ESPN NFL 2K5 vs. NCAA 2005
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Since I don’t have Madden 2005 and I haven’t played it yet, I thought I’d compare my experience with the two football games I do have. I know I’m not technically comparing apples to apples, but it’s close enough. It’s Fuji Apples vs. Granny Smiths. Or something like that.
Control and feel are both still solid. I am still getting the hang of ESPN’s controls but NCAA’s are second nature to me. The feel is pretty wierd to get used to. NCAA seems more responsive, ESPN is loose and touchy. Passing in ESPN is an exercise in frustration at times.
Environment or atmosphere is definitely NCAA’s domain. It really does capture the feel of a college football game. ESPN looks prettier (NCAA’s crowds look like burn victims) but I like NCAA’s overall atmosphere.
I haven’t delved into ESPN’s franchise mode yet but I think NCAA will edge it out. Dynasty mode, with its awesome recruiting aspect, will be nearly impossible to beat.
There’s more to it than just this, but that’s my five minute take on it. I’m sure I’ll revisit this topic some more in the future.
I still haven’t won a game yet with my Brownies. The Lions and Seahawks have both beat me by a field goal.
Video game-free weekend
I didn’t play any games this weekend, including the ritual FF:TA battle before bed. It was actually kind of nice, we were actually outdoors, camping and picnicking and what not. I didn’t miss the games as much as I thought I would. It has been a nice break.
Now that the work week is upon us I hopefully will get a game of NCAA 2005 in and finally give ESPN NFL 2K5 a whirl. Should be fun.
Gamecube’s Fall Lineup and new peripheral
Over at PlanetGamecube.com they’ve got a list of up coming games this fall/winter for both the Gamecube and the GBA. I’m looking forward to (in no particular order): Paper Mario 2, Metroid Prime 2, Viewtiful Joe 2, and Mario Tennis. I’ll probably pick up NFSU 2 for the Xbox.
They’ve also got news concerning the new “controller” for Mario Party 6: a microphone. This could be good or this could be lame. I don’t do karaoke but I can scream with the best of them. Maybe some voice recognition to see who could imitate Mario saying “Itsa me, Mario!”
ESPN 2K5
Well, in a moment of weakness I picked up ESPN NFL 2K5 at Sam’s Club. I couldn’t pass up the $16.84 price tag, so I grabbed it. I promised myself I wouldn’t purchase another game until Fable, but I’ve been so bad lately. I’m going to try and finish Deus Ex and, along with Goblin Commander, trade in for Fable.
I also signed up for Google AdSense. Why not? I get a TON of visitors to the site, so it should subsidize my gaming spending. Hahah, yeah right. Okay, so I’m only averaging a couple hits a day, but those will increase once people realize how right I am about things. Then those ads will pay off! Just wait!
Fable has gone gold!
EA lets us know that Fable has gone gold, less than a month away. Man, this fall-winter is shaping up to be a great video game season.
Games gathering dust
There was a link to a story on games.slashdot.org to this article about having too many games to play. A problem I’m sure we’d all like to have, but this post came at a time I was thinking the exact same thing.
I’ve picked up 6-7 games at rock-bottom prices (I think I’ve spent 60 bucks total) and I’ve still got other games I haven’t had a chance to play yet. I would say I’ve got ten good games in the ‘queue’ waiting for me to play. And I was thinking “Man, I’ve got to beat Goblin Commander before I start something else.” It felt like it was almost a chore. That’s not right. This is my hobby, not a job or responsibility. I felt obligated to play because it’s sitting right there in front of me.
So I decided to give Goblin Commander another go tonight, and I was not enjoying it at all. RTS games belong on a PC, even though Jaleco did a decent job with Goblin Commander. So I decided instead of feeling obligating to completing the game, I’ll just use it as trade fodder. I could probably get 5-10 bucks for it (about what I paid for it) and pick up something I want to play, like ESPN NFL 2k5. It’s out of my system. I don’t feel like I have to complete it.
So liberating! What a breakthrough I’ve had. But I still will finish Viewtiful Joe if it’s the last thing I do.
Mario Tennis
cube.ign.com has some snazzy hi-res screenshots of Mario Tennis. Looking very nice.
Hope springs eternal
Every once and a while, an article like this (via IGN) catches my eye and my heart at the same time. Getting my Gamecube online is defintely something I have been hoping for for a while, but so far no luck. So I read the article, hoping for a glimmer of hope, and all I get is:
Unfortunately, Nintendo filed the patent in question for the ill-fated 64DD and not for the GameCube. The 64DD was meant to add mass storage capabilities to the N64, but it never caught on.
Blasted! Oh well, hope does spring eternal.
My cup runneth over
Those crazy cheap A’s found another bodacious deal at Toys ‘R Us, lots of decent games half off an already reduced price. I picked up Beyond Good and Evil and Deus Ex:Invisible War for the Xbox and Freedom Fighters for the Gamecube. After using a gift card I spent 18 bucks on three sweet games. Excellent!
So my game queue continues to grow. I’ll get some time in this weekend with some of these titles, but NCAA 2005 is still taking up the majority of my time. Once I get a chance to play a couple of these I’ll post my thoughts.
Fable previews
There are countless Fable previews coming out now, and needless to say, I am excited about this one. This one from IGN is pretty long but it was pretty well done with a lot of information and impressions. Some are saying the best RPG ever.
I’m not sure what I think the best RPG is. I really liked Final Fantasy III/IV on the SNES, I liked Baldur’s Gate and others. Diablo II comes to mind, but it may not qualify as an RPG. Regardless, the game is ambitious and looks like it could be stellar. It was definitely one of the reasons I bought an Xbox and I may even say I’m looking forward more to it than Halo 2. Blasphemy, I know!
I’m still not what to make of the marriage/sex aspect of the game.
Cheap games at Best Buy.
Thanks to the deal-finders at Cheap Ass Gamer I was alerted to some clearance deals at Best Buy so I went over on my lunch break to check it out. I picked up R: Racing Evolution and XIII for the Gamecube and Onimusha Tactics and Max Payne for the GBA. All for $9.99 each! I wanted to pick up a copy of Simpsons: Hit and Run for me and my brother-in-law but all the stores around here were sold out. Bummer. R: Racing Evolution comes with Pac Man Vs., the game that uses the GBA/GC connectivity, so I’m looking forward to trying that out, it’s supposed to be pretty fun.
So now the games are piling up for me to play. I am still mainly playing NCAA but now that I’ve got some new ones I’ll try to get some playing with those in. But I watched some kids play Madden 2005 at BB and it looked sweet. But so did ESPN NFL 2k5. What to do, what to do.
So many games, so little time.
Outlook 2003
This has nothing to do with games, but I recently upgraded to Office 2003 at home and I use Outlook for my email account and I must say the new anti-spam features are top-notch. I have the level set as “high” and I rarely get an unwanted email in my inbox while my junk email folder is filling up more and more. I got about 200 emails last week, 150 of which were junk email and all but 3 or 4 made it to my inbox. Pretty good work there. And adding senders to a “safe” or “blocked” list improves its efficiency even more.
I often don’t toot MS’s horn, but I’ll give them props for this one. It also finally has some security features for HTML emails, as well. At least it seems like they’re trying to get better.
Nintendo and Microsoft
So now that I’ve had time to think about the news story I linked to earlier, I wanted to comment on it. I know it’s older news, supposedly Bill Gates tried and failed at buying Nintendo a few years back, hence the Xbox. He knew that there is a lot of money to be made in the living room and wanted a piece of that action. Say what you will about him, he didn’t get where he is by luck alone. He knows what he’s doing.
Anyway, I’ve thought about what could come of a merger like Nintendo + Xbox. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had:
Online - Like it or not, Nintendo has dropped the ball here. With only 2 games utilizing the broadband adapter to play online is pretty sad. While there aren’t a lot of games that could utilize it, an online Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, or any sports game would be great. By combining Xbox Live’s success with Nintendo games, possibilities are endless. A 16 player F-Zero race online would rock.
Franchises - Nintendo has tons of them, Xbox really only has HALO. Bring Zelda and Mario in the fold would be perfect. With Nintendo’s knack for making fun games and the power of the Xbox would be unbelievable.
Fan base - Nintendo fanboys are fickle creatures. I’m sure most of them would feel that Nintendo sold-out and they’d be mad. But most of us would realize the possibilities and embrace the change. For one reason or another, I don’t want to see the PS3 win the next console race and an Xbox/Nintendo combo could easily knock it off its high horse.
There are other positives, and I’m sure an equal number of negatives, but I’m an optimist so I try to look past that. Either way, I doubt it will happen and we’ll have a 3 console race once again. I can’t see it going past that, though. Someone will have to drop out. Who will it be?
I’m going to play some NCAA 2005
Yahoo! News - Microsoft eyeing Nintendo: report
Yahoo! News - Microsoft eyeing Nintendo: report
Quick post: could this be true? More on it later.
Halo has been destroyed.
Overall, I look forward to trying on the harder difficulty levels at some point, but I’m going back to NCAA 2005 for now. I left my team in a lurch and they need their coach.
I give Halo 4.75/5 buttons mashed! I also eagerly waiting its sequel.
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