FIFA Street 3 coverage to begin soon

I am expecting my copy of FIFA Street 3 to arrive tomorrow. From there I will try and get up some impressions, list of teams with breakdown of player types (tricksters, playmakers, finishers, enforcers) and rosters/ratings, along with some full game videos. Given that the game is still three weeks from release the coverage will be spread out more than usual probably with a new piece of content every other day.

As always if you have any questions or aspects of the game you would like me to look into feel free to leave them in the comments.

NBA Live OTP night two recap

Both of the second night games were evenly matched and well played. I’ve definitely noticed improvement as everyone playing has gotten more comfortable with the mode, their assignments, and communication. One aspect I haven’t really written much about is how great it is to have communication with only your teammates. Next year hopefully they’ll have more ways to take advantage of that (setting picks, posting up, ect). Despite that it is tough getting back on defense to prevent easy hoops because there is really no way to judge where your player is at when off-screen so hopefully there is some solution to that as well.

Again both games were three on three with no lag. Thanks to njnetsfanforlif, moeandamigo, Im P Dub, hells hurrican3, elmira express, and tdoggy for joining in. Look for another OTP night next Friday or Saturday with details being posted the morning of. Continue on to read the recaps and check out videos of the full games. Thanks to Im P Dub recording and uploading them and you can check out his own game recaps over at NLSC.

Read more

MLB 2K8 screenshots

I have added MLB 2K8 to the screenshot gallery. Currently the gallery contains nine screens, some of which I believe are brand new. The gallery will continuously be updated as images become available all the way through release of the game.

Mini GameShow

I have written a good deal about EA GameShow and how I got hooked on it immediately. You can check out all of the articles on its tag page. After trying out some of the new features of the December update I haven’t been able to play all that much. When you sit down for Gameshow you want to set aside a good chunk of time and I just haven’t had that or the energy lately to do so.

Interestingly enough comes along GameShow “Fun Size”. This is a quick mini-version that is played on the web and is comprised of eight questions over five minutes. It is updated every day with a new topic category and questions along with daily leaderboards.

This is a good opportunity to try it out without downloading the program to get an idea of what to expect. It obviously doesn’t reach the same level of interactivity or options that comes with the real game but it is nice to have as a supplemental aspect.

A new full GameShow update is also expected to arrive in the near future with even more upgrades and features. As soon as details on that are available I’ll be posting them up along with my impressions.

FIFA Street 3 updates

With the demo already out (impressions and video) it’s somewhat anti-climactic that a flurry of hands-on impressions for FIFA Street 3 have made their way out. I’ll link a few below but for the most part if you read one you’ll have a good idea of what you’ll find in the rest. Also the official website has gone live.

TeamXbox
IGN
Gamespy
1UP

I’m hoping to get a full list of teams and rosters in the near future. Other than that I think everyone by now has a good idea of what to expect with all of the coverage and media along with the demo being out.

NBA Live OTP night one recap

Another two games of NBA Live 08 OTP will be played tonight and after the success of the first night I’m really looking forward to it. The games were a lot of fun and it was nice to have some teamwork and ball distribution to go along with no lag to speak of. The six minute quarters seemed to be the right length as well. Just a great experience all around. Both games had 3 users on each team with the other two players controlled by the CPU. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Tonight the two matchups based off the voting will be:

1. Nuggets @ Spurs (5pt/8et)
2. Trailblazers @ Hornets (following the completion of the first game)

I’ll be recording one or both of the games for posting by Monday. Follow the same procedures as the first night. Continue on to read the two game recaps and stats as well as a full game video broken down by quarter.

Read more

Prizefighter SI preview

Sports Illustrated has a short preview of Don King: Prizefighter that mentions a few new pieces of info about the game. You can read the full preview here and I’ve pulled out a few statements below.

The main theme of Prizefighter’s single-player career mode plays off of King’s statement: It’s about the choice you have to make between glory and money. Would you rather hit the gym to train for your next fight or work on enhancing your notoriety? The former can help get you a win, but the latter will line your pockets with fatter purses.

As you progress through the game, your story will be told in a SportsCentury-style documentary, with real video clips from King (see picture, below) and other famous names from the fight scene.

Aside from the standard create-a-fighter option, Prizefighter offers up to 30 active boxers and 10 classic pugilists, including Larry Holmes, Ken Norton and the Cinderella Man, James Braddock.

HBO announcers Emmanuel Stewart and Jim Lampley provide the play-by-play.

The online play offers the unique twist of allowing players to set up their own gym where they can fight with up to eight of their own created boxers or any of the legendary fighters from the game.

All of the information above is pretty interesting. The documentary style story telling sounds like it could be really unique and that would help to separate it from Fight Night. I still hesitate when it comes to having money in games because there needs to be real value to it to make it matter. The amount of boxers appears to be sufficient and the online play could be a real selling point if done well. Overall it sounds like Prizefighter has a good concept and now it will just be a matter of seeing if it can live up to it.

MLB 2K8 IGN hands-on and videos

IGN has posted up the first hands-on preview and four short gameplay clips for MLB 2K8. The improvements to the gameplay and new mechanics are the main focus of the preview.

When people think of baseball they think of four key elements: batting, pitching, fielding, and throwing. 2K Sports has changed the way you’ll be doing each of these for MLB 2K8.

Graphically the game doesn’t seem to have the same edge it did last year and that could be due to the improved framerate and having to make certain sacrifices in order to achieve that. The videos don’t seem to demonstrate that very well however.

For all the cool additions that 2K Sports made to the gameplay of MLB 2K8 there’s still one sore spot that needs to be fixed. Any true 2K fan probably already knows that we’re talking about the aesthetics. Player models don’t resemble their real life counterparts as well as they should, cloth physics look a little wonky, and while the stadiums look very nice from afar, close-ups don’t fare as well. Hopefully in the month of development time remaining, the team at 2K Sports will find a way to iron out the rough edges.

Also teased is a “new mode” that IGN isn’t allowed to speak on yet. It’ll be interesting to find out what that is but it’ll be hard to match a standalone mode like “Road to the Show”. It’s tough to judge the game on the mechanics that have been changed for this year until actually getting an opportunity to try that out making the expected demo in February that much more important.

NBA Live 08 OTP night one

This evening brings the first PP NBA Live 08 OTP night (360) and thanks to the voting we have the matchups for the two scheduled games. The time to be there is 5pt/8et with the first game starting up promptly (even if not completely full).

Head to the user created room pastapadre and the password will be OTP. From there I will create the game and send invites. I believe I’ll have to invite from my friends list so once in the room and situated send me a friend request if you aren’t already on my list. At that point the other nine participants for the game will be determined (first come first serve basis). Anyone who makes it in late is of course free to run another game.

Based on the voting the games for the evening will be:

1. Magic @ Celtics (approximately 5pt/8et)
2. Mavericks @ Suns (following the end of the first game)

Read more

Fake Madden 08 press release making the rounds

Late Thursday a supposed press release for Madden 08 began showing up on various forums and was posted at this site. In it a patch is detailed that would address online “tactics” being exploited by users and changes made to gameplay and options in order to address those issues.

However it appears that this “press release” is simply an attempt at parody. There are several reasons to believe this is the case.

1. No such press release has been distributed
2. It contains grammar/spelling errors
3. It is written in interview style and not true press release form
4. There are several hard to believe changes proposed
5. Unrealistic statements supposedly from EA
6. (Update) And now confirmation from EA that it is fake

I wanted to get out on top of this before too many people buy into this as being real. Thankfully there is no update coming that will force QBs to use vision passing or penalize teams for running or passing too much (among other ridiculous things mentioned).