I hate the liberal bias and the Cut and Run Crowd

I just fail to understand why the "Cut and Run" crowd has been so effective at taking this war and totally shedding a completely negative image on it. I fail to understand why we let this happen. Is it that some of those that lead today were the very same people that were smoking dope and procaliming "Make Love not War" and throwing pig's blood on our returning Vietnam vets? Is it that they see this as a rebirth of their youth? Whatever the cause is, to me, it is disgusting how some are so willing to senf this country down the drain. Their hunger for power and control, or revenge on President Bush outweighs what I feel should be the natural tendency to protect the land that they were born on and reaped all the advantatges off of. So many times I fell like screaming at those so blind, using the fictitious character Col Jessup's words:

 

"You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know - that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that wall. We use words like "honor," "code," "loyalty." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!"

Posted by Teufelhunden11 @ 7:01 pm EDT | Permalink | 24 Comments

Rainbow 6 Vegas vs GRAW2

So, now we have two great shooters in orur arsenal. Many ask which is  better. The truth is that this two games are completely different, and hence forth can not be compared to each other.  With Rainbow 6, I get the sense of playing "Hide and Seek". You have a house, or a casino, but it is the same concept. You tend to know where the camp sites are, and you go there to kill the enemy. You should have a pretty devent amount of encouters along the way, and lots of trigger pulling time. This is the game of room and building clearing. With GRAW2, I get the sense of hunting/being hunted. The maps are pretty big, and there are numerous danger areas. Each street, each bridge crossing could mean your death.

Those of you who have gamed with me for a while know that I love sniping. Sniping is satisfying in R6, but it isn't true sniping. GRAW2, that's where true sniping is, specially if the host turns off Kill Cams. With GRAW 2 there are so many spots in each map that you can turn into a sniper's hide, and watch the enemy spend the rest of the game looking despeartly for that spot. R6, well the sniping is satifying, just not the "setting up" the sniper's hide. There is no sniper's hide in R6.

I will say this:

 I hate the first motnh or so of GRAw release. Why? Because 90% of the people playing this game right now are achievement hunting. Thta means they are doing 95% "Co-op Campaign". Can we please get to the real meat and potatoes fo this game's multiplayer?????????????????????????

Posted by Teufelhunden11 @ 9:32 am EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments

A comparisson that should never take place.....

As is the case with all of you, I am an avid gamer. I have played video games since i was tall enough to reach the joystick on an arcade machine. I love video games, and have greatly enjoyed witnessing their evolution throughout the years.

We have seen and experienced huge strides in technology that have greatly amplified our enjoyment factor. The technological advances that have taken place have not only given us better and better graphics (think of Kung-Fu for NES.... then think of Street Fighter for the 16-bit sytems....then think of DOA4 for the 360), but have also allowed the developers to weave incredibly intricate and involving storylines. For the most part, the videogame industry strives to deliver quality products to ensure they get our money. The vast majority of the time, they get us great value for our money.  I mean, compare those franchises that have been able to not only survive, but have been tremendously succesful (not just by measuring their sales) crossing from platform to platform, from generation to generation. Franchises like Resident Evil, starting with the "out of the blue" dominating force that became the PS1, crossing to the PS2/Gamecube generation. They delivered very high quality games, and the difference in the genrational versions was marked enough. Franchises like Final Fantasy, which although at times they delivered questionable versions, one couild really tell the difference as the generations of systems improved.

Then, we have the franchise that prompted me to write this piece.......EA's Madden. To be fair, and accurate, Madden is the grand-daddy of the grid-iron games. The problem is that they have gotten so complacent. I was playing the latest instalation of this game a few nights ago. Madden on the 360 is a work of art from the graphics standpoint. The level of detail that they can now achieve is really breath-taking. A fellow 2o2p'er and I were playing our League game, and talking. We realized that the last time he and I had played football against each other had been on the one game that really brought it to EA, and smacked them in the mouth, pulled their punk card and scared EA into having to secure exclusivity rights to NFL properties to ensure they could not compete. That's right folks, the undispouted ultimate underdog... ESPNNFL2K5!

2K Games, brought out a very high quality game, at half the price of Madden and smacked EA in the mouth. Admittedly, the 2K instalation of their football games were (in my opinion) much more of an arcade gameplay style. Depending on the version (2K through 2K5), it was either the running game or the passing game that were pretty easy to do. I clearly remember on 2K4 being able to run over 200yd games with Trung Canidate!!, and on 2k5 being able to pass for ungodly amounts of yards per game (with a huge QB Rating) with just about any QB. The Madden franchises maintained a higher level of "realism", as far as gameplay went. 

Back to my point.... the other 2o2p'er and I were actually comparing a prior generation , 2 year old game, against a "next generation" game! And the comparisson still favored the older, past generation game. That comparisson should never take place.  I mean, why are we allowing EA to deliver subpar games? You are probably asking.....How do you figure they are?  To me, the strength of a game lies in its attention to detail. Allow me to point out the things that 2K5 did right:

-100% support for the Online game. They had (have) 100% League Support. Can you get 32 players together to run a real NFL season? Good, we'll support it! You'll be able to do trades, you will have to manage your team, becasue you will have injuries. We will track all of your stats for you, for your entire league. Very impressive!

-You don't agree with a call? Let me paint a picture....you're on Offense. You drop back as the QB, your opponent called the right defensive play and their LB is beelining for you. You try to get the pass off, but he is on you like white on rice! He wraps you up, as you try to release the pass. Then it happens...fumble!!!! The LB recovers the ball, and luckily your FB tackles him. You see the instant replay on the giant screen. Your arm was going forward!!! Challenge!!!!! On NFL 2K5, it asked you: Are you challenging the fumble? Are you challenging that your amr was going forward, and it should be an incomplete pass? Are you challenging the spot of the ball? Did I mentioned this happened Online and  Offline??? AWESOME.

-You want atmosphere? How about we let you set the atmosphere, down to the detail of what song you want your stadium to play when you sack the opponent's QB? When you Interceot the Ball? When you return an INT for a TD? When you score a TD on Offense? When you complete a 3rd and long? or a 4th? Amazing!!!

-99% of the time, if you challenged a play, and the instant replay showed proper footage...you won the challenge!

-It's past the 2 minute warning, the refs didn't make a call they should've......you had the equvalent of being on the sidelines bitching at the refs. Pause, control the instant replay and focus in on the infraction/bad call scenario. Resume game, and the computer recognized what you were doing and the booth would request a review!!! Hah!! Love it! Again...available offline and online.

Now, let me review our complaints about Madden '07:

-NO online league support!

- No challenge online

-Unable to specify what I am challenging (how many challenges have I lost because the computer decided I was arguing the sopt of the ball on a questionable catch?)

-Watching their receiver catch a ball at the edge of the sideline, then come down with the ball his first foot a foot past the sideline, his second 2 yards further, and hearing the ref say "Play stands!" WTF?????

- Same scenario as above.... past the 2 nimute warning and the booth and refs are blind!!

Why, oh why is it that EA can not address these issues? They simply took the easy way out, bought the rights and ensured they were the only game in town. Given that I wholeheartedly believe in capitalism, I have no problem with that concept. They had the bank,  they used it .  But I am also a firm believer in customer service/support. Your being the only game in town should not give you a pass on delivering a high quality product.  Your reputation should be so important to you that  you look at what your prior competition did right and you match or surpass it. EA has not, and unless we the consumer light a fire under their butt, wont. I can assure of one thing though...if 2K comes out with a non-NFL sponsored generic teams/players football game....it will definetly be added to my library.

Posted by Teufelhunden11 @ 12:14 pm EDT | Permalink | 8 Comments

My latest quest

As some of youmight have read from the Off-Topic area, I was looking at trading my 2002  35th Anniversary Z-28 Camaro in.

Well, yesterday ws dedicated to this purpose. It all started last Saturday. I went to a dealership in New Bern (north of Jacksonville). It's about a 45 minute drive. After a little bit of wheelin' and dealin' the best price they offered me was $29,954.00 out the door. Now keep in mind that hte wifey was not all too onboard about theh vehicle I was looking at (Nissan 350Z), and definetly did not want us to go over $27,500.00 out the door. So, since she had a prior obligation for Saturday, all my conversations with her in regards to this transaction where done over the phone. When I told her about the   price New Bern was offering she laughed...an evil laugh.....so I told them that amount was not going to work. They immediatly came down to $29,000.00. Nope, still not good enough. So I walked out of there.

I then called the Nissan dealership in Wilmington (South of Jacksonville....you getting the idea the dealerships in Jacksonville suck?). This time I told them that I would not pay a cent over $28,000. Salesguy came back on the phone with a figure (that in my mind was close to acceptable) of $28,500. All these figures will be out the door prices. Anywho, I told him I would stop in with my wife on Monday and check it out, if they kept the offerof 28,500 on the table until then. He agreed. So we went there Monday afternoon. Needless to say they changed their figure to 29,500.00 when we got there....so we left. We were driving aroun Wilmington and the wife was deliriosly hungry, so she agreed that if a dealership gaves a $28,500 price out the door, we'd take it. So I called New Bern back, and pitched the idea to them. They came back with an offer of 28,754.00. Wife saide "Let's go". So I head the car northbound for the 2 hour drive. The cell phone rings. Low and behold it's Wilmington Nissan offering an extra $500.00 discount...I tell him thanks but no thanks, you're still at $29,000. The wife pipes in "Tell him what we're doing" so I tell the salesman from Wilmington: We're on our way to New Bern, they gave us a good deal." He asks the typical "Whta did they offer you?" I ask the wife: What did New Bern offer?, without hesitation she pipes up "$28,594.00" (remember, they had offered $28,754). Wilmington sayus" Can I call you back, Sir?" I said sure, but I am on my way to New Bern"....as I pull over into aparking lot and wait for their return call. So 10 minutes later I get the predicted "We'll match the 28,594.00 offer" call. I tell him very well I'm turning around.

Now, the next part could not have been scripted better than how it happened. We get into Wilmingotn Nissan, the sales guy sits us down and starts rearranging the paperwork we would need to sign....then my wife's cell rings. She answers it, and it's New Bern Nissan (whom she had called to let them know that NIssan had matched their offfer and we were going with it since we were already in Wilmington). They are now offering $27,900.00!!! I am dying laughing. The look on the salesman's face was tantamount ot "Oh, fuck!!" He tells me to tell the New Bern dealership to fax the offer signed. Neew Bern does and Wilmington can't match it. Off we are to New Bern.

We took the PearlWhite 350Z, and paid....$27,400.00 out the door!!! Lesson? If you happen to be lucky enough to have multiple dealerships of the same brand near you...play them against each other!!!!

Posted by Teufelhunden11 @ 3:12 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

Ahhhh...the relief!!

No, I am not talking about self-gratification....you dirty minded fools!
I'm proud to inform you all that I have officially surivived yet another miserable duty day.

Now, for a quick change of subject, and in an effort to help out my fellow gamers the following is a list of 360 gmaes I own (or have owned), and a quick "Y/N" for "must own":

Blazing Angels: N

COD2: YYYYYYY

Dead or Alive 4:  Y (But you'll be screaming at the "Green Bitch")

FIFA 2006, Road to the World Cup: Y

Fight Night Round 3:   Y,Y,Y!

GRAW: YYY

Kameo: Y/N (Have kids? Y, Don't have kids? N)

Madden 06: Y/N (Are you addicted to NFL games?)

NCAA 07 Football: YYYYYYY

Oblivion: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Over-G: NNN

PDZ: N

PGR3: YYY

Top Spin 2:   Y

Which brings me to another point...... I hate Chromehounds.  I haven't played it. I haven't even seen the demo. So why do I hate it, you ask? There was a time, not so long ago, when my gaming nights were filled with GRAW and COD2. We had a great group of people that almost always ran together in either, or both games.......then the devil incarnate showed p in the vile form of "Chromehounds" (I prefer "RustyMutts", or "Mangeypups"), and they all disappeared into the conflicted world of Chromehounds....never to be seen or heard of again, except as a distant memory.......... 

 

 

Posted by Teufelhunden11 @ 7:12 am EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments