Ugly… I mean UGLY loss to Arizona last weekend, but it’s okay, the Packers were already into the playoffs by that point. This week’s matchup against Minnesota is for the division title, which will only determine seeding for both teams, as they’ve both clinched their playoff berths. In fact, the NFC playoffs are already locked up, as no other team can get in. So it’s going to be Carolina, Arizona, Green Bay, Seattle, Washington and Minnesota playing sudden death games, but the seeds can go a number of different ways depending on what happens. I’m mostly concerned with Green Bay of course, so it’s either win this week and be the #3 (meaning a home game the following week) or lose and drop to #5 (meaning a road trip to Washington). Depending on what happens with Seattle, they’ll either be coming to Lambeau (if GB is #3) or the Vikings will be coming back to town (if the Seahawks lose). We beat Minnesota and Seattle both this season, so I’m not too worried about either though Seattle is much hotter than they were back in week 2. Minnesota looks better now too, but we beat them a few weeks ago and I think we will win this week. I’d rather have the home playoff game, but Seattle and San Fran proved that it’s not a huge advantage over the last few years. Either way, a 5th division title and a 7th playoff appearance in a row is coming up. Here’s the rest of my picks:
I posted the WordPress year in review last year, so I figured I’d do it again this year. I’ve noticed bigger spikes in traffic this year, and a better year overall from the stats. Social media brought in a bunch of views, and the usual suspects popped up in comments. I just said year a bunch, but here I am not caring. How did you guys do this year?
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 55,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
I’ve “completed” Fallout 4. That is, I played though the entirety of the main story and I saw the ending trailer. I’m by no means finished with the game, as I know there are further quests in my journal and plenty of map that I could still scour. There’s leveling to 50 and attempting to collect all of the goodies that I’ve missed to this point. There’s also DLC on the way, within the next month or two I’d wager, so I will definitely be back for more adventures in the wasteland. Oh yeah, and that’s not even mentioning all of the mods that are out or being worked on. I’ll have plenty of fun with this title for a long time to come. It’s just going to go on the back burner for a while.
For those of you who aren’t interested in my further discussion about the game, which will include some SPOILERS, feel free to see your way out. The game released almost two months ago, so most people who were early adopters are likely done with the game by now. I know I’ve read plenty of posts stating that the authors had finished the game, but there hasn’t been too much open discussion about it. I just have a few things I want to get off my chest, and then I’ve got a video to share. Again, SPOILERS beyond this point.
The general consensus seems to be as follows:
You either
a) didn’t play The Witcher 3 so you think Fallout 4 was the best game of the year or
b) you played The Witcher 3 so you think it was the best game of the year
I’m not sure why this has to be a competition, but that seems to be the way of things. I can compare the two games in that they’re both open-world RPGs but that’s where the similarities stop. I could make comparisons between The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V as well, but I won’t because I know that people will just focus on that and miss the point. Mostly, I just don’t want to compare them because I haven’t played The Witcher 3 yet and though I already know I’m likely to enjoy it and it’s on my wish list, at this point I’m waiting for a GOTY edition to drop before bothering with it. I’m also likely to give a better score to Dragon Age Inquisition than many people did just because I’m a fan of that series and I think the things people complained about with that title are things that won’t bother me so much. But that’s a story for another day.
So the fact that this shouldn’t really be a competition doesn’t change the fact that it is. I nominated Fallout 4 as my GOTY for 2015 on a recent episode of the podcast, but Eri went the way of The Witcher 3 and we both gave our reasons why we liked each. I had another conversation with a fellow blogger and guildmate who basically called me stupid for thinking Fallout 4 was worthy of that GOTY title when a game like The Witcher 3 simply exists. It was like I had committed cardinal sin. No, not really, but that sounded pretty dramatic 🙂 Seriously though, the biggest complaint he had was that Fallout 4 had a sub par storyline and when compared to The Witcher 3 it really stood out. I think that complaint would be thrown out the window if these two titles released during separate years. Either way, I’m not trying to demean The Witcher 3, but I honestly think Fallout 4 was a fantastic title and is worth your time.
The main point I think that was missed was the fact that Bethesda games have never really been about the story. I mean yes, the story and lore drives the overall narrative, but that’s not what these games are about. These games are about just seeing what’s over that hill, finding hidden paths, secret caverns and treasures and killing mass amounts of enemies while doing it. You sort of piece together your own narrative, and sometimes that means skipping the main questline for a while or experiencing it in parts. Perhaps you’ll blow through it but then explore the rest of the world at  your own pace once it’s complete. Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas; they’ve all had their share of piecing together the storyline in your own way at your own pace. I can’t speak for The Witcher series here, but I’m willing to wager that it has a better written storyline because there is something lacking in another area. I won’t know for sure until I play it, but I’ll get to the bottom of this sooner or later. Perhaps it is just the better game, but I reserve that judgement for a later date. For now, check out my final epic moments video below:
It’s Christmas, or Xmas, or whatever the hell you happen to call it, and there’s Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and a bunch of other differing holidays going on during this season. I’ve already made my “Christmas isn’t about Religion” rant earlier in the week, so today I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a great 2016.
The big news of the day is that Steam went down for a while and apparently people were able to access other people’s accounts and there was worry about account security and payment information. Reportedly, the service went down for a short time, and now it’s back up. I’ve checked myself and my account works and seems to be in order, so at least I won’t be bored out of my mind while sitting here waiting to eat a fabulous ham dinner.
I already talked about my gaming haul this year, so I have plenty to do. Now the biggest problem is figuring out what game to play. This is a problem I don’t mind having.
Hope all of you in the blogosphere have enjoyed your day!
I didn’t watch last week’s game as I was out of the house nearly all of Sunday. I still kept up with the scores and stats through the tail end of the game on my phone, so I do know that the Packers won, but it wasn’t as easy of a victory as you’d normally think. The Raiders hung in there, but I knew that they weren’t as bad of a team as their record would have you believe. They have a solid foundation in Carr at QB, and building around him shouldn’t bee too bad. He’s already got an outstanding receiver in Amari Cooper and a fierce pass rush from Khalil Mack. Either way, the Packers managed to rack up another win, and are now 10-4 and still in sole possession of 1st place in the North. Even if they were to lose to the Cardinals and the Vikings won their opponent, the division title would still come down to their matchup next week. So I’m not so worried about this being a “must win” game, but I’d still prefer to win out, hitting 12-4 and being primed to go into the playoffs. At this point it’s looking like the Packers will host the Vikings and then have to play Arizona in the Divisional round. I’m cool with that, because I think we’d have a clear shot at the NFC Championship game with that schedule. Only problem is that the Seahawks will likely beat the Redskins and could even beat the Panthers, but I don’t want to face either team in the last game of the NFC playoffs. Then again, we properly beat the Seachickens last year save for those last few minutes when they had a miracle comeback last year, so perhaps we can get revenge yet again. We’ll just focus on this week for now. Here’s the picks:
Me Vs. Myself and I 