GAMING


Slope Side At Vancoucer With Mario And Sonic

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 01-04-10    No Comments


Now how silly would it be if the Vancouver Olympic sleeper techno hit was a fat Italian animated man on a snowboard. Yup Mario and Sonic are might just score big at the coming Winter Olympic Games.

Nintendo has modeled “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games” after any one of a number of easy to play course, action and puzzle titles: Choose from the usual Nintendo staple of cuttie characters: Yoshi, Mettle Sonic or Mario himself. Pick a sport: say hockey, downhill, bobsled, long jump or maybe figure skating. Then wave your Wii sticks around. Do your best to get a gold medal. Madden it is not.

Reviews on the title have been flat to middling. With PC Magazine giving it an emphatic “good.” But it would clearly be a major mistake to ignore this title. Parents have been looking for a decent game to get for their by now aging Wiis. And Nintendo has had a hard time meeting demand. (Name even a decent good new Wii game?) And while Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has almost nothing to do with the actual games — no known athletes and no real imagery from Vancouver. But the IOC 5 ring bug and the brand seems to be enough.

If early post holiday messing around is any indication, every kid we know seems to know or have this game. Competition in ski cross seems the most intense. And kids are getting smart about how to find quality Mario Olympic time: picture-in-picture of hockey worked well against the NHL Winter Classic.  For our 13 year olds, Mario was as entertaining in many ways as the Bruin’s goalie Tukka Rask.

Interactive sports is entering some strange days.



Mario Smokes NASCAR

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, GAMING on 11-16-09    No Comments


Gentleman start your Marios. Deny Hamlin,  in his number 20 Mario Brothers Camry, finished a respectable 12th at the Able Body Labor 200 held down at the Phoenix International Raceway. Sure. this was a second tier race, since it is not part of the Sprint Cup Series; but still, its not bad for a cartoon character. Carl Edwards came in first.




Saddle Up partners: Time for some Sim Polo

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, GAMING on 11-12-09    No Comments


Now here is a sports gadget that wont be makin into a sports drink add. The RaceWood Simulator. That’s right, you get to mount this sucker in your driveway and practice riding to your heart’s content. Racewood offers several models that let potential high speed horse back riders practice trotting, galloping and full running. There are race strategy simulators. And even a calorie counter.  Imagine the fun as you burn fat as you practice riding. But wait there’s more: Our pick of sim horse to own is the polo practice mechanical pony. According to the company, this faux polo rider  rides like a well schooled pony and even matches the rhythm and balance of an actual polo horse. Plus there is no messy clean up. $30,000 ish. Let’s ride!




Strat-O-Matic Breaks the Color Barrier

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 11-10-09    No Comments


For all those who doubt the deep — and historic –  relationship between geeks and sports, need marvel at the genius that is Strat-O-Matic. The Glen Head, New York board game maker pioneered an eerily accurate baseball simulator back in 1961 based basic dice and data cards. There are versions for other sports like football, but baseball players can expect to play a decent recreation of fake baseball with your favorite players in about 30 minutes. The thing is, there is actually news in Strat-O-Matic. The game now has a Negro league version. Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard and many more now can play along with their white contemporaries. Now modern fantasy players may snicker, but Strat-O-Matic does a great job of bringing the past alive. And we bet DiMaggio/Gibson would be a hell of a match up.




The NFL On The Wii?

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 11-02-09    No Comments


Nope that ain’t Madden on the Wii. That’s the real live, in your face, NFL on the Wii. And it ain’t Star Wars stuff. An important step was taken early last month New York-based Organic Motion developed what it claims is the first motion capture technology that requires no outboard sensors. Ok we all have seen how they get player movement into most video games. The athletes have to strap on silly suits with control nodules that capture their movements and encode them into a computer. But Organic claims it can do the trick without suits. And for sports it could be transformational. If athletes can be modeled in real time, it means that that the PlayStation, Xbox or Wii could be easily turned into a live game display device. And suddenly you would be right there in the action. Early prototypes might filter out in demos early next year, with rollouts coming slowly after that. But with video game and sports ticket sales down, expect this sort of must-have technology to get to market sooner rather than later.