BeanBone

PSA Moving to Half-Grades

2008-01-17T14:55:00.001-06:00

One of the leaders in the sports card grading industry, Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), announced yesterday it would be moving away from its original 10 point grading system to a new 18 point scale. The new system will take effect February 1st and draws comparison to both Sportscard Guaranty's (SGC) and Beckett Grading Service's (BGS) systems. Grades will now be distributed over one through ten, with each having a half-grade (except 9). This has been received as a major bomb-shell and reason for panic by some in the sports card collecting community.

PSA's reasoning for implementing this new system is to reduce the gap in pricing between grades that exists in the market. Often times, thousands of dollars in value separate 8s, 9s, & 10s when it comes to high-end and vintage cards. PSA sees half-grades as a necessity for the maturity of the sports card market.

However, many collectors are wary of the new system, fearing chaos in the market. The concept of a "high-end" and "low-end" cards within a grade has existed since grading became popular. Customers are worried that their existing "high-end" cards will take a tumble in value unless they re-submit the card to PSA for reevaluation. Another concern some collectors have is that the already cut-throat set registry world will become even more competitive. One bright for many is that the "Poor" and "Fair" grades will finally be separated.

In the hours following the announcement, many PSA customers have posted possible solutions to their concerns online. One solution that has been suggested is an altered flip (label) design to denote cards graded after the switch to the new system, something PSA has done before. Another popular solution is that cards graded at round numbers in the future be denoted with a "point zero" (e.g. 8.0) to make clear which cards were graded before the change. It remains to be seen if PSA is considering any of these options.

The true fallout from this decision is yet to be seen, but it has become clear this will be viewed as a watershed moment in PSA's history.

Guitar Hero 3 - Legends of Rock

2007-11-05T15:10:00.000-06:00

I've been playing Guitar Hero 3 - Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360 pretty much non-stop since the minute I brought it home on release day. I even play in my sleep sometimes (at least that's what my fiancee claims). Whether playing through the career mode, practicing a tricky solo, being my shy and awkward self on Xbox Live or mastering co-op mode with a friend - GH3 pretty much kicks ass.

The song list is amazing, with songs like Kaiser Chief's Ruby, The Strokes' Reptilia, The Beastie Boys' Sabotage, Bloc Party's Helicopter and Rage Against the Machine's Bulls On Parade. My only beef with the list is how lame most of the "bonus" tracks are, hopefully the downloadable songs will be better.

Bulls On Parade is my absolute favorite track so far. On the "Hard" difficulty setting, it's very easy to play a lot of the song without looking at the screen for long periods of time (provided you know the song), allowing you to dance around like a moron while playing. This is exactly what I've been waiting for from a Guitar Hero game: the ability to intuitively play a song from memory and feel like you're really doing something vaguely similar to making music. It's deeply satisfying.

The new boss battles are a cool addition and don't come off feeling like a pointless add-on as I had initially feared. They can be a bit maddening in the higher levels of difficulty, but you feel accomplished once you advance. Red Octane has successfully managed to add a meaningful new layer to the Guitar Hero experience.

The new wireless Les Paul controller is a work of art. The design looks great, you can easily swap faceplates, the neck is collapsible for easy storage/transportation and did I mention it's wireless? The best part is that everything is built right in: Xbox navigator button, D-Pad and even the headset jack. Going back to my old PS2 SG controller feels like a huge step backwards.

Overall, I'm massively impressed with this release and happy knowing that Guitar Hero still feels fresh years later.

Oh, and good luck with the achievements...

Check out my Guitar Hero collection at iTaggit.com

Live Internet Pack Opening #1

2007-10-30T14:28:00.000-05:00

While stashing my stereo's faceplate under the passenger seat yesterday, I found a pack of 2007 Upper Deck Goudey baseball cards hiding out Tora-Bora style. I must have dropped it down there last week while opening a blaster in the Target parking lot (everyone does this... right?). So in honor of this momentous occasion of unintentional restraint I'm going to open it right now. On the internet. Live. How Web 2.0!

Here we go:
080 - Mike Piazza
186 - Rich Harden
122 - Kenji Johjima
227 - Ichiro SP
001 - A.J. Burnett
085 - Rafael Furcal
136 - David Wright
192 - Chone Figgins

Not a bad pack. The Ichiro short-print is nice, but according to my nerdy checklist, I didn't need a single one of the commons. I think it's time I admit something to myself: I've reached that point where buying packs is highly inefficient toward building a set. Anyone wanna trade?

Check out my 2007 Goudey collection on iTaggit

The Ultimate Hitchhicker's Guide by Douglas Adams

2007-10-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

I'm currently engrossed in the (rather long) process of re-reading The Ultimate Hitchhicker's Guide by Douglas Adams, a reprinting of all five of the Hitchhiker novels (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, The Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless) and one short story (Young Zaphod Plays it Safe). I must say that Adams' pentalogy must be the absolute quintessential work of humorous science-fiction. I challenge you to find another piece of "hu-sci-fi" that even gets close to the level of sophistication, wit and timelessness that Douglas was able to cram into these five novels (and one story).

The first book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is certainly the best of the group, and each subsequent book gets slightly less brilliant than the previous. But, even the last book, "Mostly Harmless," is well worth the price of admission alone. Luckily for you, I won't try to summarize the arc of an 800 page story here, nor will I bore you with a thousand out-of-context quotes (as much as I want to). But I do these things only on the condition that you promise to buy this collection. Promise? Okay, good.

This edition is really something special, packed to the brim with brilliant features. Adams provides a "Guide to the Guide" introduction to the book, attempting to explain all of the various Hitchhiker-related radio, television, record and book releases. And with it's classy leatherette cover, gildedette edges, bible-gauge pages and sewn-in bookmark you'd think this was some sort of boring Victorian-era heirloom. But unlike most boring Victorian-era heirlooms, it's available for under $20. Where else are you going to find so much leather-bound joy (outside of a sex shop, if you're in to that sort of thing) for so little?

View my book collection on iTaggit.com