My first Major was at Pinehurst. I had only played it once with the Goose and it seemed like a pretty easy course. Of course, back then I had a pretty weak golfer not much better than the trash golfer this game makes you start out with. Now I have a power swinging monster who can reach a 600 yard green in 2 pretty regularly.
The first hole was tough. I got a little bit right, clocked a tree and was deep in the woods. I tried to chip out on the fairway and clocked another tree. My third shot looked good until I went lumberjack which brought it up short. I was pitching for par when I got to the green and 2-putted for a double bogey.
And did the same thing on hole 2. After 2 holes I was 4 over! That has not happened forever.
Well, I went to work. I straightened my drives. My irons got more consistent. A birdie here, a couple pars there, an Eagle, a birdie...by the 9th hole I was even. Then I went nuts. The back 9 suited my swing perfectly. I ended the round with back to back Eagles to go 10 under and take a 4 stroke lead into day 2. By the end of day 2 I was up 10. I had a good round...but a couple guys had better. I really felt I knew the course, though. However, I had struggled once again on the first 2 holes, going 3 over par. That was tough. But I got even by about hole 6 or 7 and went on from there to get further under par.
The third round I had the best start so far...double bogey, bogey. Whatever. For whatever reason I cannot get left of the trees on either hole. By the end I was looking good...but a couple guys were making a move. I ended the day with a 6 stroke lead.
Championship Day for my first Major. Up 6. I tried something new on the first hole. I was in the fairway but very, very short. My second shot was beautiful, giving me a long-shot birdie. I adjusted my putt...and missed so badly I ended up with bogey. By hole 5 I had lost my entire lead as Woods came from nowhere. Now it was a battle. I would gain a lead of a stroke or 2, then lose it. And then on 15 I pulled a bogey while he hit a birdie. For the first time since day 1 I trailed with just 3 holes to play. I pulled out a miracle par on 16.
17 is a par 3. I was down 1 stroke. And I blasted it...it looked good...it hit the green...it rolled...it DROPPED IN! I had my 2nd Ace and this one was meaningful as it gave me a 1 shot lead on Tiger, who had finished, and on Oberhauser who had 1 hole to play. So to stay safe I needed a par for a possible win, probable tie.
And I birdied to win. It was awesome. A 2 stroke win made possible by my first tournament Ace.
Showing posts with label Xbox 360. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xbox 360. Show all posts
Friday
Tiger Round
So in the Tiger Woods Challenge on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 I struggled mightily with the Scotland course. I was not looking forward to playing it as a Tour event since I figured that would continue.
But I came out on fire. I hit a beautiful shot to Eagle the first hole. I birdied the second hole. I birdied the 3rd hole. I hit par on the 4th. By the 10th hole I was 10 under for the round. I ended at 14 under, setting my all time record of 58. I did not bogey a single hole. It was awesome.
For day 2 I came out expecting more of the same. But the wind had kicked up. Now my long drives found the rough. My second shots shot way left...not drifted, shot. I had one shot where I aimed 40 or 50 yards to the right of the green...and went O.B. to the left with a 60 yard window over there on a 108 yard shot.
After that I got smart and started using a lot of punch shots or at the very least changing the loft on my shots. And I fought my way to a sub-par round somehow, some way. It was tough but fun.
It was very challenging. I had gotten used to just unloading, powering up every shot as much as I could. Even when I missed the fairway it was not by much and I was so close to the green that recovery was no problem.
Now, however, I was hitting long rough, long second shots, bunkers...and even more importantly, tough putts. I had come to consider 30 foot putts routine because they were typically relatively straight. Now 20' were almost impossible and there were even a few 5' that...well, here is an example.
I had a 2 foot putt...and had to put it almost directly left instead of straight ahead. I put the minimum possible power into it. My next shot was from the rough 31 yards away, that is how far it rolled.
Under those conditions I was quite pleased to get under par.
2 more rounds like that and I eked out a 3 shot win.
But I came out on fire. I hit a beautiful shot to Eagle the first hole. I birdied the second hole. I birdied the 3rd hole. I hit par on the 4th. By the 10th hole I was 10 under for the round. I ended at 14 under, setting my all time record of 58. I did not bogey a single hole. It was awesome.
For day 2 I came out expecting more of the same. But the wind had kicked up. Now my long drives found the rough. My second shots shot way left...not drifted, shot. I had one shot where I aimed 40 or 50 yards to the right of the green...and went O.B. to the left with a 60 yard window over there on a 108 yard shot.
After that I got smart and started using a lot of punch shots or at the very least changing the loft on my shots. And I fought my way to a sub-par round somehow, some way. It was tough but fun.
It was very challenging. I had gotten used to just unloading, powering up every shot as much as I could. Even when I missed the fairway it was not by much and I was so close to the green that recovery was no problem.
Now, however, I was hitting long rough, long second shots, bunkers...and even more importantly, tough putts. I had come to consider 30 foot putts routine because they were typically relatively straight. Now 20' were almost impossible and there were even a few 5' that...well, here is an example.
I had a 2 foot putt...and had to put it almost directly left instead of straight ahead. I put the minimum possible power into it. My next shot was from the rough 31 yards away, that is how far it rolled.
Under those conditions I was quite pleased to get under par.
2 more rounds like that and I eked out a 3 shot win.
Tiger 07 Redux
A few of my favorite moments
1) Matched up with Colin Montgomerie, 18th and last hole of regulation in stroke play in the Tiger Woods Challenge. We are tied. My third shot leaves me 59 feet from the pin. His 4th leaves him about 2 feet away. I need to 2-putt to send it to sudden death. The putt goes down, then up before curling back down. And...I nail it to win the match. I set a new record for longest putt. I advance.
2) About 9 holes after the Goose scores our first Ace I match her feat on the same course.
3) In a close match in Scotland I break it open when I drive a par 4 green off the tee and Eagle the hole.
4) I have a 104' putt that breaks both ways and is uphill...and pull up 6" off the cup. The best putt EVER.
5) Playing with the Goose on Riviera I real off 12 consecutive holes of birdie or better, though to be fair there were 2 mulligans in there.
6) just plain playing with the Goose...it is great to find a game we both enjoy that plays well with 2 people.
1) Matched up with Colin Montgomerie, 18th and last hole of regulation in stroke play in the Tiger Woods Challenge. We are tied. My third shot leaves me 59 feet from the pin. His 4th leaves him about 2 feet away. I need to 2-putt to send it to sudden death. The putt goes down, then up before curling back down. And...I nail it to win the match. I set a new record for longest putt. I advance.
2) About 9 holes after the Goose scores our first Ace I match her feat on the same course.
3) In a close match in Scotland I break it open when I drive a par 4 green off the tee and Eagle the hole.
4) I have a 104' putt that breaks both ways and is uphill...and pull up 6" off the cup. The best putt EVER.
5) Playing with the Goose on Riviera I real off 12 consecutive holes of birdie or better, though to be fair there were 2 mulligans in there.
6) just plain playing with the Goose...it is great to find a game we both enjoy that plays well with 2 people.
Tiger Tour 07
Having grown older since the last time I discussed the X-Box (my birthday was held on an undisclosed day within the past fortnight moving from age to the advanced age of ....yes, I know, should I not now be past the time for playing video games? Smurf no! They still rock!, I should, in theory, have also grown wiser. The nature of the opening run on sentence which consists of one sentence interrupted multiple times including, but not limited to, a question mark and 2 exclamation points seems to indicate I have not.
Last Saturday we were at my brother's place and playing Playstation 3. Yeah, I am the only holdout. Both brothers, good friend Kevin, they are all PS3 guys. I am not. But we were playing Hot Shots Golf while the girls were doing whatever. The Goose thought it looked like fun so we decided to look for a copy on the X-box 360 which, of course, does not have it since it is Playstation exclusive. We elected to search for "a similar game".
I know they are out there. Polar Bear Golf has easy controls, shot-shaping ability, and a high fun factor. I have played various golf games over the years and, I must admit, enjoyed virtually all of them. Typically this is because they suit me.
I am not now, have not been, and am unlikely to become a hard-core gamer. I like my controls easy to learn, simple to use, and not overly complicated. I never cared for the fighting games, for example, where to pull off a special move "all you had to do" was push down-up-left-a-a-a-up-right trigger-left-b-a-b. Maybe down up...and if I recall correctly, on Mortal Combat I mastered Liu Kang's move which only required something like back-forward-a or some such simple combo. Be that as it may, it is therefore incumbent upon any game to have a short learning curve to maintain my interest.
For example, MLB2K7 was the first game I tried out. I wanted to like it. The controls were a bit complicated...I often found myself swinging while the pitcher was in the wind-up, for example...and I played an entire inning and thought I was doing well, striking out 2 of the batters looking...but then I discovered I had been BATTING. On the bright side, I got a hit in that half of the inning. On the dark side...I thought I was pitching and was batting.
Finally I figured out how to switch to "classic style" after about 8 15+ strike-out games. The learning curve was high and, for me, the fun factor was EXTREMELY low. So I stopped playing it in favor of Surf's Up and TMNT, games that are aimed at pre-teens...but that I truly enjoyed. Easy controls to learn and use...though I still am not terribly good at either of them because I am not very good at video games. At least I have beaten TMNT over a half dozen times...because it is very fun.
I also played Quake (4?) and was pretty successful...but for whatever reason only played it once. The looking up feature was troublesome but I could deal with it...it was the puzzle nature that frustrated me. I just wanted to shoot stuff, not spend a half hour looking for something to shoot and finding nothing but corpses...but not being able to advance to another level.
And worse yet was Call of Duty 3. It was so frustrating that I took to shooting my commanding officer...during the tutorial. Which I never completed. And never picked up the game again.
Yet to show I am not COMPLETELY inept...I picked up NBA2K7 and mastered it...well, basically instantaneously. I won my first 3 games, dropped 1, won a couple more, dropped one, and have not lost since. The controls make sense. They are intuitive, easy to learn. Yet the game is still fun and challenging. Just the other night I hit a shot inside the last minute to take the lead for the first time in the game to run my season record to 35-0. Yeah, I am winning...but sometimes it is close and in this game I had to come back from a 20 point second quarter deficit.
Well, we went into a video game store and the only golf franchise they had was Tiger Woods PGA Tour series. They had 3 choices...06 was 10 bucks, 07 was 20, and 08 was 60. We settled on the 07, talked to the guy, explained the Hot Shots thing and he said, "oh, you might not like this one, the controls are really tough." Back on the shelf went the game, out the door we went.
At lunch I started thinking...Al has Tiger and seems to like it. A couple texts later and after lunch we went to a different game store, picked it up, and went home to play it.
The first game was frustrating. The menus were not easy to navigate and it took us about 10 minutes to set up a 2 player stroke play game. We both took Tiger so we should have had identical stats.
The Goose seemed to pick up the controls pretty easily. She was cranking out 250 - 280 yard drives. She Eagled like the 5th hole with a massive chip in. Meanwhile I was cranking out 100 yard, 140 yard drives and was all over the course. Later it turned out we had different editions of Tiger...she had his best version, I had his rookie version...but be that as it may, the game play was frustrating.
But I tried it again later. I went through the tutorials. It started to make sense. We both created golfers. I finished slightly ahead of her in the second game.
Then she had to work on school work. I was on vacation. I started working with my guy.
I won the first 2 matches in the Tiger Woods challenge but then ran into Annika Sorenstan. Again and again her 2nd shot would be in the rough, the bunker, etc...and mine would be on the green. So she would chip/pitch/flop to within 6" and par every.single.hole. And beat me.
I practiced. I played her again. I won the first three holes. And lost 4up on hole 15.
Well, then I discovered the Power Boost. I took a different path through the challenge. I began destroying people. My golfer got much, much better. Instead of maxing out at 244 yard drives he became capable of 250, then 260, 270...I could spin, add or subtract loft. My putting is nails.
There are really only 2 shots I cannot pull off...2 or 3, depending on how you count it. Draws and fades are train wrecks. I count that as one since they are the same shot, just pulling the stick left or right. Chipping is HORRIBLE. If I have an 8 yard chip I will either power up the putter for the long, long putt or power down a flop or pitch. I cannot master the chip.
I opened new courses. We played again. Since now my golfer was so much better than hers I gave her mass mulligans and took I think 3 per round. We tried TPC Sawgrass and Pinehurst.
The graphics, by the way, are awesome.
On Pinehurst, on I think the 5th hole she did it...she hit a hole in 1. Very nice. Then on the 15th or 16th, somewhere on the back 9, I hit my first Ace. She hits every major goal before me...well, not EVERY one. I DID drive a par 4 green in 1 with a monstrous 340+ yard corner cutting fade drive I pulled out of who knows where...turning a long 400+ yard hole into an eagle that missed being an ace by about a foot.
In short, I LOVE this game. Of the 20 matches to beat the Tiger challenge I have defeated 17 of the opponents. I even spend time in the pro shop kitting out my character. And, in a very shocking development for anyone who knows me, I am not min/maxing my guy. I wear a shirt that looks good but is not as helpful to my stats as others would be, I use a downgraded ball because I like how it looks...I even play the mini-games.
This game now competes with NBA2K7 and TMNT as my favorite games, games I will set aside time to play.
And when '08 becomes affordable...it might find its way into my collection.
Last Saturday we were at my brother's place and playing Playstation 3. Yeah, I am the only holdout. Both brothers, good friend Kevin, they are all PS3 guys. I am not. But we were playing Hot Shots Golf while the girls were doing whatever. The Goose thought it looked like fun so we decided to look for a copy on the X-box 360 which, of course, does not have it since it is Playstation exclusive. We elected to search for "a similar game".
I know they are out there. Polar Bear Golf has easy controls, shot-shaping ability, and a high fun factor. I have played various golf games over the years and, I must admit, enjoyed virtually all of them. Typically this is because they suit me.
I am not now, have not been, and am unlikely to become a hard-core gamer. I like my controls easy to learn, simple to use, and not overly complicated. I never cared for the fighting games, for example, where to pull off a special move "all you had to do" was push down-up-left-a-a-a-up-right trigger-left-b-a-b. Maybe down up...and if I recall correctly, on Mortal Combat I mastered Liu Kang's move which only required something like back-forward-a or some such simple combo. Be that as it may, it is therefore incumbent upon any game to have a short learning curve to maintain my interest.
For example, MLB2K7 was the first game I tried out. I wanted to like it. The controls were a bit complicated...I often found myself swinging while the pitcher was in the wind-up, for example...and I played an entire inning and thought I was doing well, striking out 2 of the batters looking...but then I discovered I had been BATTING. On the bright side, I got a hit in that half of the inning. On the dark side...I thought I was pitching and was batting.
Finally I figured out how to switch to "classic style" after about 8 15+ strike-out games. The learning curve was high and, for me, the fun factor was EXTREMELY low. So I stopped playing it in favor of Surf's Up and TMNT, games that are aimed at pre-teens...but that I truly enjoyed. Easy controls to learn and use...though I still am not terribly good at either of them because I am not very good at video games. At least I have beaten TMNT over a half dozen times...because it is very fun.
I also played Quake (4?) and was pretty successful...but for whatever reason only played it once. The looking up feature was troublesome but I could deal with it...it was the puzzle nature that frustrated me. I just wanted to shoot stuff, not spend a half hour looking for something to shoot and finding nothing but corpses...but not being able to advance to another level.
And worse yet was Call of Duty 3. It was so frustrating that I took to shooting my commanding officer...during the tutorial. Which I never completed. And never picked up the game again.
Yet to show I am not COMPLETELY inept...I picked up NBA2K7 and mastered it...well, basically instantaneously. I won my first 3 games, dropped 1, won a couple more, dropped one, and have not lost since. The controls make sense. They are intuitive, easy to learn. Yet the game is still fun and challenging. Just the other night I hit a shot inside the last minute to take the lead for the first time in the game to run my season record to 35-0. Yeah, I am winning...but sometimes it is close and in this game I had to come back from a 20 point second quarter deficit.
Well, we went into a video game store and the only golf franchise they had was Tiger Woods PGA Tour series. They had 3 choices...06 was 10 bucks, 07 was 20, and 08 was 60. We settled on the 07, talked to the guy, explained the Hot Shots thing and he said, "oh, you might not like this one, the controls are really tough." Back on the shelf went the game, out the door we went.
At lunch I started thinking...Al has Tiger and seems to like it. A couple texts later and after lunch we went to a different game store, picked it up, and went home to play it.
The first game was frustrating. The menus were not easy to navigate and it took us about 10 minutes to set up a 2 player stroke play game. We both took Tiger so we should have had identical stats.
The Goose seemed to pick up the controls pretty easily. She was cranking out 250 - 280 yard drives. She Eagled like the 5th hole with a massive chip in. Meanwhile I was cranking out 100 yard, 140 yard drives and was all over the course. Later it turned out we had different editions of Tiger...she had his best version, I had his rookie version...but be that as it may, the game play was frustrating.
But I tried it again later. I went through the tutorials. It started to make sense. We both created golfers. I finished slightly ahead of her in the second game.
Then she had to work on school work. I was on vacation. I started working with my guy.
I won the first 2 matches in the Tiger Woods challenge but then ran into Annika Sorenstan. Again and again her 2nd shot would be in the rough, the bunker, etc...and mine would be on the green. So she would chip/pitch/flop to within 6" and par every.single.hole. And beat me.
I practiced. I played her again. I won the first three holes. And lost 4up on hole 15.
Well, then I discovered the Power Boost. I took a different path through the challenge. I began destroying people. My golfer got much, much better. Instead of maxing out at 244 yard drives he became capable of 250, then 260, 270...I could spin, add or subtract loft. My putting is nails.
There are really only 2 shots I cannot pull off...2 or 3, depending on how you count it. Draws and fades are train wrecks. I count that as one since they are the same shot, just pulling the stick left or right. Chipping is HORRIBLE. If I have an 8 yard chip I will either power up the putter for the long, long putt or power down a flop or pitch. I cannot master the chip.
I opened new courses. We played again. Since now my golfer was so much better than hers I gave her mass mulligans and took I think 3 per round. We tried TPC Sawgrass and Pinehurst.
The graphics, by the way, are awesome.
On Pinehurst, on I think the 5th hole she did it...she hit a hole in 1. Very nice. Then on the 15th or 16th, somewhere on the back 9, I hit my first Ace. She hits every major goal before me...well, not EVERY one. I DID drive a par 4 green in 1 with a monstrous 340+ yard corner cutting fade drive I pulled out of who knows where...turning a long 400+ yard hole into an eagle that missed being an ace by about a foot.
In short, I LOVE this game. Of the 20 matches to beat the Tiger challenge I have defeated 17 of the opponents. I even spend time in the pro shop kitting out my character. And, in a very shocking development for anyone who knows me, I am not min/maxing my guy. I wear a shirt that looks good but is not as helpful to my stats as others would be, I use a downgraded ball because I like how it looks...I even play the mini-games.
This game now competes with NBA2K7 and TMNT as my favorite games, games I will set aside time to play.
And when '08 becomes affordable...it might find its way into my collection.
XBOX 360 Day 1
I had been pondering the purchase of a new gaming system for quite some time. I still have and occasionally play ye olde N64 but it is definitely last-gen technology. I have played a few games on the PSP3 over at my brothers house and understand the appeal...the graphics just abuse the N64, for example...but it is not for me. The Playstation has a particular graphics theory that...well...I understand they are superior but I just don't like them. I actually prefer the inferior N64 graphics. I admit the graphics are inferior in capability...but I prefer the look. Well, with that in mind then obviously upgrading to the PSP was out.
A couple people at work have the Nintendo Wii and they LOVE it. I have always had a certain affinity for the Nintendo so when I heard Nintendo was releasing their next-gen system I was interested. And the games look interesting. And the people who own the system absolutely love it. D & S, they talk about it almost every day...what they bowled on it last night or what golf course they played, how they shot...they love it.
I, however, have a video game theory. When I want physical exercise, I go get it. I play softball in the spring, summer and fall, basketball during the fall and winter, run a bit, work out at the gym...but I don't want to exercise when playing a video game. I explained my video game philosophy to a friend.
"When I am playing a video game I want to be laying back in a bean bag chair, so relaxed it looks like I have no bones in my body...kind of a human jellyfish look...with nothing moving except my thumbs on the controller, maybe an occasional swipe at a chip or soda, and a bit of drool running out of my mouth..."
In other words, video games should require as little effort as possible. So the Wii was not an option.
At one point I had played the XBox 260 at my friend Alan's place, some boxing game. The graphics were sweet, the control easy to comprehend...I liked it. For years now he has tried to convince me to pick one up and I have always had a good reason not to...I did not have time when I was at University, I did not have time during the wedding planning, etc., and even if I had the time the cost was just prohibitive...I could usually afford either that or to go on dates, that sort of thing. I guess we all know what wins that equation :-)
Well, now that the Goose and I are settled into life together I have a bit more time and it is not as big a stretch financially since we date differently...more nights at home instead of on the town...so I finally pulled the trigger and picked up the 360.
After a great deal of research I decided between the Pro and the Elite. I knew the Arcade was a waste of money because to save games you need a certain amount of memory and to play some games it had to be more than the flash stick. But the 120GB of the Elite seemed like overkill since I don't really download much, I just buy the big 4 sports games, maybe a first person shooter, a racing game, and a fighting game and that is enough. So 20GB is plenty, and since we don't have the HDTV there was no point to buying the Elite for the cable or color...black, white, I don't really care.
Picked up one old XBOX game based on the Battletech universe and a used copy of MLB27K for a baseball game. Went to set the system up. It was pretty easy, just a couple cables and we were good to go...except there was no picture. Some sound, no picture. Tried the HD cable. Fuzzy picture bifurcated bizarrely. Tried different TV inputs. No luck. Getting frustrated. Reread the installation manual. Looked for and found the switch from HD to regular tv and was done with the setup...after having turned a 2 minute set-up into 10. Pretty funny.
Wanted to start with the Mechwarrior game since the graphics would be older and therefore inferior. Found out I missed part of my research because it is NOT, in fact, backwards compatible which I was convinced it was. Oh well. I only spent 3 bucks on the game so no big loss.
Fired up the baseball game. Unfortunately, I unwisely purchased it from Game Stop and it had no manual. The swing system is hardly intuitive. Actually, no part of the game is intuitive. There is no simple press A to swing, B to steal...no, you have lots to do.
First, you use the left joystick for the "Batter's Eye" where you try to guess where the pitch will be located. If you are pretty close to correct a little ball will appear and you will get bonuses to your player stats for that swing. Then, timed as closely as possible to the start of the pitcher's windup, you pull down on the right joystick. When you want to swing you THEORETICALLY release it...but if you want to influence a ground ball you pull down on it, to influence a fly you push it forward or to aim towards left or right field you twitch it left or right...uggh.
I thought I would be clever and play one of the best teams in the league against one of the worst so I selected the Red Sox and for my opponents I selected the Diamondbacks.
The top of the first was pretty smooth. I struck out the side on 12 pitches.
Bottom half...well, that is when I discovered why he had not swung once. Because I was BATTING, not pitching. That was me that struck out. Somehow I was the Diamondbacks instead of the Red Sox.
Pitching is interesting. The catcher suggests a pitch and location. But you don't put the target ball right on his glove...each pitch has a "break factor" that you have to factor in. So you move the baseball around. When you feel the controller vibrate you are where you want to be, so then you press the appropriate pitch button and the length of time you press it determines the speed and accuracy of the pitch. The longer you press it, the faster but less accurate the pitch.
Fielding is relatively intuitive...a blue circle shows you about where the ball will land if a fly or roll if a grounder, the computer picks the "best" guy to field it...more on that later'...and throwing to bases is easy, a button for each base.
My second time at bat I at least knew I was at bat so it went much better. I got a couple swings off. By the 5th inning I already had made contact...one foul ball. I walked once or twice but as often as not could not even figure out how to swing. I played 7 innings, was down about 9-0, and had 19 strikeouts. In 7 innings.Out of 21 chances.
So I was not liking it much. I made a couple changes to the settings to make the "Batter's Eye" less important so at least all I was doing was using the right joystick. I started a new game, Red Sox against the Cardinals.
My pitching was okay. I walked one guy but then I turned a slick 5-4-3 double play. I was liking the pitching and defensive controls. Bottom half of the inning, first batter, I went yard. My first hit was a good one, a home run. I got a couple more hits including a 2 run bomb. 2nd inning was more of the same, I gave up a walk and then, experimenting with pitching controls, managed to throw 3 consecutive wild pitches to score the run. I came back to get the next three guys. I scored another 3 spot in the bottom half. Maybe I adjusted the hitting to be too easy...
Nope. Next inning I could not connect. The control is still not intuitive to me. It was so bad that at least twice I swung and my guy crossed the plate...while the pitcher was in the windup. So there are some issues with the game, though I am sure they are mostly related to my videogame incompetence which is near legendary. I had similar problems pitching where I was trying to select a pitch and instead grooved them over the heart of the plate.
Well, I built a nice lead but then my defense fell apart. One play in particular stood out in my mind. There was a Texas Leaguer over the second basemans' head. The center fielder was just a little ways from the blue circle and I thought I could make the catch. However, he did not seem to be following my commands. Sure enough, the ball bounced about 2 on-screen inches from him without him attempting to catch it. And sat there. I finally figured out they thought the right fielder should have caught it...so I had run him AWAY from the ball. And the CPU did not switch it to the fielder closest to the ball so they got an inside the park home run on a ball that should have been caught and was never more than 2 or 3 on-screen inches from any fielder because I could not figure out how to switch to controlling the closest fielder. Good thing that wasn't frustrating...
I also could not figure out how to advance baserunners.
Overall it was a fun game, though. Ultimately I prevailed in the defensive struggle by the score of 17-14. I figured out some stuff on hitting, pitching and fielding, though none are anywhere near competent yet. And there are features that blow me away.
For example, I selected "light breeze" or something like that for weather...so you could see the wind blowing the fielder's shirts. That was fun...
Plan is to start a season knowing I will lose a LOT of games early on but will learn as I go, make a late-season run and hopefully sneak into the playoffs. Lots of Xboxing in the future...
A couple people at work have the Nintendo Wii and they LOVE it. I have always had a certain affinity for the Nintendo so when I heard Nintendo was releasing their next-gen system I was interested. And the games look interesting. And the people who own the system absolutely love it. D & S, they talk about it almost every day...what they bowled on it last night or what golf course they played, how they shot...they love it.
I, however, have a video game theory. When I want physical exercise, I go get it. I play softball in the spring, summer and fall, basketball during the fall and winter, run a bit, work out at the gym...but I don't want to exercise when playing a video game. I explained my video game philosophy to a friend.
"When I am playing a video game I want to be laying back in a bean bag chair, so relaxed it looks like I have no bones in my body...kind of a human jellyfish look...with nothing moving except my thumbs on the controller, maybe an occasional swipe at a chip or soda, and a bit of drool running out of my mouth..."
In other words, video games should require as little effort as possible. So the Wii was not an option.
At one point I had played the XBox 260 at my friend Alan's place, some boxing game. The graphics were sweet, the control easy to comprehend...I liked it. For years now he has tried to convince me to pick one up and I have always had a good reason not to...I did not have time when I was at University, I did not have time during the wedding planning, etc., and even if I had the time the cost was just prohibitive...I could usually afford either that or to go on dates, that sort of thing. I guess we all know what wins that equation :-)
Well, now that the Goose and I are settled into life together I have a bit more time and it is not as big a stretch financially since we date differently...more nights at home instead of on the town...so I finally pulled the trigger and picked up the 360.
After a great deal of research I decided between the Pro and the Elite. I knew the Arcade was a waste of money because to save games you need a certain amount of memory and to play some games it had to be more than the flash stick. But the 120GB of the Elite seemed like overkill since I don't really download much, I just buy the big 4 sports games, maybe a first person shooter, a racing game, and a fighting game and that is enough. So 20GB is plenty, and since we don't have the HDTV there was no point to buying the Elite for the cable or color...black, white, I don't really care.
Picked up one old XBOX game based on the Battletech universe and a used copy of MLB27K for a baseball game. Went to set the system up. It was pretty easy, just a couple cables and we were good to go...except there was no picture. Some sound, no picture. Tried the HD cable. Fuzzy picture bifurcated bizarrely. Tried different TV inputs. No luck. Getting frustrated. Reread the installation manual. Looked for and found the switch from HD to regular tv and was done with the setup...after having turned a 2 minute set-up into 10. Pretty funny.
Wanted to start with the Mechwarrior game since the graphics would be older and therefore inferior. Found out I missed part of my research because it is NOT, in fact, backwards compatible which I was convinced it was. Oh well. I only spent 3 bucks on the game so no big loss.
Fired up the baseball game. Unfortunately, I unwisely purchased it from Game Stop and it had no manual. The swing system is hardly intuitive. Actually, no part of the game is intuitive. There is no simple press A to swing, B to steal...no, you have lots to do.
First, you use the left joystick for the "Batter's Eye" where you try to guess where the pitch will be located. If you are pretty close to correct a little ball will appear and you will get bonuses to your player stats for that swing. Then, timed as closely as possible to the start of the pitcher's windup, you pull down on the right joystick. When you want to swing you THEORETICALLY release it...but if you want to influence a ground ball you pull down on it, to influence a fly you push it forward or to aim towards left or right field you twitch it left or right...uggh.
I thought I would be clever and play one of the best teams in the league against one of the worst so I selected the Red Sox and for my opponents I selected the Diamondbacks.
The top of the first was pretty smooth. I struck out the side on 12 pitches.
Bottom half...well, that is when I discovered why he had not swung once. Because I was BATTING, not pitching. That was me that struck out. Somehow I was the Diamondbacks instead of the Red Sox.
Pitching is interesting. The catcher suggests a pitch and location. But you don't put the target ball right on his glove...each pitch has a "break factor" that you have to factor in. So you move the baseball around. When you feel the controller vibrate you are where you want to be, so then you press the appropriate pitch button and the length of time you press it determines the speed and accuracy of the pitch. The longer you press it, the faster but less accurate the pitch.
Fielding is relatively intuitive...a blue circle shows you about where the ball will land if a fly or roll if a grounder, the computer picks the "best" guy to field it...more on that later'...and throwing to bases is easy, a button for each base.
My second time at bat I at least knew I was at bat so it went much better. I got a couple swings off. By the 5th inning I already had made contact...one foul ball. I walked once or twice but as often as not could not even figure out how to swing. I played 7 innings, was down about 9-0, and had 19 strikeouts. In 7 innings.Out of 21 chances.
So I was not liking it much. I made a couple changes to the settings to make the "Batter's Eye" less important so at least all I was doing was using the right joystick. I started a new game, Red Sox against the Cardinals.
My pitching was okay. I walked one guy but then I turned a slick 5-4-3 double play. I was liking the pitching and defensive controls. Bottom half of the inning, first batter, I went yard. My first hit was a good one, a home run. I got a couple more hits including a 2 run bomb. 2nd inning was more of the same, I gave up a walk and then, experimenting with pitching controls, managed to throw 3 consecutive wild pitches to score the run. I came back to get the next three guys. I scored another 3 spot in the bottom half. Maybe I adjusted the hitting to be too easy...
Nope. Next inning I could not connect. The control is still not intuitive to me. It was so bad that at least twice I swung and my guy crossed the plate...while the pitcher was in the windup. So there are some issues with the game, though I am sure they are mostly related to my videogame incompetence which is near legendary. I had similar problems pitching where I was trying to select a pitch and instead grooved them over the heart of the plate.
Well, I built a nice lead but then my defense fell apart. One play in particular stood out in my mind. There was a Texas Leaguer over the second basemans' head. The center fielder was just a little ways from the blue circle and I thought I could make the catch. However, he did not seem to be following my commands. Sure enough, the ball bounced about 2 on-screen inches from him without him attempting to catch it. And sat there. I finally figured out they thought the right fielder should have caught it...so I had run him AWAY from the ball. And the CPU did not switch it to the fielder closest to the ball so they got an inside the park home run on a ball that should have been caught and was never more than 2 or 3 on-screen inches from any fielder because I could not figure out how to switch to controlling the closest fielder. Good thing that wasn't frustrating...
I also could not figure out how to advance baserunners.
Overall it was a fun game, though. Ultimately I prevailed in the defensive struggle by the score of 17-14. I figured out some stuff on hitting, pitching and fielding, though none are anywhere near competent yet. And there are features that blow me away.
For example, I selected "light breeze" or something like that for weather...so you could see the wind blowing the fielder's shirts. That was fun...
Plan is to start a season knowing I will lose a LOT of games early on but will learn as I go, make a late-season run and hopefully sneak into the playoffs. Lots of Xboxing in the future...
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