First NFL Head Coach 09 details and screenshots

The official website for NFL Head Coach 09 has gone live and it includes new details about the game. IGN also posted an early preview of the game which includes some good info which you can check out here. It seems as though they’ve really attempted to get away from the procedural monotony of the original Head Coach and have introduced some live elements that will keep the pace up and make things interesting.

I also have posted up the first 25 screens from the game. There are a few below which you can view full size by clicking the thumbnails and the rest can be found in the screenshot gallery. I’ve summarized some of the more notable aspects of the game to be mentioned:

The draft will allow for trading of future draft picks. This is something that the community had asked for in the previous Head Coach as well as in Madden.

It looks like NFL Network and ESPN integration will actually be present. Adam Schefter and Todd McShay of their respective networks will provide commentary all year long on upcoming draft picks. They have created 21,000 rookies with their own unique ratings, stories, and personalities.

The CPU will propose trades as well as trade between themselves

Scouting will unlock more information about a player. Scout during the regular season, Senior All-Star Game, NFL Combine, Pro Days, and individual workouts.

Trade negotiation in a live environment with a timer in negotiation with CPU general managers

“Ebay like” bidding process for free agents

Dangle restricted free agents in the hope that another team will give up a draft pick/s for them

NFL Head Coach 09 officially announced

Even though it had been known to be coming, today EA Sports officially announced NFL Head Coach 09. The game will be available for the 360 and PS3 and features Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy on the cover.

Along with the announcement should come the launching of the official website later today and possibly the first screenshots which I’ll have here as soon as they’re available.

“In NFL Head Coach 09, the gamer has complete control of their franchise’s destiny,” says NFL Head Coach 09 Executive Producer Jeremy Strauser. “From draft day to game day, the gamers’ decisions impact their team’s success and make or break a team’s road to the Super Bowl.”

NFL Head Coach 09 provides a complete NFL experience, offering a variety of different ways to control an NFL franchise, on and off the field, in-season and off-season. With strategic game planning features, NFL Head Coach 09 places gamers in the coach’s seat by allowing gamers to comprehensively scout the opponent, build playbooks, and develop a team that will adapt to the philosophy and system of an NFL franchise.

The sideline is your playing field in NFL Head Coach 09 - gamers can make adjustments to plays and game strategies in an instant. The outcome of every game depends on game-time decisions made on the sideline. Success depends on proper preparation and knowledge of the opposing teams’ strategies, as well as expert and timely play calling.

Originally the game appeared on track to launch the week prior to the NFL Draft however that doesn’t seem to be the case considering there is only two months until then. They haven’t announced an official date yet so we’re probably looking at later this summer and it’ll be interesting to see how it fits in with releases such as NCAA Football 09 and Madden 09 in that same time frame.

Update: IGN has just posted a first look preview of the game.

First Facebreaker impressions

With EA Sports Facebreaker still a long ways away (tentative November release) it was somewhat surprising to find that MTV got the chance to get a talk about what they had seen of the game. Obviously at this point it is far to early to evaluate it but there were some new nuggets of information mentioned.

I’ve pulled a few of the more noteable quotes from the article below. You can read the entire piece by clicking here.

I was told that each character would be unique and have a great background story, which, in my mind, is one of the most important elements of an arcade boxing game.

They also said that the game would offer a variety of different environments to fight in as well, something that would be a step up from “Fight Night.”

Some of these moments are wrapped in quick, in-game, cinematic cuts scenes with quirky animation akin to a Looney Tunes wild take — with punching.

One of the most significant ways they are trying to distinguish the series is through the controls. You won’t be throwing punches by tilting the control sticks in this one. You’ll do it the old-fashioned way: pressing buttons.

Also on the official website for Facebreaker there was a comment made about real fighters (all characters in the game will be fictional)

Don’t expect to see EA put any “real” fighters in the game, though that can’t stop Joe Public from uploading anyone else’s face…Chew on that for a while.

The way I read that is not only will you be able to use the Xbox Vision Camera or Playstation Eye to take a photo of yourself but they’ll also have the alternate method that was used with Tiger Woods that allows you to upload a photo using EA Sports World. Hopefully they tie the game to EASW with other features as well.

Another sign The Show is coming this week

So after writing about the release date changes on Amazon and Gamefly, and prior to that how historically the baseball games bump their releases up, I’ve been monitoring the other main websites as well as authorizations from pre-orders for MLB 08: The Show.

EB/Gamestop still lists The Show as a 3/3 release. However my credit card now shows the full authorization charge for the game. Meanwhile my MLB 2K8 preorder, which incidentally is listed with the same release date, has not posted. Generally the authorization is done a few days before shipping with the actual charge coming when the game is shipped. The Friday before a Tuesday release is when you see the authorizations appear most of the time.

Assuming this is the case and The Show is set to ship later this week (Thursday if Amazon is correct) expect the date to change on the EB/Gamestop websites very soon possibly even today. Again this doesn’t mean with 100% certainty that the game is coming out early but combined with the other factors it’s really starting to seem like more than just a coincidence.

Update: Since writing this EB/GS has changed the ship date from 3/3 to 3/4 (however right underneath that it guarantees delivery on the 4th meaning a ship date of the 3rd) and Amazon has changed from 2/28 to 2/29 (though my estimated delivery date still shows 2/29). Gamecrazy now showing 2/28 release date. So something is up, it’s just a question of how things are going to settle out and it’s worth watching for further developments today and tomorrow.

Update #2: Amazon and Gamefly have both adjusted their dates to next week. It appears that The Show will be sticking with the original date. However both The Show and 2K8 could possibly arrive at stores earlier than that and it’s just a matter of whether they sell them or hold them until Tuesday.

The possible future of the 2K Sports titles

With the EA purchase of Take Two seeming likely, and sooner rather than later, that brings up the question of what will happen to that which is now known as 2K Sports. After TT decided to drop the College Hoops franchise I took a look at the outlook for the future of the rest of their titles. However given the circumstances this would present a totally different scenario. While we don’t know some of the behind the scenes details of these games there is some reasonable expectations that could be made.

The potential acquisition of 2K Sports actually appears to be a secondary factor in the deal. Rockstar (which is also owned by TT) and their catalogue of big titles such as Grand Theft Auto is the main target as well as other studios such as 2K Boston with Bioshock. In actuality 2K Sports means more to EA (in removing competition) than it would mean to TT who has been looking for suitors to dump the unprofitable division off on.

EA’s official FAQ on the potential deal included the following:

Would you kill 2K Sports?
Any integration starts with our respect for the teams and people that make great games. Beyond that, it’s too early to discuss plans for managing Take-Two.

Continue on to read my analysis of the possible future of the 2K Sports franchises.

Read more

NBA Live OTP night six recap

Night six of NBA Live 08 OTP is in the books and it was one of the better all around nights so far. Both games were very competitive and using the lower ranked matchup and international teams seemed to pay off. The first game we had three vs four and the second game was a full five on five.

Following the next roster update we’ll do some games with the teams that made acquisitions (Cleveland vs Dallas sounds good) and probably another international game since this one turned out so well. As I mentioned before within the next couple weeks there is the plan for a special OTP night to take place which will include some NBA Live producers. Look for details on that to come soon.

I lost track of who was controlling who again so if you were in on the games leave a comment letting me know who you had and I’ll add your name in there. Again thanks to Im P Dub for putting together a highlight video. Continue on to read the short recaps, stats, and view the video.

Read more

EA makes attempt to purchase Take Two

Just came across the wire. It has been known for a while that Take Two was in financial trouble and that led many to believe EA would be interested in acquiring them. In all likelihood this would signal the end of 2K Sports at least in the way we know their current operations to be. There is now a website eataketwo.com that contains an open letter from EA CEO John Riccitiello. EA will be hosting a conference call tomorrow at 5am PT / 8am ET to discuss in greater detail. More to follow…

Update: Take Two’s statement of rejection
Update: Pachter says EA purchase of Take Two is inevitable
Update: Investors betting on the deal happening

ELECTRONIC ARTS PROPOSES TO ACQUIRE TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE FOR $26 PER SHARE IN CASH, OR APPROXIMATELY $2.0 BILLION

Proposal Represents 64 Percent Premium to Take-Two’s February 15th Closing Price and 63 Percent Premium to Take-Two’s Closing Price Over the Previous 30 Days

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 24, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that it has proposed to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. in an all-cash merger valued at approximately $2.0 billion.

EA’s proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two’s closing stock price on Feb. 15th, the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two, and a 63 percent premium over Take-Two’s 30-day trailing average price over the thirty trading days ending on that date.

Read more

MLB 2K8 trading card system detailed

My perception of the MLB 2K8 trading card feature completely changed coming out of the conference call. Prior to that it didn’t really interest me. I remember my original thought was it seemed like a feature made with the purpose of being used for promotion of the game and that it would end up as little more than a gimmick. That was probably due in part to the lame Madden cards of years past.

However after coming to the realization that they are essentially an extension of Xbox Live achievements I started to understand the appeal. Then thinking of the online possibilities with creating your own card teams (while being limited by a salary cap based on the tiers) I started to get really excited.

Gamespot has posted a preview of the trading card system with SportsGamer going into more details. I’d suggest reading those to get a thorough idea of what the card system entails.

I’m now contemplating the possibility of running a card team online night or competition of sorts. I think it’d be fun to see how people have built their teams and how much time went into earning the cards at different levels to do so. I’m confident I could come up with a framework to make that enjoyable. Let me know if you guys might be interested in something like that.

MLB 2K8 conference call recap

Earlier today I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with producer Ben Brinkman of 2K Sports’ Major League Baseball 2K8. I took notes throughout the call which went on for over an hour and have put together a summary of the more notable responses and themes.

Overall the focus this year was on adding significant depth along with the gameplay improvements. They needed to add content to a good playing game. Some of which includes the new pitching, hitting, and fielding mechanics, new batting and pitching AI, 90 playable minor league teams, and the trading card feature. The game also has a more interactive feel as opposed to last year where at times the user felt detached from the experience.

Read more

MLB 08: The Show release moved up?

While no official word has been made a couple interesting developments suggest that MLB 08: The Show could be releasing next week.

A few weeks ago I wrote on how historically the baseball titles move up their release as the original date nears. The MLB does not require that all the games come out on the same day. So the companies have used this opportunity to get a jump on the competition in the past.

Amazon today changed the release date for The Show from 3/4 to 2/28. Gamefly has changed the date from 3/5 to 3/1. Gamefly’s dates are listed a day after the official release date (thus the 3/5 that had been listed for The Show and is currently listed for 2K8). Gamestop/EB however currently still lists the release as 3/4. Also to consider is that the vast majority of games come out on Tuesdays and not Thursdays as this new date suggests.

Assuming the game has gone gold and has made its way to retailers there is really no reason to prevent it from going out early. The demo will have been out for nearly two weeks and the reaction has been overly positive. They would be able to get out in front of the 2K release, which has the 360 all by itself and because of that may not be as concerned with the PS3 competition.

So while this isn’t yet a sure thing it’s definitely interesting to see that some sites have adjusted the date. Generally that isn’t done without reason especially since we have two here that have. So this is something to monitor over the next few days to see if others follow or if an announcement is made.