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ULB Trade Deadline Approaching!

spindelsfw — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:51:39 GMT

The ULB is currently 3 sims away from the August 15th Trade deadline. Teams will have until Wednesday at 6PM to finalize trades.

This season has already seen some big trades occur, including Curt Schilling, Bobby Abreu, B.J. Wallace and Jim Thome heading to new teams. More so than in seasons past, the contenders and pretenders seem to already to sorted out. The two main races appear to be San Jose and Phoenix, Portland and Salt Lake City and to a lesser extent Brooklyn and Boston, who have a key series next sim.

Trades can be arranged via IRC, twitter, facebook, email or through the PM system here at BBSC. The statslab page is an excellent tool for seeing how various members can be contacted.

Good luck to everyone, be sure to update your trade blocks in game or by promoting your team through any of the various methods.

A few new shots few a recent trip...

mac9001 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:18:38 GMT

I sort of stopped posting photos for a while, but i suddenly have the photo bug again. So here are a few shots from a recent trip of Appalachia:

BRP-MCP-3-3 by mac9001, on Flickr

BRP-PL1-PS by mac9001, on Flickr

BSP-2-4 by mac9001, on Flickr

My grandmother passes away at 102

Gwynar — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:33:23 GMT

Don't know how many of you are keeping track of me through this blog, but for those that are, my grandmother passed away earlier today (10:40am) at the age of 102.

A little ticked at myself because I had a chance to go see her earlier this month but opted not to go because I had other things I "needed" to do.

World University Baseball Classic: US vs Chinese Taipei

Gwynar — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:19:35 GMT

Was the game Sunday night to see the US beat Chinese Taipei, 8-7, in extra innings.

It was probably the best WUBC game I've been to so far (out of the four I've been too anyway).

Here are just a couple of the 80 or so images I took.

Gerrit Cole warming in the bullpen before the game.

Big Brian Johnson.

Nick Ramirez out at home.

Celebrating the win.

You can view the rest at my WUBC: USA vs Chinese Taipei album.

World University Baseball Classic: Japan vs Korea

Gwynar — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:57:56 GMT

I went to the game on Friday night and snapped some images.

There's a bunch more images you can view at my WUBC: Japan vs Korea album.

Alien Swarm Game & Source SDK Release Coming Monday

SimCentral — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:56:06 GMT

Alien Swarm Game & Source SDK Release Coming Monday
Two years ago Valve hired the talented team behind the popular top down co-op mod Alien Swarm. Since then they have been busy working on the Left 4 Dead Series, and now Portal 2. However, we never forgot about Alien Swarm and the team has spent a lot of time bringing the game to Source in between their contributions to the other Valve projects.

On Monday, July 19th Alien Swarm is going to be released for free via Steam.

In addition to the game, Valve will also release the complete code base for Alien Swarm. This includes updates to the Source engine SDK and full Steamworks integration. If you�ve ever thought about developing a mod on the Source engine with Steamworks, this release provides more insight and examples for using Steamworks in game production.

Steam

Alien Swarm

Haarlem Baseball Week (7/9 - 7/18)

Gwynar — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:40:01 GMT

For those interested in international baseball tournaments, Haarlem Baseball Week is currently taking place in the Netherlands. Seems like they actually have a live feed for the games.

If you click in right now, you can catch Japan playing the Netherlands.

The feed is in Dutch and the background audio appears to be from some radio station. Interestingly enough, the feed switches back and forth from music to what appears to be commentary on the game.

Kylee Saunders

Gwynar — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:25:00 GMT

Some of you may have caught Kylee Saunders singing the National Anthem before a Portland Trail Blazers 5 years ago when she was 11.

Since then, she has joined the Japanese music industry and is slowly making a new for herself.

One particular song became a fairly big hit after it was used in a commercial for a fairly major online clothing retailer (Nissen) in Japan.

Which brings me to the whole point of this post.

The song used in the commercial is stuck in my head and I can't seem to get it out of there. It's not what I would call a great song, but it is fairly catchy and I thought I'd just go ahead and share it with you (since I managed to find a copy of it at YouTube).

Pay What You Want: The Humble Indie Bundle (Expired)

oakland2001 — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:35:10 GMT

The Humble Indie Bundle

For the cost of lunch today, you could help the future of PC gaming. Indie developers are the last great hope to push PC gaming back to the forefront of computer entertainment. While most big name companies are interested in dumbing down games, developing awful ports or infesting their games with all kinds of ridiculous DRM schemes, the PC indie scene is the exact opposite. They deserve your hard earned money. I know Bit-Blot, the creators of Aquaria, are just two guys who decided to make a title which turned out to be a fantastic take on a side scrolling RPG gameplay style that can rival some big budget games.

The way it works is you simple: You pay what you want for 5 inide developer games. The games in this bundle include World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra, and as a bonus, Samorost 2. World of Goo and Aquaria made my list of PC Games of the Decade. I would ask that anyone who is remotely interested in high quality and fun PC titles to purchase these games. They include no DRM and are available for Windows, Mac and Linux users.

UPDATE: The Humble Indie Bundle promotion has raised over 1 million dollars to the developers and various charities. Thanks to all who showed their support.

Perfection In Oakland

oakland2001 — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:08:26 GMT

In the words of legendary Oakland radio announcer Bill King, Holy Toledo!

Dave Stewart, Bob Welch, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Dan Haren, Ken Holtzman, and Vida Blue were some of the best pitchers to wear an Oakland Athletics uniform, but none of them can claim perfection. Today in front 12,228 fans at the Oakland Coliseum, Dallas Braden, with a career record of 17-23, cemented himself in Major League Baseball history by becoming the first Athletics pitcher since Catfish Hunter in 1968 to throw a perfect game. In 2 hours and 7 minutes, Braden blew past all 27 Tampa Bay batters he faced encountering only two 3-ball counts while striking out 6.

At 26 years old, Braden also becomes the youngest pitcher to accomplish the amazing feat of throwing a perfect game since Mike Witt mowed down the Texas Rangers in 1984 at the age of 24. Oakland drafted Braden in the 24th round (727th overall) of the 2004 MLB draft out of Texas Tech. Due to the rarity of the perfect game, it is perhaps even more amazing to think the last time an Oakland pitcher even threw a no-hitter was 20 years ago when Dave Stewart achieved that feat against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Box Score via Baseball Reference

HOF Spotlight: Joe Sewell

oakland2001 — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:59:44 GMT

From a pitcher who could strikeout a batter blindfolded, to batter who would could not be struck out even when blindfolded, here is Joe Sewell.

QUICK CAREER NUMBERS

Years: 14
Games Played: 1,903
At Bats: 7,132
Avg: .312
Hits: 2,226
Runs: 1,141
Strikeouts: 114
Walks: 842
RBI: 1,055
OBP: .391
Total Bases: 2,945

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Struck out a grand total of 114 times.

Struck out 1 time for every 63 at bats, or about once every 14 games.

Struck out 1 time in 38 post season at bats.

Had fewer than 10 strikeouts in a single season 9 straight years.

Struck out 4 times or less in 5 seasons.

Went 115 consecutive games without a strike out.

Never struck out more than 20 times in a season doing that only once.

Achieved top 10 in American League MVP voting 4 times.

Drove in 80 or more runs 7 times.

Batted over .300 10 of 14 seasons played.

Hit a career high 48 doubles in 1927.

Selected to HOF in 1977 by the Veteran's Committee.

FAST FACTS

Teamed with six different second baseman during 11 seasons with Cleveland.

Rumored to play his entire career using only one 40-ounce bat which was named Black Betsy.

Appeared in 2 World Series winning both.

Had two brothers and one cousin who also played in the Majors.

Never lead the league in any hitting category except doubles in 1924 and sacrifice hits in 1929.

Attempted to steal 19 bases in 1927 getting caught a league leading 16 times.

Played 1,103 consecutive games from 1922 to 1930.

BASEBALL KARMA

There is no doubt Joe Sewell had the greatest ability to put the ball in play of his generation, and possibly ever. To put his strike out stats in a bit of perspective, Ichiro Suzuki has struck out 10 times through 27 games this season. That is already half way to the 20 times Sewell struck out total in 1922 when he played 153 games. I know there are some that say you can not compare baseball statistical information from two different times periods. While I do agree with that to an extent, the fact remains that Sewell accomplished something no other player today, 10 years from now, or 100 years from now will ever see. For those who want a closer comparison of Sewell's greatness, let us use George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby who are considered to be some of the greatest hitters during the 1920s. Sisler struck out 24 or more times in 8 of his 15 seasons while striking out 20 or less the reaming 7. Sisler's highest strikeout total was 37 in 1916, almost doubling the number of 20 by Sewell. Hornsby struck out 40 or more times in 8 of his 14 full seasons, and fanned 63 times in one year alone. Now I am in no way saying Sewell is better than Hornsby or Sisler because that would be a ridiculous statement. I am talking simply about the ability of putting the baseball into play. I believe striking out is the single worst outcome you can have as a batter in baseball. There are some who may disagree with that statement, and while there are exceptions to almost every rule, that is how I feel.

When looking at the stats of Joe Sewell, what I can not wrap my head around is what happened to all of those batted balls. You would tend to believe if a batter struck out so few times that his other offensive stats would be some of the greatest of all time, but that is not the case. Let us take 1925 as an example. My math skills are not the best, so please feel free to call me out if you see I have made an error. Sewell had 608 at bats. He struck out 4 times, was HBP 4 times, sacrificed 23 times, and was credited with a hit 204 times. That leaves 373 (608 minus 235) instances where the ball was put into play resulting in a negative outcome.

Was Sewell the unluckiest batter in the history of baseball? It would seem like only a matter of time before some of those remaining 373 times at bat would lead to a positive play. Perhaps that is baseball karma at its best. You have the ability to put the ball in play almost every time up, but you will have to deal with amazing and bizarre outcomes that impact you negatively.

Feel free to use the comments section to continue this discussion.

Statistical Sources:
Wikipedia
The Baseball Page
Baseball Almanac

HOF Spotlight: Nolan Ryan

oakland2001 — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:04:35 GMT

Once every few days I will be spotlighting a member of the baseball Hall of Fame. To start things off, it is The Ryan Express.

QUICK CAREER NUMBERS

Years: 27
Games Started: 773
Wins: 324
Losses: 292
K's: 5,714
Walks: 2,795
IP: 5,386
ERA: 3.19
Shutouts: 61
Complete Games: 22

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

7 career no-hitters

Holds single season strikeout record at 383.

Struck out 100 or more batters in 24 of his 27 seasons.

Struck out 300 or more batters in a season 6 times.

Struck out 8 batters in a row during a single game twice.

Lead the league in strikeouts 11 times.

Struck out 10 or more batters in a single game 23 times in 1973.

Struck out 329 batters or more for 3 straight seasons.

Lead the league in ERA 2 times.

8 time All-Star

Ryan batted a career .110 (94/852) with 2 HRs and 36 RBI.

Inducted into the MLB HOF in 1999 with 98.2%.

FAST FACTS

10th round draft pick by the New York Mets in 1965.

Spent 1967 in the United States Military.

Appeared in 5 League Championship Series and 1 World Series.

Between 1973 and 1975, Ryan achieved 4 no-hitters. Two of those coming within two months of each other in May and July of 1973.

The closest Nolan would get to a Cy Young award was in 1972 when he came in 2nd to Jim Palmer. He would place in the top 10 of the Cy Young voting 8 times.

In 1987, Ryan compiled a 8-16 record while posting a 2.76 ERA with 270 K's. He finished 5th in the NL Cy Young voting that same year.

Ryan is the only pitcher to strike out the side on nine pitched balls in both the National League (April 19, 1968) and the American League (July 9, 1972).

His jersey has been retired by the Angels, Astros and Rangers.

Currently serves at the President of the Texas Rangers.

HOF Strikeout Victims

Hank Aaron
Luis Aparicio
Ernie Banks
Roberto Clemente
Al Kaline
Harmon Killebrew
Eddie Matthews
Willie McCovey
Joe Morgan
Brooks Robinson
Billy Williams
Carl Yastrzemski
Dave Winfield
Rickey Henderson
Cal Ripken Jr.
Paul Molitor
Tony Gywnn

Darkstar One

Vlad_77 — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:12:48 GMT

Computer gamers who are into space sims speak the name "Elite" with no little reverence. David Braben and Ian Bell's classic opened a whole galaxy to explore. Two sequels were spawned: Frontier, which boasted an accurate Milky Way and played very well on the Amiga. Then they blew it badly with First Encounters.
Plying the space lanes with complete freedom has been hit or miss. Volition and Interplay graced us with Freespace I and II and of course we cannot forget Independence War I and II. But these are strictly military in nature, and while a lot of fun to play, pretty much restrict you one role: a star fighter pilot.
MicroProse then released StarLancer which began the bridge to its sequel Freelancer. Freelancer gave players a sense of a universe to explore that had not been around since those heady days of Elite. Rumours of Elite IV continue to surface from time to time. But, have no fear, you can get your Elite fix from a number of titles out there. In this entry I will be talking a bit about Darkstar One by Ascaron Entertainment.
Darkstar One was released in 2006 and is still a blast to play. What's more, you can get it for 9.99USD now! So let's get to exploring shall we?
Darkstar One DOES have a story, but, like Oblivion and Morrowing in the FRPG genre, you are free to do as you wish for as long as you wish. What makes Darkstar One unique is that your SHIP is the character you level up by finding artifacts strewn throughout the galaxy. These artifacts allow you to customise and morph your ship into whatever you want. Fancy an agile star fighter? Perhaps you want something that you feel can wipe out entire fleets? You can customise any way you want.
The galaxy of Darkstar One is huge and the graphics hold up VERY nicely for a 4 year old game. And, unlike a lot of games in this genre, you are not alone. The universe is CROWDED and you can choose how YOU deal with it. You can be a trader, bounty hunter, pirate, take on jobs for the government, and at the end you will be in the middle of a galactic war! Not bad for ten bucks!
Difficulty is scalable and you actually fee like you have a chance at survival in this gem. Old school players will remember that Elite was almost panic inducing at the beginning when all you had was a pea shooting 1MW Pulse Laser.
Voice acting is mixed. The main characters through the story are pretty believable, but the voice overs of the enemies you fight are almost ridiculous. But, the COMBAT is FUN!
Control is by mouse, joystick, or keyboard. The interface is clean and flight and combat are wonderfully intuitive.

Baseball score: a solid double.

A Bold Move by Cincy

RustBeltBaseball — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:21:23 GMT

When questioned, Mr Chapman admitted that, until now, he hadn't heard of Cincinnati nor of Tony Perez. Let's hope he never hears of Eric Milton.

Payroll inflexibility. That was the operative word in Cincinnati this offseason, as the club focused on tightening their payroll for 2010. To achieve that, Johnny Gomez was non-tendered because the Reds feared that he might get $3 million in arbitration. Scott Rolen�s contract was restructured. Originally expected to earn $11 million this year, he will now earn $6 million in 2010, $6.5 million in 2011 and $6.5 million in 2012. While the 34-year-old Rolen got two extra years of security, the Reds got their coveted payroll flexibility. They also avoided serious pursuits in the free agent market for the same reason: payroll inflexibility.

So it was no small surprise when word leaked out Sunday afternoon that the Cincinnati Reds had won the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes, the soon-to-be 22-year-old Cuban southpaw with a reported 100-mph fastball.

What? Cincinnati? Are you freakin� serious?! Yes and yes.

The Cincinnati Reds, the same team who hardly made any moves whatsoever this offseason, emerged not only as major players in the race to sign Chapman, but actually outbid teams like the Toronto Blue Jays, LA Angels and the Boston Red Sox for his services. According to MLB beat writer, Mark Sheldon, Chapman will receive $30.25 million over the next six years, plus incentives. He was given a $16.25 million signing bonus. Much of the money will be spread out over 10 years. His salary this year will be in the $1 million range and will not have a major impact on the Reds� budget until 2014.

So what exactly are the Reds getting in Aroldis Chapman and what are their plans for him?

Without question, this signing carries risk. Scouting reports on Chapman are not very extensive since few have seen him pitch outside of Cuba, his isolated homeland. Reportedly, on December 20, 2008 he threw a pitch that reached 102 miles per hour to break Maels Rodriguez' record for the fastest in Cuban baseball history. He was named the top left-handed pitcher in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, and in last spring's World Baseball Classic he started Cuba's 5-4 victory over Australia and its 6-0 loss to Japan.

On December 15 of last year, he worked out in front of scouts from various major leagues teams in Houston. Despite not throwing at full speed, he still managed to hit 97 mph. Most, if not all, were impressed by his stuff. Many were also impressed by his slider and strongly feel that it will be a second strong pitch for him, in addition to his incredible fastball. He has an athletic build coupled with a durable body and electric arm, an incredible make-up that scouts only dream about.

So the widespread consensus is that the Reds are getting a unique talent without equal in the major leagues (their words, not mine).

However, the consensus is that he also has two main weaknesses: the lack of a solid third pitch and questions as to his control in game situations. At the Houston workout, he threw a changeup that had limited action and didn�t always go where he wanted it to. On the other hand, his control was good at the workout and showed good location with his fastball and he didn�t overthrow. Of course, workouts are one thing; game situations are another.

The Reds, however, are unfazed by all of this and have every intention of developing Chapman into a frontline starter. From the press conference held earlier today, the team is looking at this signing long-term and will not rush him into the major league rotation before he�s ready. Chris Buckley, the Reds director of scouting, had this to say about Chapman:

�But in all the viewings we had of him, all the DVDs and video we saw, none of our scouts saw anything that would be a problem. He just needs a little coaching. We think he can have three or four quality pitches. All our scouts think his slider will be well, well above average. His fastball is already well, well above average. The player development people will work with his changeup. We�ll have him throw it x amount of times. It can be an outstanding pitch too.�

The Reds feel they are the best fit for the young pitcher who doesn�t speak a lick of English. Both manager Dusty Baker (God�s gift to young pitchers-ha!) and new pitching coach Bryan Price are fluent in Spanish. The team also has Latin American pitchers Johnny Cueto and Edison Volquez to help Chapman acclimatize himself to life in America. Indeed, Chapman has a lot of adjustments to make, never mind all the baseball stuff.

No question, this is a bold move by Cincinnati � but an exciting one just the same. The Reds have just invested a lot of money into a pitching �prospect� and we all know the risks involved in doing that. But Aroldis Chapman is perhaps the best pitching prospect the Reds have signed-ever. �He is,� as MLB Reporter Jonathan Mayo put it, �the type of pitcher -- considering the stuff, the size and the age -- who doesn't come around very often.�

From the buzz generated at other Reds forums and blogs, I would not be surprised if ticket and merchandise sales are already picking up for the 2010 season � regardless of whether Chapman throws a pitch at GABP this year or not. If so, then the signing is already paying dividends. Go team.

The Best PC Games Of The Decade

oakland2001 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:44:57 GMT

With the decade now a thing of the past, I thought it would be nice to look back at the last 10 years in PC gaming. The listing is not numbered simply because there would be no way to rank one game over another in a fair and impartial manner. You could debate this topic for the next ten decades and still not have a decisive winner. Deus Ex over Half Life 2? KOTOR over Oblivion? It is all in the eye of the beholder. Of course, there will be those who cry foul about their favorite game not being listed, but you can not please everyone.

The following games are the best in their respective genres according to my personal taste and how good I thought the game was. Instead of writing a summary of each game, I decided to write a brief sentence on particular games I felt the need to explain or have a personal story to tell. Most of the titles listed do not need any description as they stand on their own. As such, some of these games you will know quite well, while others you may be seeing for the first time. For the latter, I hope you will explore these games and give them a try. Whether it be a demo or a game bought on sale, every single game on this list deserves to be played at least once.

I only gave myself a few rules while creating this list. I was not going to put more than one game of the same title on the list. In other words, I had to choose either Max Payne or Max Payne 2. Another rule was that I tried to keep each genre to 10 titles or less. Anymore than that would dilute the entire reason for a "best of" list. There are 70 titles within 8 categories. I hope you enjoy reading the list as much as I did putting it together. Please use the links below to jump to your favorite genre. You can also jump back to the top of this article using the link below the end of each listing.

EDIT: The navigation links are once again working. I apologize for the inconvenience.

SHOOTERS

ROLE PLAYING

STRATEGY

SPORTS/RACING

CASUAL/INDIE

MULTIPLAYER

SIMULATION

ACTION/ADVENTURE/OTHER

HONORABLE MENTION

FIRST/THIRD PERSON SHOOTERS:

Deus Ex - June 22, 2000 - Ion Storm

I discovered Deus Ex because my cousin purchased a Voodoo 5 5500 which came bundled with Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament. He did not want either. Hooray for me.

Half Life 2 - November 16, 2004 - Valve

Max Payne - July 25, 2001 - Remedy

Along with Deus Ex, High Heat and Unreal Tournament, Max Payne was instrumental in getting me involved with PC gaming.

Bioshock - August 21, 2007 - 2K Boston

Doom 3 - August 3, 2004 - id Software

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - December 8, 2004 - Starbreeze Studios

Call of Duty 2 -October 25, 2005 - Infinity Ward

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - January 22, 2002 - 2015 Inc

F.E.A.R. - October 17, 2005 - Monolith Productions

Crysis - November 13, 2007 - Crytech

Back to top

ROLE PLAYING

Baldur's Gate II - September 24, 2000 - BioWare

Fallout 3 - October 28, 2008 - Bethesda

I am not sure if there was another game that fanned the flames of hate between gamers more than this one. Either you loved it or you loathed it. I had never played through Fallout or Fallout 2 which is probably why I enjoyed the game so much. For the most part, those who did play the prior installments seemed to be the ones that had issues. I spent over 50 hours on this title and loved every minute of it.

Knights of the Old Republic - November 19, 2003 - BioWare

Next to the Timothy Zahn trilogy of books, this game has the best told story in the Star Wars universe.

Diablo II - June 29, 2000 - Blizzard North

Mass Effect - May, 28 2008 - Demiurge Studios/BioWare

The Witcher - October 30, 2007 - CD Projekt

CD Projekt should be given an award or medal for its work on The Witcher. How many developers do you know of that would systematically update almost all of the dialogue, install new animations and add new quests? In a bold move, those who bought the original game were given the updated, "Enhanced Version" free of charge. Normally, this type of attention would be given to the game by the modding community,.but the fact that CD Projekt took it upon themselves to fix what was broken should be commended. It's also something every company should be striving to do.

Neverwinter Nights - June 18, 2002 - BioWare

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines - November 16, 2004 - Troika Games

Another fantastic game riddled by bugs and unplayability for some. Troika folded just months after release and it was up to the modding community to continue supporting the game. Modders have released several patches and fixes to VMB over the years which has resulted in a better gaming experience for those just getting started.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - March 20, 2006 - Bethesda

Dragon Age: Origins - November 9, 2009 - BioWare Edmonton

Back to top

STRATEGY

Civilization IV - October 25, 2005 - Firaxis Games

Warcraft III - July 3, 2002 - Blizzard Entertainment

Company of Heroes - September 12, 2006 - Relic Entertainment

Sins of a Solar Empire - February 4, 2008 - Ironclad Games

Dawn of War - September 20, 2004 - Relic Entertainment

Rome: Total War - September 22, 2004 - The Creative Assembly

World In Conflict - September 18, 2007 - Massive Entertainment

Back to top

SPORTS/RACING

NASCAR Racing Season 2003 - February 13, 2003 - Papyrus

Tiger Woods 2004 - September 20, 2003 - EA Sports

Links 2001 - October 24, 2000 - Microsoft Game Studios

High Heat Baseball 2002 - March 13, 2001 - 3DO

Madden NFL 2003 - August 12, 2002 - EA Tiburon

NBA 2K10 - Visual Concepts - October 12, 2009

Kudos to 2K for reinvigorating the PC sports genre.

Race Driver: GRID - June 3, 2008 - Codemasters

Flatout 2 - August 1, 2006 - Bugbear

Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box - February 5, 2009 - Criterion

Need For Speed: Most Wanted - November 11, 2005 - EA Black Box

Back to top
SPORTS RUNDOWN
It was really a poor decade for sports games on the PC. While the first few years were good, EA Sports released some of the worst sports titles ever produced. There is no greater example of sloppy ports and consolitis than there is in the PC sports genre. Up until 2007 when EA stopped producing Madden, Tiger Woods and NBA games, EA released only PS2 ports. The fanbase was promised titles with next generation graphics for years and nothing ever came of those promises. Mainstream media outlets stopped reviewing the EA PC sports titles altogether after a while. It was not until the 08 games did PC gamers even see widescreen support. Even then, all menus and overlays were stretched using 800x600 resolution making the game just plain ugly. In 2003, 3DO released High Heat 2004 which destroyed all that was great about the previous installments by using the console interface instead of the point and click PC interface that, in my opinion, is still the best GUI implementation in any sports game ever. The overlays were also a sore spot for some. The original overlays for High Heat 2004 took up almost the entire screen even when using a 1600x1200 screen resolution. An obvious case of sloppy seconds. These and many other issues were thankfully solved by the hard work of modders. I suppose all of these problems can be directly related to the fact that there was only one company making graphically based sports games for the PC.

CASUAL/INDIE

Peggle - February 27, 2007 - PopCap - OFFICIAL SITE

My first game of Peggle lasted 2 1/2 hours. Anyone who recommends this game should be considered a drug dealer. An episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled, "The Game", is a prime example of what can happen to a person who decides to play Peggle.

Plants vs. Zombies - May 5, 2009 - PopCap - DEMO

Diner Dash - December 3, 2003 - Gamelab - OFFICIAL SITE

Known as Dash Games, or even Time Management by some, they are big business in the casual market. These games are to the PC what FPS have become on consoles. Diner Dash has sprouted more dash games than any other title. Along with PopCap, PlayFirst (publisher/dev) have created the empire that is casual gaming. Some of these games have even been developed for the DS, PSP and consoles.

Audiosurf - February 15, 2008 - Dylan Fitterer - DEMO VIA STEAM

Do you have a collection of MP3s? Do you like video games? If you said yes to even one, you must play Audiosurf.

World of Goo - October 13, 2008 - 2D Boy - OFFICIAL SITE

Trine - October 22, 2009 - Frozenbyte -OFFICIAL SITE

Braid - April 10, 2009 - Number None, Inc - OFFICIAL SITE

Aquaria - December 7, 2007 - Bit Blot -DEMO

Aquaria is a top notch side scrolling underwater RPG. Great story and fantastic art design headline this indie title.

Bejeweled - May 30, 2001 - PopCap - OFFICIAL SITE

This is what started it all for PopCap.

Crayon Physics Deluxe - January 7, 2009 - Petri Purho - DEMO

Back to top

MULTIPLAYER

Left 4 Dead - November 17, 2008 - Valve

Unreal Tournament 2004 - Mar 16, 2004 - Epic Games

Team Fortress 2 - October 10, 2007 - Valve

World of Warcraft - November 23, 2004 - Blizzard

Everquest II - November 8, 2004 - Sony Online Entertainment

Counter-Strike: Source - October 7, 2004 - Valve

Battlefield 2 - Jun 21, 2005 - Digital Illusions

Back to top

SIMULATION

Flight Simulator 2002 - Oct 19, 2001 - Microsoft Game Studios

Sid Meier's Railroads - October 17, 2006 - Firaxis Games

The Sims - January 31, 2000 - Maxis

Silent Hunter III - March 15, 2005 - Ubisoft Romania

IL-2 Sturmovik - November 19, 2001 - Maddox Games

Black & White - March 27, 2001 - Lionhead Studios

SimCity 4 - January 14, 2003 - Maxis

Out of the Park Baseball 9 - June 2008 - OOTP Developments

Back to top

ACTION/ADVENTURE/OTHER

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - Mar 26, 2002 - Raven Software

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - June 7, 2005 - Rockstar North

Choosing which GTA game to place on this list was probably my toughest task. How can one not pick a masterpiece such as Vice City, or a groundbreaking game like GTA III? It is difficult to rate a series when you can only select one. I tried really hard to choose games that set the tone for other quality titles to follow. That is why Max Payne 1 and the original Sims are listed and the sequels are not. In the end, it came down to the huge open world that was San Andreas.

Portal - October 9, 2007 - Valve

Beyond Good and Evil - November 11, 2003 - Ubisoft Milan

Along with Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Beyond Good and Evil is another marvelous game that nobody knows much about. Terrific art style, lovable characters, and a story to match are what make this game so great.

Lego Star Wars - March 29, 2005 - Traveler's Tales

Traveler's Tale re-tells the Star Wars story with such a quirky sense of humor, you do not mind seeing it again. This also holds true for the other Lego games: Batman and Indiana Jones.

Freelancer - March 4, 2003 - Digital Anvil

Street Fighter IV - July 2, 2009 - Dimps/Capcom

When was the last time a decent fighting game was released for the PC? July of 1998 with Mortal Kombat 4. Why this genre has been abandoned by game developers is a mystery to me. Some may say the PC, as a gaming entity, is not conducive to fighting games due to cramped quarters and other factors. Although I disagree with that, Capcom deserves major accolades for bringing AAA titles to the PC in any form. There are other devs who port games over to the PC, but they are usually terrible excuses for a game with controls that make you want to find the person responsible and set him/her on fire. Capcom on the other hand, gets it right. Although Resident Evil 5 and Devil May Cry 4 are fabulous games, I have a soft spot for SFIV. Playing this game reminds me of my childhood days when I would have friends over and play Street Fighter II on the SNES from sundown until sunup.

Mafia - August 28, 2002 - Illusion Softworks

Batman: Arkham Asylum - September 15, 2009 - Rocksteady Studios

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - November 17, 2002 - Ubisoft Montreal

Thief II: The Metal Age - March 21, 2000 - Looking Glass Studios

Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy - October 2008 - Her Interactive

The first Nancy Drew game was released in December of 1998 and since then, Her Interactive has pushed out 19 titles with another due later this year. The Nancy Drew series is an extremely popular collection of games based on the literary character. These games offer tremendous value for their intense storylines and puzzle solving.

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MISSED THE RELEASE DATE CUT

Unreal Tournament - November 30, 1999
System Shock 2 - August 11, 1999
Quake III - December 2, 1999
Homeworld - September 28, 1999
Age of Empires II - September 30, 1999

HONORABLE MENTION

GTA III
Max Payne 2
Lego Batman
Devil May Cry 4
Jade Empire
Burger Shop
GTA: Vice City
Resident Evil 5
Bejeweled 2
Dead Space
Zuma
The Sims 2
Call of Duty 4
Prey
Diner Dash 2
Osmos
Machinarium
Torchlight
Tales of Monkey Island
SimGolf
Winning Eleven 7
Halo
NHL 2001
Far Cry

CONCLUSION

It was a tremendous 10 years for PC gaming. Although there will never be a game that is 100% perfect, we had some that were awful close. Having said that, I am concerned where PC gaming is headed as we begin the new decade. More and more game companies are looking to release only on consoles or give the PC stripped down versions with little or no value. PC gamers want the ability to tweak and tinker with configuration settings to their hearts content. That is who most PC gamers are by nature. We like having the ability to look under the hood, to modify and change things. We do not want to see games that have no custom key mapping, graphical/audio settings or mouse sensitivity configuration. When I play an indie game like Osmos or Aquaria which has proper widescreen support, I shake my head thinking of other AAA titles such as Bioshock and Far Cry 2 that did not. PC gamers do not want to be locked into an FOV that is 65 and have the game pretend to support widescreen resolutions. Games like Dead Space and Ghostbusters have downright awful mouse controls while other similar games are perfect. Why? The only time I use a gamepad on my PC is when I am playing racing or sports titles. I do not want to hear about using the 360 controller. If I did that, I might as well go buy a console. Wrong or right, in eyes of most PC gamers, bad ports are looked on as blatant laziness. I am ranting a bit here, but this is a topic I am very passionate about. If a game company is not going to take the time to create a proper PC port, then do not release one at all. On the other side of the issue is the gamers themselves. Stop buying crappy games. Do not pirate them. Do nothing. Do not support companies that think of the PC as an afterthought. I know there are many reasons why PC gaming has its problems, but that, as they say, is a whole different show.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to Deus Ex.

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