Heading into the Expansion Draft a couple weeks ago, Houston had left their star striker and arguably the face of the franchise Brian Ching unprotected in a rather arrogant and hopeful move thinking that his salary would turn away interest from Montreal. In an attempt to further dampen interest from Montreal, Ching then publicly announced that if the Impact picked him up in the draft that he would rather retire than play his last year or two with a team other than Houston. Well, the Impact weren't fazed by any of it. Come Draft morning, Ching was their first announced selection. As you can imagine, this has sparked outrage throughout Houston.
This is definitely an interesting and somewhat unexpected move by Montreal. Clearly they're looking to build a team with plenty of veteran experience, and Ching certainly brings that experience. The question is, though, whether or not he will play for them. So far it isn't clear whether or not Ching will make good on his promise of retiring.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
It's Official: Arlo White Is Headed to NBC
According to this tweet from widely known Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl, former Sounders FC play-by-play man Arlo White has been hired by NBC:
The question now is, will White continue with Sounders FC broadcasts much like JP Delacamera and Taylor Twellman calling local Philadelphia Union games when they aren't calling natiionally broadcasted games on Fox Soccer and ESPN respectively, or will he solely devote his time to NBC?
You can read further here.
The question now is, will White continue with Sounders FC broadcasts much like JP Delacamera and Taylor Twellman calling local Philadelphia Union games when they aren't calling natiionally broadcasted games on Fox Soccer and ESPN respectively, or will he solely devote his time to NBC?
You can read further here.
Re-Entry Draft Next Week
This morning MLS announced the players available for the upcoming Re-Entry Draft, players who are either out of contract or whose club declined to pick up their option. It's notable that there are several goalkeepers on the list, most notably Vancouver's two primary keepers from last season Jay Nolly and Joe Cannon. Other highlights on the list include San Jose leftback Bobby Convey (who's leaving due to issues with the technical staff), DC United midfielder Santino Quaranta who should prove quite attractive to other clubs, as well as two strikers from FC Dallas (Maicon Santos and Maykel Galindo) who are already quite light on strikers.
The Sounders declined the options for Pat Noonan, Nate Jaqua, and Taylor Graham., which seems to be a bit of a no brainer seeing that for the past season they proved to be nothing more than dead weight. Jaqua has certainly made significant contributions to the club, carrying them through the Open Cup in the 2010 season, scoring nine goals in 2009, and scoring the series winner against Panama FC in the play-in round for the 2011-2012 CCL back in August, but he has been plagued with injury issues since the close of the 2009 season and hasn't proven to have much of an impact or place on the team since. Not much can be said of Noonan or Graham, they both saw very limited playing time with the first team during their duration with the team.
To view the entire list of available players, head here.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Game Review - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance
Each year Activision releases a new installment in the Call of Duty series, and this year we're graced with the latest Modern Warfare. And as has come to be expected over the past couple of years, a handheld version of the game with an alternate storyline accompanies the console offering. Some are puzzled and outraged that Activision opted to contract n-Space to develop for the DS rather than the 3DS, other reviewers seemingly blaming n-Space for something entirely out of their control. n-space simply do not deserve to take the blame for a decision that was completely out of their hands. With that said, I'll first delve into the single player experience.
The campaign is quite short, but what little there is offers a decent amount of variety and overall is is quite fun. The player goes from defending a pipeline in Alaska, battling through a suburban neighborhood in Nevada and subsequently fighting to reclaim the Hoover Dam, assaulting an airport both in the air and on foot, to battling through battle-scared city streets in a Russian tank. Along with the tank mission, on multiple occasions the player assumes the role of a gunship providing cover fire for a team making it's way through the landscape down below. These levels go a long way towards fostering variety, and preventing the action from getting too stale or repetitive. There are some issues with these levels, however. Most notably the tank level. When there is a lull in the action, the level can feel really dead and lifeless, as you're driving through portions of the city with absolutely nothing going on. Not only that, the level of challenge in that level is a little suspect. At no point did I feel particularly threatened or near death.
That then brings up the issues of the AI's utter lack of any real intelligence, which can tend to be very frustrating at times. The enemy AI makes itself a sitting duck, simply crouching in the wide open and firing at you, allowing you to easily mow them down one by one. While you can get away with that on the lower difficulties, it isn't that simple on Hardened. While the AI remains astoundingly stupid, the increased amount of damage that you take with each shot requires a little bit of patience and strategy to take down the enemy/s standing between you and the next area.
Technically speaking, past the AI issues, the game is absolutely impressive. Animations look nicer for some returning guns (M40), the scenery is fantastic, and the amount of activity that goes on during battle such as jets or helicopters flying by overhead is a nice touch. To further emulate the console experience and add further production value and quality, n-Space made the addition of of bullet time events that can be found interspersed throughout the campaign. These events are where, after a door gets blasted open with a charge, you and your team enter the following room or area in slow motion. As has become an expectation, the game is impressive aurally as well. Oodles of voice work accentuate and add to the action, and the music is suitably dramatic when in tense and close-call situations.
With Black Ops last year, n-Space made great strides towards improving the multiplayer experience with the addition of features such as perks, join in progress, and the ability to freely select your secondary weapon (confined just to a pistol in previous installments). Defiance continues improving the multiplayer experience, adding a couple key new features and refining a couple others. The two primary new features introduced by Defiance are macros and load outs, allowing you to preset your preferred match set-ups and weapon and perk configurations. Another notable change is the ability to customize availability of certain weapons and perks, rather than simply having to choose general match parameters like "Pistols-Only" or "No Explosives" the host now has complete control over what weapons the players in the match use. This proves to be a significant change, as if there is a specific weapon that particularly bothers the host (shotguns immediately comes to mind), they can disallow that weapon. Further refinements can be found in a new tier system for both weapons and perks. Previously in Black Ops, a player could assign any weapon and any perk to either slot, which would often lead to incredibly overpowered set-ups (such as dual assault rifle and the perks Stopping Power and Body Armor). The tier system lends much needed balance, limiting the player to carrying around only one powerful primary weapon and preventing the exploitation of multiple high-powered perks. Not only does this give much needed balance, it forces the player to really strategize and put more consideration into their set-up.
Along with those general improvements some newly introduced modes (Gun Game, One in the Chamber, Sharpshooter) provide a fun twist on the typical run-of-the-mill deathmatch. The real highlight proves to be Gun Game, a race through twenty levels, each level represented by a weapon and a kill with each weapon progressing you on to the next level. The inclusion of the ability to decrease your opponents level by knifing them adds a layer of strategy on top the mayhem.
Overall, Defiance can be seen as a step forward in one regard (multiplayer) and as a step back in another (single player). Clearly to make way for the multiplayer improvements, n-Space really cut down on the variety of single player modes. Where Defiance has only campaign, Quick Play, and Challenge Mode, Black Ops on the other hand had Arcade Mode, the Killhouse, and Zombie Mode in addition to those three. It is understandable why those modes/features don't make a return in Defiance, but that doesn't mean that it isn't frustrating. When it's all said and done, though, the multiplayer and the replay value that it grants the game is what truly matters.
The campaign is quite short, but what little there is offers a decent amount of variety and overall is is quite fun. The player goes from defending a pipeline in Alaska, battling through a suburban neighborhood in Nevada and subsequently fighting to reclaim the Hoover Dam, assaulting an airport both in the air and on foot, to battling through battle-scared city streets in a Russian tank. Along with the tank mission, on multiple occasions the player assumes the role of a gunship providing cover fire for a team making it's way through the landscape down below. These levels go a long way towards fostering variety, and preventing the action from getting too stale or repetitive. There are some issues with these levels, however. Most notably the tank level. When there is a lull in the action, the level can feel really dead and lifeless, as you're driving through portions of the city with absolutely nothing going on. Not only that, the level of challenge in that level is a little suspect. At no point did I feel particularly threatened or near death.
That then brings up the issues of the AI's utter lack of any real intelligence, which can tend to be very frustrating at times. The enemy AI makes itself a sitting duck, simply crouching in the wide open and firing at you, allowing you to easily mow them down one by one. While you can get away with that on the lower difficulties, it isn't that simple on Hardened. While the AI remains astoundingly stupid, the increased amount of damage that you take with each shot requires a little bit of patience and strategy to take down the enemy/s standing between you and the next area.
Technically speaking, past the AI issues, the game is absolutely impressive. Animations look nicer for some returning guns (M40), the scenery is fantastic, and the amount of activity that goes on during battle such as jets or helicopters flying by overhead is a nice touch. To further emulate the console experience and add further production value and quality, n-Space made the addition of of bullet time events that can be found interspersed throughout the campaign. These events are where, after a door gets blasted open with a charge, you and your team enter the following room or area in slow motion. As has become an expectation, the game is impressive aurally as well. Oodles of voice work accentuate and add to the action, and the music is suitably dramatic when in tense and close-call situations.
With Black Ops last year, n-Space made great strides towards improving the multiplayer experience with the addition of features such as perks, join in progress, and the ability to freely select your secondary weapon (confined just to a pistol in previous installments). Defiance continues improving the multiplayer experience, adding a couple key new features and refining a couple others. The two primary new features introduced by Defiance are macros and load outs, allowing you to preset your preferred match set-ups and weapon and perk configurations. Another notable change is the ability to customize availability of certain weapons and perks, rather than simply having to choose general match parameters like "Pistols-Only" or "No Explosives" the host now has complete control over what weapons the players in the match use. This proves to be a significant change, as if there is a specific weapon that particularly bothers the host (shotguns immediately comes to mind), they can disallow that weapon. Further refinements can be found in a new tier system for both weapons and perks. Previously in Black Ops, a player could assign any weapon and any perk to either slot, which would often lead to incredibly overpowered set-ups (such as dual assault rifle and the perks Stopping Power and Body Armor). The tier system lends much needed balance, limiting the player to carrying around only one powerful primary weapon and preventing the exploitation of multiple high-powered perks. Not only does this give much needed balance, it forces the player to really strategize and put more consideration into their set-up.
Along with those general improvements some newly introduced modes (Gun Game, One in the Chamber, Sharpshooter) provide a fun twist on the typical run-of-the-mill deathmatch. The real highlight proves to be Gun Game, a race through twenty levels, each level represented by a weapon and a kill with each weapon progressing you on to the next level. The inclusion of the ability to decrease your opponents level by knifing them adds a layer of strategy on top the mayhem.
Overall, Defiance can be seen as a step forward in one regard (multiplayer) and as a step back in another (single player). Clearly to make way for the multiplayer improvements, n-Space really cut down on the variety of single player modes. Where Defiance has only campaign, Quick Play, and Challenge Mode, Black Ops on the other hand had Arcade Mode, the Killhouse, and Zombie Mode in addition to those three. It is understandable why those modes/features don't make a return in Defiance, but that doesn't mean that it isn't frustrating. When it's all said and done, though, the multiplayer and the replay value that it grants the game is what truly matters.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sounders Lose Two in Draft Dealings
The Sounders stood to lose a starting quality player to this afternoon's Expansion Draft, and as it turns out, they lost not one but two. Announced as the ninth pick, James Riley will not actually be headed to Montreal. Montreal traded him with Chivas USA for Justin Braun and G. Mayan in return. After the Impact finished announcing each of their ten picks, they made the announcement that they had acquired Tyson Wahl from the Sounders for allocation money in return.
It's definitely quite a blow for the Sounders to lose both starting fullbacks from last season, but the Sounders still have a very capable left back in Leo Gonzalez and worthy replacement on the right in Zach Scott. In a recent interview Adrain Hanauer expressed that one of the areas that he and the front office were looking to bolster in the off-season is defense, so it wouldn't be entirely surprising if they find a replacement for Riley and perhaps Wahl as well.
The remaining list of draftees is below:
It's definitely quite a blow for the Sounders to lose both starting fullbacks from last season, but the Sounders still have a very capable left back in Leo Gonzalez and worthy replacement on the right in Zach Scott. In a recent interview Adrain Hanauer expressed that one of the areas that he and the front office were looking to bolster in the off-season is defense, so it wouldn't be entirely surprising if they find a replacement for Riley and perhaps Wahl as well.
The remaining list of draftees is below:
- Seth Sinovic (SKC)
- Sanna Nyassi (Colorado)
- Josh Gardner (Columbus Crew)
- Jeb Brovsky (Vancouver)
- Brian Ching (Houston)
- Zarek Valentin (ChivasUSA)
- Justin Mapp (Philadelphia Union)
- Bobby Burling (San Jose)
- Collen Warner (RSL)
Monday, November 21, 2011
Expansion Draft Protected Lists Revealed
It's that time of the year again, the Expansion Draft held to help supplement and build the roster of an incoming expansion team. It was done in 2008 for the Sounders, in 2009 for the Philadelphia Union, last year for the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers, and now this year for the Montreal Impact. There are several notable players that were quite surprisingly left unprotected, such as Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo (who in fact threatened to retire if Montreal selected him), one of the Columbus Crew's top goal-scorers last season Andres Mendoza, Sporting Kansas City's captain and Designated Player Omar Bravo, and Freddy Adu who was recently acquired by the Philadelphia Union, among others. Seeing how big name players that clubs are taking a gamble with, it will certainly be interesting to see if Montreal resists the temptation of a more expensive player or not when they submit their list later on today.
To view the complete protected and unprotected lists for each team, head here.
To view the complete protected and unprotected lists for each team, head here.
Sounders Claim 2012-13 CCL Group Stage Berth
Thanks to the LA Galaxy claiming the MLS Cup Sunday night, the Sounders have claimed a berth in the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions league group stages. Because the Galaxy claimed both the MLS Cup and Supporter's Shield, they can only hold onto one of the awarded CCL group stage berths and thus their second one falls to the team with the second best regular season record. Because they were Cup runner-ups, the Houston Dynamo get the opportunity to play in to the competition, and because the Sounders claim the Supporter's Shield berth, the play-in opportunity that they were awarded because they won the US Open Cup fall to the team with the third best regular season record, Real Salt Lake.
Friday, November 18, 2011
LA Auto Show Picks
2012 Hyundai Azera
2012 Cadillac XTS
Subaru BRZ Concept
2013 Ford Escape
The Vertek concept revealed at the Detroit Auto Show back in January was clearly a preview of the upcoming overhaul of the rather tired Escape, and while there are some differences, the new Escape revealed at the LA Auto Show remains quite true to the concept's styling. It's certainly looking to be a strong competitor for the Honda CR-V and other crossovers in the segment.
Seemingly cast aside and forgotten in Hyundai's recent line-up overhaul, the Azera finally get's what it's due: a complete refresh. Everything is completely new and the styling has made the jump forward from rather plain and conservative and now matches that of Hyundai's current fluid design language.
2012 Cadillac XTS
The replacement for both the STS and DTS, and Cadillac's answer to the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7-Series and the Audi A8. Of note, the XTS marks the unveiling of Cadillac's new infotainment system dubbed CUE.
Subaru BRZ Concept
For awhile now, while Toyota has been displaying concept after concept of their upcoming FT86 (which the BRZ is directly related to through a collaboration between the two companies), Subaru has only been showing off a clear body shell of their sports coupe that simply showed off the powertrain. That has, thankfully, finally changed with the BRZ concept displayed at the LA Auto Show.
2013 Ford Escape
Nintendo Unveils Life-Size Mario Karts
It was known that Nintendo would be in attendance at the LA Auto Show this week, but the exact reason wasn't known which let to speculation that due to the setting they may be doing something in celebration of the latest installment in the Mario Kart series due out early next month. The announced collaboration with West Coast Customs supported that assumption and as it turns out, that assumption was correct.
During it's presentation today, Nintendo revealed life-size replicas of a couple of the Mario Karts featured in the new game. The first is based off of the Standard Kart, and the second is based off of the kart of series new-comer Honey Queen.
Want some pictures? Just head over to the article on IGN.
During it's presentation today, Nintendo revealed life-size replicas of a couple of the Mario Karts featured in the new game. The first is based off of the Standard Kart, and the second is based off of the kart of series new-comer Honey Queen.
Want some pictures? Just head over to the article on IGN.
PETA Pulls Back On Mario
Recently PETA launched a campaign against the latest Mario game Super Mario 3D Land, citing the fact that Mario wearing a Tanooki suit encourages the wearing of fur and the skinning alive of the real-life animal that the suit was inspired by. They even went so far as creating disturbing images showing Mario wearing an actual Tanooki skin covered and surrounded in blood. It didn't stop there, though. They took their insanity further still by creating a minigame in which you play a skinned Tanooki chasing Mario to reclaim it's removed skin.
This campaign sparked outrage throughout the gaming community and had fans up in arms over the disgraceful depiction of one of gaming's most beloved icons. Well, just yesterday PETA confessed that the campaign wasn't serious. In a statement to Eurogamer they told fans to relax and confessed that the campaign was simply a ploy to call attention to a serious issue. PETA even expressed surprise at the reaction and how literally the campaign was regarded.
It's plenty clear how disgraceful and how completely insane the organization PETA is. They've been known for being outrageous in their protests in the past, but this has to take the cake. This time they took the dissemination of their views and opinions too far. What are your thoughts on the matter?
This campaign sparked outrage throughout the gaming community and had fans up in arms over the disgraceful depiction of one of gaming's most beloved icons. Well, just yesterday PETA confessed that the campaign wasn't serious. In a statement to Eurogamer they told fans to relax and confessed that the campaign was simply a ploy to call attention to a serious issue. PETA even expressed surprise at the reaction and how literally the campaign was regarded.
It's plenty clear how disgraceful and how completely insane the organization PETA is. They've been known for being outrageous in their protests in the past, but this has to take the cake. This time they took the dissemination of their views and opinions too far. What are your thoughts on the matter?
Sounders Reveal New Third Kits
This morning the Sounders new third kits were officially revealed. The light blue is referred to as "super cyan" and the accents are the electricity color of the Sounders previous third kits. A few weeks ago a photographer let a picture of a photo shoot with Zakuani wearing the kit slip through Twitter (which quickly got taken down, but not before fans snagged the photo), and now it's official. The jersey is depicted below modelled by Steve Zakuani.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
CCL Quarter-Finals Set
First Leg
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Morelia (MEX) vs. Monterrey (MEX), 10 p.m. (9 p.m.)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Toronto FC (CAN) vs. LA Galaxy (USA), 8 p.m. (8 p.m.)
Seattle Sounders (USA) vs. Santos (MEX), 10 p.m. (7 p.m.)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Isidro Metapan (SLV) vs. Pumas (MEX), 8 p.m. (7 p.m.)
Second Leg
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monterrey (MEX) vs. Morelia (MEX), 10 p.m. (8 p.m.)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Santos (MEX) vs. Seattle Sounders (USA), 8 p.m. (6 p.m.)
LA Galaxy (USA) vs. Toronto FC (CAN), 10 p.m. (7 p.m.)
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Pumas (MEX) vs. Isidro Metapan (SLV), 10 p.m. (8 p.m.)
Monday, November 7, 2011
The Sandboxing Issue
To increase security for an already incredibly secure Lion, Apple is requiring application developers who have their applications on sale in the Mac App Store to comply with a new rule requiring the usage of Lion's new sandboxing feature inspired by iOS. Sandboxing means that an application is partitioned off from the operating system and other applications running on the system, which means that an application is completely prevented from having any unauthorized interaction with other applications and the operating system itself. The problem is, however, this isolation from the system itself and everything else running on the system means that functionality for many applications will be crippled.
Initially the deadline for the enforcement of this new rule was the first of November, but Apple opted to give developers a little more breathing room by extending the deadline until March first next year. While many developers have complied with this new rule and have re-submitted their applications, it's clear by the deadline extension that many others are resistent to this new requirement.
While the desire for increased security is understandable, Apple's push for sandboxing on OS X makes very little sense. Sure some applications make the transition completely unaltered, but others require access to other applications meaning that several key features and functions could get the axe. Of course there is no stopping a user from leaving the safe confines of the App Store and combing through the vast wilderness of the interent to find an application that suits their needs, but again, the point of the App Store is to be the primary place that users rely on to locate applications.
What are your thoughts?
Initially the deadline for the enforcement of this new rule was the first of November, but Apple opted to give developers a little more breathing room by extending the deadline until March first next year. While many developers have complied with this new rule and have re-submitted their applications, it's clear by the deadline extension that many others are resistent to this new requirement.
While the desire for increased security is understandable, Apple's push for sandboxing on OS X makes very little sense. Sure some applications make the transition completely unaltered, but others require access to other applications meaning that several key features and functions could get the axe. Of course there is no stopping a user from leaving the safe confines of the App Store and combing through the vast wilderness of the interent to find an application that suits their needs, but again, the point of the App Store is to be the primary place that users rely on to locate applications.
What are your thoughts?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
MLS Play-Offs: Conference Semi-Finals Review
Rea Salt Lake - Seattle Sounders FC
In the first round, an incredibly poor and lifeless performance saw the Sounders concede three goals and dig themselves into an incredibly deep hole. Heading into the match Wednesday night, they were hoping they had set the stage for a miraculous comeback much the same as San Jose's against the LA Galaxy back in 2003. Despite the fact that the return leg was almost an exact mirror image of the first one, the Sounders completely dominating the game and calling all of the shots and getting two goals because of that dominance, they just could not find that third and tying goal.
Houston Dynamo - Philadelphia Union
The first leg at PPL park saw an incredibly action-packed first half, Houston taking advantage of the Union's attempt at a new and unfamiliar formation. Two goals one minute apart in the first ten minutes saw the game still deadlocked, but half an hour in Calen Carr took the permanent lead for Houston. The Union were the aggressors in the second half, but through some great goalkeeping by Tally Hall just couldn't find an answer to Houston's second goal. Heading into the second leg, Philadelphia knew what they needed to do. Houston, playing their last match ever in Robertson Stadium, had other plans. Late in stoppage time at the end of the first half Houston had an excellent set piece opportunity that they took advantage of. Brad Davis swung the ball into the box and Brian Ching was there to head the ball in for the match's lone goal.
Sporting Kansas City - Colorado Rapids
An incredibly physical first leg not only saw three players leave the pitch with injuries for the defending champions, but two goals in favor of SKC. Teal Bunbury was the scorer of both, the first easily slipping the ball past Pickens off of a long ball from Julio Cesar and the second a penalty that was Bunbury himself drew from Tyrone Marshal who got his marching orders as well. Missing yet more key players, being down two goals and the second leg being in intimidating confines of Livestrong Sporting Park, Colorado had a mountain the size of Everest to climb, and as a result they were completely helpless at the hands of SKC. They added two more to the aggregate total, both through set pieces, both served into the box by Graham Zusi. Aurelian Colin and CJ Sapong were there to guide both opportunities into the back of the net.
LA Galaxy - New York Red Bulls
The marquee match-up of the play-offs certainly lived up to all the hype, seeing plenty of drama and action across both legs. The first leg saw the Galaxy take an early lead through a fantastic strike by former Red Bull Mike Magee assisted by none other than David Beckham. The Red Bulls did everything in their power to nullify the goal, but fantastic goalkeeping from Josh Saunders and overall defending from the Galaxy made sure that none of their efforts counted. Then only seconda after the final whistle frustrations boiled over, Rafa Marquez throwing the ball at Landon Donovan and inciting a brawl that saw both the Galaxy's Ju ninho and Marquez red carded. Marquez found himself with much more than a red card, however. He ended up being fined over two thousand dollars and suspended an additional two matches for his role and the matter after additional review. The Red Bulls were looking to make an upset in the second leg, but despite cultivating hope through an early goal by Luke Rodgers, they just couldn't do it. Magee added another goal just before the end of halftime, and then a penalty drawn by Beckham late in the second half sealed the deal.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Apple Among The Few Who Pays Their Fair Share
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been going on around the country, demanding that corporations and executives and the rich in general pay their fair share in taxes which most don't). According to Cult of Mac, Apple is among the few giant tech companies that do indeed pay their fair share in taxes. Quoted from Cult of Mac's post:
"The report by advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice and nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, checked the financial statements of 280 corporations on the Fortune 500 list. Of those, 30 paid no federal taxes over the previous three years, the groups charge. Among Silicon Valley, both Apple and Intel paid a 31 percent corporate tax, while Internet retail giant Amazon.com paid only a 7.9 percent tax rate on $1.8 billion in profits between 2008 to 2010."
I've gotta say, it's pretty shocking how few and far between tech companies that pay their fair share in taxes are. If other industries follow this trend, it's really no wonder why the country is mired by these financial issues.
Nintendo's Fight Against Piracy
With the DSi Nintendo has been known to occasionally release firmware updates to block and prevent the usage of flash carts and other sorts of piracy-related devices. Sadly these attempts to fight back against piracy were only viable for a short amount of time because of either two reason: makers of the devices worked their way around the update or people never even updated their system to begin with.
With the 3DS Nintendo expressed plenty of intent to change that in coming up with some new methods to make sure players' systems were updated whether they wanted it or not, and with the upcoming release of Super Mario 3D Land we're starting to see those methods put into action. As soon as you place the card into your 3DS and turn it on, it automatically updates the system's firmware. This automatic update could mean one of two things: a ROM will not work without that update and that a ROM will not work after the update as well. This means that if you want to play the latest and greatest Nintendo title without paying for it and the with the aid of an eye patch, you will be out of luck. Not only are they employing automatic updates associated with game cards, but those who refuse to update the system firmware manually could find some of the game that they love non-functional, a method that honestly should have been utilized with the DSi.
I absolutely love seeing Nintendo taking the initiative to fight back against piracy, which has been a thorn in the side of any producer of media within the last several years. What's even more satisfying than that is to read the whining and complaints of those who supposedly use the piracy devices in legal ways. I'm sure there those out there who do use those devices legally, but at the same time almost 99% of those who do use the devices use them for piracy.
With the 3DS Nintendo expressed plenty of intent to change that in coming up with some new methods to make sure players' systems were updated whether they wanted it or not, and with the upcoming release of Super Mario 3D Land we're starting to see those methods put into action. As soon as you place the card into your 3DS and turn it on, it automatically updates the system's firmware. This automatic update could mean one of two things: a ROM will not work without that update and that a ROM will not work after the update as well. This means that if you want to play the latest and greatest Nintendo title without paying for it and the with the aid of an eye patch, you will be out of luck. Not only are they employing automatic updates associated with game cards, but those who refuse to update the system firmware manually could find some of the game that they love non-functional, a method that honestly should have been utilized with the DSi.
I absolutely love seeing Nintendo taking the initiative to fight back against piracy, which has been a thorn in the side of any producer of media within the last several years. What's even more satisfying than that is to read the whining and complaints of those who supposedly use the piracy devices in legal ways. I'm sure there those out there who do use those devices legally, but at the same time almost 99% of those who do use the devices use them for piracy.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A Hole Too Deep
Tonight the Sounders mustered everything the could against Real Salt Lake, but ultimately just could not dig themselves out of the hole that they dug themselves into with their poor performance in the first leg of the Western Conference Semi-Final.
The series was certainly a tale of two halves, RSL dominating in the first one and Sounders calling all of the shots in the second. Almost every advantageous stat favored the Sounders, most notably 26 total shots compared to RSL's paltry 4, 9 shots on goal to RSL's 1, and 61% possession. As already obvious, the Sounders absolutely dominated. RSL's defense, however, while notably missing both Jamison Olave and Nat Borchers were able to withstand the pressure and fend off any attempts on goal until mid-way into the second half.
The Sounders finally broke through in the fifty fourth minute thanks to a penalty kick drawn by Mike Fucito as he was fending off three RSL defenders and fighting for the ball in the box. Osvaldo Alonso stepped up to the spot and hammered the ball down the center of the goal, right underneath Nick Rimando. Then, just five minutes later in the sixty first minute the Sounders cut the defect down to just one goal, Fredy Montero slipping a cross over to a wide open Lamar Neagle who slid the shot in across the face of goal past Rimando.
The Sounders continued to press RSL for a third and series-tying goal, but just couldn't finish any more of their opportunities. As anyone could have predicted, the Sounders just could not make up for their lackluster performance in the first leg.
The series was certainly a tale of two halves, RSL dominating in the first one and Sounders calling all of the shots in the second. Almost every advantageous stat favored the Sounders, most notably 26 total shots compared to RSL's paltry 4, 9 shots on goal to RSL's 1, and 61% possession. As already obvious, the Sounders absolutely dominated. RSL's defense, however, while notably missing both Jamison Olave and Nat Borchers were able to withstand the pressure and fend off any attempts on goal until mid-way into the second half.
The Sounders finally broke through in the fifty fourth minute thanks to a penalty kick drawn by Mike Fucito as he was fending off three RSL defenders and fighting for the ball in the box. Osvaldo Alonso stepped up to the spot and hammered the ball down the center of the goal, right underneath Nick Rimando. Then, just five minutes later in the sixty first minute the Sounders cut the defect down to just one goal, Fredy Montero slipping a cross over to a wide open Lamar Neagle who slid the shot in across the face of goal past Rimando.
The Sounders continued to press RSL for a third and series-tying goal, but just couldn't finish any more of their opportunities. As anyone could have predicted, the Sounders just could not make up for their lackluster performance in the first leg.
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