G'Day fellow tuxers……. Its Bruce your host here once again…….. Its a overcast Saturday here right now…….…… This week has been not really nice weather wise…….. Been a bit of rain around…….

Have not done much…… Mowed the lawns….. Took the dog for walks…….. Work……. And played video games……. So about the usual week for me……

I played a lot of Soccer games this week…… Dont know why……. Just felt like playing some soccer games….. I never liked the FIFA games on the PC and always preferred the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) games……. And that is the same on the PS2…… Even the “best” FIFA 14 on the PS2 is complete shite compared to PES…….

PES also went to shite from the PS3 onwards…….. There are some rare good ones like PES 2017 but in general Its amazing how the quality of games dropped like a stone after the PS2 era……… The days of the overly complex and unnecessary game engines and the release now and maybe patch later was upon us by that point……..

Konami changed the name of PES and its now known as “eFootball” and is a free game on steam…… And since its “Free” you know its gonna have a ton of micro transactions and its own currency that you can also buy on steam…….

EA Sports has just lost the FIFA licence…….. Deeming the FIFA licence to be to expensive…….. And its series of FIFA games are now going to be known as “FC” (Football Club) starting with FC24….. And while FC24 isnt out yet……. The previous few FIFA games have been shite as well…….

Both eFootball and FIFA/FC dont care about game play any more and the single player experience……. The AI is brain dead and its totally boring to play single player with sweet FA to actually do…….. Its all about the Ultimate Team crap and getting fat whales to buy card packs……..

Since soccer is almost the only sport with multiple games every year from different big budget publishers/developers……… It shows that sports games wont be magically fixed today by just having competition alone……. You need publishers that actually care…… And want to make a good game…….

Well that rant went on a bit longer than I expected…….. Anyway……...

[+..••] As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played [+..••]

Arcade

Wizard Fire (1992 Data East) - Beat 'em up


Console

Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (1992 Electronic Arts) - Sega Mega Drive - Shoot 'em up
FIFA 14 (2013 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation - Sports (Soccer)
ISS Pro Evolution 2 (2001 Konami) - Sony PlayStation - Sports (Soccer)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition (1995 Acclaim) - Sega Mega Drive - Sports (Basketball)
NFL Blitz (1998 Midway) - Nintendo 64 - Sports (Football)
PES 2014: Pro Evolution Soccer (2013 Konami) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Soccer)
Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (2003 Konami) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Soccer)
Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (2005 Konami) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Soccer)
Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (2006 Konami) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Soccer)
Rugby 08 (2007 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Football)
This Is Football 2005 (2004 Sony) Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Soccer)
TOCA 2 Touring Car Championship (1998 Codemasters) - Sony PlayStation - Sports (Racing)


PC

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002 Rockstar) – Steam (Proton) - Action
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) – Steam (Proton) - Sports (Racing)
WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship (2019 Nacon) – Steam (Proton) - Sports (Racing)
WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship (2021 Nacon) – Steam (Proton) - Sports (Racing)


Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 30
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 30
Featherlite Modified Series Season 1: Race 8

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series: Round 8 of 11 here at New Hampshire International Raceway……..



New Hampshire International Raceway…….


New Hampshire International Raceway is 1.058 miles long with 12 degrees of banking…… This track might only be a tad over a mile long…… But with big long straights and sweeping turns at each end…….. The cars can really stretch their legs…….. Horse power and lots of it is the name of the game here……. With plenty of room to move…… This should be a very fast and free flowing race…….

Dick Trickle wrapped up the Weekly Dirt Racing Series with ease during the week…… Dick has been true to word this season……. As he continued to dominate the Dirt Series winning both rounds 8 and 9……. Dick said he was not going to do what Josh Ginter did and have a championship hang over and he made sure that didnt happen as Dick Trickle has become the first back to back champion in Weekly Dirt Racing Series history…...


2004 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 8 of 10…...



2004 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 9 of 10…...


Dick Trickle comes to New Hampshire International Raceway as the first ever back to back Weekly Dirt Series Champion……. And after his dominating first career modified win last week……. Dick will be looking to make it back to back wins…… Jason Sulivan will be looking to stop the Dick domination and get himself back into the winners circle……

Its do or die time for last seasons champion William Anderson……. He NEEDS a win today or he can kiss goodbye to the 2004 championship……. Francis Lee and Joel York will also be desperate for a win to keep themselves in the championship hunt as well…….

With four races left its getting to the business end of the season……. Lots of drivers are desperate for a win to stay in the championship hunt…...

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.…


Dick spent a good chunk of the practice session trying to sort the car out to run through the turns how he wanted…… These fast turns at each end of the track are critical to running good lap times and Dick was determined to get that right……

Qualifying was up next…… And Dicks hard work paid off as he set a sensational lap time of 30.096……. To set the fastest time…… 0.6 seconds ahead of championship leader Jason Sulivan with a time of 30.668……

Third was Francis Lee with a 31.142……. Followed by Joel York in fourth who set a time of 31.427……. Rounding out the top five is last years champion William Anderson with a decent time of 31.879 …….



Qualifying Results........



Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the race......


Once again Dick Trickle led the field to the green flag for this 50 lap race…… Again Jason Sulivan got about a half car length jump on Dick…… And Dick was forced to use the grunt of that new again yet again to reclaim the outright lead by turn one…….

Jason Sulivan was in second with Francis Lee right behind in third…….. Joel York and William Anderson continued their year long feud……. As they were again having a great battle over fourth….. William Anderson is desperate for a win at this point….. So he will need to dispose of Joel York quickly to keep in touch of the top three…..

Francis Lee was this time taking the fight to Jason Sulivan as the two began to fight over second place…… As the two traded positions over the next few laps…… Dick was able to get a decent margin over both of them……. His car driving well around the New Hampshire track…..

As Dick got to the lapped traffic the wide open nature of this track was making passing them a breeze….. As he was losing no time to the traffic at all……

Joel York and William Anderson continued their fight for fourth……. With neither man getting the upper hand in the first half of the race……. William Anderson could see his championship title slipping away as Dick came up to lap them both well before the half way stage of the race…….

As we approached the half way stage of the race…… The fight for second had ended as Jason Sulivan had used the lapped traffic to perfection to block Francis Lees charge……. And without the pressure from behind Sulivan was able to get into a nice rhythm and put a decent gap between himself and Lee……

Out in front and Dick was having no problems with the car the track or the traffic as he was about to lap second place Jason Sulivan…… The Klipsch Modified Flaming Dick Machine looked like it was on rails as he went around the circuit……. And he had no trouble lapping Sulivan who had no way to stop the hard charging Dick…...

Joel York had broken away from William Anderson and was in a comfortable fourth place during the back half of the race……. Anderson who was in fifth just has had no answers this season and his title hopes are all but over in things finish as they are……

With 10 laps to go the final five were almost set with big gaps between the five of them…… Further down the field Andy MacNamera and Dicks good friend Luis Rivas were having a great battle over eighth place…….

Andy MacNamera got the upper hand when he was able to use the lapped car of Phil Shields as a pick to block out Luis Rivas……. And with just a handful of laps left……. Luis Rivas did not have to time to catch back up…..

As the chequered flag waved for the race winner…… Dick made it two wins in a row……. As he took a commanding win in front of the huge crowed here……

Jason Sulivan had to settle for second as he couldnt match Dick in a head to head battle and finished 1 lap down to the winner………

Third was Francis Lee who couldnt maintain the early pace he had for the entire race and fell off in the back half to finish 2 laps behind the winner…….

Fourth was Joel York who broke away comfortably to take a well deserved top five finish 2 laps behind the winner…….

And rounding out the top five is last years champion William Anderson whos championship hopes are all but gone now…… He came here needing a win…… And could only get a disappointing fifth place……. He might not be mathematically out of title race…… But he would need both Jason Sulivan and Dick to DNF two races to be in the title hunt……..



Race Results..…


After the race Dick celebrated his win with a victory lap and a nice big burnout in front of the main grandstand…… As you can see that is one very excited and happy Dick…… Well maybe not see as he has disappeared in the cloud of tyre smoke from the huge burn out…….. I think hes still going…...

In contrast William Anderson sat in his car in the paddock area…….. Trying to work out where it all went wrong this season……. With seven top fives from the eight races so far this season…… William Anderson has not driven badly at all…… But hes just lacked that bit of pace that saw him take many wins last season…….. I think a lot of soul searching will be done during the off season in the Anderson camp…….

The smoke finally cleared after Dicks burnout he was able to find the winners circle……. And made his way over……. Yelling and screaming with joy as he parked the car and turned off the engine….. I managed to get a word with Dick after he exited the car and got a kiss from from his wife Pussy Galore…..

“TWO IN A ROW MURRAY!!!!!…... WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO…….. This should put us around 100ish points behind Jason Sulivan……. He did finish second today…… But his luck has to run out soon…… And when it does I will be there to take the win and close that gap right up……”

“I need to thank my crew and sponsors they have been wonderful this season and to put the Klipsch Modified Dick Racing Machine in the winners circle two races in a row…… Shows just how great this team is….. [Jason] Sulivan has been on another planet for most of the year……. And now that we can not only match him but beat him…… Shows just how far we have come in such a short amount of time…….”

“Back to Welch Valley Racing Complex next week…… I wont be having the same tyre problems I had there back in Round 3 when I had the over heating tyre issue…… I have the new suspension now that will stop that from happening……… So im hoping to learn from the past and get the win I lost there last time…….. I need to keep the pressure on [Jason] Sulivan to hopefully force a mistake out of him”

Dick then celebrated his win by making Pussy Galore all wet and sticky as he sprayed her with champagne…….

Next week the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series heads to Welch Valley Racing Complex…….. A return to road course racing for the Modified Series……. As Dick mentioned in the interview…. He had an over heating tyre issue that cause him to drop from the lead all the way down to fifth place…… Can he go all the way this time around and take the win???…….. Can Jason Sulivan bounce back and take a win to stop the Dick domination????

With only three races left….. Its do or die time for Francis Lee and Joel York who need wins to keep their slim championship hopes alive……. Can they do it or will the road course be a road curse for the both of them????…...

Tune in next week for the answers to all these questions and more….. Exclusively here on Left Turn Heaven……..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


Winnings.…



NASCAR Heat Weekly.…



2004 Modified Series Championship Standings after round 8 of 11.…







First lap Modified Dick action....


Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf…...




The graphics are really nice for the time…….. It is in isometric view……. The Apache helicopter looks really nice……. And enemy looks nice too….. The helicopter is so high that the little men look like ants which is a nice touch……

Sounds are well…… They are there……. There is no music during the gameplay and there is limited music between missions……. The helicopter sounds woeful and the guns/missiles sound very weak……. This is a very weak area of the game……. It really needed some of this…...

Controls are ok……. D-Pad moves the helicopter….. A B and C shoot the different guns and missiles……. Its works out……. You cant controls the elevation of the helicopter it stays at one elevation throughout the mission…….. And automatically lands and takes off in the landing zones…….. Nothing special……. But it works well…….

There is not a real over arching storyline……. Besides a very heavily implied Gulf War storyline….. The main bad guy is a dictator by the name of Kilbaba……. And he is for all intense and purposes Saddam Hussein……. He invades a neighbouring country in the Persian Gulf…….. And starts fortifying his territory……. Kilaba has also kidnapped April O’Neil who was on location investigating giant mutant sandworms…….

In response the US sends in a single Apache Helicopter……. To infiltrate and destroy Kilbabas forces…… In a series of a strikes……. Desert Strikes…….

The gameplay is good fun…… There are a total of four missions…… And each mission has several objectives to complete……. Which are mostly just to destroy something on a very large map……. Flying around is great fun and destroying power stations and airfields and co is very fun and rewarding…..

Overall this is a really damn good game only let down so its very poor sound design……. The graphics are really nice for the time……. The controls are very good too….. The storyline does it job…… Its well worth a play through……

My final score for Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a Ride Of The Valkyries out of 10……...


Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf…..


Next week…… depends on the weather I might do some more stuff around the house…… Its Fathers Day here tomorrow so Ill have to spend some time with the old man……..Besides that it should be a pretty quiet week…...

As for gaming there will be more hardcore modified Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. Getting down and dirty in WRC 10…….. And I will be going on another Strike…….

Well thats it from me…… Hope all you tuxers have a good week……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
A policewoman came up to me and said I was under arrest on suspicion of being good in bed…….. After 30 seconds all chargers were dropped due to lack of evidence…...
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*