MLB 06: The Show/Guitar Hero

So I'm driving home from work yesterday, jamming to my Guitar Hero CD mix, and I decide to stop by Best Buy to pick up MLB The Show for PS2. I've heard great things about the game and after reading this thread over at Operation Sports I just had to get it. I had hoped that MLB 2K6 for the 360 was going to be a decent game, since I'm so used to HD gaming on the 360, but that game turned out to be a giant piece of turd. Oh well. Thanks exclusive licenses.

I play a quick exhibition game between my Florida Marlins and the Pittsburg Pirates. At this point I am in that "no man's land" period when you just pick a new sports game and you are completely unfamiliar with the controls or how the game feels and everything is in disarray. The last 2 baseball games I had played were MVP 05 and 04, and High Heat before that, so I was new to the MLB series. I stumbled along and ended up losing 4-3 in the 10th inning. I blew a save opportunity in the 9th when I was up 3-2 and my closer gave up back to back hits to let them tie.

Even though I didn't feel comfortable with the controls or play mechanics yet, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. My quick impressions are that the game is butt-ugly on my HDTV. I've said it before and I'll say it again, once you get use to HD gaming, it is VERY difficult to go back (the Revolution might be in trouble). The graphics looked a little blurry, a little jaggy, and just not right in 16x9 mode. The animation looked nice and smooth though so I should be fine. The audio commentary was just suberb.

I'm looking forward to starting a Career and then a franchise and seeing how much I can stink it up with my poor sorry-ass Marlins.

Anyway, after that exhibition game I stopped playing because as I mentioned, I was hearing Guitar Hero on my way home and I had a few songs stuck in my head that I just had to play. So I popped the game in and start jamming. Man, this game is a blast. Seriously people, if you have a PS2 and don't own this game, go out and buy it. Now!!

So I'm jamming away and I am feeling pretty good. I managed to beat a few of my high scores and my fingers feel nice and loose. I decide to try and conquer the one song I have not been able to pass on expert difficulty. Bark at the Moon. This song just kicks my ass every time. I usually get about 15% through the song before I fail miserably. But I am feeling confident and decide not to get intimidated. Believe me, this song is very intimidating.

I fire it up and make it through 98% of the song before I fail. 98 freakin' percent!!! I have never made it past 25%!!! My confidence goes up further. I KNOW I am beating this game tonight. I try again . . . and it is over. After five months, I have beaten every song on expert. Sure, the final stats for BatM were ugly as hell - I only hit 68% of the notes - but I am now a Rock God (hey, those are the game's words, not mine).

And yes, I started celebrating like an idiot when I completed it. I'm a dork.