A Good Idea That Falls Short...

Before I get to into this, I would like to say that I am a wrestling fan and have been since I was a kid. That said, when I heard that there was going to be a WWE Legends game, I was reasonably excited. I like the Smackdown v. Raw series and the controls for those games are some of the best in a wrestling game since the old N64 days. But, I must say that the controls are where this game falls short for me.

The control system uses the 4 face buttons and features a chain system that is similar to chain events that take place in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Spider-Man 3. It's cool and all to be able to make chains like that and pull of finishers through that means, but it just doesn't hold up to the controls in other WWE games. Sometimes the controls work great, and other times they lead to large amounts of frustration. I understand that they were aiming to make this game simple to just pick up and play, but is the sacrifice of a good control scheme necessary just to try and gain a few more players, especially when the control system for the other games is simple?

Controls aside, the roster is awesome. Finally, a game that features a large assortment of legends, as opposed to the 4-5 that are unlockable on the Smackdown v. Raw games. Even better, you can import rosters and created wrestlers from Smackdown v. Raw 09 and use them in the game. This leads to a massive roster and also allows for some matchups that are unable to be made just on the 09 iteration of Smackdown v. Raw. While it would have also been cool to be able to import the legends into the other game, it is understandable why they chose not to do this.

Game modes feature the Wrestlemania Tour, Legend Killer and Exhibition. In Wrestling Tour, you can relive, rewrite, and redefine classic Wrestlemania matches such as Hogan/Warrior, Austin/Michaels, Austin/Hart, Austin/Rock, Hogan/Slaughter and most fun of all, Hogan/Andre. In relive, you essentially relive the match and feature an assortment of objectives that, if met, will gain you a medal. In rewrite, you rewrite the match and change the outcome, and in redefine you can add in different match types to change the set up of the match completely. For Legend Killer, you take a created wrestler through the gauntlet and beat legend after legend, while earning experience along the way.

Overall, this game is a great premise, give the fans a game featuring nothing but legends of the WWE. But it is in the execution that this game falls short and leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully, they can make enough to build a sequel, but make the changes to the control scheme to make it an overall better experience. Then and only then will it be a true Legend of Wrestlemania.

Wombat Score: 3 Wombats

Holy Jesus A Review

So there is going to be something new going on here from now on, and I call it a review. Whether it is music, movies, video games, a tv show, or maybe even a book, I am going to review it if I feel the need. This is part necessity as I am bored often, and part necessity because I often times can't come up with a lot to write about that I actually care about. And because I think my opinion is important, no matter how wrong I may be with that.

To do this, I needed to create a system of rating, and after much deliberation the Wombat has been decided. Behold the majestic Wombat picture and revel in his glory. It will be a scale of 1-5 with 1 being crap and 5 being good, though, 5 does mean perfect and that is a rarity, so don't expect it much. So, until next time, FEAR THE WOMBAT!

Another Under .500 Top Ten List...(Insert Annoyed Grunt)

It's that time of year again, time for another list of 10 of my favorite things. The topic this time, oddly enough, is not sports related at all. It is time to talk some video games. Before anyone crucifies me over this, bear in mind that this is my list of favorite games that I've played in my lifetime. This is in no way supposed to be the 10 best games ever made because that would be silly and impossible to argue, these are just the games that I have enjoyed throughout my 22 years of gaming. That said, let us get this shindig started.

10. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Before I get ripped for this, let me begin with this sentence. I like all of the Zelda games. I've played almost all of them, short of many of the Game Boy iterations. Ocarina of Time, though, has been the one that stands out to me the most as my favorite. I can play this game over and over and have just as much fun as I did the initial time.

Favorite Moment: First time making the change from Kid Link to Adult Link, I mean wow.

9. Madden NFL (XBOX)
I love football, plain and simple. From the first time I played Madden when I got to college, I knew I was playing a game that I would enjoy for a long, long time. Regardless of the season, this game is one that I will set aside cash for every year that it is released.

Favorite Moment: Finally beating my roommate for the first time since I met him in 2004.

8. Tetris (NES)
One of the first games I ever played, I can waste countless hours playing Tetris more than I can any other game that I have owned. Great times all around when Tetris is involved.

Favorite Moment: Anything to do with Russia involved in that game. I have never had a better source for cracks about Russia in my life.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (NES)
One of the only games I have ever played at an arcade, I spent more of my Mom's quarters on this game at the skating rink than she will ever know. Great game and one of the first XBOX arcade games I ever got, though it would not be the last.

Favorite Moment: Beating that bastard, The Shredder.

6. Contra (NES)
One of the only games my brother and I ever really played together that didn't end in us getting into a fight, probably because it was one of the only games we played together in which we worked together instead of against eachother. Great game and one that I gladly downloaded on XBOX Live as well.

Favorite Moment: Finally beating the game over a decade after the first time I played it, stupid broken Nintendo.

5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Awesome game, awesome series, awesome story, and an even more awesome main character. Alucard, to me, is cooler than pretty much any Belmont you can find. This game was the one that got me back playing my PS1 games after playing through every PS2 game I owned.

Favorite Moment: Finally beating that damn game again when I re-acquired it after initially selling many of my PS1 games.

4. Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
The Final Fantasy that took me 2 years to truly appreciate. The story isn't as bad as I initially had though, the music wasn't as bad as I had intitially believed, and the 4 discs definitely aren't as boring as I had originally though. The first time I tried to sit down and beat this game, I only got halfway through the first disc before getting bored. It wasn't until 2 years later that I sat myself down and saw how fun this game really is.

Favorite Moment: The Garden battle with Galbadia Garden at the end of disc 2.

3. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
My favorite of all the Metal gear games, though I never played the first two until after this, it still holds up against the test of time after all these years. The Ninja, still my favorite, is great fun, and Psycho Mantis still creeps the bejeezus out of me. Though the fight with Metal Gear Rex is still one of my favorites of all time, it just falls short of my favorite moment.

Favorite Moment: Sniper Wolf. Enough said.

2. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Still my favorite game of the disc era, this game is one that I could play through and start over more times than any other. It still is one of the hardest games I've played to try and get everything, and I doubt I would play it again if I did. So many moments that stand out to me as just simply awesome, from the rocket launch to Aerith's death, just a great story all around.

Favorite Moment: I know everyone will be expecting Aerith's death here, but I'm definitely going to have to say no to that one, despite how amazing it is. My favorite moment is...ok, ya got me, it is Aerith's death. Damn that was anti-climactic.

1. Gunsmoke (NES)
Never before have I been so dedicated to a game and never beaten it. This game is hard as hell. It was stolen and I spent a long time trying to find it again, even going as far to play it on emulators that were no comparison to playing it on the NES. Finally, I found it again and still couldn't beat this damn game. Still great fun, though. I can play it all day.

Favorite Moment: Finding this game again after a decade and still failing to beat it. Someday...

Honorable Mention:

Halo Saga (XBOX/360)

Tony Hawk Saga (XBOX/PS1/PS2)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (360)

Super Mario Collection (NES/N64/Gamecube/Wii)

Street Fighter Collection (Sega/360)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)

X-Men Legends 1&2 (XBOX)

NCAA Football (XBOX/360)
All pictures found through google images, good stuff, use them. Due credit given.

YouTubage

And people wonder why the general population hates cops. What a dick.

On Pot Smoking Olympians

Before I get into this, I want to state that first of all I don't smoke pot and I probably never will. Not that I think there is anything wrong with it, I just don't care to smoke anything. Anyway, here...we...go...

A few days ago, the pictures that shook a nation and took away a countries national innocence for the 50 bajillionth time were unleashed upon the interwebs. Michael Phelps took a bong hit and was photographed! Oh no, think of the children! WHY WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?

Ok, ok, maybe that is a little excessive, maybe you could call that an overreaction, but most of all, maybe you could call that the reaction that has taken place to these photos. Now, it was stupid on Phelps' part, granted it was also stupid of him to get a DUI underage, but what was the main stupid offense here? Was it that he actually smoked pot, or was it that he got photographed doing it?

When I worked in the residence halls at the university I attended, we were very much under the same scrutiny. The same way that Phelps can lose his sponsorships for being photographed doing something that our society would call unsavory or detrimental to his role model status and having it leaked to the public, I could have lost my job for doing the same thing and having it put up on Facebook, MySpace, or anywhere else. I completely feel for him on this one, but have to wonder, how stupid can the guy be?

When he got his DUI while he was underage, I had to wonder, if you're a world renowned athlete and want to get drunk, why would you not have someone to drive for you? Do you not have enough friends that you can say something to the effect of, "Hey, I want to get drunk, will you drive for me?" and be able to get a ride?

At that point, he had won a few gold medals and had some endorsement money, he could have probably even paid someone to be his driver. But that was a little over 4 years ago, now Phelps is in trouble for smoking pot. Once again, this is something that is easily avoidable as an issue. If you want to get high, do it before you go to the party. It's not that difficult to do at all, especially with who you are. I'm willing to bet that you could mooch some pot off of someone already there and smoke it out of the public view or have one of your people get some pot for you for free.

Instead of taking the easy precautions, Phelps now is facing a three month ban from USA Swimming, the governing body of competitive swimming in the United States, and he has lost his Kellogg Co. endorsement when his current deal expires. I'm sure it isn't that big of a hit to his wallet, given all of the endorsements that he has, but it's still money and the suspension still interferes with his training for the world championships in Rome in July. Just a lot of trouble that could have been prevented.

But in the grand scheme of things, is it really that big of a deal? I say, simply, that it is not. For as long as I can remember, professional athletes have been idolized by our society and been viewed role models. I cross-referenced it with my parents childhoods, and they said the same thing was going on for them as well. But how is it that an athlete like Babe Ruth can be an alcoholic and a womanizer who routinely exercised the use of hookers and still not be demonized in the public eye? Then it hit me like a wild Mike MacDougal fastball, it is all the media.

We currently live in the ESPN age, where they will report anything and everything they can to get a story, regardless of how much truth is involved. Recent memory brings to mind the Kordell Stewart being gay story, the Mike Shanahan to the Chiefs story, everything reported ever by Ed Werder and many more were all stories reported by ESPN off of a rumor. Because of this, and their itchy trigger-finger when it comes to beating a story into the ground, when ESPN gets something they do not let it go at all. Factor that in with their partnership with ABC, and you've got a mess just waiting to happen.

Back in the day, they didn't talk about the players activities outside of the field, or court, or diamond. There was discretion shown as far as what the mainstream media would report on about athletes. These days, you don't see it at all anymore and that is why we have this current situation with Phelps. A decade ago, you wouldn't have seen this with an athlete because our society has changed, permanently, thanks to the internet. Now, I can just go to Deadspin to see what other bonehead moves the athletes I watch on a regular basis are doing. If it gets enough momentum, ESPN might mention it and turn it into World War 3, it really is crazy how that works. Or, if I want to go see what athlete ESPN feels like attempting to bury, Adam Jones I am looking in your direction, I can turn it there and see what story they are either blowing out of proportion or making up completely. I could even get the picture and sell it to a paper in London thanks to our technology. The times really have changed, really, they have.

The point I'm trying to make is that in the grand scheme of things, all that the Michael Phelps story really is is a story about a dumb kid who made a mistake. So he smoked a little pot and got photographed, he didn't fail a drug test, he could have been doing something far far worse, and I'm willing to bet that everyone reporting on this story and scrutinizing him has probably smoked pot at one point or another in their life as well. Just give the kid a break already and let him get back to winning a ridiculous amount of gold medals, maybe if you smoke pot, you can too.

The Christmas That Was, Then Wasn't, Then Kind Of Was Again, But Not Really (Or, How I Spent My Fake Christmas Vacation pt.1)

This is not intended to give the impression that I do not like Christmas. I Love Christmas, and not just for the presents, but for the real meaning. The celebration of Santa being crucified and then reborn again 3 days later like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. But really, all kidding aside, Christmas is my favorite and I like Jesus. I do really know what it is all about for those who don't understand sarcasm. Anyway, this is the tale of my time in Emporia for Christmas 2008. I've just graduated college and all of my friends are out of town as they don't have to work like I do. Yes, I may have over dramatized some thing and left other things out, but this is intended to be more fiction than anything and remotely funny. No names have been changed to protect the identity of persons involved, though most mentions are in jest. Anyway, on with the show...

December 22, 2008
10:00PM: How much does a Christmas in Emporia suck? I guess I am about to find out. Probably, it will make me as sad as the kid in that picture. If I'm lucky, it won't turn me into a Grinch or anything, but who knows.

11:45PM: I went back to Emporia today, found out I had to work today instead of Tuesday, but I also have to work Tuesday, so I just got a day added or something. Also robbed me of time being at home and not having to spend money for food, bastards. Driving home my roommate, Beardface, called me to tell me that the cable bill was due Thursday, so I would have to take that in. Work was dull, I just listened to a football game I don't care about, stupid Packers. At least they are paying for their pact with Brett Favre, or as i like to call him, Lucifer Incarnate. I got off at 12 and went home in the cold to my empty apartment, I can't imagine that being alone for so long would ever be able to get at me, I mean, I can handle being alone for a month, right? Anyone could, but especially me, it's just how I am and I can do anything if I put my mind to it, right?

11:46PM: Yeah, this alone thing isn't going to work.

11:47PM: Seriously.

11:55PM: Text message, text message. From my brother, asking me to hook him up with some girls I know. Haha, no thank you. On that note, I will start getting ready to leave work.

December 23, 2008
12:10AM: I'm home in my empty apartment, not weird at all. I'm really not creeped out at all, oh God what was that noise?

10:00AM: Morning alone, apartment alone, yadda yadda yadda. I get to go home to my parents tomorrow for Christmas, but I must get through a shift of work before I can do that. This should be a piece of cake. Breakfast time.

2:00PM: Xbox 360, you tricky devil, I almost forgot about you. I now have something to do while I am here. It would have been cleaning, but my roommate did it all before he left, oh well. Now I can spend more time playing my wonderful Xbox and killing Nazis like it's going out of style.

2:15PM: I got on facebook and Drew was there. He's cool, but I might not be able to rely on only him to get through this break. Oh well, worth a try.

6:00PM: Back at work, found out I'm running the KU game tonight. Did I mention that I hate KU with a passion? Because, I do. But I got to play music for a bit, so it could be worse. If I don't write on here again tonight, I probably just forgot, or the zombie uprising finally came. I don't know which.

Coming soon, The Christmas That Was, Then Wasn't, Then Kind Of Was Again, But Not Really (Or, How I Spent My Fake Christmas Vacation pt.2)

Finally....I Have Come Back...

So it has definitely been a while...

School has been killer, work has been even more so, and it won't get any better soon, but I thought I would drop in this little bit of stuff.

1. College Football Tournament

I saw this on Deadspin today and I thought I would share. If we had a playoff in college football featuring 8 teams that started after this week, it would look like this...

1. Alabama 11-0

8. Penn State 11-1

2. Texas 10-1

7. Texas Tech 10-1

3. Oklahoma 10-1

6. Utah 12-0

4. Florida 10-1

5. USC 9-1

I see nothing wrong with that at all, in fact, I think all of those games are at least interesting. Bama and former number 3 Penn State, a rematch of the Texas and Texas Tech game that was very fun to watch, Oklahoma taking on a non-BCS team given their past with those, and Florida and USC which would be fun to watch at any time. Plus, you can still play the championship games next week and start this on December 20, play all 4 first round games and play the next round on the 27th, then the championship on Jan 5 like it would be anyway. You can take all of the lesser bowls and offer those up to everyone outside of the top 8 tournie so they can share in extra bowl money and let those serve like the NIT does in basketball. It's amazing, and it took me 5 minutes. Now do your job, Mr. Obama.

2. Alabama is Number 1

I'm a huge Alabama fan. While not as much as I am a fan of the NFL, I do love me some Tide. I am also loving this season as it was a complete shock to me. I didn't see this coming at all, but hot damn I hope they keep it up, and yes, I do honestly think they can beat Florida.

3. Denver Broncos are on Top of the AFC West

Don't get me wrong, it has been hideous, but I'm still loving it because they're right about where I expected them to be. They should finish 10-6 and make the playoffs on top of the division, from there I don't expect much more than maybe 1 and done, but they might surprise a lot of people. And, and, and...Jay Cutler is a beast and a half. Also, picks back next season.

4. Graduation In 3 Weeks

Yes, I graduate college in 3 weeks. I have no clue what I'm going to do, no clue where I am going to go, and no clue on what I think I want to do, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's going to be a glorious glorious day/night/weekend full of a lot of fun.

5. Christmas and all that it Entails

It's back, just like me. Christmas is coming and very exciting to have here since it will probably be the last year that I get anything good at all. After this I'm going to be done being spoiled and I'll have to buy stuff for myself...damn. On second thought, I'm not excited for that at all.

Keep Rollin Rollin Rollin Rollin...