browns will be contenders next season and should be ahead of the Ravens this season. The Ravens added to the number of criminals in their squad by adding Titans cornerback Samari Rolle.

AFC South

Indianapolis Colts. That who is going to win the AFC South. No contest. In fact I think the Colts may finally make it to the Superbowl. Whether they win it or not is another question.

The Jacksonville Jaguars may grab a wild card but that’ll be hard in the AFC. The Tennessee Titans will be happy to get three or more wins this season after suffering the inevitable salary-cap crash. And the Houston Texans suck and will be over the moon to actually win a game.

AFC West

This season the nail-biting hardcore division is not the AFC East but instead the AFC West. The San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos are all play-off calibre teams and may all actually make the play-offs.

San Diego has stepped up in the last two weeks and finished off the Giants and the Patriots. The victory over the Patriots was especially sweet as it was at Gillette Field (home of the Pats) and was massive 41-17 scoreline. (We didn’t get the game here in New Zealand so if anyone could send me a bit torrent link that would be sweet).

The Chiefs were looking good until the played Philly this week. Philly scored 31 points that were not answered until it was too late. To quote Gregg Easterbrook’s haiku prediction:

Spelling tells all: There's

no "D" in Kansas City.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Oakland Raiders are the spoiler of this division. This season they are the team to break the hearts of play-off contenders. They just beat Dallas, who were on a little roll.

Note: Dom pointed out that in the game Randy Moss caught a 79yard pass but didn’t score a touchdown.

So that’s my little run down of the teams and my two cents. But with all the crap I’ve been saying am I going to cram money where my mouth is? I sure am!

Division Winners:

NFC

East: Philadelphia Eagles

North: Who cares…um…Chicago Bears

South: Atlanta Falcons

West: Seattle Seahawks

AFC

East: Miami Dolphins

North: Cincinnati Bengals

South: Indianapolis Colts

West: San Diego Chargers

Wild cards:

NFC: Tampa Bay Buccaneers & Carolina Panthers (Giants and Redskins are heartbroken)

AFC: Kansas City Chiefs & Pittsburgh Steelers (Patriots, Broncos and Jaguars are heartbroken)

Superbowl winner: Indianapolis Colts (beats Philly Eagles in the first Superbowl to feature no running plays)

I’ll update this later and find various excuses to wipe the egg off my face. Enjoy the rest of the season!

PS. Jets Blog has uncovered an interesting rumour.

And because all of my posts have to have something to do with George W: try out this fun little link. Click on Little Georgie and throw him around. I always knew he was spineless but never knew he was this flexible. Laura must be a happy woman

All photos used are from NFL.com

[General] Making up for lost blogs

Look at how fucking slack I have been.

That is to say I have slack at my blog. In the real world I have been working my arse off.

Wellington Vs Auckland this weekend in the NPC is being billed as a “try fest”. Usually when two high scoring flamboyant teams come together the result is a low scoring affair that is decided by defence. That is what I am predicting. You want a try fest? Watch Northland Vs Southland.

The NRL grand final is showing what the NPC can only dream of. Two heavily underrated teams have made it (West Tigers and North Queensland Cowboys) and the contest will be amazing. Legions of fans are wetting themselves with excitement and most of all, the whole thing is interesting! It’s not just “Oh that team will win, they always win”.

Like Fucking Canterbury!!! Yes, I hate Canterbury. Because you win all the time! And when it looks like you might not win you start to buy players off other franchises so that you will. Fucken’ Hell let the Bay keep Kevin Senio! What do you need him for?

Rant over, for now…

And here is more proof that sports make you nuts

Also here is some stuff I was supposed to post a long time ago but forgot.

In this artist rendering provided by Destination Grand Canyon, a glass skywalk is shown extending from the Grand Canyon. An American Indian tribe with land along the canyon is planning to build a glass-bottomed walkway that will jut out 70 feet from the canyon's edge. The skywalk, expected to open in January, is part of the Hualapai Tribe's $40 million effort to turn 1,000 acres of reservation land into a tourist destination that will also feature an Indian village and Western-themed town. (AP Photo/Destination Grand Canyon)

The New York Liberty's Becky Hammon, in front, guards the Connecticut Sun's 7-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek, of Poland, during the second half of their WNBA game at Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)