G'Day everyone……. Its a hot and sunny Saturday here……. Its been another rather quiet week with summer kicking in…… Getting temps in the 30s sucks and I cant wait for winter to come back…… So I really have not done much besides the usual walking and taking Rufus for walks as well on the not too hot days…… It was my mums birthday during the week so I spent a bit of time there….. Besides that its been the usual working, playing video games and walking…...

As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played…….

Arcade

Last Resort (1992 SNK) - Shoot 'em up - Horizontal


Console

ESPN NFL 2K5 (2004 Sega) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Football)
Kirby's Avalanche (1995 Nintendo) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Puzzle
NASCAR 06: Total Team Control (2005 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR 07 (2006 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR 08 (2007 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR 09 (2008 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (2004 EA Sports) - Nintendo GameCube - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (2004 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR Thunder 2003 (2002 EA Sports) - Nintendo GameCube - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR Thunder 2003 (2002 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR Thunder 2004 (2003 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Nintendo GameCube - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NCAA Football 11 (2010 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Football)
Tecmo Super Bowl 2023 (2022 TecmoBowl.org) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Sports (Football)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (1994 Konami) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Fighting
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (1993 Konami) - Sega Mega Drive - Fighting
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (1993 Konami) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Fighting


NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona Dick Trickle Career


Dick Trickles NASCAR License…..

The MotoGP 08 career is done for now….. The career mode is very boring with no parts to unlock or anything its just race after race with no real progression…….. So I am going to start a new career……

First of all yes I like NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)…….. I was a huge NASCAR fan in the 90’s until the mid 2000’s……. I owned every NASCAR Game on the PC up to and including NASCAR 15…….. I still played NASCAR Racing 2003 Season all the time up until I moved to Linux last year…… And that to me is still the best NASCAR game ever made……. It still has a great modding 20 years later……. Which just shows how damn good that game really is…...

Once they introduced The NASCAR Playoff format I was out…… I never liked it and I never will like it…… And its a real shame cause NASCAR was damn good to watch…….

Now lets talk about the elephant in the room….. Dick Trickle was a real person……. And he was a real NASCAR driver competing in 303 NASCAR Winston Cup races and although he never won a race many people including Rusty Wallace regard him as being one of the [greatest drivers the sport has ever seen…….] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YucRTA9wzoc)

Even though he did not win any NASCAR Winston Cup Races he was an expert short track racer…… Winning many short races and championsips which included winning 67 races in 1972….. And winning seven ARTGO Championships in nine years between 1979 and 1987……… He kept competiting in the occasional short track race in his home state of Wisconsin well into the mid 2000’s……..

Dick Trickle was a legend of the sport and was widely known for smoking in the car during the race…..

He was also known for his great sense of humour (as you would need to have with a name like Dick Trickle)……. At the tender age of 48 (and a grandfather)……. Dick Trickle won the NASCAR Rookie Of The Year Award in 1989 after completing his first full season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series…….. During his acceptance speech he said "I guess I’d just like to thank everyone who gave a young guy like me a chance"……..

In 2013 after suffering from chronic pain for quite some time Dick Trickle took his own life at the age of 71…..

So in honor of the greatest drive to never win a NASCAR Cup race….. We will be doing the Dick Trickle career in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona…….. The main reason I picked NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona over the other NASCAR games listed above is that D2D has a great career mode……. Not only do you work your up through the different series but you also get to upgrade your car along the way using your race winnings to buy new engines, suspension kits, aero kits and exhausts…… This should be a much better, dynamic and fleshed out career compared to the boring MotoGP 08 career…….. So without further ado……. Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, let's go racin' boys…….


The career settings I will be using for the start of the career…… They can be changed at any point between race meetings……
“Endurance Race” means 50% race distance…… So a real life 500 lap race will be a 250 lap race in the career mode…… This is why I have 2x Wear for the tyres and fuel usage…..


NBC NASCAR Commentator Allen Bestwick introducing us to the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series…….


The tiny office is the first thing you see in career mode……


The garage area…..

Dick gets down and dirty to start his career as his career starts in the dart…… The NASCAR Weekly Racing Series……. A 10 race championship contested on nothing but dirt ovals….. The biggest difference here compared to the other series…… Well besides the dirt……. Is the way the qualifying and racing works…..

All 20 cars qualify as per normal…… But then are split into 2 Heats…… Odd position qualifiers in Heat 1 and Even position qualifiers in Heat 2…….

The top 5 finishes in each Heat go straight to the A Main……… While the other 10 cars are in the B Main…… But wait….. Theres more…….. The top 3 finishes in the B Main race go into the A Main race…….. And will start at the back of the A Main grid…… So the A Main will end up with 13 cars in it…… Got it??? Good……


Dick Trickles Dirt Car……. Dick is going to instill fear into his opponents with this livery…… Every mans greatest fear is a flaming dick……



Round 1 at Dundas County Fairgrounds…….


Dick at the track ready to race…….

After a nice practice session getting use to the very slow car it was time for qualifying…… And Dick Trickle managed to get around in a decent time and pushed the car into 11th position….. So as 11 is an odd number……. Dick Trickle will be in Heat 1…… Starting in 6th position…….


Hopefully for those a little confused by that……. This screenshot will help them……


Dick Trickle lined up ready to start his first career race…...

Sadly the 5 lap Heat 1 race was not great for Dick……. As he lost a position on the start and was not able to gain it back……. Ending up in 7th place….. So Dick will be in the B Main and has to race himself into the A Main…….


Heat 1 Results……..

In the 30 lap B Main Dick did his best to throw it all away……. He made a slight setup adjustment to the car and it did not work…… He was battling for the win in the B Main but had two terrible spins thanks to the bad setup advice Dick got…… But he managed to cling onto 3rd place in the B Main and that was enough to get him into the A Main in 13th and last position on the grid……


B Main Results…….

The 50 lap A Main was a better race for Dick……. He changed the setup of the car again reverting it back to almost the way it was before the B Main…… And that did the trick…… As Tricky Dicky was able to get 2 position in the early laps and was hunting down P10 for over 30 laps before getting him…….. Trickle was very determined to get 10th and during the battle Dirty Dick pit maneuvered Grant McBain to take over 10th position……. Trickle held onto that position and was able to get a top 10 on debut……. Dick did it the hard way having to race himself into A Main through the B Main……


A Main Results……


Winnings…… If you can call that “Winnings”……

Getting in the top 10 on debut made people take notice as Dick Trickle got some sponsors for the next race…… But he is a moron and forgot to take screenshots of them….. Hopefully next time Dick…..


NASCAR Heat Weekly……


Championship Standings after round 1……

Next race is at Kenyon Valley Speedway…….




NCAA Football 11 Steve Austin Road to Glory



This week the undefeated Boise State Broncos (6-0) are at home against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs….. (2-5)


Steve Austins rushing stats for the season…….

As per usual Austin spent one night studying and four nights training and all his new attribute points were put into acceleration……


Lee Corso picking the Boise State Broncos to beat the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs……....

The Boise State Broncos continued their unbeaten run and turning Albertsons Stadium back into the fortress it once was as opponents fear coming to the Smurf Turf knowing they are more than likely walking out with a loss……..

Steven Austin started strong with a 75 yard receiving touchdown…… His new acceleration boost has really helped him get on the outside of the defense and run freely down the sidelines….. From then one it was all one way traffic as Austin controlled the match…… All the QB had to do was get to ball to him by either passing it or handing it off…… And Austin would do the rest……

After leading 56 – 0 at the break…… The Broncos did not let up in the 2nd half as they continued to tear the Bulldogs defense to shreds for the entire game……… As Austin ended up with 9 rushing touchdowns and 6 receiving touchdowns…….

The defense continued their stellar run…. This time not allowing a single point and forcing 5 turnovers……. Including one pick 6……. As the Bulldogs had zero answers to the Offensive and Defensive pressure Boise State was applying to them………

In the end it was a true cricket score…… As Boise State ran out winners 126 – 0……..

The Broncos are now odds on favorites to win the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and are ranked highly to win the National Championship……...





Steve Austin in action….


Steve Austins rushing stats against the Bulldogs…….


NCAA Offensive and Defensive Players Of The Week…….


Steve Austin still #1 on the Heisman watch list……


Campus Gazette issue 10…...

Next game Boise State will be at home against the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Rainbow Warriors…..


NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona


Intro screen…...

Since im doing a career mode on this game I guess I should review it……..

This is a really great NASCAR Game….. One of the first NASCAR PS2 games to have a full field of NASCAR 43 cars on the track…… based on the 2002 NASCAR Season…… It cannot accurately recreate the 2002 season as it is missing 3 tracks….. Chcagoland Speedway….. Indianapolis Motor Speedway…….. And Pocono Raceway…….. This is mostly due to licensing issues…… But it makes up for it by having a ton of other features……. Not only are the 2002 Winston Cup Cars in the game…… But they have the Craftsman Truck Series Trucks…… The Featherlite Modified Tour cars and the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Dirt Track Cars……. There are also issues in the car department though…… While every car and truck is shaped to be a very close model of the real deal……. There are no manufacturer licenses so no Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford or Pontiac names or badges on the cars……..

From what I can tell….. the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series and Featherlite Modified Tour are all fictional drivers and liveries…… Which is to be expected…..

While the Craftsman Truck Series and the Winston Cup Series have a lot of real drivers and liveries* they also have quite a few fictional drivers and liveries to fill out the grid….. This was also expected around this time…… Even the mighty NASCAR Racing 2003 Season game did this exact same thing……

* - Some of the real liveries are edited to remove alcohol and tobacco sponsorship to keep the ESRB rating of E or Everyone…...

The handling is really well done for a 2002 PS2 game…… The vehicles in clean air feel weighty and planted like they should…… While a slight touch from another car can get them unsettled and spin quite easily…… Again as they should for the time…….. The handling model should be enough to please everyone except the most hardcore sim racers…….. Who in all honesty should be either playing NASCAR Racing 2003 Season or iRacing anyway……..

While the engine sounds arnt great they very much do the job and they still sound much better than what Gran Tourismo games did during the same time period…… The other sounds are really good with the tyre screeching being really nice……..

The “music” well from what I can tell there is one bit of music…… A forever looping guitar rift……. But thankfully its not bad and it is better than the Disney Sports never ending guitar rift……

The career mode is where the game really shines……. Its very well done and should keep you entertained for many hours…… You start in the dirt series and have to work your way up to the cup series…… But you also get money from racing……. And that money can then be used to buy upgrades for the cars…… there are four upgrade categories….. Engine, Suspension, Aero and Exhaust…… And each had multiple upgrades in them…… For example in the dirt series there are 7 different engines……. To afford all the good stuff you will need sponsors and you will need to meet their objectives to get paid……. The harder the objective the more money they will pay….. So you need to be careful…. No point signing a big money sponsorship if you cant complete the objective cause then you wont get any money from them……

The championships a bit shorter than their real life counterparts mostly due to missing some of the race tracks….. with the Dirt Championship being 10 races…….. Modified Championship being 11 races…….. Truck Championship being 14 races……. And the Cup Championship being 31 races…..

All in all this is a fantastic game and for my money this is one of the best NASCAR games in the PlayStation 2 era….. And it was also released on the Nintendo GameCube……. Only games that come close to this on consoles are the NASCAR Thunder 2003 and NASCAR Thunder 2004 games…….

If you are looking for a more authentic game with a complete a season with all tracks as well as car names and badges…. Then this might not be the game for you and you might want to look at NASCAR Thunder 2003 or NASCAR Thunder 2004 by EA Sports…… But if you want great fun with really good vehicle handling and a really deep multi series career mode……. This is the game for you……


NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Dirt Car


Featherlite Modified Tour Car


Craftsman Truck Series Truck


Winston Cup Series Car


Winston Cup cars in action at Dover…...

This week the weather is meant to be getting even hotter with the mercury nudging the 40 mark…… So I doubt I will be doing much this week….. Not that there is much to do around here at the moment…. I should get out there and mow the lawns at some point….. But then the sun should kill most of it off this week….. So it might not be worth it…… I doubt I will be walking much in the head and that means Rufus will be going on less walks as well…..

The Super Bowl 57 will on Monday (my time)…… So I will be watching that for sure…… Philadelphia Eagles vs Kansas City Chiefs……

Tecmo Super Bowl 2023 predicts Super Bowl 57…….

As for gaming there will be the usual NCAA Football 11 and more Dick Trick action NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. There will be yet another TMNT game..…… and most probably yet another Kirby game……

Well thats it from me…… Have a good week everyone……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
Lance is an uncommon name now days......…
But in medieval times people were named Lance a lot........
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*