Sunday, December 16, 2007

The Snowman Cometh...

It's Sunday night in Ohio, around 7pm... and the snow hasn't stopped falling since early this afternoon. Around 8 inches it seems, maybe more. Nothing cataclysmic, but for the 1st snow of the season, it's pretty hefty. Needless to say, driving to Target to do some X-Mas shopping was an adventure.

Bought the wife some iPod portable speakers for her desk at work, in exchange for her solemn oath that I can have my Xbox 360 as soon as it arrives. Once I find out the tracking info, whatever day it's due to hit my doorstep I'll likely be sick... cough, cough.

While we were at Target, I meandered over to the 360 display and had myself some quality time with NBA 2K8. You might not think it by reading this blog, or looking at the sexy devil in the upper left corner of this page, but in my junior and senior high school years, I was one heck of a basketball player. No prodigy, but I was 6'3", 220lbs and I had the soft touch of Larry Nance to boot and wasn't too poky for a big guy either. Not 1 or 2 spot material, more like a short power forward. And though over the years, I play less and less and care little about the NBA or collegiate ball... I simply cannot resist the draw of a solid NBA video game. And solid is about the best word to describe NBA 2K8.

I didn't want to leave the kiosk, let alone the store. Looks like I can add one game to a growing list of titles that call to me. Might be the 1st sports game in about 3 years I like. Huzzah!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

NBA 2K8 is awesome. Sadly I cannot recommend a football game this year because there are not any football games worth mentioning. I even bought ESPN 2K5 for the original XBOX to get my football fill. Welcome to 360 land Bildo.

A.A. Leil said...

Ohh, Ohio, I used to live there :) Are you a Browns fan by any chance?

Anonymous said...

Hey Bildo, I remember back in then you kept moaning about getting into Pirates of the burning sea beta and then once you got in, there was nothing, you even stopped talking about the game even now when it is open beta.
I guess it was not what you expected, so how about letting us know why you did not like it, and Tabula Rasa that you kept putting down for while is now your best friend :P

A.A. Leil said...

I can't say I blame him.
Tabula Rasa is thus far a superior game to PotBS, though PotBS still has time to get better. One thing I don't really expect to get much better in PotBS is the completely lackluster avatar mode combat which feels like I am playing the original Everquest.
The problem for Flying Labs is they are trying to design two games in one package. While the ship mode is turning out pretty nicely, the avatar mode, particularly the combat, puts me to sleep.

Bildo said...

Is there a reason that remark seems so antagonistic, anonymous?

I've mentioned before that I've stopped playing PotBS for the most part until it opens in January. I don't want to burn out on it the same way I feel I did with LotRO while it's still in beta, so I am focusing my MMO time more on TR, a game that's actually out and for real.

Worry not, assuming I can pull myself away from my 360 in January you'll be hearing about my adventures on the open sea.

TR is not exactly my "best friend". That distinction rests on the shoulders of my wife, but Rasa and I are confidants in a manner of speaking. I confide in him to keep me entertained when I want an MMO, and he confides in me to not complain too much about bugged quests.

@Hedonist:

I wouldn't say I'm a fan, as I plain old don't follow sports much these days, but I would support them should my life or theirs be on the line. :P

Bildo said...

Also @ Hedonist: Thanks for coming in on defense. :)

Bildo said...

Oh boy, triple-posting on my own blog...

In regards to: "kept moaning about getting into Pirates of the burning sea beta and then once you got in, there was nothing, you even stopped talking about the game even now when it is open beta."

Just in case I wasn't clear enough before... a.) I can't talk about games I'm in during the NDA covered beta, and as I said previously I'm b.) not playing PotBS until the pre-order headstart in about 2 weeks time.

There... I think I'm done.

A.A. Leil said...

You are most welcome for the D :) Gotta defend the fellow Ohio-an (though I dont live there anymore lol).
But I was also speaking honestly about PotBS. I find a lot of the gaming world is reluctant to be critical about games that are in beta. I was critical about one aspect of PotBS on my blog and one of the flying labs devs emailed me about it. Said email became an opportunity to give direct feedback to a dev on an aspect of the game and get a glimpse of how they are planning to improve it. Blind fanboyism does not serve either the developers or the fans of the game, both who want to see the best possible product launched.

A.A. Leil said...

Oh, also, PotBS NDA is lifted so you can talk about it hehe. Wondering if you see the same flaws as I.

Bildo said...

I know the NDA is lifted, I reported here before it actually DID lift, lol.

I just haven't seen much of a reason to report my full length thoughts on it, seeing how it's been covered very well by Tobold, Keen, Potshot, and the like, and I agree with them on all fronts in their summations.

I did do a Yarp and Narp column for it though... just a week or two back...

http://bildos.blogspot.com/2007/12/pirates-of-burning-sea-yarps-and-narps.html

If that's not good enough... I could do more I guess. But it might sound redundant.