How many people knew this game existed? I certainly didn’t. I’m not at all opposed to a video game concentrating on historically black colleges football programs, the more exposure the better, no what I am opposed to is how shotty this game is…and by all accounts it is horrrrrible. The worst thing about the game is not that Doug Williams has put his personal stamp of approval on this piece of crap. Its not that the gameplay and AI is some of the worst since Joe Montana II Sportstalk Football for the Sega (yes, if you remember that, you are officially old). Its not the frame rate drops or slowdown that is constant throughout the game. Its not even that the graphics would’ve only been solid on the Xbox…the original Xbox…not the 360. No, it is this:

Any football video game that has a guitar hero style, rhythm game based, halftime show that you have to participate, is a freaking joke. Granted the halftime show at historically black colleges is one of the main reasons one goes to HBC football games, but certainly you could’ve just shown a cut-shot of an animated halftime show or full motion video of an actual show. You dont see anyone trying to dance with cheerleaders in Madden? No one is tapping X X A Y A B to dot the “I” for Ohio State in NCAA Football 10? Why cheapen this already bad game by doing this? It is a football game, marching band is not football.

Amazingly though, i’m surprised that the Guitar Hero people havent stolen this idea for Marching Band Hero or something? I mean, after DJ Hero anything is possible i think.

Photos and a full review of the game here at IGN

Some enterprising nerd alcoholic out there has brought together videogames and booze to create the ArKeg “Drink n Game” system. What the hell does that mean? Well it means you have a customizable arcade cabinet with a kegerator built inside of it there at the bottom. With modern emulation technology, you can basically play any game from any system on this sucker and with modern keg technology, you can basically drink any beer from any brewery on this sucker…as long as it is in a 5 gal. keg.

In other words…its genius. They should send me one for my condo to review and keep. Seriously. I want one.

We at the Deuce love gambling and we love video games, so what better than to combine the two for a brand new addiction? Yes, its video game betting. Two web sites are now online to give you the excitement of betting on the outcome of an event, like sports betting, and allowing you to impact the outcome of said bet with your own skills and no house advantage, sorta like poker.

World Gaming and BringIt are both online now and will let you set up a match with another gamer on certain Xbox 360 or PS3 (BringIt also allows Wii, PS2) games, put a wager down if you wish, play for that money and the winner will take it all…for a small fee (rake) of course.

What a genius idea. The best part about it is, it’s not even technically illegal as this is not a game of chance, it is a skill game, and therefore not considered gambling, its betting. You see, its a totally separate thing there. Anyways…

World Gaming, to me, appears to have a better system set up compared to BringIt, allowing only games where the outcomes can be verified automatically from the video game system itself. In these games, you use your Gamertag or whatever the hell PS3 people use to identify themselves when you play your game and World Gaming’s computer system can automatically identify and verify the results of the game, thus ensuring the proper payout to the winner. The games it allows this “service” for are: on Xbox 360 you can challenge people in Halo 3, Madden 09, FIFA 09, NHL 09, NCAA Football 09 and on the PS3 you can play people in Fight Night Round 3, Madden 09, Fifa 09, Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm 2 (tournaments only), NHL 09, NCAA Football 09 and MLB 09: The Show.

But, BringIt allows gamers to go 2 routes to verifying game outcomes. There are the games, such as above, which their system can automatically verify the winner, or if you’re playing in games that don’t, there will be sort of an “honor” system…which when money is involved, I have to think will fall apart quickly. In this honor system, both gamers have to say who won. No way this works for reals, but it does allow for more games and systems to be played with (all the above games are included plus tons more). More inclusive than World Gaming, but with way more problems that can be attached to it.

Online poker was a HUGE boon to the poker industry when it rose up in the early 2000s, now, at the tail end of the decade, one has to wonder if a similar event is about to occur. This could be the beginning of a whole new frontier in video gaming, blowing up the scene like what happened in the poker world before it. Video game tournaments, like poker tournaments did, already existed for the best of the best to compete against each other for substantial sums of money. This was generally only for the pro’s pros before online poker companies started sending their winners to the World Series, launching the game into unprecedented popularity. Now, just like when Internet poker blew up, the everyman has a chance to compete for cash right on his couch, away from the intimidating scene of a large tournament, while improving their skills during the all-American pursuit of the dollar.

Video games already have a huge installed base, as the industry as a whole makes more money than even the motion picture industry. If more and more people start playing for money, it will only be a matter of time before people other than the top gamers stop seeing video games as just a hobby and more like a possible career.

Some people are going to be banking some serious cash through these sites when they explode. I just wish this was out when I was still in college…I coulda paid off my future self’s law school debts with the money i won from kickin people’s asses in Madden on this site. Why does all the cool stuff come out when I don’t have time to use it?

Don’t try this at home, kids. We don’t want anyone Greg Louganising themselves.

This is Curt Schilling’s bloody sock from Game 2 of the 2004 World Series and it is the most powerful weapon in the universe…in Curt Schilling’s video game world he is creating. We’ve all known for awhile that Schilling has been busy working with his company 38 studios (formerly Green Monster Games) on a new MMORPG that was supposed to be like the Everquest world that he loves so much and now it has a name, Copernicus, and the sock is apparently the biggest baddest weapon you can get in the game.

Not much else is known about this game, other than Todd McFarlane of Spawn and McFarlane Toys fame is the art director and sci-fi writer R. A. Salvatore is the creative director and it’s due to be released sometime in 2010. Here’s a video that goes into a bit more of Schilling’s want to achieve “World Domination Through Gaming“.

I dunno, sure it’s neat that an ex athlete has a unique, albeit nerdy, career goal after sports…but would it not have been a lot cooler if the guy made a game that was about sports? Like any dork playing his fantasy game will have any idea what this sock is all about in the first place.

From Game Pro

This is one hell of a halftime show here. The Cal Bears marching band decided that during their November 3rd game against Washington State to pay tribute to video game history during their halftime show. Let it be written in stone that Cal students are dorks, but man do they put on a spectacle here. Can you name all the video games that they pay tribute to in this epic display of geekdom?

We’ve all seen or played Madden ’08 and marveled at the life-like moves of Reggie Bush and Chad Johnson in fully rendered CGI glory. A lot of those moves we watch and are astounded by were all provided by one man, Kenny Bell…and believe it or not, he has never even been invited to an NFL training camp.

Kenny Bell is a 5’9 wide receiver who can run a 4.33/40 with a 39 inch vertical and played collegiate football at Hofstra (where Wayne Chebret is from) after the University of Washington went under NCAA sanctions and his scholarship was revoked, but he has yet to get a shot at the big-time. The closest Kenny’s gotten to the pro’s is 989 Sports’ football video games and the Madden series.

The OC register interviewed the poor guy and he had this to say:

“I kept on thinking, ‘Any day now, I’ll get a chance to prove what I know I can do,’”

Kenny Bell graduated in 2002, has made a DVD of himself catching passes from Josh Booty and has a letter of recommendation from Jeff Garcia that states “He has shown me the talent and the skill to play on the professional level.” The horrible thing is this poor guy still carries around both wherever he goes, just on the off chance that someone…anyone…will give him a shot with a professional football team. Just a tryout, a practice, something to show a professional scout what he can do.

Its really kinda sad. There’s gotta be some team out there that can give this kid a tryout. He’s got the speed and the vertical, someone could see something in him, or at least tell him what he doesn’t have to make it into the pros. The guy is stuck in limbo, wondering if he’ll ever just get one chance to prove he can or cannot make it as a professional football player.

I wonder, if anyone give this guy a chance or has time, bad-timing, and extraordinarily bad luck has conspired to ruin all of Kenny Bell’s dreams. One thing is for sure, he will be immortalized forever in those Madden games. Every time i see a receiver stretch to grab a ball or get the hell knocked out of him so bad that he goes down in one of those helicopter blade spinning hits…I will remember that the guy that took that hit was Kenny Bell.

From The OC Register

Needless to say…this entire post is NSFW, very NSFW. Evidentially there is a video game out in japan called Love and Death 2 and the character you control doesn’t exactly shoot guns in the literal sense of the word…he shoots “his” gun. As a matter of fact, he can shoot his “gun” a lot, with a lot of gooey, sticky…um…stuff flying all over the scantily clad ladies in the game. What the object of the game is…i’m not quite sure…but apparently, the Japanese have come up with the worlds first Bukkake video game. This surely isn’t sports related, but the Deuce thought you might want to know. May God save your soul after watching this clip…

From RockPaperShotgun via Kotaku

This may or may not actually be ESPN owned, but there is a website out there called ESPN Bar Sports, run by 15 Letters Inc. I cannot find a link of this on ESPN’s actual site, but here, you can, from the comfort of your own home, play Air Hockey, Bar Curling and Coin Toss all from what appears to be a reasonable facsimile of your local ESPNZone. Here’s a screengrab in 3 parts of the main room, where you click on the sign for the game to play and my review below:

I played the coin toss and the bar curling, the curling is fantastic, held my attention for quite a bit. Strange that ESPN would actually make something kinda fun, and offer it for free…but even more strange is that the people of ESPN do not have this on their webpage at all…anywhere, and yet it supposedly won a 2007 webby award? I choose not to dwell on these questions and just play though. If only they had the pop & shot basketball and the football throw game…then we’d be set.

Link for ESPN Bar Sports here