Nellie returns to Golden State

At first, there were rumblings of a return to the sidelines. Now, the news is out: Don Nelson is coming out of retirement to once again coach the Golden State Warriors. Nellie previously coached the Warriors from 1988 to 1995, and then went to New York and Dallas.

Incidentally, the last time the Warriors were in the playoffs was when Nellie was at the helm over a decade ago.

For those unfamiliar with NBA history, the 66-year old coach orchestrated the frantic Warriors offense, which was powered by the trio of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin, collectively known as “Run TMC.”

Chris Mullin, now at the Warriors front office, is bringing Nellie back in and kicking Mike Montgomery out. The buyout of Montgomery’s contract wasn’t a surprise. After leading the team to identical 34-48 standings for two straight years, Mullin thought it was time to make some drastic changes.

The first step is to rehire Nellie. With the former Mavs guru back in his old post, expect another high-octane team that creates a lot of mismatches and several lineups.

To create these nightmare mismatches, expect moves to add big men who can shoot from outside (*cough* Nowitzki *cough*) to the core of Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, and Troy Murphy. I anticipate Nellie to also bring in a complementary cast of scorers that can run and shoot the three.

The focal point of Golden State’s offense will be the all-star Davis, who—like Nellie—loves to run. This would be perfect for the Warriors because Run TMC and Dallas had a marquee point guard in Tim Hardaway and Steve Nash, respectively.

While Nellie’s return is good news for the team’s offense, the defense might languish if much emphasis is placed on scoring. Can you spell Dallas? If this would be the case, a championship might be out of his hands.

Regardless of the implications, Mullin’s move was a very wise one. The Warriors’ playoff drought might just end soon enough.

Showing up

Another applicant for beat writer did not show up for the interview. That’s the third time in two weeks. When I ask people in HR, they say this happens all the time.

A person not showing up for an appointment is normal? Is this what our country’s top universities produce?

These people were phoned and asked politely if they could show up at a specific time, place, and date for an interview. They said yes.

No intricate requirements were given. All they had to do was show up. Was it more difficult than saying no?

Could it be possible that a last-minute emergency came up for all three of them in a span of two weeks?

And people say game journalists live a charmed life.

Final Fantasy is overrated

Flame bait? Not at all. Am I trying to be cool? Whatever for? I’m a journalist, and I’m self-assured. If I let every comment about what I say get to me, then I shouldn’t be in this line of work.

People say it has become “cool” to hate Final Fantasy in the Internet, and you might think I’m just jumping at the bandwagon.

Let me ask you this: could it be possible that we’re just viewing Final Fantasy with rose-colored glasses? Could it be possible that we’ve glossed over the experience and just remember the good memories?

I remember first playing Final Fantasy in the NES during the 90s, at the time blackouts were widespread in our country. There were actually daily schedules for the power outages, so we had to fully enjoy the electricity while it was available. I had to play the game for long stretches because of this.

I vividly recall FFVII, and that it almost made me cry. It was the first time I played a Final Fantasy game in 3D, and my jaw was glued to the floor whenever I saw the awesome cinematics.

Sigh. Those were the days.

When I recently played a succession of Final Fantasy games (VII, VIII, X, X-2), it all came back to me.

How could a game that frustrated you with a random battle for every few steps be terrific? I also recall paper-thin gameplay, stereotypical characters, and restrictive paths. To talk with people, attack monsters, cast spells, select dialogue options, and pretty much do any other activity, you press one button. Of course, you do that in tandem with the directional pad, so don’t get smart.

It wasn’t so terrific after all.

Granted, Final Fantasy games are good (I actually consider Tactics as “great”). Remember though, that “overrated” does not mean it’s terrible. It’s just not in the same level as say, Zelda.

When I hear about Final Fantasy news like its current craze in Japan, I felt that I just had to put in my $0.02. Then again, a lot of weird stuff happens there.

I’m not closing my doors to Final Fantasy, though. I look forward to part XII, which will be arriving later this year. The installment looks promising because it uses a different battle system, and random battles might be a thing of the past.

Here’s to change.

EA acquires SpellForce maker

GameSpot reported that Electronic Arts has acquired Phenomic, the German developer of the SpellForce, its expansions, and sequel. For those who’ve never heard of the game or developer (if you’ve a gamer, and you’ve never heard of EA, you’re hopeless), SpellForce is a PC game that mixes RTS and RPG elements, and delivers a fun combination.

According to GameSpot, EA will keep Phenomic’s management in place, and the developer will continue operating in Germany. The newly-acquired company will be named EA Phenomic.

EA is tight-lipped on the details of the acquisition, said the report.

This purchase will surely be good for Phenomic. Aspyr Media and JoWood Productions, the previous publishers of SpellForce, never really generated that much of a buzz for the titles.

Given the marketing muscle of EA, future SpellForce games could very well hit mainstream consciousness. After all, no matter how good a game is, if its publicity isn’t at an acceptable level, it won’t be selling much.

I just hope the acquisition would give EA Phenomic a better pool of voice actors because the voice work in SpellForce is atrocious.

Bowen gets cut from U.S. team

My boy Bruce got cut from the U.S. team. I learned this last night, and despite the group’s good showing against China, I’m still disappointed.

Granted that I’m a rabid Spurs fan for over a decade, I still don’t like it when you remove an elite defensive player from any lineup. Bruce is part of the NBA’s All Defensive Team for the past four years, and has consistently shut down key scorers.

They say Bruce was outplayed by fellow stopper Battier, but let’s not forget that Shane can also score, something Bruce isn’t really known for. Still, he is reliable in the clutch, and can make the crucial trifecta when you leave him open.

Remember: you can have too many scorers in a team, but you can never have too many defenders.

After glancing at the roster though, I begrudgingly admitted that the lineup was complete, and there might not be room for another “shooting” forward. It’s not like Krzyzewski would exchange ‘Melo for Bruce.

Though as a basketball nut (not as a Spurs fan), I would rather see someone like Bruce in the lineup because Carmelo doesn’t play the kind of D that I would expect from a championship team.

Oh well.

Would this U.S. team win the tournament? We still don’t know, and the exhibition games won’t be an accurate barometer for gold.

If the U.S. can acclimate well to the international rules, and continue their good shooting streak from beyond the arc, we just might see them getting top honors– despite Bowen’s absence.

Jane Jensen returns to adventure games

I’m a Gabriel Knight fan. I finished the trilogy, and am continually fascinated by everything that it touched. I dreamed of roaming the streets of New Orleans (pre Katrina, of course) under a pale moon, visiting Jackson Square while mimes follow me around, and perhaps walking in the bayou during St. John’s Eve, no matter how creepy it may be.

The news that Jane Jensen is returning to the genre electrified me because I needed closure that GK3 didn’t give, and I wanted to know more about her new game. What’s that again? Gray Matter? Strangely, it won’t be published by Sierra.

It’s unfortunate that despite efforts to petition a fourth installment for Gabriel Knight, Sierra and Jane Jensen remain unmoved.

While Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned wasn’t as good as its 2D predecessors (remember the maple syrup puzzle?), it was still a game about Gabriel, the Schattenjäger.

Nothing else is said about Gray Matter, Jensen’s new game, other than it’s being published by dtp entertainment (yes, it’s in lower case), it will be unveiled in the Leipzig games convention this month, and it’s coming out worldwide Q4 2007.

Will Gray Matter showcase vintage Jensen? We don’t know yet. I just hope she does away with the huge leaps of logic found in GK3 puzzles.

Perhaps a Schattenjäger cameo? Maybe I’m asking too much.