Los Angeles Bound: World Series

To get what they deserved has got to be truly special. The last time the Los Angeles Dodgers won a World Series was back in 1988. Two opportunities were lost in 2017 and 18 in controversial Series from alleged cheaters (though a lot will say Houston and Boston cheated). To get it all in 2020, it has to be a sigh of relief and hope to keep continuing hopefully a big dynasty.

A lot of what makes the Dodgers dangerous is through their bats. You can think Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Corey Seager. It was able to survive the Tampa Bay Rays' unorthodox approach to pitching. Teams do rely a lot on their bullpens, but they were able to beat them up after guys like Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow were done for the night. Their own bullpen held their own and starters like Walker Buehler gave what the team needed. It creates a long lasting legacy for Clayton Kershaw.

Tampa is not a team in theory you think can go all the way. They do have some bats and their pitching is decent. You look at this year and their reliance on the bullpen to bail them out was going to bite them. The pulling of Snell in Game 6 this past Tuesday is going to be looked at as one of the biggest blunders in MLB postseason history. Up there with Russ Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, and Zack Greinke. It proved costly and is one of the examples of why analytics are hurting the sport. When you anger someone like Tim Kurkjian, you know your ripping is coming swiftly. We don't see pitcher duels anymore, regular and postseason. It's become such a rarity. Overall, I feel Tampa has damaged baseball in many ways and you have to blame both Joe Maddon and Kevin Cash.

On a more serious note, the way Justin Turner handled himself in that game is very careless. There was question on whether he tested positive for the virus and it turned out he did. The Dodgers were told to remove him and they didn't. He celebrated the series clinching win with them and people are outraged. Yes, it's something to celebrate winning a championship, but you endanger 10 thousand plus people in Texas. This isn't me defending the Dodgers, but I can see them giving a big fuck you to Rob Manfred and MLB. Basically, revenge for the way the season was and their handling of the Houston Astros cheating scandal.

Where 2021 brings us, I'm not sure. But I would hope MLB formulates a better plan or possibly a better commissioner. I don't think Manfred is suitable anymore to be run a league.

YouTube Videos: Oct 23-29

 

Apple or Peanuts?

This was something I caught a glimpse of a week and a half ago. Only in the last couple of days did I look into it. Peanuts is a comic strip created by Charles Schulz. It was run for half a century from 1950 to 2000. They are still featured on newspapers. Everyone knows Charlie Brown and his friends. The holiday specials (and the other big specials) are ingrained in many people's memories. But the reaction of not seeing it on basic television tells a different tale. The specials have either been aired on CBS or ABC. But ABC don't have the rights anymore.

Instead, it was given to Apple TV back in 2018. I'd like to point out that its a digital only service. This is on the guys that hold the rights to Peanuts. If it were certain other programs, I don't think the negative responses would be as strong. But the specials have aired for over 50 years. This is something people anticipate. Especially, Christmas time where you have the specials airing all through that month. Not so much with Halloween, but you'll get some stuff here and there.

Naturally, people are upset. But you have these assholes who say stuff along the lines of "Buy the DVD" or "Watch it for free", which the latter does allow a couple of days on Apple TV. Let me explain It's a Wonderful Life. When NBC got the rights in the 90s, it only aired once on Christmas Eve. They've laxed on it in the last few years with multiple airings and having it on USA Network. Sure, there's DVD's of the film, but it's tradition for some. And that applies to the Peanuts gang. Even if some have the DVD's, there's a specialty to watching it on television.

With streaming, it's not always viable. Not everyone gets the same speed. With all the added competition, everyone can't subscribe to everything. The costs do add up. If I'm being honest, most other apps seem more enticing that Apple. Peacock has put up new Psych material and giving people access to some of NBC's old shows along with potential reboots. HBO Max has a lot of new content and reboots in their pipeline. Obviously, Netflix with their line of shows and films over the last decade. Apple TV will be a year old, but Peanuts is not going to magically get people subscribing to it. It's not like FXX in 2014 where people went for it because it got The Simpsons.

Eventually, everything will be on streaming, but when, I'm not sure. Peanuts will be no different. That being said, the exclusivity to a service that is still very young is a bad move. Going to any service would still be bad, but it wouldn't sting that bad. I'm not the biggest fan of Peanuts, but you don't mess with traditions. I don't see where a deal could have been made to be on TV and on a service. Exclusivity does not always make it a good situation. I wouldn't mind making a blog like this again in a month when we start seeing more Christmas films and programs.

Geeks and Jocks: Episode 48

 New episode. Little Halloween and horror at the beginning of the podcast. Support the show. Tell people about it. Podcast will return November 10th.

https://anchor.fm/ryan-sullivan1gaj/episodes/Episode-48-Rays-of-Walking-Peanuts-ellb8o

The Walking Dead: The Final Season Review (PS4)

If you were to look at the direction it was going. you would think The Walking Dead: The Final Season would be more of a cinematic experience when it first debuted in 2018. Some parts are, but you would be wrong. It tries to stand out a bit and be similar to the first game, bringing back some point and click elements. It does what I would say a satisfying finale for this series of games, though I question how much the original vision was used. This is Telltale's final game and Skybound took over when they shut down.

Final Season takes you back to Clementine, now an older teenager. She is in charge of a boy, AJ. They have survived the last few years and find themselves at a school consisting of kids. Trouble brews for them and they must show their worth and help them protect their area from an armed group of people. It pulls a few surprises and has a small Life is Strange vibe to it. Undercooked at first, but the story grows on you once you reach the second half of it.

The game does have its cinematic flavor with the time limits in choices and quick time events. However, it tries to bring back elements from the first game with the point and click aspect. Clem can interact, run, and speak to others in terms of controls. Decisions, as always, will never be unanimous. With a kid in tow, you also shape how AJ will be in the near future and help his growth in surviving or degrade it. Combat comes in a couple different forms such as shooting arrows to go with your melee and firearm tactics.

Graphically, the game is fantastic. Very gritty comic book like, continuing with the series approach. Better emphasis on color usage and lighting. You didn't see this with the other titles. With the audio, the voice overs are well done. Sound effects are fantastic. The music still continues to have that emphasis of peaceful/tense when things are calm and frantic with the action. It's a first for The Walking Dead to have some songs in it. Kind of similar to Life is Strange, but not as sappy nor the driving point of it. Strong altogether, though how you feel about songs is up to you.

There is a collectible part throughout the four episodes. Stuff that you're not forced to get, but adds a tiny bit of replayability. No major loading issues. Same options as before. The decisions feel like they hold a lot more weight than before. My final complaints are the usual nitpicks such as the quick time events and time limits on choices. For this one, the story and songs, but will depend on how you feel  about those two aspects. Still, it's worth getting The Walking Dead: The Final Season. It bows out with a strong finale.

Score: 8 out of 10

Alex Hutchinson

This will connect in a way with the Twitch issues that have been a problem over the last week. Streaming has its pros and cons, but Alex Hutchinson thinks developers need money from the streamers. The creative director of the Montreal division of Stadia Games and Entertainment tweeted his thoughts on it, saying that they should pay a fee to get a license to stream games. Needless to say, that did not sit well with plenty of people and he doubled down on what he said.

It's not just gamers getting frustrated. Tweets from journalists like Jason Schreier. Even Google themselves aren't in support of Hutchinson. You're paying money to buy the game you want to stream. Why spend more on a meaningless license? Gaming is not the same as listening to songs or watching movies and television shows. Certain legalities like music, you could make some case of removing content, but a game will be a unique experience. Not to mention any publicity could help the game unless it's that bad or average. We have a lot more to look at compared to the early 90s when you only had magazines to read specific titles. Also, certain developers are gone. The focus is on modern games, but there are the older games from the 80s, 90s, 2000s. Stuff from dead publishers and developers. You hurt the little streamers if you go with Hutchinson wants.

Hutchinson has made headlines in gaming for his take on things. Notably for Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed in 2014 for not including women for the online section of their games (Unity was the most recent AC game in '14) He said something along the line of not getting a woman so that they can have something in line to animate. He also was vocal on gamers being more forgiving towards Japanese developers, something I actually agree with. When New Super Mario Bros. Wii came out in 2009, a complaint was that no Peach for the four player part. Shigeru Miyamoto pulled out a very lame excuse of not knowing how to animate a dress. People also bat a blind eye to Japanese game design, stories. This can also apply to other regions, but there's more bias.

Stadia isn't in a good situation and I don't think this will sit well for Google altogether. Yes, Hutchinson has an opinion. But it's a very poor take. Most companies are happy to see their games get exposure. That's why there's videos on YouTube of games and some get millions of views. There's a freaking Putt-Putt game that has three million view video on it. Studios are aware of the strengths and weaknesses to media sharing. This won't get Hutchinson fired, but it puts him in hot water to where his next job if he leaves Stadia Games and Entertainment could have him in even more trouble if does more bad takes like that.

Twitch Removal

This I was not aware of until a few days ago. Twitch has been around for a good chunk of time now. People stream the biggest games, the small ones, everything in between. They have been the subject of copyright issues, most notably from the Recording Industry Association of America. That happened back in the summer and now the streaming site has issued a lot DMCA acts on most people without being able to counterclaim and people losing their channels this past Wednesday the 21st. This is courtesy of sites like The Verge.

Apparently, Twitch was not being clear on what needed to be done. They left a lot of streamers confused and in tons of worry. Copyright is not an easy thing to deal with. If it isn't legit, it's some asshole who thinks it's fun to mess with a user whether it's YouTube or some other site. I would assume the RIAA is involved. Compared to most places, these types of organizations are ruthless in America. I don't know what it is like in other regions of the world, but it's strict. Look at Viacom and their fights with YouTube. 

When it comes to game music, it's not an easy thing to look into. Certain titles will have songs in them from indie based bands or the big names. I'm thinking Daughter for Life is Strange: Before the Storm and the various names for a GTA game. I understand protecting this stuff. These organizations have to. But for streaming, there's no avoidance of it. I think the music industry is trying to get money out of all this, even though they rake in billions. Piracy is still common, but is it going to kill The Alan Parsons Project? They probably get enough from the Chicago Bulls.

I don't know full enough the issues with copyright, but streaming is not the same as uploading a YouTube video. Heat of the moment. Twitch does not draw as many eyes as people think for one video. Not to mention the videos are already done with people donating or not so I don't know what the accomplishment is. Whatever the case, Twitch is going to lose a lot more support from people who have put effort into it. Videos are not easy to edit. This is going to cause a lot more harm and create a toxic site where you will be scared to even try. For all the complaints of YouTube, they aren't looking as bad right now.

YouTube Videos: Oct 16-22

 

Analogue Duo Thoughts

I've never owned a Turbografx-16. Along with Sega CD, it's one of the few systems I would want to get my hands on. Unfortunately, high prices for it and games make it undesirable for anyone to casually want it. We're also looking at the hardware not working as well. The focal point being the CD add-on and Turbo Duo, the latter having capacitor leaks and needing new caps immediately. Analogue is filling a need with the Analogue Duo.

I think this is cool. Having all the ways to play Turbografx, Turbo CD, Supergrafx (an obscure Japan system meant to beef up the hardware), and PC Engine I believe, is a fantastic way to get people in. The price point is rather cheap at 200 dollars. That says something considering the various versions of it, including the CD stuff. It is Analogue's first attempt at doing anything CD related. This will be in limited quantities as mentioned on their website. How much in quantity in terms of production, I don't know.

With putting an effort to do a CD one, the question lies in what the company could do next. You look at the early 90s and then new medium for gaming. There's Sega CD, Philips CD-i, 3DO, and Atari Jaguar CD. The next batch is Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Dreamcast. I would assume they would target the Sega's CD and Saturn systems next. Those are two that aren't easy to get. With CD, it's not cheap and the hardware is prone to issues, including blown fuses. More of a reason to try to do an Analogue version. Saturn is very pricey right now that there is no starting method to get into it.

The next closest would be Dreamcast and then 3DO. There will be no effort to do CD-i and Jaguar CD (though 12 titles for Jag CD is doable). PlayStation doesn't need one though the early versions of the first model aren't the best in reliability. It opens a lot more possibilities for Analogue. They are setting themselves up to be the big hero for the retro gaming community. More to gaming than Nintendo and Sega. As long as quality is their priority, they will make it feasible for people to invest in systems that they wouldn't have gotten into.

Geeks and Jocks: Episode 47

 New episode. Support the podcast. Tell people about it.

https://anchor.fm/ryan-sullivan1gaj/episodes/Episode-47-Picking-the-System-elbdtg