Sean’s Birthday Festivities
August 24, 2008
Sean’s Birthday was last Thursday, but today we had his fun day. Most of the presents were opened last week, but today was his day on the town. As previously mentioned, the kids get a party with their friends every other year and then on the other year, we have a family day.
It started today with a morning of video games. He spent the morning playing some of his new Xbox 360 video games. For presents, he received Madden 09 (yes, we took the plunge again), Bourne Identity and Civilization Revolutions. He has enjoyed all of them. He and Savannah spent 2 or 3 hours this morning alone playing Civilizations. She has even tried a game or two herself. I remember the game from the PC days and still looks as addicting as I remember.
I spent a portion of my morning getting an ailing PC back working. Somehow (situation normal with Windows) a file got corrupted. I set up Windows to run chkdsk and repair the file upon reboot. Evidently, there must have more corrupt files as Windows refused to boot. Finally, had to boot to Windows CD and run chkdsk from the recovery panel. Luckily, it worked and everything seems back to normal. Back to the Birthday festivities…
After a light lunch, we headed of to town for some fun. First, we caught a movie. After some indecision and sadness from Savannah, Sean decided he wanted to see the new Mummy 3 movie. It was an excellent choice. The movie was very enjoyable – a nice mix of action and comedy. They also had a nice way of introducing the new actress (Maria Bello) playing Evie, but I will leave that for you to see in the movie. I still did miss the “old” Evie, but the movie is a winner. I can’t wait to see it again on my Blu-Ray. Yes, you will have to suspend reality once again, but that’s fine for me and movies. Of course, Savannah ended up enjoying the movie too.
After the movie, we went and played miniature golf. The weather cooperated too. It was 4:30 in the pm, so could have been hot and humid being the monsoon season. The temperature was a nice mid 80′s and it was slightly overcast, so the sun didn’t even beat down on us. Mr Papa managed to pull of a four stroke victory in the miniature golf tourney. Sean took third due to a couple of bad holes.
We finished our day off at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. We kind of thought Sean would pick a nicer place just cause we don’t get out very often, but we all do enjoy that place, so everyone was fine. We had some nachos, wings, popcorn shrimp and pulled pork sliders (like the mini White Castle burgers). Very good indeed, plus they had some preseason football on the TV at our table.
Back at home, unsure how we will close out the day. The kids want to play a board game, but Suzanne wants to watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Either way, its been a fun family day in celebration of Sean’s 12th Birthday.
Madden 2009
August 3, 2008
Well, it’s that time of year again. Time when the new football videogames for the year come out. Or rather football (singular) videogame comes out. Yes, that’s the Madden franchise and yes I am anything but a Madden fan. I long for the days of the old NFL 2K series. They completely beat the tar out of Madden.
Football used to be the number one video game I played. Not since Madden bribed the NFL and got an exclusive license to produce NFL licensed video games has that been true for me. I know Madden has always been the #1 football video game, but for me it has always been lacking.
Each year since the bribe, I hopefully await the release and hope the folks at EA Sports dont sit on their exclusive license and actually work to put out a good video game. This is true for any genre, but competition breeds better games and video gamers are the winner. Hate to beat a dead horse, but these exclusive license means we video gamers are the losers.
I bought last years version of Madden after withholding the previous season. I should have rented it first. I played it for a month or so and then was just so frustrated it hasn’t seen my TV screen since. I still occasionally play the NFL 2K5 Xbox edition because its still the best football gameplay out there.
So, I was excited this year when some of the rags were heralding the praise of Madden 09 as finally entering the HD and next generation era. Once again, my hopes were raised. I was also excited to learn that a demo version would be available on the Xbox 360 a couple of days ago. I downloaded it on day 1.
Unfortunately, the demo leaves you wanting more and really doesnt give you much idea what the game really is like. And EA Sports should just throw that stupid Tron like IQ Quiz at the beginning. In my mind, complete trash. Definitely not a place I would spend any time in the game. The meat of the demo isn’t much better. It’s way too short and way to limited as to what you can do to get a feel for the game. I can say the graphics are definitely improved over the last few editions.
Thus, I cannot make a decision on purchasing the game. I so want a football video game that I can enjoy and play often. I will have to shell out a few bucks for a rental or two to see if the game is up to my standards. I truly hope it is and I really hope its a purchase I can make. Maybe someone needs to make a Tecmo Bowl (yeah, right) arcade game for the Xbox 360. That would get more play time from me than past Maddens.
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