Happy Monday GeekJock readers, today we focus not on just one topic but a smattering of potporri to get us going… From NCAA to 38 studios to the Hurricanes I will give you a few things to think about this fine damn pollen filled monday!

When I last covered them, the Canes were sitting in the 7th/8th range and were in control of their own destiny for the most part. But that was 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. Since then they went on a wonderfuly brutal streak losing 4 of 5, dropping games to teams they really should have beatten in Atl, Toronto, and Columbus. On the other hand the Rangers and Sabres have been beating the hell out of just about everyone and both have some distance between them and the Canes. So the Rangers sit in 7th, 6 points in front of the canes (Canes with 1 game in hand), and the Sabres are 3 points in front of the Canes with them both having the same number of games left. Since the Rangers are so out in front of them right now I will only break down the games remainging for the Canes and Sabres.

So with 10 games left here is how it shakes out.

Canes 10 games left  6 home (OTT, TBX 2, MTL, Buff,Det)   4 away (TB,Was,NYI, ATL)

Buffalo 10 games left 5 home (Fla, NJ, NYR, TB, Philly)   5 away(Mon, Tor, Was,Car,Col)

So it breaks down that the Sabres have the slightly easier schedule left down the stretch. Even with the extra home game the Canes have quite the uphill climb here. I am not one to shy away from my predicions and change them at all, so I will stand by it and say the Canes in dramatic fashion will finish in 8th but it’s now going to take a minor miracle to do so. So either I am right or I save some cash on playoff tickets, sounds kinda win win for me.

NCAA Tourney

Yes the 2nd most wonderful time of the year is upon us with March Madness in full swing. I love doing bracketts but alas I am admittedly terrible at it. With the sweet 16 here I have 8 of the 16 teams correct and 3 of my Elite Eight already gone and 3 of my final 4 still alive. It’s looking like Kansas will have the cake walk to the final 4 and the Tar Heels are destined to clash with Ohio St this weekend. Pitt crushed a ton of peoples brackets with the loss, but you cannot fault the ref’s for the foul call when it was about the most obvious call in the world. Can’t fault the player for playing hard but you can fault the coach for not letting his players know DON’T FOUL!!!!! Either way another Big East team bit the dust and the screamings of OVERRATED! can be heard for miles. My assanine habit of going with my heart hurt me as usual when St. John’s put up a complete GOOSE EGG and got tossed in the first round to Gonzaga. I didn’t really go out on any limbs this year with my final four picks taking Kansas, Ohio St., UConn, and Pitt, with Kansas beating Ohio St for the title. My Tar Heels will hopefully give the Buckeyes a run for their money if they can get by Marquette this week but I don’t know if they have the overall game right now to beat them. I will be happy with an Elite Eight showing in a season that they were hardly supposed to get to the big dance anyway. This team manages to stay together and they will have a legit shot at a title in the next 3 years.

All in All this will be a much more exciting Tourney then last year when the committee all but handed DOOK the title, with the worst seeding and layouts I have ever seen. All of us with normal minds and sound bodies will be rooting like hell that the Rat’s, DOOK squad throws up their own goose egg ASAP, but CBS just loves them and they seem to get the majority of the calls in every game…  being the Rat does have it’s privleges I guess.

38 Studios

At PAX East last week, Curt Schilling’s dream team unveilled a trailer and some gameplay footage of the single player RPG Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning. The trailor looks great, as they almost always do, but as most trailors go they show no gameplay fottage at all. There is a couple of videos up on youtube of the presentation with some gameplay. The game breaks down into a mixture of Oblivion mixed with some looting of Diablo. Not a bad combo at all, but not breaking any new ground at all either. There seems to be some UI tweaks and improvements over some of the genre staples and that should be good as well. What I can say is, it will be a game I will love to play but right now with the info out there, it’s not a game I simply am jonesing to get my hands on. Sure it will be good and be fun but it’s not crazy awe inducing game that we must have at this moment. (Unlike Diablo 3 which, if we don’t get in 2011 I might lose all faith in Blizzard but that’s a post for another day entirely).

The other thing that was missing as usual from 38 Studios announcements was any furthur info on Copernicus, the world blowing MMO that is based in the same Kingdom of Amalur from the single player RPG. I am a huge fan of Schilling’s vision, R.A. Salvatore’s writing, and Todd McFarlane’s art styles, so I am wanting them to release this game before my kids graduate high school (my daughter is 7 so that gives you an idea of my annoyance and egaggeration here) but they have been so hush hush about it all it makes you wonder how much they have even started. Do they have any of it done? Are they waiting on some feedback and revenue from the RPG to do anything further? Or are they just really wanting to pick their moment to shine and make the huge splash in the industry. This trailer (seen below) is a good start but I want more from 38 studios, I expect more as well. Let’s step up the info train a notch boys!!!!

Now enjoy the cinematical trailer! (Thanks to machinima for getting it on youtube).

Trackback URI | Comments RSS