LucasArts and BioWare officially announced Star Wars: The Old Republic yesterday, confirming what many suspected for quite a while: that the long-time Star Wars rpg maker had plans to enter the MMORPG market and LucasArts was desperate to retry an entry into the market and needed a prestigious game company such as BioWare to make gamers listen. Well, LucasArts was right, and to prove it, the blogosphere is full of a relatively positive spin on the new game, despite the major failings of LucasArt’s prior MMORPG partnership with Sony dubbed “Star Wars: Galaxies”.

So what makes Star Wars: The Old Republic, any different? For starters, it’s made from scratch by BioWare, a company that has excelled at making involving Star Wars RPG’s. BioWare merely has to succesfully make the leap to making a stellar massive multiplayer RPG, and BioWare would have a formula that may dethrone the famed World of Warcraft as the top dog in the multi-billion dollar MMO market. In fact, the US market alone is nearing a $2 billion area, while the Asian MMO market is fielding almost $3 billion. Due to the international appeal of the Star Wars brand name, this could truly be monumental. The Star Wars appeal truly outdoes Warcraft’s in many regards: while Warcraft is well-known by gamers internationally, Star Wars is known by almost everyone in the world, gamer or not. Such an appeal could lure in new first-time massive multiplayer gamers, even in international markets.

Yet, due to the failings of Star Wars: Galaxies to net such a positive reaction, how can it be any different for BioWare’s attempt? First, “Galaxies” attempted to pull a fast one on gamers to make a quick buck. LucasArts was not heavily involved in the game-making process, and merely handed off a license to Sony to make the game. Sony then proceeded with the horrible idea of taking a medieval MMORPG engine, that of Everquest, and quite literally in some senses, repainting over the medieval settings to look like it was Star Wars. The more humorous aspect of Galaxies was in that, despite being a “Star Wars” game, at launch there was no space battle possible, and the possibility of being a jedi was negligible, and to top it off the combat involved little skill as it mostly involved auto-attacking, what many gamers call “sandwich combat”, in that you can click, set a target, begin attacking them, and then walk off to eat a sandwich while your character fights the enemy.

Indeed, if “Star Wars: The Old Republic” wishes to avoid these problems, BioWare must clearly address them and show how they are different from Galaxies in that regard.

It appeared the Dallas Mavericks were going to beat the Chicago Bulls again in the preseason. It turns out their fate was not so predictable. The Mavs started out strong, minimizing their turnovers and scoring quick in transition. The Bulls could just not keep up with the talent and speed of players like Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.

After the first half the Mavs were up by 16. One would think you really can’t lose a lead like that. But then in the third quarter the Bulls matched their scoring point for point.

Derrick Rose was really impressive as he scored thirty points! This was after coming off the bench. He also had seven assists. He is definitely going to be worth the 4.8 million dollar salary he is making. Great choice by the Bulls as he was able to guard and handle the ball against elite point guards like Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.

Another impressive player was Gerald Green. People in the audience were saying “who” when he was announced in the lineup. This is his first year with the Mavs and that is to be expected. But he put up fantastic numbers with 19 points and 2 rebounds. He also had a block and a steal to top it off. He may become a starter before you know it.

Dirk Nowitzki played like the all-star he is and had 26 points and 7 rebounds. Josh Howard also played well with 18 points and seven rebounds.

The Mavs again were struggling at the free throw line. They were shooting 52 percent, which is not acceptable in the NBA. The Bulls on the other hand were shooting 81 percent from the charity stripe. That easily could have made the difference in the game.

The Mavericks started taking out their best players in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Which was probably too soon. The problem was Derrick Rose was scoring at will and bringing his team back. Luol Deng was also scoring a lot alongside his teammates. Then Andres Nocioni started catching fire from the three point line. That is how comebacks start. I know it is preseason, but you want your team to work on closing out ball games.

There were also some missed calls by the refs. Dick Vivetta missed a crucial foul with minutes to go that would have given the Mavs to sorely needed baskets. Instead the turnover led to points on the other side. I seriously believe Dick Vivetta has it out for the Mavericks, as every game he has been in with them, they seem to lose ninety percent of the time.

Recently Marvel had replaced Terrence Howard’s role in Iron Man 2 with Don Cheadle. It sounds surreal merely to mention it, as Iron Man was such a box office hit, and replacing one of the main actors would seem to have the potential to destroy that recipe for success. The chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard was magnificent. It was one of the best on-screen adaptations of a comic, and any potential for disruption to the Tony Stark-James Rhodes on screen dynamic, could lead to a major suffering at the box office. Just the negativity of long-time comic fans who are displeased at this move alone could hurt box office in an unjustifiable way.

So what can Marvel be thinking? One scenario comes to mind, and if Marvel is following this game plan then they might be quite smart. If they aren’t following it, they may need to rethink their management. This strategy supposes they intended to keep Terrence Howard, but are losing a lot of money. By negotiating with a new actor, showing they can and are willing to replace him, and letting it be leaked (it was reported by the Hollywood Reporter but does not seem to be directly announced) that Don Cheadle would replace him; they have shown Terrence, who seems to have enjoyed the role, that there is a real threat of losing the blockbuster role.

If this was indeed elaborate negotiating tactics, and they manage to re-hire Terrence Howard for the part, then Marvel could expect double publicity helping to promote their film. That is publicity that Cheadle replaced him, and then publicity again if they were to re-hire Terrence Howard, which they certainly could do at a lower negotiated rate, having proven the willingness to remove him from the role. If they re-hire him, all the negative attention now directed at the Iron Man sequel would be lost, and many of the more devoted fans may even heap praise at the decision, thus creating positive publicity.

One can hope this all was a sophisticated negotiating tactic, for if it wasn’t, then Marvel is indeed making a big mistake. Don Cheadle simply doesn’t even look like a military man, much less can one anticipate the on-screen chemistry between the two to be anywhere near as sensational. Cheadle would look almost out-of-place in the role, much as if Wolverine in X-men were played by Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame. It simply cannot be imagined, but perhaps as Cheadle is a high-caliber actor who has performed quite well, maybe Marvel is betting Cheadle can pull off a stellar job in a role that already has super-high expectations for it, and if he does play the role, many fans will be quite skeptical going into the theatre. Certainly Cheadle will have to overcome quite a barrier in order to win over the fans with the replacement.

10. Philadelphia Eagles: While they may be struggling to win games, that doesn’t make their offense any less potent. Donovan McNabb is practically throwing over 200 yards a game. Rookie wide receiver Desean Jackson usually leads the way in stats for the wide out core. Their key divisional losses to Dallas and Washington were both less than a touchdown.

9. Atlanta Falcons: In his last game against Chicago, Matt Ryan threw for over 300 yards passing. He is impressing a lot of people with his skills as a rookie quarterback. Definitely a candidate for rookie of the year on offense. Atlanta has a good offensive line that gives Ryan plenty of time to make good decisions. Michael Turner has given excellent production at running back with three games over 100 yards rushing.

8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tied for first with Carolina in their division, Matt Gruden has yet again created a high powered offense with his Bucs. Now that they’ve finally found their quarterback in Jeff Garcia they can start winning more games. They could still use help in the receiving department, but it is enough to get by with for now.

7. Washington Redskins: Thanks to Clinton Portis the Redskins are third in rushing yards per game with about 158 per game. Also, Jason Campbell has really come to fruition as a quarterback and can hang with the big boys now.

6. Arizona Cardinals: They have the most points per game in the league with a 29.5 average. They are also second in the league for passing yards per game. Kurt Warner is starting to throw like he’s back in his glory days with the St.Louis Rams. Having Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin as receivers (before Boldin got hurt) really helps too. Warner’s stats may go down without Boldin.

5. Houston Texans: Matt Shaub and Andre Johnson are putting up great numbers this year. They’re just not good enough to win more games than they lose. Yes, the defense is to blame. Steve Slaton has also been a surprise, performing exceedingly well at running back.

4. Denver Broncos: They are atop of the AFC west division right now. Jay Cutler has been solid this year at quarterback and Brandon Marshall has been awesome at wide receiver. Although they got shutdown by the Patriots in their last game, they should bounce back fairly quickly.

3. Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys have the third highest passing yards per game average. They are unstoppable when Tony Romo and Terrell Owens are on a hot streak. Now they picked up Roy Williams from Detroit to compliment their receiving corps. Once Romo is back from his injury they should be picking teams apart with their passing game. The question is will their defense hold up so they can win games?

2. N.Y. Giants: The Superbowl champs are still looking like winners. They have the most rushing yards and points per game average in the league. Eli Manning is playing great this year, for the first few games was playing better than his brother Peyton. Brandon Jacobs is paving the way through the ground attack. The Giants are on top of their division and will have to fight the other contenders till the end of the season. There could be three teams in the playoffs from the NFC East.

1. New Orleans Saints: With about 310 passing yards per game the Saints are a fun team to watch. Now that Marques Colston and Jeremey Shockey are coming back, watch out! They could use improvement in their running game. Reggie Bush is a big threat as he has returned two punt returns for touchdowns in one game!

Anyone that had any doubts about the Texas Longhorns being at number one can now forget them. Texas showed that they were tenacious and not letting go of their position on top of the ranking charts. The last time Texas wowed me like this was when Vince Young won the National Championship.

I mean they made Missouri look like a division two team in the first half. Texas played near perfect football in the first half with no penalties. They scored touchdowns on five consecutive drives in the first half as well. I couldn’t count the times I was blown away by their amazing play. I couldn’t look away for a second it seemed. There was one play were Colt McCoy (QB for Texas) had the ball striped away and it scooped it up off the ground and completed a 15 yards or so pass. Astonishing!

I really felt bad for Missouri. It seemed like every time they got close to scoring something bad happened. Example, with two minutes and forty seconds left in the first half, Missouri went for it on fourth down near the end zone. Well their receiver caught it but stepped right on the white line that is out of bounds. During the Official Review as the referee spoke the mentioned receiver thought he was calling it his way and started clapping, but then hung his head when he heard “not a catch”. It was that kind of first half for Missouri. It was 35-3 at the end of the first half.

It seemed as if the only player playing decent was Jeremy Maclin, Missouri’s kick returner/wide receiver. He was getting about thirty five to forty yards per return. I kept wondering why Texas kept kicking the ball to him. An out of bounds penalty kick is better than him returning two kicks for touchdowns any day. For those of you who haven’t heard of him, he is one of the best returners in the country.

On the other side of the ball it seemed Texas could not mess up to save their lives. Mack Brown had told them to forget about their victory over Oklahoma last week and focus on Mizzou. They sure seemed to listen as all the players were making big plays. The defense was fired up as well as defensive coordinator Muschamp who could be seen multiple times hyper-happy when things were good, and super pissed when his defense gave up touchdowns.

Texas got good production from all three of their main running backs. Chris Ogbonnaya played great with 65 yards and two touchdowns (his highest of the season). Vondrell McGee had 58 yards rushing and Cody Johnson had a goal line touchdown.

Colt McCoy played amazing and broke the school career record for touchdowns with eighty two. He completed twenty nine of thirty two passes for a ninety percent completion percentage. Colt also had three hundred and thirty seven yards passing and two touchdowns. One can’t ask for much more than that from their quarterback. The final score was fifty six to thirty one, Texas with the victory.

These guys are always in the news. It’s almost like they’re starving for attention. Pac Man Jones just got suspended for four games for getting in a fight with his bodyguard at a hotel party. Jerry Jones knew the risks when he hired him on and now they are coming back like angry bees.

In the Cowboys game against the Cardinals, Romo fractured his pinkie on his throwing hand. Then Brett Favre called him yesterday saying he should play if he can help it. So since everyone’s idol is Brett Favre including Romo, Tony then tells his coaches he’s gonna play against the St.Louis Rams. Evidently he was throwing just fine in practice even with a splint on it.

Then I find out that the Dallas punter Matt McBriar injured his foot with the punt was blocked in overtime against the Cardinals. Losing a good punter mid season is never good. Who is gonna replace him? Some amateur punter from the Arena Football League. Who knows it could be you or me.

Felix Jones also pulled his hamstring and will be out for the game against the Rams. They will sorely miss him as he has been averaging about seven yards a carry. He is also a good compliment to Marion Barber’s style of rushing.

More craziness this week as the Cowboys sign Roy Williams for a bunch of draft picks, over three I believe (one first round pick). This may seem like a good fix in the short term, but Dallas could be missing out on some good draft picks this next draft. It seems like Jerry Jones is going for the Superbowl win this year or bust. It is better to think long term with most franchises. You always need young guys to replace the veterans eventually. Not to mention there will be two Roy Williams as there is already safety Roy Williams. The wide receiver Roy is from University of Texas, while the safety Roy is from Oklahoma. How weird is that? Can you imagine the practice sessions, “Williams you blew that coverage against Williams!”

I’m going to be a psychic and predict what could make this season crazier for the Cowboys. First, Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo get engaged after the next game against the Rams. Second, T.O. complains that Roy Williams is getting the ball way more than him. Third, the team is barely able to make the wild card, but ends up winning the Superbowl against…

The Jets (where Tony Romo plays and beats the man he grew up idolizing, an almost cruel fate indeed for both, as it is Favre’s last year more than likely and would suck all the joy out of the victory for Romo when Favre solemnly congradulates him).

10. Mark Mangino of Kansas belongs here for keeping his team with a winning record the past two years in a very tough Big 12 conference. They also won their bowl game against Virginia Tech last year. They currently have a 5-1 record and look to do well again this year.

9. For his second year at 23-3 coach Chris Peterson is doing extremely well with his Boise State Broncos. Not to mention his famous win against Oklahoma in the 2007 fiesta bowl. They are undefeated this year and could go to a bowl game this year again.

8. Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson has been coaching them since 2002 and doing a fine job. They have upset many big teams in the SEC throughout the years. They beat Auburn and South Carolina and play Georgia this week. They may knock them off too (at Georgia). You never know, if they keep up their pace they could be in the SEC championship game. But they’ve got a touch course to travel to get there.

7. Kyle Whittingham replaced Urban Meyer when the Utah Utes went 11-0. He has made a smooth transition as he is 3-0 in bowls so far. He also has a 6-0 record this year. In the Mountain West Conference they will have to face rivals BYU who are also undefeated. He could get coach of the year if they stay undefeated.

6. For a team that hasn’t had a winning record the past 6 years North Carolina Coach Butch Davis has turned them around. They are currently at 5-1 and have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way. They beat a ranked Connecticut team and showed they have the winning mentality.

5. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy who we have all seen rant in his press conferences. Despite all a that, they have gone from having 6 loss seasons the past two years to being 6-0. They may only have 3 losses at the most with games against Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Or they could shock the world and come out on top and make the National Championship. Wouldn’t that be something no one expected.

4. BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall is a third year coach with a 31-10 record with the Cougars program. His team and quarterback Max Hall are getting talked about more than they are used to. That’s a good thing for the cougars. They are 6-0 and have only their Utah rivals to face. Another bowl win and they may be wanting to shift to a better conference. Maybe the PAC-10 or something.

3. Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners. He has a great record with the Sooners at 97-22. Plus he has a 59-3 home record right now. They haven’t lost at home in two years. That’s home field advantage. Stoops is known for his risk taking quality of going for it when you don’t expect it. He’s not afraid to take a gamble to win ball games.

2. Alabama coach Nick Saban. Has NFL experience, although that didn’t go so well with Miami. However some coaches prefer college to the undisciplined players in the NFL. They are currently 6-0 and on track to be in the National Championship. Last year they went 6-6 so you know they are going to do better than that. They haven’t been to the National Championship since 1993 when they won it against Miami. The good thing for them is they’ve won 9 out of the 12 championships.

1. Texas Coach Mack Brown. He has a good recruiting track record with Colt McCoy and Vince Young among others. Plays in a fierce conference and always fields a good team. His team is ranked number one and just toppled OU in the red river shootout. Knows what it takes to win a National Championship. Since he won it recently in 2005.

This new video game to movie adaptation looks to be very intriguing. I actually didn’t think they would make a Max Payne movie. The great thing is they aren’t making it cheesey with the slow motion effects and overduing the guns and mayhem. They focus on the film-noir look and have a great trailer with exellent theme music. I wouldn’t have guessed Mark Walhberg would play Max Payne, but he’s good at playing tough/vigilante cops. Also Mila Kunis from That Seventies Show plays May Payne’s sidekick, so we’ll see how that goes. I have a feeling the director will keep this movie in line with the storyline and keep it realistic and gritty.

There is only one undefeated team in Conference USA. That team is the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. They have won all of their games and have a 6-0 record. If they continue at this pace they should be ranked in the top 25 by next week. An interesting fact is they have a quarterback David Johnson with the highest passer rating in college football at 204.45. That is an impeccable rating for Johnson and is an obvious key to their success. He has thrown 27 touchdown and only 7 picks. A big step up in performance considering the three previous seasons he was not starting for Tulsa. Their team also leads the league in points scored with 53.2 per game. I understand why their isn’t much hype and they haven’t been ranked just yet. Their toughest opponent so far has been Rice. For those of you that don’t know that is a football team and a food. There is even talk that if they go undefeated they may go to a BCS bowl game. Since they are not in a BCS conference, that will be up to each Bowl committee.

Its hard to say with the cheapest tickets going for almost $200 that those people got their money’s worth. They did get it, if you can put a price on awe-inspiring football. Some people are calling this #1 OU vs #5 Texas the greatest game they have ever seen. I still think the OU vs Boise State bowl game 2 years back was better because of all the trick plays plus the amazing comeback.

Texas started out looking like they were in trouble in the first half. They were trailing for the most part and couldn’t score at will like the Sooners seemed to be. The play that kept their morale strong was when Jordan Shipley returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. That sparked the team to keep their heads up and keep fighting.

Their were plenty of crazy plays such as when in the first half a ball was tipped from one receiver to his teammate receiver in the end zone. Also OU was just short of the goal line when they scored their first touchdown, but the refs called it a touchdown anyway. It was on a third down and Texas could have held them to a field goal if it weren’t for that.

The Sooners and Longhorns could not seem to get the ground game running for most of the game. OU averaged 1.8 yards a carry while Texas had 4.6 in the game. This was in part to Texas Running Back Chris Ogbonnaya busting a big 62 yard run just short of the end zone.

This was definitely a passing fan’s game. There was over 664 yards passing between these sworn rivals. Texas kept trying to establish the run and it almost cost them the gain. Both teams seemed to give up on the run by the fourth quarter.

The amazing thing was that Sam Bradford of OU had 5 touchdowns and 387 yards passing. Two interceptions tainted his stats slightly. But it must be depressing to work that hard and come up short of a victory. You almost had a sense if their were ties this should have been one of them.

This game is going to be an instant classic viewed over and over. It had two Heisman caliber quarterbacks and two teams ranked in the top 5 from the same conference. I doubt I will see a better game this year in college football. It was high scoring and hard hitting with plenty of trick plays and fake punts by Coach Stoops. It had something for everyone, and then some.