Random Rant of the Month

See this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNLilO7mEEU

See these?

http://www.tacobell.com/bigbox/

Lies. All of ‘em.

For kicks I ordered a five buck NBA box from Taco Bell as Charles Barkley advertised in the above clip, and it was pretty good. The burrito supreme was mediocre at best, but the taco was a taco, and the cheesy gordita crunch was pretty good. The cinnamon twists were nice and the Pepsi was a Pepsi. There was only one problem.

No box. Just a bag.

Now, I’m usually a cool customer when ordering something I saw on TV. I don’t expect everything to come completely as advertised. However, when you advertise something as a five buck box, don’t you expect, y’know… a box? Hello? Earth to Taco Bell! You can’t sell a box without the box! Worst of all, how the Hell am I supposed to rock without a box?! Charles’ rhyme in the ad should have started;

“The five buck bag… it sags, it sags…”

I want to sue Charles Barkley now. The damages? A five buck box with an actual box.

MLB 2K10 Played, Glitchy

I’ve had my copy of MLB 2K10 since noon on the 2nd, and have put quite a bit of time into it.  My one My Player character has already – in about a month of play time – escaped Double-A to reach the Majors. Wow! However, sometimes the game is just harder then it needs to be.

Yes, he’s batting without a bat. On a foul ball, he dropped the bat and ran part way to first. He got back and resumed the at-bat, but forgot his weapon. This has happened to me twice.

Steam UI Overhaul

Valve’s steam has been an integral part of PC gaming since it’s launch with Half Life 2 in 2004. It had some growing pains, but now is indispensible and is a beacon of light for PC gamers, holding on against ‘experts’ who claim PC gaming dead time and again.

Now, Steam is getting a facelift. By logging on to Steam and opting into the UI Facelift beta, you can get an early peak at the future face of Steam. Personally, I like it. It’s sleek, and seems to load well.

My only complaint is that it reminds me a little of Eve Online, which seems a little odd. I recommend all Steam users give it a shot, and then let Valve hear your opinions so they can get this right. Alphasim out.

Sports Pages on e-AAGH.net

Many probably haven’t seen it, but I’ve been writing My NBA 2K10 Player Chronicles since I got NBA 2K10 for PC back in the fall. Now, it’s set to be joined by a sister blog, My MLB 2K10 Baseball Player Chronicles. You can follow the pics below to reach them, although the latter doesn’t have much since the game launches next week.

My NBA 2K10 PC page mostly covers the ebb and flow of Rick Daniel, an all-around skilled point guard. Daniel started his career in Reno with the D-League Bighorns, but has since spent time in LA with the Clippers and now plays with the Orlando Magic. I occasionally cover my other players, like Sean David (who hasn’t been heard from in a while after quickly arriving with the Mavs following only 5 D-League games) and my newest My Player character, Reggie Anderson. I’ve drawn up trading cards for Rick and Sean so far. Here, take a look at one.

Not terrible, I’d say. Reggie will get one too, if I continue to play him. I’ll likely do similar for my baseball players too on the new blog.

Read the old blog, prepare for the new, and look forward to an MLB 2K10 review. Later,all.

MLB 2K10 Demo Coverage

The Xbox 360 demo of MLB 2K10 released at approximately 4:30 AM EST, and I was there to download it. My first impression was that it was a beautiful game, from the in-game graphics to the interface. And then I played it.

I won my first game 4-0 as the Phillies in New Yankee Stadium. I outdueled Andy Pettite as J.A. Happ, striking out four Bronx Bombers in the process. I also hit two homeruns in the first inning. At first I was fighting my timing, which seems changed from last year and feels more solid, but when I connected, I walloped the ball. I managed to whack a home run with a contact swing, so that’s proven to be possible. My lone gripe is that Ben Francisco won Player of the Game after going 0-2, striking out twice.

All in all, this is a good sign for the series. My hopes are high, but they were last year as well. We’ll see how it pans out.

The Return of Civilization

Civilization. The name is synonymous with turn-based strategy. Now, Civ is coming back, in the form of Sid Meier’s Civilization V by Firaxis. This has me all worked up. With the addition of a hex-based map and community features, I can’t wait. Expect a more full-fledged notice on e-AAGH.net proper soon enough.

Delays, Delays

I’m just getting further and further behind these days. I want to review Sims 3: World Adventures, but that’s months old now. I need to catch up with the times.

I’m also looking forward – via morbid curiosity, I suppose – to MLB 2K10. I rated MLB 2K9 as our worst game of 2009, so why am I looking forward to it’s latest installment? For one, it’s the only option for PC and Xbox 360 gamers when it comes to video game baseball. Secondly, they’re implementing My Player from NBA 2K10 into it, and I’m excited for that. I’m bothered that Microsoft hasn’t added as much as a notice to xbox.com and Xbox Live. Usually, upcoming games get a page on xbox.com to announce it’s features, show pics and videos, and generally prime it’s audience. With less then two weeks until it’s release, MLB 2K10 hasn’t gotten that treatment. It makes me wonder who’s fault this lack of information is: Microsoft or 2K Sports. Is Microsoft delaying any information on the subject, either through forgetfulness or neglect, or is 2K just not providing them with anything? A demo is expected next week (with information on such supposedly coming by the end of this week), so this should effectively be a non-issue in the end.

I just hope that 2K and Microsoft don’t know something about the game they don’t want to share, such as information regarding it’s quality. When a studio (movie, music, game, whatever) tries to quietly slip a release past the media and it’s consumers, that’s usually a bad sign. Not always, but usually. Fortunately this so far has none of the earmarks of such a disaster, but with the game’s predecessor being as poor as it was… I have to worry.