EnVy_CaLiBeR

I really hope Shanahan gets the job.

Same.

I'd take Linehan or Shannahan if those are the final four. The two coordinators that have had success in the past. We need new offensive minds here. 

The report I'm hearing is the choice will be between Hostler & Shanahan .

Where did you hear that?

And if we pick Hostler, I'll throw up in my mouth.

Wouldnt that damage his character and his popularity?

Not really. Batista is going to be a huge name regardless all the way up until Mania. I doubt he's back for a full-time role anyway with his age and his acting career, which is why I see someone like Roman Reigns or even Bray Wyatt especially with rumors stating that there will be a Wyatt vs Cena match at Mania.

Batista is back for Lesnar. I'm almost certain of it. Especially after the Rock leaked on Twitter that there was originally supposed to be a Rock vs Brock match.

1.) Is anyone excited for the royal rumble? Who do you guys have winning it!?

 

2.) You guys ready for Batista's return this Monday!?

 

I'll be interested in seeing who wins it. The WWE seems to want to push either Roman Reigns or Bray Wyatt but I wouldn't be surprised to see Daniel Bryan win it. He's beyond over with the fans at this point. Last Monday was amazing. 

 

 

As far as Batista, I could also see him winning to Rumble but I ultimately think he's back for Lesnar at Mania. 

 

Hopefully it's just an interview.  But then again, we did hire Cam Cameron after a 1-15 season with the Dolphins.  We have a tendency to promote ineptitude.

 

Lol true. 

 

Jamison Hensley did make a good point. In the past when we promoted from within, we did it almost immediately after we lost whoever left and there were no reports of us branching out. Not like now. It could mean that they're not completely sold on Hostler and they believe like most of us here believe that we need a new offensive mind here (at least I hope that's what it is).

Ravens haven't asked to interview Norv yet.

 

Either him or Kubiak would be fantastic. Both have fielded multiple top offenses. 

Much like the WR position in the draft this year, the Ravens have a great shot at coming away with a strong OC who can do wonders for our offense. The question is how serious are they about becoming a top notch offense? There are some guys out there that fit exactly what we should want to do on offense, even down to the ZBS and wouldn't have to make wholesale changes. The time is now to make the commitment to the offense and I feel if we promote within we're just staying the course and hoping a few minor tweaks can make use better.

 

Agreed. Promoting from within on defense was fine because whoever was taking over would take over a great defense. Promoting from within on offense when we just fielded one of the worst offenses in the NFL just shows that we are content with mediocrity on that side of the ball. I hope they are serious about making changes. 

McAdoo is done. Oh well. Norv please? lol 

Ravens have requested permission to interview Ben McAdoo, according to a league source. 

@RavensInsider "Among extensive list of Ravens coordinator candidates, including Norv Turner, team is interested in Packers QBs coach Ben McAdoo, per source"

 

I hope these reports are true and we are going out of house.

 

I'm with you. Norv Turner would be an amazing hire. McAdoo would be good too. 

Hue Jackson available?

 

Just got promoted to Bengals OC.

I'm think the logical choice is Kubiak. He has a proven track record of success and his offensive style fits exactly what the Ravens want to do. Remember a couple years back the Ravens all but asked Leach to teach them how to operate that ZBS run game that made the Texans so successful. Now you have the opportunity to bring in the man who actually ran that offense. Does he have flaws? Of course but he's a heck of an offensive coach and as a former QB i think he'd love to build the offense around Joe.

 

I think he and Castillo would work well together and that fact that play action is a huge part of his game would allow us to still have a heavy run presence in our offense. He's made Matt Schuab look like a star at times, I'd love to see what he could do with Flacco, Rice, Pitta, Smith, Pierce, Brown and others.

 

Wouldn't mind Kubiak at all. He is a respected offensive mind around the league and would fit in well with what we love to do on offense. Kubiak, McAdoo, Turner, or Chudzinski would all be awesome hires.

 

Just look outside for once especially with how horrible we were on offense this year. We need a fresh start and a new offensive mind that could potentially get the most out of our young players. If they hire in-house, I think it reaffirms my belief that they are content with the continuous mediocrity on the offensive side of the ball. 

My PS4 gets here on Tuesday. Treating myself to a nice post law school finals treat. FIFA, NBA2K and deciding on the third game. It will be a non-sports game. What do you all recommend?

 

Anyone who wants to play FIFA or NBA let me know

 

If you like shooters, I'd go with Battlefield 4. It's broken in some game modes right now but it's fun as hell when it does work. Been playing a lot of Obliteration, which works almost all of the time. 

 

Since you'll most likely get PS Plus, Resogun comes with it for free and Resogun is crazy addictive and a ton of fun. Don't forget you have some free-to-play games available to you as well. I've been dabbling with Warframe which is pretty fun in bursts (plan on getting into it some more) and I liked what I've played of Blacklight: Retribution. 

 

Stay away from Killzone. I had it and it was garbage. I've heard Knack isn't much better. 

Got to play around with a Xbox One a little bit.  The controller is magnificent, they somehow made the 360 controller even better.  It's easier to hold without the battery pack sticking out, it's very responsive, and it's just great.

 

It's a great controller but the bumpers on it are terrible. Difficult to press in when you get to the top portion of the buttons (at the hump). You can probably get used to it, but it's my main complaint. Everything else is pretty damn good. The triggers are amazing and I prefer them over the PS4's triggers which are pretty good in their own right. 

What's that about?

Show based on the superhero Green Arrow from DC comics. It was good in its first season but it has just awesome in its second season.

 

The first season is on Netflix. If you get a chance, I recommend it. 

Arrow is one of the best shows on TV now. Just fantastic all around in its second season. 

We're still a while from either system reaching a must convert point, but one thing I will say about Forza is there were more cars, tracks, and things to do in the previous iteration of the the series.  I really want one of them for status more than anything now, maybe it's one of those wanting what you can't have since they're not in anywhere, but if all I'm going to be doing is playing BF4 and NBA 2k14 I'm ok with waiting.

 

And you should've known better with Killzone, I think the whole franchise is horrible.  Uninteresting story and poor gameplay with that pseudo lock into cover crap.  Sony didn't have to respond to Halo with their own first person shooter, and honestly I think the series getting so many sequels is just for the Playstation fanboys to act like their console is one for serious shooter fans when it really doesn't matter which console you pick at this point since they both get basically the same slate of games, at least in that genre.

 

True on that point. However in regards to the PS4, I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase for the fact that multiplatform games do look that much better than the last generation versions. The PS4 of BF4, AC4, and even COD Ghosts blow away the PS360 versions. I mean, it's not even close. Playing those games have been a real treat especially with that controller, which is one of the best, IMO. I know I'm going to end up with both consoles for the simple fact that I have friends playing on both platforms and I just hate missing out on exclusives. Love my of Halos, Gears, and Forzas much as I love inFAMOUS, God of War, and anything that has to do with Naughty Dog. lol 

 

As far as Killzone, I was hoping that GG would strike lightning again like they did with Killzone 2, which I thought was amazing. I agree now that every game in that series except for KZ2 is pretty damn horrible. Looks pretty but that's about it. Sony hasn't had a shooter that could compete with the top competitive shooters since SOCOM on the PS2 and that series has died this generation. 

Even though I initially was impressed with the PS4, I can't help but be disappointed in the exclusives offered right now. Killzone: Shadowfall is garbage (traded it in) and I've played a bit of Knack at a friend's and was disappointed with that as well. Currently, the best exclusive game on the PS4 is Resogun, which is freaking awesome. However, I can't recommend a $400 console just for Resogun.

 

If you're jumping from the PS3, you'll immediately see upgrades on a lot of things. Like I said, the controller is a huge improvement over the PS3's (still kind of prefer the 360's stick placement but I'm used to it being a Playstation guy),the graphics on the multiplats destroy last generation's, and the UI simple but extremely functional. However, for a system that put all of its focus on games, it's disappointing to see them not deliver the games. Will have to wait until Second Son, I suppose. 

 

I messed around with a friend's Xbone and was pretty envious. DR3, Killer Instinct, and Forza are awesome games. He actually made me want to get an Xbone probably soon. 

Does the indie scene really matter? I'm not paying hundreds of dollars to play the equivalent of SNES games. But maybe I'm just a snob for expecting a minimum threshold of graphics and gameplay at this point in time.

I actually feel that way to an extent as we'll but you can't discount indies. Two of the biggest games from last year were smaller scale projects (Journey and Walking Dead). The indie scene is blowing because it allows for smaller developers without big budgets to get their games on consoles and allows for developers to take risks when it comes to the concepts in games. It's hard to take risks in retail games nowadays because of the money it takes to put out a retail game(especially now when you got companies like Square Enix not making profit after selling millions of copies of Tomb Raider).

Indie games will be the middle ground for this generation in terms of money needed to be put into game and allows for developers to take game design chances that they would be scared to take with millions going into a project, due to fear that it would flop.

I have a gut feeling 343i is working on two games. They definitely have the budget and amount of employees to do so; not to mention they have also contracted other studios to help them dev stuff over the past couple years. I find it interesting that you mention Gears could go multi-platform, didn't know that property was owned by Epic. I still think they need more than just 343, turn10, Lionhead, and remedy. They have a couple others but those are their strongest studios, although Im not a big fan of Lionahead as of late.

It's been said that MS has been investing heavily in 1st party studios. That's why I mentioned Black Tusk (formerly known as Microsoft Vancouver) which has been tasked with creating a AAA title to go along with Halo. They've been hiring veteran developers from various other popular franchises (Crysis, COD, Splinter Cell, etc) so we could see Black Tusk become a big studio this generation. MS knows they have to step their game up when it comes to 1st party games or they'll fall behind Sony again.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/64637/features/just-what-exactly-is-black-tusk-studios-working-on/

What are your guys' thoughts on PS4 and XB1 in terms of their indie game offerings? Do you think Sony's advantage in that regard puts them over-the-top, upcoming global sales notwithstanding?

I see Sony having the advantage when it comes to indies for the near future but I expect that gap to close as time goes on. Remember any retail XB1 can be used as a dev-kit which will huge for the indie scene. The indie scene for the XB1 has a good chance to be just as good as the PS4's. We'll see.

Microsoft owns some impressive properties in Halo, Gears of War, and Forza Motorsport, but their own first-party stable of developers doesn't have much distinction. In fact, despite Gears of War being Microsoft-exclusive, Microsoft doesn't even own the studio who developed the series.

 

Actually, there's been stuff floating around that GoW could eventually make its way to PS4 if they release another entry. Microsoft doesn't own the Gears IP so if Epic wants to put it on the PS4, they can do so.

 

Sony will likely continue its dominance when it comes to first-parties but I think Microsoft will do better this time around. Having the first Titanfall be exclusive to Microsoft platforms is huge since it's probably the most hyped next-gen title. Quantum Break will likely be fantastic (love Remedy), Halo is going to be amazing on the XB1 hardware, and you have Fable Legends coming from Lionhead Studios. Not to mention they've been slightly hyping up whatever Black Tusk is working on. 

 

Microsoft will have to keep their exclusives library going. Can't be like the last few years of the 360's life. 

I've had my PS4 since launch and I've been extremely impressed. The upgrade in graphics is immediately noticeable across all games, the DS4 makes the DS3 feel like a toy, and the OS is pretty damn snappy. So far, it's a great console and I can't wait until the big Sony exclusives start hitting.

I was close to picking up an XB1 as well but opted out. It seemed like issues were just piling up on Microsoft's end and the $500 investment just isn't worth it right now especially when the PS4 will have all of the superior multiplatform games. I'll wait for the Xbone's exclusive library to build up and for that price to drop (which should be real soon expecially with a $400 PS4 around).

I dont understand what youre saying here. It has been widely reported that the Dev groups have a much easier task this time around, developing games for both systems as theyre more alike then different....when comparing them to the previous platforms.

 

They are but it has also been reported numerous amounts of times that the XBO is more difficult to develop for between the two due to having to utilize the ESRAM inside it. Some sources have even gone as far as calling it a "bottleneck". However, it's supposedly will get better over time according to the Kotaku article posted today. 

 

http://kotaku.com/about-those-xbox-one-vs-ps4-graphics-rumors-1454130634

 

http://vr-zone.com/articles/esram-may-xbox-ones-achilles-heel/56795.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=esram-may-xbox-ones-achilles-heel

What's interesting is that Ryse only runs on 900p.  It might seem like a minor deal, but if the XBO is so underpowered that it can't run titles in 1080p that's a reason to make the PS4 my main system of the generation, which would be quite a turn since I've been an Xbox guy for two generations.  The thing that bothers me about the PS4 is that whole game install thing when the HDD is so small and game files already large and only going to get larger.

 

But yeah, I think XBO's big touted launch title is Forza, and I don't know anyone who plays racing games anymore.  I've seen NBA 2k14 touted as the cross platform title that's impressive, and it very well could be, but that's not something that makes me want to wait in line for hours to get one of these things.

 

The PS4 was going to be my main system regardless (I'm mainly a Sony guy) but if I were only an Xbox fan, I personally wouldn't be discouraged. 1080p may be more common on the PS4 but the fact that the XBO can output graphics that look as good as Ryse, that leaves a lot to be optimistic about. 

 

Also, it's being reported not to expect huge graphical differences long-term among third-party games due to the fact that developers will utilize the XBO's hardware more efficiently over time (considering that it has more headaches than the PS4 such as the ESRAM). Both consoles will be fine.