Tabe

Another Rainbow Moon update: So I've done just about everything in the game now except kill the last one or two super-tough monsters I haven't tried yet. I need to grind some more leveling and hit points before I try those guys though. I've earned all the trophies in the game and obtained most of the gear (one set of gear is tied to a collectible I don't feel like tracking down). I must say that, despite the fact that I'm basically just grinding at this point, my enjoyment of the game has gone up a lot. You can see actual progress in your characters at this point as they jump a level (or more) every fight or two. It's also been fun to see how the characters ebb and flow from being relatively weak to relatively strong. Early in the game, one particular character is very strong and useful because she has attacks that can be diagonal and other characters don't. She then goes through a long stretch where she's weak as the other two characters become strong. Now, late in the game, she's super-strong and useful. The same thing has happened with my other two characters. It's also fun to see how your characters improve relative to the enemies. Like one particular group of 34 enemies, because they were so much faster than me (and, thus, got in their attacks before me or multiple attacks before me), took me nearly an hour to defeat the first time I beat them. Now with my characters juiced up, I can walk through them without taking a lick of damage in under 60 seconds. Having said that, the issues I've had with the game never really went away: - The map system is atrocious, forcing me to rely on a map I downloaded and printed off the net and also constant googling on my tablet while playing. This becomes quite the pain later on as you're told to go to specific places and really have no idea where they are. - Battles, especially early on, are extremely tedious and repetitive. There's pretty much no strategy to them and they're just a chore. Really late in the game, strategy comes into effect but very rarely. - Difficulty spikes are huge, especially post-game. This forces you to do a lot of tedious grinding just to get to a point where you can maybe take on the next-higher level of opponent - Leveling up your characters requires the use of pearls that are gained when a character strikes a death blow on an enemy. That's all well and good but the pearl drops are too low compared to what's needed to level up your guys - The spell animations are reaaaaaaaly long. The game allows you to "earn" the right to skip them by using each spell an indeterminate number of times but you get to be annoyed - big-time - before that. And some spells can't be skipped at all until post-game. That gets really, really, really annoying. So, yeah, overall a very enjoyable game. That's good since I've spent 160 hours on it and am seriously considering starting a new game just to get the damn trophy I got screwed out of. And I'm going to spend a bit more time grinding so I can knock off the last couple super-enemies. I'm hopeless. My nephew may have a heart attack if he comes home and sees me playing a different game, LOL.

This ain't exactly a PS+ sale but: - The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) is $30 today from PSN - WatchDogs (PS4) is $20 used from Gamefly.com. If you've never bought from Gamefly before, the case, manual, and online codes are all in brand-new condition on their used stuff. - FIFA 14 (PS4) is $10 used from Gamefly.com

Doesn't really matter. Buy whatever you buy, you can upgrade it if you want and it's a very easy process to do so. That said, yeah, you want at least 250 gig but 500 is a lot easier.

Interesting that Oregon is being allowed to use those jerseys with the Donald Duck logo on the side. Part of their deal with Disney that lets them use Donald is that they can't use him in marketing outside the state of Oregon.

There's a digital version on 360, PS3, PC, Android, Ouya, IOS, etc.

That movie looks promising but, man, Kristen Stewart is just so awful in everything, I'm not sure I can bring myself to see it.

Friend of mine saw it and said it was great.

The pro wrestling discussion is over there, pal.

Another fine product of the Donovan McNabb NFL Rules for Dummies course!

I might just have to track down one of those. Throwbacks, FTW.

I think Golden Tate breaking into a donut shop in the middle of the night is still a better "NFL dumbass stealing stuff" story.

Repeat offender Vontaze Burfict is being called out by the Carolina Panthers for twisting the ankles of Gregg Olsen and Cam Newton after making tackles. He also got a flag for a cheap shot on a defenseless receiver. Given his repeat offender status and the fact he did it multiple times during the, I'm hoping the NFL suspends Burfict. My realistic side says they'll fine him less than if he was wearing Beats headphones. Link to video of the Newton tackle

First movies for me in awhile: Gone Girl - I really, really wanted to like this one. Heard great things about it, was intrigued by the story and......was let down. I'd heard all about this "shocking twist" but I saw it coming from pretty much the opening 5 minutes of the movie. In fact, it was so underwhelming that my wife & I actually sat there and discussed other options that would have been better twists. Felt there was never really tension and the ending disappointed greatly. When the credits started rolling, everyone in my theater was looking around and asking each other "That it's? It's really over?", expecting there to be more. We felt the same way. In the end, this was a mediocre effort that really should have been a lot better. 6/10. If I Stay - The wife really wanted to see this one and I had to pay penance for taking her to Gone Girl, LOL. Mia is a world-class cellist who falls in love with Adam, the lead singer of a local rock band that's about to go big. Mia and her entire family of impossibly cool parents and brother are in a car crash that leaves Mia fighting for her life. We then see her spirit running around the hospital reviewing her life while she tries to decide whether to live (and return to a horribly altered life) or die (and end her suffering). This movie is a mess. I thought the premise was stupid when I saw the previews and I was right. The script is a joke, ignoring the ages of the characters constantly (yeah, I'm sure the local bars are more than happy to have 16-year olds drinking without checking IDs), with faux angst and tension, and just...ugh. I get that I'm not the target demo for this movie but c'mon. This stunk. 3/10 - maybe.

Well, that and the fact that he was still berating the players eight months later.

The couple times I checked was on my PS3. I'll try my Apple TV and see if the game shows up sooner. Maybe it's faster on there because they don't mark key moments in the game like on the PS3.

I don't find the process to be slow on either the PS3 or the PS4. Go to your download list in the PSN store, pick what you want, tell it to download in the background, go back to your list, add another title, rinse, repeat. Set your system to wake up at 2am and download when you're not around and it'll be done in no time. Or, ya know, bypass your PS3 or PS4 entirely and use the Sony online site to find all the stuff and download it to your system.

ESPN: Arizona kicker Casey Skowronmisses 3 FGs in 2-point loss to USC ESPN: Lions GM Martin Mayhew: Skowron "now #1 on our draft board"

Two games into the season, my take on the Red Wings: - they're a LOT faster than previous years. Slugs like Bertuzzi and Samuelsson are long gone, replaced by a whole bunch of guys that can actually skate - both games - Boston & Anaheim - have been outstanding - brutal turnovers led to the only Boston goal and the first two Anaheim goals. Same problem as last year though defensive coverage and pressure have been a LOT better than last year - the officiating in both games has been pretty badly anti-Detroit. Boston game, one ref watched Zdeno Chara lay a vicious crosscheck into Darren Helm's back, sending him flying - no call. Just a brutal, brutal no-call. Anaheim game, Ryan Kesler nailed Brendan Smith in the head with an elbow - in front of a ref - and then got shoved by Luke Glendening. Kesler then crosschecked Glendening. And a penalty was called on....Glendening. Worst of all, though, was the ending to the Anaheim game. 23 seconds left, Getzlaf pulls down Kronwall deep in the Detroit zone, allowing him to steal the puck and walk right in front and score the winning goal. Just a terrible, terrible no-call. No excuse for it. - since I have NHL Gamecenter, I get both feeds of every game. I watch the Detroit feed but flipped to the end of the game to see how Anaheim's guys would react to the game-winning goal. They immediately said Anaheim "got away with one there" and then also just as fast started backtracking. They first tried to claim an interference not called on Franzen (wasn't a penalty, good no-call) and then went right to the "well, it's late in the game, they let the boys play" thing. Detroit's guys, of course, just flat-out said "the Red Wings got screwed". - Gus Nyquist continues roll offensively, scoring in both games. He looked great against Anaheim, flying all over the place and scoring his goal on an awesome fake and then top-shelf wrist shot. - Johan Franzen has looked great so far. He apparently got mad at criticism that he was one-dimensional (goal scoring, which he didn't do much of the last couple years) and got himself into better shape. He's skating a LOT better and has been a lot more active thus far. I'm sure that'll last about 3 weeks and then he'll go 20 games with 2 points before an injury but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Anyway, two games in, so far, so good. Scoring will almost surely still be a problem this season but effort, intensity, and defensive presence are all way up from last year. And team speed, of course. Am very pumped for the rest of the season. * - Paid $134 for Gamecenter and so far am very happy with it. My only gripe is that replays of games aren't available until 6-12 hours after the game ends. Since most Detroit games start at 4 or 4:30 my time, I am rarely around for the live broadcast and have to watch the replays. Having them not available until essentially the next day sucks. If I can catch the game while it's still going on, I can start it from the beginning. The bonus of the replay is that all the extra crap is cut out so a full game takes about 1:40 to watch. Not bad at all. Anyway, fun start

No. They run 10-15 thousand.

This might not be good, but it's luring me with enticing bait. Stylish scenery, hot people, and a crazy caper? Oh boy. I hope Will is getting his groove back. That's exactly what I was thinking but couldn't figure out how to express. Lots of folks on IMDB all pumped up because the movie is R-rated. Must admit, that helps the movie in my eyes as well.

I need one of those shirts. XLT or XXL. Make it happen. Chop, chop. Still waiting. Let's go. Chop, chop. Still waiting on my Hawaii souvenir. Get on it, bucko. Andrew Luck sucks.

Yeah, same reason I didn't pledge. One guy on the TPA fan forum pledged SIX GRAND to this. Good grief.

Small correction: Mitchell & Ness has only ever done one college jersey. The ones you see on eBay are fakes.

No, but Rose's top did! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

He drafted Sexy Rexy. What else do you need?