PC sports gamers are somewhat justifiably unhappy with Peter Moore right now. Earlier this year, the EA Sports executive announced that Madden and many other EA Sports games won’t be coming to the PC market this year. But wait, you didn’t give him a chance to explain! Well, actually, you did, and he did, but today Moore went into more detail about his division’s scaled back PC support. A summary of the reasoning behind the decision:
PC sports gamers are gravitating to consoles.
The PC sports gaming market is gravitating to a downloadable model rather than a “packaged” model.
The PC versions of EA Sports games aren’t getting a good enough return on investment.
You PC gamers just pirate everything anyway and we’re not going to make a PC version just so millions of you can just steal it! (We may have exaggerated the tone a little bit on this one, but you get the idea).
PC Sports fans can still hold out hope that EA Sports will change its mind, though. Moore hinted that the company might be coming back into the PC space next year with “new, innovative, maybe even less-expensive ways to play all of our franchises on the PC.” If there’s one thing sports fans should be familiar with, it’s squeezing that one, slim ray of hope for all it’s worth.
Just under a month after shipping Don King Presents Prizefighter for Xbox 360, UK-based Venom Games is reportedly closing up shop. Computer and Video Games cites a source at the company, who divulged that Venom staff were informed of the closure Wednesday.
We contacted Take-Two, who published Prizefighter under its 2K Sports label, and were told by a spokesperson that it is currently “assessing the role of Venom Games in Take-Two’s overall global studio system,” and “in a consultation with the employees of Venom in relation to possible redundancies at the studio.”
Sonics Owner Clay Bennett is a jowly-faced bastard. I’m doing him a favor by calling him that because that’ s probably one of the kinder things he’ll be called from now on by heartbroken Seattle residents, who after two years of thinking their beloved 41-year-old franchise would stick around if they lobbied hard enough, now get to watch Kevin Durant play in Oklahoma City next season, even though their town wasn’t washed away by a hurricane. The WSJ Daily Fix blog , which did a brilliant round-up of the whole ordeal, floats this little life raft out there for the fans:
Former Sonics owner Howard Schultz, of Starbucks fame, is suing Mr. Bennett’s group to strip them of ownership, arguing that Mr. Bennett reneged on a promise to negotiate in good faith for a new arena before trying to relocate. If Mr. Schultz prevails, the Sonics could potentially be forced to return to Seattle — Mr. Schultz and his lawyer aren’t seeking an emergency injunction to stop the move in hopes of building a better case, and that case isn’t expected to go to trial for nearly a year.
But most Seattle Sonics fans are probably too worn out from the last painful legal saga to even get worked up over this slim-to-none possibility. The Sonics story, if anything, should make all sports fans wary of what could happen to their own franchise once new ownership takes over. All of your hard-earned time and investment could be taken away from you with a quick handshake in the night, no matter how hard you root for them. Then you have to watch press conferences like this and just cringe:
“We made it,” Bennett said after stepping to an Oklahoma City podium featuring the NBA logo and the letters OKC. “The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season.”
The always entertaining Round Mound of Double Down is still hanging out at casinos (”It’s for charity!) for the “Ante Up For Africa” tournament and caught up with RawVegas to, once again, let people know he’s not gambling. Apparently, it it’s the media’s fault that he’s no longer allowed to gamble. I think Wynn’s Las Vegas Resort and his bank account would beg to differ.
Yesterday’s inevitable Favre “itch” has given NFL writers mired in a mini-camp malaise and added story line — albeit one they’ve written every year for the past four or five years. What’s interesting about how yesterday’s NFL Live breakingnews went down was just how fortunate they were to have Al Harris in the studio the day that story breaks. Really, it must have been just the dumbshittiest of dumb luck that, the day ESPN gets some hold-the-phone Brett Favre news, they have the team’s cornerback sitting right there. (Yeah, nice job, Mort!)
Of course the denials are starting to pour out of Favre ( l love how his hometown paper is usually one of the first places he talks to. Well, and Jay Glazer. And AL HARRIS, apparently.) and his agent Bus Cook’s once again overusing the phrase “As far as I know…” We get it, Bus. You know nothing.
Based on some of the information that I’ve been told from sources not related to Bus Cook or Brett Favre, here’s how it possibly went down: Mort gets a scoop from his various Packers’ “sources “(whomever they may be…) starts to work on it. Harris is in the studio, so, Hey, let’s ask him if he knows anything about it? He does? Really? What’s Brett say…
“He’s itchin to come back…”
That’s enough. Let’s run with it…have Mort pick up a phone and call in to make it sound legit…
Let’s say that Favre did actually approach Mike McCarthy about coming back and McCarthy (and the Packers) told him “We’re moving in another direction.” Does Brett Favre still have that “itch” then? If you watched yesterday’s NFL Live did you notice how quickly the conversation went from “Favre going back to the Packers” to “Other teams who need a quarterback.” One of the teams that would make some sense for Brett to check into (and who ESPN has deemed a “likely” candiate) are the Minnesota Vikings . Even though Tarvaris Jackson has received the over-the-top accolades from head coach Brad Childress so far this year, the Vikings do have some other weapons that might benefit from having the ol’ gunslinger under center.
But — but!— if Favre goes to another team…what would happen to ESPN’s magical opening dedication and Favre jersey retirement ceremony during the Monday Night Football opener? Wouldn’t that ruin it? Not if he’s on the Vikings.
Bottom line: Brett Favre may come back. He’s just not not heading back to Green Bay. The team was very much looking forward to putting Number 4 along the other retired jerseys that adorn Lambeau field — that way they know they can keep him off the field.
After all of this , does it mean that Al Harris will now get an NFL analyst contract with ESPN? They should. The guy’s got great sources.
Yesterday’s 