Getting time in with NFL Tour

I have arrived in New York for the NFL Tour event where I’ll have the opportunity to get some hands-on time with the game, discussion with producer Phil Frazier, and a chance to chat with Trey Wingo who does the commentary for the game.

While I’m out here the site will continue to be updated though it may come more in bunches than at different times throughout the day. Look for my initial impressions of the game to come by early Monday morning although I may have something sooner than that.

Continue on to see the full list of questions that I will be looking to find out. Feel free to leave any comments with additional things about the game that you would like me to attempt to get answered.

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Recap of conference call with EA Sports President Peter Moore

Earlier today I was able to take part in an hour long conference call with Peter Moore of EA Sports. This was a unique opportunity to have direct communication and responses to questions with the president of the company on a wide variety of topics.

The overall theme of the call could be summed up with the importance that EA places on the community. Just having this take place is a sign of that, but it was reiterated throughout. Moore discussed how he takes it very seriously and likes being involved with the community. It is important to them to help guide where the brand goes as they listen to the feedback and work towards satisfying the consumers.

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Conference call with Peter Moore

Update: Click here to read the summary of the call. 

I have been invited to sit in on a conference call with new EA Sports president Peter Moore. I am expecting a wide array of topics to be discussed and will attempt to get in a couple questions of my own.

Look for a recap of the call with a full summary and my thoughts on everything tomorrow evening (Wednesday October 10th).

Pastapadre.com on vacation

The site will return to its usual consistent updates on Wednesday September 19th. Until then there may be some occasional quick postings at random times over the coming days. Thanks for visiting!

Off to the Madden Community Event

I'm heading out now to make the long journey to the Tiburon Studio in Orlando for the Madden 08 Community Event. I'll be checking in whenever I can such as stops in airports and when I'm at the hotel. So the site will continue to be updated at various times each day. You can also check the forum where I'll drop notes on my current status throughout.

Check the site for the first report from the event which should include solid impressions, pics, and videos very late on Thursday evening/early Friday morning. I should then be returning with my copy of the game on Friday and will create postings for taking questions or requests, begin my Superstar mode, and provide full online impressions.

*Update (Thurs morning): Headed to the studio now for 12 straight hours of Madden!*

Pastapadre.com welcomes a new addition

I would like to announce a new addition to the site! Over the last several weeks the most common suggestion I received was to add a forum. Well now the pastapadre forum is up and running! **Picture above represents actual age of many forum posters**

Please consider that the forum is still a work in progress. For example you'll see there is no unique skin for it yet. But I figured I would roll it out now anyway. Feel free to register and start posting!

The forum will always be more of a supplemental aspect of the site with my full concentration going towards the content. However I hope that it will offer a level of enjoyment for everyone so that they'll stick around and visit even more now. This is an opportunity to build a new community within the forum and make it into whatever the members desire it to be.

You can access the forum from the tab at the top of the page.

Madden Community Event set for August 9th

The Madden 08 Community Event will officially take place August 8-10th at the Tiburon studio in Orlando. The time with the game will be spent on Thursday the 9th as the other two are travel days. For myself that accounts for a big chunk of time considering there couldn't be much further of a flight within the contiguous states than Seattle to Orlando while connecting through California. 

As opposed to past community events where there was more significant amount of time before the release of the game, this one comes only days before Madden hits stores.

As usual I will put out as much info as possible on my experience with the game while I am there. However I won't do as much in terms of looking for specific things or answering questions about the game based off the event. I'm going to try and just get as much time in playing the game to give a general overview and impressions. I hope to have my copy of the game with me as I head home, so once I get back I can get more into the Q&A, screenshots and videos, and Superstar mode type of content I generally produce with early copies. It doesn't make much sense to spend the time while I am at the studio doing the things that will be much easier once I return home and work through the following Monday heading up to the game's release. 

Feel free though to leave any comments regarding gameplay that you are interested in. If I come across them I'll go ahead and address them in my reports from the event. For other questions or topics such as online, player ratings, and various requests I will have dedicated posts for once I have the game in hand.

Highlight clip contest winner

Congrats to the winner of the NCAA Football 08 highlight clip contest. Clip #2 came through in a narrow victory over #1. The Penn State INT to forced fumble to return for TD was unique enough to beat out the great Miami TD run. He'll have the choice between NBA Street: Homecourt on the PS3 or Def Jam: Icon on the 360.

Check back to the site in the near future for another contest!

Suggestions for the site?

Before the flow of news that will be coming out of E3 hits and before any demos drop, I figured it would be a good time to ask for some feedback on the site and suggestions on things to improve or add.

The site has been growing at an extraordinary rate, so I'd really like to hear what everyone would like to see from it. I'm always open to doing things to improve it, and I work towards providing the best collection of news and content out there. But there is always more that can be done/added/changed. 

Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email through the contact form. While not everything that is suggested can be implemented, I'll certainly consider them and I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

Madden Community Day Update

Last week I wrote about the upcoming Madden Community Day event which was slated for next week. Unfortunately today I was informed that Madden will not be available and it is being turned into an NCAA Football centric event that includes attending the ESPYs.

Putting the news about no Madden aside, this is a nice gesture of appreciation to the NCAA Football community and will essentially represent a "kickoff" celebration for the game being less than seven days before its release.

The news regarding Madden is that they wanted to make sure we had a proper community event dedicated to it. If the change had not been made, we would not have had enough time to really assess the game and report back on it…at least not to the quality of the info we have brought back with us in the past. In addition to the time considerations, no producers were going to be able to attend which is one of the most important aspects to a community day.

So while nothing is nailed down yet, there may still be a Madden community event prior to release. I will keep everyone updated when I learn more.

I was excited to get a look at Madden next week, and I know everyone was looking forward to the impressions and answers that come out of a community day. So this is disappointing in that sense. However there is still time for a comparable event to be arranged, so we'll see how things go in the coming weeks. Thanks for understanding.

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