EA announces Madden NFL 09 for the spanish speaking audience

If you want the collectors edition, you may want to learn how to read english...
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Memo Ochoa linked to an EPL transfer

Everton is the rumored team, not sure on how Tim Howard will feel. Cause like Mexicans and Americans can not get along...
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Memo Ochoa FIFA 09 Cover athlete....again

My aunt, the aguilas fan she is, asked, "Do you think he is sexier in a suit or in a jersey?"



gah!

I guess she has not seen Beckham's bulge...

Sven Goran Eriksson Alert!

Please apply sun block on face and body. Thanks!




via monterrey.theoffside.com

Eto'o recent impressive play might make him stay

Could Eto'o find his goal scoring form from previous seasons to aid Barca's run to topple over Real Madrid?

Fans surely remember his perceived cowardice in drawing a yellow in a match before the rivals Real Madrid. We will all forget his faults after a few scores and brilliant play.
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Top PC Games that I want to play NOW!!!

Left4 Dead
Think Half Life 2 zombie levels with co-op, a must play!

Spore
From the creator of sims, Will Wright, need I say more?

Fallout 3
A Bethesda's game that is not Elder Scrolls, first in-game character birth, insert your own cliche excitement here!
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Soul Calibur IV

Tomorrow our souls will burn.

If there ever was a fighting series that promoted button smashing over finesse skilled play, it is Soul Calibur. Of course there is that stigma around the title, gamers shelling out hard earn dollars for "arcade" quality joysticks. Soul Calibur is a mainstream game, as Dead or Alive, anyone can jump right in and start playing laying out combos randomly. The payoff is wonderful, my niece can pass the story mode of DOA4 with every character, and the create your fighter feature in SC4 has piqued her interest. Tomorrow will be a fun day, but the true casual test will be on Saturday, when the whole family will be fighting for their own soul calibur.
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Violence in Sports

Another sad day for sports, as violent scuffle broke out between two WNBA teams. Detroit Shock and LA Sparks players and coaches exchange pushes and shoves, as a Detroit assistant coach, Rick Mahorn, pushes star forward Lisa Leslie to the court floor.

Ronnie joins Brazil in Peking

Ronaldinho will be joining with the under 23 Olympic squadmates for the August games. The decision came from his new club AC Milan who earlier this year said no to Kaka's olympic wish.
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Generation Kill; an HBO Miniseries

Generation Kill a book written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright has been adopted to television by the creators of the Wire, David Simon and Ed Burns. The series will adapt the award winning book, chronicling the events of his time with the 1st Reconnaisance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Evan Wright's story with the US Marines was originally in Rolling Stone. The award winning articles and book will be the backbone for the HBO Miniseries airing every Sunday.

Ronaldinho accepted AC Milan contract

Rumors ahoy, Ronaldinho has agreed with AC Milan regarding the players contract, time will tell if Barca accepts the transfer bid.
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Maradona sera abuelo del hijo Sergio "Kun" Aguero

Chalk it up as a rumor, but the grandson of the "10" being fathered by Argentina's star in the making is ludicrous and crazy.
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E3 08: Microsoft best foot forward

Today at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Microsoft showed off their blockbusters, family initiative, a 3d avatar with a new user interface, music must haves, arcade exclusives and the closest guarded secret that MS ever held.

Don Mattrick, in the middle of MS E3 conference, boasted, "the 360 will outsell the PS3 this generation." For North America, it will be point less to argue, that the PS3 will one day catch up to the Xbox 360 or even the Wii.

The blockbuster lineup consisted of two multi platform and two exclusive games being released in the fiscal 08 calendar. Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3 were both demoed with live gameplay, showing off RE5 co-op play over xbox live and F3 showcased a bleak Washington DC. Fallout 3 will have exclusive downloadable content.

The two exclusive xbox 360 titles were Peter Molyneux's and Cliff Blezinski's, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2, respectively. Fable 2 impressed the crowd with an impressive co-op functionality, allowing a player to invite a friend to their world for questing, dungeons, or to hang out in the player created world. Peter claims Fable will innovate co-op play by allowing players to have their own unique world and to be able to invite friends without lobbies to any player at any point of the Fable 2story. Gears of War 2 co-op demo showed the already scene, meat shields, and brumak fight but announced a new five player co-op mode named "Horde." The mode will allow five players to team up against wave after wave of enemies.

The family strategy laid out by MS, included a new partnership with NBC/Universal as well as with MGM and Constantine to bring video content to North American and other regions of the world. Nintendo Mii's brought the family in to creating avatars of family, friends and even neighbors, MS hopes to bring that same mania with Avatars, a 3D model that will be implemented through a new dashboard or user interface this fall. Avatars will be used in family friendly game, Scene It? Box Office Smash and a new MS "Primetime" channel or portal.

The dashboard update will include new "Live Party," a mode currently used in select console titles and available on the PC. The Live Party will be up to 8 players, who can voice chat, launch certain multiplayer titles, basically a shared experience while playing games.

The biggest surprise of the conference, Square Enix announced, that one thought it would happen, Final Fantasy XII went multiplatform via the GDC announced Crystal Tool Software. The change, explained in a later Q&A session, is based on hardware numbers per region. Japan will see a small exclusive window via the PS3, with North America release seeing the Xbox 360 and PS3 launch on the same day and date.

Final Fantasy 13 coming to the XBOX 360

Oh my god
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Iker Casillas the next Lev Yashin

It is that time of year, where le creme de la creme of footballers are being penned to be the next winner of the Ballon d'Or award. The highly coveted award, rivaled only by FIFA Player of the Year, is being pursued by Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Leonel Messi and Fernando Torres.

If I was to vote, which one day may occur (probably not) I would cast ny ballot as Casillas to be first followed by Ronaldo, Torres and Messi.

It was the play and marvelous goaltending of Casillas that ended a long drought of under performing at the major football men events. Always being sent home early in the past World Cups, after dominating the opening round, Spain were vexed long enough by winning Euro Cup 2008.

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Olympics 2008: Messi is a go

Messi and AFA, can now breathe a sigh of relief, as FIFA assured, that all players under 23 years (Messi is 20) are obliged to play if they are selected. La Pulga has been has won one youth World Cup, and is eager to add the Olympic gold to his growing trophy case.
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Eriksson address Mexican Press and Fans; World Cup or bust, presents his assistants

Sven Goran Eriksson presented his group of assistant coach and medical staff in a conference addressing the media and ultimately the fans of the Mexican National Team. The Swede and former England coach has his first match on August 20th against Honduras, a team known for upsetting Brazil in Copa America 2001, believes Mexico is the better team. Eriksson explains, "I think that qualifying for the World Cup is an obligation for Mexico, without doubt," but with only three days for prep, "It's not ideal, but it's reality, we have to do it that way and that's the end of it."

There was no answer in regards to using Mexican nationalized foreigners for the national team, the Swede is not even sure what format they will take field with, or with what style, until he has spoken to the players.

"I feel that Mexico have a strong team and we won't have trouble adapting." There may be Big Trouble in Mexico City if the Mexican National team continues to play poorly. Only time will tell if the European direction via Eriksson will influence the Mexican players.

FIFA World Cup 2010 in the USA?

How awesome would that be? Suck of the hundred thousands of South Africans who may have attended the games, but as an American I would love to have the finals here.
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Ronaldinho says Si Si, Barca No No, Messi ok ok

The Brazilian olympic turmoil turn to a expected area, Ronaldinho wants to go to China and play for the selecao. Ronnie is quoted by the spanish Marca, " I only imagine playing at Olympic games, playing well and winning the gold medal.". As Barca has asked all of their players to report to training camp ready for the 2008/2009 season.

Leonel Messi, star player for Barca and Argentina is expected to be in Pekin and will miss the first weeks of August. Messi wants to play, and believes there will be no issue with the club.

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Too Human, Denis Dyack, Bringing it Home E3

With only a few weeks for the release of the highly anticipated Action RPG Shooter, Too Human, today was the announcement of a demo to be on XBL. Microsoft's Bringing it Home E3, in the past has conisted of videos, vidocs, demos, and trailers for all the software shown at E3 available with a simple download interface via Xbox Live.



The demo of Too Human completes Denis Dyack's goal of world domination, err, to reach out to gamers without the Neogaf snark filter. Xbox live users love their demos, and is arguably a great way to get the game out to gamers who do not get all of game info from the Gaming Press or Gaming Forums. Bioshock is prime example, of how a demo, increased awareness before its release.

Is Too Human this year's Bioshock? Besides being released in August, offering replayability and offering a story besides "the bald space marine", action RPG's can be hit or miss. Action games this year have been lacking in sales as well, Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 have been critically thrashed for its unchanging and unevolving gameplay.

During the week of Denis laying out his, For or Agaisnt NeoGaf Post, I sent a few words of encouragement to Denis, that I would play Too Human before jumping on the hate or love bandwagon. He replied,

Denis Dyack
still figuring it out
(06-27-2008, 06:52 AM)
Reply | Quote
Fwd Re: Your "Pepsi Challenge" #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by dasupremeone:
Hi Denis,

Your "Pepsi Challenge" while foolish to some, is an admirable one under the circumstances of how the internet may fuel the fire of a "bad word of mouth." I will take your "Pepsi Challenge," but the issue is, I do not own a 360. I can be your "guinea pig" and play the game without any fanboy influences, and I also can vouch that I do not have a predetermine "for" or "agaisnt" vote on Too Human. I can also post on my blog, "latinogamer.blogspot.com" my impressions of the game. Let me know what you think? I can probably borrow a friend's console, all I would need from you would be a copy of the game. Heck, send me a 360 and two copies, I can verify the co-op as well.

Ciao

Juan


Hi Juan,

Thanks for writing. The fact that you want to wait to play before making a call is the right thing to do and is actually one of the points of the thread. It is a fools challenge otherwise. :) Please try the game when you get a chance and write me with your impressions. I would love to hear them.

Best regards,
Denis




It is odd that a major head game developer would respond to the fans. Does Speilberg, Del Toro, respond to fans before a movie is released? Or even listen to critiques before the movie is edited? It just shows that Denis is a gamer at heart, and is making games for the end gamer in mind, and not just for the "dollar dollar bill yall."

Team Fortress 2; Heavy Weapons Pack

At the Team Fortress 2 blog, Valve has opened their pandoras box when it comes to creating the new weapon class packs. The Medic and Pyro both received boosts, which makes them more viable in offesnsive and defensive situations. Next up, is the Heavy Class, which is a considered a defensive class, with Valve asking what one can add to the class without unbalancing the game. What can the heavy use, without entroaching on other class abilities?

I came up with three weapons.
1. Brass knuckles, critical hits when hit from behind or side.
2. Saw Off Shotgun, bullets have a spray shot effect.
3. Minigun with nuclear bullets, have an effect of bouncing incoming enemies back, no crits.



An added weapon to included the already upgraded ones, would be a riot shield. This will enable the heavy to push forward and give cover to teammates. The riot shield witll asorb damage buil can detoriate over time. So a charge field can be implemented or can only be used once during a life.

National Endowment of Arts "Big Read"

There has a been string of posts in regards to NEA Big Read program. In a nutshell, they believe that the american adult reader will read on an average of 6 books in their lifetime from the list of 100 books provided.

Many of these books were read during my high school years, and with only a few from college. In college, it seems I read more essays on literature rather literature itself. I also majored in History…trying to minor in Film Appreciation.

The bold only selections are books that I have read, italicized selections are movie/cartoon adaptations I have seen, and bold/italicized means that I have done both. There are some of the selections that I have played them on a gaming console/pc. Coming up soon, will be the list of the top 100 films of North America. How well did you do, with your summer required reading

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Favorite Games of Mid 2008

In no particular order;

Patapon


Pon Pon Pata Pon
Metal Gear Solid 4


BROTHER! LIQUID!

Grand Theft Auto 4


I kill people, I smuggle people
UEFA Euro 2008


GOAAAAAAAAAAL
Mario Kart Wii


Aww Crap, blue shell!

All of the games chosen were played to completion or enjoyed hours of co-op play with friends and family

Omitted games were either briefly demoed or never finish the game to completion, for example, Super Smash Bros and Devil May Cry 4. I played a bit of Super Smash Bros and Wii Fit at GDC San Francisco, and I never completed Devil May Cry 4.

I am a hobbyist, do not have access to all the games.

Top Five Games of mid 2008

In no particular order

Patapon
Metal Gear Solid 4
Grand Theft Auto 4
Uefa Euro 2008
Mario Kart Wii

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Patapon 2

Patapon's effective rhythm game mix with light RPG elements, made Sony ' a little game that could' a hit. From the magazine, Famitsu, the scanned images show huge bosses, five classes deployable, new classes and a flying mount. There will be multiplayer modes, the possibility of fighting friends' other patapons is just tantalizing.

Patapon made forty hours of my commuting time enjoyable and addicting.

Set to release in Japan in December, hopefully Patapon 2 will hit state side soon after.
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Robinho and Ronaldinho heading to the Olympics.

Brazil's bid for Olympic Gold is now being pursue by Robinho and Ronaldinho. The Men's Olympic Football Tournament starts in August and will be arguably favor to win the gold. For Brazil, they will need to gear the players into match fitness in hope that their magic returns for the tournament.
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Brazilian footballer, Kaka, leaving Milan...

The rumor mill is being blown strong winds of Chelsea offering an "astronomical" price for Kaka. He is worth it, as he is last years recipient of both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA Player of the Year awards. Kaka would be following his once coach and teammate, Scolari and Shevchenko to Stamford Bridge. The source is non other AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani.

Currently, The Blues, are denying the claim from Galliani.

Why would Milan lay the string to selling their current play maker and star? Is the financial debt the concern for the Milan corporate office, as they are out of the Champions League in the coming fiscal year, with no additional revenue from the europe tourney, what is Kaka worth to them? Remember, it is World Cup qualifications for the next year, should they sell, in hopes Kaka does not get injured during their payroll?

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Argentina Futbol en route Beijing

It is no surprise that AFA takes their winning titles seriously. It has been a sour spot that the Argentina Men's National team have not won a major title since Copa America 2003 with their 2 to 1 victory over Mexico. Even leading ELO Fifa Rankings for months, only to fall down five rankings to six.

Argentina's recent championships come from their youthful exploits in the FIFA U - 20 World Cup, of the three titles from came from the tutoring of Jose Pekermen. The two recent titles came from the two Maradona's to be, Messi and Arguero, in the 2005 and 2007, respectively.

With the Olympics in the horizon, as being defending champs from Athens 04, Argentina will be boasting a team of past youth champs. The trio is made of past youth champs of Juan Roman Riquelme, Lionel Messi and Sergio "Kun" Arguero, all once pegged by the crazed Argentine media to be successors of Diego.

Is it enough, with another Olympic victory being very likely, to satisfy their home front of fans? Can this Olympic be a preview of an Argentine team that can lift the World Cup in South Africa?

Spain's Fifa ranking jump as along with other European teams was expected because of the nature of the ranking system. The top mover was Russia who jumped 13 spots. The Fifa rankings are just a meter of the better played teams of the past four years at best, at worse, it is used to justify which national country is the best.
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French Coach keeps job after disastrous Uefa Euro 2008

Raymond Domenech is still in the for the French National team. After a failed attempt to reach the second round of the UEFA UERO 2008, Domenech will keep his job. The French gamble with this decision, as the national team seems to be always titterring away from the great form they had in the World Cup 2006. Without a Zidane or a Plantini in the horizon, can the french afford the risk.

So when is Zidane's oldest son turning pro?
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Ronaldinho to Man City...

FC Barca and Brazilian champ, Ronaldinho, is still being persuaded by Man City officials. Man City is seeking to qualify for an Euro Tourney, with transfer record signing of the twenty one year old Brazilian Jo. Man City is hopeful that two time FIFA Player of the year, will make a move to the Eastlands.
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Soulcalibur XBLA

Soulcalibur has been re-released for the X-Box 360. Instead of downloading, spending space points and hound my cousin to step away UEFA 2008, I decide to reminisce. Back in the day, this is still relevant, day one console buyers had a to have a go to game at release. For the Sega Dreamcast it came as Namco's blade fighter, Soulcalibur.

Namco's lesser known Souledge (Soulblade in NA) looked and at times played like a Virtual Fighter. Soulcalibur branched away from those roots by included a free run allowing the player to go any eight ways by holding the joystick in any direction.

Combos were easy to learn, and with leniency on the buffering of moves, any casual could pull crazy combos on gaming veterans. Soulcalibur became the game to play when showing off your imported Dreamcast or whooping your cousin who lived and died by Virtual Fighter.

Widely considered to be the Dreamcast's killer app, as also receiving perfect scores from Famitsu, IGN and Gamespot. The release will pull your strings on nostalgia at best, but for new xbox live players, they may fill cheated and disappointed without any 2008 gaming make overs of online vs mode, wide screen hi res 720p(black bars with the 4:3 ratio). The original should of been included on the upcoming Soulcalibur 4.
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