EA Sports Fantasy Football has opened

Sign-ups are now open for EA Sports Fantasy Football. You can visit the site and register for leagues or teams by going here. For all of the details on the new options and other improvements for this year check out my interview with the producers from back in May. Features such as the live console draft (which was demonstrated at the community event and is very cool) and the stat tracker won’t launch until later dates.

If you are interested in participating in the pastapadre.com fantasy football league leave a comment letting me know. Make sure the email address you enter in for the comment is valid as that would be the way I would contact you. Given that the slots will be limited I apologize to anyone who doesn’t end up being chosen. The determination on who is selected won’t come for a while given that the live draft for the league likely won’t be held until near the end of August.

Random topics for today

• A recent Madden 09 producer blog with Anthony White covered in great detail the authenticity to the team offensive playbooks this year. Included are several videos and screenshots displaying various formations. It appears that the Seahawks do have shotgun formations now, which the lack of back at the community event was one of the complaints I noted. You can check out the blog here.

• GameTrailers has added a handful of Madden 09 gameplay videos over the last few days. You can find them here. Keep in mind that these are not from the latest build of the game as evidenced by the overabundance of camera flashes which we know to have been adjusted recently.

• I’ve previously discussed the frustrations of how reviews are done (ignoring online play) and the way they are viewed by the gaming companies (Metacritic as the ultimate gauge). Yet that is how the industry works right now, so having someone who dislikes Nascar review Nascar 09 is disappointing as was the case with IGN. Ultimately someone who docked a score because they admittedly don’t enjoy how a particular sport translates to a video game is going to hurt the developers who worked on the game. If there are legit issues with a game that merits a low score that is one thing, but with comments such as not being able to recognize most the “characters” (I prefer calling them drivers since they’re real people) and mentioning a “photorealistic” and “digitized” Jeff Gordon (its actually the real Jeff Gordon) it is difficult to take any analysis seriously. I think you also see a little bit of this with the reviews for Prizefighter though the examples haven’t been quite as blatant as it has mainly been in the insistence to compare it to Fight Night.

• Look for details on a Nascar 09 related contest using the Paint Booth feature to be posted tomorrow.

• Last night’s episode of Battlestar Galactica was one of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever seen. The wait is going to be tough given that the show won’t finish up until early 2009, but that episode easily could’ve been the series finale and I would’ve been completely satisfied.

Finally…the class action lawsuit everyone has been waiting for!

So it turns out all the threats over the years around suing EA over the exclusive NFL license have finally materialized in a futile, and somewhat laughable, class action suit filed last week. You can read it in PDF form here thanks to TMZ.

The suit alleges that EA Sports has an “unlawful and anticompetitive series of exclusive agreements” with the NFL, NCAA, and Arena Football. Such has driven companies like Take-Two out of the football market and prevented others from entering it.

The claim is also made that because of the licensing deals the prices of games have risen. Apparently Madden sold for $29.99 before the exclusive license but now goes for $49.99. That’s a 70% price hike! And this seems to be the main basis of the claim. It’s the “NFL 2K5 was better” argument, and makes the assumption that the series would’ve stayed at $20 and Madden would’ve lowered its prices as well from then on.

Of course this has no chance of success, as the NFL has the right to use their license however they wish, and exclusivity deals are nothing new for them. A monopoly does not apply as anyone can make a football game (see All-Pro Football, Blitz the League, Tecmo Bowl, and Backbreaker) however they in no way can make claim to having a right to the NFL license.

The new EA Sports World launches

As has been mentioned previously, EA Sports World was preparing to debut a revamped site with improved functionality. That has been launched today and the pages for Nascar 09 and NCAA Football 09 are live. You can check it out here.

This should offer a significant improvement over the offering that gamers dealt with up until now. My first reaction was being a little overwhelmed by how cluttered the main page is though. Hopefully capacity isn’t a problem like it was last year around the launches of NCAA and Tiger Woods. Features such as Nascar 09’s Paint Booth, NCAA Football 09 and Madden 09’s video uploading and online dynasty/league tracking, and Facebreaker’s video uploading and created fighter sharing will be bring a lot of gamers to the site.

Apparently everything previously held on the site such as stats, videos, and screenshots have not been transferred over (in a few weeks those things will begin migrating over). That isn’t exactly the best way to treat the consumers who have been using the website up until this point. Feel free to leave your comments on how the site could be improved and the feedback will be passed along.

Random topics for today

• Look for a Nascar 09 Paint Booth contest sometime soon after release this week. Create your car design and show it off for the chance to win a currently undetermined prize.

• The complete player ratings for the top 25 teams in NCAA Football 09 is available in excel form. You can download the spreadsheet here.

• A producer blog for NCAA 09 goes over the attention that was paid to the playbooks and can be found here.

• EA has added a new podcast page for Madden. You can check it out here. There are currently two available.

• What do you think of the new site design (still working through a few alterations)? The forums have a new skin to match as well.

A few updates for today

So things have died down a bit since coming out of the community event. I was worn down by the work and travel time and haven’t felt well since last Thursday, not to mention other draining activities I’m in the midst of. So I wanted to keep everyone updated with the latest. I’ve also added a poll below about the NBA Finals which begin tonight.

• Did you know Pastapadre has a forum? Believe it or not it is true. The link “Forum” in the header will take you there! Or you can click here if you are really lazy. The forum will be re-skinned to match the coming…

• Pastapadre will be launching a site redesign sometime in the near future.

• The poll posted yesterday shows that Madden has shifted in front for the most anticipated upcoming football game, overtaking NCAA from the previous month. 62% have chosen Madden, 31% NCAA, and 7% Head Coach.

• The NBA Live 09 community event has moved from June 13th to the 26th. Expect the first news on Live 09 to come prior to the 17th however.

• Check back later today for news and analysis on the NBA 2K9 cover athlete announcement.

Revisiting a past poll

On May 13th I posted a poll looking to gauge which of the upcoming football games was the most anticipated. NCAA Football 09 pulled in 57%, Madden 09 got 35%, and NFL Head Coach 09 managed 7%.

At the time those results didn’t surprise me. From a new feature standpoint NCAA Football has the edge, whereas Madden took on more of a reinvention that didn’t really click until I actually got to experience it first hand. The Head Coach numbers actually seemed encouraging, as it is likely that most of the people who will pick that up would still see Madden as the main draw.

So I thought it would be interesting to see how the anticipation levels may have shifted following the community event last week.

Update on 1UP/ESPN roster article controversy

Update: Todd Zuniga has responded in the comments and now his blog. It is greatly appreciated, however much of the damage that has already been done by the original article can’t be corrected. I have edited my title though to reflect the current situation.

There have been long running issues that have come with the ability to edit roster files for NCAA games. For years now there have been those who have profited off the rosters, in many cases after having stolen them from someone else who did all of the work. Not only is it immoral, but with the NCAA licensing it is illegal to profit off of the names of amateur athletes.

Numerous websites have been created to solicit along with eBay having being another consistent place this occurs. Unsuspecting consumers have continually been ripped off. And it is no small “business”. The most active roster sellers have been known to rake in well over $50,000 off a game like NCAA Football which is the primary “seller”.

One of these scumbags is Brian Kaldenberg of gamerosters and now fkrosters (which he bought back in December). Not only is he a well known thief across the community having been shown to have stolen rosters numerous times in the past (which have been made by others through hundreds of hours of work) but he will even come right out and admit it. This was the case earlier today in postings on Operation Sports where he was throwing it in the face of everyone. Not to mention he has even been sued by the NCAA in the past.

Recently Todd Zuniga of 1UP irresponsibly featured Kaldenberg in an interview. This was then carried by ESPN Videogames which is driven by 1UP created content. It is extremely disappointing that these media outlets would support such an endeavor and the person behind it.

In the past this put at risk the actual ability to make player edits at all in NCAA branded games. It looks like now though with the addition of the EA Locker and 2K Share those will fill in by providing user created rosters for free and to anyone who has online access.

The important thing it to NEVER pay for rosters. There are places to get them for free even if you don’t have online access to download them through the EA Locker. Do anything you can to spread the word about the feature and prevent as many as possible from being duped into the roster scam by people like Kaldenberg. Hopefully the talk that has been ongoing over the past few years where the NCAA may agree to include named rosters will come to fruition in the future and put to bed the issue completely.

UEFA Euro 2008 impressions

My copy of UEFA Euro 2008 arrived yesterday so I wanted to get up some initial impressions of the game. These quick thoughts come from the perspective of someone who isn’t much of a soccer fan (outside of watching during the World Cup) and a casual player of the games. In general soccer games don’t hold my interest because I just don’t have the patience to play them. I get frustrated when falling behind or when I don’t get rewarded after working towards a good shot but coming away with nothing. I realize that is part of the sport, it just doesn’t translate well to what I tend to enjoy.

After playing through a few standard games, including one online, and getting time in with Be A Pro mode I can say I am having more fun with it than I expected. I played for longer than I had planned actually. I turned down the difficulty just so I could compete offline but I actually came out with a 2-1 victory online in a very well played ranked match.

Read more

Random topics and poll for today

• Gametap has an early look at Fight Night Round 4 through interviews with producer Dean Richards as well as Lennox Lewis and Sugar Ray Leonard. You can check that out here. Among the topics discussed is the new physics engine, inside fighting and glancing blows.

• An astute poster over at Operation Sports has uncovered that Ben Brinkman, lead producer of the last two years of the MLB 2K series, has moved on to a new job and is no longer with 2K Sports. After the news their NHL series has moved from 2K LA/Kush to the Visual Concepts studio it seems that the MLB series may be following the same path of much needed reinvention.

• The list of achievements for NCAA Football 09 is out and can be found here. Some tie into new features such as the online dynasty, custom sounds, and mascot celebrations though the majority are gameplay based.

• EA Sports has come out and stated that “hardcore fans should not fear our new casual sports approach” in a new article here. Initial concern over this from the community seems to have dwindled as the upcoming releases are providing accessibility by adding options and personalizing difficulty levels based on how each individual’s skills stack up. They’ve also branched out with the “Freestyle” label to keep a clear distinction between types of games.

• The community asked for an option in Madden 09 to turn off the celebration light squares in the end zone after a TD and it has since been added. You’ll still be able to activate the celebrations by going to the different areas, they just won’t be displayed with the light squares.

• Some info on SCEA’s NBA 09 came out. The game will be adding in both a franchise mode and “The Life” mode. There will also be “team progression”, expanded commentary, and the return of “NBA Replay” mode which is a really cool idea if only there was reason to play the game over 2K or Live. Hopefully this year SCEA’s series steps up significantly in quality and depth.

• Continue leaving suggestions for things to look for at the community event coming up. For anything related to Madden/Head Coach/NCAA leave them here, and for uniform specific issues in Madden those can be left here.

The poll asks whether you feel a rewrite from the ground up and/or studio move would be an encouraging development for MLB 2K9.

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