Hurlshort

I am also interested to see how the new rules affect scoring. My hunch is that the good small goalies who rely on reflexes and the butterfly will thrive, while the positional goalies will have a lot to learn. It will definitely be interesting. I don't know if the rule changes will really give the fast forwards a ton of room. Every year the NHL starts out trying to kill obstruction and holding, but it only lasts the first month or so. We'll definitely see some more home run passes though. It's going to be an interesting season.

Belfour does have the experience and a tradition of solid goaltending, whereas Kiprusoff has half a season and a good playoff run. I come from San Jose, where Kiprusoff got his start, and he had his chance to be the number one goaltender. Nabakov went out a couple years ago just a few games in, and Kipper had to start. He cracked under the pressure. I'm not saying that will happen again, but Kipper still needs to prove himself for a full season. Someone asked about Tony Granato...somehow Granato became the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. The Av's have lost a good deal of talent, so it's questionable how the team will do. Personally I don't think Granato deserves a head coaching job in the NHL, there are quite a few guys out there who have worked harder to get to the head coaching level. Granato just fell into the job.

Hockey seems to be the opposite of Baseball in terms of regular season and playoffs. In baseball, quite a few small market teams like Houston and the A's can perform well and even dominate the regular season, but they can't seem to put it together in the playoffs. In hockey, the small market teams sometimes barely squeeze into the playoffs, but then manage to ride all the way to the cup. Of course in hockey, if a team has been dominant during the regular season, many players are probably thoroughly beaten up.

Awesome info. guys :D I've got an IT buddy who is going to Fry's with me to pick out a router, and he mentioned Lynksys as a solid brand. I definitely need a wireless adapter, as I put the computer together myself (barely ) I'll definitely check in if I have trouble setting up the network.

I need some technical help. I'm moving into a condo with one Phone jack in the kitchen. I would like to have DSL running in my office, and so I'm assuming I need a wireless setup. I don't want to run a phone jack to the office. What is the best way to do this? What do I need to buy? Currently I just have a DSL modem the phone company sent me. What's this Bluetooth stuff? Any websites that show you how to hook it up would be very helpful. Thanks

You really don't want Lindros. I think I already gave me speil about him. He can't play the style of hockey that made him a top pick, and so he's not worth any money. He'd be another Owen Nolan for the Leafs.

Blizzard runs on their own timeline, and I can't think of any "bad" products they've released. Even if your not a fan of the genre they tackle, their games tend to be pretty far above the rest. After saying that, I have to say, I haven't been impressed by the looks of Ghost. I own an Xbox, but I usually only play sports games own it. I would rather see this on my PC, but if the reviews are good I might grab it. Consoles are easier to design games for, but the PC is still the king of gaming. The PC market is in a constant stage of technological improvement. When a console is released, technology stands still.

I do have one thing to say about the Penguins... I fear them. They now have a cast of players who can make the playoffs. That alone is not frightening. The players they picked up, and the one they drafted, are no better than the cast of any other team. The problem lies in Lemieux. Mario Lemieux is a magician, and I mean the type of magician that should be feared. Physically he should not be playing. He doesn't have the speed or youth. But somehow, when he touches the puck, anything can happen. If this magician enters the playoffs healthy, he can crumble ANY team. Most of the kids in the NHL may say that he's just another player, but at night he will haunt them and they will wet themselves. These children grew up hearing stories about Mario. He is the only real magician in the NHL. Gretzky isn't coming back.

Oh Mkreku, I'm really sorry that your Leaf's took Owen Nolan off my Sharks hands. I was so happy when he left the Sharks. The guy has had one good season in his entire career. He was a money pit.

I didn't get to see much of Nash last season, but he was pretty impressive when I did. He's got the size and the speed to build a team around. I think Columbus sees him as their Yzerman or Modano. It's still early in his career though, so who knows. I didn't want to sound like I was getting down on Edmonton earlier, as they really have impressed me with their moves. I just question whether the big pickups are going to propel them forward in the playoffs. I believe it takes every team a few years to gel, unless you coach is Scotty Bowman (and even he had a few tough playoff years after dominating the regular season.) Tampa seems to be pretty much intact. St. Louis, Lecavilair (sp?), and Richards are the real cornerstones of that franchise. Khabibulin is a good goaltender, and he played hot during the playoffs, but I don't think he's irreplaceable. Other than Martin Brodeur, every major goalie in the league runs hot and cold.

This was written about Selanne Honestly, he was a total bust in San Jose. He got a ton of chances that he couldn't bury. The guy has been seriously snake bitten. Kariya, on the other hand, just seems like his body has hit the career wall. All those years of being a target in Anaheim have caught up to him, and I doubt he'll play a full season ever again. I could be wrong though, and he's got more depth than Selanne. He can play the entire ice. Does anyone else think Lindros was done like 5 years ago? He had like one good year in Philly. I'm amazed he hasn't gotten anymore concussions, but I don't think anyone is hitting him anymore. Why bother? It's not like the Rangers were winning games with him. I think Edmonton has done great in Free Agency, but you can't throw together a team in the NHL and be successful. These teams that are wheeling and dealing will make the playoffs...and lose to teams that maintained a core group over a few years. Calgary, San Jose, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay are still the teams to beat in my book.

There was a Fallout console game? Everytime I see Ambrose Xavier's name, all I can really pick out is "SEX" Am I the only one? ambrosexavier

Well, game engines are licensed and manipulated to create different types of games very regularly. This is how some game companies make all their money. As to having a modular capability on our own systems, so we simply need to upgrade on part of a game to change or improve the experience...that's an interesting idea. My first instinct is to say that the standard computer may have trouble handling multiple complex engines at once. Today's graphic engines require pretty much all of the resources our computers have, and to separate a physics and rules engine may cause unnecessary slow downs. It's a very interesting idea though. There are definitely variations of this out there, such as what people have done to the Half Life physics and how people manipulate the rules of Neverwinter Nights. These games are built around a single engine, but they are flexible enough for even amateur programmers to change. I would love to hear what a programmer or game designer thinks about a modular gaming system.

Again, one animator said it was a FPS. That does not really mean much. It's not a formal announcement and until I see one, I'll hold out hope.

Ok, I was wistfully thinking about Shadowrun and I caught myself thinking about how I used to write down game design ideas when I was young. So pretend you have an unlimited budget and a great team of Artists and Programmers. What game would you make? I always wanted a Shadowrun game that played like Jagged Alliance. Jagged Alliance 2 is to me the best squad based strategy game ever made. It's basically XCOM style combat with character development and a good merc story. If I could design a game, that is the game I would make. You would start with a custom character, and as you precede through the game, you would meet other people to join your MERC team. I would want the story depth of KOTOR and Fallout. There would be a variety of ways to complete missions...you might have a hacker disable security or a mage frying guards. Again, the combat would be turn based with action points. During non-combat it would switch to real time. The reason this would work well is Shadowrun, for the most part, is a close quarters type of game. Refer to Silent Storm for a more recent example of a good tactical engine. *edit* Maybe I didn't make my question clear...What game would YOU design?

I never got to play the Genesis version because I was too young and poor to own both consoles. Someone mentioned that the SNES version was more of an adventure type game, and I agree. To me, it captured the atmosphere of the books. I think we all agree that both were quality games. We probably aren't getting a "pure" RPG. I'm just hoping that the game captures the atmosphere of the Shadowrun world. Perhaps if it does well, we will see a Shadowrun revival (can you revive something that was never huge to begin with?) I always wanted a Shadowrun game that played like Jagged Alliance. Jagged Alliance 2 is to me the best squad based strategy game ever made. It's basically XCOM style combat with character development and a good merc story. If I could design a game, that is the game I would make.

Ok, let's keep in mind this is a very small snippet of information. This guy is just some FASA animator who clearly know nothing about Shadowrun. This isn't a formal announcement about Shadowrun, so it's hard to predict what type of game it really is. This animator may just not know much about the game mechanics. Heck, you can call Dues Ex, Vampire: Bloodlines, and Morrowind a FPS because you play in a first person, and you shoot things. I'm going to hold out hope. I'm still upset it won't be a traditional RPG, but I think a Dues Ex style game could be very promising in the Shadowrun world. PS: The SNES version of Shadowrun was awesome!

You should talk hockey...it's a better sport.

I wonder what the conversion rate is for that in American dollars? I pay $39.95 right now for my DSL. I've paid up to $50 and as little as $30, but $40 seems like the typical charge for home DSL.

***SPOILER ALERT ****** Anyone else cry for Dago (I can't spell it, I'm not geeky enough)? I thought the whole pregnancy scene was pretty funny. I seriously doubt they'll bring the show back, if anything they might do a spin off and have a few characters return. Maybe we can follow Dago's son or something, he was pretty awesome. It was pretty awesome, I'm also excited to see Battlestar Gallactica is coming up in January.

Woohoo, it's on tonight! With Farscape the last two nights (I watched the 7-9 showings because I'm old and can't stay up late anymore) and Lost tonight, I'm in Geeky Sci-Fi heaven

I've owned all 3 platforms at one time or another, and I also have a solid PC. My PC is #1, I will always have a PC and the consoles just aren't in the same class. Originally I bought a PS2 because I wanted a DVD player, and it had a lot more games than the Xbox. This was pretty true for a couple years, and only recently has the Xbox been competitive in the titles available. The PS2 is now dated, and other than GTA and a few RPG's, nothing special is limited to the PS2's. I traded it in to elp get a gamecube. The gamecube was easy to get because it was so cheap. I was excited to play a few of the classic games from my childhood (Zelda, Mario) but I grew bored rather quickly. I also still wasn't happy with the game selection, a problem I also had with the N64. It also lacked a DVD player. I sold it to get an Xbox. I told my wife we needed an Xbox because our DVD player was starting the get old. Honestly, I just wanted to play Fable and Ninja Gaiden. I've been happy with it because I got a lot of free games from a buddy, and I can watch movies again.

Throw Bethesda into the rumor mill. They ended up with Fallout 3, and if it's really going 3D, they've got the engines. I don't know why they'd do that though, they have a pretty solid license in TES. But I was shocked they took Fallout also.

Ok, very good episode tonight. It let up on the whole suspense a bit, which was good. The bald guy is creepy. It looks like next weeks episode will be very creepy...I see dead people.

I'm wondering if that Korean guy was trying to poison people with the raw fish. He's definitely up to something naughty. I'm waiting for his wife to snap. I'd say my favorite guy is the Hobbit Rockstar. He's by far the best actor. I haven't learned any names except "Jack", and that's just because the chick kept screaming it. Wait, I'd have to say my favorite guy is the dead pilot. He had the best part. "Wait, something huge is moving around outside...let me stick my head out the window and see!"