I love simulation games. Especially sports related simulations. Baseball Mogul is by far the best one out there. Before I had settled for the baseball games on the PS2, but they are too slow. I want to make executive decisions on my team and run simulations on them.  Baseball Mogul has always been good at providing this experience, but I noticed they added a feature that takes it even further. You can now be a manager of a team and make pitch-by-pitch managerial decisions. Shift your fielders to guard the lines or pull the infield in. Tell your hitter to hit to the right-side or bunt. It’s simply an awesome game for those with a strategic mind. This simulation doesn’t leave anything out. Real professional players, both major and minor league. It also keeps very accurate stats, unlike other baseball games (Example: Pitchers not getting credit for a save when they pitch the last 3 innings of a blow-out).

Don’t care for baseball?  They make football and basketball versions also. Free demos are available of each version. Check it out at sportsmogul.com

Electronic Arts is the Microsoft of the gaming world. I can’t stand them and I refuse to buy their games because they truly do not care about their employees or customers. Here are 6 reasons why we should boycott EA.

They ruined SimCity

Electronic Arts bought Maxis back in 1997, acquiring the rights to the SimCity franchise. Ever since that moment, SimCity has sucked. What once was one of the best strategic simulation games was turned into a dumbed down game with SimCity 4. Then it was remade into a game that just plain sucks with SimSocieties.

They resell the same sports game to us year after year

Madden 06, 07, 08, NBA Live 06, 07, 08. They sell us the same game every year with slight modifications and updated rosters. The gameplay for Madden hasn’t really changed in years, and as a result the sales of Madden are starting to drop off. The same thing can be said for all of the EA Sports games. We haven’t truly seen and mind-blowing innovation with these games for over 8 years. Why buy them?

They shut out competition

In 2004, ESPN NFL2k5 hit store shelves at $29.99. Not only was it lower priced than Madden, it was a better game. Threatened by this, EA threw their assload of cash at the NFL and NBA for exclusive rights to make games based on those leagues. Now we are stuck with Madden with no chance of other companies to grow their own better NFL or NBA games.

Luckily another company got the MLB licensing. MLB08: The Show and Major League Maseball 2K8 are really good games. Much better than the MVP line of games were.

Their overseas technical support sucks

Have you ever had problems getting your EA game to work? Try speaking English to their support team. Better yet, try understanding them. Even if it’s something as simple as a problem with a CD key, you probably won’t be successful in getting EA Tech Support to help you at all. Gone are the days where they would actually troubleshoot issues between the game and your video card. Now when you call they just advise you to uninstall and reinstall the game. If that doesn’t work they tell you to get new drivers for one of your multimedia devices.

They treat their employees poorly

After the Enron debacle, we are in an age where ethics matter more than dollars. Back in 2004, EA settled a lawsuit with its employees over unpaid overtime. The suit, filed in 2004 stemmed from employees’ allegations that they were required to work long hours and weekends with no overtime compensation.

EA has made billions and billions of dollars yet they avoid rewarding their employees with the money legally owed to them for overtime. I’m sure for EA employees, this is just a needle in a haystack regarding employee/employer relations.

They fail to manage most of their web pages

EA sells a certain game, then they make a pretty web site to go along with it. After they have taken all your cash, they have no interest in supporting you anymore and they let the web sites go without maintenance or support. A perfect example of this is the Sim Theme Park page. It’s been titled Untitled Document at the top for years. You can’t find a patch for the original SimCity anywhere and if you’re still into the last good version of SimCity which is SimCity 3000, good luck finding any support or patches for that. They also shut down The Sims Online, which sucked but many people bought the game and might still want to play.

It would cost EA virtually nothing to still provide information and patches for these games, but they choose not to. Want add-on’s or patches for your game that’s 7 years old? Screw you! We already have your money!

I’ve still been pondering how arcades can evolve back to where they used to be as far as popularity. It blows my mind that arcades in Japan are even going under now. What do confused teens do on Friday night now besides the movies? It hit me as I passed a local Internet arcade. The place was packed with teens playing games like Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, and Quake 4. This is definitely not the same type of crowd you’d get at your typical classic arcade though. No, these kids are more computer savvy. I also didn’t find but a couple of females in the bunch.

These Internet arcades still don’t appeal to those that aren’t as computer savvy, or just plain prefer a joystick instead. The return of the classic arcade is bound for a return. I’ve put together my own plan for how true arcades can evolve and make a comeback.

Make cheaper coin-ops - Use LCD screens and build the cabinets smaller. Do anything it takes to make the machines more affordable to arcade owners so they can actually make a profit on them.

Make each machine play multiple games - Remember the old Neo-Geo machines where you could play up to 8 games on one machine? All arcade machines should be like this. I think it would be beneficial for a customer to be able to walk into an arcade and sit down at his own personal arcade machine for a night of gaming and be able to play what he wants.

All games should be linkable to other players in the arcade - You should have the option when you start a game of accepting challengers from other players in the arcade, or even in other arcades via the Internet. Another player from his personal machine can find you and challenge you to a game.

Internet ranking system - Like they figured out in Japan and with Golden Tee, people like to be ranked. All players should be ranked on every game.

General Admission - Arcades should follow the model of Internet arcades and have general admission. I can imagine a gym club type of membership working out where you pay a monthly fee for access to the arcade.

Prizes - Give out prizes for top performers. Hold tournaments. Make the arcade a social place for competition.

There you have it. My business plan for the classic arcade comeback. Joysticks, social interaction and no chance of somebody taking over your game with cheats or a bot. If you have the money to accomplish all of this, feel free to steal it. I am sure kids everywhere would flock to your establishment. I would too.

I recently took a drive through my old stomping grounds in Chicago. I looked for places familiar to me. I got a little misty eyed as I drove looking for a place I could walk into that I used to frequent as a kid. It soon became evident though, that all of them have closed. Victims of the real estate boom and the fact that nobody plays arcade games anymore.

Each place I thought of brings a smile to my face. I have many memories of my mom trying to get me to leave places while I’d be stuck playing on the same quarter. Oh the many memories I have. Here are the places I remember that now only exist in my memories.

Chicago Game Company - Located previously on Western avenue, right across the street from where Riverview amusement park used to be was a small arcade in an old building. It was the first video arcade I ever went to. It had all the classics. Pac-Man, Galaga, Defender. Everybody gathered around the Tron machine there, but I didn’t want anything to do with that as the kids were much older than me. I was too busy playing Mappy. The smell of burgers, fries and cigarette smoke always filled the place. Yes, you could actually smoke in this place! They even had ash trays attached to some of the games. My mother would try to force me to eat sometimes when we were there, but I always wanted to get back to playing games.

This place was located across the street from Lane Tech High School, so many of the older kids from that school took it over. They later started playing loud rock music inside the place. The crowd of older teens with long hair and mullets was way too intimidating for me, so I stopped going there and started going to Fun Zone down the street. Chicago Game Company closed in the late 80’s to make way for an auto parts store.

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