Goodbye, No. 1: Derrick Rose Has Left the Windy City

April 28, 2012, turned out to be much more important than I expected.

I was sitting on a concrete floor at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont when I got a call from Jason, one of my best friends, my number-one NBA contact and a huge Bulls fan. I knew Chicago was playing its first playoff game of the year, hugely favored as the 1-seed hosting 8-seed Philadelphia, and I figured he was calling to revel in the first blowout of a great postseason.

That was not why he called.



I didn't see the play until that night because I spent April 28, 2012, at Anime Central - my first convention, and the start of an obsession that's still going strong.

Tuesday, that obsession officially outlived the Derrick Rose era in Chicago.

After eight seasons, seven playoff appearances, five playoff series wins, four playoff series losses to LeBron James alone, two epic showdowns with the King and a (mostly undeserved) Most Valuable Player award, Rose left the Windy City via a trade to the New York Knicks.

I've owned a Derrick Rose shirt since 2013, when I was still convinced Rose could return to form and lead the Bulls back to the promised land. Shortly after, I figured out what I believe to this day: there's just too much baggage for that to ever happen. A month ago, I bought a Jimmy Butler shirt and prepared for the inevitable.

It still hurts. I still remember the Bulls pulling off the most unlikely NBA Draft Lottery win of all time - 1.8 percent! - to draft the prodigal son first overall. I still remember watching his epic coming-out party, when the Rookie of the Year pushed the defending champion to the brink, during my weekend shifts at Illini Tower's dining hall.



I still remember the 2010-11 season that brought the Bulls their best record since Jordan, the highlight of a tough year for me straight out of college, and I still remember when the Bulls became America's team in an epic Eastern Conference Finals confrontation with LeBron less than a year after "The Decision." I still remember watching the deciding Game 5 at the Register-News, where I had been a bewildered cub reporter for four months but would later launch my career.

But the strongest memory is still that day in 2012, when it all started to go down the tubes. There was still the odd highlight - the incredible triple-overtime win almost exactly a year later when Nate Robinson did his best Rose impression en route to a gritty series victory over a stacked Nets team, and the 2015 Cavs series when Rose looked like Rose again in a dramatic Game 3 finish but came up short to LeBron yet again.



Even during those moments, I knew he couldn't be amazing again. I knew injuries had sapped his eye-popping athleticism and the confidence that let him blaze into the paint like a lightning bolt and finish with a soft touch. I knew, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shoot or defend well enough to become a modern 3-and-D wing, and I knew his ego would never let him step aside and let Butler take his rightful place on the throne. And, through it all, his next injury was never far.

Bulls O-Rating last season with Derrick Rose on the court was 104.6.

It was 105.2 with him off the floor.

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) June 22, 2016

Bulls opponents scored 108.5 points per 100 possessions w/ Rose on the floor.
They scored 104.4 pts per 100 possessions w/ Rose on the bench

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) June 22, 2016

Over the last couple years, trading Rose has been a rallying cry for my Bulls fandom, the only way I could see for the team to move on from 2010-11, embrace Coach Fred Hoiberg's run-and-gun style and compete in the Golden State era. I wore my new no. 21 shirt for the first time during Game 7 of The Finals, expecting to see the Warriors win it all again and reaffirm my belief that unloading Rose was the best step forward.

That didn't happen either, as the still-raging celebration in Cleveland can attest. But I remain convinced this trade was the right thing for both sides. The best we can hope is that Derrick finds his sea legs at Madison Square Garden and fulfills the promise we all saw in him - but, of course, never besting his hometown team.

E3 HYPE TRAIN 2.0: Games of Show

It's over!

E3 2016 is in the books, bringing tons of highly-anticipated games, some new hardware and, of course, a few piping hot dank memes. But which titles, you ask, left the biggest impression on your humble blogger?

I'm so glad you asked.

Top 10
10. Scalebound

I bumped Scalebound from an early draft of this list because it felt too safe - it's a beat-em-up, even if it's a gorgeous and imaginative co-op beat-em-up - and then later because it felt too risky - I've never played a Platinum game despite some near-misses, and, as this list will prove, I'm very loyal to developers. But then I watched the E3 demo again, and the sheer HOLY CRAP THAT'S COOL factor earns Scalebound a place. Here's hoping the sound and fury signifies something.

9. Steep

The word I keep coming back to with Steep's E3 showing is fresh: fresh concept, fresh presentation and, perhaps, most importantly, a breath of fresh air amongst the kill-dudes-with-guns games that permeate this show every year. I haven't the foggiest idea if the game will be fun to play - I'm encouraged by the few savory whiffs it gives off of SSX, Pilotwings and Tony Hawk - but I'm intrigued enough by the design and aesthetic that it seems like a regular Twitch watch at worst.

8. Titanfall 2

Titanfall 2 is anything but fresh, but it's a whole bunch of other things I like as a sci-fi first-person shooter with rock-solid mechanics and a single-player campaign (finally!). It's a bit of a bummer that it's not from the Half-Life emergent school of design, but Respawn knows how to design a rollercoaster-ride mission better than anyone in the business, and they've got an awful lot to prove with this one.

7. Prey

I'm stoked about Arkane Studios' newest game less because of what was shown at E3 and more because of what was said; you'd never know it from the tone poem embedded above, but Prey is a sort-of alternate history version of Bioshock, in the sense that both are intended as sequels to the legendary (and super-dated) System Shock 2. I'm a sucker for cleverly-written near-future games with emergent gameplay, and for Arkane in general, so even a meager taste of Prey gets me very excited.


6. Spider-Man

THE DEVELOPERS OF RATCHET AND CLANK ARE MAKING THE NEXT SPIDER-MAN GAME. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. It is, however, a chance to revive the spirit of the best non-Arkham superhero game ever, Spider-Man 2, with the A+ web-slinging mechanic intact and the D+ combat Batman-ized and fleshed out. With any luck, we won't have to wait for it any longer than the July 7, 2017, release of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

5. Detroit: Become Human

My biggest surprise of E3 probably shouldn't have been: I've been a fan of Quantic Dream and David Cage from afar for years, and Detroit has been in the public eye since last fall. Still, what I saw during Sony's presser blew me away; had Heavy Rain or Beyond: Two Souls looked this slick, this original, this dramatic on stage, I may have played them instead of letting them languish on my shelf. If Detroit fulfills its potential, I won't make the same mistake this time.

4. ReCore

Some critics are upset ReCore looks like nothing revolutionary in the gameplay department, but I couldn't care less; if Keiji Inafune and Armature Studios' latest is just a mashup of their greatest hits - Mega Man and Metroid Prime, remember - with a kickass heroine (Joule), adorable dog robots and unmistakable style, I'll be more than happy to buy it, especially at the bargain price of $40.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild


It took a solid 30 minutes of Nintendo's stream Tuesday for me to shake off the "blah more Zelda" feelings I had left over from Skyward Sword and realize what I was seeing: Breath of the Wild is the evolution of Zelda design I've been waiting for, from its secret-laden open world Hyrule - which is gorgeous, in fine Zelda tradition - to its new crafting, climate, climbing and survival mechanics (and mini-map!). Those features are hardy groundbreaking, but if they're executed with the polish Nintendo EAD is known for, this is a sure-fire Game of the Year (2017) contender.



2. Horizon: Zero Dawn


Zelda's fiercest competition in that category could be Horizon, which, rather than not showing up as I predicted, showed off in a big way Monday evening. Not content to simply be a gorgeous game with an original setting and a ton of narrative potential, Horizon came with mechanics that are both extremely cool - did you see her ride that metal dinosaur? - and extremely practical, like slowing down the menu pop-up but not completely pausing it. I'm not sure Guerilla can nail enough of those great ideas to make Horizon a classic, but at a lot of E3's, just the possibility would have made this my game of show.



1. Dishonored 2


Most E3's, though, don't feature a Dishonored 2: A sequel to one of my favorite games of all time that looks like it will fix its predecessor's biggest problems (predictable story, boring protagonist) while doubling down on what made it exceptional in the first place, from clever branching gameplay paths to an inspired and lovingly-realized setting to rock-solid stealth mechanics. If I could have one game shown at E3 right now, it would be Dishonored 2. And it's not especially close.



Bonus Round!



CUPHEAD IS A PLATFORMER NOW! It still doesn't have a release date.


Everything you would expect from a $30 Destiny expansion, and nothing more - including no E3 press conference presentation and no summer live event. I'm excited to play Rise of Iron, but if you weren't a fan before this trailer, I doubt that you are now.








Hey, I don't have to buy new hardware or a new game!


Props to Capcom for daring to reinvent one of their biggest franchises (again), even if the result doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.




I want so badly to believe in Watch Dogs 2. I just can't yet.

Other assorted E3 thoughts (congrats for making it this far!):

• I seem to be in the minority on God of War, the PS4 reboot of Kratos' adventures that seems to have stolen liberally from The Last of Us. I loved LoU, so I feel like I should be all for that, but nothing in any previous God of War suggests Sony Santa Monica should lift or is even capable of lifting from Naughty Dog's PS3 opus. Color me very skeptical.
• I don't know what the hell Death Stranding is, and neither do you. Let's maybe wait for it to turn into something remotely recognizable as a game before we start the KOJIMA'S REVENGE engine. (Also: this video is the most Kojima thing that ever Kojima-ed)

• Days Gone is exhibit A in this tweet.

Gaming really is Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, isn't it? #E32016 #PlayStationE3

— Derek Beigh (@derekbeigh) June 14, 2016

• On a related note: I'm convinced VR is a big part of gaming's future, but this was not the E3 that proved it. VR needs originality like crazy, and I didn't see much at this show.
• Who wanted a Halo Wars sequel, exactly? Anybody? Bueller?

E3 HYPE TRAIN 2.0: Xbox One Owners Get The Shaft

Coming out of this morning's Microsoft E3 2016 press conference, I keep coming back to one conclusion: we should all sell our Xboxes.

Not because it was a bad showing. On the contrary - ReCore looks as cool as I could have hoped, Scalebound looks even cooler and has co-op, and even washed-up old Gears of War (now on #4, which is actually #5) got me excited to play Microsoft games coming soon. But it's obvious the Xbox One I bought last year, which released in just 2013, will be the absolute worst way to do that.

Here's what we could do instead:

1. Buy an Xbox One S

Personally, I'm not interested in Xbox One S, which follows a long and storied tradition of releasing sleeker, feature-enhanced retools of consoles halfway through their life cycles. Other than 4K video, the differences between S and the Xbox I own are bells and whistles like a smaller frame and integrated power source. If you want to spend $300 on those, more power to you, but read on first.

2. Buy a new gaming PC
Play Anywhere will make PC gaming better than ever, but it's taking most of Xbox's appeal with it.

Debuted this morning, Play Anywhere is a new service from Microsoft that lets customers play selected games on Xbox One or PC, transferring save data and playing with the same friends on both. The more-important implication of this is that every new Xbox One exclusive is now a PC game too. Had I known that would happen, I wouldn't have bought an Xbox One in the first place.

This is probably what I'll do, especially because I have not only a PC but PlayStation 4 and Wii U - which have actual exclusive games. I would recommend it to most people who don't have those.

3. Wait for Project Scorpio
The only exception is if you're determined not to fiddle with the notoriously-finicky PC gaming scene. Then you can feel good about your Xbox One or Xbox One S purchase, right?

Yeah, not really.

Every Xbox owner should be terrified by "beyond generations."

That's because of Project Scorpio, which is due fall 2017. Not Xbox Two, Scorpio promises to use the same games and accessories as Xbox One and Xbox One S but deliver a higher-fidelity experience, and this upgrade's actually for real: better graphics, higher frame rates and an all-around better gaming experience.

Scorpio is an unprecedented step for a console manufacturer, but it should sound awfully familiar to anyone who owns a smartphone (so basically anyone). After all, iPhone 6 is pretty much the same device as iPhone 4; what's the problem with bringing that model to consoles?

The problem is that smartphones are, for most of us, not a luxury purchase like an Xbox. Even if you don't use it for work, your smartphone can do literally millions of things - send and receive phone calls and text messages, run myriad other communication apps, shoot photos and video, track physical activity, serve as a quick-and-dirty VR headset, and oh yeah, play games. You can even make a feature film on the damn thing.

To impose the same cost structure on a device with a fraction of the utility is a horrible proposition for consumers. Do you really want to buy another $400 Xbox every three years?

Microsoft knows this: it insists "nobody will be left behind" when Scorpio comes out, that it will be a luxury device for the Xbox player who doesn't mind laying down a little extra cash for the premium experience. The problem is that Microsoft is either lying or hopelessly naive.

Suppose every Xbox One game is actually released for both Scorpio and the base system - and previous upgrades like the New Nintendo 3DS heavily suggest that's not true. They certainly won't be optimized equally. How did that work out for Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor?

If Microsoft is really devious, they'll follow another part of that iPhone upgrade process:

1. Consumer buys iPhone 1.
2. Consumer buys Game A for iPhone 1.
3. Consumer moves on to Games B, C, and on.
4. iPhone 2 and 3 are released.
5. Customer buys iPhone 2 or 3.
6. Games X, Y and Z aren't compatible with iPhone 1.
7. No one notices because they don't have iPhone 1 anymore.

The problem, of course, is that customers don't think about video game consoles like phones, which are evolving rapidly, more prone to break and thus better candidates for rapid replacement. We want consoles to just work, for as long as possible. Step 7 is absolutely not going to happen with Xbox.

The takeaway is this: If you're interested in Project Scorpio, you should not buy a new Xbox One or S, and consider divesting yourself of your old Xbox ASAP. And if you are, you should buy Scorpio knowing Microsoft is likely to release another incremental upgrade in the near future.

And it will be your fault.

E3 HYPE TRAIN 2.0: What I Want to See

Seeing Salvador and friends again would be a great way to celebrate gaming's biggest week.

E3 is back!

A week before the convention officially begins June 13, news had already started trickling out Monday, and it hasn't stopped.

That said, let's waste no more time before my most-anticipated games of video game Christmas:

(For comparison's sake, here's last year's pre-show post; my coverage of 2015's press conferences; and my personal games of show.)

Honorable Mentions
Crackdown 3, Gears of War 4, Mighty No. 9 and Resident Evil 7
The proof will be in the pudding. E3 is not the pudding.

Star Wars: Battlefront DLC and Titanfall 2
Add a single-player campaign and we'll talk.

Metroid Prime 4 and/or Super Metroid 2
I still believe!

skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet

Bioshock, Burnout, Kingdom Hearts 3, Psychonauts 2, Visceral Games' Uncharted-style Star Wars game, Tacoma and Tomb Raider 3
I'd be thrilled to see any of these at E3. I'd bet on seeing none.

Left 4 Dead 3, PokéMMO, Pokémon Snap 2 and Portal 3

Half-Life 3
Last year I wrote of a third Half-Life, "We're at 'Cubs win the World Series' levels of don't-hold-your-breath." Now I'd bet on the World Series.

Top 10
10. ReCore
Not much has changed for ReCore, Microsoft's exclusive post-apocalyptic girl-and-her-robot-dog game from the makers of Metroid Prime, since E3 2015. That includes my excitement for it amid a sea of dudes-shooting-stuff-alone games. Here's hoping we see gameplay and a 2016 release date Monday morning.



9. Lego Dimensions 2
Conversely, everything has changed for Lego Dimensions since last June, when I blew it off as another toy game that would knock my beloved amiibo off the shelves. I suppose that's still true, but Dimensions turned out to be the first game in its genre to do three critical things: make the physical portion fun and interesting, innovate on a gameplay level and include Back to the Future characters. Here's hoping the inevitable annual sequel lets me re-use last year's portal without re-using the same mechanics.

8. Horizon: Zero Dawn
Monday's delay dampened my enthusiasm for Guerilla's robot-dinosaur archery simulator just slightly; with a February release date, it's a lot less likely we'll see gameplay, and the fact that the delay came with an amazing trailer suggests the game might not be shown at all. I expect a brief teaser at Sony's conference Monday night but no big media blowout for Horizon until early next year.



7. Cuphead
I almost moved Cuphead into honorable mentions, but I can't deny, as familiar as I am with it from E3 2015 and a hands-on demo at PAX, that this is one of my most-anticipated games not just of the conference but of all time. Even as a co-op bullet-hell boss-fight extravaganza rather than a platformer, Cuphead can't be beat for beauty, potential and straight-up style. If it released during E3 - as I predicted last year - my June would be made.

6. Mass Effect: Andromeda
We still know basically nothing about this game other than it will have a big showing at EA's show-opening presser on Sunday, but, three years after we all got pissed at Starkid, I'm still anxious for another Mass Effect. With Star Wars back in a big way, this would be an excellent time for Bioware to dramatically reinvent what's always been an exceptional rip-off.



5. Watch Dogs 2
My best-case scenario for Watch Dogs is the Assassin's Creed model: an underwhelming freshman effort followed by a sophomore smash. (We'll overlook for now the subsequent years of mediocre sequels and potentially disastrous film adaptation.) Like Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs has a killer premise - hackers fighting back against a near-future totalitarian regime - a gigantic budget and potential to spare. If Ubisoft sticks the landing, this is a game-of-the-year contender. Our first taste isn't far away: Wednesday morning.

4. Borderlands 3
Like Dishonored 2 last year, this is a shot in the dark, but an educated one: after Battleborn released this spring, Gearbox Software no longer has any games in development that we know of, and, with all due respect to Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem, their next priority should be the next in their bestselling co-op shooter/RPG series. I suspect the powers that be know gamers have forgotten about the blah Pre-Sequel and will welcome the first true next-gen Borderlands with open, gun-zerking arms. (But please, no golden keys this time.)

3. The Legend of Zelda Wii U
Zelda, on the other hand, is the game I'm most certain we'll see a lot of at E3, and with good reason: Nintendo knows this is the game that will drive whatever remaining Wii U sales they're lucky enough to grab, and, with teases at two previous E3's and an announced 2016 release date, it's time to open the vault and show off what EAD has been working on since Skyward Sword. Good or bad, Zelda will be a huge topic of conversation after Nintendo's not-a-Direct presentation Tuesday.

Pretty.

2. Dishonored 2
After underestimating how much I would dig seeing the sequel to my 2013 game of the year at last year's E3 (Rise of the Tomb Raider turned out to be pretty damn good, too), I won't make the same mistake with my favorite title of 2012. Dishonored is nearly everything I love about video games:  clever mechanics, useful and realistic level design and emergent gameplay. If Dishonored 2 can nail the story as well, and early signs are promising, there's no reason it couldn't be my GOTY again. We'll know more after Bethesda rolls out the red carpet for Corvo and Emily on Sunday night.

1. Destiny: Rise of Iron
I need to write something about how obsessed I was with Destiny for about six months - seriously, it got bad for my life - but for now suffice it to say that, after hitting maximum level on all my characters and playing every strike and mission (some quests and exotics elude me, and I'll hit the year-one raids eventually), I'm salivating at the thought of fall's fourth expansion.

I'm not 100 percent sure what's going on here, but I want to help.

Kotaku reports Rise of Iron will be revealed during Thursday's mystery stream, which is technically before E3, but I think it also appears during at least one press conference (best guess: Sony). I'm also predicting this summer's Destiny live event - Sparrow Racing League 2.0? - will be discussed Monday, and I wouldn't be stunned if it rolled out with Tuesday's weekly reset. Ready, Guardian?

Sayonara, Idol

(NOTE: I wrote most of this April 8 but couldn't bring myself to hit 'publish' because it's (a) sad and (b) SUPER indulgent. After heavy editing, it is still very much both of those things. I hope someone out there will enjoy it regardless.)

It's strange to mourn something you gave up on.

American Idol ended last night, and I thought I didn't care. I didn't flinch when I read the show was cancelled, and I didn't tune in for the finale. I didn't even know when it was. I stopped watching Idol four years ago and rarely missed it, so why should it matter now?

Then, this morning, just for nostalgia's sake, I loaded up WhatNotToSing.com and Michael Slezak's page on TVLine, my two go-to sources for Idol in its heyday. I read what WNTS posted last week about the site's future, saw what Slezak wrote about last night's show, watched the final performance and wanted to cry.

I don't regret bailing on Idol when I did. It had run its course for me, the same way it did for a lot of people around season five, when ratings peaked. I'm sure I missed out on great performers the same way the people who bailed then missed out on Adam Lambert, Haley Reinhart and Elise Testone - but I'd come to terms with it.

Still, it hurts to know that all the people like WNTS and Slezak who loved the show even more deeply than I did won't get to obsess over it anymore. It hurts to know new fans, who weren't around or even alive when Kelly Clarkson first sang "A Moment Like This," won't get to dive in headfirst anymore. A part of American culture died last night.

 

Sure, The Voice and other singing and talent shows are still on the air. But they're not Idol. The show that birthed Chris Daughtry, David Cook and Carrie Underwood - people whose music became the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s - is no more. And I can't come back, even if I wanted to.

(Postscript: WNTS later published an editorial with a theorized launch date for American Idol 2.0 and a few awesome suggestions to improve the show. If the powers that be use some of them, I might come back after all.)

My favorite Idol memories:

• Half-watching the season three finale the same day I saw Shrek 2 in theaters, immediately forgetting about the movie - which I reviewed anyway *shifty eyes* - and spending the next week thinking about Idol and when I could watch it again.
• Cheering for Carrie Underwood as she blew away the competition, including my mom's favorite, Bo Bice, in season four. ("In a Dream" was my first 'Holy shit' Idol moment, but I was smitten. And Carrie slayed "Alone.") On the bright side, we didn't have to deal with a man singing "Inside Your Heaven" on the radio for months. Trust me, it's not as funny as you're imagining.

(Credit: decider.com)

• Drifting in and out of seasons five and six, which I'll always remember for giving us Chris Daughtry, who I didn't like much at the time, but Mom did; Katherine McPhee's "Over the Rainbow"; Kellie Pickler; Blake Lewis' "You Give Love a Bad Name"; Melinda Doolittle; and (shudder) Sanjaya.
• Watching David Cook, my mom's favorite, sneak up on and overtake mine, David Archuleta, in season seven. Mom was always right. (See also: "Billie Jean.") For me, this is the best Idol season, top to bottom - and the last time I remember my mom, my dad and me being in the same room, happy.
• Making a mix CD from season seven's iTunes recordings that I listened to non-stop during the worst months of my life and still play to this day. I won't tell you my "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" story, but it's burned on my brain.
• Walking to the quad the next fall to Daughtry's first album and knowing that, even though it hurt like hell, everything would be OK. "Over You" and "What About Now" sound very different when you're mourning.
• Getting hooked on WNTS and Idology, Slezak's video recap, during season eight and realizing I looked forward to them more than Idol. When someone yells "surprise," I will always think of Alison Iraheta.
• Deciding Adam Lambert was the best Idol contestant of all time - you have GOT to hear "Ring of Fire" and "Mad World" - but eventually being kind of OK with Kris Allen beating him. Must be the June 21 birthday. Or "Heartless."
• Rooting for Lee DeWyze, my dad's boss' friend/relative/something-or-other, even though I knew Crystal Bowersox was a MUCH better performer. (Recommended viewing: "Up to the Mountain.") Season nine's was the first Idol finale that really broke my heart.

I was always more of a fan of white girls with guitars. (Credit: nj.com)

• Going to the Mt. Vernon library to watch Idol on YouTube, then wasting hours at the Register-News making performance-rating spreadsheets, then calling my dad from Walmart to say why the ratings he emailed were all wrong, then feeling like I wasn't totally alone in the "real world." (We agreed on Haley Reinhart's exceptional "House of the Rising Sun," FWIW.)
• Watching Phillip Phillips, who impressed me zero times during season eleven and pretty much convinced me to stop watching (didn't the voters SEE "Whole Lotta Love" from Elise Testone?!), become one of Idol's most successful and artistically-interesting winners. Who knew.