The second episode of The Lineup--GameSpot and SportsGamer's video show--is up on the site now. This time around, Aaron, Shanker, and Brian play a game of cooperative NBA Live 08 to prove that anyone can come out of the Eastern Conference in the NBA playoffs, argue about whether Major League Eating is a sport, and eat a trailer load of donuts in celebration! We also talk sports games, including:

- A first look at THQ's upcoming WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2009
- A preview of the NFL Draft feature in NFL Head Coach 09
- A graphical comparison between Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Project Gotham Racing 4

All that and, of course, we punch Mike Vick in the grill. We hope you enjoy Episode 2 of The Lineup as much as Roger Clemens enjoyed Mindy McCready when she was 15... allegedly!

Lineup Episode Archive:

The Lineup: Episode 1

I spend way too much time in create-a-player modes. Sometimes I create backstories for my created players. Welcome to Alter Ego.

Name: Paq Vorkin
Game: Top Spin 3
Age: 52
Birthplace: Massapequa, NY
Before He Was a Tennis Player: Ate trash.
Biggest Regret: The facial tattoo. Paq swears the guy who did it "missed" and was originally aiming for his shoulder.
Best Feature: His receding jawline.
Best Feature #2: Moustache. Also, upon reconsideration, Paq thinks the facial tattoo is frickin' sweet.
Worst Feature: All of his pants are two sizes too small.
Patterns His Game After: Any professional tennis player who previously ate trash. Or Martina Hingis.
Current Residence: Unknown
Favorite Book: Whatever Oprah says is good.
Quote: "What do you mean my eyes are too close together?"

If you're a regular GameSpot UK user, you probably know about their video show Start/Select. The latest episode has a particuarly awesome interview featuring Luke Anderson talking to "the sh*tc$&k guy" from Haze. It just might be my favorite video preview ever. Look for it during the second segment of the show (about 9 minutes, 50 seconds in).

What all game previews from here on out need: "mad skills", random cursing, and Greco-Roman wrestling.

I was all set to rip the EA/Rock Band support a new one on yesterday's HotSpot.

Okay, let me back up a bit. You see, like many Rock Band players, I've had problems with my hardware--specifically my guitar (bad strum bar) and my drums (unresponsive pads). A few weeks back, I decided to send them back and get replacement hardware. As you might know, there's two methods for sending hardware back for replacement:

1) The Rock Band folks send you an empty in which you send back your defective equipment, then wait for a new hardware item to be shipped back to you. OR

2) You can have a new hardware unit sent to you immediately, along with an emtpy shipping box in which you can ship back your busted unit. This method is obviously the preferable one, except that EA puts a (pretty hefty) charge on your credit card, which is then refunded once the defective item is received.

Now, for my particular screwed-up drums and my guitar, I used both methods. Figuring I could hold off on drums for a while, I sent out for the emtpy box to send them back in. But, because I'm a fan of the Rock Band Strat (when it works), I wanted a new guitar right away, so I requested a replacement axe and let them charge my card.

Things started out easily enough. The new guitar and boxes to send back the defective equipment came quickly and, within a week or so, I had a new guitar and my old equipment sent back to EA for replacement. As an aside, the packing instructions for the drums were nearly impossible to understand and it took me a half hour to figure out how to get them in the box properly. I also packed in my bass drum pedal into the box--which would turn out to be a mistake. But more on that in a bit.

The replacement guitar has held up pretty well so far, even though there's something rattling in its innards when I move it around, and the star power tilt doesn't really work that well. I suspect I'll be sending this one back at some point but, as long as the strum bar continues to work, I'll hold on to it.

Because I received the guitar so quickly, I began to wonder just when my new drums would arrive. It took longer than I hoped--I received the new kit yesterday, nearly a month after I began the RMA process. Coincidentally, I also received an e-mail from EA support yesterday, indicating that they hadn't yet received my guitar that I had sent out with my defective drums. Wait, what? How is it that they received my defective drums and sent out a replacement, yet hadn't received my guitar, which I sent out simultaneously?

Hot under the collar (and all prepared to let loose on them on the HotSpot) I first made my first call to the EA Rock Band support number and explained my situation. The pleasant voice on the other end explained to me that the message I received was automated and that they had indeed received my guitar. That was a relief, but I wish they'd do a better job of keeping you informed during the RMA process with e-mails.

So, with my new drums here, I ran home last night and unpacked the new kit and... well, remember when I said above that I had packed my original bass drum pedal with my defective drums? As you might expect, the replacement drum kit they sent did not include a replacement bass drum pedal. When you think about it, it makes sense. After all, it was my drum pads that were experiencing problems, not my kick drum pedal. So sending the pedal back was definitely my mistake.

Completely pissed at my own stupidity, I called Rock Band support back and talked to the friendly support person (and make no mistake, these people are friendly. Halfway during the call, I wanted to get her thoughts on The Wire finale and felt like asking her if she was reading any good books). After meekly explaining to her my mistake, she set me up to send a new bass drum pedal my way, no questions asked. I hung up the phone with a huge smile on my face.

I consider this entire experience a lesson learned. After years of putting up with bad service for everything from cable service to PC help, I think we're pre-disposed to impatience and anger when dealing with phone support. But, despite the occasional quibble in process, the Rock Band/EA system, at least from my point of view, is a model of how an expensive product should be supported.

So, how has your experience with Rock Band customer support been?

Got a question for good ol' DDD? Send him a note and if he's not dead drunk in a Hell's Kitchen gin joint, he might get around to answering it!

Road Game is a periodic on-the-road feature, bringing you behind-the-scenes coverage of some of the world's biggest sporting events.

Sorry for the blurry image but the above is a picture of a press pass for the 2008 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Want to know what it will get you?

Jack squat.

Okay, that's not exactly true. As I found out during my trip this week to Indy for the Combine, as a member of the press, you're more than welcome to walk around the hallways of the Indianapolis Conference Center, located next door to the RCA Dome where the Combine took place. You can check out the NFL media center; basically a big open space with tons of sports writers pecking away on laptops; you walk by the Sirius Satellite Radio booth and check out the NFL show that was recorded on-site (heck, I brushed shoulders with Cowboys' coach Wade Phillips who was heading to an interview with the Sirius folks); and that's about it. No media, other than those from the NFL Network, are allowed anywhere near the field, it seems.

Of course, that didn't stop me from donning my press pass and walking directly for the RCA Dome field like I owned the place, only to be stopped by a number of perturbed-looking Convention Center security staff who turned me right around and sent me on my way. And they almost did it politely. So, consider that one a lesson learned.

Still, my time in Indy was by no means a waste. I got to see the new NFL Head Coach 09 from EA Sports, a game that seems to be coming along well. Of course by "coming along well" I mean two things: A) It's way too early to tell, because we've only seen one aspect of the game (check out the preview here) and B) that said, the developers behind the game are completely willing to cop to the original game's faults, particularly with regard to the game's confusing interface and sub-par AI.

It gives me hope to hear lead designer Josh Looman talk about Head Coach 09 with as much or more passion than practically anyone I've ever heard talk about the Madden series. Which is a good thing. And the work that's already been put into the game's interface--which still presents you with a tremendous amount of information, only in a way that makes sense this time--looks to make the tedium of running the nuts and bolts of a team that much easier. One thing I didn't write about in the preview that bears mention: you have a great deal of control over what you can control (or even see) in Head Coach's interface. Not interested in dealing with free agents or scouting players? You can turn them off and on at will and let the computer AI handle things for you.

With a long way to go before the game is released this fall, there's still a ton of questions to go for NFL Head Coach 09. Beyond the basics--how will the on-field coaching work? How will your coach and players progress over time?--my main point of focus will be looking at how this game adapts to the power of this generation's consoles. Producers pointed out repeatedly that NFL Head Coach 09 needs to be a next-gen game. If that's the case, it needs to have next gen featuresl; things like enhanced online play (tournaments and leagues for a start, and it will be a shame if this game doesn't have some sort of tie in to Madden NFL 09 (or NCAA 09 for that matter). EA Sports has had the NFL exclusive license long enough to plan for this kind of thing; so here's hoping that gamers can benefit from some interesting cross-pollination between the two titles. We all know EA can make a football management sim; the test in this console generation will be to take that to the next level and put all that power to good use.

So, what do you think of what you've seen of NFL Head Coach 09 so far?

P.S. -- While there wasn't much for a game hack like me to discover at the NFL Combine, that doesn't mean it can't be a learning experience for some...