Recent Game Releases

The Godfather made it out to the PSP and XBOX 360, and is no different from the PS2/XBOX version. Still a good game, but definately better suited for console. Pretty good game overall, nothing over spectacular, but you get a good feel for the Movie while playing the game. They did a decent job here.




Scarface. Let me just start this off by saying, if you haven't seen the movie, there is a guy named Tony Montana. He was killed. For this game, the moment in the movie where he was killed, he blasts the guy. So you get to live the life of Tony Montana and settle all the scores. Changing the plot line of the movie somewhat pissed me off. It is an OK game. If you are a big Scarface fan, go ahead. But if you really don't care about the movie, there are much better options available.

Gangs of London (PSP), which looked promising way back when they first announced it, is a total flop. Don't waste your time.












Family Guy, out on XBOX PS2 and PSP. Again, better suited for console here. They really need to put a little more effort into developing games for the PSP. I would say this game is about par for the course.











Tiger Woods 07(PSP PS2 XBOX XBOX360 DS)- I am not a golf fan, I pretty much hate it. But the game is fun, very fun. The game of golf is alot better to play than to watch. And this game is proof of that.


Ace Combat X- Skies of Deception. Best. PSP. Game. Ever. If you are a fan of the Ace Combat series, this is a must have, and if you just want a game that looks and feels like it belongs on the PSP, get this game now. Not an old story retread, Bandai Namco is one of the few companies out there trying to bring original games to the PSP.

The PSP has been selling on the dismal side of things, almost tripled by the amount of Nintendo DS lite's sold in the month of September. But the good news for Sorny is the PS2 has steadily been outselling the Next-Gen XBOX 360. Methinks sales will pick up around the Holiday season, which we are closing in on.

Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories. PSP. It came out today, I was all ready to purchase it, went in today, and it was $49.99. No thank you. FIFTY BUCKS, for a PSP GAME? I guess after the popularity of the Liberty City Story game, they figured another $10 wasn't going to stop anyone from purchasing. And other than me, I think everyone else that Pre-ordered at the store bought theirs. I am going to wait on this, with Ace Combat to keep me entertained, and one other game coming out tomorrow for 360..

FIFA 07 tomorrow. Review to follow, although it has been out on every other platform for a while, I couldn't view it on the inferior 480i, I paid too much for my TV to not use it.

Also, we are now under 20 days away from the PS3 and Wii Launch.

Premiership Weekend

Today there was one game, which doesn't necessarily count as the weekend, but shutup because it was only one game. Manchester City got a goal in the 23rd, and survived many Middlesbrough attacks(failures) to win this one 1-0.

Sunday we saw West Ham take on Blackburn. They won 2-1, and Hayden Mullins added what seemed like a meaningless goal in the 80th, which was soon very vital as Blackburns David Bentley scored in the 90th. West Ham pretty much had control from the get-go.

Saturday Portsmouth beat Reading 3-1. Fulham lost to Wigan 1-0. Arsenal tied Everton 1-1. Everton is a team trying not to lose position overall in the Premiership, and stopped Arsenal's 5 game win streak. Two 0-0 ties were dealt, Watford-Tottenham, and Newcastle Charlton.

Chelsea's current goal keeper, Hilario of Portugal, stopped a PK early on, which set the tone for the rest of the match, as Chelsea defeated Sheffield United 2-0.

Regarded as the game of the week on FSC, Liverpool defeated Aston Villa 3-1. a Scoring flurry between the 30th and 45th minute was all Liverpool would need. Liverpool's Manager Rafael Benitez has been on the hot seat at some times during this season, but this win has temporarily silenced the critics.And last, but not least, the Re-awakening of a strange and weird looking young soccer player. There has been a Wayne Rooney siting, and the 21 year old striker was brilliant for Manchester United @ Bolton. He had a Hat Trick, which is really no small feat no matter who you are in the Premiership. The Portuguese Premiership equivalent to Brady Quinn, Cristiano Ronaldo added a goal as well.

Perhaps THIS was Rooney's problem.

So this is how it laid out this weekend. Manchester United and Chelsea are now tied at #1 at 25 points each. Bolton remained in 3rd, followed by Portsmouth in 4th, and Arsenal in 5th.

Week in Review: College Football

"I better not see you fist pumping in Corvallis ever again Petey"

"No matter what they say, 500 yards passing is a W in my heart"

#1 Ohio State 44 Minnesota 0

Total and utter domination by "the" Ohio State University was no surprise here. The main goal for the Buckeyes is to stay injury free in the upcoming weeks so they can go into the showdown game vs. Michigan at full strength.

#2 Michigan 17 Northwestern 3

Not the most spectacular showing by the Manninghamless Wolverines, but any win is a good win and refer to the above post for UM's goal for the next few weeks.

#3 USC 31 Oregon State 33

I guess if the mighty Trojans and their illustrious fist-pumping leader had to have their 27-game conference winning streak get snapped, I would not have picked Mike Rileys Beavs to do it after watching them play a few times this year (Mainly the 4td beatdown Boise State handed them). The Beavers tried to give this game away after they took a 30-10 lead with 7 minutes to go in the 3rd qt. "Steve" had a monster game with 11 catches for 258 yards and JDB was not the reason the Trojans fell short. Kudos to Matt Moore who has been much maligned and even benched at times this year, he didnt make the big mistakes and played admirably. Also to be recognized was WR Sammie Stroughter who had a huge game with 8 catches for 127 yards and added a game changing 70 yard punt return that proved the difference.

#5 Texas 35 Texas Tech 31

It must be difficult to accept a loss when your stat line reads like this: 42 of 62 for 519 yards and 3 Tds. A home loss on top of it. Tech QB Graham Harrell and coach Mike Leach's passing attack has its way of doing this at times, it may also happen when your DBs get torched multiple times for big TDs. The Red Raiders led this game by 21 points in the second qt, but the Longhorns led by freshman QB Colt McCoy made key conversions in the first half to close the gap and added key defensive stops to put them in a position to win. (Has their ever been a time when CFB featured two QBs name Colt? The other is Hawaii QB Colt Brennan, and both Colts have had great years thus far. Well played Colts.)

#7 Auburn 23 Mississippi 17

Tube's team keeps things interesting as usual, winning another SEC game by close margins. In my opinion, the one thing that has plagued offensive coordinator Al Borges' attack has been scoring TDs in the redzone. Even the great 04' team had trouble scoring in the redzone but it was masked because of a better vertical passing game and that team featured a staunch defense. On the other side of things, the Orgeron led Rebels could not overcome 2 crucial interceptions by former College of the Sequoias QB Brent Schaeffer.

#10 Clemson 7 Virginia Tech 24

Clemson hit the road to Blacksburg for the Thursday night ESPN game and layed quite an egg. Just when you think Clemson has found a way to play when having some success, coach Tommy Bowden's team hits the wall. The ACC is an utterly chaotic conference at his point. Clemson may be wondering why they cant don those purple uniforms for every game. If not that, then they should propose taking that rock on the road trips for good measure.

#11 Notre Dame 38 Navy 14

This was the first step for Notre Dame and head profane-spewer Charlie Weiss in cementing their place as a bona fide US service academy. Its just too bad that the Marines didnt field a team or the Irish could drop that upcoming USC game or they could have replaced that pesky game against Michigan with it. I think after seeing some shots from Dreamy QB Brady Quinn's article in Interview magazine, he may not have what it takes to be a real soldier.

#20 Nebraska 29 Oklahoma State 41

I guess all of that "are they back" talk can subside now with this semi-embarrasing Big 12 loss. Give Oklahoma State credit, they have turned it around considering just how bad they were last year.

#21 Georgia Tech 30 Miami 23

So how did all of that off-season house cleaning with you coaching staff work out for you Coach Coker? Maybe those wholesale staff changes were not the answer and the U may just make that one big change after this season.

The World Series

I think I mentioned the World Series once down there.

I am going to mention it again.

It sucked. The Tigers were expected to win and didn't. The Cardinals barely made the playoffs and did. TV ratings were horrible. The games were boring, even when they were close. But you already knew all of that.

The End.

NHL 07

So I wandered down to my local gaming store, where a good friend works. I have an account, store credit, and games to trade in to boot. I am desperately awaiting FIFA 07, but have a few more days to wait until the Holy Mecca of XBOX 360 games(debateable I know) comes out. With store credit in mind, I decide to buy a used game with which I can return and get a 100% refund. The only game on the Shelf I happened to be a little bit interested in was NHL 07.

Looking at the cover took me back to the old days, me and Matt would fire up the Super Nintendo, yell at the screen (hasn't changed much from today, sans SNES), and even though we would never watch Hockey, it was pretty cool to play. This was the push over the edge I needed, I grabbed the game, got it paid for, and left.

Something troubled me right away with this game when I went to select a team. I began going through the different cities, seeing what the rankings were.
Overall here is how they laid out(apologize if I missed any):
79- Washington Capitals
81- St. Louis Blues
82- Atlanta Thrashers/New York Islanders/ Pittsburgh Penguins/ San Jose Sharks
83- Chicago Blackhawks/Columbus Blue Jackets/Minnesota Wild/ Nashville Predators/ New York Rangers/ Ottowa Senators/ Toronto Maple Leafs
84- Carolina Hurricanes/ Edmonton Oilers/ New Jersey Devils/ Philadelphia Flyers/ Phoenix Coyotes/ Tampa Bay Lightning/ Vancouvers Canucks
85- Anaheim Ducks/ Buffalo Sabres/ Colorado Avalanche/ Florida Panthers/ L.A. Kings/ Montreal Canadiens
86- Boston Bruins/ Calgary Flames/ Dallas Stars/ Detroit Red Wings

All of these teams, throughout the entire NHL, range from 79 to 86. That is an average of somewhere around 83. How can this be? Is the NHL really this narrow? Are all the teams really this even?

Onto the gameplay, but I will be breif. Nowadays the Graphics are getting alot better, and it does look great. But with better graphics, people feel the gameplay should be different/improved/better. This game is frustrating.

The old days of D-pad are gone. you control the player entirely on 2 sticks. After a few hours with it, I have decided that pushing a button to take shots and a D-pad to move players was alot more enjoyable. You became so worried about taking the right shot at the right time, with the right amount of touch on it, and you stop enjoying the game.

FIFA 07 couldn't come fast enough.

College Football Re-revisited

Project Runway: The ACC?

#2 Michigan 20 Iowa 6

Michigan was able to grind out a victory over a still-sliding Iowa team, marching one week closer to the unbeaten showdown v. the hated Buckeyes. Being without the services of sophmore WR Mario Manningham in these recent games while he recovers from the minor knee surgery may be helping the Wolverines in the grand scheme of a National Title run.

#5 Texas 22 #17 Nebraska 20

Excellent game and clock management by Huskers and ex Raider head coach Bill Callahan (shocking) allowed Texas back in a game they should'nt have been in. Callahan went ahead and passed on a 3rd and 1 play with under 2 minutes left that converted the first down right before the ball was fumbled away. Texas QB Colt McCoy did his best impression of Vince Young minus the African-American thing and drove the Horns to the game winning FG by their backup kicker who only walked on the team so he could travel to the away game sites with the team. I think the young man got what he was looking for except he got exceptionally close to the action.

#10 Notre Dame 20 UCLA 17

The uber-dreamy connection of QB Brady Quinn to WR Jeff Samardzija of 45 yards on a late drive proved the difference. UCLAs defense came up with a huge 4th and 1 stop late, but could not manage a first down on offense. With UCLA forced to punt, the Irish took over on their own 20, and the Bruins defense was not able to get the biggest stop of the day.

#11 Cal 31 Washington 24

Playing from a deficit early and through the majority of the game may have been a surprise for Cal, but games like these will help the Golden Bears as the season continues. An exceptional performance by RB Marshawn Lynch on two sore ankles was the difference. Lynch finished with 21 carries for 150 yards including the 22 yard game winner in OT. Washington put up another great fight on the road in the PAC-10, but as they did at USC, came up just a bit short. The Huskies may be the Vanderbilt of the west coast with its victories razor thin and its losses falling into that moral victory category.

Also: Cal RB Marshawn Lynch's postgame Nascar impersonation on the golf cart at Memorial Stadium was a site to behold and may be my favorite prop oriented postgame celebration ever. Lynch claimed he was mimicking those late night "Ghost Rides" he and his buddies would go on in his hometown of Oakland where they would hang horizontally out of the car and cruise. This evokes memories for me of doing this same thing around my hometown errrr, no. Well done Marshawn.

#12 Clemson 31 Georgia Tech 7

I watched this game before the epic LSU-FSU matchup and some of it during the LSU beatdown on the Bulldogs. The stunning clarity of ESPN High Definition broadcasts was made for games like this. The Clemson uniforms in all purple was a truly beautiful sight and carried RBs James Davis, CJ Spiller and the Tigers to victory over the Yellow Jackets. Holding super talented 45 inch vertical leap oversized WR Calvin Johnson without a catch helps too along with rushing for 1000 yards in a game. Oh, and the whole Clemson team touched that magic rock before running down the hill. Maybe Fresno State Head Coach Pat Hill can find his team a magic rock, I just hope the team doesnt have to don all purple uniforms to find a victory.

#16 Oregon 23 Washington State 34

The sliding continues for the Ducks whose offense seems to be getting worse by the week and the regression of QB Dennis Dixon may be the reason. Oregon could not score until the 4 the quarter when backup QB Grady Leaf was inserted and that proved to be too little too late. Give WSU credit, they are a better team than many picked them to be and Bill Doba has done a nice job thus far up in Pullman.

#18 Boise State 42 Idaho 26

Dennis Erickson's Vandals put up a good fight in the Kibbie Dome, but Boise was led by RB Ian Johnson and his 4 Tds and was able to pull away late. Fresno States next opponent has definately shown weaknesses in pass defense, but exploiting that may be difficult for the Bulldogs who have shown their own set of deficiencies in the vertical game. It would be a definate payback game for the Dogs as the Broncos game into Bulldog stadium in 01' and ripped my and every FSU fans hearts out along with knocking off an unbeaten, SI covering, David Carr led team. Final score of that game was 35-30 as the Bulldogs had the ball inside the Boise 5 yard line and on 3rd down RB Paris Gaines was handed the ball on a super play call and stopped short. On the games final play QB David Carr was pressured and forced to make a bad throw and the dream season was shattered. I dont think these Bulldogs have enough in their tank to upset Boise on the smurf-turf. Although the Bulldogs do have their version of former BSU QB Ryan Dinwiddie in sophmore QB Sean Norton.

#22 Boston College 24 Florida State 19

So how did those black uniforms work out for your team this week Coach Bowden?

Weekend Sports Roundup

NBA-Everybody's beloved Rookie, former West Virginia sharpshooter, Kevin Pittsnogle, was cut by the Boston Celtics. He saw little action in few pre-season games, and despite his 2 year contract, has been sent to waivers. Hopefully someone picks this kid up, and in a few years he can learn how to play some defense.

So far in the preseason games, there are 2 unbeaten teams. The Toronto Raptors, and the Golden State Warriors. Now I know it's just the preseason, and it really doesn't mean anything, but I think it is a clear cut sign that the Warriors will, in fact, win it all.

NCAA Football- Did anyone else see Marshawn Lynch? That kid seriously got onto a Club Cart, and drove wildly on the field... Too bad he couldn't have gotten on something with a little more power, so he could have really spun out all over the grass.

South Florida @ Cincy was the Sunday night game.. one of the worst games I have watched in a long time.

Michigan St. pulled a George Costanza, and did exactly the opposite of what they normally do. They came back from a 38-3 deficit to beat Northwestern 41-38.

Soccer- MLS playoffs began.... nobody watched.

Premiership is getting interesting. Chelsea is back on top of the rankings along with Man. United. Arsenal is beginning to find their stride after dominating the possession and the pitch at Reading. Reading knew it was not going to be an easy go at it after Thierry Henry had a strike for goal in the 1st minute. They moved into 4th in the overall standings. Blackburn was turned away twice on Penalty Kicks in a 1-0 loss to Bolton, who is sitting right in front of Arsenal in 3rd.

Baseball- The Cardinals take the 1st game of the World Series, quickly and easily. The Tigers take the 2nd game in the same fashion. The Series is even now at 1 game a piece.

NBA Basketball

Just as we are really digging into the College Football and NFL seasons, I can't help put peer into the not so distant future. Time really does fly, and before you will even have the chance to chow down on some Turducken we must remember that come this October 31st, we will get to see Dwayne Wade, Shaquille Oneal, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant do their best impression of an NBA Basketball player on Halloween, as the NBA Regular Season begins.


Bulls @ Heat 5 pm
Suns @ Lakers 7:30 pm (pacific) (Both On TNT)


We can begin asking a few questions...

-Will the Suns find a new way to shoot the ball earlier in the shot clock?
-Will the Lakers continue to win with virtually no talent aside from Kobe Bryant?
-Will the Heat continue to win with virtually no talent aside from Dwayne Wade and Shaq?

And Finally....

-Will the Bulls have players in the lineup whose names we can understand ?

And now, back to football season... The Cardinals sure did blow it.

Hawaii dominates Bulldogs, Death Valley awaits

Many were hoping Satuday afternoon's home date with Hawaii would be a great opportunity to begin the salvaging of a thus far disappointing season. What fans left with was the reality of a drubbing to the tune of 68-37. When its thought it cant go much lower, this team found a way to give up the most points at home in school history. Hawaii junior Qb Colt Brennan completed 32 of 39 passes for 409 yards and 5 tds. While an 82 percent completion percentage sounds damaging enough, one must consider the fact that Hawaii receivers managed to drop 4 of Brennan's passes. It could not have been any easier for Brennan and for those that saw the game every time he threw one had the impression that it was going to be caught and there would not be a defender anywhere near making a play on the ball. The defense managed to keep up the recent trends of playing uninspired football, not pressuring the Qb, playing extremely soft in coverage, and not tackling anyone. The defense is still on the snied in the interception department, Louisiana-Lafayette remains the only other team without a pick in division 1.

Now comes the task of pulling out the positives that resulted after the beatdown Hawaii served up. Redshirt Sophmore Qb Sean Norton was inserted into his first career game when Hawaii had taken the 28-7 lead. Norton led the offense on a great drive that resulted in a Bear Pascoe TD, Pascoe was sighted in this game and had 2 TD catches and nearly came up with a spectacular 3rd on an off balance throw from Norton. True freshman Lonyae Miller also was inserted after 2 uncharacteristic Dwayne Wright fumbles gave Brennan a short field and Hawaii capitalized. Miller rushed over the century mark for the first time in his brief career, and some of the tough running and cutback ability shown are glimpses into a bright future with the Bulldogs. Wide receivers Marlon Moore and Chastin West are also receiving valuable playing time and are showing why they were such prized and integral recruits for coach Pat Hill with seniors Paul Williams and Joe Fernandez departing after the season. Now the defense needs some of its young recruits to step in and make positive contributions and also get some crucial game experience because the Bulldogs defense will be losing quite a few seniors off a squad that has been inconsistent.

Next up: Fresno State will be making a little trip to Baton Rouge to face a fierce LSU squad. LSU has outscored its home opponents 236-30 and its defense is ranked with the nations best. I will say that Death Valley is a pretty interesting place to make your first career start, and Sean Norton will have that distinction. LSU is coming off of a 49-0 victory over Kentucky. One positive that the Fresno State defense can take into this game is LSU Qb Jamarcus Russell is not named Colt Brennan and head coach Les Miles does not employ the spread offense and probably won't throw the ball 44 times. That being said, this thing could get ugly early or maybe the Bulldogs can play under that 31 point spread, fortunately everyone across the nation will be able to see this epic matchup on ESPN2 Saturday which is nice.

This is part of the solution?

Since last years epic loss to then #1 USC the Fresno State Bulldogs have been in quite a freefall to say the least. That tag is based on losing 8 of the last 9 and being featured at #5 on ESPNs wonderful listing of the bottom 10. (notice there are three WAC teams on the list of 10, ouch) There should be no worries of coach Pat Hill not righting the ship with games ahead against Hawaii, Boise State, and that little trip to Baton Rouge to face those LSU Tigers. The worries shall subside now that you know the team has a new weapon that will be the boost it has been looking for. Skip the gatorade, drop the pickle juice, even ditch the water, and take a swig of the mammaries energy drink, milk. It is the edge that these players have been searching for.

Now we all know this has nary a thing to do with marketing, publicity, or kickbacks, this is exactly what these players need and I am sure that the water jugs and bottles on the sidelines may say gatorade, but we know the truth. Nothing like debuting this newfound partnership five games into a thus far disappointing season to prove that you are doing something to turn it all around. No worries about the lackluster performances of sophmore quarterback Tom Brandstater, lack of playmaking ability anywhere on the defense, or the special teams unit becoming less than mediocre. No, I think its all going to be okay for Coach Hill in Fresno and he can "draw that line in the sand" right after he "stays the course."

CSTV Story

ESPN Story

Skyline GTR spy pics

The 08 Skyline GTR is in its final stages of development and those Americans who have always wanted a taste of the legend will get the opportunity. The newest version, unlike its predecessors, will rest on 2-door architecture and most likely plant a bi-turbo V6 underhood. If the rumored power numbers are confirmed, the GTR will be what Nissan enthusiasts have been wanting since the horsepower wars are not being called off anytime soon. I would question whether this car has the overall visual package to place it in the echelon of where Nissan is aiming. The nameplate, chassis design, and rumored power mill all point to an excellent package, but does the cars styling cues minus the rear look all that different than a 350Z?

Also, I would like to see this car be the first production car to feature the LED Headlights we have been seeing on concept cars in the past. It would definately help set it apart from the competition.

Winding Road Spy Pics

Hybrid HD DVD/Blu Ray Chip

For those of you who are contemplating a Next-Gen player, your decision may have just become much easier.

NEC has begun shipping a Hybrid Chip that would allow for both Formats to be played on a single player. Now, if they could only find a way to combine beta and VHS, we could travel back to the 80's and be in movie bliss.

TG Daily Story

PS3 Pre-Order

As alot of you know, game stores such as GameStop began taking pre-orders on the PS3 today.

And for those of us who had lives to attend to, we could not get to a store early in the day to reserve what little pre-orders most gaming stores had. Although it's a little over a month before they are actually released, it would be nice to know you don't have to hit ebay come launch to get one, for twice MSRP.

Everyone who missed out, rumor has it sometime towards the end of next week, Wii is supposedly going on Pre-order. This is from 2 seperate sources from local game stores.

[UPDATE: Didn't take long did it? There is easily 25+ Systems ready to be sold for 2 and even 3 times as much as MSRP on Ebay.
Ebay Link
Gamestop reported that they were soldout of preorders by 2pm ET]

My initial foray into blogdome

Yes I have arrived, and yes I am the keeper of the other half of this illustrious blog. I have to admit I was the thought process in the naming of this blog and it was 4 seconds of deep, introspective thought that gave us our directive. As stated by JB this blog will have its three focuses but it will not stop there. Hopefully we can team to provide an overall wit and wisdom that provides some value to those that partake in the musings here.

Stay tuned, there will be much to come....

Welcome to Measured Buildup

Hello and Welcome!

Measured Buildup is a collaboration between 2 Brothers in Central CA who have nothing better to do than blog about nothing. We have dial up internet, and we are damned proud of it. So please, settle in and hopefully we can get you to come back.

Matt will come sign in eventually and say something better than my sad attempt of an introduction.