World Cup Draw

Well it's been a long time coming, but I finally have inspiration for a new post: the draw for the 2010 World Cup that took place on December 4th in South Africa. ESPN had live coverage of the event, and I was lucky enough to view it. In the group stage, each nation of the 4 will play each other once, with the top 2 teams moving on to the knock-out stages. After seeing the 32 teams placed, here are my early predictions on the first round of matches:

GROUP A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

In the host nation's group, as it stands now I'm going to say that France will finish at the top of the group, and despite the energy from the home fans, South Africa will fall to Mexico (as much as I hate to say it for all my dislike of Mexican soccer).

GROUP B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Despite Argentina's recent form I think they're a shoe-in for the second round, with Nigeria finishing second. The latter seem to be a fairly strong representative of the African continent, and I think they can overpower South Korea and struggling Greece to move on.

GROUP C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

This group (on paper anyway) is fairly easy to call. England are in barring a major meltdown 3 matches in a row, and if the US men can't pull off a win each against 2 of the weakest contenders then they don't deserve to move on anyway. With luck however, USA will tie with England and move through in first place on goal differential.

GROUP D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

In this group, Germany could have an easy time of it if they play their game and remain disciplined. I think the Aussies can pull through as well, although Ghana could certainly give them a run for their money.

GROUP E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Even though lately the Dutch haven't appeared to be as strong as the last several years, I predict they will win the group this time around. Japan had a strong showing in 2002, but I believe Denmark will pull through in second place.

GROUP F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Italy being another team I strongly dislike, it pains me to say that they will win the group in all likelihood. The battle for second is much tougher to call, but I'm going to say Paraguay will have what it takes to move on.

GROUP G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Brazil is one of the favorites as usual, and I'm not going to argue. Portugal barely made it into the Cup in the first place, and although I'm sure they will try hard, Ivory Coast will be the second African nation to get to the second round.

GROUP H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Spain are my pick to win the whole thing, and as such they will start by winning the final group. Honduras had a decent showing in qualification, however I'm banking on the Swiss to become the 16th team to reach the second stage of competition.

If things go as I predict, the second stage will look as follows (with the winners in parentheses):

France vs. Nigeria (France)

Argentina vs. Mexico (Argentina)

England vs. Australia (England)

Germany vs. USA (USA)

Netherlands vs. Paraguay (Paraguay)

Italy vs. Denmark (Italy)

Brazil vs. Switzerland (Brazil)

Spain vs. Ivory Coast (Spain)

Regardless of whether or not I'm right on the rest of the results, I'm picking Spain to win the Cup and shall be rooting for them along with team USA. As next June draws closer I may change my predictions based on roster changes, injuries to key players, etc. and will write a new post concerning those changes. Until then, all we can do is wait till next summer!

Big Balls Reviews: Inglourious Basterds

Recently I saw Quentin Tarantino's newest film, Inglourious Basterds. The basic premise is that a group of American Jewish soldiers infliltrate occupied France during World War II on a mission with the simple objective of killing as many Nazis as possible. It stars Brad Pitt as the brash, scowling lieutenant in charge of the operation. It is entirely a work of fiction, particularly as in the final bits when (SPOILER ALERT) Hitler, Goerring, Goebbels, and a good portion of the rest of the Third Reich's upper ranks get killed in a cinema.

The movie takes place in several chapters, each featuring only a couple of scene changes at most. This serves to maximize each scene's effect, especially when one considers how much actually goes on in each scene. Much of the time it's entirely dialog driven, with a surprisingly low level of violence given both the premise and Tarantino's past films (Kill Bill, Grindhouse, Pulp Fiction, etc.). It also featured quite a bit of German and French with subtitles, which was refreshing as many movies take the (rather lazy) liberty of assuming every European during World War II spoke English with heavy accents. All of the actors were well cast, and the dialog was excellent. There is also a good balance of tension and release, and the ending felt satisfying.

Despite being a very well-done film, no review would be complete without some criticism. The beginning felt quite drawn out, and felt like it took a while for the story to get rolling. It was also kind of a long movie, but the whole final 15% or so went by extremely fast. A marker of a good movie is if the only critique one can manage is nit-picky things that are easily passed by, and such is certainly the case here. No one should go into seeing it for the first time with the idea that it's historically accurate, as that could only lead to disappointment. It is, however, a good action flic and Brad Pitt pulls his weight as usual.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Storytelling in Video Games

Recently I purchased and played through a game on my Xbox 360 called Mass Effect. This game is a futuristic action/role playing game, in which humanity has taken its place among several space-faring races and the hero has to save the galaxy. It has garnered several awards since it was released last year, many in response to the storytelling elements like writing and voice acting. Having thoroughly enjoyed the game myself, and it prompted this entry of Big Balls about storytelling in video games as a whole.

It seems like 15 or 20 years ago, very little story was involved in most games. Sure the hope of the player was to rescue the princess or save the world from a megalomaniac at the end of standard-setting games starring Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively. Those two games alone resulted in dozens of cookie-cutter platforming games with a taped-on story with no discernible meaning (Earthworm Jim and Crash Test Dummies help prove my point). For most games of the 80's and early 90's, story in video games was limited to some text scrolling across the screen at the outset and a few simple 8- or 16-bit graphics to move the action along. It seems rather remarkable now, 15 years after I first experienced video games, how far the industry has come.

Mass Effect involved well over 100 people to create, and quite a few of those were solely concerned with how to make it seem as immersing an experience as possible. Needless to say, their hard work was noticed. It was developed by BioWare, a company that has always been about making quality role-playing games. As was mentioned above, the game is set in the future. Humans have encountered several races in the galaxy, and is capable of faster-than-light travel. The developers worked to create a galaxy rich in the various cultures that inhabit it, and the ability to use your ship to explore many different star systems at will make for tons of side content not necessarily relating to the main story. Part of that exploration involves the codex, a library of information that grows as you see what the galaxy has to offer. The level of detail put into making the universe feel alive is quite astounding.

Another aspect that make the story feel deep and immersing is how the story unfolds through the eyes of the player. Much of the time between combat scenes is spent having active dialog with non-player controlled characters. Each time a response is required during the course of the conversation, the player is given several options to choose from which determine where the dialog from that point goes. Often one of the options represents the "Paragon," and another represents the "Renegade." As you choose one of those two, you gain a reputation among the other characters as being more compassionate or ruthless, respectively. From there the main storyline can take multiple different directions, and greatly differentiate one player's experience from another. When every single conversation had during the game can have multiple outcomes, it really makes the player feel like they have more control. The game's writing alone was a huge undertaking in development and makes the game worth picking up. Furthermore, when the sequel to the game is released next year, players will be able to use their characters from the first game to continue the story, and all of the variable events will carry over (i.e. when a player has to choose between saving one person or another).

Mass Effect is just one example of a trend in gaming these days as a result of many players expecting more out of their games than action or platforming. Writing for games is more like that of movies or TV shows than ever. Obviously, some games prove to be more successful in that department than others. However, because content like this has been shown to create quite a deep and entertaining experience, I think many gamers will be calling for this type of storytelling and pushing game designers to find creative ways to oblige the market. Everyone appreciates a good story, and with video games the ability to truly and deeply affect how the narrative progresses really puts the medium on a different level than other forms of entertainment.

New Comic

new strip is now online, as usual at http://www.no-name-creek.blogspot.com enjoy!

Confederations Cup Final

Well on Sunday the final match of the FIFA Confederations Cup was played in Johannesburg, South Africa between USA and Brazil. I was (along with most people watching the tournament) totally surprised to watch USA shut out Spain in the semifinals, 2-0 after an abysmal group stage which saw USA barely squeak into the next round after losing to Brazil and Italy 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. Going into the final, many were optimistic about a confident USA squad even if it was against the defending Confederations Cup champions. Personally I was hopeful, but not totally confident in our ability to pull off 2 huge upsets back-to-back.

As the game began, the US came out strong and limited Brazil's ability to break through our defense, and we managed to have a decent amount of time on the ball. In the 10th minute we were treated with a special moment, as Clint Dempsey put one in the back of the net to put USA up 1-0. We continued to put pressure on Brazil and limit the influence of their stars, Kaka and Robinho. Both of those factors were the reasons why we were able to compete with them actively, and how we managed to go up 2-0 at the half behind a goal by Landon Donovan. Despite my doubts, it was looking good after the first 45 minutes.

Sadly, in the second half my fears came true. We came out with much less energy and drive than the Brazilians, and they were quickly able to find their way through our defenses. Almost immediately after the whistle striker Luis Fabiano managed to beat keeper Tim Howard, changing the game quite a bit. From then on USA had a porous defense, and were not able to counterattack effectively through the midfield. We were made to pay toward the end, with a second goal by Fabiano and the go-ahead goal by captain Lucio coming in the 84th minute. At that point it was basically over, and Brazil were crowned champions.

There was a lot to be proud of, weak second half not withstanding. The USA's run from elimination to the final was admirable, and it showed what heart and ability our players can exhibit. I have only seen 1 or 2 matches in which the USA played better than their win over Spain, back in the 2002 World Cup against Portugal and Mexico. Also, Tim Howard was awarded the Top Keeper of the Tournament. Clint Dempsey also got the Bronze Ball award, given to the 3rd best overall player in the tournament. The pain on their faces was also a form of promise of the future: it shows how bad they wanted it and how they truly believed they could have won.

I'm sure some people will talk this tournament up and hype it to death, saying the USA will be a major contender for the World Cup title in a year. This is probably an overestimation, and I'd hate to see a situation like 2006 when we were so hyped up that it put immense pressure on the team and made it seem worse when we performed awfully and had an early exit. What I hope happens is that we take our performance late in the Confederations Cup as a confidence booster going into qualifying and then into World Cup 2010, but that we don't get overly excited and just play the way we know we can.

No Name Creek #4

As promised, the 4th installment of No Name Creek is now online :)

On the future of video games?

Being a moderate video game nerd, I tuned in last week to the G4 network for live coverage of E3, the Electronics Entertainment Expo. Starting the whole event off was Microsoft's annual press conference, where various developers and department heads discussed new games and tech in production, with a lot of sneak peeks and teaser trailers as well as a few live demos. Nintendo and Sony, the other big console producers, were to have their conferences the next day. However, even after all three had their chance to capture the attention of the E3 crowd, one announcement seemed to stand above the rest. Microsoft unveiled its next big project, codenamed Natal.

For all who saw Natal in action, certainly it seemed to represent a possible future of video games across the board. It's only been a couple years since the Wii was released by Nintendo, and that appeared to be revolutionary with its new take on the video game controller. Now Microsoft has taken that idea one step further, by removing the controller element altogether. The idea is by using a small box attached to any Xbox 360 system equipped with 3D motion-sensing cameras and a microphone, players can use their bodies to manipulate game interfaces and actions entirely without any physical peripherals. This means that fighting games can become a serious work-out, and racing games will be able to be played easily and intuitively without needing to buy a costly racing wheel peripheral like the ones that currently retail for well over $100 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The power-packed camera involved can scan objects including the user's body into games, making them appear real-time in the software. The idea being that this will bring gamers even deeper into the world of video games than ever before. An example of this was when a teenage boy scanned the underside of his skateboard into his Xbox, then used it in a a skateboarding game in which he would jump and twist his feet and torso to do tricks in-game.

Another demonstration of the Natal's capabilities came in the form of a boy named Milo. This little digital boy was able to talk to real people through the camera and mic on the Natal, with a level of realism that has never been seen before in a video game. Milo was able to remember facts about people and ask them questions about their lives, as well as give real emotional responses in his discussion with those facing the TV screen. The woman demonstrating the program asked Milo if he had done his homework, only to receive a worried and slightly embarrassed facial expression in return. The final demonstration of the powerful technology involved in Natal featured the woman drawing a picture of an orange fish, holding it up to the camera, which was followed by Milo receiving the picture and commenting on it's color and shape.

A few years ago, when the current generation of consoles came out, I noticed how amazing the graphics power has become with video games. In the past a big part of the technological innovation in the world of games has been to improve the looks of games, but I feel like there is a realism wall approaching. At a certain point the graphics will no longer be able to be improved upon, and I wondered where the technology will go from there. Ideas such as Natal may be the answer I was looking for, it certainly represents a departure from the norm of video game development. No release date has been set yet, but I would imagine Natal is expected to be out winter of 2010-2011.

No Name Creek #3

a new strip is up, feel free to check it out!

No Name Creek #2

A new strip is up for your viewing pleasure...

http://www.no-name-creek.blogspot.com

UEFA Champions League Final 2009

This year, in fact mere hours from this writing, FC Barcelona and Manchester United will face off in Rome for the European soccer crown. This match is always exciting, and this particular match-up has great promise. Despite my admitted strong dislike for Man U, they have a great chance of defending their title and making it the second straight year for winning the double of Premier League and Champions League titles. However, the Barcelona side is no slouch either, and if any team in the tournament has a chance to dismantle United, FCB is it.

Barcelona have outscored opponents 34-14 thus far in the tournament, with the Argentinian Lionel Messi currently holding the #1 spot for individual goal-scorers (8 goals). Messi is not the only major scoring threat, Cameroonian Samuel Eto'o and French captain Thierry Henry can both contribute to the attack for a squad that has dismantled several teams by scores of 4-0 and 5-0 this year. Defense could be a potential weakness for Barcelona, with stars Rafael Marquez and Carles Puyol seeming to have a bit of trouble recently. Fortunately, Victor Valdes is certainly capable of clean sheets against most any team in the world. Depth also may be a soft spot for FCB, they don't seem to have quite the same quality off the bench as United.

On the other side of the coin, Manchester United seem to be extremely hard to crack this year. One would be hard pressed to find a more solid team all around, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney leading their attack. Ronaldo came in second place for most goals scored in the Premier League this season, with 18. Not quite as many as last year, probably mostly due to his stint on the sidelines after having surgery. At the moment, however, he seems fit and ready to punish Barcelona's defenders should they slip up. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is also at peak form, and appears unafraid of the multi-pronged attack that Barcelona will bring. Ryan Giggs is a lynch pin in the Man United midfield, recently playing his 300th match for the club. If he is allowed to roam free and distribute the ball, FCB will be in serious trouble.

This match is a tough one to predict because of the sheer talent and ability of both teams, but I for one will be pulling for Barcelona to dethrone the defending champions. There will certainly be goals, I doubt very much either side will play a tight, conservative match until they are forced to. All that's left now is to wait and see how the ball rolls in Rome, and who comes out on top.

I predict a 2-1 victory for FC Barcelona, although if it goes to penalty kicks I think Man U will come out on top.

No Name Creek: #1

It's been a long time coming after some complications, but here's the first of (hopefully) many comic strips of mine. I couldn't post it here, but here's the link to it :)

http://no-name-creek.blogspot.com/

Big Balls Reviews: The Fray

I take music seriously. Taking this into account, I've decided to review albums as I interpret them. My reviews are by no means professional in nature, I have very little experience in the way of formal critiques. In this installment, I take a look at The Fray by The Fray.

Before this, I had almost no experience with The Fray, a contemporary rock group. The album starts off strong with “Syndicate,” an up-beat number with catchy lyrics. This is possibly my favorite track. The next song is “Absolute,” which has a nice persistent and up front guitar lick throughout, something not often seen on the album. Most of their songs are extremely piano- and drum-heavy, which I suppose is an integral part of their overall presentation in general. Both of the next two tracks, “You Found Me” and “Say When” seem to use the Fray's patented formula of starting off slow and building to a high crest and following with a series of smaller downs and ups throughout the rest of the song until they end on the same tempo as they began. This creates a solid flow, however at times over the album it became slightly difficult to differentiate when one track ended and the next began if I wasn't actively paying attention. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just shows that they had little overall variety between tracks. Track number 5, “Never Say Never,” also follows this pattern. The singer's voice has a soothing quality about it but it can be somewhat repetitive. One nice touch I noticed on this track was the inclusion of some violin work in the background which added a nice effect. “Where the Story Ends,” the next track on the album, is another of my favorites. The drum work was well recorded and provided an energized driving beat to the whole song. It seemed like a slight departure from the previous several songs pattern, which was welcome. Another standout was “Ungodly Hour,” which featured brushes on the drums. This is something that to me, seems relatively rare in modern rock songs. The acoustic guitar in the background also helped to fill out the song, contrasted with the piano's melody part. Next, we have “We Build Then We Break.” This is another of my favorite tracks, due to the excellent drum rhythms and guitar work. They even threw in some synthesizer, which only added to the song. The drum solo at 2:39 also added to the intensity of this particular track. The final track is entitled “Happiness” and brings the album back to a mellow level. It features more acoustic guitar than the others, and surprisingly low drum and piano. Another surprising element was the choir singing harmony during the final chorus in the last minute twenty.

Overall I enjoyed this album. As, again, I had little previous exposure to The Fray, I had little in the way to compare it to directly. For my taste it had a too little guitar work, and became repetitive at times. Unless you are a big fan of the group to begin with, it seems like it could be hard to listen to the whole album through without losing attention. However, the simple way I found to combat that is to stick it in a shuffle with the likes of Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and John Mayer (If you're a fan of any of those three, I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen). I found it slipped in seamlessly with other such modern rock groups and that seemed to be the best way to appreciate the album. This is a perfectly decent example of contemporary rock, and I would not be surprised to see it nominated for a Grammy or two next year.


But hey, that's just my opinion.

David Beckham & the Los Angeles Debacle, Part II

So I just received the news today: Beckham is, for all intents and purposes, out. AC Milan and the Galaxy reached a deal that allowed Becks to extend his loan, so that he won't come back to the US until July (more than halfway through the regular season). In his contract he has a clause allowing a buyout at the end of the year, so he's all but done with MLS. If I were Bruce Arena (head coach of the Galaxy) I would bench his sorry ass for the few games he'll be available for. Sure it'd be a little waste of money, but that's what he has become anyway. Goodbye and good riddance, his performance at Milan will probably sag soon after they buy out his LA contract.

No Name Creek

Small announcement to be made: coming soon will be a secondary blog, on which I will unveil a new comic strip, entitled No Name Creek. Further details to come when I figure it all out

David Beckham & the Los Angeles Debacle

For the uninitiated, David Beckham is among the most popular footballers on the planet as well as a huge prick. in 2007, Mr. Beckham left the Spanish club Real Madrid to join the LA Galaxy, in easily the most hyped transfer around the globe since, ironically, Pele's transfer to the New York Cosmos in the 70's. Because of the difference in playing seasons between Europe and the US, Becks didn't arrive in LA until July. He then managed to play in a grand total of 6 matches until november due to an injury he picked up prior to coming stateside, culminating with failure of the Galaxy to make the playoffs that year. Most everyone made a huge deal about Becks' failure to make a decent impact, and rightfully so. However, I thought it was stupid to expect so much, considering my lack of confidence in him to begin with. The one thing he did successfully was to sell literally millions of dollars in merchandise and extra ticket sales around the country. Sales dollars do not a truly great footballer make, unfortunately for him.

However, in his first full season with the Galaxy, there were once again high hopes for the British star. As the summer progressed, it seemed like he was doing a good job. By November, they had scored more goals than any other team in the league (55 in 30 games). Possibly also as a testament to Beckham's ability as an attacking midfielder, 2 out of the top 3 individual goal scorers in the League were Galaxy players: Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. And yet, for the second straight and 3 of the last 4 years, LA failed to make the playoffs. How might this happen you ask? well for starters, the team that scored more goals than any other team in MLS also gave up the most, at 62. This is 11 more goals against than the closest other team, DC United, who also did not get into the playoffs. By comparison, the Columbus Crew, who are the current MLS champions, scored 50 goals while only giving up 36. Columbus also had the league assist leader, Argentinian Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Even ahead of Beckham in the assist standings was Terry Cooke, a fellow Englishman playing for the Colorado Rapids. All home-team biases aside, it was extremely refreshing to know that a much less-paid and oft-underestimated Englishman, who came to the United States in his prime even after going through the same development program in Manchester United as the likes of Beckham and Paul Scholes can perform better on the field than the multi-million dollar international superstar.

The fact that Beckham could not contribute on defense or the inability of some of his teammates is not what makes him a prick in my eyes though. What gives him that distinction is the off-season events that have transpired. In January, Becks was allowed to go play for AC Milan in the Italian Serie A league on a 3-month loan. I realize no other sports in the world have this type of transaction among teams, but what it boils down to is this: players are often semi-traded for various reasons, but they are expected to return to the team they signed with after the agreed-upon time limit. Beckham's reasoning for asking for the loan was that he needed to maintain his fitness in order to stay elligible for the English national team. Admirable and logical as that may sound, I'm sure I wasn't the first to call BS on that statement. He was tired of playing in a league in which he respected few of the players and coaches, and wanted another shot at playing in the world's top flight. Furthermore, Becks hasn't seen decent time with his national team since the 2006 World Cup, so his excuse didn't really hold water.

Since he has been flourishing in his time with the Rossoneri, both the team and Becks himself have asked the MLS and the Galaxy for a permanent trade. This, only 2 years after Beckham insisted he would be an international ambassador for American club soccer and raise awareness both here and abroad on a long-term basis. He had signed for a 5 year, $25 million contract and was considering finishing his professional career here in America. Suddenly, he undoubtedly regrets the decision and is making more than a few people look bad. His attitude has let down many people in the US, as well as (and this is just my personal hypothesis but think about it, it makes perfect sense) distracting and lowering the moral of his Galaxy teammates. AC Milan couldn't make an offer acceptable to the Galaxy, so Becks is due back in California on March 9, meaning he will miss more than half of pre-season training with LA.

I have never thought of David Beckham being the quality of player he has been hyped up to be, and at this point I have even less respect for his character now. What he needs to do is get some perspective, support the team who signed him for such a lucrative contract and step up to what he promised he would do. Note that I'm not saying he absolutely has to bring the MLS up to the level of the European leagues in his 5 years here, but trying to cop out less than half of the way into it is just bad form on his part.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Big Balls explained

So my first ever blog entry...not in itself an undaunting task. Aside from seeming fairly eye-catching, the title fits me in several ways. First of all, my love of soccer (I prefer football, futbol, fussball, calcio, etc.) necessitated some reference to the world's game. Second, "Big Balls" is the title of an AC/DC song, my favorite band and frontrunners in my love for rock & roll music as a whole. This blog will serve as an outlet for many of my random rants and streams of consciousness, and is under no circumstances to be taken seriously by anyone at any time. I'm always up for discussions and comments if anybody actually takes the time to read my thoughts, however. Let the blogging begin!