Hurlshort

It's true that all the awards are based solely on the regular season. That is because they are individual awards, and it's not fair to knock an individual just because the rest of his team sucks. I'm not making this up, the voting is supposed to only look at regular season. They do have another award for the playoff MVP which only looks at the playoffs. Ovechkin deserves the rookie of the year award because he scored 50 goals. That is simply not easy to do, even in the new NHL. It's a gigantic feat. Scoring 100 points is pretty special too, so Crosby deserves recognition, and a defenseman (Phaneuf) getting 20 goals is also very uncommon. All three of these guys did more than just have good seasons, they set a new league standard. Lundqvist is a top goalie, but he's not doing anything other goalies haven't done before.

The problem with this situiation is the court of public opinion is already very much against the gaming industry. GTA messed up big by creating a gray area between modders and extra content. I mean, they really screwed the entire industry here. Now it's going to require a very strong movement to educate people on what modding is. It sounds like Bethesda isn't going to fight it, but they aren't just lying down either.

Lyr, did you take that from somewhere? Quite a rant, and I have to agree. I played FFXI for a couple months. While I loved the graphics, gameworld, and playerbase, I really hated the mechanics. I remember really wanting to scream when I lost the same level over and over again. Has anyone else noticed that Sega-Soldier seems to write in verse? It's not good poetry, but I keep looking to see if there is a pattern to his meter. Is it a sonnet?

Although I'll probably buy it, I'm definitely disappointed they didn't go the RPG route. I read in a magazine that it still has a release date set late this year. I assume we'll find out if that is true during E3.

Although some people seem to thrive on the grinding, I definitely will only stick to a MMO if I have a decent group to socialize with. I don't consider it a chore to hang out with friends in an elaborate virtual world. It's not much different than these forums.

Ok, my predictions. It is likely to get chippy in here with the Oil/Sharks match-up. I have a feeling it will be way more physical than any other series. Sharks over Oilers in 5 - They NEED to dominate the series. If Edmonton strings together a couple wins, I'm worried. The Shark Tank hates Pronger and will be heckling him for the entire series. If he loses it, so does Edmonton. Toskala is much better than Legace. My real fear is that the Sharks will get shut down much like the Wings, but I think thier size might help here. Anaheim over Colorado in 6 - The Ducks look good and pulled off a huge upset. Goaltending is the question mark in this series. I think the Ducks youth will give them legs over the long-toothed Avs. Buffalo over Ottawa in 7 - Why? Because the Senators always choke The Sabres did really look dominant in thier four wins against the Flyers. It's either this, or a 4 game sweep by the Sens. The Sabres are more exciting to me. NJ over Carolina in 5 - The Hurricanes didn't look great against the Canadiens. They are a fun team to watch, but I think New Jersey is just too experienced and too hot. NJ seems to be in a different gear right now.

Doh! Don't mind me, I can't keep my French Canadien goalies straight. I'm probably wrong about that too And on the Ozolinsh thing, I knew he was the next Theo Fluery. Seriously, why would you send a guy who already struggled with drugs and alcohol to New York? Maybe in a couple seasons he can get a minor league job in Las Vegas and REALLY mess himself up.

I've done a few reports on American Indian tribes and spoken to a few Hisorians about the official "term" to use. There is no general concensus, but most groups are comfortable with American Indian. Native American is way too general, since all people born here can be considered native. So if you want to be accurate, use American Indian. Edit: Most people would rather be identified by thier specific tribe.

I didn't see many games, so I'm not sure how Thibault played. But he played well enough to advance. It's kind of a funny situation right now with goaltending. I'm going to say that Roloson has been the most impressive so far.

If AIM keeps signing you off...stop using the piece of crap messaging service.

Hehe, I'd rather the Sharks play Colorado. Reason is, Edmonton is hot and they just shut down a powerful offense. I'd like to see Calgary and Edmonton beat up on each other before the Sharks play them. I'm not dismissing Colorado, but they do lack the depth of the three other teams. They'll need Thibault to be really outstanding to pull the series off.

Well, Australia is actually a decent idea, because they have plenty of land for expansion. Other than that, I can't think of many areas with a ton of usable land. Russia is pretty dang cold too.

If everyone was me, there would be more hockey and less RTS games in the world.

My PSP is for the two times I travel a year. Clearly I need to travel more.

I need my games to last for a few months. If I try and play a game a few years later and it doesn't work, I'm just not upset. Chances are, if I'm digging out an old game, I'm just looking for a diversion. There are plenty of other diversions available, so I'll just find something else.

For some reason, these "Tactics" type games are only put on handhelds. Some game industry standard or something. Anyways, I already own a PSP, which totally lacks good TB games, so I'm excited to hear this. I actually hope they do rip off all the other Tactics games, because they seem to be very good and I'm not buying a DS anytime soon.

Jesus, these aren't vinyl records people.

It's like a piece of code that is checked every time you run the game. If you don't have the license, it shouldn't run. I'm not technical at all though, so this could just be my simplified brain trying to comprehend something.

I'm happily impressed. I think it looks top-notch, and I can definitely see how a modder will be able to manipulate things. It's dreamy.

There's a good chance I'm wrong, but I believe digital purchases also give you a license to play the game, which can't be easily replicated onto a CD. I did it once and I think that's what they said.

Although Anahiem still has a shot, it's looking very good that we'll see a Battle of Alberta. Edmonton might be coming on at the right time. Roloson has waited a long time for a decent playoff team, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him carry the Oilers all the way.

Huh...hey, anyone play or see that Metal Gear game for the PSP? It's called Ac!d I believe. The reviews were like B average, but I've been burned on a couple PSP games.

Wow, I'm amazed you have the rulebook. Refs do not typically make the call if you make contact with the puck first. But there is a difference between swinging your stick out to knock a puck away and incidently tripping the guy, and putting your stick in between the legs and twisting. It's usually pretty obvious. I've seen a lot of tripping calls on guys when an opponent steps on the stick. In my eyes, that's a bit weak, but it does fit the idea of the defender not playing the puck.

Starforce is not a real problem on most computers. It's lame, but most people won't even notice it. If you have pirated stuff on your PC, it's an issue, but you really just have a small percentage of people going on the internet and spreading their troubles like wildfire. It's the same thing with the Xbox 360. The percentage of faulty systems is fairly low, but it's a huge issue because of internet chatter.

It's funny, twice in the last couple seasons I've had a guy put his stick out and actually catch it in my skate chassis. Now it's understandable that these guys weren't trying to purposefully get their stick in my skate, but shouldn't it be a pretty obvious trip? One guy was even yanking the stick while I was down on the ice, pulling my leg in the process. Both of these situations did not result in a penalty.