Please EA, don’t start a trend…
This story is over a month old, but it just came to my attention today and it is something I want to touch on. The market for used video games these days is massive, especially with the amount of quality titles being released as of late. Many gamers simply cannot afford to buy all of their games brand spankin' new, and stores such as Gamestop allow players to buy used games at a discount. The downside to this, is that publishers ultimately lose out on sales. Just like everything else in this business fueled world, the bottom line is money. 
In an attempt to combat the purchase of used games, more specifically in this case, EA Sports titles, the company has adopted a new system tagged "Online Pass". Whenever EA ships a new sports game, included with it will be a one time use code that allows access to multiplayer and additional DLC. Without the code, you are going to be set back an extra $10 just to play multiplayer. Not to mention, roster updates are included with this Online Pass.
A new NBA Jam game coming to the Wii has me a little worried.
See that screenshot there? Those are my memories of NBA Jam … just insanely fast paced 2 on 2 basketball that I would play the shit out of in the arcade. Sometime this year there’s going to be one coming to the Wii. As one may fear, it supports motion control. But from what I read on Kotaku, you can also turn the remote sideways and just use the directional pad and use it as … well … a real controller.
I don’t play many sports games, after a 20 year hiatus I finally picked up a baseball game (The Bigs for the PS2 and The Bigs 2 for the 360 if you’re wondering). But I do like to play the arcadey titles. And NBA Jam definitely fits into that. I STILL own both the original and Tournament Edition for the Sega Genesis, and I still pop them in from time to time to see those tiny, grainy graphics and muffled grainy voices. But since Tournament Edition, the series hasn’t just gone down hill … it’s plummeted face first into a bed of spikes.
Fuji Golf - A simple and addictive Windows 3.1 golf game.
Okay okay I like golf games. And I only found out about this one recently. For whatever reason I was looking for an overly simple golf game where I could just go in, play for a couple of minutes while I'm waiting for something to download (or in the case with the direction I've gone with this site, upload), then quit. I ended up playing through all 18 holes of this little game the first time I played it. And I still fire it up from time to time, even though like every other game I touch I thoroughly suck at it.