Video game thread

[SD_Eagle5]

360 price cut is now official

[SunMo]

LSD, Madden '07 and me
Jay Mohr
                               
   
This past year my wife and I were dosed at a restaurant. By "dosed" I mean we were drugged. It was a Mexican restaurant that I won't name — but it rhymes with Tel Jurrito. Judging by the way the parking lot of the restaurant was breathing; we both guessed that it was LSD. We both initially panicked. We went home for safety. My wife had a tough time riding it out.

I played Madden and it saved my life.

Neither my wife nor I do drugs. Neither one of us knew what an acid trip was like, but on that afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, we found out in a hurry. It started shortly after we paid our bill and tipped 20 percent (always!). We both started to sweat and get nervous. My wife kept asking me if I thought it was hot in the restaurant, I told her yes and then started wondering, "How does she know that it's hot in the restaurant?!"

I excused myself and went to the bathroom. Forty minutes later my wife stuck her head in the men's room and asked me if I was okay. Considering I was just sitting on the toilet, fully clothed, taking my pulse over and over again, I quickly surmised that I was not okay.

We decided to go to the store on the way home and get something to drink. My wife grabbed a few bottles of Coke Zero and I grabbed a two-liter bottle of Sunkist. I held it toward the heavens and exclaimed, "Look how ORANGE this is!" Mrs. Mohr said, "I don't like it, it's hurting my eyes!" When I yelled back, "I want to swim in it!" we froze, looked each other in the eye and realized we needed to get home as quickly as possible.

Not being able to tell the difference between taillights and red lights, I stopped for them both. Three hours into what was normally a 10-minute trip, we pulled into our driveway. My bride decided to crawl into bed and try and read a book.

I broke out the Madden '07.

I have always heard people who have done a lot of LSD say that you have to "ride the snake" and "don't let the snake ride you." I rode the snake all the way to The Meadowlands where I was the Jets playing at home against the Chiefs. It was a beautiful day for football. I was tripping my face off and the temperature was 52 degrees.

As Mike Nugent launched the opening kickoff towards Dante Hall, my wife shouted from the bedroom, "Honey, how do you feel?" My answer was, "GREAT!" And I was. The Chiefs wore red and white and the Jets wore white and green. Shaun Ellis wore number 92 and Kerry Rhodes wore number 25. Just like in real life.

A half hour later, I heard from the bedroom, "I am still kind of freaking out!" Not me. I was fine. Four hours into my first acid trip and I had found a safe place ... the Jets' huddle. Everything in this virtual world was just as I desperately needed it.

Chad Pennington wore No. 10 and Laveranues Coles caught anything that was near him. All the plays in the playbook were the same as when I wasn't tripping and all the players were just how I remembered them. Adrian Jones was useless for pass blocking. Tight ends worked wonderfully for me in the red zone. And the Chiefs couldn't stop the run against a Pop Warner team.   

Pennington still had a weak arm and after he threw an interception I slammed my head set down on the ground and began screaming at the assistant coaches around me. As I started to ask Chad what the hell he was thinking, my wife hollered from the other room, 'Honey who are you yelling at?' I didn't really have an answer for her ... I meekly replied, "my coaches" and stared down at my fingers. Then I had a revelation! When you play Madden, your fingers are your coaches! Wow, was I HIGH!

For the love of God, please go out and buy your Madden '08 Tuesday. It might save your life. You never know when you might get slipped a mickey and find yourself listening to the Black Crowes, white knuckling a 55-yard field goal attempt as the walls of your house melt around you. I am going to get my Madden tomorrow and I'm suddenly craving enchiladas.

EA SPORTS, "Madden. Ride the snake."

Best of lucky, Jay Mohr

[mussa]

hahahaha 

[Zanshin]

Got Madden NFL 08 for the 360 and I just played a game-- it's much, much improved.  Basically, they did what I was hoping they'd do, which is to bring the essential screens and gameplay that worked on the PS2 to the next gen console.  The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is super smooth.  In the whole game, I didn't see even one play that made me shout "Bullshtein!" which is improvement right there.  I'll have more to say about it after playing more later, but first impressions are that this is a tremendous improvement.

[hbionic]

Do they still not have fantasy mode?

[Zanshin]

Depends on your fantasy, I guess.  They did bring back the Fantasy Draft feature in Owner Mode.

[mussa]

Got Madden NFL 08 for the 360 and I just played a game-- it's much, much improved.  Basically, they did what I was hoping they'd do, which is to bring the essential screens and gameplay that worked on the PS2 to the next gen console.  The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is super smooth.  In the whole game, I didn't see even one play that made me shout "Bullshtein!" which is improvement right there.  I'll have more to say about it after playing more later, but first impressions are that this is a tremendous improvement.

I agree, its so crisp and just fast. It feels like the older ps2 madden as far as control over the players...but new animations and graphics are so nice. I had one play that was like....r u kidding me...but thats going to happen in any video game...
I did have a nice user pick with sheldon brown on a deep ball. I also killed Brandon Jacobs with Dawkins, causing a fumble in which Trotter ran back, broke a tackle and when I went to stiff arm Eli...I lateraled it back to Sheldon Brown! You can lateral!

Its gonna take sometime to get used to these xbox controllers and controls...but so far I am very impressed. 

[Zanshin]

Here's a $39 deal on 13 months of xBox Live for anyone in the market:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B9RI00/ref=nosim/?tag=phillylunchbo-20&linkCode=as1&afsrc=1

[MDS]

the skills drills in madden are awesome. mindless fun there.

for my birds franchise, i got roy williams and greg jones, signed lavar arrington, and traded the likes of kevin kolb, kelly holcumb and jerome mcdougle. i think my first course of action over the last 4 madden games has to be to trade mcdougle. he sucks and takes up cap space. i even got my main man aaron brooks to back up the qb spot. needless to say, 16-0 superbowl for me.

[mussa]

played a friend via online and it was laggin so bad...not even fun at all...about half the speed of regular game. i am guessing its due to EA servers being overloaded on release date...hopefully its fixed....

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

That's only because you put Nate Ilaoa in the starting lineup.

[mussa]

Good idea! I have to create him

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Cool.  Are you going to make him realistic or NFL-caliber?

[MURP]

Good idea! I have to create him

why the farg isnt he in the game to begin with?

[MDS]

most 7th round picks arent.