Castlevania: LoS Done

Finally,

25 hours or so gameplay to finish the game.  Estimated.

30/30 life gems collected

30/30 shadow gems collected

30/30 light gems collected

All artwork purchased

440 achievement points.  What a drag.  Granted, I played the easiest difficulty, but still, it was a significant time investment.  I suppose I could start going for trials, but I really don't want the frustration of trying to beat the Ice Titan in 1.5 minutes. 

 
I can still go back and get the six brotherhood arks I'm missing.  This, in turn, may get me enough xp to buy the last two combos I need.  All in all, it was a great game.  I think the twist with Captain Picard at the end was expected, but not the BIG twist involving the murder of Gabriel's wife - which could make the prequel DLC interesting.  The epilogue cut scene was interesting - and could open up some interesting gameplay in the other DLC coming.  I was able to pick it up for $20 on a sale.  Well worth the price - had I known that the game would be so good, I would have bought it sooner.

In other news - Sebadoh is touring.  They've got to be my all time favorite 90's Indie rock band.  Seems they'll be playing Bakesale and Harmacy (their 2 most commercially accepted albums) in their entirety.  I hope they do some more in addition to those two albums.  Anyway, with the Flaming Lips touring in May, and Sebadoh in March, I'll feel like an angsty 20-something again for a couple nights this spring.

Sam Keller is taking on EA and the NCAA.  Here's the skinny:  Sam Keller, former college quarterback at Nebraska is miffed that his likeness was used in NCAA Football games but he received no compensation for it.  For those who have played these games, he's basically right.  Sure, there are no names, as they are NCAA amateur athletes who don't get paid (with the exception of Scam Newtwon of course).  The player models don't really resemble the players very well - I can't look at a player in NCAA Football and say "that's Sam Keller!".  Sure, they get the basics right most of the time - he's black, he's white.   However, they typically get the number, position, hometown, height, weight,  year in school and expected stats right.  In short - you know full well who the player is.  A quick roster update and QB #9 is now Sam Keller. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this lawsuit.  On one hand, I'm sure that the NCAA has some verbiage in some sort of document a player has to sign when they matriculate, which says something like "your likeness is the property of the member institution and the NCAA" - something like that.  However, is this sort of thing covered under fair use?  I'm sure the NFLPA would take offense if they were cut from Madden and the players came with everything but name.  From a selfish gamer perspective, I would be beyond pissed if we just got randomly generated rosters when you started a season or dynasty.  Part of the fun of NCAA is playing the game in July with the team that will be taking the field in early September.  I don't see how EA could compensate 85 players on 120 FBS schools.  There has been mention of money being held in escrow to be paid to the athlete when their eligibility is exhausted, but I don't know how that could work.  

This will inevitably lead to the discussion - should athletes be paid.  As a fan of big time SEC football, I don't see a problem with it, but big picture wise, it doesn't work.  I would wager that there are maybe 10 - 20 athletic departments in the country who would be able to sustain a pay system - perhaps just for revenue generating programs.  This of course, will lead to Title IX issues and more of a mess.  In short, paying players cannot work. 

So, what will come of the Sam Keller thing?  Will this impact the NCAA Football video game franchise?