ConsoleSports
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 14 April 2006 |
Last night I was surfing around looking for the new Madden/NCAA previews that were due to come out, and judging by the high traffic at most of the preview sites, I was not alone. I really didn’t know what to expect, so I did go into it with an open mind. Judging from some heated debates I have gotten into over the past month on various forum boards out there, I can safely say that I was probably more optimistic than a good number of people who seem to be quite angry at Electronic Arts. So, brimming with anticipation, I was hopeful for a visible sign that EA was going to address Madden/NCAA’s graphics this year.
Unfortunately, judging by screenshots alone, that is one wish I did not get answered. I will say that the Pass-Look feature with the conical vision simulation of the QB’s head will probably be welcomed, and I think it opens up interesting strategic possibilities on both offense and defense. It’s also nice to see that the WR looking back for the ball animations have finally been implemented. (Still, I think many of us have an attitude of “Nice, but why the HELL did it take so long?”) I do look forward to more time-released revelations about Madden 2006 as the weeks go by. I will say that I’m not as impressed with the NCAA revelation thus far. The prospect of creating fictional freshmen to track towards the Heisman trophy in the “Race For The Heisman” mode just doesn’t do much for me yet. I’m not a big “fictional player creator”, although I do know my fellow site co-founder – Bangpow- is big into creating fictional players and bringing them through the college ranks. Perhaps I’m just more of a “sim-snob”, and I’ll have to wait for more timed feature releases in the coming weeks for NCAA Football 2006 to get me excited with other enhancements. Again, its VERY early yet, and EA is strictly controlling the release of info- as well as the exact days when that info can be released.
However- back to my reason for this article….
I’m not at all impressed with the still screenshots of Madden 2006’s graphics. Now, that doesn’t mean I think the game will be good or bad, because I would never make such a judgment on screenshots alone. Still, I think after what appears to be the 6th release of the Madden 2001 graphics engine with enhanced textures, EA is ripe for some criticism by anyone seeing even these still shots. Anyone at all familiar with the Madden franchise will probably recognize the player models as more of what we are used to- and have gotten used to- since 2001. Granted, EA could surprise us with mad frame-rates and thousands of extra animations, but I think its safe to say- we have what looks to be “last year’s models” in these screenshots.
Perhaps we could go one step further and honestly say that we have “2001’s models, with enhanced textures and slightly more polygons on the pads.”
It is because of this trend that I feel EA is losing some fans and earning some deserved criticism. I’m also of the opinion that Electronic Arts has been disappointing the members of the gaming populace who deem themselves to be what is referred to as “Graphic-Whores” for a number of years now on most of their sports franchises. I’m also of the opinion that even gamers that don’t claim to be “Graphic-Whores” (or “GW”s for short) also have desire for some level of visual enhancement in their sports games from release to release. I know I do, and I know of many others who do. Addressing this need – or NOT addressing it- is where myself and many other people feel that EA’s sports games haven’t lived up to expectations for several years now. From some of the other forum boards I follow, I see this trend as an ever-growing complaint about the EA football games since about 2002 after the release of Sega’s NFL 2K3, which myself and others often feel looked so good that EA should have reacted with a new engine and super enhanced graphics for Madden 2004.) Needless to say, we didn’t get it. And, at the risk of judging screenshot graphics, I don’t think we will get it with this Madden/NCAA 2006 release either.
Meanwhile, in the 2 years since NFL 2K3, Visual Concepts always managed to really blow out the graphics on their football product, reaching what I personally felt was a graphic peak of excellence with ESPN NFL 2K5 on XBOX, while EA appeared to merely pushed some quasi-enhanced dazzle knit jersey/pant textures for parts of their players uniforms. Keep in mind, I don’t believe that graphics are the end-all, be-all of the greatness of any football video game. That said, I also feel its something that should not be relatively ignored over the span of 5 game releases. This is seemingly what EA has done, and it appears that the same might be true of the Madden 2006 graphics- again- if only by the screenshots.
I once wrote an article for the old www.football-gaming.com called “Under The Hood, The Engine Is The Key” way back before the release of Madden 2004 (probably July of 2003). In the article, I predicted that EA might get caught in an unfortunate rut of “graphic engine-rehashing” until the next gen systems shipped. (At that time, the Next Gen Systems were thought to be releasing in late 2004). So, at that time- I was assuming that in a worst case scenario, we’d have to tolerate Madden’s “same-ol” graphics only through Madden 2005, but with an option to buy Madden for the Next Gen systems on 2005 as well. As we know now, those systems got pushed back 2 years later than expected, but that didn’t at all change EA’s reliance on the same-old Madden 2001 engine.
But I also feel we need to step back a second and remember EA’s recent claim that “Madden hasn’t done away with the competition, it has to compete with other popular games like Halo, etc.” Well, I think it is safe to say that if any of the publishers of other non-sports games decided to utilize the same basic graphics engine for SIX consecutive releases (and for 6 years in a row), their would be deserved criticism. Could you imagine if Id Software released Doom III using the old Quake II graphics engine from 1998? Could you imagine if Warcraft III had come out using the Warcraft II engine? Could you imagine if GTA San Andreas had the same graphics as GTA III, and the exact same city size, cars, and limited polygon engine? Now, lets take it one step further- multiply those proposed graphic “re-releases” by six years. Now do you see my point?
Electronic Arts really needs to address this problem. As gamers, we want good graphics and expect more improvement year to year. Its hard NOT to say that EA has been ignoring this fact in favor of “same old stuff.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping all the additions – those we don’t know about yet- will make up for some of this. However, I don’t see any way around the fact that EA’s 2006 football graphics appear to be pushing the same-ol “Staleness” as they have for the past five years. It’s also embarrassing when you consider just how little they have utilized the advanced graphics capabilities of the XBOX. (Vicarious Visions sure did when they made Doom III for XBOX!) To me, that’s disappointing. We’ll see what they can do.
However, if EA really believes that they have to compete with games from other genres, I think they had better start doing much better visuals to keep up with those games. As of this moment, it appears that the rut continues at least in terms of the graphics engine. That is indeed unfortunate, and at this moment I really can’t disagree with people who expected graphic enhancement of the series…
..and have been mostly ignored for what appears to be five releases now.
Hopefully, the feature list will be so fat that many of us can overlook this fact. Graphics ARE NOT everything, and that’s a fact. However, lets face it- there’s a little “graphics whore” in all of us. The sooner EA realizes this fact, the less criticism they will face. Sadly, by comparison to what was once Madden’s competition, it is nearly impossible to say anything other than Electronic Arts was quite lazy in the football graphics department during the PS2/XBOX generation of consoles. I would certainly hope such a trend IS NOT repeated on the next generation of consoles. I sure as hell hope that Madden NFL 2007 on X2 (or whatever) doesn’t look nearly identical to Madden NFL 2012 (with merely a few enhanced textures/shading).
EA, please take note. The grumbling noises you hear while on the web and on sports game forums are the “graphics whores” in all of us.
…and they (EA) would be very wise to learn from this “grumbling”.
Quietcool72
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 October 2006 )
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 09 February 2006 |
I remember last year, there was a video over at www.gamespot.com showing a tour of the EA/Tiburon headquarters down in Florida. In this video, there was also interviews with the various producers of the Madden and NCAA series. I recall the NCAA producer responding to the question regarding online leagues saying “The problem with online leagues is people not showing up for their games.” I really can’t fault him there, that is a big problem. It can be hard to find 8 reliable team owners in any online league, let alone trying to get 32 good, reliable owners in a full-blown online NFL league.
What surprises me is that nobody has really come up with an innovative fix for handling this problem. However, I think that many people haven’t look towards an obvious solution for the problem either. It really didn’t hit me until I posted link to the article about Tecmo Super Bowl last week that I found over at GameCritics.com. The article made me think back to my college years, when me and my friends would wage season-long, stat-tracked wars on Tecmo Super Bowl for the old NES. I remember about 8 of us taking our own NFL team in the full 16 week season, and playing out the schedule. Sometimes we had to play each other, sometimes we had to play against the AI. It was all dependent upon which team was set to “MAN” controlled versus “COM” (computer) controlled on a given week. So my six buddies and I grabbed some distilled beverages and tore into the 1991 NFL schedule with our respective teams. It was a blast. If someone didn’t show up, we’d just set their game to “COM” controlled and the game would sim it out until the next “virtual week” when the person could get away from his girlfriend and actually show up for his game (or games.) The system was brilliant. It was yet another way that Tecmo had their game ahead of its time. But wait…. Why can we not apply the same idea online in future versions of any sports sim with online leagues?
For example, Let's look at what we at consolefootball.com are dealing with. We are trying to find 8 or more reliable (and straight-playing) owners for a slimmed-down online season of ESPN NFL 2K5 for XBOX. That’s a bit of a challenge, to say the least, but once we do find them, the game will set itself up where everyone plays each other twice to get a 16 game season. Okay- that’s fine, but what is prohibiting the game makers from allowing a real NFL schedule 16 week season with 8 human controlled teams and 24 AI controlled teams? My guess is- nothing.
Oh sure, there’s some programming to be worked out there, but is it that complex? The “AI versus Human” game results wouldn’t even have to be “online” if the system allowed an upload of results/stats of the game. For AI versus AI games, a system could be in place where the league GM could hit a “sim all Com vs. Com games for week” button.. (much like Tecmo Super Bowl allowed.) Those results could then be uploaded by the GM’s console system to the server to refresh the league info, stats, and standings. Sure, some may argue “Who wants to play against the AI in what is normally an online PVP league setup?” Well, I think many would. I know if I could get five or so friends into an online, full NFL season, MLB season, NBA season, and they could play out the real schedule, there would still be lots of competition and trash talk. Can you imagine the razzing you’d get if you controlled the Patriots in your online season game against the AI-controlled Cardinals- and you lost? Ouch. You’d also be competing in the stats arena, which is fun too. Plus, you’d also end up playing the human controlled teams online- as the schedule dictates. Think about it though- full, online seasons for as few as TWO players… yet a full schedule. I could see me and Bangpow doing that (His Lions, my Raiders…) and making fun of all of our losses or stat deficiencies as the season goes on (potentially meeting in the Super Bowl). Of course, it would be even more fun with even more human team owners, but if someone doesn’t show, switch their team control to “COMPUTER” – even if only for one game. No big deal. It would solve so many league management problems that people are having. Heck, trades with the AI could take place too, but it could be set that approval for the trades depends upon majority acceptance of the trade by human controlled team owners. The technology exists for all of this, its just a matter of implementing it when you design a sports game. That would make the online seasons far more accessible, far more user friendly, and way more innovative. Its not exactly a novel idea though. Tecmo Super Bowl did the same thing 15 years ago. They just didn’t do it online. See you on the virtual gridiron.
Quietcool72
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 January 2007 )
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 15 December 2005 |
Video gaming seems stuck in a rut lately. The sports games we love so much are struggling while developers learn new hardware (such as the XBOX 360). It’s unlikely that these “first run” software problems will be ironed-out till the second releases of whatever basketball, football, & hockey engines are tweaked and perfected. To make matters worse, that same “next gen hardware” is on-hold for most gamers due to manufacturing slowdowns, demand, etc.
So, like many of you, I’m going back and playing non sports games that previously I haven’t had much time for on both PC and consoles.
Outside of the sports realm, I see many issues with some of the new games. Particularly annoying is what seems to be a total lack of depth and a reliance on sequels and rehashes. My feelings about sequels are that some games do deserve sequels, and we want them. However you might notice how many really lame games get sequels nowadays. We are getting sequels for games that practically nobody bought- which totally baffles me. (How many of you personally bought “Full Metal Alchemist” and felt you just had to have Full Metal Alchemist 2?)
(Yes, I just took a cheap shot at the ultra-Japanese anime game genre. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t apologize.)
Of course, there’s many more than just that example. What’s even more disturbing is that if a game isn’t a sequel, it tends to fall into the “make a quick buck on a license” category. Sadly, these are the types of licensed, short, shallow-yet-with-good-graphic games that companies like EA churn out. (A prime example would be “From Russia With Love”)
But where is the depth? Many developers fall into the “graphic” trap where the “virtual playground” created for us in a given game is shrunken in favor of a “quick-fix” with good graphics. Replay value is all but non-existent on most of today’s games once you beat them. Sure, there are exceptions- such as the Grand Theft Auto games. Those are usually sprawling, giant, open playgrounds for us to explore. There’s also a steady improvement in the quality of Star Wars games on the part of Lucasarts and their affiliates. However, these are often exceptions in a gaming economy filled with “quick-fix games.”
Perhaps this type of gaming environment is what has created the huge popularity of MMORPGS like World Of Warcraft. Each quest, each character, and each item you craft is given ownership to you- the player, as well as al the skill trees and abilities you seek to invest in. Of course, Blizzard is one of those companies that crafts exceptional games to the point of artistry. While many developers have an 8 month dev cycle, Blizzard will take three years to release one highly anticipated game and load it with depth, story, and all the things we love. The bad news is that over the past several years, many people left Blizzard to join/found new game developers. The good news is that they seem to be spreading the Blizzard philosophy elsewhere. Look at Guild Wars- a game that was created by many Blizzard castoffs who worked on the fine “Diablo” series and came over to NC Soft. The proof is in the quality- and its REALLY evident in such a finely crafted game. Then we have more former Blizzard team members making the upcoming game “Hellgate London” for Flagship Studios. Most industry insiders who have seen the game so far are claiming that this one is going to be huge.
It’s the mavericks like Blizzard (and their former designers) that are shaming their competition into slowly improving. A good example is how Sony’s “Star Wars Galaxies” MMORPG for PC recently revamped just about everything about their game to make it more fun, player-friendly, intuitive, and – in their words- “Star Warsy”. To be fair, Galaxies has a long way to go yet, and the change alienated some hard-core role-player subscribers who didn’t want the game to be so action-oriented, but I’ll give Sony credit for trying to improve a very not-so-user-friendly game. We can thank World of Warcraft for that. Its become the MMORPG by which all others are judged, and also the game by which the quality of games from many other genres are judged.
That’s a good thing, especially in this industry of “licensed quick-fix games with little replay value”. Perhaps its what scared The Lord Of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar into releasing much later than they wanted to get things right. Perhaps World of Warcraft is also pushing the Dungeons & Dragons Online game to push harder towards quality, depth, and playability before it launches.
One thing is for sure: by their very nature, MMORPGS are the one haven of depth and replayability gamers seem to be flocking towards. I think we are in good hands with a company like Blizzard blazing the early paths of quality. My only hope is that the now-famous “Blizzard-type-quality” would be adopted by other genres, particularly those making console games.
We shall see.
Quietcool72
Editor/Co Founder
Consolesports.net
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 14 October 2005 |
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Last week I made a nice little run into the Semi's with the Steelers. It was the first bit of relative “success” that I had for a couple weeks. So, what did I do last night? I decided to switch things up a little and use a team that I don't think I've ever used in Madden, the Buffalo Bills. Actually, I decided to switch things up a bit because after a couple weeks at the new place, I've started to play guys a couple of time and the new “regulars” of the Madden tourney have begun to surface. So now I think I can start experimenting with new teams and strategies that I started to do before they moved the tournament to Malarkey's. I didn't fare as well this week, but I got to play a couple solid games of football and I didn't have to deal with one bit of cheese. My details might be a little hazy today, though. For whatever reason, I decided to order the 35 oz. (or whatever they were) Blue guys. I have no idea why, I just felt like it was a good idea. Anyway, let's get to the games.
Round 1: Bills vs. Colts This game was a rematch from two weeks ago when I lost twice. This matchup was against one of the two brothers that completely handcuffed my offense while mustering up just enough offense to win the game. I was expecting much of the same and I didn't think I was going to make it out of this round due to the fact that the Bills O-line is shoddy at best.
Anyway, I came out of the gate receiving the ball and proceeded to not to a damn thing on offense. I wasn't getting the all out blitz' from a couple weeks ago and he was actually mixing his D up quite well. I wasn't too worried about the high-octane offense of the Colts, I seemed to have that under control and the Bills D was stingy. Nothing really to exciting went down in the first quarter, but things started to pick up in the second. After getting the ball back on a punt, JP Losman hit Eric Moulds on a buttonhook and Moulds almost took it to the house. After a couple more plays, I find myself with 1 st and goal inside the 10-yard line. I think I tried a couple of run plays with Willis McGahee to no avail, so I had to get creative on third down. JP Losman decided to call his own number on a bootleg and found the end zone with about 30 seconds left to go in the half. The Colts were getting the ball back after halftime and all I needed to do was keep them from scoring any points or I would be in trouble. So, what happens? Marvin Harrison torches my secondary for a TD! But lucky for me, Vanderjaggot missed the PAT and we take a 7-6 lead going into the second half. Not much really happened in the second half, however. I had the usual missed FG and both defenses were playing at the top of their games. I pretty much rendered Harrison useless for the rest of the game and my offense didn't really do much either. The final score stayed 7-6 and it was on to the next round for the Beefalo Bills.
Round 2: Bills vs. Eagles This game was a rematch from last week. My secondary came up large against the Eagles last week and I eeked out the win. This week was a different story, though. It's in these situations where it helps to use a team that you're comfortable with, but I was sticking to my guns and I stuck with the Bills. Before the game started the gentleman that was using the Eagles was saying how he had a gamelan and he was sticking to it. I found that admirable, but my Read ‘n React gameplan stays the same every week.
Again, it was quite a defensive battle as the two teams were slugging it out. The Eagles gameplan for the week seemed to be sticking with 2 WR sets and work the middle of the field. TO really wasn't going off, but LJ Smith was. Well, he didn't “go off” per se, but he did manage to catch a pass for a lengthy gain in the second quarter, which set up a TD. I really didn't have an answer to that TD until the 4 th quarter. After working my receiving tandem of Moulds and Evans, I found myself with a 1 st and Goal on the 5-yard line with less than a minute to play in the game and 1 Time Out to left. I tried to punch the ball in with McGahee, but that went nowhere. Then I tried to pass the ball, but Losman overthrew the TE in the corner of the End Zone. 3 rd down brought up another passing play, but again the Eagles D came up huge and sacked Losman, so now it's 4 th and goal to tie the game. Well, I could've probably just typed that last sentence over again because, once again, Losman was eating turf, only this time the game was over and the Bills were bounce from the tournament. Yep, I was shutout, zero points. Game over.
There it is. Another early exit for me on a Thursday night, but there were some good things that came out of the evening. As I mentioned before, I'm starting to see a new group of Madden “regulars” show up on a weekly basis. And the good thing is that most of them play solid football. Well, as solid as can be while playing 2-minute quarters. There was a little controversy again last night when a guy decided to turn of the Vision Cone, but he wasn't playing me and I think he lost anyway. I don't get that. I mean, why play with the Vision Cone off? Why not just pop in Madden 2005 if the cone is going to be turned off? Oh well, it was fun anyway. And I think I found my backup team just in case someone wants to roll with the Steelers against me. Fortunately, I know where the weakness lies with the Steelers D; it's just a matter of being able to exploit it. That's all I have today, I'm having a bit of a rough morning. So, this is about all I can put together at his point. Until next week…
“I'll have a bloody Mary, a steak sandwich and a...steak sandwich.”
Oh, I forgot to mention the other controversial moment of the tournament. Host Mike Valenti battled his way through the tournament to make it to the Finals against the gentlemen who was running with the Steelers. The funny thing about the guy using the Steelers was that he employed the 4-3 defense throughout the tourney and it looked to be really effective, but this is Madden we're talking about and we all know how dodgy the AI can be. That's not the controversy, though. The controversy is that before the two were scheduled to play, the EB Games employee packed up the systems, so they couldn't get the Championship game in. So, while Mike wants to claim the Championship for the week, the game was never played and I think it would've been a toss-up between the two combatants. Now, we all know that he wouldn't have gotten to that point if he was in my bracket, but that's a story for another day. It should also be noted that when Mike wins the tourney he doesn't take the prizes because he's the host.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 October 2006 )
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 07 October 2005 |
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After a brutal showing last week, I came into last nights tourney a little more prepared. I actually had a chance to get a couple of games in this week and even had a nice victory over QC's Raiduhs in the process. Needless to say, I was feeling good about my chances and I was prepared to at least get out of the first round and not lose twice. So, here's how the evening went.
Round 1: Steelers vs. Falcons My first round matchup ended being me vs. one of the hosts of the Sports Inferno, Mike Valenti, who also happened to be last weeks champ. During the course of the weekly tourney, we have been talking about getting a game in because, like us on here, he likes to play actual football when playing Madden. So, it was going to be an interesting matchup in the first round and we had the added bonus of playing on 2-minute quarters for this week's tournament.
(I'm the one in the red on the right playing Mike Valenti, Sports Inferno host) I hate to say it, but there really isn't much to go into in this game. It was basically a defensive game while both of us were basically feeling each other's game out. That being said, the game didn't lack a little excitement here and here. After about 3 quarters of absolutely nothing happening for either team, I was able to get a bit of a spark from Chris Gardocki, of all people, in the 4th quarter. He was able to lay down a nice punt inside the Falcons 5 yard line while giving Michael Vick very little room to work. After a run play on first down that went nowhere, Valenti tries to throw the ball on 2 nd down. I brought the typical Steelers Zone Blitz from the left side and I was able to get to Vick in the End Zone for a Safety. On the ensuing possession I couldn't get much done while trying to run out the clock and I had to punt the ball away with ample time left for the Falcons to get into field goal range. After a not so good defensive series, the Falcons get within field goal range and have an opportunity to kick the game winning FG. Well, needless to say, the kick goes wide right and the Steelers dodge a huge bullet to get out of the first round this week. Final score 2-0. Phew!
I want to also add that this was probably one of the more enjoyable games that I've played thus far. I didn't have to worry about holes in the AI and I didn't have to worry about Bump ‘n Run and all out blitzes every play. It was mentioned after the 1 st quarter that the game was shaping up to be a classic, and in part it was. I just wish it didn't come down to a safety, that's kind of a weak way to win. But a win's a win and I had another game to play.
Round 2: Steelers vs. Eagles After I was done with the Falcons game, I was immediately whisked away to play my Round 2 game. We actually got to play on 4 TV's this week, but one of them was a 13” TV resting on a karaoke TV stand and that was the one that my next game was on. I think it should be noted that of all the flat screen TV's that I've played on over at Malarkey's, the 13” standard TV was my favorite one to play on. On the flat panel ones, the controls don't seem to be as responsive and the game tends to lag a bit. I have no idea why that is, but that's just how it is. Anyway, back to the game.
I came out of the gate kicking the ball to start the game. Upon the return, Roderick Hood fumbled the ball and I recovered with excellent field position. After a couple of Duce Staley runs and Benny Robanger passes, we found ourselves finding the End Zone to take a 7-0 lead. On the next possession McNabb ends up throwing an INT to Deshea Townsend and the Steelers are on the move yet again with good field position. After a couple moderate gains by Staley and Robanger, we ended up with a Jeff Reed FG to go up 10-0. That's pretty much how the game stayed until I gave up a TD in the bottom half 4 th quarter to put the Eagles within arms reach of taking over the game. After the Eagles TD, they attempt the onside kick, which I recover, but the Eagles had a full rack of Time Out's and the Eagles defense tightened up in the second half. This is when the Eagles got a heavy dose of the Bus and Duce and, boy howdy, did they run hard. After barely getting a couple of First Downs, the Eagles were forced to use up their Time Outs and the game was basically over at the point.
On to the Semi's….
Semi-Finals: Steelers vs. Giants I knew this game was going to be a mess before I even picked up the controller. The guy I was playing was the same guy who has done nothing but throw to the TE on flag routes every play. He was motivated to win the tournament this week because he was gearing up for the Madden Challenge and he was going to bust out his “real” team at Malarkey's, which is the Giants. I watched him play his first round game and let me say that it was rather classless. I mean, he was up huge in the 4 th quarter, like 28-0 or something like that, and he's calling Time Out's when his opponent has the ball because he was upset that this guy was still running plays trying to score points. WTF?? So, going into the game, I knew I had to deal with some crap, and I was sort of right. His substitutions were rather “unique” as he put his #2 TE at FB and his backup LT at #2 TE because, you know, they do that all the time in the NFL.
Anyway….
I start the game of receiving the ball and didn't really do a damn thing with it and I have to punt. On the Giants first possession the Steelers D came up large with a Troy Polamalu INT and Robanger and Co. were back on the field. Although, it wasn't all that great as I had to punt the ball yet again, but so far the game was still tied at 0-0 and there were signs of life for the Steelers. The Giants come back out and run nothing but hurry up offense and double TE sets and he runs the same flag routes to Burress and Shockey who are triple covered, yet they are still able to get some catches. He got to about my 20-yard line and I was able to stop him 3 straight plays, which brings up 4th and 10 in the second quarter. So, one would think that any true football gamer would sack up and kick the FG…..wrong! He goes back to his same flag route to a triple covered Shockey who comes down with the ball in the End Zone for a TD to make the score 7-0 G-Men. I was rather ticked off at the playcalling, but I wasn't out of the game. I got the ball back on the ensuing kickoff and Robanger hit Miller a couple times, C. Wilson a couple times, and Randle El a couple times while marching the the Steelers down for a TD just before halftime! Jeff Reed must've had the jitters, though, because he missed the PAT. Actually, I missed it because I was back on the flat screen TV with the lag and the kicking meter was slower on it, I don't get it, but that's what happened. Anyway, the G-men got the ball to start the Second Half and the rest is history. Hurry up offense, Flag routes, and catches in triple coverage. But he did start to run the ball with Barber with much success, but that was because he had an extra TE and an extra OT in the game because of his pre-game substitutions. Needless to say, I lost the game 21-6 and was just victimized by some more cheddar. That's fine, like I've said before, I would rather lose games playing real football than win games on holes in the AI. But the best part is the guy that beat me got his ass handed to him by the Vikings in the Finals. Heh.
So, there it is. Another week, another loss in the Semi's. One of these days I'm going to get past that point, but as long as the cheddar is being thrown around that place, the less likely I'm going to win. But it's not all about winning and losing, it's about respect and trying to find similar gamers like us out there that just enjoy matching wits on the gridiron. So far, there are a couple guys that I've seen that play a good game of football, so there is still some hope out there.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 January 2007 )
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