Ask Padre #1: Online Co-Op

Lately we’ve seen online co-op become more prevalent in games, Crackdown being possibly the most publicized and utilized. Virtua Tennis 3 was just released on the 360 and it included co-op matches in doubles play. Despite that addition to the sports lineup, it seems that thus far this is something that hasn’t been given the level of attention or consideration that many people have hoped for. That may actually be the case with online play in general.

In my discussions with EA Sports representatives, they recognize that they are in catch-up mode concerning the area of online play features. They have as much as admitted that they didn’t focus enough on it previously, however they have now changed their mindset and hope to not only match what is being done by others but they desire to excel and become innovators.

For 2K Sports they have been seen as the innovators the past several years. However many issues were encountered with the features they introduced. While they offered things such as league systems and online sliders, much of the time those features were broken and never worked properly. Even their recent releases have been plagued by technical problems. That is just as bad as not offering them at all.

So while both companies hope to expand their online feature set, it has to make sense for the co-op to exist in the first place. While it would seem natural for a game like NBA Street: Homecourt, it may not fit as well with a game such as MLB 2K7.

Read more

Hot Topic: 3/31/07

In what will become a regular column here, we’ll take a look the hot topic around the sports gaming message boards for the previous or current day.

Yesterday, the hot topic was in reference to the release of May’s cover of Game Informer magazine. As tough as it may be, lets go ahead and ignore the giant feature on Grand Theft Auto IV. At the top of the cover is Madden Beware: An Exclusive Look at 2K Sports’ Gridiron Return.

Originally, this exclusive reveal was supposed to take place in the April edition of the magazine. That created a great deal of anticipation, yet only ended in severe disappointment as there was not even a mention of the game. It appears that 2K Sports asked to move the feature to the May edition, reason unknown. It could be that they wanted it in alongside GTA IV, since both of them are Take Two properties and it could potentially take advantage of heavier readership coming from the GTA fans.

That was a curious move to me. Had they gotten the first info out a few weeks ago, it would’ve had all the focus on itself. Neither Madden nor NCAA Football’s marketing has geared up yet, but once it does its going to be tough for All-Pro Football to avoid getting swallowed up by those two. It shouldn’t be long until those EA titles start flooding the media with information.

The title is meant to grab attention of course, but still the “Madden Beware” part is where a problem lies for 2K. If APF is pushed as a title you should give up Madden for, not only is it not going to work, but its going to alienate Madden fans. There will be some who give the game a chance as their second or third football title in their library. The last thing they should be going for is annoying the Madden fans, many of whom are simply football fans, by telling them that the game they enjoy is inferior. 2K has to concentrate on what their game offers that will make people want to buy it, not what the other game does or doesn’t do.

There is still a lot of time, and this first look into APF should prove to be interesting. Unless there are surprises, in all likelihood it will be a disappointment for those who are looking for many details on the game and insight into how it will please the hardcore fans. You have to start somewhere though, and it looks like the piece in Game Informer will be kicking it all off.

Introducing ‘Ask Padre’

I’m going to be starting a regular feature called (creatively enough) Ask Padre. If you have a topic that you would like me to touch on, go to the Contact Padre page and send me a message. I’ll try to get to as many as I can, with priority going to the best suggestions/questions or the ones that I can offer the most insight or opinion on at the time. I plan posting at least one Ask Padre column a day.

How to improve Superstar mode in Madden

I love the idea of the mode but certain aspects have made it tough for me to enjoy. So to make SS mode better next year:

• Offer (at least) the option to play it with the default normal game camera while still being locked into your player.The position specific cameras are horrible, almost makes it unplayable for me overall and actually does make it unplayable for certain positions such as CB and only a few are even tolerable. The frustration with the cameras was overwhelming, and it forced me to quit playing the mode altogther. So take the two years of SS/Race for the Heisman modes and mix whats good about them together. Locking you into your player (SS mode) but being able to play with the normal game camera (Race for the Heisman).

• Allow for controls to be customizable. Being stuck with the ball cover as the RB and stiff arm as Y is no good as a running back

• Offer the option to completely skip the other side of the team’s turn on the field. I like the FF of CPU control but I still get bored waiting around. Let me skip right back to being on the field with a short recap of what happened that I didnt see (for example if Im on defense I would see “8 play TD drive” or “3 and out” for what the offense did or even offer a graphical “drive chart”).This isnt my job, Im not getting paid while I wait on the sidelines. I just want to play the game.

• Get rid of the whole influence/up points at the start of every drive. I hate going through those screens on EVERY drive. Maybe once a half is OK or something, but having to go through that so many times is annoying to say the least.

• The simulation side of the gameplay has to improve. Seeing a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady throw an interception on every other drive and having no ability to do anything about it is frustrating.

There are more things that I think could be improved but those are the ones which really bother me off the top of my head and would be important to get done. There is a ton of potential to the mode, which is why it was such a disappointment for me in 07.

Top excuses for a Madden loss

Many hardcore Madden players are legends in their own minds. They have never really lost a game. They may not have won certain games, but if things happened like they should’ve they would certainly have.

Here are the top reasons I’ve seen that people justify their losses with.

8 ) “That team sucks, I’m never playing with them again”

Pick a lowly team against one that is better and you set yourself up to be a hero if you win, but you take the risk out of losing because you can always pull out this line. Its like picking the Arizona Cardinals as your sleeper team because everyone else is labeling them as such. If you’re right you can brag about it, if you’re wrong no one will notice because so many people were wrong. No risk involved.

7) “I wasn’t really trying”

This offers an easy way for someone to let themselves off the hook for a loss. By stating they weren’t really trying, they’re dismissing that the other player actually beat them. Nice try, but it just makes you look like you scrambled for this easy and tired excuse.

6) “I was rusty”

Pretty often the excuse that the person hadn’t played a game in x amount of days or that their opponent had been playing more than them over a certain time period will come up. This may be the case (and a legit factor) but if you aren’t ready to live up to a loss then you shouldn’t have played a game that you felt mattered enough to explain why the outcome went the other way.

5) “I was distracted”

The trusty “my girlfriend/kids/phone interrupted me” line. Many people are pretty superstitious when it comes to gaming. They feel if something out of the ordinary happens it throws them off for the rest of the game. Of course you don’t hear about it when they win.

Read more

How does a game this bad get released?

Reading some of the comments on different forums regarding the Nintendo DS version of MLB 2K7, its hard to imagine that a game could be as bad as people have made it out to be. Generally things get exaggerated on message boards, especially from those who are upset or disappointed.

Well in this case it seems all the complaining is justified. Per the Gamespot review (which received a 2.5/10):

The Bad: You’re limited in what you can do, and the controls are unresponsive; no season mode or trade function; graphics are a throwback to the early 1990s; uniforms don’t look right, and every player is the same bald guy with a hat; there’s only one stadium.

Wow. Now there are some games that consumers may consider poor efforts, however that may be a generous way to describe this game. Sure its the first baseball game to hit the DS but that doesn’t excuse putting this game into the marketplace when it clearly shouldn’t have been.

Read more

EA Sports reaching out to the community

Recently EA Sports released a press release seeking those in the soccer gaming community who would like to volunteer to contribute to the game/s they obsess over.

EA SPORTS is expanding our football data and reference research community and need people who have the expertise and dedication to edit and collect data/reference material related to their favorite club.

Do you feel you know more about your team than your club’s manager? Could you tell your mates how many games your centre played last season and which foot he prefers to hit the ball with? Are you constantly keeping track of the transfers and youth prospects at your club? If you fit this description then please keep reading.

Not only do you have to have a football brain, but you must also have data editing skills. Experience with editing data for football video games will go a long way to ensuring you understand the data we need collected.

Now, if you’re still reading and are interested in this project, please take the time to fill out the online registration form at: www.eafootballtalentscout.com.

EA SPORTS will be reading submissions and getting in contact with the people we feel best suit the projects on offer. Please note you must be 18 years or older to be eligible to participate.

Hopefully it has less to do with opinions on players and shaping their ratings than it does to collecting accurate unbiased data and specific information. I can’t imagine the mess that would be created if EA expanded this program to Madden and started taking cues from Falcons fans regarding Michael Vick.

Who should be on the cover of Madden 08?

With the NFL season wrapped up, it comes time yet again to begin speculation on who will be on the cover of the upcoming Madden.

Its safe to assume there won’t be another runningback, quarterback, or linebacker due to their appearances in recent years. You can also scratch offensive lineman off the list since they aren’t seen as marketable enough.

Generally the cover athlete will be related to the big selling-point feature addition. Examples would be Michael Vick with ‘Playmaker’ and Shaun Alexander with ‘Run to Daylight’. This will probably be the case in Madden 08.

So lets take a look at the most likely positions that would make sense, and who the best representative of those would be.

Read more

Official site for Madden 08 launches

EA Sports has launched the official website for Madden NFL 08. At this time it is in the early stages and only offers a new team specific wallpaper each day leading up to the NFL Draft. There is also the opportunity to pre-order the game as well as sign up for a newsletter that will be offering content down the line.

With the NCAA Football promotion expected to start heating up, its unlikely any big news on the upcoming Madden will be released prior to the draft. However there are likely to be additions to the website over the coming period.

It may be somewhat of an empty shell for now, but as far as I can think of you won’t find other websites for upcoming sports titles existing let alone having things to offer the fans 5-6 months in advance like NCAA Football and Madden do.

You can reach the Madden 08 website by clicking here.

Can All-Pro Football become a success?

With the announcement that 2K Sports would be releasing All-Pro Football 2K8 this year came the debate regarding whether or not it could reach the masses and how well it could potentially do overall. Clearly there is a hardcore base of fans that is excited over the release. However that small group can not support the game alone. Lets take a look at some factors to consider: