The Line Drive 11/21

What takes so long for it to STILL BE in certification??????This is bullshit.Thanks again Pasta for the updates....

Back on your meds, buddy...

quickhit football didnt work to well for me ..
was really laggy. maybe its just my computer but i can play any other game just fine

Pasta, if it was 2k or 989 Sports taking this long with a patch (like EA is with Madden), you'd be giving them some shit. How about doing it for your boys over at EA/Tiburon. Thanks!

I have no problem with the post-release support for Madden this year. The first patch addressed most of what was bothering people like the holding on kicks. There isn't much I'm really looking at this second patch for so maybe it'll be a pleasant surprise because improvements will seem more like a bonus. Madden came out in pretty good shape compared to most of the other sports releases this year.

Pasta-
How can you say that with a straight face? There has been next to no coverage on your site about the problems with this game. Basic things in this game are wrong, especially if you are someone who bought this game primarily for offline franchises. Also, items that are supposed to be in the game (and the developers said WERE in the game) are not.

If you like online franchises with 31 other people, I'm sure the game is great. But not all of us run a popular website, some of us are forced to play a solo offline franchise, and it continues to get worse with each passing year.

So...the Patch won't be released this weekend, right?

You guys don't see what EA is trying to do? They're trying to string us along with the patch so that we can hold on to the game into the holiday season. EA anticipates a lot of sales for Madden during the holiday season & they don't want a lot of used games out there because it hurts business. People will buy used games instead of new games. If they keep stringing us along saying that "the patch is in certification" (which they've said for the past month now) then we will keep waiting for the patch & not trade Madden in. They know exactly what they're doing. It's all a marketing scam & Pasta knows it but he would never admit it since he's on EA's payroll.

I believe it, Chris. I wish there was another website that had the balls to report it and tell it like it is. I understand why Pasta and OS don't want this news getting out there (for fear of being cut off from EA's tit), but it shouldn't be up to us to let the masses know what's really up.

You vastly overestimate the number of people who care about the upcoming patch, let alone even know it exists or what it'll do.

Pasta what are you talking about? Ian Cummings himself said that the 2nd patch would be the significant patch that would fix gameplay. "You vastly overestimate the number of people who care about the patch"? That sounds like a typical EA comment. Do you go on any forums at all? Everybody is waiting for this patch. Quit being an EA apologist & tell it like it is. This patch should've been out already. If this was a 2K game that promised a patch the 1st week of November & didn't release it until December you would rip them a new one. Let's be real here for once Pasta.

Think about how many people bought Madden, then think of how many actually use forums. It's probably less than 1% of the userbase.

If the patch is so unimportant then why are they making it? Your arguement doesn't make sense.

Didn't say it was unimportant, but it's also not as required as some of you treat it.

You're too funny, pal. If you honestly believe that both MS and Sony are the ones holding up the Madden patch (and the detailed patch notes), then I've got some swamp land down in Florida that I'd like to sell you.

They never release the notes until it's just about to be released, I don't agree with it, so now you're just putting words in my mouth. The certification process on the other hand is something that affects every game released on these two consoles now.

Also, please refrain from making idiotic jokes just because you don't know how to back up your argument properly. MS and Sony do this with every game, and we were never given a concrete release date, so stop misconstruing things to make your pointless complaints more relevant.

If you just want to talk about patch notes, then sure, we should have them by now. Other than that it's been in certification, whereas some developers don't even tell people a damn thing about anything. Or they never get updates. Either way this is at least something to look forward to.

makes sense what u saying

Gotta love you conspiracy theorists. Did u even read the tweet from Ian saying that the new patch caused unforeseen issues, hence, meaning, they had to fix those unforeseen, as well?? Do you even have ANY idea of how patches, more times than not, create new issues, that are not even noticed?

People like you would rather EA rush the patch out and come up with all this non-sense as if you have a clue to justify to yourselves that you should rant ABOUT NOTHING!! After all the heat EA takes about their games ESPECIALLY Madden, they are trying to get it right. Not to mention, they STILL have to work on Madden 11 and all the ta-do that goes on with a usual gaming cycle's time line. People like you have NO clue yet talk some of the MOST shit. Stfu and just wait...

Hey, we have ourselves a real live EA DEFENDER! Gotta love these guys...they will defend EA to the bitter end, including when (a) EA buys up all of the exclusive licenses to put their competitors out of business, rather than improve their product; (b) EA drags its feet in releasing a patch and/or detailed patch notes in order to keep us suckers holding onto Madden, so as not to saturate the used game market; (c) EA releases its 5th year of next gen football games without including things like in-game saves (a standard in EVERY other sports game on the market), multiple playable camera angles (again, a standard in EVERY other sports game), etc.

Trust me, Trey...a company that generates $300 million from Madden every year ($60x5 million copies sold) can afford to work on the patch, patch notes AND Madden 11 at the same time, if they really wanted to.

In-game saves are not a standard in every other sports game on the market. I'm not sure why you felt the need to exaggerate your points as you do have valid ones. Plus, if you're going to bash EA for buying a license then bash 2k for ruining the MLB market (outside of the PS3 exclusive The Show).

Also, you left out the part about how EA pays quite a bit for the NFL license (the deal is somewhere in the hundreds of millions), as well as their overdone marketing, so they don't profit what you think they do.

I could go on, but I only hope you'll do some more actual research and fix your facts instead of insulting other people based on blind assumptions and incorrect facts.

Let's see...in-game saves for MLB The Show? Check.

For NBA2k10? Check.

For Madden and NCAA? Nope.

I guess you're right...in-game saves only make it to the top sports games made by companies OTHER THAN EA.

Also, what exactly is your point about EA overpaying for the NFL exclusive license (through which they bought out their competition, rather than improve their product?) I realize that, because of the exclusive license deal, EA isn't rolling in the profits these days. Otherwise, they wouldn't have just canned close to 20% of their workforce. But I'm not going to cut them any slack for making the dumb license deal in the first place. Like I said, they would've been better off spending that money trying to improve their product.

You said "a standard in EVERY other sports game on the market," don't backpedal now.

I can isolate a few games to make a point too, despite the fact there are a hundred released per genre every year. 3 games does not prove a point, no matter how much you try to yell it over an anonymous comment section on the internet.

I am not saying it's unimportant, but I hate it when you guys say things that are obviously false just to prove what would be an otherwise valid point. It's childish and does nothing considering you're essentially using this as a venue to vent your frustration. EA isn't going to read it and make any changes, and besides a few people who can't think for themselves, you're not going to change their views of the game either.

You are one of the clueless - "Trust me, Trey...a company that generates $300 million from Madden every year ($60x5 million copies sold) can afford to work on the patch, patch notes AND Madden 11 at the same time, if they really wanted to."

You obviously have no idea about business models, budgets, and corporate financial management. It's not that simple like you think but I gather you're someone who has never worked in Corporate America on a daily bases so I will just leave that part at that.

And as for my being "an EA DEFENDER" that "will defend EA to the bitter end:, again, you have not a clue. This is the type of childish, immature, emotional drama queen of a response a person gets if they say anything "somewhat favorable" towards EA because to so many, it's way cooler to hate on EA. I guess I'm one of the lamest people you'd ever want to meet, if that's the case. I don't defend EA just to blindly defend them. I speak on things from a business mind, not a mind of some mindless idiot who prefers to talk without being educated on more things in life than the simple things. Be easy with who you recklessly speak to in the future.

So in other words the patch broke the game in new ways while fixing old bugs. Gosh that sure is different from the typical madden experience where... oh no wait this is the normal madden experience. lol, if the best defense you can offer is "c'mon guys they have to fix the new bugs they created trying to fix the old bugs!" then maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board.

C'mon guys, don't give them any ideas?!?

Backbreaker has been in development, at the very least, 3yrs. It was first announced in 06 and who knows how long before that they were working on it. The preliminary reports around the net, overall, were that the game has a waaayyysss, to go. I look forward to this pup, though, just as something different to play other than Madden but I DON'T want it to stay on the Blitz route as it sounds like it was when talked about during E3. I hope they can sim it more. I can't stand Blitz games anymore. That went away, for me, ages ago, just like the NBA Jams/Streets did.

I like what's been proposed, gameplay wise, with the illmatic camera and such. I just want to see how the Euphoria engine pans out in a football game and hopefully, if it does, EA will scoop Natural Motion up, which I believe has been a possible plan, all along.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, it sucks about the patch, but by now, we all should be used to it, we all know what we should do, but thanxs to ea it is the only football game alive, so we just have to suffer, and they just dont care, they are already on there vacations, so we just have to wait, i guess i will just play my 50th franchise that does not work oh well................

Fuck you

pasta anything on ncaa basketball 10 rosters

Look at Padre setting expectations for Backbreaker. "Oh if it retails for less than <x>, consumers will lack confidence!" You have a crystal ball there bud? Why don't we go ahead and see what happens first before we comment eh? I for one will be happy for any competition that challenges the EA crapopoly. Pasta wants to tell me how to feel about Backbreaker but I'll be buying it even if it's $100. Competition =good. Propaganda fail.

That's not setting expectations...how the hell you derived that is beyond me. ANY new IP in any industry is a tough sell. This blog is about news and speculative previews, he clearly wasn't trying to influence anyone just by stating an obvious fact.